Translated from Mochilão na Europa: 1ª semana

Portuguese version written by Daniel Bender, visit his site

This is the first of a series of posts telling the story of my backpacking trip through Europe before the advent of the Euro and of Bin Laden.

Week One

I left my house on April 21, 2000 at 6 AM.

After arriving in Milan on the following day, early in the afternoon, I was extremely tired. I did not sleep the entire trip from Novo Hamburgo, Brazil. On top of everything I had forgotten my train pass (I will never forgive myself for this!). I had read on an Internet site that there weren’t many places to exchange money in Italy, and on top of everything they were closed on the weekends, especially on Easter Sunday. Because of this, I exchange a considerable quantity of money (dollars) to liras at the airport and I paid a horrible exchange rate. (which I only found out later).

I took the bus into the city even though the airport is almost 50 km (31 miles) from downtown Milan. When I got to the bus station in downtown, I was totally lost. Where am I? Where should I go? What’s happening? I bought a map of the city and started walking towards the hostel, which was very far from where I was. I thought that I could just walk to there from the station. I finally gave up and took the subway. When I got there I saw that it was closed, and there was a sign saying that it would be closed for a few more hours (it probably was siesta time or something) There was an Argentinean waiting at the front and I asked him if he would watch my backpack while I toured the city a bit.

I ate my first Big Mac in Italian territory, and then I checked out the stadium of Milan which wasn’t too far from the hostel. I got back even more tired than I was before. The hostel had reopened and the Argentinean was there to give my luggage back to me. I was so happy to see my bed (not that it was anything exceptional, but because I really needed it). I slept until nighttime. When I woke up, I walked around the hostel which was very well-kept, but it was very plain, almost like military barracks. I met up with the Argentinean whose name was Franco, and we started to talk.

I was not able to talk with him in any language, whether it be English, Spanish, Italian, or Portuguese; it was a mess and I had to repeat myself three times every time. We decided that the next day we would go to downtown Milan, and to visit Como, so we did. Lombardia, the state of which Milan is the capital, is one of the most developed and richest regions of the world. Since the Middle Ages, it has been a land plundered by all the conquerors of the continent. To look at the beautiful Sforzesco Castle in downtown and the architecture of Milan is like taking a trip back in time. After walking a few more blocks, we saw a beautiful Gothic structure, a giant cathedral, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, and another gothic building.

So… Milan is the boldest and most modern city in Italy. Como is a city like Gramado, and that day, the Monday following Easter, was a holiday in Europe. Because of this, it was full of Italian tourists. There is a beautiful lake in Como, that reaches the foot of the Alps. On the next day, Franco left for another city to find his family and I went to Bérgamo to spend the day.

Bérgamo is a modern and old city at the same time, but it was easier to tell this than Milan because it had a historic district that was very far from the financial center of the city. At the same time, there were colorful houses on the narrow streets that was another trip back into time while a modern lambreta passed by honking its horn…

The city seemed really prosperous to me and also was a magnet for immigrants which could be proven by the diverse local population. Upon returning to the hostel, I encountered something rather unusual, I was wearing a Grêmio shirt (soccer team), which some say is not so popular in Europe. A guy came up to me and asked “Porto Alegre?”, “No, Novo Hamburgo”, “Wow, me too!” It was quite a coincidence that I would run into someone from my city again.

He went to the same school, same university, and was even from a neighborhood close by. We had agreed to meet in Florence on the following day, provided I could get that stupid train pass, or in Rome on Thursday, provided I could get that stupid train pass.

On Wednesday, my luck had not changed, so I started a pilgrimage to find a place in Milan with Internet access. There were rumors that there was one… but very far. But I wandered the entire city, and when I got there, I asked “C´è Internet?”, to which they responded “No, tutti i computer sono rotti”, “tutti?” “Si, tutti”. All of the computers were broken! I did not give up and continued my pilgrimage this time with no particular destination. I finally found a place that was rather expensive, but there was Internet. Some pages did not work, so I decided to go somewhere else, especially since this place was so expensive.

I started to look for another place, and as I was coming up to a plaza, I saw a little store full of computers, “it must be a cybercafe,” I thought, and when I entered the store, a guy came up to attend to me. He said- “prego”, and I asked “accesso all internet?”, “Internet?” he responded suspiciously, and then we started to talk in Spanish because my Italian was not much more than mozzarella. The language barrier and the linguistic confusion was very difficult. Finally, he let me us an iMac that didn’t work well enough for me to do what I needed to do.

On my way back to the hostel, I stopped by a DHL office that wasn’t very far from there, and then I met another Brazilian on the street and said “Where are you going?”, “To buy dinner”, he responded. We went together and bought a whole chicken, and six 2-liter bottles of water. After this banquet, we decided that we were going to Rome on Thursday anyway possible, and if I hadn’t received my pass yet, I would pay for my ticket, I was already tired of Milan.

On Thursday I was hopeful that my pass had arrived, but it still hadn’t. I left the hostel and I kept calling DHL to see if it had been delivered. By noon, I was at McDonald’s- again- and I met two people from my region that were going to play soccer nearby, so I went with them. After awhile, I called DHL again at 2 PM, and I asked them to deliver it Rome, and I decided then I would go! After four days in Milan, I was very tired of that city.

I went to the train station and bought a ticket to Rome. There was only a line to Rome in the afternoon and it was more expensive. A little before nine I was already in Rome. When I called the hostel asking for directions, I asked if they could speak English, not Italian. Well, I didn’t really understand them, and I went the wrong way and found myself going the wrong way and in a bad area. Well, I decided to return to the station, I passed it, walked about 50 yards and turned right, and there it was. I was right next to it and I went totally in the wrong direction.

I entered the hostel and checked in, the receptionist seemed Canadian to me, and since I didn’t speak Italian, I asked him why he had given me directions in Italian. He said because the person he was working with was an idiot. Haha. When I got to my room, someone was saying things I couldn’t understand because it was incredibly formal Canadian English (and despite what they say, I am only used to English that is spoken in Hollywood movies). I introduced myself, bla-bla-bla, I tried to have a conversation, but it was very difficult.

On Friday morning, I thought to myself “I don’t want to spend the day by myself, I need some company”, so I went to find some. There were three Canadian soldiers that were in Bosnia with the UN peace-keeping force, so I asked them where they were going, and I decided to hang out with them. We first went to the Coliseum and then the Palatino Forum- which really was a large archeological site. You can get an idea of the approximate size of the Roman Empire only here and in Pompeii. We then went on to Campidoglio- an impressive collection of buildings that serves as the political center of Rome, and then we went to Piazza Venezia that has the gigantic National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II (the first Italian king after unification). Just to the right of the plaza is the Palazzo Venezia where the fascist Mussolini gave his speeches.

We walked a little bit from the Piazza Venezzia, actually in a random direction which is the best way to discover the city, walking without aim. And what did we find? A traveling exposition of Salvador Dali, but I had no way of knowing this because it was all taken apart. After some tests of craziness and creativity, we continued our journey without a destination. We walked until we found a tourist kiosk, and we decided to get a decent map of the city. Armed with information, we went to the Piazza Navona, which to our surprise was just around the corner! The plaza itself is square with two beautiful fountains surrounded by historic buildings which today have the most expensive cafes for tourists.

For anyone who thinks that Italy is another world, in the center of the square there were market stands, and at one of them I bought a beautiful shirt that was a knock-off from Milan, but it was eight times cheaper than the original. Continuing our roam towards various tourist destinations in Rome, we then went to the Pantheon. This building has a history that spans two millennia, and it is impressive even today because of its architectural beauty on the inside and out with its classical, baroque and renaissance styles.

We met a Uruguayan priest inside, as well as a nun from a place I just don’t remember. The nun translated what he said into English, not that I needed it because my “Portunhol” was very good! But the Canadians did not same knowledge in Latin-based languages that I had. The nun said “he likes boys”. We looked at each other and we said goodbye to them thinking that the priest was gay. Mike was a Filipino and naturalized Canadian (his real name was Miguel) went back to take a picture with the “homosexual priest”

We continued on, and at this point exhaustion was already knocking on the door, and we decided to return to the hostel do do something else or do laundry like before. We went to do our laundry, and while the machine did its work I went to visit the vicinity, this time by myself, and I ran into my favorite kind of stores, a music store on the corner. I went in by myself, and the salespeople and people around me asked me where I was from, and I told them. Ah brasiliano, molto bene, samba, women and a tremendous communication difficulty.

There was a drummer there from a local band and he offered me a CD which I ended up taking and I got a second CD free with his autograph. Well, everything is worth it. That night we went on a Pub Crawl in Scalinata de Spanga (Spanish stairs), and it was nothing more than a group of people who went from bar to bar all night. We went to six of them before midnight! To get an idea how much people drank, apart from myself, first they charged me per drink, and I was still able to get a discount. The group was very diverse, there were many Americans, Canadians, Australians, and New Zealanders.

To sum it up, they all spoke their own language there. The result is that I picked up an incredible fluency in English. I bought a round of Caninha 51 for the group and they loved it, it can’t be the same one that they sell in Brazil. But anyhow, it was a big party.

The Irish there were drinking and even started to sing in the middle of the street, were hugging and kissing each other (to give you an idea, they didn’t even know who was who and they hugged and kissed whoever, except for me of course.) The Australians were so drunk that they threw up, the Americans drank so much that they got lost in a square plaza, the Canadians lost their famous civility and started to fight and beat on cars (yes, even they know how to be vandals), the New Zealanders and Brazilians that didn’t drink a lot (in my case, nothing), led everyone back to the hostel trying to egg on the drunks even more: “You Canadian soldiers are a bunch of pussies!”

That Saturday I woke up at nine and I was going to go touring with the Canadians, but I lost them, I am not sure how. So, I went after my train pass. The DHL headquarters was at 1010 Via Tiburtna (one of the longest avenues of Rome), and I got off the subway next to 350. The problem is that in Italy, the numbers are actually in sequence (that is that one building is 871 and the next one is 873, irregardless of the size of the lot) so I walked almost two hours trying to find the damned DHL building and I still had to demand that someone help me because it was Saturday and no one in Italy works after one (it was already 1:05), but I was able to get the pass. I got back on the subway next to 970 on that street (I almost killed myself doing this), and then I went to the Vatican.

Those damned Vatican museums closed at 12:45, so when I got there everything was already closed. I thought to myself then “I’ll go to St. Peter’s Basilica.” Bad idea. It was full of people and it was raining a lot, after that I was soaked. I reluctantly bought an umbrella for 5,000 liras (I was able to bargain for it because the guy wanted 10,000), and from there I went to the Etruscan Museum that I thought naively that it was close to the subway, which it wasn’t.

I gave up and headed towards downtown, passed Piazza del Poplo, by Fontana di Trevi (when you throw coins into this fountain, people say that all the coins come back into the city). After getting back to the hostel, I changed clothes because I was cold after being soaked on this adventure. When I got to the hostel, I saw that Vinícius, the guy from Novo Hamburgo, Brazil was looking for me just as I was looking for him. Nice, I thought, some company.

I went to the room where he was saying and I greeted him in English (ugh!!). He had just got there the day before, etc etc…. One of his roommates’ names was Xavier, a nice Mexican, and there were also four beautiful Australians who only wanted to drink. Australians always drink. We went out that night to a pub near the hostel, it wasn’t much, and it was full of men (ugh!), not that I was needed sex or anything like that, but fights start in this type of atmosphere because everyone there was heterosexual, like me (not gay). We gave up on Saturday night haha… But at least I was able to be refreshed.

Guardian Travel Magazine published a very interesting story about green travel. They picked the 10 best places to visit that support fair trade. At least allegedly.

All of these places are in third-world countries, and most of them include some sort of wildlife trip.

This is the list of the 10 greatest fair-trade holidays:

1. Bulungula, South Africa
2. Traidcraft tour, Cuba
3. Hacienda Bukare, Venezuela
4. Finca Esperance Verde Ecolodge, Nicaragua
5. Napo Wildlife Centre, Ecuador
6. Kahawa Shamba, Tanzania
7. Chiloé Island, Chile
8. Aba-Huab campsite, Namibia
9. Albergue Cerro Escondido, Costa Rica
10. Himalayan homestays, India

Translated from original post on Goitaca:

Foto do relâmago o Cristo Redentor

Portuguese version written by Daniel Bender, visit his site

This picture was taken of lightning striking the Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio de Janeiro. It’s especially interesting because this picture was not taken at night. This phenomenon was captured by a long exposure time of several minutes of the camera.

Translated from original post on Goitaca:

Visita ao Taipei 101

Written by Lucia Malla, visit her site

Taipei is the capital of the country called Taiwan or Formosa, where they speak the dialect of Taiwanese and always live under the danger of earthquakes and frequent typhoons. Even the natural disasters have not taken the spirit from the Taiwanese that built the Taipei 101, a skyscraper with 101 floors. It was the tallest in the world until last year when it was surpassed by the 167-story Burj Dubai building.

Even though it is not the tallest in the world, it is still an unforgettable sight in Taiwan. From the outside, it is only another skyscraper made with glass and steel, like others around the world. It’s inside the Taipei 101 where its true colors are shown. The building has a a 662 ton steel sphere that goes through the center of the upper floors (from the 88th to 92nd floors). This sphere moves like a pendulum when typhoons or earthquakes assault Taipei (which are not uncommon), therefore avoiding damage to the building- that already suffered an earthquake that was 6.8 on the Richter Scale in 2002.

The sphere is open for visitors on the 92nd floor where the impressive size can be viewed. It is painted in gold, a symbol of power in Chinese culture, and it is an architectural wonder that cannot be missed.

Translated from original post on Goitaca:

5 lugares imperdíves na Índia

Written by riclage, visit his site

The author of this article has lived in India since last July. Since then, he has had the opportunity to visit several places and has been able to talk to people about where he needs to visit before he leaves this multi-faceted country.

The following is a list of five places (some of which he has visited and others that will certainly soon be a part of his itinerary) that are considered “must sees” by the majority of the people he has talked to here.

1. Taj Mahal

The first on the list, of course had to be one of the new 7 wonders of the world. The Taj Mahal is in fact one of the most incredible manmade structures he has ever visited. It is grandiose, powerful, and beautiful, not even mentioning its beautiful gardens with a wonderful view of the reflecting pool there.

Taj Mahal and its gardens

The Taj Mahal is in the city of Agra, two and a half hours from Delhi via an express train or three hours by car. A trip by car may be the better choice to allow for a stop in Mathura, an area considered sacred by Hindus that shelters the place where Lord Krishna was born.

Be prepared to confront long lines at the entrance to the Taj Mahal and to be harassed by persistent vendors. The best strategy is to leave this for last, or simply ignore them altogether.

Another tip is to plan to visit the area on a night with a full moon. With a little luck, you will be able to see the reflecting pool reflecting the gold light.

2. Goa

This state on the Indian west coast was made famous by its Portuguese colonial history and its beaches. To give an idea of its Portuguese influence, the largest city in the region is called “Vasco da Gama”

The visit to Goa is worth it because of its spas and its night life. If it’s something you’re interested in, there are also cathedrals and Catholic churches and some naval museums that attract tourists. The prettiest beach perhas is Palolem, basically a small strip of sand surrounded by hills on both sides.

3. Kerala

This state in southern India has the nickname of “God’s Own Country”. The area is known worldwide for its natural and cultural beauties, as well as being one of most socially and economically structured states in the country.

4. Delhi

The Indian capital is a plate full of flavors for every taste. Because the city has more than 5,000 years of history, a stop in this city is mandatory to visit its temples, museums, culinary delights, and art.

Also, you can find the strongest traces of English colonization. When visiting the capitol complex of the Indian government it seems you are in a different country because of the architecture of the buildings around the area.

You cannot miss visiting the Lotus Temple, a Bahá’í temple, Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in India, the Ghandi memorial, and the Qutb Complex, an area with many monuments and historic buildings, some of which are more than 1,000 years old.

Don’t forget also to visit Old Delhi and its markets to try its local food. The market is an excellent option to buy inexpensive souvenirs.

One of the main streets in Delhi

5. Jaipur and Thar Desert

Jaipur itself is a city with a lot of things to see: Temples, palaces, and mosques that are scattered throughout the region. The city is also entrance to the Thar Desert where a safaris on camels cannot be missed. Packages can even include nights in luxurious tents with banquets and local dance shows.

This list of course is only a point of view that does not exclude other important destinations such as Varanasi, where ceremonial cremations are done on the banks of the Ganges River.

This is the author’s first essay here on Goitaca, and soon he will review more about this country really is, as the slogan of the government says- incredible.

Translated from original post Dicas de passeios e atrações em Montevidéu, Uruguai

Portuguese version written by Nospheratt, visit her site

There are many things to see in Montevideo. The city has a rich history, is full of historic buildings and interesting traditions.

Ciudad Vieja (historic neighborhood next to the harbor) is a traditional tourist spot. There you can find:

- Mercado del Puerto: (harbor market) An enormous market area where fresh foods were sold. Today, there are various restaurants that serve parrillada, a typical Uruguayan barbecue. It is also common to drink Medio y Medio (half and half) in the Mercado del Puerto, a mixture of wine and sparkling cider.

- La movida en la Ciudad Vieja, This area has a lot of activity at night. Restaurants, pubs, and every type of dance club can be found in the narrow streets of the historic district; there are many options for every taste and budget.

Other attractions: The Escollera Sandarí (a small fishing port), the Puerta de la Ciudadela (the gate to the wall that surrounded the fortified citadel during colonial times), the Cathedral of Montevideo, Plaza Independencia (where there is a tomb containing the ashes of Gervasio Artigas, the founder of the country), Solís Theater (inaugurated in 1856), and much more.

Other points of interest:

• Estádio Centenario: this stadium was built especially for the 1930 World Cup and was declared a “Historic Monument of world soccer” by FIFA, in 1983.
• Fortaleza General Artigas: located on Cerro de Montevideo (Montevideo hill). It was built as a lighthouse and a museum and offers a wonderful view of Montevideo Bay.
• Tristán Narvaja Narket: This is a traditional market thatis held every Sunday in the center of the city. The market is enormous and you can find everything there, from vegetables to even clothes, while it is famous because of the antiques you can find there.
• Rambla: This is what the coastline is called. Montevideo has beaches everywhere and it is possible to walk on all of them on a sidewalk uninterrupted. Watching the sunset on the “rambla” is an unforgettable experience.
• Mercado de la Abundancia: (Abundance Market)- This is a similar to the Mercado del Puerto. It offers a great artisan fair, and places to eat, as well as shows and classes in tango.

Also, there are various malls, numerous museums, historical points of interests, fairs, bars, restaurants, movie theaters… Montevideo is a beautiful city and it is very interesting, you will certainly find many options for entertainment that suit your taste.