camping

A couple of weekends ago I went camping with my family to Gerês. It's incredible how building a fire to cook dinner and sleeping on the hard ground can be so appealing. The good thing is my parents love camping. Unfortunately for us, Portugal is loaded with pyromaniacs that get off on watching our forests burn so even within campgrounds you cannot build a bonfire, which takes away most of the fun in camping: if you can't burn things in a controlled environment, what's the purpose of camping?! Naturally we skirted this and built a fire in the bbq pits and played cards the whole night.

To New Orleans, with love from China

Everyone likes a parade: the music, the people smiling and cheering, the mayor in the convertible, the marching band. But in New Orleans, the Saint Patrick's day parade has all this and more and it comes all the way from China!

The "'tradition" has it that men get all dressed up (which means wearing polyester!) and ask the girls for kisses in exchange for flowers and shiny necklaces. But it's all plastic. From China. I recognize that it's almost inevitable to buy cheap from China and that it's all in the name of fun. But there were thousands of plastic flowers and plastic beaded necklaces being given away only to end up in landfills. This really is the land of plenty and also the land of wastefulness.  

We only realized the proportions of the whole parade closer to the end when trailers of people threw the weirdest and unexpected things at the crowds that were cheering and asking for more. I'm not only talking about necklaces but cookies, carrots, candy, ramen noodles, plastic toys, plush toys, and my all time favorite... cabbages. Whole green cabbages tossed around. People we spoke to say it's a lot worse during Mardi Gras....

In the end we brought home around 3kg of beaded necklaces, 4 cabbages, and cookies and carrots that we ate on the drive home. We'll probably keep the necklaces for future use like maybe another Burning Man, cause it really choked us to see what it all looks like after the parade goes through town:

lession learned!

Don't ever go to the Museum of Modern Art on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
But if you are in New York for the first time for only a few days, then by all means go. But don't complain.

Angel's Landing

There is a place on Earth where angels land. That place could only be in Utah where strong religious beliefs pair up with breathtaking natural landscapes. Everything in Zion National Park is named after figures from the Bible and the Book of Mormon. A couple of weeks back we visited Zion. Deciding that the first thing we would do was hike the ubber famous Angel's Landing was easy! The hard part was finishing the hike! Angel's Landing is a strenuous uphill hike on a well maintained path carved and sculpted out on the sides of a massive monolith about a mile high. 

This part was easy! The hard part was when you sight the very steep cliffs and very narrow path that leads you to the trail's end. Once you start needing anchored chains to hold on to, that's when I decided to sit still and wish Pedro a safe trip up the trail and hope he wouldn't be part of the list of people who have fallen off the cliffs! 

The top of Angel's Landing

I still can't believe that such a dangerous hike is opened to the public! It's "hike at your own risk"!

What is Burning Man? (part 3)

It's a "watermelon fairy" in the desert...

"In dust we trust"

It's what "happens in Bathrooms, stays in Bathrooms".

It's an unexpected wedding at the Chrurch-trap

It's Insanity.

It's a space shuttle and an alien.

It's a burning man.

It's a lot of heat.

It's where shoes go to die.

It's where Barbies go to die.

It's where RVs go to die.

It's what your house looks like after you get home. Not funny. But I hope next year we can go again!

What is Burning Man? (part 2)

It's not taking a shower for 1 week. Thank the heavens for wet wipes! I had a hard time running my fingers through my hair even though I did wash it with no rinse shampoo. The dust is everywhere!

It's writing love notes on tree trunks.

It's goggles, scarves, hats and sunsets.

It's baking flat bread in a fire oven with our neighbors of Bread Camp! How cool is that!

It's where you build stuff and then blow it up!

It's a Temple of Whollyness...

...where you take a break and grieve, contemplate, remember or just relax.

It's where we found Dr. Suess!

What is Burning Man? (part 1)

After an amazing week at Burning Man, I now understand why this question is a bit hard to answer. So here is my attempt to do so.

 It's when you shave your hair into a mohawk and drive a 1976 Dodge RV into the desert.

It's where you wait for 7 hours in line to get through the gates.

It's the places you'll go...

...to get a better view...

...and be kissed after climbing a scaffold.

It's swinging around on gymnastic rings wearing a pink tutu. 

It's dancing like crazy at sunset. 

It's happy hour everyday! 

It's riding big bikes.