ONOMASTICO

... there are traditions that are difficult to export ... and ... I guess one of them is the onomastico (i.e. name day in english) ... nobody could care less here about it ... but today ... November 30th ... is my name day ... and ... even if nobody cares about it ... I simply love it ... I have wonderful memories of my childhood with my friends celebrating my name day ... I was used to bring a cake at school ... today is very different ... I don't go anymore to school ... and I am not even going to the office ... I am working from home ... cool in a way ... frustrating in an other ... anyways ... today was my onomastico ... so I decided to celebrate ... with my colleague Amit ... I didn't see him since months ... way too much ... so ... we met and ... we spoke about trips ... and sabbatical plans ... and dreams ... and books ... and music ... and life ... and beer ... and of course we got also some food ... some cajun food ... really hot food ... mmmm ... but not enough for Amit ... he had to add some hot sauce ...... ehehehe ... but I guess ... the hottest part of the nite ... were the girls on the stage in the lighthouse music bar ... unfortunately ... I don't have pictures for those ... sorry ...

At the END OF THE TRAIL

... today I was on the phone with a very good friend of mine ... and I was trying to convince him to do something ... something ... he feels is the right thing to do ... but he can't do ... because he is afraid of other people comments ... trying to convince him ... to follow his love rather than his fears ... I came out with this example that surprised myself for its powerful imagine ... so I told him ... imagine yourself ... you are there ... in 5 minutes ... you are gonna die ... so tell me ... who would you like to have around you? ... where would you like to be? ... what would you like to hear? ... basically ... I was trying to let him think what was really important for him ...... after that conversion ... I thought ... how I would have answer to the same questions ... mmm ... I would like to have around me all my friends and my brother and my parents ... all of them ... and I would like to see them happy ... truly happy ... to be there with me ... even if I am gonna die ... and I would like to be somewhere in the world I have never been before ... like in a journey ... and I would like to have one of my best friends ... looking with me to an imaginary book with our journeys ... our adventures ... and the last thing that I would like is this ... someone bringing me a newspaper ... and read on it ... that war and famine and social injustice are completely eradicated by our planet ... yes ... I guess these are the things that I care the most in my life ... friends ... my and their happiness ... traveling ... peaceand social justice ... unfortunately ... I am not sure if I am doing enough for them ... and because I am not sure if I believe in reincarnation ... better I work hard in this life on them ... :D

YELLOW, GIALLO, AMARILLO

... I can't really claim ... like Picasso ... to have color periods ... mmm ... or maybe I can ... yes ... I think I can ... so ... OK ... let me try to explain it ... I love colors ... and time to time ... I really change my preference for the colors ... now I am definitily in my yellow period ... I simply love it ... so no surprise that I loved this man (if I remember correctly ... he told that his name is Johnny) ... when I saw him few days ago ... in Bariloche, Argentina ... and ... the first thing that I thought was ... "esto senor sta pintando el mundo de amarillo" ... "this man is painting the world of yellow color" ... and I thought also ... that this could be ... one of the things I could do ... during my sabbatical year ... ehehehe ... paint the entire world of yellow color ... but ... looking for the meaning of the colors I found something interesting ... yellow has some serious conflicting symbolis .... it denotes happiness and joy but ... it is also the color of cowardice and deceit ... not sure what that means for me ... mmm ... better I investigate ... :o ... or probably it is not that strange ... after all I am a Gemini ... with ascendant Libra ... more double than this ... I can't be ... scary ... :O

SELF PORTRAITS of a SOLO TRAVELER

... yesterday I thought a lot about what I did and about the meaning of the word ... vacation ... when I left LA ... more than 1 month ago I thought and I told to everybody that I was going on vacation ... but now that I am back ... I have realized that ... what I did during my last month .. wasn't a vacation ... that was my life ... and what I am doing for the rest of the year is just a break ... in my life ... waiting to go back to the road ... waiting to put on my shoulder a backpack and look for bus to go somewhere else ... or look for new friends ... or for a new hostel ... or for the good tip to continue your journey ... yep ... probably the right word for what I did ... is ... journey ... more than a simple vacation ... a real journey ... a solo journey ... but not so solo ... a journey with a lot of new friends ... but of course there are a lot of moments where you are by yourself ... and you need to have someone around you ... and I guess ... these are the moments where you end up taking self portraits ... I did that too ... this is a small gallery of the Chile & Argentina Andrea self portraits ... of course each of them ... has a reason ... at least for me ... this is the first one ... after 3 days into my journey ... I realized that I didn't have a picture of myself ... so when I found this window mirror ... I decided to go for it ...... this is in an empty restaurant in Chiloe ... while I was waiting for my dinner ... I decided to play a little bit with the camera ... and this picture came out ... that was the night when I was invited by the restaurant owner ti eat with them in the kitchen ...... this is a picture that I took in a bus station ... while with my backpack I was waiting for a couple od hours for a bus ... I guess sometimes you have to do your own stunts ... like when I did sprain my ankle ... here it is ... the selfportrait ... ehehe ... the ankle still hurts ... after 3 weeks ... but I guess that day was the worst ... I still can't believe how it did happen ... :O ... ... this is a good memory ... and a nice picture ... in my opinion ... the day that we left the boat ... after 3 days ... and we got to Puerto Natales, Chile ... in the middle of the Patagonia ... and I loved that wood hat ... that I was wearing ... I bought it 5 days before ... after I lost my previous one ... the gift of a friend ... but I lost this new one as well ... after 3 days ... what a shame ...... and this is a picture in Puerto Natales, Patagonia ... while I was going to an Internet Cafe ... to write about the cargo ship trip ... and on the background the incredible Patagonia mountains ... really nice ...... and this is of course in front of my beloved Perito Moreno ... really nice only thinking about it ... I would love to be exactly there now ...... and here other selfportraits in shop windows ... I guess all of them had been taken in moments when I felt alone ... because of course you do feel alone when you travel SOLO ... you walk in a city by yourself ... you know that at the end of the day ... you will meet a new friend ... but in the meantime ... you are alone ... you have time to think about yourself ... your life ... what you want to do out of it ... and at the end it happens also that you take a picture of yourself ... just to demonstrate that you really exist ... and to understand better who you are ... I guess ... at the end of the day ... all the solo travelling is a small challenge ... I guess ... and ... here an unwanted selfportrait with flash ... the result is pretty funny ... looks like the camera got tired of my face and decided to blow it up ... with the light ... ehehe ...... and here the last one of the journey ... in Santiago, Chile ... the mirrors are a artcraft ... called DEL OTRO LADO (i.e. ON THE OTHER SIDE) ... of a Chilean artist ... and I guess the idea ... is to help the people to look at themself from different point of view ... or maybe ... just help a solo traveler ... to take a decent selfportrait ... ehehehe ... I really look tired and dirty and trashed ... in this picture ... and probably I was tired and dirty and trashed ... not sure how I get always at the last day of my journeys in that way ... :o ...I want to believe it is because I tried my best to enjoy it ...

THE PERFECT LANDING

... as much as I loved my vacation ... I loved the landing to my real life ... this weekend has been just perfect ... got to LAX ... at 7AM ... and my luggage wasn't lost ... :D ...... time to confuse enough the custom officer ... so Mr. Bonanomi ... I can see from your declaration that you were in Chile and Argentina for business ... what kind of business? ... mmm ... my business ... Excuse me? ... I mean for my work ... I am an electrical engineer ... but I took also three and half weeks of vacation ... ok ... you can go ... welcome to the United States sir ... Thank you sir ... mmm ... I am really back to the US ... and once I got home ... even if I didn't sleep much in the last nights ... I didn't feel tired when my roomies and Justin ... asked me if I wanted to go surfing ... of course ... let's go ... still all my 4 weeks stinky luggage on my room floor ... but who cares ... let's go to get wet ... and try to catch some wave as well ... ehehe ...... and even if my beard is not really the one of the stereotype California dude ... and I was half asleep ... I did manage to catch some good waves ... really really sweet ... I thought I wasn't able anymore to surf after 1 month ... and we went drinking ... and I have to admit it it was too much for me ... I went to sleep at 10PM ... :D ... the really strange thing ... after I was used to have sunlight until 10PM ... was to have ... suddenly ... the sunset at 5.30PM ... really strange ... but nice ... when it is such a nice sunset on the ocean ...... I guess one of the advantages to have sunset this early ... is that I have time to spend with your friends at home ... like I did today with my friend Jill ...I think we ended up drinking 1 liter of mate each ... I was already addicted to mate ... but I guess she is too now ... :D

SANTIAGO, Chile

... this is the end ... the last day of my vacation ... I woke up around 6AM ... on the bus ... on my way from Valdivia, Chile to Santiago, Chile ... and I felt like the milk in a mixer full of fruits ... ready to become a milkshake ... I saw around me pieces of fruit ... and all of them had a reason to be there ... stange to describe ... or probably not too much ... I felt sad ... because I have to leave ... I felt happy ... because of the incredible vacation I had ... I am confused ... because I don't know if I want to go back to work ... I felt strong ... for the incredible ideas about my future that I have piled up during this vacation ... at the same time ... I felt curious ... curious to see how was gonna be my last day of vacation ... visiting Santiago ... a city that I visited very fast more than 3 weeks ago when I was here for work ... today I decided to go for museums ... and I was lucky ... I simply loved them ... I guess the best of the 3 museums that I visited was the photo exhibition in the ... Museum de Bellas Artes ...

... really a nice building ... apparently they carried all roof from Belgium ... and I guess they shipped it in pieces ... :D ... anyways ... the exhibition that I loved the most was the one from the Chilean photographer ... Tomas Munita ... never heard about him before ... but I already love his work ... if you have 1 minute ... and you want to see wonderful pictures ... go to his website ... http://www.tomasmunita.com/ ... really stunning ... I would love to be as good as him ...

... title of the exhibition was KABUL ... because all his pictures were fro the Afghani capital ... a stunning exhibition ... it made me dream ... it made me dream about becoming a photoreporter ... something I have added to my wish list ... for my sabbatical year ... let's see if I will be able to do it ... :o ... the museum ... had more photo exhibition ... one was about Ernesto Che Guevara ... and in particular about his assasination in Bolivia ...

... and here other pictures that made me dream ... and dream about ... dedicate some time to make out of the photography something more serious ...

... I know it is almost impossible ... and that you need a lot of skills ... and luck ... but who knows ... if I don't dream ... I can't make anything ... dreaming is the starting point ... of any adventure ... it was a dream for me to go to the end of the world ... and thanks to this incredible trip I did it ... so who knows ... :D ... and here my last pictures from Santiago, Chile ... I can't decide which is the one that is more meaningfull to me ... I like all of them ... here 2 guys climbing and fixing the lights in the enormous Xmas tree build in Plaza de Armas ... the main square in Santiago ...

... a pretty impressive tree ... and here something I should have done ... having the tarots read ... to know what will happen to me ... now that I am back from my vacation ... or to know where my next vacation will be ... ehehe ...

... or my last lunch of my vacation ... I decided to go for something really ... yummy ... a nice chocolate cake ... and it was really good ...

... or the picture of the Moneda ... the presidential palace ... which was badly attacked and half destroyed by the Pinochet coup in 1973 ... and where ... Salvador Allende apparently commited suicide with the gun that Fidel Castro gave him as a gift few months earlier ...

... or this one ... really one of the last ... International Departure ... and on the background ... really small the Chilean flag ...

... this is really the end ... the trip is over ... but also the last day ... has been just great ... like the rest of the vacation ... I guess I am a lucky guy ... :D

BYE BYE ARGENTINA

... so ... I left Bariloche, Argentina ... I left Argentina as well ... I am back to Chile ... more exactly I am in Valdivia, Chile ... so ... pretty much ... where my backpacking trip did start ... waiting for my bus to Santiago, Chile ... almost time to wrap up my thoughts about this vacation ... but not there yet ... last nite in the 1004 Bariloche hostel was really nice ... one of these nites where you love to share the hostel with other guys ... yesterday we did organize a dinner ... so everybody did prepare something ... the kitchen is big over there ... but it was really crowded ... but was a lot of fun ... to share our food and our feelings ...... so the Italian (I) cooked some pasta ... the Swiss baked tomato with cheese ... the French prepare wonderful crepes ... the Germans cooked some potatoes ... I think the dutch just carry some beer ... :D ... the California lady did prepare some guacamole ... the spaniards cooked a wonderful spanish tortilla ... here is chef Marco ... cooking ...... mmm ... who else was there ... ah yes ... the couple from New Zealand prepared a very rich pizza ... :D ... ehehe ... was not that bad ... :D ... and here a picture of the common area in the hostel ... everybody were pretty busy to eat in our table ... but Sylvia ... managed to sneak in one of her wonderful smiles ...... and of course ... because ... Argentina wants me to regret that I am leaving ... she left me with this wonderful sunset ... pretty impressive ...... but it was too late ... I already decided ... so I put my stuff in the bus ... with lots of other guys ... mostly Israeli ... and I left Bariloche ...... at that point the only escape was to go thru the SALIDA DE EMERGENCIA (i.e. Emergency Exit) of the bus ...... but I didn't have the guts to break the glass ... and here I am ... almost back to my "rest of the year" life ... which I love ... but backpacking is definitely ... what I love the most ... :D

BARILOCHE, Argentina

... here I am ... I left my beloved PATAGONIA ... and I got to the LAKE DISTRICT ... more precisely I am in BARILOCHE, Argentina ...... this is the last leg of my trip in Argentina ... I am spending here 1 and half day ... the initial idea was to go hiking ... but I ended up just chilling out in town ... it is a funny town Bariloche ... it is in a stunning location ... looks like a typical alpine village ... but apparently it is growing way too fast ... a taxi driver told me that in 30 years it grew from 20,00 to the actual 140,000 ... really a lot ... just to give an idea ... this is the hostel where I am staying ...... ehehe ... not all the building in an hostel ... it is just one of the apartmetns ... the hostel is called 1004 ... because it is in the apartment number 4 of the the top floor ... the 10th floor ... strange location ... but definitely nice ... with stunning views ... the best you can have in town ...... Damien ... my french friend suggested it to me ... anyways ... going back to to Bariloche ... it is a funny city ... full of tourists ... way too many for me ....with way too many touristic shops ... you can easily find even ... surfing shops ...... really strange ... if you think that we are here in the middle of the mountains. But Bariloche and the Lake district it is not just tourists ... the lake district is also the area where the MAPUCHE people were and still are living ... MAPUCHE were the most proud of the precolombian people living in Chile & Argentina ... or at least the one who did fight back the most ... the European injustices ... and this is what happens regularly to the statue of ROCA ... this was the statue yesterday atfer they cleaned just 3 months ago ...... ROCA was a general of the Argentian army who took on his shoulder and on his rifle the responsibility to bring here what we in Europe called civilization ... and here they called massacre ... invasion ... and injustices ... honently I can't blame the guys who painted the statue ... the red statue ... gives an idea of what probably this guy did ... simply killed innocent people ... who were living here ... I happen to know all these things chit chatting with some local people in the local Book Fair ... there I met also Carlotta, Patricia and Carlos ... we start speaking about travelling and Patagonia and Italy and solo travelling and local culture and Mapuche and borders with Argentina ... and we ended up drinking MATE ... the national drink ... the perfect way to consolidate a friendship ... even if short ... mmmm... I should make a post about MATE ... anyways ... here is the picture we took at the end ...... really nice to share with local people my thoughts ... and hear their ideas ... and not always seeing tourists with backpack around you ... and Carlotta was definitely the one who understood the most my SOLO travelling idea ... she had been travelling thru Europe ... SOLO ... almost 30 years ago ... back in the 70ies ... really an example ... mmm ... I think I took the right decision to chill out in town and not get in the tourists packed bus hiking to the mountains ... I loved to share the mate with them ... and hear their stories ... and share mine ...

PATAGONIA MI AMOR

... time to leave PATAGONIA ... really sad about it ... it is like to say goodbye to the perfect lover I haven't completely loved ... a lover who showed me what is the real happiness ... and I simply don't have anymore time to spent with her ... yes ... together we could been so great ... the perfect couple ... but we can't do it ... she is probably ... already in love with someone else ... and I have to turn my shoulder to her and leave ... my real life is waiting for me ... I have a flight Friday night from Santiago de Chile ... gggrrr ... sounds so wrong ... or probably this was just a dream ... it never really happen ... or probably just new adventures are waiting both of us ... at the same time I look back to this perfect PATAGONIA sunset ...... and I don't really know if I want to leave ... but again ... if I will stay ... I am sure ... that I won't be able to deal with all her lovers ... I am confused ... I don't know anymore ... if I have to leave ... if I want to leave ... if she wants to leave ... if she has to leave ... or if our love story ... simply ... can't continue ... because she is like this ... nobody can really control her ... she is one of these women ... who have been created to love ... create happiness from a simple meeting ... make people dream ... and eventually make them love more their own life ... that is exactly what PATAGONIA is all about ... a wonderful woman ... with an incredible desire of adventures ... never tired of changes ... who is never complaining ... with perfect curves ... with the perfect voice ... the perfect way to speak to you ... not always sweet ... she can be tough ... but you know .. that it is just the rain before the rainbow ... a woman you will never forget ... and you will always use as a reference for all the women you will meet after her ... but in a good way ... because you know that love exists ... and you know that if you will look for it ... you will find again love ... one thing is for sure ... I will envy ... big big time ... anybody who will be able to know PATAGONIA ... because I am sure they will fall in love with her ... and she will return all their love ... so ... if you will visit PATAGONIA ... good luck to you ... I need to ask you just a favor ... give her a kiss for me ... hopefully she will remember me ... :D

PENINSULA VALDEZ, Argentina

... here it is ... PENINSULA VALDEZ, Argentina ... one of the magical places that I wanted absolutely to visit during thi trip ... not sure if this name is tellling you anything .. but PENINSULA VALDEZ is the biggest breeding area for the whales in the entire world ... in the peak season you can find here 11,000 whales ... and their number is increasin at a rate of 7% per year ... and the area of the peninsula is really small ... and there is 100% probability to see whales here ... so you can understand ... that I couldn't miss it ... and on top of that ... you can also watch other WILDLIFE ... like SEA LIONS ... SEA ELEPHANT and if you are lucky also ORCAS ... we didn't see the ORCAS ... but the rest ... especially the WHALES had been fantastic ... like a small dream ... this is the end of the breeding seasons so the number of whales isn't at its peak ... the male have already left towards south ... and the mother and the baby ... are start to follow them ... in 1 month here ... you won't be able to see whales anymore ... but don't worry .... if you want to visit this place ... the period you can do it goes from JUNE to mid DECEMBER ...so ... just plan your trip ... and come here ... :O ... anyways ... the way you can see the whales now is only by boat ... and after 10 minutes of navigation ...... you start seeing something amazing ... something I have seen only in TV before ... whales jumping out of the water .. just few meters in front of you ... ... believe me ... this trip was worth only for this trip to PENINSULA VALDEZ ... with the PERITO MORENO ... this is definitely ... one of the most amzing things I have ever seen in my life ... once the boat got into its position ... (it is not allowed to chase the whales ... the idea is that they will have to approach the boat if they like) ... more incredible things did happen ... here a whale getting close to the boat ...... or this pictures with two whales into it ... a back of a big one just five meters from the boat... and the tail of an other one in the background ... we had so many whales ... that at a certain point I thought they were fake ... :O ...... or like the mother that is helping her baby to swim and fish ... you can see the back of two animals in this pictures ... so close to the boat ...... or this whale which passed at least 4 times underneath the boat ... to a distance ... that I could have touched it ... if I wanted ...... simply amazing ... and these are other pics of a whale playing with the tail ... you should hear the SPLASH sound of the tail ... really divine ...... I just loved it ... I did expect a lot from this boat trip ... and honesty ... it was really stunning ... being there was eally amazing ... the only disappointment was that the tour was only 1h and 15min ... I would have loved to stay there an entire day ... or even more ... to know better about these animals ... mmm ... probably in my next visit ... :O ... if you get here in June, July ... you can see all of them getting into the peninsula from the mainland ... can you believe that!?!?! ... 11,000 whales one after the other ... like in a dream ... mmm ... I think I will have to rent again the movie WHALES RIDER ... :O ... mmm ... after the boat trip we went also to see an SEA ELEPHANT colony ... really nice ...... if you are lucky ... here you can see ORCA that attack the SEA ELEPHANT ... directly on the beach ... we weren't lucky .. or maybe .. the SEA ELEPHANT were lucky today ... but while I was there ... in my head I could still hear again and again the SPLASH sound of the whale tail in the water ... or their breathing ... a sound which will be difficult to forget for me ... :D ... our guide was a Austrian girl ... and she told me she was there for the first time in her life for the season ... but she is working very hard to come here again next year and next year again ... :o ... I can't blame her ... that would be a nice way to spent a part of my sabbatical year ... I am thinking about it ... :D