HEAVEN

Today I didn't have much time to get in any serious adventure ... but I was lucky enough to see an other wonderful sunset ... and take this picture ... that I love ... I hope you like it as well ...

HAWAII IN N OUT

So, if you are wondering how my days are here .... this is my working week in Hawaii ... 9 hours in the training room, trying to concentrate ...... and just a couple of hours outside ... enjoying the palms, the blue sky and the ocean breeze ... a paradise ...... and I just love it ... especially when the wind is blowing like it was blowing today just before sunset ...

HAWAIIAN SUNSET

The beauty of tonight sunset is something that goes beyond my ability to describe it ... and even if these pictures are pretty ... they don't tell how I felt when I watched the sun set tonight ... enjoy it ...... and believe me, life is too short ... play dirty ... and do whatever you can ... to visit Hawaii at least once ... before it is too late.

VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK

Volcanoes National Park is one of these places you really need to see before you die. And it is the main reason why lots of people is visiting the Hawaii Big Island. And today I went there. And even if it was the second time that I visited it, believe me, it was amazing ...The real miracle is that I managed to get up at 5.30AM. Yesterday nite I set the alarm clock, but honestly I didn't really expect to make it. In the last days I really have an hard time to wake up at 8AM and go to work. But probably that tells a lot about how much I am excited about the work I am doing lately. Never mind ... :o The reason why I wanted to get there before sunset was to check the vapor steam from the Kilawea caldera. They are more visible in the morning after the nite humidity drops into the cracks at the bottom of the caldera. Really nice. Especially because, when I got there, around 6.30AM I was the only person around, so the silence made everything even more special ...... and these are the steam vents ... really nice ... and pretty hot ...... everything here is magical. And so powerful. I guess it is difficult to understand until you don't see it with your eyes. Here is how the road and the cars look in the middle of mountains of lava ...... and here are a couple of guys I definitely envy today ... bicycling the Volcanoes National Park ... something I would like to do one day myself ...... today for me was only pictures ... here on of me ... on the edge of the Kilawea caldera. Definitely I was wearing the wrong sweatshirt for this National Park ...I guess the beauty of this National Park is in the uncommon and enormous and incredible landscapes you have ...... but also in the incredible beauty of the small details. Like in the shape that the lava takes once it cools down ...... and in the power of the nature, able to reborn from such destruction ... it is really something special to see a green plant pop out from the black lava ...... who knows. Maybe the environment will be able, one day, to recover also the destruction the human beings are making. Hopefully. This is an other amazing site to visit. This is a lava tube. Basically the lava used to flow here. The external part cooled down. And created a kind of a tube. The lava stopped to flow. And these incredible tubes got crated. Pretty impressive. Apparently this one that I visited is 500 years ago. So lava was flowing here when Columbus discovered the American Continent ...And this was supposed to be the highlight of the day. The lava flowing into the Ocean. Because it needed a 4 hours hike I decided to skip it and take it easy on my Achilles tendon. I didn't hike till there. This is the picture I took after 10 minutes hike ... far away the columns of steam for the lava dropping into the Ocean ...... I was a kind of relieved, when I asked to some hikers and I was told from them that after that long hike there wasn't much to see even close by. Apparently the lava is flowing underneath the existing crust and it is difficult to spot red lava. Maybe I will go to check it next weekend, if my tendon will feel better. Mmmm ... last, but not least, an advice. If you are going to park your car, try to follow the NO PARKING signs. Trust me ...

CRUISING in HAWAII

I am lucky. I am definitely lucky. There is no other way to describe the fact that my boss sent me here to Hawaii for a training. And I am also extremely happy to be that lucky. So here I am. I am in Hawaii. Big Island. Today I drove around, trying to enjoy as much as I could the beauties of the Big Island. My list of favourite places is really really long, but definitely Hawaii has a special place in the list. the weather changes a lot depending on what side of the island you are. On the Kona side it is pretty much always clear ...... while on the Hilo side, it is pretty much always rainy. Hard to believe but Hilo, Hawaii is the rainiest city in the 50 US states. Even more than Seattle! Driving I met also this nice group of whale watchers ...At the begin I didn't really see all the wales they were spotting but after a while I managed to see them splashing into the water. Not as exciting as on a boat in the Ocean, but definitely better than in TV ... :D ... I also went to splash myself into the Ocean ... really nice ...... and while I was there I met also a new friend a Honu, the Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle ...... even if from the picture you can't appreciate the size, believe me, it was more than 3 feet (i.e. 1 meter) long. Really nice. While I was in the water waiting for the honu to re-emerge to take a picture I was thinking how poor of natural beauties is our daily life in the cities. We need to go to Internet to check how a turtle looks like ... well ... at least we have Internet ... :) And here a very nice piece of coast on the Hilo side of the island ...... and these are guys hiking down to go camping and surfing ...Unfortunately, my Achilles tendon is still bad. So I can look them only go down. No hiking for me. And of course Hawaii is not only wonderful beaches and palm trees ... unless you spend all your time in a resort ... and especially for the natives, life is pretty expensive and tough and if you visit the villages where the real people live you can find a lot of run down buildings ...... and also a lot of very fat people, because of the poor food they are getting, with the little money they are making.

9 DAYS in HAWAII

I know you will hate me. But it is all true. My luggage is not ready yet, but I have very tight in my hands this wonderful LONELY PLANET guide ... tonight I a flying to Hawaii. For 9 days I will be in the Big Island (its proper name is Hawaii). 4 days of work and 5 days wandering around. Surprise, surprise I don't really have a plan. What I know is that I am plying to the Kona airport. What else? Yes, for tonight I reserved for $32 a room with shared restroom in a small village called Captain Cook. The lady told me that she will leave my key outside the room, because I will get there too late for her. I don't know what I will do during the weekend. From Monday to Thursday I need to work. What else? I will go to visit the Volcano National Park. Apparently there is lava flowing into the Ocean in these days but I don't think I will hike, because I need to take it easy due to the inflammation I have in my right Achilles tendon. I am also planning to update my blog.

And of course if you want a postcard from the paradise, just drop me an email with your street address ... :D

RIGHT ACHILLES TENDON

My right Achilles tendon is killing me. It really hurts a lot. I think my last long run, 10 miles up and down hill was too much. An other time I have to change my plans for the marathon. But it is OK. I just need to take it easy for few weeks, I guess. I just hope I won't end up with a surgery like Leif. This morning he had a early surgery in hi meniscus. This is when I went to pick him up at the hospital ...... I guess we are simply getting old ... :D

AMERICAN PSYCHE

Today I was speaking with my neighbour Loy ... we discussed about the differences between European and American people ... I think we spoke for half hour and at the end he came out with this brilliant catch phrase I never heard before ... Americans buy things they don't need, with money they don't have, in order to impress people they don't even know ... that left me speechless. That is exactly what I had in mind. Yes. This phrase explains a lot about the American psyche. Accurate but pretty scary, though.

WEAR SUNSCREEN

Today I was IMing with a colleague of mine and at the end he wrote me something like ... wear sunscreen ... Sunscreen? What do you mean? I thought he was joking with me about the fact that I am living here in Southern California. But he wasn't. So he sent me this ...... I love it, and I think all my friends will love it. I love it all. Today I was concerned about my Achilles tendon, that is hurting me forever in these days, but this video made a miracle. I forgot about it. It really lifted my mood. If I could choose something out of it, I think I will choose the part and it says ... do one thing, everyday, that scares you. Yep, I think that message was for me. And of course I think I will follow the initial suggestion. I will wear sunscreen ... :D

CONFRONTING MY FEARS

When this morning I woke up, one of the first thoughts that I had was a sentence that I read yesterday on this book. The book is a autobiography of Muhammad Ali and the sentence was speaking about fear. So I took the book from the floor and still in bed, I searched for it. Until I found it. Mohammad Ali (actually at that time his name was still Cassius Clay) speaks about his fear to fly, and the fact that he almost missed the 1960 Olympic Games because of this fear. So he thinks to a sentence that his dad was used to tell him, and the sentence says something like this. "Always confront the things you fear" and later he concludes that "If I let fear stand in my way, I would never have accomplished anything important in my life". I love them. Probably you think it is silly, but I have the feeling that these sentences were the keys I was looking for. The keys to open a door in my heart and step in a new room of my life. BTW, in case you don't know how it went for Cassius Clay ... he did fly to Rome and he won the 1960 heavyweights Olympic gold Medal.

JUST RELAXING

Today was one of those days when I don't want to go anything but relax. No run. No Yoga. No bicycle. Not even surf. So instead of going down to 2nd Street with the surfboard, today I just went to the beach with my camera to take some pictures ...... and even if the waves were really sweet, and the guys were having fun surfing ...... I was just too tired to even think to get into the water. I guess the Saturday morning hangover, after Silke's birthday party, was still hitting my head and my body. Or probably I just did run too much. So I went back to my porch to have a nice breakfast and read a book. I am reading a short book. Very inspiring. It is the autobiography of Muhammad Ali. Very nice.

AIRLINE BLANKETS

Jake is back again. This time is a complete surprise. His company sent him here to LA for few days and of course we just love it. He will be here for three days with us. And we are just happy. And guess with which airline did he fly today?Yep, you got it. I think I gave to Jake the idea to take the airline blankets as asouvenir ofmemorable trips. Or maybe no. Anyways, I have only 2 of them. I took them on my first flight with Hawaiian Airlines. I took them to remember my first flight to Hawaii. One blanket for the flight LAX - Honolulu and an other for the flight Honolulu - LAX. January 2004. Exactly 3 years ago. That has been such an incredible trip. Being sent to Hawaii to work for two weeks. I think that trip changed my life. Too long to explain why. But it did it.