Förra helg reser jag med min flickvan till Bergen för fosta gång. Vi ville att resa där för mycket år .. se att fjordar och vackert natur. Naturen var så vackert där. Du behöver mycket pengår att äta och dricker(alkohol) i Norge .. men vatten är gratis och bra. Om du vill också reser där ... bara gå ! Du kan äta Showarma och andra delikatesser ... de som är mycket billigare :) Norge är bara vackert.

*Och du kan se och prova en Tesla bil om du vil :)

This year, around April or May i decided to finally look for a place to play and learn a bit about Beach Volleybal. I had seen posters,websites and tournaments being announced everywhere , but had never decided to take the last step.

This time around i did. I just repeated what i had done a few years earlier when i wanted to play basket somewhere around Lisboa. So i wrote a few clubs told them i was a young promise in world basketball and one of them answered. We went on to remain unbeaten thoughout the year. (please change the word unbeaten for winless in the previous sentence) . In fact we won 1 game against portuguese TV powerhouse RTP. (you lame tv show hosts!!!) It was a great time and altough we didn´t have much of a team we had a great time togheter and i could do what i liked most at the time .. play Basket.

Now that i´m older than your average teenage kid , time had finally come for me to stray away from Basketball and turn to one of those Summer sports i couldn´t stop playing in those everlasting afernoons in Sao Martinho do Porto, ever since late afternoon soccer became a no-no due to the ammount of people on the beach. Beach Volleyball.

Here in Barcelona i found an amazing group of people that regularly get togheter to play beach volleyball. What more could one ask for ? I learned a whole lot with them and specially from the blond girl in the picture who´s now going to live/work/study in Kiwi land. This was our last trainning session with Susana in charge of the whole gang. (in the picture we had already taken a cup or two of a nice Moscatel brought by Charlie - last in the back of the picture)

I think i´m finally ready to beat those brothers we almost allways lost to, in the Salgado tournament we managed to organize year after year in the Summer. At long last i know what they mean with those finger gestures players do ... took to long to learn !!!   If you´re in Barcelona , if you´re coming to Barcelona and you like/love to play BeachVolleybal ..just bet in touch with me/us.

http://www.getvolley.com/

08:16 Hem entrat al avió i despres que un Venezuelano s'hagi oblidat del seu DNI ... Vam baixar tots del avió i tornar a entrar al mateix lloc ... Aqui tenim les fotos de nosaltres mirant el avio desde fora , a dins del bus i un altre vegada a dins .. amb molt de sono!

09:09 Agafem per menjar un Bag de M&M, 1 Muffin de chocolata i un te pel coll de la minina! El nostre flight attendant es de Belo Horizonte. E fala portugues como la Anna! Ara queda 1 hora per arrivar a London Gatwick...

  

10:34 Hem arrivat tard. El avio va parar al mig del sud d'inglaterra i vam tenir que caminar uns 6kms a dins del aeroport. Vam perdre el primer bus de Easyjet i el seguent ja estava plé, tot per culpa del DNI del noi de Venezuela ! Ara a esperar ... en el fred intens que fa al carrer !

 

13:35 Hem arrivat al hotel , la noia russa ens ha informat del esmorzar i que el codi per entrar al B&B es el 5456 (aixo es secret). Per la wifi la password son 10x0 . Dinem en un lloc de menjar de Sri Lanka i India, molt a prop de Buckingam. El primer plat molt picant i els segons MOLT bons ... Chicken Tika Massala & Samossa (£29.43)

17:38 Tornem al hotel despres de passajar per Buckingam , St George Park , Tamesis etc. Hem jugat amb les ardillas un montón i hem agafat a Victoria Station uns Muffins per la nit! (£4 per 4 Mufins... En una capse super fixe que portarem cap a Barcelona). Casi no trovavem la nostre clau numero 3 al B&B... Tenen un equipo de Noias Russas treballant tote la estona al hotel . Nem a dormir , estem MOLT cansados daquest primer dia de Sol a London Town...

Desprès de molts anys he tornat a les illes del Mediterrani. Aquesta vegada ha sigut Menorca. Fa 5 anys vaig marxar de Lisboa amb bitllet de Tren cap a L'Europa i vaig arribar a les illes de Grècia e Turquia. Va estar molt i molt be. Desprès he anat cap a Tailàndia i altres llocs amb més o menys illes .. ara finalment he "tornat a casa". Entre cometes perquè la meva casa es molt més el Atlàntic que el Mediterrani , Peró ja fa un temps que estic en aquest costat de la península .. i tan dolent no es la cosa en aquest Mar. Un parell de fotos de la meva Estada al Maig en aquesta illeta petita. Ah ..i aquest estiu tornaré cap al Setembre ... desprès de una setmaneta a Portugal. Tugoland forever.

Haridwar é uma cidade santa no norte da India a umas 4 horas de Nova Deli.

Em 2006, depois de 4 dias num Raft baixando o rio Alaknanda (e depois o Ganges até Rishikesh), dei por mim nesta cidade á beira rio plantada. A gente do acampamento de Rafting deixou-me aqui ao meio dia e fui á procura de sítio para dormir. "Escolhi" um sítio manhoso , mesmo em frente á enorme estaçao de comboios é que no dia seguinte tinha uma viagem de 14 horas até Orcha e nao queria arriscar a perder a minha ligaçao.

A few years ago i passed through this city that i remenbered today again and again. Stayed here for just 48 hours but it was more than enough for me to enjoy plenty in this old Portuguese colonial city. There's still a strong Portuguese sense and comunity and a Portuguese descendant is owner of the famous Air Asia low cost airline, the biggest in Asia. If you happen to pass near this city in the near future don't hesitate to stop and enjoy a good time. Sweets, some nice eateries and bars and a lady that cuts hair quiete nicely :) (photos after the break)

BERLIN (early this year)

For a long time i wished to land in Berlin. I finally did it in the beggining of this year for a cold weekend break in Germany. Fast cheap flight and arrive to our hostel amid a few danger moves on ice.  Tried one of this "free" tours through Berlin for almost a whole day. Spanish version ..hehehe. It was quite entertaining, with this spanish guy talking about and explaining a few things on the city and it's history. We walked around the main part of the Easter Berlin for a few hours passing through the Brandenburg Gate, the jewish memorial, checkpint charlie and so on... and a chocolatier that looked amazing and made us comeback by metro on our final day there. It was so sleepery on the sidewalk that it made it dificult to walk around and extremely tiring also. Loads of photos. A few weeks before heading to Berlin i got me and Anna two tickets for a movie session on the Berlinale film festival  "El Mal Ajeno". It was in original language so that was much better than german language that i do not yet master. I may be getting back one day . Who knows?

LISBOA (May)

Surprise, surprise! Everyone knew but me. For my birthday, my Anna sent me on her company to Portugal, Lisboa. My soccer team (Benfica) was about to win their first championship in 5 years or so and i was there to witness it live on Estádio da Luz. I remenbered perfectly the last time we won , how we hit the streets horn screaming out loud. First we had to infiltrate the stadium .. we had 2 tickets to diferent parts of the stadium and that wasn't good ... so, she jumped the fence and just entered without any problems. It was a lousy lousy game .. but , we won! So it didn't really matter cause we were all happy. Maybe i was happier than somebody else ... after horning my way up to the center of Lisbon i met Flip,Paula,Frade, Sara and the guys for the street party that followed the championship win. It was Great!!!

 MARRAKECH (June)

We went to Marrakech for a few days of relaxing on the swimming pool. I found a nice place on the outskirts of the city (15Kms) that made us feel we were in heaven. Birds singing, 3 swimming pools and rose petals everywhere. That's what we call life. One day we also went with a guide to the center of Marrakech to wonder around the old city. We only had 1 day to spend there, that's why we tought of going there with a touristic guide. He took us to the Royal tombs, one amazing palace that in the begining just seemed like nothing and in the end it's wonderfull, with gardens and decorated rooms. We also went to one of this carpet places where they tried to sell us something we did not want. I'm not a carpet person i must say .. but after a tea and a couple of unconfortable moments we safely arrived to the final NO, thanks! We went for some chicken (again) and afterwards hit the souks on our own , so that we could be harassed as much as possible by the people trying to sell stuff. We bought a pair of things , including Babuskas hardly fought for. Were they too expensive? On our last night i asked for a triple chocolate cake from our hotel and they delivered big time ...cause it was absolutely delicious . hmmmmmm

era uma vez. era uma vez que sempre seria igual a todas as vezes. e por muito igual que sempre fossem todas essas vezes , sempre sempre era uma vez diferente. Mais fria . Mais quente. As pessoas, boas. Os momentos lentos. Cantaria qualquer um dos exitos mais sonantes to sempre afável Dino Meira mas a minha voz , já deixou de sêr quem era. Imigrante com vontade de voltar, Imigrante com sabor a pasteis de nata e noites semi-gloriosas do Benfica. Amanha dia 25 estou aí .. como na minha felicitaçao de natal, num país perto de si.

In the line of European countries that get nowehere, Portuguese always felt a lot like Belgians deep inside. Small country, Small people, Small feelings? In the past we got to the end of the known world .. and now they have the main house in the European Union. I´d say they're better than us. I've heard there are a few diferences between them, In Portugal we also face something like it. The problem is we're too lazy to do anything about it. Unless Spainiards invade us we're ok with our little tiny mini wars between north and south. I don't even think we qualify for having north and south wars .. i allways tought that was reserved for bigger countries like Italy, Korea, Rio Grande or the United States of America. I guess that if you take more than a walking day between 2 of your main cities , that's something that tags along. N/S. I was blessed a long time ago to discover one kind of me. I met a girl one day wich i enjoyed calling the Belgian Me. It wasn't that acurate but had a lot of truth in it .. in the end this person was way better then me .. wich it's something i'm proud of. Not many times you're faced to an alternative version of yourself and you realize it's good .. much better than you. Ingrid , my belgian me. Thank you.


IN COMMOM
They have a little boy that pisses without control on a tiny street ,old Brussels. We have a stone tower in the river Tejo .. that can house a little pissing boy anyday he feels like it. They have chocolate , we love eating it. My soccer team Benfica is called the "Red Devils", Belgium soccer team is called  "Red Devils". In fact both teams should be called "The so-so Spookies" due to their amazingly sad outcome these last decades or so. They have mussels we love clams. They listen to Vaya con Dios, we have Madredeus. Too much? Too little?

Belgium ... love it or leave it.
Portugal ... just leave it.