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You are here: Home / Archives for friends

Flashback: Brazil

October 6, 2011 By Jillian

Truco!

We shouted over and over again. Truco! Truco! Truco!

It was as though no time had passed from our first meeting a year before.  Just as we had before, we sat around a table playing cards, unable to peel ourselves away from the game of tricks.

Playing Cards

Truco is a popular card game in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Spain.  Designed around trickery (truco means tricks in Portuguese), the game revolves around bluffing and distraction.  Cheating is not the name of the game; rather the idea is to distract your opponent through fast play, loud conversation, funny stories, etc…  The game is fast and furious, at least when you get a hang of it – it’s the perfect game to play with a group of friends over a round of drinks.

And that’s how we found ourselves, a year later, in the exact same position as we were in DC- sharing jokes, telling stories and generally trying to distract each other from the game.


Visiting with these friends- who had couchsurfed with us in DC -was our first opportunity to have a sense of “normal” on our journey through South America.   We had rushed through Eastern Bolivia to get to a tour we had won in the Pantanal and then flew to Rio de Janiero in time to celebrate the Jewish New Year.  Brazil up to that point had been a bit of a whirlwind so slowing down to take the time to play cards and enjoy the company of others was a nice break in our routine. They were the first couchsurfers we visited on our journey that had stayed with us and for a few days we had the comfort of not only a great place to stay, but also of friendship.  We wrote about how important it was to us at the time, but even now, looking back on it, I know our time in Brazil wouldn’t have been nearly as fun or memorable without the days we spent together.

Sure we visited a few museums and sites, and spent a whole day at the largest Oktoberfest outside of Germany (hehe), but mostly our time was spent hanging out, enjoying each other’s company and playing truco.  Our couchsurfers opened their homes to us and although we played a lot of cards, we also got to know their families and share stories and be normal.  It was the exact break we needed, a little truco to revive our travel mojo and get ourselves energized again.

Photo Credit: #1 courtesy of flickr user ccarlstead via creative commons licensing.  Other photos property of IShouldLogOff.

Filed Under: Flashback, Headline, Journey Tagged With: breaks, couchsurfers, friends, games

Haven’t we meet before?

October 25, 2010 By Jillian

IMGP8349The world is a small place, even on the road, and it’s not unusual for us to run into people again on this journey. Usually it is within the same country, but in Chengdu we were fortunate enough to run into our couchsurfing hosts from Buenos Aires. Of course it wasn’t exactly serendipity (no frozen hot chocolate either), but it was a welcome break to see a familiar face.

You never know when people are going to walk back into your life and sitting in the hostel one evening another surprise- in walked in an expat couple we had met in Xinjiang province. Small worlds collide in Chengdu and for a few days it felt like we were back at home hanging out with friends. Needless to say we spent a few extra days in Chengdu soaking it all in.

Thankfully there was a lot to do in and around Chengdu and we treated ourselves to a few special travel treats. Heading out to the country side we spent a day near Ping-Li, an old feeling village about 2.5 hrs from Chengdu. The town was touristy and although we spent a lovely afternoon being poled up and down the river on a reed boat drinking green tea and chatting away, the best part of the excursion was hiking through a tea plantation. Upon our arrival at the tea plantation we weren’t sure what was going on. We were served tea, but it became clear we had interrupted some sort of meeting. As time went on we became convinced we were part of a local communist party meeting, which may be in truth unlikely, but it still makes for a fun story.

IMGP8359Exploring the tea plantation and the bamboo forests surrounding it was peaceful and completely different than the chaos and hassle of big-city China. It was a relaxing way to spend a few hours and frankly one of the best things we did in Chengdu.

The other treat was the Chengdu Opera. Opera isn’t really the right word for the show we saw, it was more like a variety show, and although clearly for [mostly Chinese] tourists, it was very entertaining. From shadow puppets, to marionettes, to true operatic performances and violin-like solo’s, the show was lively and for the first time in a long time we had a taste of the local professional performing arts. Perhaps the most interesting part of the show was the up-close show by the tea-pourers. Holding the tea in large brass tea pots with spouts well over a meter long, the tea-pourers seemed to be able to shoot the tea out of the spout into your cup several inches away. It was an incredible presentation and not once did our pourer spill, even across four people!IMGP6096

IF YOU GO: Try to combine a tour of Ping-Li with a tea plantation. We hired our own taxi for the day through our guesthouse. Ping-Li is very touristy, but we enjoyed wandering around after dark. Trips to the Chengdu Opera shows can be arranged inexpensively through lodgings, and often freebies- such as a VIP upgrade (which basically just means unlimited green tea) transportation and a tchochky are included. We stayed at Sim’s Cozy Garden, after first staying at another less nice place….we recommend you do the same.

Filed Under: Asia & Oceania, China, Headline Tagged With: friends, normal, people, tea

How we became Italian, in Georgia

September 15, 2010 By Jillian

It all started with a heavyset, jolly Russian mini-bus driver. Surrounded by minibus drivers the moment we stepped from the taxi, he was the only one of the group going north to Kazbegi. Georgian isn’t an alphabet that we understand, so basically we’re like children, asking 1000 times which direction to go even though we might be standing right next to the sign. IMGP6878 As he walked us to his mini-bus he chatted away in Russian and Georgian, which we didn’t understand. Determined to make himself understood he asked if we spoke a number of languages. “Ruske?” he asked hopefully. “Net,” I said. “Georgian?” he tried again. “Net, Espanol,” I said hopefully. “Net.” he replied. “English,” I continued. “Net, Italiano?” he said with a huge smile. Terror struck my heart, I literally haven’t spoken Italian in five years, but before I could protest Danny said “si.” and the man’s face lit up. It turned out that his Italian was just as bad as mine. Through charades and a few Italian phrases we introduced ourselves and our Italian backgrounds.

Thrilled to be with us, he took us to a small bakery stall for breakfast and arranged for us to ride in another mini-bus to KazbegiIMGP5844. We were unclear what was going on, and his initial price was double what we were expecting, so we assumed it would be private. As we threw our stuff in the back of his friends shared mini-bus he was no where to be found. Our jolly, friendly and delightful Russian friend had taken our money and ran. Slightly perturbed, you can imagine my surprise when a few minutes later he appeared with small change to give us a refund. Delighted we shook hands several times and the mini-bus took off for the hills.

Kazbegi is the highest mountain in Georgia and we spent our time in the area hiking to a glacier, waterfall and monastery. The scenery was beautiful and although we were only 15km from Russia we never made it all the way to the border, which isn’t probably such a bad thing since we heard occasionally there are still shots fired across the frontier.

On our last day in Kazbegi, walking back from the waterfall near the Russian border, a white mini-bus stopped short on the cliff side road. “Italiani! Amici!” a voice boomed in the sunlight. Squinting to see the man’s face, I realized it was our Russian mini-bus friend from Tbilisi. IMGP6865Offering us a ride back to Tbilisi, we had a difficult time explaining that we already had arranged a ride back. With his passengers anxious to get back on the road, we exchanged phone numbers and went on our way. Standing with his number in my hand, Danny and I laughed, we could hardly communicate face to face, what on earth would we do on the phone?

That night, back in Tbilisi, we had our hotel receptionist call him and explain the situation. He was delighted to hear from us and called again the next day with his own translator. Although we shared only a few words in common, he invited us to his home the next time we were in Tbilisi and wished us luck on our journey.

If You Go: Mashrutka’s (mini buses) run regularly from Tbilisi’s Didube metro station to Kazbegi, expect to pay around 10 GEL for the 2.5-3 hr ride.  There is a hotel in Kazbegi but most travelers choose a homestay, which usually includes breakfast and dinner.  Expect to pay around 30 GEL per person for a double room, dorms are cheaper, but look first, many homestays cram too many beds into one space.  Trekking maps are available at the Mountain House, which also may have accommodation space and helps organize climbing and multi-day trekking trips.  Basic food & sundries are available in town, but the selection is limited.  There are tons of great day hike and day trip opportunities throughout the area which can be arranged in Kazbegi, ask at your homestay or the hotel.  Note that the Russian border is CLOSED to foreigners, only Georgians and Russians may cross.  At the time of our visit the area was very safe and quiet, but keep an eye on ongoing problems in bordering Russian states as well as relations between Georgia and Russia.

Filed Under: Europe, Georgia, Headline Tagged With: cultures, friends

Foodie Friday – Dessert for Birthday Breakfast

February 12, 2010 By Danny

In honor of a very special birthday (that would be my own) today we woke up to a wonderful breakfast of milk tart pie made special for us by our CS hosts (the same ones with which we started our South African adventure). It is a South African Milk Tart and it made for a perfect breakfast (and will make a perfect un-birthday dessert) so we thought we’d steal the recipe to share!

The filling:

4 (6) cups of milk
2 (3) T butter
1 (1 ½) cups sugar
3 (4) eggs
2 (3) T flour
2 (3) T maizena (corn flour)
1 (1 ½) t vanilla
Cinnamon (as much as you’d like)

Boil the milk and butter. Beat the sugar, eggs, flour and maizena. When boiling add mixture and stir all the time until filling thickens. Remove and add the vanilla. Pour into bases. Sprinkle with cinnamon. For the base/crust just use whatever pie crust you like the best. Graham cracker will work for most people but I can think of a few friends from DC who specialize in making a nice Oreo crust as well.

Filed Under: Africa, Cooking, Food, Headline, Pastimes, South Africa Tagged With: Birthday, foodiefriday, friends, holiday

Visiting Friends

October 9, 2009 By Jillian

We travel for the places, but the people are what make the places. You go somewhere and you meet certain people, have certain experiences and no matter how many times you go back to that same place, it will never feel the same again. Think about your travels, the people are the memories you have, not the actual places. It’s the same for us, no matter where we are its the people that make the best memories.

Last week we had a very unique opportunity to couchsurf with some travel buddies who stayed with us last year. In fact, they were the in Danny’s very first blog post. We did things that normal travelers don’t get to do like share in family meals and road trip to Oktoberfest, but we also got to hang out with our friends and have some down time. I’ll fully admit, without spending time with them Curitiba and Florianopolis would not have made our must-do list. Beyond not having to stay in a boring hotel or hostel (they all seem to blend together after a while, truly), its nice not to always have to introduce yourself and share your story. Sitting around the dinner table laughing at jokes translated into three languages, we really felt like we were in our own home back in our pre-travel life. I’m not going to lie, it made me miss that life a lot, but if we hadn’t chosen to do this trip we would never have meet these people or gone to these places.

Everyday, even outside of vacations and travel, you meet people and you don’t know who you’re going to connect with or even see again. As we like to say, we’re not traveling around the world, we’re just visiting new friends. 🙂

Filed Under: Brazil, South America Tagged With: couchsurfing, friends

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