Читаючи декілька років тому книги Карпи я мріяла бути божевільною мандрівницею, мати друзів розкиданих всюди по світу, бути всюди як удома і ніде не затримуюючись лишати речі, людей, коханих і рідних позаду, не шкодуючи ніколи ні про що, завжди летіти кудись вперед не уявляючи як воно буде завтра. Зараз пакуючи чергову валізку, подумалось мені - цікаво в мене таки вийшло чи як?
Okay kids, that unfinished portuguese fairy tale remains for better times. Just wanted to say that 6 months ago i crashed my laptop with all the crappy pics inside and have been storing undeveloped films and bumming around as i always do. but the end is close and that gives me that kind of undescribable feeling which is mixture of fear and unpatience, happiness and sadness, that if i have lost something, probably i will manage to find anything to replace and fix the mess which is happening in my mind. that's it.

All the days mixed into one big emotion, every minute was full of something to remember, but it appeared to be a bit difficult to recall and reconstruct everything after all. In three days we managed to take a open bus and tram ride, go for night walks, japanese robot dj show, flea market sale, celebrate one birthday, meet a ukrainian speaking guy from Cabo Verde and local photographer, write to loads of people, decide where to go and finally go! if i've forgotten smth let me know)

So again, four of us on the road running from car to car with a map, pointing into the location which was some kind of mysterious paradise beach on Alagarve coast. No luck for hours, and then... really nice lady, two dogs on the backseat, with names meaning - "drunk" and "get drunk" in some kind of weird african language. Three hour ride and we are standing in front of a restaurant which owner is our new host. Bye bye Maria Joao, hello Bilal viva Allah!
Since then some weird shit started to happen. He wouldn't let us in, he would change a price of food to higher with no shame, precisely describing how we should use his fucking shower and toilet and finally yelling at me, serving dishes with shaking hands just because i won't get that stupid pizza joke he told me. Okay, i admit i was cruel a bit, but it was such a fun seeing 40 year old guy going mad about nothing! friends seemed scared, to be honest i was worried if we'd wake up next morning as well. Listening to wind howling, laying under roof top we hoped everything would end well, we couldn't imagine what we are going to see tomorrow.

stuff by me, Le, n_o_v_e_n, oldyork

( yarr )

Two girls standing on the roadside, trying to get lucky a ride. Funny thing, you know watching drivers reactions on our hitchhiking gestures, made us laugh a lot. three guys on colorful vespas stopped by trying to pick us up, but with my luggage we just couldn't afford that. And then was a guy on shiny car, very intelligent and polite, who actually gave us a ride to the entrance door of our Lisbon appartment.
It didn't feel like capital at all, and i fell in love with that place from the very first day. As we were waiting for two more friends to come in a few days, many interesting stuff has happened to us. Natalie got her job at small restaurant, i met all the neighbors, she shared apartment with. Everyone is bright, extraordinary, awesome in it's own personal way. Artistic and elegant italian girl Stella, her surfer boyfriend Tit, working as photographer, cooking and psychology genius Jaime, messy and funny Dj Telmo. We got into new funny story with Le every single day. Once we went to historical spot at night to see it not overcrowded with tourists as it was during the day, and on our way back we lost our way. So we asked a driver at the gas station to call a taxi and he appeared to be one. So he was driving sooo damn fast, rolling a joint, sharing with us, giving his number and willing to become our personal driver all at once. There were absinthe shots, stalkers, mango breakfasts and hostel cooking, which was a good inspiration btw. Just in a few days we were rushing to the airport with two carton signs which said - Roma and Tania.
( lisboa )

Coming to Coimbra was spontaneously planned in few minutes, as we believed we took all we could from previous place and needed to change the scenery. New place- same task in finding home for at least one night. We crossed the fingers and sent requests to the most interesting CS guys, went off bumming around. For next several hours i've been discovering more and more portuguese way of doing everything. Studying, playing music, working, socializing, eating, partying. Student uniforms and strikes, fado, azulejos, nata pastries, bonitaaaa, raw meat at shopfronts, vinyl stores,TMI. It was town where Le spent 9 months of her portugese life, so she even managed to drag me out to hidden restaurant for only 20 persons with a line of people, who wanted to eat just in that place and nowhere else. Indeed that tiny place looked crazy at first sight - cause all the walls were covered with napkins and papersheets written by visitors, they were expressing gratitude and recommending dishes to the newcomers. There were old knives, and pork heads, old cameras and axes, really freaky and authentic. Then we set off to meet a guy, who could not host us...funny yeah, but he found another guy who could. Everyone appeared to be very friendly, nice, relaxed, crazy, talkative, just awesome. There were local drinks in small bottles, belgium beer, vino da casa, smth else, lots of faces and talks. never boring. So we ended that day at suburb mansion sleeping on a luxury double bed, viewing foggy forest from window at dawn. Next morning fighting with hangover at students canteen, begging for pills we were drawing on a cereal carton our hitchhike sign to Lisbon...

( only few )

Not seeing your best friend for almost one year can cause inadequate behavior, hyperactivity and unexplainable mood changes. So no wonder that when my plane was landing in Porto i wanted to scream, laugh and burst into tears all at once. Hopping of one tram to another and trying to read and remember names like Sao Bento or Batalha was even harder, because i knew this is we are finally gonna see each other. Both homeless, first time in Porto we drag my luggage to find a decent place to stay. Done. Next stop is Port wine and another bottle Le brought from Lisbon. So here we go - embankment - abandoned buidings - chapels - happy trashy photos - local cuisine - more wine - stupid local lottery - hostel. These flashbacks now seem short torn and incomplete due to overexcitement and amount of drank local pride. As we got everything we could from this place as it seemed, we moved on to another destination. Which was portugese student capital Coimbra. About that in a while.
( more porto )

...we've got fucked up , we've got so lucky.
Lago Maggiore - Locarno - Luzern - Thun - Offenburg - Heidelberg - Siegen - Dortmund.
The route we made together was great and unpredictable and we can be labeled as Hansel and Gretel as we were leaving something everywhere we stayed like films, tickets, clothes, photocameras or credit cards. Anyways managed to meet awesome people, money, warm clothes and unexpected surprises instead. Like yodeling lady from a second hand shop somewhere in Germany (while i was bugging everyone in CH to do that for me).
Stuck in Germany i was lucky to find a ride once again. so i went like this
Dortmund - Bonn - Frankfurt - then go some unknown german cities - Zurich - Lugano - Varese - home.

Loads of love and gratitude go to: luv, drago, tobs & lena, regina, rinu, all the guys from kidnap, andreas, sandra & eric, jana & jonas, andrey & tania, muntzer lady, phillip, rami, andrea, katrinaaa, martinique, dimitriy, nadia & pascal, chilly, rumpel, lady with huge dog on the backseat, guy who gave me final ride in the name of allah!

( ”бэ” )

This time I've checked it twice.
Milan (Bergamo) (BGY) to Porto (OPO)
Wed, 07Sep11 Flight FR4702
Depart BGY at 06:55 and arrive OPO at 08:35!
Coming soon!

After 2 months here I've got certificate confirming my elematary level of italian, fancy red dutch bike, full head of dreams, hopes and expectations, and these photos. I stopped wondering why everyone's staring, smiling, is willing to become victim of my photocamera instead of running away. I just continue exploring whenever i can reach.
( mannaggia! )

Running away in your direction,
It's started to feel like we're under protection
Of some higher powers
Of spirits of lovers
Of fairy creatures, who live in old kettles,
To make our tea taste like flower petals.
And I really don't know
How all things may go
But future is now
So let it be so.

( more places and faces )