Sunday wander to Lagos.

Today's adventure was a lot quieter. I checked out of my Lisbon hostel and eventually made it to the bus station for my four hour bus journey to Lagos.

Arriving at 6 pm I was a little tired so I checked in my hostel and wandered the street for some takeaway food to chill at the hostel.

So far my first impressions of the Old Town Lagos Hostel isn't that great. It's small, cramped, overcrowded and I'm scared that the cheap IKEA bunk is going to break with me on top. I was also disappointed by the description when I booked it because it wasn't described as party hostel, like others in Lagos, so I expected some quiet. Unfortunately, its on top of bars and clubs so it's 1 am and all I hear are people partying, roaring music and booming base.

I hope that I will eventually be able to get to sleep for a sea kayaking trip I have booked tomorrow morning

Although the staff is friendly, I will not be recommending this hostel to anyone.

Saturday in Sintra and evening sardines adventure

I woke up early Saturday to book an extra evening at the hostel in Lisbon because I decided to book a day trip to Sintra and Cascais and the tour was to return at 7 pm.

The group piled in the van at 10 a.m. to begin the westward journey. The light rain created a light mist adding a sense of mysticism. We walked through gardens around the city and through the small winding streets admiring history and charm. One of the shops we had the chance to taste various wines, jams, jellies and cheeses and we stopped into a shop for some traditional pastries.

We then visited the Quinta de Regaleira. A surreal mansion and gardens. Three of us (two fellow hostellers and myself) explored the grounds freely walking up and down through small passage ways trying to get ourselves lost in the history around us. We quickly found underground tunnels and galleries leading us to the Poço Iniciáto where we walked up the 30m nine tiered spiral bringing our imagination alive.

Our trek then continued to Cabo da Roca, the most western tip of Europe, where we felt the Atlantic wind blow though our hair like many have for centuries before us.

When we returned to the hostel, the three of us who together explored the wonderful Quinta de Regaleira, decided to go and wander the streets of Alfama for some food. During our adventure we quickly found a street party where we were had some drinks and eventually found a street restaurant with room for us to eat some grilled sardines.

Our sleepy walk back brought us back safely to the hostel around 1:30. 

Visiting Lisbon on foot

Friday was a day of exploration. I took advantage of the hostel  offering of free walking tours around certain parts of the city based on tips.

We visited the city district called Alfama, our tour guide was native to Lisbon and provided great detail and history lessons. Alfama, the oldest part of the city  as it is the only surviving district of the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. Walking the streets quickly bring you back in time. The streets are very narrow and winding. Architecture influence from centuries ago can be seen everywhere on the building facades

Preperations for the festivities scheduled to begin next week had already begun. Temporary stages and patios were being built and streamers hanging event decorated with Sardines.

After the tour, another hostel patron and I decided to visit the mediaeval Castle of São Jorge for the rumoured panoramic view of the city. The 6.50€ we paid enter was no disappointment. The view was simply breathtaking. After some time making use of our camera, we continued to explore the site. As we walked through we and create our interpretation of what it was like to live in the castle.

When we finished exploring the castle grounds we made our way back down through Alfama to the port where our tour guide had informed us we could do some free wine tasting and learn about the different Portuguese wines.

Of course time flies when your having fun and we realized that it was almost super time and we were exhausted from walking the San Francisco like hilly streets. So we parted ways and went to our respective hostels.

Lazy in Lisbon

I arrived in Lisbon yesterday around noon. I'm sure most of you may think that's a great time to arrive in a city. Usually I would agree with you but Wednesday was an action packed day for me that began at 6:30 a.m.

So you can imagine with an over night flight (where I didn't get much sleep), I was exhausted when I got here but like an all-star was tried to stay awake until a half decent time.

The Rossio Destination hostel wasn't hard to find at all. The instructions from my receipt were quite detailed. I was quite impressed and would recommend it to any one.

I spent the day exploring the streets on my own and being lazy hanging out with the free WiFi. My intention was to go on a Fado tour with the people at the hostel which began at 9:45 p.m.; however, I felt my grumpiness starting to rumble and knew it was time to hit the hay at 9 p.m.

So I went to bed and only to wake up for 8:30 a.m. on Friday on time for a free pancake breakfast. This morning I'm going to go on a walking tour and then probably go visit St. Georges Castle for the panoramic view and some other historical sites.

I'll keep you all updated!

City portals and dancing lights

As the plane took off in the night, I watched as the lights reflect through the portals and danced around the cabin walls.  I continued to enjoy my private light show, wondering if anyone else had noticed the magic happening inside the plane.

Then the gentleman with the window seat motioned for me to look out the portal. What a class act. The night was clear and the birdseye view was breathtaking. I thought to myself, how do birds ever convince themselves to land on a clear night?

Of course the downside of the red eye flight is the lack of sleep in a small cramped space. Didn't get much sleep on this one and I thank God that they provided a blanket. I used it as a shield to cover my eyes against the lights that were left on during the flight. 

Now I'm at Ponta Delgada Azores airport waiting to board for the second shorter lag of my journey to Lisbon.

See you soon Lisbon!

Boarding for Portugal

Well it's time to dust off the old blog for my trip to Portugal.

I'm currently sitting at an airport typing this waiting to board the first plane over an ocean to a foreign country.

This was a little bit of an impromptu adventure. That being said, I haven't had much time to prepare. My ticket was bought just a short time ago when I saw a window of opportunity to do some travel. So here I am with my backpack checked, no itinerary for the next ten days and a Lonely Planet book in hand.

See you in the morning Portugal!

A little photo essay of my trip to Kenya and Tanzania.

Here are a few pictures (of the couple thousand) I took while in East Africa.

Now, I am left to dream of the next time I will be able to wiggle my toes in the warm earth once again.

A baby giraffe at the Giraffe Centre in Nairobi, Kenya.

Orphaned Elephant at the Orphanage in
Nairobi, Kenya

Uno The Rhino found on the Safari in
Lake Nakuru Park, Kenya.

The Baboon found on the fence in Lake Nakuru Park, Kenya

"Hey, Mister Zebra how did you get your stripes?" - Lake Nakuru, Kenya

Some big cats looking at a giraffe in the Massai Mara Park, Kenya.

"Meow"  says the Lion in the Massai Mara, Kenya.

Two elephants grazing in Massai Mara, Kenya.

Even when there was no animals in sight, the beauty in
the Massai Mara was beautiful.

A view from Fort Jesus in Mombassa, Kenya.

The streets of Mombasa Old Town, Kenya.

A dust covered car in the streets of Mombasa, Kenya.

The spice doctor in Mombasa told us how use these spices (Kenya).

The view of Old Town Mombasa by sunset (Kenya).

A view of Hells Kitchen just outside of Melindi, Kenya.

The streets of Melindi, Kenya.

A spice tour in Zanzibar, Tanzania showed me more about spices.

Ginger Root on the spice tour on Zanzibar Island, Tanzania.

What a cacao pod  looks like. (Zanzibar, Tanzania).

What do kids do in Zanzibar for fun? Climb and jump off a tank just a few km's off the beach.

The Columbus Monkey found in Jozanni forest (Tanzania).

Kids playing in the streets of Zanzibar, Tanzania.

Stoney Tangawizi a great Ginger fizzy drink I discovered on Zanzibar.

Beaches on Zanzibar Island are beautiful!

The Indian Ocean, a beautiful place for a salt swim.

A hike in the Canadian Rockies.

Snow can be seen even during the summer months depending where you are

Some of the hiking trails are posted with signs allowing for the adventurer to continue at a pace that they are comfortable.

On this particular trail, this is what "more difficult" looks like at the beggining.

But don't worry, sometimes along the way there are resting spots where you can sit; enjoy the view, take in the silence and the nature around you.

But be warned, sometimes there are some steep areas so be sure to watch your step.

A little physical work lets you enjoy breathtaking sights like this one.

Along the way, there is even some nice little springs to be found.

Sometimes, even larger springs.

The sound of these bubbling rocks are more amazing then a recorded version.

A natural wonder.

These make shift stairs, helped a lot to climb that steep slope.

Even in the middle of a mountain a person can find the strangest things.

A little oasis found on the end of this trail before it was time to turn around.

The water was clear, blue and cold to touch.

My playground

When I was a kid, I was mostly found in my bedroom or running around in the neighbourhood or school yard.

As I get older it seems that my playground continues to expand. Lately my favourite spot to explore is the Canadian Rockies. There’s something about being surrounded by the massive natural wonders. It always seems to bring peace to my mind. 

Winter activities in the mountains are kind of obvious to skiing/snowboarding (along with other various snow filled things). The mountains continue to be fun filled even in the summer time. There’s hiking, swimming, rock climbing, zip lining etc. There’s something to do for everyone no matter what your budget.

I haven’t been everywhere in the rookies but so far my favourite places that I find myself going back time and time again are Jasper, Canmore and Banff.   It doesn`t have to be an expensive venture.  If you are willing to suck it up on a few luxuries, a person can still enjoy themselves and have activity packed days and not have to spend a pile of money.

I usually stay at hostels when I go (mostly because I have a fear of camping by myself). The hostels are also a great way to meet like-minded travellers.  Both HI (Hostelling international) and Samesun Backpackers have locations all over. For those that don`t feel like being in an actual town HI has some great `wilderness cabins`. Getting to these locations are a little bit tougher for those that don’t have access to a vehicles or transportation.

The great thing about hostelling is that there is usually a kitchen area where travellers can make and store their food. It gives the convenience of making lunch for your daily activities or even a nice homemade swanky dinner so you don’t have to break the bank with going to the restaurants.

One of my favourite things to do in the mountains during the summer months is to go explore the hiking trails. The best way of finding local trails is to visit the info booth. The rangers are a great resource to find routes with a little something special like some falls, or that great view.

Malaria prevention may cause an active imagination to be overly-active at night....

If you’ve ever gone on a vacation outside of your own country then you may be familiar with the vaccination process.

My adventure to Africa came with a high recommendation for anti-malaria. This recommendation came with several options in the form of taking pills. Option #1: was to take a pill once a day (there were several pills); Option 2#: was to take a pill once a week.

Seeing how I was going to be on vacation and didn’t want to remember to take a pill once a day I went with taking a pill once a week. The side effects were dreams. I didn't really care about this since I already always have nightly vivid dreams I figured it wouldn’t be much different than normal living anyways.

I realised I was wrong during the first couple of nights when I woke up from a dream that GIANT bugs were attacking me. Every time I closed my eyes I saw these bugs. So I threw the bug net away from me. I turned on the light and found my DEET bug spray and sprayed it all over me, then went back to bed.  I showed those dream bugs!

While on Safari, the tents had no power (luckily I had my trusty head lamp). I was dreaming that I was stuck in bug net and couldn’t get out. Seeing that we were in the middle of nowhere and I couldn’t see anything, I strapped on my head lamp around my head and turned it on.  The bug net wasn’t smothering me but unknowingly I left the light on most of the night. I noticed when I woke up when the lamp was around my head pointing to the top of the tent.

The dreams didn’t stop when I got home. They contine as I have to continue to take these pills for a little while even though I’m back (I guess it's part of the prevention). The weirdest dream thus far was the night I got back.

In my dream I stood there as I was taken apart. Not physically, but the essence of my being; the qualities and personality traits that help make me  As these parts of me were taken away from me, they were placed in tinted but clear Lego pieces. There were different coloured Lego pieces that represented different parts of me. One for my: love, empathy, joy, happiness, sadness, etc..

I watched as all these pieces of me were taken and placed into lego pieces until  all that stood before me were lego blocks holding my separated essence. I couldn’t cry because the blocks that held my sadness and frustration had my tears. I couldn’t be mad, because there was a block that held my hatred.

I stood there for awhile just looking at my blocks.

It felt like it all sat there for awhile until finally activity began with my blocks. Around me different projects began. Like the building of boats, cars, castles and homes... my lego blocks were mixed in with the regular pieces for all these different projects until there was nothing of me left standing before me.

Weird? I think so...

I think the moral of this story is if you ever have to take anti-malaria medication and the side effects say causes dreams, it means causes out of the ordinary dreams...

My travel through time...

My last plane ride to Calgary via Amsterdam was an 8-hours but because of all the time zones crossed it only looked like a 2-hour plane ride on paper.

Sitting near me was a man from Athens who could only spoke Armanian and Greek. During take-off this man graciously offered me a piece of gum. I remembered how to say "thank you" in Greek. Initially he took this as I could speak Greek. But my knowledge of the Greek language was exhausted after I said "I speak English". While I was trying to remember the Greek I had learned last year, for some reason Swahili words just kept popping into my head instead. I tried to help him the most I could and when it was time to fill out the customs card he motioned for me to help him and passed me his passport with a piece of paper for the address of where he was staying... So I filled in the information I could. I hope he has a wonderful visit in his Calgary stay.

Across the aisle in a row a head of me, I saw love.

You're probably thinking: How does one see love?

I saw it manifest itself in two people for each other. It was a vision that I can only hope and dream that one day I will have (with a husband that is currently only hypothetical since I don't even have a boyfriend).

It  was an older couple. I would assume they were in their 80's. During take-off the man wrapped his arm around the woman and she lead her head against his shoulder. It was during the flight is when I realised that she had a hard time walking and I helped reach for her walking cane that was located in the overhead compartment. Everytime she got up to walk to the bathroom, he would make sure that she was okay he would stand up and watch her and everytime she would then return to her seat and she would make sure that he was warm enough  with their shared blanket and hold his hand. I thought it was the cutest thing ever and got me to begin thinking what their love story could be...

My quest downtown Amsterdam...

So I have another extra long layover in Amsterdam  again on my way back home to Canada. After going through customs I took the train downtown to "Amsterdam Centraal" in search of graffiti.

It seems that I haven't seem much "street art" and I promised a friend that I would take pictures of anything cool I saw. What better way to spend a couple of early hours in Amsterdam?

As I was trying to get lost down the morning streets, I was walking down what seemed back alleys and garbage lanes (sometimes this is where the best wall art is located), I watch the streets come alive with people ridding their bikes. It was pretty amazing... I saw all kinds of people riding their bikes:

... little people following people that I can only assume were their parents
... people ridding  hands free
... people with wodden baskets
... people with plastic baskets
... hot men in hoddies
... hot men in suits
... some ladies in heels
... some of the people had just done some morning grocery shoping
... some women with baby on board in a rear mounted car seat
... some women with a cart in the front with two kids hanging out
... some people smoking wile riding down the streets
... some people were just taking their leasure time
... some people were visabily in a hurry
... some people decided to walk their bikes
... some people were talking and biking at the same time

There were just all kinds of bike ridders... made me wish that I had rented a bike...

Saying a goodbye to Africa...

Taking a ferry into Dar Es Salaam was the perfect way to enter the last night in Africa. There's something about coming into a town via the Port that always seems magical to me. As the land slowly begins to form and get bigger in the horizon so does the activity. It's like watching the land come alive.

I didn't get much sleep on mainland. I laid in darkness for awhile hoping that I will come back soon to Africa. I can only hope to one day dig my bare toes into the dirt and wisper a hello into the warm wind once again.

The plane took us from Dar into Nairobi for a six hour layover. The waiting game began.

There I sat next to a lady in the gate that I think many began to hate. But even though I didn't introduce myself I believe I adore her. She was middle-aged woman and she had a very large purse.

I have no idea what she was saying but she was on the phone most of the time. For pretty much most of the time she was not just talking, but yelling. She didn't seem mad as she had a smile most of the time and a very hardy laugh. Everytime she'd hang up the phone it's like she'd start to twitch with boredom and push random numbers on her phone then she'd pull out a three ring notebook loaded with phone numbers and names.

At first I thought she had three address books but she just kept on taking out notebook and journals that had what looked like endless amounts of names and numbers. Towards the end there were a few people sending her evil glares and she'd try to wisper but it would just get louder and louder with each word and her laugh. Then someone would look back at her again and give her a Tsk and cut eye. She'd take her hand cover her mouth over the mike as if that would make her quiet. I of course sitting next to her and would just smile  to her everytime someone gave her "trouble". It was my way of saying "don't listen to them".

I don't think my wait at the Nairobi airport would have been nearly as entertaining without her. Maybe next time I'll know more Swahili as that way I can converse with someone like her so they don't have to rake up their cell phone bill...

Soaking up Vitamin D...

WARNING THE SUN IS HOT: Exercise caution when by the beach on the Indian Ocean. You may begin to fry like that egg in the story "green eggs and ham".

Yesterday I took a trip up to Kendwa for the rumoured beautiful beaches of Zanzibar. Is it a rumor, when they are indeed beautiful?

The sand was smooth between the toes and the water warm yet refreshing against the skin. I don't think I"ve ever seen such white sand. It was beautiful next to the clean aqua that stretched into the horizon.

The breeze was so relaxing that I may have fallen asleep on my stomach. Thank goodness for my Aloe Vera Gel with Lidocane (highly recomended for those that burn like me).

Apparently due to the "Full Moon" Party  happening that evening it was considered to be really busy. Even the rooms were fully booked. I looked around but I couldn't see how it was busy compared to all other beaches I have visited in Mexico, Canada and the U.S. I would definately recommond Kwanda to anyone looking for a little beach Oasis.

Children at play....

Back where I currently live there aren't many children that play outside anymore. I can only assume that they are indoors playing video games or watching television.

I have to admit that it is quite refreshing to see children playing outside when I came here. Some play soccer while other's go swimming or play with sticks in the dirt.

I saw this one game some chilren were playing that had me giggling down the street for a few minutes. It included two children and a flattened piece of cardboard. I don't know the name of the game but here are what I assume are the directions.

How to play:

1- Place cardboard on the ground.
2- One child sits on cardboard.
3- Second child pulls as hard as they can to remove cardboard from underneath first child.
4- First child grabs bum in pain laughing.
5- Second child laughs and convinces the first child to do it again.
6 - Repeat steps 1-5.