the Earth-bound adventures of the Lost and Found

(taking a break from the Southern Germany tour series...) 06 to 09 July 2009 - Faro, Portugal. First time in Faro to enroll. Vestiges of the summer that was. Better late than never!

06 September 2009. On the second day, we went to Germany's most famous castle, Neuschwanstein. It's especially famous because Walt Disney patterned the Disney castle logo after it. It was built by "crazy" King Ludwig in the 1800's, with each room themed after one of Richard Wagner's operas (you can imagine what a big fan he was). Unfortunately, no cameras were allowed inside the castle, but it was indeed whimsical with one room having a thousand swans (on the walls, chairs, vase--guess which opera?) and one passage built as an artificial cave. Too bad the king only lived there a hundred or so days before he died mysteriously (murdered, according to my theory). The other smaller castle between the lakes is also opera-themed. Instead of going up the road like the busloads of tourists, Michael had the brilliant idea of hiking up to the castle by the river with the really cool waterfalls. Lunch was by the alpine lake--and yes, it's even more magnificent than ...

06 Sept 2009. Before things could get too busy with the thesis (and the days start to get cold), I decided to get the southern Germany trip done with and visit Michael, whom I had met in a (quite cinematic) chance encounter two years ago in Dumaguete. He had driven 8 hours north to come visit in Hamburg a few weeks back (where we went paddling in the canals and the lake), and so I took the 12-hour train ride south with my classmate Christina, from India, and see the more touristic states of Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg. For the first day, he took us to Lindau, on the shores of the Bodensee (Lake Constance in English), with a view of Switzerland, Austria and the Alps, and around Ravensburg, the "city of towers", where he lives. Fortunately, his new car got the flat tire when we were on our way home and not while we were speeding on the autobahn :P

28 a 31 mayo 2009, La Herradura, Almunecar, Spain. Scientific Diving class on the Mediterranean side of Spain, and a trip to Granada afterwards (but no pictures here yet).

GKSS Research Center, Geesthacht, Germany.

lost and found by Jeneen R Garcia Published on 29 August 2009   From the large window of my room, I see the garden blooming with roses, hibiscus and petunias, magnificent red-black butterflies alighting to sip the nectar from the heart of them. A box of cherry tomatoes grows outside on the balcony, the stalks bent, heavy with fruit. It is August again. As typhoons sweep through the Philippines, summer shines its lovely face upon the usually chilly northern hemisphere. Two years ago on a humid August night, I was sitting by the sea on Dumaguete’s boulevard, d reaming of Germany as a newfound friend asked if I would want to come and visit. Summer had already passed in my part of the world, yet freedom and possibility tasted just as fresh. One year later, I found myself standing at the wharf of San Francisco in California upon the invitation of another unlikely friend. The newfound friend had become a distant dream, but now Europe was a reality. I had just received a sch...

25 de junio 2009. After a walk on the beach in the morning in Tarifa, over strange rocks and under a pine tree forest, we proceeded to Bolonia, which I had read about in passing and sounded interesting. I have to say that this was one of the greatest finds on the trip, with its intact Roman ruins, desert-like sand dunes, and clear blue waters where we were finally able to snorkel (but with our swimming goggles :P). The original destination for the trip was actually Los Canos de Meca, where England won the final battle against Spain, and where Nelson Trafalgar was fatally wounded. We had thought of going there since February, and so it was to be the last stop on the way back to Cadiz. By that time, my camera's battery was dead, so I don't have any pictures of the place, which is okay, because after all the places we'd been to, the place was actually a disappointment. The trip ended with a breakfast of our three-day old bread and honey the next day at the parque natural of ...

24 de junio 2009. Ronda, we discovered, was the birthplace of modern bullfighting (i.e. where the torero approaches the bull on foot rather than on a horse) as well as the headquarters of the Spanish Inquisition (!). Also, I have to say that literary greats such as Hemingway and Rilke have been there, and I can understand why they stayed awhile; I wanted to stay longer, too. Definitely one of my favorite places in Spain now. But then we had places to go and things to see. The general plan for the day was to head down towards the coast, stopping at interesting miradores or lookout points along the way. When we saw an interesting castle on top of a ridge, we decided to stop and explore, and that is how we discovered Gaucin. Castellar turned out to be a tiny, abandoned village inside a castle on top of a hill that had been taken over by artsy types because the original residents' farms were flooded when a dam was built. While looking for a campsite, we found this eerie place with b...

23 de junio 2009. Free of coursework at last, the traveling twins strike again. This time the plan was to do a road trip through Andalucia's pueblos blancos , the former territory of the Moors in the 1300s, and to do it camping style, which turned out to mean a very different thing in Spain. The first day consisted of cutting across the national parks in the mountains from Arcos dela Frontera, a tiny town with Spain's oldest altar and some saints' skeletons, until Ronda, a city built on top of a gorge. Some highlights from the first day....

09 de junio 2009 - Huelva, Spain. Blood-red Martian rivers and wildflowers from the desert. Field trip to Spain's largest open pit mine and the biggest pyrite belt in the world.

10 de abril 2009, viernes santo. Instead of flogging and self-crucifixion, suffering in Spain is defined as going under one of the statues brought out for procession and becoming a human wheel. This video was taken in Cadiz, where I live now. I was just walking home from the beach and decided to go through the old town because it was getting cold, and serendipitously ran into this procession, which I felt preserved the original atmosphere more than the one I saw in Sevilla the day before. I know, it's already the end of spring, and I should be posting videos of ferias instead. I will. But this was just too weirdly cool not to post ;D

04 a 06 de abril 2009. First time to set foot in Africa, and no less than in exotic Morocco, which is only a ferry ride away from Tarifa in Spain. Went with my Italian flatmate and his German friends. After quick visits to Tangier and Rabat, the capital city, we took the long train ride to Marrakesh, with its big square Djemaa El-fna populated with snake charmers, henna tattoo artists, musicians, and carts selling snail soup, spices, and nuts. All around the square were narrow, winding streets lined with Ali Baba's treasures--markets called souks with different streets for metalworks, carpets, leather, lamps, and everything else you've ever imagined you can find in an Arabic market. As expected, I thoroughly enjoyed the bargaining, just as they enjoyed the good fight. After the stern negotiations, we would smile, shake hands, and say goodbye. And always, they would ask where I was from. I'm afraid I've just created a reputation for Filipinos being barat :P But now, es...

20 to 22 Febrero 2009. Photos of Cadiz and the Carnaval, which people from all over Spain (and the world) come to and dress up for every February.

25 December 2008 and 01 January 2009. ...family pictures in New York and Connecticut, pre- and post-hair cut (plus streaks for the first time in my life ;P)