Catching up on most of the tales

After a very long and overdue break, I’m BACK!!! With loads of stories to tell!

Ok, since Gibraltar I went to the Guadiana river (that splits Portugal from Spain), went to Lisbon and took a flight to Rio. Stayed in Brazil for about 3 months, then went sailing again. This time was just the guys. We went from Fortaleza, on the northeast of Brazil towards Bridgetown, in Barbados. It were 6 of us, 3 "grown ups" and 3 "young ones". We went fishing a lot and we went sailing without land in sight for about 11 days. Loads of dolphins to be seen. Barbados is simply jaw dropping, with some of the most amazing landscapes i have yet seen.

Lisbon

Barbados

After a few days in the island was time to return home, but not without a few stops. Went to Trinidad and Tobago quickly where all i got to see was Port of Spain, and try some of their spicy food and hear their oil drums interesting music style. Following that went on towards Venezuela for a few days, where i was based in Caracas, very nice city with very friendly people, although speaking english did not make me very popular, but the wonky spanish helped a lot..

Port of Spain

From there was back to Rio for a couple of days and back to Auckland. Made some great new friends and had some interesting job experiences, with motion graphics, a video for the We Love Inc launch party, and some works on comercials. Was a very rich experience.

From there, after some discussions, it was decided it was time to move on, so i went to Berlin for a few months, where i tried to learn german. I am way better now then before, as i spoke no german whatsoever and now i can order my meals and drinks without the use of english, but i guess i will still try to learn more.

Berlin

Now i am currently living in london, doing a training course at Escape Studios for compositing and from there i will move on to VFX. Am really looking forward for what is ahead, and will try to keep it all updated as frequetly as possible.

London

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Stromboli

After eight hours of sailing, we finally reached Stromboli, the stop over I looked forward the most in Italy, as it is an active volcano and is nearly guaranteed to see lava explosions from it. After a lot of bargaining, arguing about what to do and who to climb, it was decided: My father that had done the climb previously would stay behind on Casulo, to make sure that the anchorage was safe, while me, my step mum Solange and my two sisters Luana (9) and Marina (7) would do the trekking up the mountain. I am not a very negative person, but knowing the girls bedtime, reaction when they get tired and all, try to advise for them not to follow, specially as in my opinion it would not be something they would really crave to witness. With all my advises being ignored, we book, pay and go.

 

It is 990 metres up approximately. We are the last group of the day, and we are suppose to leave at 7:30pm, have a 2.5hs walking up, see the explosions for 1hr and have a 2hs walk down, reaching the bottom around 1am. The four of us. The start everybody is positive, thrilled, excited about the climb, fearless.

So we go on walking, the girls laughing, joking, asking questions. 100 metres, not a problem. When we reach 200 metres, not such hard work, but we all get pleased (myself included) for a little rest, get some water and hear a few facts about Stromboli and it’s younger and smaller neighbour, Strombolichio. The view is really nice, and the sun slowly starts to say “see you tomorrow”.

We keep on, now, without the view, we only have the goal to distract us. The girls unfortunately do not seem to share such a goal. The idea of a volcano, maybe for the lack of movies, and photos about it, doesn’t seem to have the same grandeur for the girls as it has for me and Solange. So we keep walking… The path starts to narrow down. We stop a couple of times for snacks. Re-fuelling the energy is essential. The weather starts to cool down, and without much light, Marina’s resentment of the dark grows exponentially. Another guide comes, and with all the bond the girls were making with the first guide being broken, the new one decides to speed up the pace and drag the girls by the hand, weather they want it or not. From there own all the laughter faded and i could hear way up ahead Marina’s nose running, from the crying she was trying to conceal. After another hour and a half, with the girls exhausted, we reach the top. Nothing really to see there as the fog is very dense, but the sulphuric smell can’t deny the fact we are really near. After the final rest (me being the only one not wearing a jumper, as the girls were shivering, and I was still a bit tired from the walk and euphoric about what I’d soon witness) we eventually go on to the spot where we can see the lava.

 

What a vision! Unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The raw power of nature is something truly amazing. It was all downhill from there. We lost a helmet, my glasses and Solange gained several bruises, but also we all gained a lifetime experience and a very amazing experience.

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Starting up

Ok, so, first things first. My name is Ivan Lima, I am 22 years old, graduated from AUT in February this year in Digital Design, was living in New Zealand but over the past 2 months decided to live with my family, on a boat. We are sailing around the Mediterranean, currently making our way slowly to the Canaries Islands, so that we can cross over the Atlantic at the end of this year. I have been sailing around Turkey, Greece and am right now in Italy.

If you understand Portuguese and would like to get some of the stories from other view points and before I arrived, my family has a blog as well, Casulooline.com and so does my sister at Luananocasulo.com.

My tales will start late, as from Tindari, last week, on the top of Sicily.

We arrived a bit tired after a full night of sailing and some strong winds coming from Siracusa. The weather was for the first time in a while cold, windy and cloudy. After so many days in the sun, you take for granted the freedom that a nice weather gives, and that a stormy weather doesn’t provide. After waiting about 5 hours in the boat, and knowing we would set sail again the next morning, I decided I was going to see the view from the church, up in the mountains. I was told it would be about 1.5hs of trekking, not that I am used to it, but believed the task would be worthwhile.

So, off I go, alone, to see the view from a church up on a hill. The first five minutes of the walk, I go through a bush, oblivious of what was about to come. First step, a sting. I think to myself “outch! where are the thorns?” Then another one hit me, followed by two others. I was late to realize I had walk through a bee hive. From there on i decided not to slow down, as starting up a trekking being stung four times was a bit plenty in my opinion.

So I keep walking, in my long sleeve shirt (silly, I am aware, but was the fastest way to protect myself from the sun), a camera in my pocket that kept making me pull the shorts up every other step, and sandals that kept falling off the whole path. When I reached about half way, on my goofy and awkward attempt for walking, I noticed behind me a peculiar figure. In orange singlet, short bright white shorts, silvery white sneakers, mp3 player and sun glasses comes a guy jogging his way up the hill. When realizing this scene I think to myself “ok, the path might not be a challenge for you, but overtaking me will be”, and so I speed up. Such a contrast of the elegance of the jogger and the completely unprepared first timer, but, true to my goals I kept up, and reached the top still ahead of the orange jogger. The view was worth the effort and the feel of the place was nearly overwhelming.

     

On the way down, as I tried to dodge the bee hive, I broke my sandal (which had to finish the walk barefooted) and got stung yet once more.  

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