Happy hour at BLANCO BAR in Formentera Island

Happy hour is the word. This is Blanco Bar at Migjorn beach in Formentera. Migjorn is the South facing shore of Formentera. Plenty of beaches around here look wild, typically a mixture of sandy and stone beaches, not the best spot, but a place to visit. Formentera is famous because of its aperitif beach bars. I don't remember the exact location of this bar, but I remember a wooden sign indicating the way on the right-hand side as I drive from Es Pujols in the direction of La Mola. Two years ago, in my holidays in Formentera, Blanco was “The” spot for an aperitif under the sunset. Crowds were there with tan naked bodies, enjoying drinking a nice cocktail while listening to rock music and dancing on the beach! Nice people, nice atmosphere, not too crowded. Last year in my traditional visit to Formentera I tried to find it! But, for restrictions concerning the cost saves and due to recent the obligations of Formentera’s Natural Reserve, Blanco has just disappear. I’m glad I took this photo for the future! A new fashion is coming and a new spot was born: Km10.7. Also trendy and fashion also crowded and impossible to enjoy it. For my taste, I stay with the traditional, the Big Sur, located at the beginning of les lletes beach, and it is one of the most popular and trendy beach bars on the island. Unfortunately, it can also be so crowd that you cannot even move and you have to queue for a cocktail. But relax! After all, you are on holidays. I guess Formentera should be less crowded and much more worthy in low season. I never went there in low season. I promise I will.

From the Earth. San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Our trip to Chile was almost in the end. A few days later and we will be starting our long way home. At 5 o’clock am, dark night, we star our journey. We left our comfortable hotel at San Pedro de Atacama and we jumped in to the frizzing “desert of the dead”. We skip in to the all road vehicle for the unknown tracks, but with a clear destination: the Geysers of El Tatio, a place located at 90km from San Pedro de Atacama, not fare from the Bolivian border. When we get in to the car, we had no idea what to find. The trip was long and rough, but we trusted our guide. El Tatio should be one of the most enchanting landscapes of Region, and why not of the north of the country. When we were arriving it was still dark and the place looked quite and unmoving. At that moment, it looked just a big plane with some frizzed water. We stopped the car, and we were advised not to touched the water because it will be very hot and danger. I was curious! In fact, at the moment of the sun rising, the unexpected happened. A strong noise came from the deep of the earth and strong Geysers and fumaroles emerge to the surface through fissures of the terrestrial bark, reaching a temperature of 85º C and about ten meters of height. This magnificent spectacle achieves its maximum expression during the first hours of the morning, between 6 and 7 o’clock in the morning hours, with temperatures below zero. After such a big trip, we were not expecting such an emotion. We had an extraordinary picnic breakfast on the spot after a big number of photos. These extremely low temperatures in addition to the large number of tourists, who arrived year after year to the zone, encouraged native people of the sector and authorities to count on a fully equipped tourism complex to properly receive thousands of national and foreign visitors that should be working today. We went back to the hotel in a different perspective, at day light, crossing fields of wild cactus and a volcano into the horizon. The temperature was warming up, and we started taking some lairs of clothes and filling the desert sun in our bodies.

Historic and technologic. Abu Simbel, Egypt.

Abu Simbel is a remarkable place. Not only because the two temples at Abu Simbel are among the most magnificent monuments in the world, but their removal and reconstruction was an historic event in itself. Abu Simbel was first reported by J. L. Burckhardt in 1813, when he came over the mountain and only saw the facade of the great temple as he was preparing to leave that area via the Nile. The two temples, that of Ramesses II primarily dedicated to Re-Harakhte, and that of his wife, Nefertari dedicated to Hathor, became a must see for Victorians visiting Egypt, even though it required a trip up the Nile, and often they were covered deeply in sand, as they were when Burckhardt found them. The temples are fare from the touristic routes. I went by bus, and start my trip at 4 o’clock in the morning with my hotel pillow beside me to assure a comfortable trip. We stopped when the day was rising in the middle of the Egyptian desert: even if the temples would disappoint me, my day was done by this first moment in the desert. When I first heard about the removal of the original temple, I was perplexed. When the temples (280 km from Aswan) were threatened by submersion in Lake Nasser, due to the construction of the High Dam, the Egyptian Government secured the support of UNESCO and launched a world wide appeal. During the salvage operation which began in 1964 and continued until 1968, the two temples were dismantled and raised over 60 meters up the sandstone cliff where they had been built more than 3,000 years before. Here they were reassembled, in the exact same relationship to each other and the sun, and covered with an artificial mountain. Most of the joins in the stone have now been filled by antiquity experts, but inside the temples it is still possible to see where the blocks were cut. Besides my skepticism, I was very glad to visit this place and I enjoy it a lot. I also went inside the man made dome to see an exhibition of photographs showing the different stages of the massive removal project. Both things are amazing: the site and the removal.

Phi Phi Islands. Thailand

Sorry to all my readers for my long absence. I realize now that TT reaches the 1040 visitors. Not bad! I decided to honor this achievement and all of you with one of the most beautiful places in earth I ever visited, the Phi Phi islands archipelago in Tailand. Phi Phi Islands famed as among the most beautiful tropical islands of the world and has become one of the most popular tourist attractions of Thailand. Phi Phi The name is derived from Malay, and the original was Pulao Pi ah Pi, where in pulao is the Malay word for island, and pi pronounced with only a half p sound, was very close in pronunciation to the English word be; the ah was eventually dropped, so the name was said something like Bi Bi. Later the p was pronounced with a stronger aspiration and the name became the Phi Phi or Pee Pee we know today. Funny isn’t it? The name refers to the mangrove wood found there. Six islands are in the group: Koh Phi Phi Don, Koh Phi Phi Ley, Koh Biddah Nok, Koh Biddah Nai, Koh Yoong, and Koh Pair total area is 42 square kilometers. They were incorporated into the national park in 1983. Unfortunately this lagoon and all the coral reefs were affected by the deadly Tsunami on December 26, 2004. I have no idea how it looks now, but I hope that the people there have found the quietude again. I'm still dreaming of a wonderful time in Thailand and Ko Phi Phi Island.

The Floating Gardens. Mexico City, Mexico

In pre-Hispanic Mexico, in the valley where Mexico City stands was a lake called Lago Texcoco, which now has long been drained. The Aztecs, on its edge, long before the Spanish came, dug a series of canals, whose mud they heaped on the earth around the canals or on anchored reeds atop the water. These plots of land, appeared like floating islands called chinampas - hence, their name ‘floating gardens’. In the Aztec's Náhuatl language the name Xochimilco means "garden of flowers." Xochimilco is divided into a traditional area and a newer ecological park north of town created in 1993 as part of a multi-million dollar "ecological rescue project" spearheaded by the federal government. Both areas offer excellent bird watching. The more touristy canals are lively, particularly on weekends. Brightly-colored, squarish boats (trajineras) carry up to a dozen passengers. Families visit the park en masse and boats carrying musicians serenade young lovers or for birthday celebrations. There are always plenty of vendors (in smaller canoes) with food and drink, souvenirs, and music. Hire a floating mariachi band. Three songs for 200 pesos!

Big city on a raining day. London, UK

Raining in London is not the most uncommon thing. One day I will write something about visiting big cities under the rain…I have some experience: NY, Tokyo, Berlin... Nevertheless, our raining day in London in the Christmas season end up in a magnificent food experience. We went to Fifteen restaurant. Everybody knows about Jamie Olivier from the TV shows at cable TV, where he cooks at the speed of sound some delicious things, which even may sound easy to the common men. In 2002, Jamie Oliver combined two ambitions and opened a top class restaurant. But Fifteen is much more that a simple “bistrot”. Fifteen Foundation as a second goal, allowing to the disadvantaged youngsters the chance to gain professional training that would set them up for an independent, inspired and productive life in the cooking world. In 2008, Fifteen is still achieving these two goals. We have to options in discovering this magnificent experience: The Trattoria, on the ground floor, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner where we can enjoy great food in the typical Italian style. This space is rustic and relaxed and has a friendly service. The Trattoria is a great place to meet friends at any time of the day. The Trattoria opens from 7.30am Monday to Saturday (8am on Sunday) for coffees and breakfast, moving on to serve some truly delicious lunch and dinner dishes from “á la carte” menus. Downstairs we have more at Fifteen! The Dining Room, the retro styling and open kitchen where combine to make a relaxed and friendly environment. The emphasis is on top quality seasonal produce, simply prepared with care and passion to create the best in modern Mediterranean dishes with an Italian influence. For something more extravagant, in the evenings they serve an amazing tasting menu giving our guests the opportunity to taste all of Fifteen's favorites. I was impressed for the food, for the “ambiance” but mainly for this social enterprise that has directly supported and helped transform the lives of many young persons. For the moment they are running Fifteen restaurants (each with their own foundation and apprenticeship schemes) in Amsterdam, Cornwall and Melbourne. Once here’s so much more to do, I hope Lisbon can be in the Fifteen map too. I offer my self to help. Well done Jamie. Fifteen London is at 15 Westland Place, London N1 7LP, just under 600m from the Old Street roundabout.

Tricky Traveler reshaped.

Six months is time to celebrate but also to evaluate. During this first six months I received some critics and some demands too. A few of those suggestions I was able to incorporate in the old format. However, a few others required some more layout changes. Keeping the basic spirit, we are about to get in into a new Tricky Traveler era. The texts should be shorter they say, to let the photos speak for themselves. Done! Some more traveling tips were required! I will try to add, in some cases, maps, and some specific suggestions from the place and some other tips for the visitor: how to get there; opening hours, roads less traveled, what to eat, the stories and other curiosities behind the scenes. With all these information it is easy to lose the focus, and move to other fields’ music, literature, etc. But I promise to do my best preserve the initial spirit: One photo and a short story about traveling to interesting places. About the layout! I realize in fact that it is not practical for the reader to display permanently all the Tricky Patterns. It gets difficult to get to end of the page and reach the other items: Tricky List; On the spot; or to the Archive. I will erase the older ones and keep just the new one. I hope you notice that among all the Patterns, the one just at the right side of the main photos is always linked somehow with the photo. For my Portuguese friends, and after many and powerful requests, I start a page called “Mundigrafia” (with a direct link from Tricky Traveler) with more photos and some stories in Portuguese. This page is less strict, and everything related with traveling is possible. I hope you like it. Suggestions and critics are, naturally, welcomed. By the way, the photo is from Brussels, Belgium.