Upside down
My world turned upside down. Within a few days. My world turned upside down. Within a few days. And then it regularly placed itself in this position, making it clear to me that there was no return to what had been before. The coronavirus has affected us all. We stay at home if we can, we go to work if we have to. Some are worried about health, others about work, and others about how to feed their families. Someone is working like a horse to keep a company and their employees. Someone is looking inside themselves and using time to grow and be with loved ones. Someone else thinks that we’re all hypochondriacs and that we just need to strengthen our immunity. We all face the quarantine challenges. (And we are in a really privileged position, if we were quarantined at all. There are countries where heads of state say that business must operate regardless of the situation.) And I’m struggling with my world turning upside down Until recently, we had a carnival on the island and some of my friends came dressed as a coronavirus. And I talked about my plans related to establishing a tourism company. I’ve been working on it intensively for a year, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot longer. I wanted to show you Terceira live. To invite you to my paradise. I have the holidays, all the trips around the island, everything carefully planned. I know which elements can be rearranged in time, what to do when it starts to rain. I have started cooperation with travel agencies to prepare together the best offer for you. And cooperation with local companies to offer you the most interesting activities with the best ones in their fields. I began to study information about the island again, to tell you about it even better. I was preparing small things that were supposed to make you smile. It made me happy to answer your first questions about trips to Terceira. Everything was checked, corrected, I was glad that everything was ready. That I’ve manached to tied up loose ends. And here came the coronavirus and everything is upside down now In April I was about to open a company and start a business. I won’t do it. I can’t. Opening a travel company at this point would be suicide. I won’t go into details, but if I don’t open the company right now, I don’t know when I’ll be able to do it. It cost me a lot to decide not to open a business. After all, it was my dream, it was my plan, it was my promise given to you. And in the current situation this is not feasible. And in addition, nobody knows how long this situation will last. Weeks? Months? A year or two? And when will tourism be back on its feet again? When will people start traveling again without fear for themselves and for those to whom they are flying? Are month enough or will we count it in years? It took me a few days to get used to the idea that I was saying goodbye to my dream A few days and many tears. I am not very pragmatic, I rather think that if you want to, you can. But there are situations when you can’t. And when you need to choose wisely. When it’s more important to just survive the difficult time. My friends comfort me saying that I don’t say goodbye to my dream, I just put it off for later. And I know they are right. I know that I will still be here for you, that I will continue to talk about the island and show it to you closely. And I hope that in some time (may it be as short as possible) everything will calm down. That you will be able to come here and I will be able to show you the island live. As I planned, as we all planned. For now, everything is turned upside down I feel a little weak and it makes me dizzy. But you never know – maybe from this perspective we will see something more interesting? One day at a time – and we will soon find out.
Dia de Amigos, i.e. Friends’ Day in the Azores
Dia de Amigos, Dia de Amigas, Dia de Compadres, Dia de Comadres… The last four Thursdays of the Carnival are extremely intensely celebrated in the Azores. Boyfriends’ (Male Friends’) Day, Girlfriends’ (Female Friends’) Day, Cofathers’ Day and Comothers’ Day are exceptional holidays, typical of the Azores archipelago. And still important, especially the first two. And how did it start? The history of celebrating these holidays is probably about 100 years old. The neighbors were gathering to prepare corn, wheat and other grains for the upcoming Festas do Espírito Santo, a celebration in honor of the Holy Spirit. In order not to get bored, they amused themselves with poetry and chants. Bonds between neighbours strengthened, and poems and musical pieces more and more eagerly praised friendship. After some time, traditional preparations for the Festas do Espírito Santo stopped having such meaning. Meetings in small groups were replaced by an organization at the commune level. Friends and acquaintances, however, were still eager to meet. Spending time together and celebrating friendship has become a value. Nowadays, Boyfriends’ (Male Friends’) Day and Girlfriends (Female Friends’) Day are one of the most celebrated holidays in Terceira. The fourth Thursday before the Carnival is Boyfriends’ Day. All the ladies stay at home, and groups of gentlemen come out on the streets of the island. These groups can include both three people and thirty – according to the principle „my friend’s friend is my friend”. Such meetings are an opportunity to break free from the routine of everyday life, to rest mentally and see those who have not seen each other for a long time. And for local dining outlets – to build up their budget. The third Thursday before the end of the Carnival belongs to ladies. Often fancifully, carnival-dressed groups of women celebrate Girlfriends’ Day just like men, in restaurants, bars and other places where you can eat and drink something good, and sometimes dance or… cheer on the stripper in his show. Yes, yes, striptease on Catholic, conservative islands is not surprising and it often accompanies Dia de Amigos and Dia de Amigas. I haven’t solved the puzzle yet, but… the machine on the street with condoms, lubricants and pregnancy tests is definitely part of the same puzzle. The Cofather’s Day and Comothers’ Day Day are more peaceful. They are usually commemorated by a text message with greetings or small sweets. But… who is a cofather? And who is a comother? Well, they are people of the same sex that have a big impact on raising a new society member. Cofathers are most often the father and the godfather of a child, and comothers – the mother and the godmother. On the islands, life still goes on in groups. Of course, Western European individualism is becoming more and more popular, but most of social life is still based on interpersonal contacts, especially those within the family. Family is holiness, and by the way – great help in everyday life. Sister will drop eggs and milk from a cow, brother – oranges, mother – freshly baked cake, cousins will take care of the child on Saturday afternoon – and you can function. And next Saturday, take over the queue to look after the cousins’ children. And give everyone interested beans from the garden behind the house. I don’t have beans behind the house, but I do function in a group of friends. And I celebrated Dia de Amigas three times on the island. There is something to celebrate! Friendship is one of the most beautiful inventions of humanity! Dia de Amigas means places filled with women full of good energy, it means streets full of chatty strollers, it means cars with smiley women faces… It’s good to see so much joy in the same time. And it’s even better to let yourself be carried away by this joy and to recharge your batteries with it for the next days. And if it ran out, you know – a phone call to a friend. Or a girlfriend!
20 ways to be a perfect tourist
Many of you, going for a trip, wonder how to be a perfect tourist. How to be a responsible tourist? Welcome? The one that the local community will greet with a genuine smile, not with a headache? How to implement the rules of sustainable tourism, how to take care of good experiences during the trip and at the same time preserve the natural, cultural and social values of the places that we visit? Take care of the nature 1. Try not to leave any marks of your presence. The nature gives us life – it gives us oxygen and food, it gives us entertainment and unique aesthetic experience. Try not to hurt it in a direct contact. Don’t damage plants, don’t flush animals out, don’t leave any trash behind. A plastic bottle may stay in the ground even thousands of years, a cigarette butt poisons up to 1m3 of soil and up to 100m3 of water. Take your garbage with you and throw them into adequate containers. My geography teacher, on a way to the geography competition, played me and my colleagues an eco-song: “Separately paper, separately glass, separately plastic, remember that.” I did remember that. The planet will be grateful for waste segregation, and our grandchildren will have a chance to see what we can see, not just deserts of concrete. 2. Walk only on marked trails. It happens that local companies, trying to provide tourists original experience, take them to protected areas, where endemic vegetation is in danger of extinction. The protected areas are protected due to some reason. Human’s presence is not neutral to the nature, growing number of people in a place causes its deterioration. If you want beautiful and unique places to stay beautiful and unique, respect the nature and follow the marked trails. 3. Pay for the entrance to the natural heritage places. Very often there are entry tickets for the entrance to parks, nature monuments etc. Remember that this money is used for maintenance of those natural goods. Paying for the entrance, you acknowledge the nature for the fact that it exists and wish it many more years in unchanged conditions. 4. Choose environment-friendly means of transport. If it’s possible, walk or use a bike instead of a car, alternatively hitchhike (check before your trip if it’s accepted and welcome). Choose rather a train than a plane and rather a bus than a cab. If other ways to get to a certain place are limited (e.g. Terceira), check if the airline gives a chance to pay for the carbon dioxide emission. Usually this is symbolic money, but its influence on the environment protection is not only symbolic. 5. Pack your luggage rationally. Packing your luggage for a trip, try to think it over to make sure that you won’t leave garbage in the place where you’re travelling to. Single-use shampoos, tiny face cream packs may be convenient, but small reusable containers are much better for our planet. If you pour a bit of your shampoo into a 100-ml bottle, you won’t have a heavy luggage, and you will take the little bottle back with you and use it during your next trip, instead of increasing the amount of garbage in your dream destination. 6. Avoid disposable products. I already mentioned it above, but additionally: drink directly from a glass instead of drinking through a straw, go shopping with your own bag, and if you buy one apple, don’t use a plastic bag. It’s also applicable to everyday life, not only to travels, but during a travel it’s also very important. For example, imagine Terceira – a small island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. And now imagine piles of trash produced by us each year. And fish swimming among the garbage. Maybe there are better prospects. Get to know the local culture 7. Before the trip get to know as much as you can about the place that you’re going to. Read about its history, culture, customs. Check what the place looks like, who lives there, what are local festivities. Thanks to that, when you get there, you will experience it better, you will get to know this place even better. Using your knowledge, you will be able to ask better questions and look for the answers live. 8. Participate in local events. One gets to know a place by its people. Because a place it’s not just a place, it’s a way of living. Local events are one of the opportunities to see how the local community really lives, plays, what celebrates. Participate in a local festivity, go to a local cinema, see what makes people happy and what makes them sad. Don’t be afraid to ask a person standing next to you what you’re participating in, don’t be scared to ask a person in a tourist office or in a museum for a tip where to go, what to experience. Don’t be afraid to talk to the locals. If you’re a good tourist, they will willingly share with you their knowledge and boast about the local customs. 9. Eat locally. Food is a part of the culture, it’s an element of life. Try to choose local restaurants, so that you get to known real local cuisine and support local economy. In some cultures, food is more important, in others – less, but everybody has to eat. In each place it’s worth asking about local specialties and local products, and eat them during the stay. 10. Take care of the local heritage. Respect not only the nature, but also the work of human hands. Whether a place is on UNESCO list or not – it’s a heritage of the travel destiny, which you chose. It’s like with the nature – try not to leave any marks of your presence. 11. Respect local law. Before your trip, check the law in your travel destiny and obey it. In Singapore you mustn’t chew a gum, in Denmark you mustn’t cover your face