When I go to Budapest I have that nice feeling of being rediscovering the pleasure of enjoying a big city without the rush, stress and noise of ‘big cities’.  It is vibrant but in a chill out way, it is full of culture, events and alternative scenes but it’s not pretentious; Budapest welcome us into its lap like a loving grandfather caring about all their children.

Walking its streets I feel that thick blend of nostalgia and beauty that impregnate all of it. I like the soothing touch of its imperial light, the smell of its wonderful market, the sound of the relaxed walking of its victorious inhabitants.  I love to see the Danube cutting apart the puzzle of the city in two and allowing us mortals to cross the abysm of its waters to enjoy both parts of it.

By now, I guess you have realized that I like Budapest.  Yes, you are right.   And I was lucky to share this love with a great group, my already old friends from Record.

This time we arrive to a cozy boutique hotel really close to the banks of the river, the Bohem Art Hotel, www.bohemarthotel.hu . Really nice and friendly staff, glorious breakfast, rooms decorated with paintings of local artists and minimalist modern design, perfect definition of ‘cool’.  After a bit of rest we went for dinner to Tal’s restaurant on the Jewish neighborhood, an area presided by the impressive Pest Synagogue and Zsido museum. Tal gave us his selections of paprika dishes, obviously Goulash like a mush option.  On its nice patio we try a few of the Balaton famous wines, perhaps way to many.

For Saturday we had a plan of biking to Szentendre, a small village father up the river. The well-marked path leaves the city by the west bank of the river and completely flat sneaks around forest and small roads to take you to the village. We stop for a coffee after an hour. We are crazy about traveling but also crazy about coffee. Arriving to Szentendre we went straight for lunch to the cobbled stone Main Square where a Baroque Cross, erected in 1763 to commemorate the lucky fact that plague avoided the town, is the axel of a bohemian little town that had 9 churches in the past.  Szentendre have that Mediterranean feeling that appeals northern and central European visitors so much.  Perhaps because its wide river or its cobbled squares and streets, its soft painted facades, its ancient churches, I don’t know, but I also could feel it.   We return by boat and we enter the city at dawn just to see how the Parliament reflected the last rays of a dying sun.  After disembarking we climb the Fisherman Bastion to contemplate Pest from this privileged point, a wonderful sight difficult to forget.

Saturday night was the night for heels and party dresses, because I have to tell, Budapest it is the city that born every night.  If you go to Budapest don’t miss some of its already famous ruin bars, Szimpla it is already an institution, 100% innovative underground, but also don’t miss Otkert o the brand new Doboz.  We dance in the second one till three thirty in the morning and the party was on its peak.

On Sunday and after a well deserve energetic breakfast we visit some of the most impressive sights of Budapest, the parliament, second biggest in Europe, and the St. Stephen’s Basilica the most important church building in Hungary.  And obviously we could not finish this weekend adventure without visiting one of the popular thermal baths, we picked the Széchenyi a huge and beautiful complex placed in one corner of the City Park.  A great treat and a perfect ending for this short escape to Budapest.

Budapest has been there since immemorial times, but now is getting closer and closer to all of us.  Go and meet its grace, go and live it, go and you will come back with a brighter and smoother soul.

Record Team, a great band

Let's ride

Ladies on the boat

Arriving to Budapest with the Parliament on the background

Mark buying some sweets

National Gallop on Heroes Square

The Parliament

Night out on Doboz

Joel on Szentendre

It is said that Stanley discovered the Rwenzori Mountains, which I doubt. Locals already knew them and had lived in the fertile lowlands since immemorial times. Do we discover them in August this year? Certainly not. But, do we felt like those who first saw them? Now that might be true.

These mountains have a curious quality to amaze the traveler, they always seem newborn in the eyes of any visitor. They surprised us by her intact virginity, its dense and immaculate greenness, and the almost perpetual fog that keeps them isolated from the outside. Go into then is to jump into another world, an ancient world full of legends and adventures. The same one of Stanley, Livingston and others African explorers.

None of the trails are easy or comfortable, they are wild, steep, muddy, hand-built of trunks and twisted branches; definitely they are a very attractive challenge for the traveler looking for real adventure.

We made the central circuit with the famous RMS guides and climb Margherita Peak,  5109 m. The peak, as one would expect in this mountains, has a tricky pass worthy of some studies: three aluminum ladders tied together by old ropes hanging and swinging on a vertical wall of about 25-30 meters.  A real proof of balance and composure the less I could say. We ascend and descend them with crampons so you can imagine the scene. Too bad I do not have pictures, but was more concerned about the safety of my clients than the aesthetic possibilities of this funny pass. Anyhow I’m sure James would have some footage of these interesting moments, so I’ll be happy to publish it in here if he doesn’t mind.  (I promise I’ll do as soon as I have the file)

The huts are a luxury in a place where it rains so frequently, and the people you work with, guides, cooks and porters are friendly, funny and hard as flint. A pleasure to share this adventure with such a nice troop, 17 in total.

Finally we visited the Queen Elizabeth National Park where we enjoyed a couple of game drives. We saw all sorts of African deer you can imagine, a lot of elephants, warthogs, hippos, buffaloes and many others. But no sign of leopards or lions, even though there are over a hundred of them in the park. Strike perhaps?

Entebbe was our starting point and also it would be our farewell from Uganda. It is a quiet place on Lake Victoria, literally taken by the UN officials who are based there for their operations in Sudan and perhaps also in Somalia and Ethiopia.

In short: Uganda is a tropical gem nestled next to Lake Victoria. A welcoming nation, humble and at the same time overwhelming. It would never disappoint you, I’m totally sure.

Rwenzori National Park.

Tricky path

John amongst Lobelias

Dezmond and Joram

On the way to Margherita Peak

¡ Summit !

Reality or imagination? Uganda a jewel

The mere fact of hearing the word Kurdistan already gave me a thrill, a distant and undefined mixture of fear and uncontrollable attraction to the unknown and wild. The Kurdish history like few others is filled with blood, devastation, and still now with an unresolved genocide claim, an overwhelming account of events in such a strategic spot. Stepping on these arid lands north of what was Mesopotamia and west of the powerful Persia had a special meaning in the imagery of this Iberian trekker.

We landed in Dogubayazit, a border town with little charm and a bit gawky that is the base for the climbs of Ararat.  After the ascent we also visit Van, by the beautiful lake of the same name. Both cities were destroyed during the First World War when the Ottoman Turks fought against Russians and Armenians, and both of them are now completely rebuilt. Especially surprising is Van, possibly the most modern city in eastern Turkey, where it seems they want to measure the level of progress by the number of neon signs that line the streets.

Ararat is however a millenarian peak, an extinct volcano, full of history and legend. An almost perfect cone in the Kurdish plains. Ararat face us with Georgia, Armenia and Iran; is the vantage point that allows us to glimpse Asia, the last frontier before the big space of the East. His ascension is direct, without additives, as is customary in these lands. There are two camps, the first perfectly situated in a small shoulder at about 3200m and the second one is perched in a really stony spot about 4200m. The scenery, clear of anything resembling a tree, has a special charm, the one caused by desolate and arid areas. The camp is usually pretty crowded, but the truth is that we were lucky enough to share it only with a couple of groups. Hygiene is not their strong point either, but considering its location, logistical problems and the strained relations among Turkish agents and Kurdish workers is understandable.

We made the summit and had to head down quickie as the weather worsened all of a sudden. The descent, for those who do not really like the famous scree, probably wouldn’t be very funny, is long and tough, considering also we had to make it to the first camp. From there a few hours and we reach the vehicles. Transfer to Van where we sweat our summit joy in a downtown hotel before we refreshed ourselves on a boat ride to Akdamar, an island in the middle of Lake Van that hold a beautiful ancient Armenian church.

Dressed on fancy clothes we went back to Istanbul, one of the cities of my dreams. I always lack words to describe this city so I end up putting a few extra pictures of the hundreds I already have. And that will happen in this case. Today, sitting here in front of this cold computer screen as artificial as Paris Hilton, I remember the smoke from their hookahs tangled in my body and its narcotic effect trapping me while I was transported to another time, perhaps another era. I love them.

Turkey was once the axel of the world, and today? Apart from the economic spiral where all of us want to find our tiny space, is there any other center idea really worth exploring? Turkey perhaps?

From the terrace of our hotel. Blue Mosque on the background

Hagia Sophia

Hookahs narcotic effect

Kelley mystical look

Concentrated dervish just before his mytical dance

Van tea break

Nomadic herders and the 'plains' on the background

On our way up with Ararat's shadow over the plains

We made it

Akdamar Armenian Church in an island on Lake Van

Istanbul. From Galata Bridge

Nightlife light

Also real Istanbul

Bye bye Istanbul. For now

Don\’t miss this vid of Aynur Dogan. Kurdish singer

After reading a bit about Hungarian history, I begin to imagine how a country would look like after so many social implosions, wars and devastation; how an old empire deal with humiliation and nearly four decades of communist regime in the last century.  A Hungarian friend of mine, Lazslo,  kept telling me that Hungarian history is a continuous account of wars and defeats, and that did not sound really uplifting baggage for any Magyar, like they called themselves.

Finally, when I arrive to Budapest and begin walking their quiet streets, a bit overwhelmed by those imperial buildings on both sides of me, I could certainly breathe the subtle sorrow of a rotten power, the ashes of ancient golden stars.  But as soon as the sun drops and the skies turn purple and later blue and black I can see the people taking the city with the authority of those who fell this beautiful piece of land theirs.  Despite its history or because of its history, actually don’t know well yet, they really know how to enjoy their city and themselves. They flood the bars, terraces, parks and plazas, they are expressing their freedom now and they are getting rid of every historical load.  And I could feel it: nothing is going to be able to stop the explosion of imagination, creation, and human power Hungary has to offer to the world.

We enjoy Budapest under a warm stormy weather, a city that feel relaxed, laid back and of a human size, so you can easily discover it all by bike.  Don’t miss the thermal baths or the already famous ‘ruin pubs’, try the goulash and please visit the market.  If you can, go to a concert, in summer there are plenty of them all over the city and tend to be really fun.  Try the Unicum and the Palinka, the national drinks, medicinal they say.  Another thing we gladly discover: Hungarians never bother or push tourist to buy.

So you can enjoy a free stress city, very safe, very nice, very bohemian, very fun, and all of them in the same package:  Budapest.  The city.

Chain bridge and Stz. István Basilica on the background

The Parliament from the Fisherman's Bastion

Széchenyi Baths

Budapest from the Citadell

Vajdahunyad Castle on the City Park

Concert in the Pardon Club

Abandoned galleries

Imperial tradition beside new life blooming

Check the whole gallery in http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amigo-Adventures/138669016199920

So you, fellow traveler, are a key part of our magic, we grow as you bring sometimes new ideas to our table to create your perfect trip.  We listen to you, work with and for you, we travel with you and sincerely I can tell you, we have had so much fun traveling with you, that we want to keep doing it for long.

Amigo Adventures owes much to early clients, now friends, who trusted me on those early stages way before AA was established.  They helped me out to discover my own magic, my personal one.  Thanks to all of them, David, Scot, Bob, Leslie, Chules… and all of you that trusted on me to take you away on what I hope was a meaningful adventure.

Enjoy these pics as a small tribute to them. ‘It goes for you my friends’ like we would say in Spain ‘Va por vosotros’.

Approaching Kilimanjaro with Kelly, David, Scot, Tom and Jhon.

In the Alpujarra, Granada. Thanks to all of you for visiting my homeland.

Chus and company enjoying Istanbul. We had such a great trip.

Mallorca in 2009

Just rewriting this post after I lost it yesterday when I was trying to publish it, I don’t know how. I got so angry I wanted to throw away the computer. Anyhow I’ll try to put the same passion I did yesterday trying to describe a place that basically is a jewel in the middle of Europe.

I just landed in London after a great trip to Slovenia. Still lacking words to describe such a wonderful place, but the main things I could say is that a pristine nature and a sincerely charming and welcoming people made our trip unforgettable. Slovenia cannot be explained, have to be lived, experienced.

I could say Slovenians are the perfect combination in between a Basque and an Andalusian, authentic, open, fun and passionate. They are proud of their land, and they are friendly proud people, I love that.  In my case being an almost rootless and semi-nomad Andalusian I miss sometimes that feeling of belonging that link you to a land where you share important things with places and people you love.

In the countryside, in this case Bled and surroundings, people were so well and naturally integrated and blended with nature that it felt like in a different kind of humanity. Those days I spent in Bled I kept telling myself, ‘yes, a healthier and nicer relation among human kind and nature is possible’. Slovenia is a germ that we all have to preserve, care, promote and love with all our strength if we want a better future for this green planet.

We were riding the woods for four days, and discovering the Triglav National Park by foot, raft and even train. We share a local party in a hut high in the mountains, we try all the Slovenian food specials, we visit Lubljana, and mainly we share with our host laughs and experiences.  We were so lucky, Domen, Ziga and Janni made us feel among friends.  For me the greatest gift has been meeting such a great gang, Taiton, Enrique (my partner on the climbs), Nacho and Marco, and obviously our host, Domen (the friendly boos) Ziga (the master) and Janni.

Thanks to all of you, my spirit is lifted and ready to take people abroad to discover beauty and to enjoy what is different.

Jose m

Lake Bled and its castle

Party in the hut

Rafting in Soca River

Soca River

Kozjak Waterfall

Andalusian Lethal Lycra Team

In the spirit and intent of communicating with a world increasingly diverse and globalized this blog is written in English and Spanish, since English is not my mother tongue, my limitations are quite obvious. Nevertheless, and apologizing in advance, I believe this space can be useful for anyone who shares the idea that travel is always discovering and sharing, and do it responsibly is the best reward for us and our guests.This is my vision and the vision Amigo Adventures wants to convey and spread to its fellow travellers.

 Since I was young I thought our time was very valuable and we should invest it in what made us happier. In that search, destiny, led me to a small town south of Mexico, Atlixco, where I discovered that one of the things that made me happiest was to work to improve the living conditions of disadvantaged people. A great discovery that helped me to feel the work as something dignified humans through effort and the desire to create a better and fairer world. Since then, and after spending several years working for various social development NGO’s, I would never associate work to financial remuneration, but to a less tangible spiritual rewards associated with personal growth and feeling of fulfillness. 

For years I lived in a reality more linked to the emotional aspects of everyday life than to the practical ones. That fact charges me with values but emptied me of practical and economic sense. Eleven years later back in Spain I would have to assume that values and a practical approach have to live together, and in fact they can, if we are to realize our full potential in a fast paced society that is governed primarily in economic terms. 

Another 10 years passed until Amigo Adventures came to summarize the integration of values, experience and work. Ten years in which I continued to discover the beauty of this world and all cultures and people who inhabit it. I feel I have been a bridge that links our Western world closer to disadvantage people, which have been so important in defining who I am.

So… welcome to this blog, welcome to Amigo Adventures.  Let’s go travel.