WRECK THIS JOURNAL #1

I lived in Maine, USA, for one year. During Winter time is cold, cold like 30 negative degrees brrrr!! Me, je, moi, a girl from the South of Portugal who's surrounded by beaches and only seen snow once or twice in her life had to deal with digging herself after a snow storm to reach her van (!!!). 

I had a great year but a lot of indoors activities was going on during Winter 2008 which I don't mind at all... for one year! ah! I love sun, hiking, outdoors but when all you have is cold and snow we better deal with that the best way instead of being depressed all the time. 

TIPS TO HITCH HIKE IN MOROCCO

When planning my backpacking trip to Morocco I didn't think about hitch hiking because mass media and society made this stereotype that Morocco is a dangerous country to travel, so imagine get in a car of a stranger...

It's true that transportation is cheap and generally (out of touristic spots) Morocco is a cheap country to travel but if we can save money and travel longer, if we can meet more moroccans and exchange cultures, why not?! 

As soon as we arrived we felt safe. We asked several locals we made friends with and everybody said is safe to hitch hike in Morocco. So, what are we waiting for? Let's do it! By my 5 weeks experience I can tell you is the real adventure, you never know what will happen during and next the ride. Read the tips, if you have any question please ask in the comments so everybody can acess and we can start a discussion. 

SPRING HANDICRAFT MARKET IN TAVIRA

Long time ago I used to sell in Craft Markets my polymer clay necklaces and later on my fabric handbags. It was a positive time of my life, because I had no job so decided to create with my hands and sell out to friends and mom's shop costumers. I was busy, creating and using my brain, all good.

As soon as I heard about this Market I asked mom if she wanted to come, because she's an artist crafter and love to attend this kind of events. Also it was in Tavira, one of my fave towns in Algarve. It's small and historical with a river along. Beautiful!

CHEFCHOUEN - BLUE TOWN (PART II)

I decided for a Part II for Chefchouen just because these pictures I took are so pretty that have to be shared. Chefchouen is a most go in Morocco but we were unlucky to be there exactly on Easter Vacations so the place was crowded with international tourists (especially spanish) and moroccan tourists. Did I mention before that I don't like to travel in places packed of people?

RUTA INTI IS ORGANIZING A CULTURAL EXPEDITION IN MORROCO

When traveling in Morocco I met Ricardo, a spanish pro active guy who was traveling solo in Morocco to organize an expeditation from July 10th until July 25th in Spain and then until August 15th in Morocco. 

"Ruta Inti is a cultural and social project for young students from all around the world. The focus of the project is the expedition itself, which will tour different countries each year with a history that gives a background to the idea. The expedition will take them on an educational journey in which they will have the opportunity to make contact with the social, cultural, historical, and human reality of today's world."

HAPPY FREEDOM'S DAY

Today we are celebrating 40 years of freedom in Portugal. On April 25th 1974 the Estado Novo (current government) fell through military coup and civil resistence. Portugal was living in a dictatorship since 1933 and it was about time to change for a Democratic Regime.

The most beautiful part is that instead of guns and blood this revolution day was pacific with people holding carnation flowers in the streets to celebrate the end of the dictatorship and war in the colonies. That's the reason why we call "Freedom Day" as the "Carnation Revolution". [photo source]

Today my heart is with all portuguese people from North to South of Portugal and also the colonies who lived before April 25th 1974, you guys lived hard moments of pression and you are still today here to tell us the stories. Much Love!!!

It's holiday here so me and the girls will spend the afternoon playing mini golf :)

Have a beautiful Friday xx Marta