i found this mural at a lovely hostel in granada. it make me think of you and gave me a warm ticklish feeling allover: crazy monkeys sharing a single bike :-)
Turkey is getting weirder and weirder everyday. Living in here is like being in a scientific experiment to test how far you can go by benumbing the public with irrational decisions undercover of protecting the public.
After 22nd of August we won't be able to browse the websites those government tells we can't. Big Brother knows better what is good and what is bad for us. What a shame.
The Academy of Free Travel (AFT) sounds vaguely Casa-esque, but more temporary and exclusively for hitchhikers. Apparently they have set up hitchhiker houses (in the past) in 3 Russian cities, Kyrgistan, Tajikistan, and Egypt. I hear the next one is to be in Tbilisi, Georgia. An English AFT page is here, with links to other pages in Russian, and a CouchSurfing thread is here, including a couple people who have stayed at AFT houses.
In the beginning we thought Amsterdam wasn't easy to dumpster-dive, apart from the daily markets. I remember well when Jass was here, or shall I say Mister Skip, and even he gave up on finding good spots in the area. But little by little, day by day, we're encountering more and more good(!) dumpsters around. Organic dumpsters, more bread-dumpsters and office-skips for example.
I've been dreaming for the last few years about igniting some casa-style magic in the western hemisphere. I have a sense that much of of the S.H.E. / shared hospitality / post-CouchSurfing / nomadbase energy has been concentrated in Europe. There are reasons for this, to be sure. But I've got what Curious George calls "the casa mind-virus", and it makes me wonder what else is possible.
I had an experience last weekend that gave me perspective on a lot of peoples' fear of hitchhikers.
Yes we were stupid. It was a dark, rainy night on a coastal highway (HW-1 in California). Our headlights flew past a figure on the side of the road. We only saw him for a split second - just enough to see him gesturing frantically with his thumb.
"I usually don't pick up hitchhikers. But you don't look like the usual hippie... "
The 40-something man opens the door of the fancy car he drives to make an impression on his clients.
I'm in. comfortably sitting in the rear. with my shoulders finally relying on something smoother than a rock.
It was fun to sleep for few days in a tent under zero degrees and winking stars fighting to be brighter than the orange moon. Listening to the birds talking to each other the whole night.
Voting for this year's (and #4 already!) hitchgathering in Europe, taking place at the 5th of August, was great fun again. So many different people putting forward their well-researched proposals but from the beginning the Black Sea coast in Bulgaria got a head-start. At one moment it was even leading with 42 percent! Not any of the other locations was able to come even close to that.
It seems also to be the case that another gathering will take place in North-America. Last year saw a small meeting, but nevertheless it took place! This year the date is set for July 15. Location yet to be decided. Check na.hitchgathering.org.
I was at the casa last week, making bread, doing my taxes, sipping biertjes at the balcony sun, talking about all things Shareable as the article had just been published. One thing led to another - the dayjob where I am literally making things shareable mingled with Pasta Madre tutorial session and resulted in looking up some Drupal things to make Recipes happen.
It's interesting to observe people who don't want to take hitchhikers. Maybe they think I'm dangerous (do I really look scary..?) and dirty. Or maybe it's just very lovely to have some empty seats in your car to look at. I don't own a car, I don't have a clue.
