Aan tafel in Lyon

Hier een teken van leven van ons. We zijn nu in Lyon. Het was even heel spannend met de stijle hellingen en gladde keien. De wielen verloren grip en even dachten we dat Durka achteruit naar beneden zou glippen. We zijn hier zonder kleerscheuren aangekomen bij Lucas die we hebben ontmoet vorig jaar bij een festival in frankrijk waar manu chao speelde. We hebben in Belgie en Frankrijk stil gestaan met een lege tank. In Frankrijk bleken onze berekeningen niet te kloppen. Onze dieselmeter doet het niet en dus moesten we schatten; Maar tegen de hellingen op had hij toch wat meer verbruikt en doordat we net een helling op gingen kon hij ook niet meer bij het laatste restje. Ook met 5 liter extra die we reserve bij ons hadden lukte het niet te starten en dus werden we opgehaald door de depannage en werd Durka op een grote vrachtwagen naar een pomp gereden. Lang leve de ANWB. We moesten er wel vier uur op wachten omdat Esther van de ANWB niet zo snugger was en Remiremont (de afslag waar we bij stonden op N57) niet kon vinden. Esther had duidelijk nooit van google maps gehoord. En Franse stijl had de ANWB man niet gewoon even wat diesel en startkabels (accu was inmiddels ook leeg) kunnen meenemen maar vervoerde ons 10 kilometer verderop naar een garage... 

In Belgie stonden we gelukkig niet ver van een pomp maar in frankrijk levensgevaarlijk voor een afslag op een te smalle vluchtstrook. Naast de vluchtstrook gaan staan in de berm was geen optie. Gelukkig werkte de handrem dus heel goed!!! Voor Ben: het ontluchten hebben we bestudeerd, eerste keer was niet nodig hij startte gewoon en tweede keer heeft garage dat met handpomp gedaan.

We hebben wel vandaag te horen gekregen dat we een week later beginnen op de camping dus we krijgen nog iets van onze vakantie terug. We hebben nu 11 dagen meer! Tot nu toe hebben we het naar ons zin al gaat de bus soms maar met 50km/uur de berg op. We gaan net zo moeizaam als de zwaarste vrachtwagens lol. Het blijft toch leuk. Het is avontuurlijk zoals we wilden. Het is werken en zo nu en dan onder de olie zitten. Na zelf in Heerde met hulp van ons electrisch technisch wonder Ben (pa Elske) de bus te hebben gerepareerd hebben we inmiddels heel wat bijgeleerd over de gloeibougies en hebben we krachtige snelgloeiers. Het is 3 tot 5 seconden gloeien en hij slaat aan. 

We hebben vanacht op een prachtige camperplaats overnacht in Arc et Senans waar we vonochtend heerlijk in de zon hebben ontbeten in een park met een verse baquette, cammembert en een croissantje aardbeienjam. Als toetje yogurt. Nu wordt er al zingend voor ons gekookt, begeleid door gitaar door onze vriend Lucas in zijn appartement in Lyon. Morgen gaan we verder zuidwaards. In verband met de illegaliteit van Sezzy in Frankrijk willen we hier toch niet al te lang blijven al klinkt Lucas kleine dorpshuisje gaan opzoeken voor een paar dagen ook wel erg aantrekkelijk.

That is what i call: there is more between heaven and earth!

Horoscope: Sagittarius Mar 27 2012 
You are going through a process or an experience now that is difficult and perhaps awkward. This is a period of great transition and growth for you, and the pains associated with this kind of evolution aren't always easy to deal with. But if you persevere and make a conscious effort to absorb every little bit of knowledge that you can, you will find that this adventure will serve you well in the future, and will in some way make your life richer, more abundant, and more fulfilling. 

Stolen Mercedes Van / Mercedes ME bus

As proud owners of a Mercedes Benz 406D we feel we had to share this sad news that came to us through facebook:

Please, everyone in The Netherlands, keep your eyes open, a dear friends van has been stolen! :(
Missing. €1000 reward for information leading to its recovery, please spread the word. License BV-53-GH. Please leave a message below if you have any information!

Guess you're new around here?

Young dromomaniac on the lose:

Durka Durka

 There it is: our traveling companion for at least the coming year. A 39 year old Mercedes 406 D van or should i say camion sauvage) who will bring us through France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Morocco untill deep in the sahara dessert! In one month time we will be travelling and working our way around the globe for an indefinate period of time. This van is the only true pall who will accompany us along the dusty roads in persuit of a more concious and basic life enriched by the ones we will meet along the way.

 

It had to be named as we just fell in love with it. It's steady and simple 2.0 diesel engine has spare parts all over the dessert so it was also exactly what we were looking for. Durka Durka is named after Team Amerika's (movie ed.) Durka Durka stan where all arab's only seem to talk in Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad. It thanks it's name to the tough little guy he seems to be as well as the destination ahead.
We will start working in Italy for half a year at camping I Pini Near Rome before we head south to Morocco. Along the way we want to work as volunteers and even strand for a while in an ecological village. In morocco we would like to make ourselves usefull for social development programms like teaching kids english, built up a school or help in an orphanage etc. Who know's we would like to start up a project ourselves or who know's we will be in Asia two years from now. The sky is the limit: the aim is to meet and learn from people who are looking at life from another point of view.

We simply want more room to enjoy life. Spain is heading for the 50% unemployment and 300 house evictions are planned every day. Actiongroups gather to block the entry for

the police, houseprices are collapsing as the economic bubble has bursted. All through my life i have wondered why all we believed in as freedom I considered golden bars of an ever eminent jail surrounding me. I did feel alone always wanting to wander away. Not to run away from something but drawn towards something. The urge for something drastically to change, to be a part of that change. Why wasn't i born in the time of the hippies or Amsterdam's Kabouters? Why was i too late to get drunk on Mano Negra? Why was everyone just settling for a steady job to live the same routine every day calling that freedom?? I want to be a part of a new culture of nomads. Economic climats make thousants of migrants move. An exile we could never expect to happen in Europe where revolutions are belonging to the middle ages. In the year 2012 a lot is going to change. According to the mayans this is the year of the start of a new mayan calender. It is not so much the end of one as it is the beginning of a new era as happened for the last time around the invasion of the spaniards in Latin America. A new world will rise is the prophecy and unlike what christians believe it is not the end of this worldly existence for all although i am sure this new era will bring us to another dimension and a new concious. It won't happen over night but it is work in progress as the tension span of a novel; the point that turns the story in another direction.

Friday the 24th of february we have purchased Durka Durka and at home we emediately begin stripping it and updating it into our little hippie mobile home. In just 3 days time we have renovated it's dated decor out of the 70's to our likings. It will be the only place we know as home from now on!

 IM

Caminero

Some ten years ago i met a man, a traveling man. He told me: "por donde van tus pasos crece la hierba...." This traveling man from MACACO really exists and is not the comon demoninator called the homeless. Or yes he is homeless but not roofless. He chose for a live roaming the world with nothing more then himself and the people he would meet along the way. This man, sixty year old from australian origin travelled without a passport over the world to end up in Spain in 2003 when i (like him) ended up living there for a while. He told me how he left his house, his family and his own business behind 20 years ago. Virtually dead, kidnapped and never came back to his mourning family... But dead he felt more alive then ever. Without a name and without a past he had no possesions except for the bottle of red wine he was opening to share in a park in Valencia 7 years ago. The stary sky stretched over our heads. He seemed to be like the galaxy; Endless in his happiness.
He was greyhaired, had deep lines in his face from life that happened to him but he still seemed young. He did not have an age. He just had the sun that bleached his hair, dried his skin and put so many wrinkles on him. He wore the seasons as a coat over him and you would have to count them like the rings in a tree to determine his real age.

He had it all and not out of dissatisfaction he gave it all away to what he called freedom. To sleep underneath the starry sky, to wonder about and hear the birds singing in the park. To talk to strangers and listen how their lifes enriched him like he lived many all together. Today I thought of him like I always do when sometimes i want to do the same as he did so many years ago. I have reached the same age as he did when he left his loved ones behind to wonder what happened to him. Who knows; maybe this dromomaniac found his way back, maybe he never will.
We are so preocupied with the things we have built up. Our friendships, relationships, the things we worked for and the things we dreamed of and longed for. We fought so hard to achieve. How hard is it to leave all these things behind? But how much a relieve it will be as well, not to have them. Never to really need them or realise u never really do so. How empty will that be? But aren't we all trying to find a way to embraze emptyness and a silence in our lives? What about the quiet moments? Why do they need to be... just moments in order to be heard...

Macaco: Caminero (Traveling Man)