Even we can’t beat this slow pace in our Land Cruiser: 1300 kilometers in 7 months; an average of 6 kms/day. Yet, even if they wanted to, these people couldn’t travel any faster, for you see, these 9 tropeiros and 1 woman have to lead 1376 cows from the breeder to their new owner.
Here, slow living isn’t a modern concept; it’s an age-old way of life.
“Turkey’s true master is the peasant”
~Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
We have followed a path twisting up through the woods and following a watercourse. On our left side is a wall built of boulders and rocks collected from the adjacent fields.
The wall invites us to sit on it, rest our feet for a bit while our sweated shirts dry in the sun.
“Curiosity is lying in wait for every secret.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Why did I not think of this before? I’ll just buy tapioca and we’ll make beiju,” I concluded.
It was such a simple solution to such a simple problem: staying in a village where I couldn’t find bread but needing something for breakfast.
If only it were so simple…
They laugh when Coen sign languages if he can join them. Their faces are skeptical.
“A foreigner? Playing mahjong?”
Living on an island of reeds, in a house of reeds, sleeping on a bed of reeds, cooking on the fuel of reeds, and fishing from a boat of reeds? How intriguing is that?
Please meet the Uros People of Peru.
It had been a beautiful afternoon of strolling around Seoul. We had left the subway for what it was: efficiently transporting people from A to B. We weren’t here for efficiency but for sightseeing, for getting a feel for the city.
And walking is the best way to do so.
Wooden crosses, bare wood or painted blue or white, bore the names of the deceased.
Dates of birth and dead were referred to as ‘sunrise’, or ‘dawn’, and ‘sunset’.
Driving some eight hours straight from the Netherlands to France doesn’t exactly qualify as slow travel, I know. Yet that’s what I did with my friend Mélanie.
And, of course, I have an excuse (two, to be exact).
Even after more than ten years on the road I can still be surprised how one meeting can lead to all sorts of events, adventures and other meetings. Maybe because I never take them for granted. It is not something you can plan, or find in a guidebook. You can plan a meeting, but you can’t plan the results of such a meeting.
And that’s where the charm lies: the unexpected.
You can travel. You can slow travel. You can stop for a while and stay in a place.
We’ve done all three and each has its charms.
A couple of weeks ago, Fernando Polanco Plaza invited us to Hacienda Zuleta, his family farmstead in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador.
We were in for a treat.
Several travelers and locals had mentioned it to us: Heladería Holanda, an ice cream parlor in Cajamarca. Since the owner is Dutch, and so are Coen and I, it made sense to visit it when in Cajamarca.
What is it about wanting to connect with your countrymen when abroad?
It’s weird, it’s funny, it’s incredible. We’ve been camping here for close to four weeks and I’m still somewhat in awe of us being here. In a workshop…
Slow Travel has gotten a whole new meaning
Throughout our more-than-10-year
While we love the sightseeing and roaming-the-countryside aspect of traveling, our warmest memories are always related to people.
As happened in São Paulo
