That morning in Coquimbo I asked the lady at the market : How much for the “ceviches” Madam?

-One “luca” each one! (luca = 1 000 pesos) The same price for each one, with salmon, with seafood, shrimp, Peruvian ceviche, all at the same price, one “luca”!

It was only at that moment that my trip in Chile really started. It had already been 5 days since I got to Chile but eating fresh seafood at a seafood market next to the ocean was what I came looking for when I got there.

If you are looking for a country long and slim, try looking into Chile. Very well known for its mountains, wine a huge coast on the Pacific Ocean with its big fish and gigantic seafood as on a Hollywood movie.
It was at the town of Coquimbo that I finally got to taste all that internationally famous seafood such as big clams, gigantic mussels, scallops, “piures”(!!???), abalones and quite a lot of octopuses being sold the same day they were caught in the ocean.
Coquimbo is well known all over Chile because of the seafood market and also for the seafood restaurants next to the market, you cannot get fresher seafood than that.
I got to that place following the suggestion of a parking lot guard not far away from there when I asked hi where to get good seafood:
-Go to the seafood market- He told me – Try a “ceviche” on the fourth stand on the right after the entrance- And that was exactly what I had done.

Coquimbo is a town that used to be away from the town of La Serena, but La Serena grew bigger and faster and now Coquimbo looks more like a neighborhood of a bigger city.
These two cities were my first stops after Valparaiso and Santiago which are big cities that have a lot of Spanish history and always that feeling of déjà vu because they remind me the country where I grew up: Ecuador.

La Serena and Coquimbo look weird to me because they have the people, the streets and the perfect mood for being cities on the mountains but they are both on the Pacific coast.
The same thing happened to me with Valparaiso, I was aware of that city as being a big commercial port, nevertheless when I finally got there I found the same “mountain mood” in the same way as for Coquimbo and La Serena.
Valparaiso or Valpo as it is called by Chileans, is the most photogenic city in all Chile and also the only one where you can still feel all the history that happened there: palaces huge and forgotten, old elevators to go up the hills of the bay and a lot of old traces of a more glorious past and the consequences of several fires, earthquakes and one big economic crisis.

The commercial port is still there, but it is only the shadow of what it once was. In spite of all that it is the perfect place to wander because everywhere you go you can always get a glimpse of the city on the hills, the harbor, the Andes on the horizon and the ocean….

And everywhere that “mountain mood”. Is it because the Andes are not that far away? It is the same in Santiago, the city is huge and the Andes are never far. If you mix those ingredients with some contamination, a lot of people from all over the world and several millions of Chileans and you get Santiago, the capital of Chile.

The Spanish avenues of this city get deeply wet with rainstorms during the austral Winter but luckily they are less cold than what I expected. Nevertheless the melancholy still lingers, maybe it is because of winter and all the sad things that happened in Santiago some years ago.

Santiago is most of all a huge city with too many things to see and visit. History all over the place, whole neighborhoods packed with students, souvenirs of great houses that are not here any more and from time to time a sad remembering of the dictatorship that scarred Chile and South America forever. And meanwhile, all the other countries knew exactly what was happening in Chile and none did anything to stop it.

But, it is not my goal to write only about sad things. On the other hand in Santiago we have also the archives of the first issues of Condorito ( one of the most famous comic strips in latin America), “pino” empanadas and finally all the legacy of Mr. Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto  who built one of his houses at Bellavista neighborhood and is still there to remind the whole world how much he liked to have a nice party.

The interest thing is that “Don Ricardo” had three homes: one in Santiago, another in “isla negra” (the black island) and the last one in Valparaiso. One for him, another for his girlfriend and the last one for his wife.
I should know which belonged to which because I went to those places, but to be honest, I am not sure any more. The reason is simply that the Valparaiso house has something even more impressive than the house itself….
And it is “Don Ricardo’s” tree!

By the way, Don Ricardo, was mostly known to all his Friends and several million people around the world by his pseudonym: Pablo Neruda.

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Cet article Chile up there est apparu en premier sur Freddy Jaramillo.

The reason why I am telling you all this is that I want to explain why I could not write a post once a week as I had intended to do in the first place, just to keep that pace I would have been obliged to work one whole day once or twice a week.
From now on, I will write smaller posts and more personal. The first ones I wrote were more like a tourist guide and for the ones to come I intend to write my experiences during my travels from my point of view. One of my editors suggested that to me since day one, but I tried to do it my way….and it did not go that well.
Chances are you will read more of my posts in the future, smaller ones and hopefully more often.
And that is all folks! Thank you once again for being one of my 20 followers. And let me wish you a nice and lovely day.

Freddy

Cet article For my 20 readers est apparu en premier sur Freddy Jaramillo.

Let me tell you a story.

During 19th century, the province of Guandong, or Canton, as it is called in the West, was neither the most pleasant nor the most welcoming place to live.

Several wars and famines had completely devastated the place, one after the other. Most of the population lived either in complete poverty or was getting to a state worse than poverty. The situation was critical for them because the only choice they had for their future was an unpleasant death during one of the wars or another more unpleasant one that resulted in starvation.

That is why a lot of people from this region decided to immigrate abroad searching for a better future, because, in any case, it could not get any worse than how they were living at the time.

Most of them left for the Americas, South and North, to work for the contractors who built the first train lines.

Several decades of hard work after, and most of the time with no holidays whatsoever, most of them went back home with all their hard earned savings to start a new life in the same place from where they had once departed.

And this is when the story gets interesting!

When they finally got back home, they brought with them a lot of the commodities they had discovered on the other side of the planet, such as: standing clocks, phonographs, western style furniture, bathtubs etc..

Every single one of them had been working for decades, with one single goal, put enough money aside to be able to go back and start a better life. That is the reason why when they finally returned to China, the houses they built were a mixture of the style they had seen abroad and of Canton style houses.

These houses were several stories high and had roof terraces like  the ones they had seen in western countries, on the other hand they were designed on a square plan as it was done in China.

Neverthless…

….life in China, after they got back, was still as harsh as when they had to leave the first time so when they built their homes they also took into account the fact that on the rare occasions when visitors dropped by to visit, the reason was not to offer you a fruitcake as a welcome gift but to crash into your home, sack everything and steal ones valuables.

These homes were built to protect them from the “visitors”. They were designed as fortresses with bars on every window, small windows on the ground floor, and roof terraces that were in fact surveillance posts. That was also why these houses are several stories high.

People started calling them : (diaolóu) 碉楼  wich means, surveillance post and for a while there were almost 3000 of these buildings all around Kaiping, in the Guangdong province. Nowadays there are only 1833 houses in Kaiping and 500 in Taishan that been registered for conservation purposes

However, some of them had to immigrate once more when life conditions started to deteriorate again after the first world war. Some of them had to leave China a second time but this time, most of them left to the United States. These homes since then, became the symbol of their return home….

They were declared a world heritage site by the UNESCO on June 2007.

All these houses are in the Guangdong province, and can be visited from the city of Canton on a day trip. You can take a bus to the city of Kaiping and once there, a combination ticket allows you to visit some of the villages, with a bus that runs on a circuit.

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Cet article When travellers return home est apparu en premier sur Freddy Jaramillo.

If you ever happen to visit China you might realise that in addition to the fact that Chinese people are nice, they also seemingly do things differently than what you will see elsewhere on the planet. To demonstrate this statement let’s just pretend that you happen to go to China. Then, by an inexplicable turn of destiny you get to go to the small town of Dazu, or 大足, as it is called by the locals. (Dazu is very close to Chongquing, but that is not important for our story).

Dazu is where the historic Dazu caves are situated. It has been named a World heritage site by UNESCO and a historical site of importance “1st category” by the Chinese ministry of Culture ( as well as other titles too long to describe here) in order to make us appreciate the importance of the site. All these titles are displayed at the entrance of the site.

Before going you should know that before entering the caves you need to walk approximately for 20 minutes from the main entrance of the site. I think that the reason for this walk might be that our Chinese friends have a thing for staging a grand entrance.

However, this works rather well because at he end of the last lane and just moments before entering the last curve of the trail you crash into the most awesome historic site ever, without any warning, whatsoever!

Take a look!

To help you better understand this wonder let me provide you with some additional information about this site in order to provide some historic context. This site is part of a regional sculpture group containing almost 50000 Buddhist statues carved patiently on the rock on site is one of the best preserved in all of China. One of the monks living there spent 70 years of his life sculpting these statues. These statues remained isolated for hundreds of years, which is what protected them from the mischief of those naughty boys – the red guards, during the cultural revolution in the sixties.

But I am stalling, let’s get back to the main subject. As I was saying this is possibly one the most awe-inspiring historic sites on the planet.

In spite of the fact that my pictures cannot show just how big the site is, I can say that most of the statues are representations of Buddha, his reincarnations, and different scenes depicting the activities of the era when the statues were carved. Just compare the size of this charming guide with the sculpture she is showing and you will get a small idea of the size of the whole site. Because that is why Chinese people are Chinese, they do everything better, faster and bigger than the rest of human beings on this planet!

After you recover from this first amazing experience, you can continue your visit by appreciating the great level of detail of each element of the sculptures. The details are so sharp, It almost looks like the sculptor only completed his work yesterday.

And just at the moment when you wonder if our Chinese friends could not craft a more perfect set of sculptures, you then come upon this important historical figure, famous for praying, meditating and sleeping (at least as depicted in sculpture). Kind of a cool job, don’t you think?

Yes, you guessed it , the statue represents the Buddha, also known by the name of Gautama Buddha, a.k.a. Siddhartha Gautama to his buddies. Represented here doing the thing he did so well: resting calmly, taking a nap!

The sheer size of the statue gives you an idea of how essential taking a nap is in China. Incidentally, taking a nap is a right written in the Chinese constitution, and I am not joking!

But wait! It is not over yet! The second part of the site contains even more statues, even more Buddha representations, gods, nobles, the different stages to get to the Nirvana, and also some “fashion shows” of the era in which these sculptures were carved.

For example you pass in front of an ensemble of three statues called the “Three Gallant Knights”. One of them has on his hands a small stone building, which is none other than a pagoda weighing almost half a ton! (500 kg) You may be interested to know that this Pagoda has been there for the last 800 years without any cracks or degradation whatsoever. The reason for this because the sculptor carved big monk’s habits (robes) for the three Knights, these stone habits are the structure that holds the hands of the statue and the pagoda all together, thanks to the habit the pagoda does not fall.

In essence, the habit does not make the monk but the pagoda.

Take a moment to reflect about this profound idea….

Finally, let’s just pretend that you have seen all these, came out safe and sound from all these cultural wonders, and you leave the site and go back to the town of Dazu. You may want to know that if you walk towards the north of the village, which is easily reached on foot, you will find another site where you will also have another amazing sculptural experience with the big entrance, the curve, the last lane, the crash etc… The site is smaller but great all the same!

But, that my dear reader, is another story!

If you want to go to the Dazu caves, you need to go to the city of Chongquing first. Once there you can catch a bus to the town of Dazu. From Dazu, you need to take bus number 205. The bus stop is just outside the bus station and it will get you to the site.

Nobody, and I repeat, almost nobody in Dazu speaks English. But don’t worry about that, in spite of this, everybody will understand where you want to go. You just need to ask for directions saying loud and clear: 大足?

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Cet article Chinese people are patient! est apparu en premier sur Freddy Jaramillo.

The city of Busan, in the south of South Korea, has what is considered to be the best fish market in all the country- Jagalchi. Maybe that is the reason why its fish market building is bigger and in much better shape than the fish markets I encountered in Seoul.

Inside the building the amount of fish you can find (still alive, of course) is impressive. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that one day I was going to see trigger fish or tuna kept alive in a tank in order to be eaten afterwards. I even spotted a ray, but they had cut its tail to make it fit inside the aquarium. (This market is not for the faint hearted)

This is not a place where fishmongers are concerned with “animal suffering” issues. Which, in my opinion, is one of the most disturbing aspects of these fish markets, where Asian fishmongers manipulate live fish as if they were only inanimate things!

The market is organized into sections similar to Noryangjin in Seoul, however in Busan’s Jagalchi market, the restaurant section is much bigger. Some of the restaurants even have their own tank of living fish that you can buy from.

Finally, Jagalchi market also has a large section of its market dedicated to the sale of dried fish and seafood. Like its living fish section, the variety of things that you can buy is quite impressive.

If you are wondering if I got to taste Korean sashimi, the answer is no, because in order to do that you need to buy a whole fish and I don’t think I could eat a trigger fish on my own.

The easiest way to go to Jagalchi market the easiest is to take the subway, line 1 till you reach the station called Jagalchi and then take exit 10. And similar to the fish markets in Seoul, the peak of activity in the market happens early in the morning!

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Cet article Fish markets in Korea (2nd part) est apparu en premier sur Freddy Jaramillo.

The Gugenheim museum of Bilbao by Frank Gehry, built in the nineties, helped to breathe new life into the city. Not only did the building give a boost to a whole part of the city that was quickly decaying, but due to its celebrity/popularity it soon became a symbol/icon of Bilbao. It was such an appealing building that it even appears in one of the James Bond franchise movies. (By the way I love 007 movies). The Bilbao effect was born – constructing an exceptional building in a particular place in a city can have an influence on the city as a whole. In response, many other cities in the world started building their own “exceptional buildings” in the hope that these buildings would have a similar impact on their cities as the Gugenhiem had in Bilbao. That was good news for us architects because suddenly people everywhere became interested in our work.

Teeheehee.

In Korea two cities have tried to recreate the Bilbao effect with various results: Busan and Seoul. If you happen to be wandering around the streets of Seoul, you might stumble upon this:

The project is called Dongdaemun Design Plaza & Park and is built by Zaha Hadid architect and associates. The founder of this firm is renowned English architect Zaha Hadid. The building was designed to have several multifunctional spaces, a design museum, exhibition spaces and design labs. At first glance the whole volume of the complex may seem rather impressive, however it is composed of two distinct buildings that are quite simple to understand.

The oddly shaped volumes of the two buildings are a result of the methodology used by the architects. Prior to the “conception” of the project, a very extensive research process is undertaken involving a study of the different “flows” present on the site – such as pedestrian flows, circulation flows, electric grids etc. All of these “flows” are thoroughly analyzed and the interaction between them, combined with other design requirements of the project’s programme, help to shape the design of the volumes and the interior spaces of the final project.

Because the design of the building is based on the interaction between different “flows” the final outcome of the project is a set of volumes and forms where straight lines are scarce, and the whole is pretty impressive!

Regarding interior spaces, do not expect to straight corridors or square rooms, which can be a little unsettling from time to time but you get used to it. And sorry for the lack of photos indoors, in this building, photos and other images are very strictly controlled.

The other city that tried to recreate the Bilbao effect for itself is Busan, located in the south East section of South Korea.

This is the building:

It is the Busan Cinema Centre, which was built to house the International Film Festival of Busan…of course!

This time Zaha Hadid did not get the job instead the Austrian architectural firm: COOP HIMMELB(L)AU, founded by Wolf D. Prix, Helmut Swiczinsky and Michael Holzer won the competition. If the spelling for this firm seems strange, do not worry, it is correct, in german it means Sky Blue Cooperative (and not blue sky as you may think).

If the shape of the building seems surprising, it is because the architects of COOP HIMMELB(L)AU use a very particular method when conceptualizing and designing their buildings. They begin by locking themselves up in a room for 24 hours straight in order to analyze all the demands of the project’s programme until they reach a point of maximum “emotional stress”. At this point, they propose a sketch, or a drawing that can represent a plan, a section, a facade or other, and this becomes the basis to develop the concept for the project. It is a process that helps support the impression that architects are weird (by the way I am an architect too).

However, the project works very well. The spaces of the building are big which gives a feeling of “greatness” to the whole, which suits its function as an International film Festival cinéma. There is also an external projection “room”, but I would rather call it a plaza.

By the way it has a little Hitchcockian mood.

What do you think?

Sadly I could not visit the projection rooms inside the building, so I have no pictures of them. However, if you get to visit the building, the main hall and the ticket venues are worth the visit. They almost feel like they have directly come from a science fiction movie.

As is usual for such buildings, it has received a lot of criticism and not everyone likes it. But at least you can visit it because it is open to the public. As an aside, when I wrote this post, the building still had the world record for the biggest cantilever structure in the world (certified by the Guiness Book of Records) The cantilever is the volume on the furthest side of the picture.

To get to the Busan Cinema Centre, you need to take the subway to the stop “Centum City”, line 2. After that take exit number 12 and follow the signs, it s a 5 minute walk.

On the other hand if you want to go to Dongdaemun Design Plaza & Park, you need to take the subway line 1 or 7 till the stop: Dongdaemun, then take exit number 7. You will get right in the middle of it!

T

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Cet article When architects go nuts est apparu en premier sur Freddy Jaramillo.

In one of his travel graphic novels animator Guy Delisle says that in Asia a fish is not considered fresh when it starts floating on its back- in other words in Asia for a fish to be considered fresh, it has to be alive just before being cooked. This might seem unimportant to us but in Korea it is a serious matter indeed and the best way to see that rule in action is to visit a fish market.

Noryangjin is Seoul’s fish market and is mostly known for the large choice of ocean inhabitants that you can find still alive there. The main market building is reminiscent of Blade Runner in its style and feel and its not the kind of place that has a very welcoming feeling to it, especially upon entering the building for the first time. Just check out the way leading to the entrance and the entrance itself!

You enter Noryangjin market main building through the roof (when arriving from the metro station), and while this may not have been the architect’s first intention the experience of the market you get as you descend downstairs is impressive to say the least.

The whole area inside the market is organized by “zones” corresponding to the type of “ocean being” you are looking for. Every single fish or other ocean being is kept alive in a tank so that customers can easily choose which one they want to buy.

The wonderful thing about Korean fish markets is that once you have chosen your victim, or should I say – your fish, it can be sent to one of the restaurants above the market building where it will be prepared for you.

Because we are speaking about eating fish it is useful to know that Koreans love eating sashimi. But in Korean the word is 회, and you pronounce it as “hway”. If you want to eat “hway” at the market all you need to do is choose your fish in one of the tanks, and after that…well, you get the picture.

This market sells a huge amount of “ocean inhabitants”, which not only includes fish. Thus, is not difficult to stumble upon people that specialize in selling very strange stuff….indeed!

For my part, I only tried the oysters because you can eat a dozen for only 7 US dollars.

And as always, if you want to go there, the easiest way is by subway. The fish market even has its own metro station appropriately named – Noryangjin. You can either go through line 1 or 9. Then take exit number 1. The market is open till late at night but most of the main activity is early in the morning.

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Cet article Fish markets in Korea (1st part) est apparu en premier sur Freddy Jaramillo.

The DMZ To the border of the abyss The DMZ ,or demilitarized zone, is an area 4km wide on either side of the border that separates North and South Korea ( each country has 2km of this zone). It was created in 1953 after the cease fire signed by the two countries, which ended the three year Korean war but created one of the most tense and surrealistic borders that exists on our dear planet.

You can visit it from Seoul, the zone is only 70 km away.

From the beginning of my journey from Seoul to the DMZ, you can feel an increasing tension in the landscape. Barbed wired and electric fences have been installed all along the road leading to the border. To give you an idea of the history of this zone, the first site that I visited on my journey there is a war memorial of the Korea war.

The key landmark of any DMZ visit is camp Bonifas. This is the place where the cease fire agreements were signed in 1953. Camp Bonifas is a meeting room that was built on the border between the two countries and that you can visit. Half of the camp is in North Korea and the other half in South Korea. Before visiting the camp, visitors are a briefed at the visitors centre to advise visitors that soon they will be in an area where you have to be careful with everything you do as relations between North and South Korea as still very tense.

The first thing you have to do once you get to camp Bonifas is form 2 ranks (and you are not allowed to walk around to take pictures). Any pictures have to be taken from your place in the rank, and you should not under any circumstance take any picture of the main surveillance North Korean building. You are also told that you should only speak in a whisper and you must not make any signs to North Korean soldiers that are there etc..

The mood is almost electric. Soldiers from both Korean nations are standing in front of each other and every movement is closely surveyed, like for instance, the arrival of a group of North Korean soldiers who are watching us.

The “visit” of the outer section of camp Bonifas lasts exactly 2 minutes. After this the next visit is the meeting room where the cease fire agreements were signed.

At first glance, there is nothing special with this room besides the fact that half of it is in North Korea and that there is a South Korean soldier standing next to the door leading to North Korea in case someone might want to come in during the visit. He is in charge of dealing with that possible “incident”.

In case you are wondering, North Korea is the side without pebbles.

The visiting time for the meeting room is also 2 minutes, not a single second more.

The South Korean soldiers and North American GI’s are obliged to use sunglasses while they are on duty on the DMZ in order to have a more threatening appearance.

South Korean soldiers ,while they are on guard, need to stand in a position inspired by the “attack” taekwondo position.

The end of the visit happens entirely inside the bus that initially took you to camp Bonifas. Instead of going back to the visitor’s centre the bus takes a loop around the camp in order to go as close to the border as possible. During this bus trip you see a plaque installed in honour of two south Korean soldiers killed during an incident with the North. You also see “the bridge of no return” named as such because this was the place where prisoners of war were exchanged during the Korean war. Once you crossed the bridge you knew that there was no possibility of going back to your original country.

The North-South Korean border is one of the most dangerous borders in the world.

The South Korean side is guarded by South Korean soldiers, as well as, a UN joint force (composed mostly of US soldiers) that stays constantly on watch. Maybe one day both Koreas will be able to reunite, in the same way Germany did, but for the time being it is one of the last places on earth where you can still feel the danger of the cold war.

Visiting the DMZ can only be done through a tour. The easiest way to find one is by asking at any hotel reception in Seoul. They all know how to sign you up for a tour. Do not forget to carry your passport for the inscription and most importantly for the day of the visit!

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Cet article The DMZ est apparu en premier sur Freddy Jaramillo.

Before getting to Korea, among all the information I had read, there was a phrase that did not seem important at that time:

“Trekking is the number one outdoor sport in Korea”

I resumed my reading after that, without much thinking about what that phrase really meant.

To say that Koreans like trekking would be a huge understatement. The term that would better suit with what happens in Korea would be: Koreans live for trekking, 24/7. What is more, Korea has a very mountainous shaped landscape with a lot of forests, so that makes a lot of places to trek.

One good example of this passion for trekking is Bukhansan National Park, which is literally beside Seoul, you can almost get there by the subway! Which is also the reason why thousands of people go trekking there every day.

One of the great advantages of trekking in Korea is that the trails are always in good condition and well signalled. The ways paths are clean, sometimes they have been paved with stones and you can also find stairs for the difficult passages.

The only thing you need is a good pair of trekking shoes, some water, some food, a sunny day and you are all set for a good trek….

But ….. as I said, trekking is the number one sport in Korea.  The and the proof of that are is the 100 one hundred people that you are likely to meet at the summit of one of the peaks of thein Bukhansan national park, because they started the trek almost at the same time as you did and considering also that you did this trek during a week day.

So it is while you are going back, that you get to understand this little factinfo about the trekking in Korea, . Why? Bbecause you will surely meet at least 500 five hundred more people going up, because they started their trek later than you did.

An Iit keeps going on and on, until you arrive atto the place you started. And yYou might even see some people that are starting the trek you started at 9:00 in the morning, at 4:00 PM (16:00) the trek you started at 9:00 in the morning!!!

And to finiish the experience, take a look at this : “trekking shoes cleaning station” provided graciously by an outdoors supplyies brand.

To get to Bukhansan National park, from Seoul, take the subway line 3 and stop at Yeonsinnae, then change to bus number 37. You just need to follow the rest of the people that are also going to trek in the park.

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Cet article Trekking in Korea est apparu en premier sur Freddy Jaramillo.

There is something I will always be impressed with in Japan, and it is the vending machines.

There are all kinds and sorts of them, like the classic ones that sell cigarettes, newspapers and drinks:

You have also the ones that sell stuff you do not expect to be sold by a vending machine; such as milk, toys or pokemons.

Or maybe ice cream.

Or dishes in a restaurant, you choose your dish, you pay for it and you get a ticket from the machine. With that ticket you get a dish in the restaurant.

And finally my favourite, the banana vending machine!

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Cet article Vending machines in Japan est apparu en premier sur Freddy Jaramillo.