wanderlust wednesdays: santorini, greece

happy sunday

everyone's cups were filled
& everyone's smiles were pretty much like this.

today was a spanish feast
we cooked gambas & berenjenas rellenas
made tortilla de patata & drank some sangria.

what a delicious way
to spend a beautiful sunday!

august break

i am having a lot of fun with susannah conway's august break - a fun project which involves posting a photo each day (or as many as you like, there are no rules really) as a way to document this whole month of august. it's teaching me to appreciate taking pictures on a deeper level wherein i start to build a sense of commitment towards it. these shots wouldn't have made it if i hadn't signed on & agreed to take my camera with me everyday.

see more august break photos here.

while checking out other august breakers, i discovered this cool website that transforms your digital photos to polaroins ~ instant polaroid-like pictures for those who love the look but does not have the real thing.

wanderlust wednesdays: burano, italy

four years ago i set foot on this tiny jewel of an island.
now i wish i had taken more pictures.

wanderlusting

love on two wheels

art by miriam shenitzer

art by blanca gomez via happiness is...

is it just me? or do they all look happy, giddy even, riding a vespa. i can almost see it - an island girl in her flip flops on a lilac-colored vespa, fueled by wanderlust, wind in her hair, a smile on her sun-kissed face...

i therefore conclude, vespa = bliss.

gypsy girl's guide

look who guest posted at the gypsy girl's guide last saturday!

check out alessandra's blog - a place to share inspiration among gypsy girls!

Gypsy Girls are free spirited. We are dreamers taken by wanderlust. We are holistic, easygoing and kind. We are peaceful warriors. We love nature and care about the planet. We are worldly, bohemian, mystical, strong. We are cultural nomads, brave explorers, writers, journalists, photographers, surfers, designers, artists, athletes, performers, business women, jet setters, expats, humanitarians. We are pioneers and entrepreneurs leading unconventional lives around the globe. We believe in global consciousness. We think, care and act globally. We rock locally. We believe in following our dreams. We cultivate courage via safe risk taking. We believe that challenges are our teachers. We believe in spiritual growth. We believe in tradition, in connection, in the power of community and in the gift of sharing. We believe in practicing authenticity, mindfulness and gratitude. We believe in nurturing creativity, the earth and all beings.

Are you a Gypsy Girl too? :)

p.s. thanks for creating this lovely space Alex & making me a part of it! :)

eat, pray, love

many years ago my dear friend chica said
this book made me think of you
after all this girl has been my friend for 20 years
a friend who's no stranger to my wanderlust
to my open love affair with italy
my desire to travel across india
and my dream to live in bali.
back then i had just gotten back from europe
where i had spent a month eating gelato,
tasting the best pizza
and losing myself in the streets of italia.
back then i was slowly getting deeper into my practice of yoga
and approaching my edge
as i was preparing for my trip to india
where i spent 3 months exploring the world within
and the amazing world outside.
where i studied & lived in an ashram
walked barefoot & taught kids yoga
connected with people, listened to their stories
& realized how similar they were to mine.
and by then i had long read this book
marveled in its pages
of truth clarity & love.
and so in the same year i traveled to bali
not to look for the medicine man
but to fulfill a teenage dream -
SURF every single day
and that's exactly what I did.

i may have done the same route
but her path is largely different from mine
yet the sameness resides in taking chances
when we are on the search
for meaning
purpose
happiness
& love.
it is this search which most of us share
which means we are connected
and that is why i love this book
not for anything else but
its ability to voice that longing out
& make us feel we are definitely not alone in this.
and that is why i'm prepared
to let myself go and
love this movie.

soon :)

let the kids play

print by Nazario Graziano

sun's out, skies are oh so blue. a walk on the beach with a double scoop of almond gelato
is my idea of fun these days :) happy weekend everyone!

wanderlust wednesdays: tokyo, japan

my first night in tokyo was spent in this izakaya. good times.

are you happy?

some say happiness is overrated. truth is, it saddens me when some people think that. my yoga practice has taught me that our true nature is freedom & bliss. in the beginning, i couldn't grasp the whole meaning of it. but 5 years of yoga practice has led me further from my sticky mat and deeper into myself. there was a lot of unlearning to be done, a lot of old beliefs had to be given up but all the work was worth it. anusara yoga continues to teach me to align my body in ways that can only be good for me and on a deeper, personal level it continues to remind me to align myself with my heart.

living according to our heart's desire, following our enthusiasm, connecting to that innermost voice within us allow us to have a life filled with happiness. when we align ourselves with our hearts, we align ourselves with the greater scheme of things. isn't it when we're happiest do we feel most connected with everything & everyone? have you ever felt how the universe responds to you so quickly that the connection you have becomes almost tangible? isn't it pure joy to know what we have inside of us is what supports us as well? this is grace. :) and what a beautiful thing it is.

so now i end this post with a question & a picture - are you living your heart's greatest desire? think about it.

are you happy poster

how to be alone

i used to be such a restless creature. i used to always feel the need to do something, go somewhere & be anything except bored. until one day i tired myself out. one day i learned to be still and discovered a whole new world right there. most importantly, i rediscovered myself.

being alone doesn't mean being lonely. far from it. if you can find happiness in solitude, how easy it is to be happy anywhere else. being alone can be so empowering too. it teaches you to love yourself and appreciate things on your own. i can say more but really, the best thing is to try it in your own personal way. that or watching this amazing video to inspire you :)

wanderlust wednesdays: varanasi, india

i have a fascination for foreign doors, and as i was taking pictures of this particular one,
this man came passing through.

swimming to greece

a week ago i received the most amazing news. my cousin mikey has been chosen as one of the athletes competing in the 2011 Special Olympics in Athens, Greece.

you see mikey, 18 years old, has been diagnosed with autism when he was a little kid. i remember how the family, especially my uncle mike & auntie pam, worried about him growing up. then from a distance (they live in the united states, while we're continents away here in the philippines) we saw how he started to make friends, grew a liking for chicken, how he uncannily remembered everyone's birthdays.... we saw how he managed in his own special way. and when they moved from new york to florida, we remembered how he quickly & enthusiastically took to the water. i remember stories of him staying for hours in their pool every single day & when he was big enough, the ocean became his playground.

an excerpt from a st. petersburg times article

It was kind of a miracle — an awakening.

The kid who used to while away time flushing the toilet just to watch the water spin or setting up chairs in a straight line had finally found another interest. The kid who used to bite and kick and scratch because he couldn't express himself verbally, who had been through countless therapy sessions to help him find his voice, was now pleading with his dad to take him to Clearwater Beach. There the two would spend hours in the water; father coaching son, teaching him the freestyle, the backstroke, the breaststroke and racing with him until son was soon leaving father in his wake.

"He never wants to leave," said Mike Tuason, 50, of their daily visits to the beach. "Sometimes we stay till 10, 10:30 at night just lying in the sand watching the stars."

here's the full article by the times

true enough whenever they'd come over for a visit, mikey would swim like a fish in our warm seas. now my cousin is an olympian - how cool is that? this news warms my heart in ways that i can never explain in words. mikey is an inspiration. his story is a great testament to the wonders of following your enthusiasm, of not knowing fear and therefore finding your bliss.

the world summer olympics in athens is a year away but mikey has already won a far bigger game.

thank you katrina for these adorable tape strips!

love & light

green reverie from sensing owls

daniela by malinamelone

untitled by marcio nakamura

untitled by feaverish

wanderlust wednesdays: trastevere, rome

here, every wednesday, i will revisit the places from my travels.
places where my wanderlust has brought me. for instance, sometime in may of 2010,
i found myself in the streets of trastevere, rome.

i'll do anything to be happy

Noah And The Whale Blue Skies.mp3

i'm tired of waiting. thinking. shaking things up. i'm tired of talking. talking. and just talking. i'm tired of coasting by because it's not getting us anywhere. i'm tired of waking you up again and again and again. wake up already.

i want to live the rest of my life now.

the kindness of strangers

one of the greatest things about traveling that never ceases to amaze me is the kindness of strangers. the way people lead you to the right direction when you've lost your way; or how an unexpected hand carries your luggage as you struggle to lift it down the stairs. this kindness can come in the form of a smile and uplifting conversation, in moments when you're feeling alone. it comes as a free drink and baklava from sun-kissed waiters living along the coast. it comes in the most ordinary of things and gestures at the most random and unexpected moments, like a protective arm that guides you as you walk through a throng of donkeys. and they continue to remain among the sweetest of my memories. the kindness of strangers humbles me each time and reminds me to do the same. what a gift to experience this human phenomenon, to discover there's still so much goodness in humanity. this is why i travel, not merely for the pleasure of seeing and tasting a new city or country, but for the invaluable gift of learning more about our people. i believe that it takes a lot of courage to open yourself up to the world this way. to have our own beliefs challenged and even proven wrong. it takes a heart filled with wonder to appreciate cultural differences and not judge them. because it's only then we begin to see how we're all connected, that we have more things in common than we care to admit.

most of these people i'll never see again, some will continue to stay in touch, some i'll get to encounter again in my travels and a precious few whose friendships i will get to keep for a very long time. there are faces i may forget, but the truly important stuff will linger. their kindness will endure. one kind act that would always remind me how we ceased to be strangers to one another, but friends living in the same world.

bliss

i love looking at this picture. it reminds me how happy & giddy & simply wonderful this day was. it was too cold for a swim and i was on my own. the sun was shining down on me and everything was just perfect. i don't long to go back to that day because in some way i am still there, dipping my feet in the cold mediterranean sea, content in knowing that i always get to where i want to be when i follow my bliss.

things you need to know (when in greece)

Horta - boiled greens, a favorite appetizer of many which looks like a blob of deep green moss and seaweed on a plate. Served with olive oil and a generous dash of lemon, it's probably the best vegetable dish you can ever have.

Tsipouro - a crystal clear liquor from grape skins, leftovers from the wine making process to be exact. This wildly bitter drink is also known as Raki and the Greeks love to drink it with meals. I think I may be addicted to it.

Baklava - an extremely sweet Greek dessert composed of filo pastry, chopped nuts & honey. I probably won't eat it again, but having it for the first time in Santorini tastes like something I've been waiting for my entire life.

"Only in Greece..." - is a phrase you are bound to hear always especially from the men whose passion for anything Greek is fiery. "Taste this, our ocean is so rich with minerals that only in Greece will you have this kind of fish" or "You will never have an authentic Greek salad elsewhere, only in Greece can you get this kind of tomatoes..." Disagreeing is not recommended.

Hopa (!) - after a few rounds Tsipouros, Greek men especially are fond of shouting this. I asked "what does it mean?" Looks at me and shouts "We don't know!" Hopa!

from an island, with love

it's official - i am totally and irrevocably in love with Greece.

yesterday i went over to my neighbour nikos, a photographer who's lived in santorini for many years. he had an exhibit where i met his lovely spanish girlfriend esther, and many other wonderful characters who've made this island their home. when i asked each one how they found themselves here, faces lit up and each story unfolded like fine poetry. listening to them talk made me realize how much island people all over the world have in common. how we all remember the moment when we left that old life behind and let the heart take complete control. looking back, the decision probably didn't make practical sense to some of us at that time and it surely didn't make any sense to our families who watched in horror as we packed our bags and set sail to the island of our dreams. but when we let the Heart lead, then we are always led to the right place.

so there i was, drinking wine with this vibrant and interesting bunch (an artist a shopkeeper, a writer who owns a bookstore, a lovely couple, a kinesiotherapist to name a few), watching the moonrise and seeing their island in a different light. much has been said and written about santorini, and all this hype is richly deserved. i am so content to just lie in bed with my windows and doors open, looking out into the caldera, into a sea that is magnificently blue. but hearing them talk of their favorite spots and things to do make me want to stay longer. it makes me want to come back already even though i'm still here.

which is why today i traded my afternoon nap for a walk around Oia and further down to Katharos beach with Craig (writer & bookstore keeper). we passed an abandoned church, an old leper colony building that has been turned into a cafe open during the summer and a huge rock where a couple was sitting with a million dollar view. it was a warm and lovely day, the flowers in bloom, the trails narrow, the pebble beach empty. we folded our pants and went straight to the water - totally resisting the urge to take my clothes off and jump in for a swim. we headed back as the sun was beginning to set.

it was only then i remembered that i had left my thick sweater at the bar we went to after the exhibit. that i realized i ran going home at 3 in the morning because i was freezing. blame it on the many glasses of wine and dancing to abba (yes the old man dj played old man songs) to make me sweetly forget.

supper was on the bookshop's roof terrace with home-cooked borscht - a rich vegetable soup topped with a dollop of yoghurt and a specialty of Slava, a funny and gentle Ukrainian guy who has just moved here. dining in a home with the locals on my fourth night on the island isn't bad at all. i'm beginning to imagine how a week, hmm or maybe a month would look like if i stayed.

what did i tell you, this girl is in love.