Alternate Vision

Travelling is never all fun and games. This weekend was testament to that. Juan and I, with empty wallets, backpacks, high spirits and some Finlandia set out to Girne, North Cyprus from Taşucu. I was pleasantly surprized to find a duty free shop at the Taşucu harbor. The seabus ferry ride takes about 3 hours when most normal ferries cover this distance in 5-6 hours. Ten minutes into the boat ride and the onboard clerks come around with beer,drinks and snacks for sale. They are smart about doing the rounds twice, just incase you change your mind. Ten minutes later they come around with plastic bags. My first reaction was "why the need for trash bags so early?". Then suddenly, one by one, half the bus empties out to the exit doors for fresh air. Everyone was sea sick. Apparently the sea was rather choppy that afternoon, but this didn't slow the seabus down. Within an hour all the four exits were crowded with people (including myself) breathing heavy and fighting for some fresh air. I have never seen so many people throw up at the same time. It took me a few hours to recover from the journey.

A lot more went wrong this weekend, but none of it is worth blogging about. Cyprus is a quaint, interesting island in the mediterranean with a fascinating history. The Phoenicians, Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks and Romans all controlled the island at some point in time. That was several centuries ago. Today, most of North Cyprus has been converted into a highly overpriced haven for tourists seeking some "club-med" action. Gazimagusa, on the east coast of the island is home to the Eastern Mediterranean University(EMU) and is a tad bit less touristy. It also boasts of an insanely large international student body with most of them coming from Nigeria, Cameroun, Tunisia, India, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Palestine and England. Reason for this is a lot of them come here on scholarships that afford them a free education. At around 3 am on Friday night I ran into Ike, the Nigerian from Lagos. Fancy having a conversation in pidgin on Cyprus? How about a samba party? The troupe came from Belo Horizonte. Next afternoon, on the bus ride back to Girne sitting behind us were two Sri Lankan men. They spoke to eachother in Sinhalese and Tamil and everytime their phone rang they would take off into Turkish. Fascinating.

I made sure to overdose on avomin on the way back. I would go back there but only for the beach action and to see Jimena.