Acompañado en la montaña

Cuando uno pasea por una ciudad espera encontrar gente. Incluso en aquellos días en que diluvia, uno se cruza a algún desgraciado a quien la tormenta lo agarró a mitad de camino. Cuando uno hace trekking no desea encontrarse con nadie. Pero gracias a la densidad poblacional europea y al amor por la naturaleza de los alemanes, uno no puede evitar toparse con algún grupo que ha tenido la misma idea que nosotros.

Vista desde la cima

Esta vez nuestra girl scout buscó un camino más largo, dífícil y con menos sombra que la semana pasada. Después de caminar a través de unas granjas, donde no nos cruzamos más que con vacas, comenzamos a subir. Cuatro horas más tarde llegamos a la cima rocosa del Lacherspitze (1724 m.). Allí nos dimos cuenta que no estábamos solos. Mientras que un par de parapentes volaban en la montana de al lado, dos chicos hacian un picnic sobre una roca a 20 metros de nosotros. Al tomar el camino de bajada nos encontramos con tres hombres con uniformes militares alemanes. Seguro que no eran milicos por que tardaron más de diez minutos en respondernos que el próximo sendero comenzaba a solo 100 metros de allí. Después de tomarlo nunca dejamos de estar acompañados. En total nos encontramos con más de quince personas.

Si hay tanta gente que hace trekking en los Alpes, es fácil entender por qué los europeos invierten dinero en mantener y señalizar los senderos: es mas barato que rescatar a la gente perdida.

Could you be alone in the Alps?

When one walks through a city one expects to find people. Even in rainy days, you will encounter some guy whom was caught by the storm halfway from his home. When you go hiking, you don't want to meet anyone. But due to the density of the European population and the love for the nature of the Germans, you can't avoid meeting people which had the same idea as you.

Pause before going up

This time our girl scout planned a longer trip as last week, more difficult and with less schade. After walking through some farms, where we only met cows, we began to go up. Four hours later we reached the rocky summit of Lacherspitze (1724 m.). There we realized that we weren't alone. While a couple of paragliders were flying over the mountains near us, two boys were doing a picnic on a rock just 20 meters away. When we started to go down, we met three German mens in military uniforms. It took them more than ten minutes of discussion to respond us that the next trail started just 100 meters from there. I'm sure they weren't from the Army. After taking it, we were always accompanied from some other hikers. At the end of the day, we had met more than fifteen people in the mountains.

If so many people hike in the Alps, it is easy to understand why Europeans invest money to maintain and mark trails: it is cheaper than recuesing those who got lost.

The german way of hiking

Whenever you walk around the German cities, you feel the organization coming from the well marked bike lanes, those signs which indicate the right of way to drivers and the blue Us leading to the subway. But the German organization goes beyond the cities, it has conquered the mountains.

We made it!

A week ago I was invited to hike in the Alps. As a novice, I bought an expensive and sophisticated compass a day before the trip. I make a few steps toward the mountains and realized you don't need much equipment: all trails are numbered, labeled and categorized. Thus you only need a map. I have never walked around a mountain, so I went first at all times. I wanted to develop my sense of direction in this terrain. Although it was very easy, I made a mistake. After reaching the peak of Grasleitenkopf (1434 m.), we headed to the shelter where we were going to make a stop. After walking twenty minutes, a path appeared which wasn't on the map. Both directions were quite similar, so I decided to take the right path with more shade. A couple of minutes later the girlscout of our group corrected the course. She had talked with some Germans who came from the shelter and they had gone the other way. The disadvantage of living in such an organized country is that one is less prepared for the unexpected. That path shouldn't have been there because it wasn't on the map!

Trekking al estilo alemán

Quien camina por las ciudades alemanas siente el orden que emana de las bicisendas perfectamente marcadas, de los pequeños carteles que indican la prioridad de paso a los conductores y las Us azules que nos llevan a las paradas de subte. Pero el orden alemán no solo conquistó las ciudades sino también las montañas.

Hace una semana me invitaron a hacer trekking en los Alpes. Como buen novato, un día antes de salir me compre una brujula cara y sofisticada. Hice unos pasos hacia la sierra y me di cuenta que no era necesario tanto equipo: Todos los senderos están numerados, señalizados y categorizados por lo que alcanza con un mapa.

Nunca caminé por una montaña a pie, así que fui primero en todo momento. Queria desarrollar mi sentido de orientación en ese tipo de terreno. Fue muy facil. Pero cometí un error. Después de alcanzar el pico del Grasleitenkopf (1434 m.) rumbeamos hacia el refugio donde ibamos a tomar unas cervezas. A los veinte minutos de caminata apareció un sendero que no estaba en el mapa. La diferencia en la dirección de ambos era muy poca, así que me decidí por el de la derecha con más sombra. Un poco más tarde la girlscout del grupo corrigió nuestro rumbo. Había hablado con unos alemanes que venian del refugio y ellos habían tomado el otro camino.

La contracara del orden es que uno está menos preparado para lo inesperado. Ese sendero no marcado no debería haber estado en el mapa.

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Living in a Vibrant city

The last weekend I went to a recital of Sepultura, a Brazilian thrash metal band. To blend with the audience, I dressed in black and wore a cross on my chest. Today I am wearing an elegant sport jacket and white trousers. To go to a polo match, one also has to go with the attire of the environment. After three months living in a ghost town in Austria where I started to run every day to kill boredom, now I know that Munich is one of those vibrant cities where you can do everything.

A small cup of sand polo was held today in the riding school of the university. This minimalist version of normal polo is played with a small beach ball, every match lasts two periods of seven and a half minutes called chukers and each player has only two horses. As the two teams play in a small field, the tempo is very fast and they do a lot of goals.

Metal trash is a distorted music with a monotonous and uniform beat. It doesn't sound well to me and I usually prefer to enjoy the variable melody of the progressive metal. But the opportunity to see one of the most veteran bands of this sort of musik for free, was too appealing to me and I joined the crowd.

Now I'm checking my backpack and cleaning my hiking boots to make a trip through the mountains which are one step away from Munich.

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Vibrando al son de Munich

El fin de semana pasado fui a un recital de Sepultura, una banda brasilera de trash metal. Para no desentonar con el público, me vestí de negro y me puse un par de colgantes. Hoy estoy de elegante sport, con un saco azul y un pantalon blanco. Para ir a un partido de polo, uno también tiene ir con el atuendo del ambiente. Después de vivir tres meses en un pueblo muerto en Austria, donde salía todos los días a correr para matar el aburrimiento, sé ahora que Munich es una de esas ciudades vibrantes, donde se puede hacer de todo.

Hoy se jugó una pequeña copa de polo arena en la escuela de equitación universitaria. Esta version minimalista del polo normal se juega con una pelota de playa, un poco más grande que una bocha, cada partido dura dos tiempos de 7 minutos y medio llamados chukers y cada jugador usa solo dos caballos. Como los dos equipos juegan en una cancha pequeña, el ritmo de juego es muy rápido y se meten muchos goles.

El trash es una versión distorsinada del metal. Este ritmo me suena al oido como una melodia monotona y uniforme. Pero el hecho de ir a ver a una de las bandas más veteranas del ambiente y no tener que pagar un centavo fue más fuerte que yo.

Ahora estoy revisando la mochila y limpiando las botas de trekking para darme una vuelta por las montañas, que están a solo un paso de Munich.

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La invisible frontera austriaca

El lago de Constanza, ubicado en el sur de Alemania, es un lugar al que toda familia germana ha llevado a sus chicos alguna vez. No me gusta caminar entre mares de gente sintiéndome un extraño por mi edad. Por lo que decidí darle una vuelta de tuerca a mi visita.
Después bajarme del tren en Lindau, la isla más grande, caminé por las calles laberínticas de la ciudad y almorcé en el puerto mirando el lago. Sus aguas son compartidas por Alemania, Austria y Suiza. Aprovechando la cercanía de la frontera austriaca, solo 4 Km., decidí escaparme del bullicio de los turistas y caminando por la orilla pasar un rato en contacto con la naturaleza y llegar a otro país.
Pero fue grande mi decepción, cuando pegué la vuelta dos horas más tarde sin saber dónde estaba. Ya no hay controles en las fronteras internas de la Unión Europea. Muchas veces es un cartel lo único que le dice a uno que está en otro país. En este caso, ni siquiera eso había.
Gracias a Google Maps pude resolver el misterio: en la frontera austriaca hay un puente y en una de mis fotos este aparece. Conclusión: estuve en Austria sin saberlo!

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¿Dónde está la gente en Wels?

Me gustan las ciudades pequeñas. Allí la vida transcurre más lentamente, todo queda cerca y uno tiene más tiempo libre. Pero no me gustan las ciudades pequeñas y aburridas, donde no se ve gente en la calle.

Durante los siguientes tres meses trabajaré en Wels, una ciudad austriaca de 60.000 de habitantes. Allí hay 23 escuelas primarias y secundarias y una universidad. Por eso, esperaba encontrar una ciudad joven, con una gran oferta de actividades para emprender en mi tiempo libre y con un par de bares, de esos que están llenos todas las noches.

Mi desilusión fue muy grande cuando noté que solo se veía gente en la calle a las ocho de la mañana cuando los chicos van al colegio. Busque un bar para jugar al pool y solo encontré uno en Linz, a 25 Km. de distancia. A pesar que se están construyendo edificios de viviendas en el centro, la mayoría de los locales comerciales están vacíos y se ofrecen en alquiler.

En el siglo XIV había en la ciudad un mercado semanal de artículos regionales y dos mercados anuales de caballos y productos agropecuarios. Hoy hay un gran centro de convenciones, que al igual que los primeros mercados, son la única actividad económica importante en la zona. Los hoteles están llenos durante las conferencias y totalmente vacíos durante el resto del año.

Tampoco puedo decir que su pasado sea interesante: el Káiser Maximilian I paraba frecuentemente allí en su palacio, desde donde salia a cazar y donde murió en 1519. El casco histórico con sus tres calles peca de intrascendente, en menos de una hora, uno ha visto todo.

Ahora que trabajo en un pueblo pequeño y aburrido, me doy cuenta lo afortunado que soy de vivir en Munich, una ciudad entretenida y pujante pero el ruido, la contaminación y las distancias de las grandes metrópolis del mundo.

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St. Patrick's Day

Although I come from a town where people are proud of their Irish roots, I have never been to a St. Patrick's Day parade. As I learned that here was held was one of the largest after Dublin and New York, I decided to watch it.

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Now only could be seen typical costumes from the Irish folk but also from some of the biggest communities of foreigners in Munich: Perú and Bolivia. There were plenty of people but the atmosphere was not really that of a celebration, the public didn't sing or applause and most of the participants didn't seem to enjoy the event. Anyway after the parade I went with some friends to an Irish pub were we spent a good time.

Chimsee: Frauen Inseln and Prien-Stock

To travel in group has it risks. The main one is to lost the train and this is was it happened to us on our trip to Chimsee. We spent to much time walking from the lake to the train station, that we saw our train leaving when we were just one hundred meters away. Many people got angry at the organisers because they didn't tell us to hurry up. I don't like to spend my time in those useless discussions, so I decided to look for something to do in the hour that we had ahead. I walked around the station where I discovered how quiet but beautiful Prien is.
I was in Chimsee in November, so during this journey, I visited the Women Island with it owns monastery, brewery and parking slots for boats. There aren't any cars there and just following one street you get to know all the island, so you can image how small it is.

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Flashmob Freeze München: I was there

Today, before heading to the Lowenbräu brewery with the Couch Surfing group, I spent three minutes of my time in a Flashmob Freeze. This is a typical urban event where a group of people stay still while the pedestrians walk amazed through them.

As there is so much evidence about my participation in You Tube, I decided to make it public with this two videos.

Also Monks had their businesses

Monasteries in Germany were not only the religious centre of many regions but also a commercial one. In the case of Andechs, the monks earned a living by brewing a special sort of beer. In those days it was dangerous to drink water from the rivers. So most of the population and even children used to drink beer, which was produced using boiled water, as a way to avoid illnesses.

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I'm a member of Couch Surfing and I decided to try my first post. I wanted to do the one hour walk to the monastery, watch the landscape and enjoy a couple of beers at the monastery. Four people joined in and we started a series of visits to breweries in Munich and nearby.

Visiting a flooded town

I usually don't check the weather forecast before heading to a city because in Germany it doesn't rain heavily and even with snow you can always walk around a place. But there are things you have to we aware of.
Before taking the train to Passau, a small town near Austria full of students, I was told that the center of the city was flooded and that I won't be able to see the castle. I decided to go on because I wanted to see how this type of natural disasters are managed in Germany.
Surprisingly only a couple of blocks were under water and I could reach the castle taking another route. I even had time to walk to the monastery through pilgrimage stairs. From the nearby hills you have some beautiful views of the town and the affluence of the rivers Danube, Inn and Ilz.
If you are spending a weekend in Munich and you have a free day, you could visit Passau. But I wouldn't recommend you to stay longer than one day as there isn't much to see. Just in the case you want to see some famous cabaretists, you may spend the night there.

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Thousands of stories about Mozart and one legend about Hitler

A local legend from Salzburg tells that Adolf Hitler being a child played near the river in front of the door of a yellow house. Suddenly he felt into the water and the owner of it, hearing his crying, save him. Locals argue that if he had drown many other lives would have been saved. This doesn't take into account that right wing extremist political parties emerged in the Weimar Republic as an answer to the chaotic social and economical situation.
This city is the right place to learn about the life of the famous compositor. But it isn't the only reason to visit it: the marvelous view of the city from one of the hills is a tourist attraction on itself. The fortification is also worth a visit because it was so secure that it was never taken by force. Only once, it surrendered without fighting to Napoleon's army.

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