Travel: Lisbon Revisited...

Lisbon revisted

"Outra vez te revejo - Lisboa e Tejo e tudo -

Transeunte inútil de ti e de mim,

Estrangeiro aqui como em toda a parte

Casual na vida como na alma,

Fantasma a errar em salas de recordações

Ao ruído dos ratos e das tábuas que rangem

No castelo maldito de ter que viver..."

Álvaro de Campos (Heteronym of Fernando Pessoa),
Lisbon revisited, 1926

Travel: 2006 was a safe year for civil aviation

According to IATA's (International air transport association) director general Giovanni Bisignani, 2006 was the safest year for civil aviation. At a press conference in Morocco at Royal Air Morocco's headquarters, he underlined that "sixty years ago, we transported 9 million passengers and we recorded 800 deaths each year. We had the same number of deaths in 2006 yet we transported 2.2 billion travellers ". There has also been a reduction of 50% in the rate of accidents in 2006 compared to 1996 (21 accidents in 2006). According to him, the "rate of loss of planes per million flights" was reduced to 0.65 from 1.32 in 1996". The objective is to bring the rate down to 0.49 by the end of 2008."

Now the important task will be to improve energy efficiency and reduce gas emmissions or discover new energy sources that are less polluting and which produce less CO2... not an easy task, I would say.

Travelling: Mexico nuevo Mundo!

So here I am in Mexico, already one week, more or less one year after Argentina and Chile. Quite a difference... if Argentina is like an extension of Europe, Mexico is a total new world. Here it's not nature which is the attraction, but people and what people have created. And wow, what have they created here... This is a rich country, of people, of colours, of contrasts. Mexico DF (or simply DF) is a rich city of diversity, over 20 million souls fighting for survival, for a better life, for fame or simply to have a decent life here in this planet and this life. Teotihuacan is the sumum, the best. A very special place, the city of the Gods with its temples to the Sun and to the Moon.

A city rich of history and a cultural mix between the pre-hispanic local cultures (aztec, mexicos, toltecas, etc), the spanish and all the other emigrants who followed. And the result is amazing. Huge. Huge highways, huge traffic jams, many people everywhere, in the streets, in the subway, etc. Nice people, in general very helpful and quiet. After the 'show' put up by Lopez Obrador (Amlo) and his followers, things have cooled down, Amlo has been somehow discredited by his political ambition and most likely has comitted political harakiri. He is most likely politically dead. Now Felipe Calderon is well in charge from Palacio de Los Pinos, having the situation under control. The situation is normal and Mexico seems to have needed this 'shake up' to wake up from a certain sleep/stagnation. Maybe this was necessary to make things change. Time will tell. In the meantime the economy seems to be growing fast, also supported by again growing oil prices, discoveries of new oil reserves (even though with high ecological exploitation costs). It seems Mexico has a lot to give and wishes to reoccupy its role as leader of the latin-american countries.

Now it's holiday season, Christmas is important even though it seems to me less than in Europe. People get ready for the new year, to the future and it seems the future can only be bright for Mexico, it seems there's so much creativity ready to come out and conquer the world, like mexican cinema and its new 'promises'. Like mexican electronic music. And many other things.

In the meantime, mexicans take their time, even in a city that does not stop, they take time for others. They are quite educated, unlike many europeans, who can be so cold, materialistic and profit-driven. Despite all that I had heard before, this does not seem to me to be a violent place nor a violent society. Of course, a city of 20 million must have it's problems and a counrty like Mexico with its huge disparities (only losing to Brasil in terms of income disparities) certainly has some problems to solve and needs to redistribute better its wealth and grant more equal access to education for all. But all in all there's plenty of food here and people have access to basics.

Well, after DF and the jewels of Guanajuato and Queretaro (colonial style), I now discover the wealth and heritage of the Mayan world, Merida, Uxmal, Chichen Itza, etc... And with a bit of luck I'll have a taste of the warm caribbean waters in the gulf of Mexico... and hopefully my trip back to Europe will still take some time.

Travel: Viva Mexico!

Viva Mexico!