Monkey and Bunny's fantastic journey all across Mexico, Central America, Europe and Turkey.


On September 22nd 2010 Alia left the country to embark with me into an amazing journey, first backpacking all across Central America and later traveling by car all over Europe. When we were in Mexico, Alia liked to imagine we were two little smurfs, traveling around. Then, we will hold each other's hands and start singing as we walked down the streets of Mexico: "We are the little smurfs, tra-la-ra-la-ra. We are the little smurfs, tra-la-ra-la-ra". Later, when we arrived to Europe, one morning, as we were on our way to visit El Escorial in Northern Madrid, Alia came up with the idea we were like a monkey and a bunny traveling together around the world. That day we became 'Monkey and Bunny'. I was a primitive Monkey and she, being a woman, was, of course, the cute Bunny. With that some funny Monkey vs. Bunny rivalry began. I would wave my Monkey pride, while Alia would wave her Rabbit pride. For example, all songs with a "la-la-la" chorus were rabbit songs and Alia would argue they were the best., Whereas all songs with a "ooh-ooh-ooh" chorus were monkey songs and I would swear they were the best. Then, as we went on with our travels, we started characterizing each country by some power animal. So, Spaniards were monkeys (yeah, Alia argued we were so primitive, but it is well established we are the smartest most evolved in the animal kingdom). Norwegians were rabbits, since Alia is of Norwegian origin and they are all so cute and innocent (or so they like to think...). The Swiss are squirrels, since they are always hoarding their nuts for the rough Winter. Germans are bears; they are so big and strong. Japanese are ants, since they are so disciplined and hard-working. Americans are dogs, because of their diversity: some are so friendly and loving, while some others are more severe and aggressive. Portuguese, Italians and Greeks ...well, you know, those PIGS countries... we are all monkeys!! When we were in Slovenia, we stayed with Mateja, she had three rabbits and Alia fell immediately in love with them when she saw them. Alia started joking we should steal them: we should free them and take them with us. Since that day, throughout our adventures and everywhere we went, we always had our little imaginary rabbit friends with us. Eventually, we concluded those little rabbits were some real troublemakers.

During the span of two years, we traveled across the Norwegian Fjords, the Swiss Alps, the Greek Islands, the Caribbean, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Costa Rica, Romania, Sicily, Halkidiki, the Massif Central, Lake Atitlan, Tuscany, the Peloponnes... We went to Vienna, Venice, Istanbul, Cancun, Salzburg, Prague, Antigua, Matera, Guanajuato, Budapest, Amsterdam, Florence, Dibrovnik, Seville... We saw the Eiffel Tower, Yedi Goeller, Chichen Itza, Tikal, Palenque, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Sistine Chapel, the Berlin Wall, the Parthenon, the Louvre, the Rome Colisseum, the Alhambra Palace, Cappadocia, Pompey, Notre Dame, the Uffizi Museum, the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba, etc. etc. etc.


Revisiting Mexico: Hitchhiking Through Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, and Sinaloa











San Sebastián - Tapas, tapas, tapas!!

Navarra and Pamplona

Barcelona

Segovia and La Granja

El Escorial

Toledo

National Park Monfrague


















We certainly had difficult times. Travels are stressful and Robyn's terrible parenting had not been in vain and so Alia's wild spirit of adolescence was still very much alive; but we were both ready to work and determined to succeed in our marriage, and we made it, we succeded!


Continue reading at When A Man Loves A Woman - Chapter 7: "Life is beautiful:.

If you liked the story, please share it with your network of friends; it will mean a lot. For once, you do not need to "die for the Revolution" nor kill anybody to make a change. Rather, if you just share your ideas, it will have a much better impact.








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