Cape to Cairo

Starting out from Cape Town in South Africa, there is plenty to see as the journey heads north. The scenery changes from green fields and vineyards such as Stellenbosch to the deserts and giant sand dunes of Namibia. It is only further north that the desert changes to savannah. There are numerous safaris to see wild animals in their natural habitat including hippopotamus, the most dangerous animal on the continent and walking with cheetahs.

There are close encounters with elephants in the Okavango and views of thousands of zebras before crossing the border in Zimbabwe. There are the magnificent Victoria Falls and a railway journey across the Zimbabwe countryside to Bulawayo with its great industrial centre and railway heritage.

On safari through the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater, there is the opportunity for visitors to see all of the Big Five Game animals, the five most dangerous animals to hunt on foot. There are the Spice Islands, the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park where there is an opportunity to walk with gorillas and there were plenty more countries and experiences to enjoy and this was still only halfway up the continent to Cairo.

Lifting the Stone and other Adventures

These journeys record the adventures of a woman who isn’t afraid to travel alone. They are a mesmerising and immersive read, pulsating with humour and energy. The writing itself is beautiful and extraordinarily vivid. Every place that she visits is brought to life and imbued with a charming atmosphere. The stories are grounded in fact and characterised by a profound honesty. Her unique personal style shines out in the face of an increasingly grey and uniform world.

Lifting the Stone and Other Adventures is about the past re-visited and describes a world – in the context of the author’s romantic encounters – that is based on appearances. It is a world of male domination and control in which the feminine, the soul, is stored. This piece is the background to the urban adventures, and the reader is invited to view the show, this world of delightful appearances, as a product of repression. Any writing that is worth its salt aspires to the universal, to what touches us all.

How the Ship Changed My Life

Due to the difficulty to find a job in his city, Goran chooses the type of career that changed his life. He started to work on a cruise ship in the hospitality industry in 2013. He has three contracts in three different cruise ships. He considers this experience the most difficult but also the most valuable that life has taught him.Working on a vessel requires huge sacrifices like being miles away for more than half a year from family and friends, working with different nationalities and cultures, brutally heavy pace of minimal ten working hours every day and often even more without normal sleeping hours but on the other hand a piece of relaxation that makes it very special such as travelling to various attractive world tourist destinations and creating unforgettable friendships and adventures.Because of his soccer dream, he left the cruiser in 2016 together with Elizabeth from Peru (back then his girlfriend, today his wife) and since 2017 they live in Munich, Germany. From the first day spent on the ship, during all the rich experiences and adventures until the last disembarkation, through magical Peru and a special proposal on the beautiful Machu Picchu to the current life in Germany, he continues to explore new places and shares his soccer passion.Ship life inspired him to write this book and motivate people in achieving their biggest goals because he strongly believes that everything is possible if the person really wants it.

Cuentos

Dilapidated buildings. Classic American cars. Rum and cigars. Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.

Aspects of Cuba, to be sure, but superficial ones at best. Beneath these clichés live the Cuban people, each with a fascinating story that reveals the challenges of surviving day to day in this country, how Cubans innovatively and creatively meet those challenges, and how they refuse to allow circumstances to colour their outlook on life.

Within this book are vignettes of some of these people, presented as word-picture diptychs, each photograph accompanied by a compelling story, each story with an illustrative photograph. The reader will discover that while some Cubans live in dirty, dark, tenement-like conditions, others find the resources to improve and maintain their homes, and that those with the means keeps houses as clean as any on the planet. The reader will also learn how Cuban mechanics adapt and improvise to keep those wonderful old cars running, despite the difficulties of obtaining repair parts, and about the uniquely Cuban construct of resolver through which they survive and even prosper.

But most importantly, it will be seen that Cubans have an indomitable spirit that allows them to remain happy and optimistic, despite the adversities of conquest and occupation, the interference of foreign governments, and the oppression of their own government for over five hundred years.

Be Our Voice

Art is not something you do, but rather the lens through which you choose to look at life around you. Everything can become art. Everything is art. It is a creation, a ‘something’ which transpired from nothing. The nature which surrounds us and the people with whom we share our planet have all co-created our collective experience which we call life. We are all artists of our own creation. Whether or not we are any good is irrelevant. The beauty of art is subjective and cannot be classified on a scale of good and bad. What matters is the magical thing which occurs when we allow ourselves to surrender to our creative flow, and disconnect from the crippling perception of perfectionism. Just let it go. Allow yourself to play. Allow your mind to wander and explore. Become aware of the beauty of life in your daily tasks, because it exists everywhere and in everything. Remember, you are the greatest artist of your own creation, a vessel to experience and create. You are a continuation of the never-ending process of life.