Page 14: Travel reports
From SI Exco News
Around the globe
During her world trip, Canadian grandmother Doris Maron, aged 55 discovered Servas in a travel guide :-
When I left Canada I didn’t know about Servas. I had already traveled the Yukon, Alaska and half of Australia when I first heard about the organization through a book called ‘Female Nomad’. I searched the internet for some contact numbers and wrote down the New Zealand and Australian National Secretaries information. However, I still didn’t contact anyone until I had travelled the south Island of N.Z. for three weeks.
When I finally decided to follow up on this, I contacted Bert and Natalie Upjohn in Christchurch. I was invited to their home for an interview and treated to a wonderful lunch by these lovely people before filling out the paperwork and becoming a Servas travel member.
Through Servas I’ve met some wonderful people in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and Nepal, where I was met with gracious hospitality.
The first host family in Nepal I stayed with sent one of their family members to pick me up at the airport and made me feel very welcome in their home. They took time from their busy schedules to show me a bit of Kathmandu and explain some of their customs. It was a great experience to spend a few days in a local home and see how events unfold in everyday life. Eating Nepali home cooked food was wonderful - much different from restaurant food. I stayed in a second home in Kathmandu before riding my motorcycle to Chitwan then Pokhara. There I went on a two week trek into the Annapurna Himals then rode to Tansen, where I stayed with the only Servas host there. Tansen is a wonderful little place and the host was very gracious. He took me on a walking tour and spent most of the day showing me the sights and explaining some of the history of Tansen. We exchanged information about our different countries, cultures and beliefs, which is part of what makes Servas such a great organization. From Tansen I rode on to Lumbini, Chitwan and back to Kathmandu. Before I came to Nepal I had warnings from friends and family that it was unsafe to travel there right now. The reports in the media made it sound like there were constant uprisings there. In fact most of the problems had quieted down and whatever happened in the past months was in isolated areas of the country. The media doesn’t paint a very clear picture of the facts. I felt perfectly safe traveling (alone) and trekking and enjoyed some beautiful scenery. The National Secretary, Bibendra Pradhanang, in Kathmandu was very helpful in suggesting Servas hosts and also gave me some valuable information for my further travels into India.
I am very grateful to all the Servas hosts I’ve met so far and would like to extend a BIG THANK YOU to all.
When I return to Canada I look forward to becoming a host and welcome all of you into my home. If you wish to know more about me and read about some of my travels, visit my web site at www.untamedspirit.net
Lithuania
- Francis Meuley from France reports:
Last summer, whilst travelling in the Baltic States, I stayed in a very nice SERVAS FLAT in Kaunas, Lithuania. Two SERVAS German travellers, travelling by car also came there and we all stayed together in the same flat while the only registered SERVAS person, owner of the flat, herself, was away, hiking in the Czech Republic.
We decided to travel further together with the German Travellers and 2 Lithuanian Hosts (not Servas) for a couple of days, on the way to the Baltic Sea to visit other Servas (or supposed to be Servas) Hosts on the coast.
Our first stop brought us to Klaipeda, the big harbour of Lithuania, 200 kms west. And there, we met WLADIMIR... a Ukrainian citizen living in the flat where a former SERVAS host had lived !
Harald, the German Servas Traveller, well organised and who was looking for a SERVAS HOST in this town, tried phoning the telephone number he had on the Lithuanian Servas List several weeks before his trip but without success. Then, he phoned the Lithuanian Telephone Company to get the new telephone number at the same SERVAS address he had and finally he called the number he was given and was able to talk in Russian, with a very friendly man, WLADIMIR, who had never heard of SERVAS!
Wladimir, very impressed by Harald’s enthusiasm over SERVAS, agreed to receive for the first time in his life two German visitors for a cup of tea in his own flat. But instead two German and one French Servas Traveller plus twoLithuanian young Ladies, who "landed" in his flat on a nice Sunday early afternoon in July 20th, stayed overnight. He invited us all to spend time with him by the sea and later invited us during the evening to a very nice Russian Restaurant and late drink in the nearby resort of Palanga. He is what they call in Russian : novei rucckii : new Russian . You should have seen his flat and experienced the speed he was driving. Impressive! This person could not speak English and was not used at all to meeting Westerners. So, he was so excited by this situation and was very kind to us.
That encounter was one of the most extraordinary I have had in 20 years of Servas membership. www.voila.fr
Unforgettable Peru
After a first contact with the capital Lima and the hospitality of a Peruvian family we flew to Piura, on the northern coast near the border with Ecuador. In La Margarita, a community of PLAN International we visited the sponsored child of my friend. Here the reality of poverty was apparent. We appreciated the efforts to give 350 families a better life and the possibility for the children to go to school.
Back in Lima we were lucky we had access to places which are normally closed to tourists. We forgot the pollution and enjoyed the city discovering beautiful places with our hosts.
We continued our trip travelling to the highlights of Peru, Pisco where we tried the famous Pisco Sour, Islas Ballestas and its fauna, the white city of Arequipa and the volcano El Misti ( 5822 m), the depths of the Colca Canyon and the height of Machu Pichu. Cuzco doesn’t have much in common with the other cities; it’s an area with breathless landscape and the exciting history of the Incas.
Beautiful lake Titicaca at the border with Bolivia is the highest in the world; it is situated at 3700m. Such wonderful scenery and friendly people. A three to four hour boat ride brought us from Puno, located in the highlands across Lake Titicaca to the Island Amantani, untouched by the modern world. We stayed overnight with local people who live a very basic life without electricity.
The sunset at Lake Titicaca is unforgettable.
The time we spent with Servas hosts and with local families make the memories of that journey very special. It’s the best way to absorb another culture. We want to say thank you to Servas Peru, to the families who hosted us and shared their daily life with us, two Belgian women. Every experience became part of our memory and therefore part of our life. Servas always makes you feel at home although you may be thousands of miles away. Thank you Felipe, national secretary of Servas Peru. You gave us the opportunity to meet about 50 members at once, being invited to participate at the lunch for the anniversary of Servas Peru. The Peruvian meal was delicious and the ‘Belgian’ songs of Jacques Brel were fantastic. Servas Peru is a group of very enthusiastic members.
Peru is an open minded and fascinating place, a country of contrasts - deserts, mountains, coast, jungle - united by the universal friendship of its people. We wish Peru a nice future.
