My first aphorism

I never thought I was able to write anything, much less an aphorism, but here it is!

"Fear turns you into someone different from whom you could be"

It is related to my "piece of wisdom". I hope you like it. 

The art of loving

The first chapter of this book is about love as an art.

According to the author, nowadays people don´t believe in love as an art and, in addition, most of us think that we know everything necessary about it.

This attitude is based on some premises, the first of which is that we are worried about “how to be loved” and not about “loving”.

Another premise is that we think that the difficulty is to find the right object to love or to be loved by and not the act of loving. The reason is the concept of “romantic love” in modern society.  This new freedom makes us being in search of the best “object” to love, and what makes a person the best depends on the fashion.

The last error is the confusion between “falling” in love and “being” in love. The initial experience is like a miracle until it dissapears.

Finally, the author explains the way to overcome the failure of love.

In order to this, it is essential thinking in love as an art and following the same process of learning an art, which contains theory, practice and the most important thing, which is that there must be nothing else in the world more important than “the art”, LOVE.

We are the world 25 for Haiti

I would like to share with all of you another song. 

"We are the world 25 for Haiti" is a song recorded by more than eighty artist in 2010.

The original song was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie in 1985 and was recorded to benefit famine relief in Africa. Later, in 2009, it was suggested a new version under the title "Live 25", but when Haiti was destroyed because of a earthquake, producers decided to use the song as a vehicle for this catastrophe, as the song was written for. 

To my mind, it is a remarkable song with meaningful lyrics. What is more, the video, in which all these spectacular voices are singing at the same time, is powerful. But what moves you the most is the pictures of children from Haiti in the street among the rubble. 

"BLINDNESS", by José Saramago

“Blindness” is a novel by recognised Portuguese author José Saramago. It was published in 1995 and its original title is “Ensaio sobre a cegueira”. José Saramago was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1998 and this is one of his most famous novels.

The plot is set in an unnamed city and tells the story of a strange epidemic of “white blindness”.

The unexplained origin of the blindness causes panic and the government puts affected people into isolation in order to contain the contagion.

The story focuses on a group of these people in quarantine. The main character is “the doctor´s wife”, who is not affected by blindness. She passes herself off as blind and helps people in the asylum where they have been quarantined.

Since the beginning, the author shows us the human nature. As the fear grows, people are overcomed by self-conceit and the struggle for survival, but what strikes you the most is the way people come to horrible extremes.

Another interesting aspect is how a character, who was blind before the epidemic, turns into the luckiest in the new blind world.

The writing is, for the most part, particular. One reason is that Saramago omits names. The reader can identify characters by a meaningful characteristic, as “Girl with dark glasses”, “the first blind” or “man with black eye patch”, for example.

The plot is extremely thought-provoking and incredibly meaningful. All the characters, by which the author shows us the different stances facing with the same problem, are powerful.

If I were to make one criticism of the book, it would be that dialogs are not separated from the narrative, being a little hard to read.

All in all, it is definitely a book worth reading. Not only it is so memorable that you will not forget it but it is riveting. In addition, there is a film adaptation and a second novel, called “Seeing” or “Ensaio sobre a lucidez”.

Passenger - Let Her Go

I would like to share with you this song by Michael David Rosenberg, who is better known by his stage name Passenger. 

He is an English singer and songwriter and this song, whose title is "Let her go", is included in his album "All The Little Lights", which was released in summer of 2012.

As far as I am concerned, this song is incredibly haunting due to the catchy chorus. I listened to it for the first time last year in an English lesson and I haven´t been able to stop listening to it.

It is commonly known that we realise what we have when we lose it. This song speaks about this fact by means of the meaningful and thought-provoking lyrics.

As for the video, it shows us an intimate concert and the preparations. To my mind, it is a little weak due to the fact that it diverts attention from the song.

I would say that I normally listen to Spanish music, but if it is English music we are talking about, this is a remarkable song.

If nothing else, it will make you enjoy things when you still have them.

The ultimate adventurer: Richard Burton & The Mountains of the Moon.

1. Describe the following characters:

Richard Burton.

Needless to say, Captain Richard Burton is a very intelligent and brave man. To my mind, he is very observant, loyal and daring, but not reckless.

In addition, he is a curious and a patient person who love merging into people from others cultures.

He wants find new places but he is worried about the results of his discoveries.

John H. Speke.

Lieutenant John H. Speke, who left home when he was 17, is a self-sufficient man. He is a doctor.  Besides medicine, he love hunt, too.

In my opinion he is impatient and a little trusting. Moreover, he makes every effort to get what he wants.  

To my mind, he is very impulsive, too. What I mean is that he doesn’t think about the results of his acts.

Isabel Burton.

Richard Burton´s wife, Isabel, is a curious woman. She loves reading and, to my mind, she is obsessed with Richard Burton´s books and with him.

She knows what she wants and she makes every effort to get it. She is daring, too. She is so loyal and she always protects her husband. She wants the best to him.

Lowry.

According to the film, Lowry is a liar man. He loves power and fame. He doesn´t like Richard Burton and he tries to separate him from John. 

2. How would you contrast Burton and Speke? What are their respective motivations to travel and explore? What is their attitude towards others cultures and peoples?

 There are many differences between Burton and Speke.

To my mind, the main difference is that Speke is only interested in the end of the journey, the prize. He wants to arrive as soon as possible. On the other hand, Burton enjoys the journey. He is not only interested in the final objective, but he is interested in the process, too.

About personality, Burton is patient and prudent, while Speke is impulsive and impatient.  Speke is more interested in success and fame than Burton.

Burton is so interested in other cultures. On the other hand, Speke considers that people from other culture´s beliefs are nonsense.

3. How does each one feel about the other? Do their feelings change in the course of the movie?

At first, Burton and Speke become good friends. During their trips they look after each other.

But, when they come back from their expedition, Speke believes that Burton has betrayed him.

They go from friends to adversaries. 

4. How does Burton contrast with Victorian society?

Victorian society doesn´t approve Burton´s lifestyle. For example, Isabel´s parents don´t like his lack of religion, the periods he stayed studying other cultures and things that he studies, like sexual habits.

5. Why is Burton so interested in the slave medicine man? Why does he feel so miserable when he is killed?

Burton is so interested in the slave medicine man because his mind is free, despite being a slave. 

Burton saves man´s life and he feels in debt to Richard. Then, the man wants to go but Burton promises him that he will watch over him. This is the reason why he feels so miserable when the man is killed. 

6. Why doesn´t Burton want to try to go to the lake Speke discovered while he was retained at the African village?

Burton doesn´t want to go to the lake because they haven´t got the equipment necessary to prove that this is the source of the Nile. 

7. What are their divergent conceptions of the sources of the Nile? Who is right?

Speke believes that Victoria Lake is the source of the Nile. On the other hand, Burton believes the Nile has many sources, not only one. Speke is right, and Victoria Lake is the source of the Nile.

8. Would you say that Burton betrays Speke? If so, why does he do it? And why does Burton react with what appears as passivity?


Burton doesn´t betray Speke. He reacts with passivity because he considers Speke his friends and, actually, he doesn´t want to be against him.


9. When, in one of the last scenes of the movie, Burton leaes the Hal of the Geographical Society, Lowry Oliphant tells him that the journals will call him murderer, that he will see to it that they write that. Burton simply replies: "It´s never what they write". What does he mean?

He means that the important thing isn´t what they write. The important thing is what he feels and the fact that Speke has died. Also, hemeans that what they write doesn´t correspond with facts.


10. What is the sifnificance of the film´s last scene?
It means that Burton and Speke have always been friends and journals, finally, haven´t tell the thruth.


11. Can we learn what real travelling is from the movie? Can we learn anything that we can apply to our own travelling?

I have learnt from Burton which a real travelling is. To my mind, the most meaningful learning is a way of travelling without hurry, enjoying the trip and learning from people who you meet during it. 

Travellers VS tourists

According to the opinions by travel bloggers, there are two different points of view.

The first of all is that a traveller spends less money and more time travelling than a tourist. These people also think that travellers visit unusual places and meet locals. However, tourists only follow an itinerary. In other words, tourists travel for pleasure and for break the routine and travellers go deeper into cultures.

On the other hand, another people think that there are only a semantic different between tourist and traveller. Being a “traveller” sounds more romantic, adventurous and mystic but, actually, it is the same.

Finally, the person I most agree with is Brooke.

To my mind, tourists are people who travel for some days, but finally they miss home and their habits. Travelling is relaxing and interesting for them.

Travellers, in my opinion, are people who need to live in different places during their life. What I mean is that travellers don´t miss home or any place. They don´t visit different countries or cities, they live in these places and, when they stay for too time, they need to change. Travelling is a necessity for them.