Tag: photo

Rituals, jamming, an awesome community and new friends (April 2023)

After the hike, I met Lowen again, and together we went to a full moon ritual at the Aphrodite’s Rock on Cyprus.

It was super fun and an interesting and profound experience. We meditated, jammed with drums and a whole lot of other instruments, had interesting conversations and a lot of fun. The atmosphere was amazing and very open and kind. It was just lovely.

The next day we met Timea and Roses, who had slept at the beach, at the still burning bonfire and together we decided to head to the other side of Cyprus to attend a community meeting of some alternative people who seemed to be a lot into ecology and open ways to organize their group. On the way after signing along to a lot of songs, we did a walk to a waterfall.

After that we spent one night at another beach and went to the meeting of the community. They call themselves “The Talking Circle” and this meeting was super exciting! They are quite a big group and meet frequently to learn from one another, organize and most importantly: having fun and growing and healing together.

The members were quite diverse and that made it even more interesting. The core of their organizational structure is a talking circle: everyone (who likes to) gathers in a circle a stick gets passed from one to the other and who has the stick may talk. Sounds a bit like “Waldorf Schule” (a famous alternative schooling concept from Germany whose name gets sometimes abused to describe when something seems to be alien and maybe so much good willing that nothing will ever result from it 😁) and too much in a certain way but I loved it a lot.

They are doing different meetings for different topics: they have an art, an sustainable agriculture and the main group. If you are interested, take a look at their website and contact them.

We had awesome days there and hanging around and living with this open and respectful community made me think if it would be nice for me to stay at a place like this. In a community like this. With lovely people like this.

I mean, what’s the deal about all this traveling anyway?

“Together in pain” – Divided Cyprus, a ghost town and a lot of realities (February 2023)

Before considering going to Cyprus for a warm winter and to potentially extend my visa and customs days in Turkey for myself and Rosinante, I had never given much thought to the political situation on this beautiful island.

However, there is a great deal happening there, with many realities to uncover. Honestly, I don’t feel inclined to try and comprehend and describe all the stories surrounding Cyprus, the north, the south, the Cypriots, the Turkish-Cypriots, the Turkish-Turkish of Cyprus, the Greek-Cypriots, the British, the UN, Greece, Turkey, the US, Cyprus as a strategic base, the occupied areas, military bases, abandoned villages, a ghost town, the children of Turkish-Turkish people living in Cyprus who are born with fewer rights, stolen land, compensations for those who lost their land, escapes, rapes, deaths, assassinations, power, and much more.

During my nearly four months on Cyprus, I spoke to various individuals about their perspectives on these issues. Although I have great respect for their lives, at a certain point, I became weary of it all.

Ultimately, the best description I encountered of the situation is: “Together in pain.” I came across this phrase several times in graffiti in Nicosia, and it truly resonated with me.

From my perspective, there exists an unresolved and dishonest situation that causes suffering for some, if not most, of the people involved.

One of the many things that makes this quite evident is Varosha/Maraş (location in Google Maps), a large city area that remains completely abandoned and guarded by UN troops.

Nonetheless, I guess, being human allows us to cope with situations like this, albeit in different ways. Some tend to blame, while others approach it with compassion.

Although this post might give the impression that being or living in Cyprus is synonymous with pain, that is not the case. From my experience, it was a wonderful place with lovely people and what I truly appreciate is that most of the people I spoke to, expressed a desire to somehow reunite in a peaceful way with everybody on the island.

And that’s what is all about, right? Love, compassion and helping each other.