Yellow & mint Sri lanka

People loving what they do, Venezuela

I love people who follow their own passion and who love life. In Andicora, Venezuela, Julian my husband and I met this radiating German wind & kite surfer, still surfing as much as possible. He was one of the first wind surfers who surfed The Saintes Maries de la Mer Speed Canal, known to windsurfers as The Canal. It is a man-made trench near the French Mediterrean coastal town Saintes Maries de la Mer, built especially for speed record breaking sailing by windsurfers. His smile made us smile every day. In Puerto Colombia we met a painter and his lovely wife, who made our stay in Venezuela very worth while. She invited us in the supermarket to come over to their house for a cup of tea and that was the start of all our encounters together. He used to be an art director in America, now he spend his days painting and together they were just enjoying life.

18 Homicidios during carnaval 2009 in Venzuela

In 2009 Julian and I went to Venezuela. We planned on having a tropical holiday, on staying on one spot and enjoying beach, surfing and good food. Things turned out differently: No wind, no food, too much rain and a deserted village. We decided to keep moving on to Puerto Colombia, where we celebrated Carnival. Puerto Colombia is a lovely town with lovely people. A refugee for artists, businessmen and locals, Puerto Colombia had lots to offer. We had a great time hanging out with the locals.

Carnival in Venezuela is serious business. As a club or restaurant owner you risk being closed for Carnival if you do not pay for military "protection". People celebrate carnival on the beach with their cars with gigantic ghetto blasters and a lot of beers. Swimming is the nr. 1 dead cause. Puerto Colombia during Carnival became hectic. These photos represent for me the contrasts of Venezuela, tropical oasis & unrest. As you can read on the news paper in the photo, 18 people died during Carnival that year. 

Toilet performance "fame" in the South of India

Next to the temple, I spotted a small rural village. Where cows and children were walking in the street. Being with Padma, the manager of the merchandise company for Yvie, it was easier to enter one of the houses and this lovely family welcomed us and offered us food and a view in their life. The food was just harvested and spread out on the floor. The children slept on mats on the ground, the grandma in a single bed in the spare room and the husband and wife slept in a single bed in the living room. After talking to them for an hour I really needed to go to the toilet. I was directed outside and told to follow their son. A whole group of women and children gathered around me. They where all directing me to the toilet, which was behind one of the houses. The toilet was a hole in the ground and did not contain a door. I am not very shy in general, but my 20 followers decided not to leave and instead decided to regard my toilet visit as some kind of happening. Although I had viewers, I really had to go to the toilet. After trying to politely get rid of them, which didn’t work very well, did I squat down, put my hair in front of my face (like that would help) and went to the toilet. While I was using the bathroom, one of the ladies kept throwing water in the toilet, sort of between my legs. Awkward. Being back in the house I asked Padma if it was a common thing in India, to accompany people going to the bathroom? She laughed and said that they were just too curious and probably had never seen a white women pee. She thought I could possibly become  a returning story of the village. I watched the film Fame many times when I was young, and clearly remember the scene in which the actors had to perform on stage how they go to the toilet. I suppose "Fame" is where you least expect it.