Bulgaria - The weather in the montain is female or trip to Botev peak

As you might have noticed in the last couple of months I have barely posted anything. Here are some of the reasons, if not all of them. First, the protests against the current Bulgarian government started, and although I was regularly participating in the beginning, I admit that now I go rarely. Second, I started researching about my upcoming trip to Africa (there are less than two months remaining, as of 15.08.2013). Third, I started to prepare myself for part of my African adventure, and more specifically the Kilimanjaro climb by trekking the Bulgarian mountains, which in the best case are two times lower, but still it is some kind of preparation. You can expect in the next posts mainly mountain sceneries. Fourth, my summer laziness has started, not that I have categorized the different kinds of laziness I get, as all of them are the same, but the current one reveals itself in the summer. Fifth, I started, not that I have stopped, to read more. Everybody needs time off my writings, even I. Sixth, I don't want to make up any more reasons.

An exercise in Cuban carelessness - Pinar del Rio (Part 6)

We load up in the van in the morning and set out westward of Habana on the Autopista. Outside is extremely hot and all hitch-hikers (and there are a lot of them) are concentrated in the shady spots. From time to time we pass by Chinese Automotive Corp.'s 4x4s, strongly resembling the Russian UAZ, which on their part have borrowed a lot from the first Toyota Landcruisers. Long live the copyrights!

Our first stop is the Orquideario de Soroa – one of the largest orchid gardens in the world or at least according the Cubans. There, we are being told that the last hurricane have blown away a significant part of the flora. Luckily, the plants, for which was thought that will need years to recover, have shown remarkable signs of revival just months after the calamity. We visit some wooden sheds, where are shown the blooming orchids. ATTENTION: some kind of botanical lecture will follow. As the roots of the orchids need lots of air, the plants are not planted in pots with soil, but are rather in a peat substrate or they just have attached to a piece of wood, hanging in the air.

Green waterfall