This Too Shall Pass (גם זה יעבור)

I recently spent 4 days in what was once considered the most dangerous city in the world, Medellin, Colombia… and wow,  the people, culture, history, and the recent influx of backpacking tourists pleasantly surprised me. For the first time during my travels I decided to stay at a hostel. It’s something that I have been avoiding since I started traveling, for no good reason other than I had this preconceived notion that hostels were dirty, and full of creepy thieves… Staying at a bed and breakfast in Cartagena near the backpacking district, I was totally blown away by the social element that I was missing out on by not staying in one… so I made it a point to stay in one in Medellin… I am SOOO glad I stepped out of my comfort zone and decided to stay at the Happy Buddha Hostel. Contrary to what I believed about hostels I had an amazing time.. I met some incredible people, who were traveling for months at a time and had amazing stories…. Most of the people there spoke 2-5 languages, they were interesting, young, and ready to see the world… these were people who looked at the world as I did.. as one big playground…This experience reassured my desire and passion to see the world and learn as much as I can about the places I visit, the people I meet, and myself.

Mountains of Medellin, Colombia

Group of friends from around the world that we met while on a walking tour of Medellin.

I met a cool guy from Australia, we instantly connected on our shared experience of a Birthright trip to Israel (www.Birthright.com)… He was in week of 3 of his 6 moths adventure around South and Central America and Europe… Turns out he is fluent in Mandarin, he studied it for 4 years and plans to start work in Hong Kong after he finishes his travels later this year….

Friends from London

Friends from London

I also met two girls from London who were on a 4-month trip around South America.. they told me an awesome experience they had at a Colombian village with a Shaman… turns out this Shaman travels the world from village to village curing people of ailments.. they told me that he went around and created a special mixture that was meant to cleanse the body…EVERY person (including the two girls) who imbibed this magic potion instantly vomited.. some several times…

It is these kinds of experiences that most people will not have or care to have, yet I am somehow drawn to them… I feel like in life there are only several things that separate us from one another… One is our life experience and how we grow from those life experiences, and the other is our possession of stuff… In our consumer based society we value each others worth based on the stuff we accumulate… I chose to live my life-experiencing people, cultures, and places rather than owning stuff.

The one thing that stood out to me during my trip is the continued resilience of the Colombian people. . Here you have a city that not too long ago was  the most dangerous place on earth, arguably more dangerous than the middle east… yet the people here move on as if that part of their lives hadn’t existed.. they wake up everyday, go to work, school, run businesses, live their lives with the notion that This Too Shall Pass… and that, to me, is one of the coolest take-aways from my trip… Depending on where are you are in life it is a great reminder to enjoy the present moment if you are happy, because it too shall pass.. and, regardless of how difficult your life seems to be.. it too will pass and a new day will come..

Thieves Market.... This place is quite interesting... it spans about one mile underneath the Metro... It is a flea market of stolen goods... you name it.. they have it... and theres a good possibility you may find something you thought you "lost".

Snake-Oil salesman selling cures to anything and everything in the middle of the park... He was actually pretty good.. 

““This Too Shall Pass””
— Unknown

Posted on February 21, 2015 by German Yakubov.

Gratitude, appreciation, and letting go… something that I don’t do enough of.

““Even on my weakest days I get a little bit stronger” ”

As I sit in the airport waiting for my flight to Medellin.. I can’t help but to think how lucky I am to have had all of the challenges, rock bottoms, disappointments, and failures I have experienced in the last 3 decades of my life. Everything has led me to this place. 7 days removed from my 31st birthday I can honestly say that I have matured and have exponentially grown in the last 4 years of my life faster than I could have ever imagined or thought possible. Yet I still find it difficult to control the way I react in certain situations. I am writing this entry as a response to a picture that showed up on my news feed. It was of someone I loved, who I now consider someone that I used to know.. It was a picture of her and her current partner, it evoked a visceral response, as soon as I saw the picture without even thinking about it, my fight or flight instincts kicked in, my face turned white, my knees got weak, and I just wanted to run… don’t know where, why, how.. but that’s aII I wanted to do. I read somewhere that anytime you feel unhappy the quickest fix is to start being grateful for what you have.. So that a what I am doing.. and you know what… it works… I quickly reminded myself that I am sitting at an airport thousands miles away from the projected 6-8 inches of snow that is supposed to fall tomorrow recovering from my sunburn that I got days earlier.. I remind myself that I am in a country where the average person makes $5k a year… I remind myself that I am traveling with a friend who is fluent in Spanish and makes traveling fun.. I remind myself that everything bad that has ever happened in my life wasn’t bad at all.. I’ve just been labeling it as bad.. in fact they were lessons meant to teach me that life no matter how difficult, how painful, and how at that very moment of pain feels like it will last forever…. it won’t.. it’s temporary just like life… so the pain, the heartache, the happiness, its all a chain of temporary emotions that are there to remind us to be grateful for where we are in life.. to grow and to evolve into more aware beings to heighten the experiences of life and to not attach myself to what I see as anything more than that.. a picture, which someone posted… At some point I plan to chronicle my life in a way where others can learn from my mistakes… even though sometimes I made the same mistake over and over again before I was able to understand the lesson.. So I guess this post is in part therapy for me and some part inspiration to others… 

 Given that this blog is intended for travel… I guess I should incorporate some highlights of Cartagena.  This is the first country I have visited in South America… and it’s been pretty cool… The biggest take away has been the notion of simplicity that is prevalent throughout the culture here.. As I walked around at night I couldn’t help but appreciate the way people enjoy life here. I walked by a working class neighborhood around rush hour.. as people were waiting for their busses, I noticed a large group of people forming a circle hysterically laughing.. not having seen such a phenomenon before.. we decided to investigate.. it turns out there’s a guy there who on a daily basis performs stand up comedy in a public square.. I couldn’t  help but appreciate the fact that this guys sole job is to make people laugh after they are done a hard days work… it was pretty cool to see his comedy transcend a variety of audiences, from dirty construction workers to the suits who sit behind a desk all day… together, in unison they shared in this guys comedy… This put a smile on my face..

 That same evening, we walked by another neighborhood where an eclectic group of tourists and locals were just hanging out in front of a church watching young kids play soccer, using religious statues as makeshift goal posts, while enjoying a cold beer or a hot Colombian Tinto coffee. The innocence of a kids soccer game was able to transcend income, cultural, and language barriers brought me to the realization that we often value the wrong things in life.. it's these experiences that make me appreciate how so many, who have so little, enjoy life and take so much in the simple pleasures of a soccer game. 

I think my ramble will end for now…. 

Thanks for reading…and being a part of my journey.

Posted on January 25, 2015 by German Yakubov.

New Friends in Random Places

4 full days in Colombia… WOW! This place is pretty interesting. On our first night of exploring the walled city of Cartagena, we made friends with an Israeli who lives in NYC. As any other encounter during my travels, we met out of necessity. He was sitting with his family trying to order french fries only to realize that they only provide fries as a side with the salad… After watching his frustrating attempt to overcome the language barrier, Marc, the cunning linguist that he is,  jumped in and was able to get him the fries without salad… Showing gratitude he introduced us to his family, who also spoke Russian.. Just as Marc and I were sitting there enjoying a beer, trying to figure out how and what we were going to do in Cartagena.. he shared with us that he has been coming here for the last 5 years staying a month at a time each time.. He gave us all of the must do’s and don’ts of Cartagena, the beaches, clubs, bars, places to eat.. it was as if the universe saw our need and filled it.

This phenomenon doesn’t surprise me anymore… It used to freak me out that when I would think of a person I haven’t talked to in a while..without fail, they would contact me within 24-48 hours.. sometimes for no reason other than to say HI!… same goes for parking spots, table reservations, It happened with our hotel room as well… All of the places the we “wanted” to book were not available  so we settled on this cheap etc.. not too long ago someone labeled this for me… apparently what I unknowingly was doing was manifesting things, or as some would say a self fulfilling prophecy… But I digress…

We exchanged numbers with our new friend and took him up on his recommendations for dinner and place to go out on a random Tuesday night… It was probably one of the most fun and exciting nights I’ve had in a long time… The music, the people, the energy were all amazing… 

The next day Marc and I, decided to be tourist and went to see some of the popular destinations, Hollywood Beach, Castillo (old fortress), La Popa Monastery, which to our surprise were pretty cool, we took some pretty amazing pictures from some pretty sweet vantage points.

The next evening we met up with our new found friend and his cousin who lives in Cartagena… The four of us grabbed some coffee and went to some “local” clubs.. driving about 30-45 minutes outside of the city limits felt a bit intimidating.. as our friend (former IDF soldier) described the neighborhoods as a kin to Gaza city, it didn’t give us any comfort.. but regardless, thats what adventures are for… after passing through several random police checkpoints we arrived at a local night club filled with amazing, and exotic looking people.. after arguing with the cab driver over the equivalent of $2… we went into the club..it was another great night, that we didn’t plan or anticipate…

As we progress in our trip we don’t Preallyhave any plans… just taking each day one at a time. I guess the moral of the story is that sometimes things life just happen not because we want them to…. but we need them to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“We are all travelers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend.”
— Robert Louis Stevenson
Posted on January 23, 2015 by German Yakubov.

New Year New Adventures

So Here I am sitting on the plane of my first official trip of 2015, and I can't help but feel a bit nostalgic. This time last year I was returning from  ringing in 2014 in India, and getting ready to spend my birthday in Thailand volunteering at an elephant village with my travel partner of the last two years. Things have change since then, I no longer travel with the same partner nor really talk to her.. I take more frequent trips.. I feel like my life is mine.. I no longer live for anyone else.. I live in the moment.. If it feels right, I do it… I’ve applied this philosophy to my business as well as my everyday life… sometimes my actions don’t necessarily conform to societal norms.. I may be offensive to some, inspiring to others, and a lazy bum who is not reaching his potential to many.. and all of those people would be right. I am certainly far from perfect, but I feel that life is just that..imperfect.. every experience, interaction, and relationship has led me to become the person I am today.. I am not done growing, learning, or experiencing life.. I am not set in my ways, and hope to never be.. I am labeling 2015 as the year of self discovery.. I want to push my mind and body to its limits. I want to meet people from different cultures and have them change my opinion of the world and of myself…I want to get lost in a foreign country where I don’t speak a word of their language.. I am going to be more aware and grateful of the people and experiences in my life. This year I will document my transformation and travels on this blog, for several reasons but mainly because I want to have a journal of my thoughts accompanied by some really cool pictures.. I hope to inspire some to quit their desk jobs and find themselves by getting lost in the world.. there is nothing special about me, I grew up in a family with very, very limited financial resources, minimal formal education, I dropped out of college, and yet I somehow created a life that I am pretty proud of.. I know anyone can do the same.. to many times people tell me how lucky I am or they wish they could do this or that… and I just want to scream..”SO DO IT!!!”… any obstacle in life with have, is self imposed, we are full of self limiting beliefs that prevent us from looking outside of our “safe” life, which is only as safe as the job we have.. I am so very grateful for my parents and siblings to whom I embarrassingly don’t show the appreciation they so very deserve, but its one of the things I am definitely working on. SO I am done rambling for now… I look forward to sharing my photos and stories on a regular basis.. stay tuned...

Posted on January 19, 2015 by German Yakubov.