Ovi presents Lukas world bike tour: Argentina

You didn’t forget Lukas, did you? Our favourite Finnish mascot is still biking around the world (he started last July, incredible, isn’t it?) and recently reached Argentina, home of the most delicious steaks And of course Maradona’s birthplace. Since I’m Italian I really can’t ignore this fact. But on the ...

You didn’t forget Lukas, did you? Our favourite Finnish mascot is still biking around the world (he started last July, incredible, isn’t it?) and recently reached Argentina, home of the most delicious steaks And of course Maradona’s birthplace. Since I’m Italian I really can’t ignore this fact. But on the other side I will always connect Buenos Aires with Evita…

What’s new Buenos Aires?
I’m new, I wanna say I’m just a little stuck on you
You’ll be on me too

-Pino (@haikus)

One early morning I woke up to the sound of a running water. Immediately I jumped up, because I knew there was only half an hour before my tent would be soaking wet. I packed all my stuff and carried it to this house standing on poles. The surface rose rapidly, and when I found myself carrying a bicycle over a water up to my knees, I had to ask myself: “how did I end up in this situation?”

Well…

The last post was from Asia, but me and my bicicleta took a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Buenos Aires already ten days ago (Kuala Lumpur’s airport is by the way super cool!). It was a long flight from one side of the globe to another, and it took long time to adjust to the new time zone, climate, culture and of course language.

Entonces, during the first week in Argentina I was mostly recovering from the jet lag, but I also managed to meet some interesting people. No, I didn’t meet the local hero Maradona, (though I did cycle to the Bonbonera stadium he started his career in Boca Juniors), but I met a Finnish journalist and her family who were living in Palermo. And as I was enjoying my stay in this laid back district eating riquissimo steakes, I heard about this Eco-village project not far away from Buenos Aires. Apparently one 33-year old Argentinian guy called Leo had been dreaming to build a tiny village on an island outside of Tigre, where anybody can learn about self-sufficient living.

This project aroused my interest, and so I embarked my bike first on a train, and then on a boat to see the deltas. ¡Hombre! what a pretty place to spend your summer! It was almost like Venice except in peaceful nature. Fancy houses lined next to the Rios, each one having it’s private dock to hop into the boat. There was no need to go back to the city, because these islands had shops with all the necessities.

The Eco-Village itself was under huge construction. Leo said the project could be finished within a year, but this goal didn’t sound realistic without a big help from the volunteers. Yet, almost everyday new volunteers arrived to help Leo with his vision. I did my contribution for three days, but the fourth day no work could be done because of one reason: High water. These strong tides occur twice in a month, and I witnessed the other one with my own eyes.

No problemo. The high water disappeared in few hours, and as nothing special would’ve happened, people continued with their leisure activities… Except for the half dozen of volunteers, who went back to build the self-sufficient village. I left on the fifth day morning back to Buenos Aires, to get ready for my next cycling adventure across South America. My mind, however, was still in Eco-Village, really hoping Leo will succeed with his idea.

Source : http://blog.ovi.com/2011/02/25/ovi-presents-lukas-...