• Alessandra Totti
luglio 2024

Indonesiaaa

Un’avventura di 27 giorni di Alessandra Leggi altro
  • Inizio del viaggio
    4 luglio 2024

    Leaving from Frankfurt

    4 luglio 2024, Germania ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Leaving today from Frankfurt to Singapore, my first step to go to Indonesia. Of course my professors sent me the thesis corrections today so I took the laptop with me damn. I hope I can send it on time XD let’s seeLeggi altro

  • Singapore airport

    5 luglio 2024, Singapore ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Finally reached my first destination Singapore. I’m feeling the jet lag even if I slept for the whole flight (12 hours haha). The airport is super new and very fancy, you can see that it’s a nation with lot of money. I’m waiting for my second connection to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia where I will die in my hotel room at the airport since I am dead hahaLeggi altro

  • Kuala Lumpur

    5 luglio 2024, Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Finally reached Malaysia where I can rest in my hotel close to the airport since tomorrow I have another flight to Medan in Sumatra. Kuala Lumpur Airport was very busy. I noticed that majority of people working here are from China, India, Pakistan and for sure I am missing out other people from nearby countries. Not many western folks around apart from some tourists like me. Quite funny I feel a bit like an alien but people are very polite and speak english, at least in the airport, the only thing I saw in 24 hours of travelling haha. The choice of food is huuuge, I have never seen so many food stalls in the airport and the snack packs are very funny and I have no idea what is inside. I ended up buying purple sweet potato chips which I ate for dinner haha Anyway tomorrow again another flight so gotta wake up early!!Leggi altro

  • Medan

    6 luglio 2024, Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Today I reached Medan in Sumatra to go tomorrow to Bukit Lawang in the jungle. The traffic is a bit crazy but I managed to cross the road alone moving between the many cars and motorbikes haha it’s quite funny my driver was giving money to some guys on the street that “managed” the traffic. He was not stopping, just throwing the money from the window haha
    The whole family on the motorbike is normal here, 4 people fit on a scooter haha
    The city is not the best, there is nothing too special, and it’s so fucking hot that the people just stay inside malls. No one is walking, everyone is by scooter or car. I was walking around before looking for an ATM and everyone in the street was shouting at me “miss” from the other side of the road or whistle to get my attention. There are not many tourists and I felt a bit like the only white around until I found another english girl. We wanted to find a place to eat together but she had to go and pick up her friend from the airport. I ate Mie (indonesian noodles) which were very spicy so I couldn’t finish them. I was sweating haha I tried to say spicy in indonesian (pedas) to the waitress and she was smiling/ laughing at me because I couldn’t handle it haha She must have thought “look this funny white people cannot eat spicy food”.
    Today I think I will rest and work on the thesis because it’s too hot to do anything here. Anyway lot of Banana trees here and good Bananas!
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  • Bukit Lawang I

    7 luglio 2024, Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Today I have arrived in Bukit Lawang and tomorrow we will do the jungle trekking for 3 days and 2 nights. This morning in the hotel I met a couple from the region, from Berastagi, and they could speaking english so we started talking and they taught me so much about the different cultures in Indonesia. They made me try new dishes, such as Lontong, a soup with noodles, a rice pudding and fish, a bit spicy, Salak a fruit from the palm tree (there are sooo many here) which tastes a bit like lyches. Then a dessert made of rice, coconut, banana leaves and brown sugar called Lupis. They also told me that apparently a doctor Gretha Zahar uses this Divine Cigarettes as practice to fight cancer, so lot of people here smoke these cigarettes. They do strange detox treatments with the smoke of the cigarettes where people get wrapped up in alu foil and the smoke is inserted through tubes in the ears, eyes and other part of the bodies. So Risma (the lady) said it was good for her blood sugar but I am not sure about it hahah
    Then a driver brought me to Bukit Lawang which is 3 hours away from Medan. We crossed many villages with very poor roads, cow eating in the middle of the palm plantations and very thin chickens running everywhere. Indonesia is one of the major producers of Palm oil and the Palm Plantation we saw was huge. Then we reached Bukit Lawang and crossed the river to finally arrive at my guest room. Very simple, no sink, only cold water (perfect because it’s fucking hot) and a fan.
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  • Bukit Lawang II

    8 luglio 2024, Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Today we started the 3 days jungle trekking with our two guides Bim and Paris (not sure they are written this way haha). We saw immediately more than one Orangutans, which were hanging on the trees very close to us. There were lot of other tour guides so many people gathered around, which was a bit disappointing, but the more we walked deep into the jungle the less people we found. Interestingly the name Orangutan means Man of the Jungle ( Orang= person and Utan=jungle in Bahasa indonesian). We saw many Orangutan females with one baby, they were learning how to climb on trees.
    We saw also endemic monkeys Thomas’s Langur, Pig-tail Macaque, Gibbons and long-tail macaque. We saw also birds such as the Rangkong Badak (Horbill) and the Kuau (a sort of peacock).
    The camp we were staying at was very rudimental but good enough for sleeping: a mattress, pillow, mosquito net and a sleeping bag. The food they gave us was AMAZING, it was the best I had so far. The chef, was this peculiar guy who told us that survived in the indian ocean near Sri Lanka for 12 days after a shipwreck before he was saved by a German cargo ship. He showed us the pictures and the stories he was saying were crazy haha but he was very happy and very grateful, like all the indonesian people I met so far. In the night we went with the chef fishing, we walked along the river and he started swimming looking for jungle fish. He caught many while we were looking around for snakes (we didn’t see any unfortunately). It was just amazing to be in the complete darkness in the middle of the jungle, listening to the sounds of the animals, just breathtaking. Then we went back and chatted a bit more with the guides and ready to be bed cause the next day we had to walk more :)
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  • Bukit Lawang III

    9 luglio 2024, Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    This day we woke up and started again going up the jungle. We had all a but of soreness from the day before so this day was a bit more lazy. We saw again some Orangutans and other monkeys, but it started pouring rain quite soon so we rushed to the next camp. Since the name Rainforest, when it starts raining it rains A LOT and going downhill with the mud and the rain was no fun haha i was just focused on not slipping on the mud or the roots. We had a nice dinner and played carda with the chef.Leggi altro

  • Last day in the jungle

    10 luglio 2024, Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    For this last day we went to small waterfalls, swum and painted our faces with a paste from stones of different colours. Then we went back to our starting point doing rafting in the river on a sort of boat constructed by the guides with many black rubber dinghies. It was an amazing experience and I everyone was so nice, I would go back again :)Leggi altro

  • Borobudur

    12 luglio 2024, Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Yesterday I landed in Yogyakarta and my host picked me up from the airport to go to the homestay in Borobudur. The husband Ika and his wife Yani made me feel very welcomed. I was hungry from the travel and they cooked me tempeh and tofu with rice. It was delicious. They also gave me fruits such as papaya and banana from their parents’ garden. The breakfast was also delicious, they went to the market to buy some typical snacks made with rice, coconut and brown sugar. Ika is very open-minded, he was a teacher and likes to know everything about other cultures. He brought me to his friend that produces coconut sugar, where they explained how to harvest and produce it. I am always struck by the kindness and humbleness of these people, I think it’s something in their culture and I am very grateful I could experience it. Ika told me that he wishes his son will become first of all “good human being”. This is totally different from our capitalistic society which is mainly focused on building a career without caring about the humanity of people. I think we can learn a lot from them.
    In the morning I have also visited the famous Borobudur temple. We climbed up and the guide explained us the story of the construction and renovation. The temple depicts the story of Siddhartha, which later was called Buddha. It was built with volcanic stones from Mount Merapi on the 778 AD.
    In the afternoon I adventured by bike to reach the Mendut buddhist temple. Funny story, I stopped by the market to buy some bracelets, and I started bargaining with the ladies of the market. I bought 3 bracelets for 100K rupias (5 euros) instead of 70K rupias each. I think they ripped me off anyway, I would have gone lower but I didn’t have the change, so I gave them 100K rupias. Ok just for comparison a Nasi Goreng (typical dish) in a restaurant costs around 30K and in a street vendor 15K. So you can see that 3 normal bracelets for 100K is waaay to much, with this money I could have bought 3 Nasi Goreng in a restaurant. But anyway it’s ok you learn with experience, next time I bargain more haha Anyway at the end I didn’t have enough money to pay the entry ticket for the temple haha so I just took a photo from outside and I left. By bike it was a bit shitty, because the pollution of the traffic is way too much from what we are used to, plus it’s a bit dangerous since people drive totally random. Tomorrow I’ll leave to Jogja where I’m meeting with the german group of Bukit Lawang again :)
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  • Leaving Borobudur

    13 luglio 2024, Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Today I left my family to go to Jogja. However, in the morning before checking out of the homestay we still had time to visit the Tofu maker. The place was very basic and spartan. The guy was working nonstop, while Ika (my host) was telling me the process to make tofu. First the soybeans are soaked in water, then they are milled, boiled with water and then some sort of “magic water” is added that makes the soybean milk agglomerate. Actually the magic water is just the wasted water of the previous batches which is reused and has some enzymes that do the job. The clumps are then collected between two wooden boards to remove the excess of water.
    Since I had a bit of belly problems, Ika revealed to me the secrets of the famous Tolak Angin, a sort of “medicine” made of different herbs and ginger, which is very popular in indonesia. I must say that it was actually very effective for my belly or maybe it was just placebo haha
    Later, I said goodbye to my amazing family and the village to move to the big city Jogjakarta. The traffic in the city is a bit crazy but my hostel is in a very silent neighbourhood. In Jogja, they suggested me to go to this Hazma Batik shop which has A LOT of Sarong and other typical dressing, shirts, everything. I was inside hours and ai bought maybe a little bit too much haha then later I met with the group of Germans that were with me in Bukit Lawang. We went in a Warung (street food stall) for dinner (still need to see if I will get some sort of belly bug from that) and to a bar with live music and karaoke. It was very nice and we said goodbye since they were leaving for the hike in Mount Bromo. Maybe we will meet again in Heidelberg :)
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  • Jogjakarta

    14 luglio 2024, Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Today I am a bit lazy and tired. I think changing place so often is taking a toll on me. I just want to rest and don’t do anything. Maybe I planned a bit too much in few time. Today I went to see the water palace (Taman Sari) and the Royal Palace (Keraton). I mean they were nice but nothing super special in my opinion haha in the afternoon I went to the Prambanan hindu temple. Beautiful and huge but too many tourists. I went there taking a lift on a motorbike and the traffic was really too much. It’s just so chaotic and so much smog and pollution. Everything smells like gasoline waste or smoke from the garbage that they burn on the side of the street. The only nice place was the street were we were yesterday night for the live music and karaoke. It was quite nice with lot of bars and clubs. However I passed by today evening as well and I noticed many old white men. Yesterday, an indonesian lady told me that these men live in Jogja permanently so I guess this area is a bit more “westernised” compared to the rest of the city. This evening I will rest since tomorrow I leave by train to Surabaya, another big city nearby. Tomorrow relaaax and chill, I don’t want to visit anything hahaLeggi altro

  • Surabaya

    15 luglio 2024, Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Today I left Yogyakarta by train to reach Surabaya, another huge city, where I will catch my flight to Labuan Bajo. The train was very comfortable but no high speed. It was on time at least, compared to DB haha I didn’t visit the city, since I was tired and again too much traffic. The girls in the homestay where nice and for breakfast I had Nasi (rice) Goreng (fried) served with egg and Krupuk. Krupuk is a sort of cracker that they eatwith different dishes. It can be made with fish, tapioca flour or animal skin. It is usually fried so it’s very heavy but good. Another interesting thing is that in indonesia there are two different kind of toilets. The toilet Jongkok is the typical italian “Turca”, while the Duduk is the toilet we usually have in western countries. Last picture is the old lady close to me on the plane which was very cute she offered me water and biscuits, we had a conversation with gestures and with my very basic Bahasa haha It’s so nice when you can connect with someone even with such different cultures and languages.Leggi altro

  • Labuan Bajo

    16 luglio 2024, Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Today I reached the island of Flores in the city of Labuan Bajo, to start my open water diving course. The island is very nice, reminds me of our “riviera romagnola” but a bit more rough. There are lot of “expensive” places for tourists and you can see already the difference between the local buildings and the new ones. When I say expensive, I mean expensive for the locals. Today I ate in a fancy place to see the AMAZING sunset and I paid 200K rupiahs which is more or less 11 euros. it’s a lot for a dinner. The sunset was breathtaking and being finally out of the city and close to the sea makes me very happy. I can’t wait to dive in the ocean 🥹 a sequence of the sunset light follows.Leggi altro

  • Open water diving course

    19 luglio 2024, Selat Sumba ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    These 3 last days of diving course were intense but I had so much fun. My instructor Pieter was very nice and experienced, he was also funny and playful so I felt very confident diving with him. I was the only student so it was nice to get all the attention of the instructor haha we dived in different spots of Komodo, which is considered one of the best places to dive, but also very dangerous because of the high currents. I saw so many fish: parrot fish, trigger fish, angel fish, butterfly fish, nemo, trevally and many more. I saw many turtles, some sharks, sting rays and we were so lucky to see a Manta coming towards us. It was just me and my instructor when we saw it and it was so exciting that we were both super happy. It was so huge and beautiful. We were so lucky, no one in the other groups saw it, I felt a bit blessed haha Anyway such an amazing experience, the people of the crew were amazing and super funny making jokes and laughing, it was a very chill vibe. I can’t wait to come back to Manta Rei diving school to take my advanced diving course haha maybe Christmas holidays? Who knows. Some pictures of the dives (not taken by me).Leggi altro

  • Leaving Labuan Bajo

    21 luglio 2024, Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    I’m so sad I am leaving Labuan Bajo today to go to Ubud in Bali. I liked this island so much and the people I met were amazing :) I hope I can come back to do my advanced course or to do a liveboard. Yesterday I went to a day trip to see Komodo dragons in the national park. It was a bit disappointing because the rangers started to annoy the dragon to make him go put of his nest. And it was so chaotic people were going crazy to take pictures and there was a wall of people in front of this poor animal that was minding his own business. Fun fact about the dragons is that they are lonely animals and this happens because they are cannibals. The mother leaves the children after few months and they need to take care of themselves. They hide in the tree to avoid being eaten by the bigger dragons. Actually when the mother comes back to the nest, she does it to eat them and not to protect them haha weird animals. Also males have two penis and the sex lasts 6 hours haha gosh poor female haha weird weird animals, I don’t know how they survived in this world. Ah and of course they are very aggressive and if they bite you you are dead in few days because they can inject killing bacteria. We went to this beautiful paradise small island made of coral sand and to the famous pink beach, which name derives from the presence of white and red corals that give this unique pink color. I mean the time of the tour were very strict but I have enjoyed a lot. These last days I have also met with this french girl Lydie who lived here in the island and works for a luxury boat trip company. We met in Sumatra in Bukit Lawang and I am so happy we could meet again here, and who knows hopefully in France again :)Leggi altro

  • Ubud I

    22 luglio 2024, Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Today I did the usual truistic round in Ubud. We went to the Rice Paddies, the waterfalls, we visited an Hindu temple, coffee plantation and the famous Monkey Forest. The coffee plantation was very interesting and we had the chance to taste different coffees and teas. I also tasted the Luwak coffee, which is basically coffee beans eaten by this Luwak animal, pooped and then washed and brewed. The Luwak can’t digest the coffee beans and the passage in the animal intestines makes the beans taste smoother. the Hindu temple was very nice. Interesting fact is that there are different rules to enter the temples. For examples, women can't enter the temple during menstruation, because they are considered impure or when a member of your family dies, you can't enter in the days after. It was all a bit truistic but it was nice, I was with a Scottish couple, just married haha very cute.Leggi altro

  • Ubud II

    23 luglio 2024, Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    In these next days I took part to a Balinese cooking class in an organic farm and in a silver jewellery class. The balinese class was very nice. First we visited the local market, where the guide explained us about fruits and other dishes, then we went to the family-owner farm where he explained us about the different plants that we would use in our dishes and we picked up the vegetables. We cooked different appetisers and 3 main dishes. I was very full after those haha the day after I took part at a class to create silver jewellery and ai made a very nice ring with a turquoise stone and a pendant. The guy in the shop was very nice and he explained me many things about the whole process. These two activities are very common in Bali and many people do them. I had lot of fun :)Leggi altro

  • Mount Batur

    25 luglio 2024, Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Today with two girls met at the hostel Hülya (Turkish, living in Bangkok) and Imane (French/Moroccan) I embarked at 3 am in a journey to go to see the sunrise at Mount Batur, a volcano on the island. I was so so sleepy and it was fucking cold, thank god we ha blankets haha we went up the volcano with a Jeep (no one wanted to walk) and our guide took so many professional pictures and videos of us haha he was very good. So today I am super tired and dizzy I just chiller at the pool of the hostel for the whole day, a bit of well-deserved relax. Hülya left but we decided we might meet again in december :) Maybe Thailand, maybe Sri Lanka!Leggi altro

  • Relax in Ubud

    26 luglio 2024, Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    I have been a bit sick since I have arrived in Bali. I have a sore throat and mucus haha I think this mother fucking air conditioning that is always so low in the dormitory made me catch something. So these days I am taking it chill, because I feel too lazy to do stuff, so I am mainly relaxing by the pool of the hostel.
    Today has been very relaxing. I went with one of the girls of my hostel for a relaxation massage. The place was very fancy and the massage was just 350K IDR which is just around 25 euros? In Europe I would have paid at least 60 euros for this service. After the massage we went to a Yoga lesson and in the evening we had an organised event and we partied!!! It was very nice, but it’s time to say goodbye because everyone is leaving to different destinations or back home. It’s so sad when you travel and you create a sort of family for few days but then you have to leave and go back to your life. It’s like grieving every time haha but I hope we can meet again in the future :)
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  • Baby sharks and flying foxes

    28 luglio 2024, Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Today was totally random for me. I arrived yesterday at Labuan Bajo and wanted to find a tour operator that brings me to the Wae Rebo tribe village. While walking down the street looking for the best prices, I met a swiss girl (italian swiss side) that was looking for a snorkeling/sunset trip for today. I just thought it was a good opportunity to share the trip to save some money and we decided to go together. However, while waiting for the guide, an italian family came by, looking for the same kind of trip, so at the end we were 6 people doing the trip haha we went at Kelor island for snorkelling and we saw baby reef sharks coming super close to the shore, very cute. Than we went to another island where the water was not so clear for snorkelling but was ok. At the end we went to Kalong island which is home of thousands of Flying Foxes, huge bats that eat the fruits of Flores Island and they go out for lunch when the sun goes down. They were so many and so big! It was beautiful. In the evening I met with Lydie, my french friend who lives here and we went to this Paradise bar to see a reggae concert. Apparently here reggae music is quite popular and lot of indos have dreadlocks haha I didn’t expect this at all haha
    I had fun today but I have a thought I want to express. The family and the other swiss girl were judging a lot the fact that there was some rubbish in the sea and plastic in the drainage channels and felt entitled to tell our guide “you should do better”. I think I have said already that here there is a problem with rubbish and plastic and that usually rubbish is burned on the streets or in canals. It’s not good at all and it’s a huge problem but I was talking about this with Lydie who knows indos better than me and she told me that many families here are paid by the day. This means that sometimes they can’t afford to buy the big bottle of shampoo but they buy the small one because is cheaper and because feeding the family is more important, so of course this means more packaging and more waste. Moreover some of the rubbish in the sea is brought by the sea currents (which are quite strong here) so this means that this rubbish could come from other countries. It’s the government that of course should do something to improve the rubbish problem but also improve wages conditions for the people so that they have a stable monthly pay. I just don’t like the entitlement that some people have to judge a country based on their own standards when they have no idea of the struggles the people who live here have to face. Also complaining that here some people and some guides speak bad english, i mean this island is not like Bali, which is full of tourists. This place is more for Komodo and for diving so there are only this type of tourists and tourism is starting to explode now. I mean italy it’s not better, my dad speaks zero english but when he came to germany he always tried to smile, be kind and express himself with hand gestures. I mean being a bit more kind and understanding would be nice. But many western tourists come here thinking to find the same chic and posh stuff everywhere in Indonesia as you can find in Bali. I don’t want to sound mean but if you don’t like the hygiene or the bathroom of some places just book an expensive resort, stay there and stop complaining, otherwise just accept it.
    They told me many italians live here, in fact there are lot of italian restaurants. If I had some money I would buy land or a house here because it seems to be a good investment and also because it’s beautiful. I’ll try to convince my uncle haha ok sorry for the long “pippone” haha
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  • Rest and Recovery

    31 luglio 2024, Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    These last days I have been a bit congested and sick. I was sick since I was in Bali, but yesterday night I had fever as well so I had to cancel my trip to the Wae Rebo village (sadly) but I couldn’t risk it, better to rest and be ready to dive on Friday. This motherf**ing air conditioning made me catch some virus. How can they keep 16 degrees at night in the dormitories?? It’s freezing! Yesterday I saw Lydie’s house, very big and empty and we went to see the sunset in a special spot. It was a bit cloudy so the sunset was not the best but it was still nice. We went to the opening of a Scuba diving center and I met many people from this business, many of them were Lydie’s friends. Everyone thought I was working in diving as well haha because I had the t shirt that the diving center where I did my course gave me. I am sure I had the fever already because I was feeling pain in my muscles, in fact it was 38 degrees when I came back to the hotel haha Fuck the fever I will still socialise nothing will stop me haah
    These days it’s raining more than usual, which is weird since we are in dry season, everyone was a bit surprised about this weather. I am trying to listen more to my body. I always want to do lot of things because I don’t know when I will be back again, but I must also take it slow when my body needs to rest. Today I slept a lot and I feel so much better compared to the days before.
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  • Last days in Bajo

    3 agosto 2024, Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Since I was feeling still congested and coughing a lot, I decided to cancel the dive. It was painful but I was still too sick so it’s better this way. On Friday I went instead to this beach called Wae cicu with Lydie and we stayed there for the sunset with live music. Then we went again to the famous Club Paradise where we met with her old friend and previous flatmate Luis 50 y.o., indo tour guide. At the end other locals friends of her joined, Rian which speaks super fluent french and his friend Yoseph who speaks fluent italian. That was so funny to meet all these locals tour guides and drink the “jungle juice”, super popular drink make with this liqueur Arak diluted in water and lime. It’s very strong and indonesian get pretty wasted with it. We stay until 4 am with the guys talking. Such beautiful people, so kind and generous.
    On Saturday, my last day, since we were a bit tired from the night before, we went to Wae Molas, a resort were I could have massage and listen to some good music from a local dj. Lydie brought me to Pantai Pede to see my last Sunset in Bajo and god the sunset was sooo long. After, we went for dinner together and we said goodbye :( She was my guide all these days and we spent almost everyday together this week. I will miss her so much but I know we can meet again in France and why not back in Flores. People of Flores island are amazing, so welcoming, so kind, I felt treated like a local, like I was part of their family. This week I wasn’t a tourist anymore, I was part of the people of this island. I need to come back for sure!
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    Fine del viaggio
    30 luglio 2024