On Friday July 4th, my second day in Krakow, I decided to go to visit the Concentration Camp of Auschwitz. To go there from Krakow it is necessary to take a bus or a train to the city of to Oswiecim. From Mlynek’s place I walked to take the tram #19 at Borek Falecki not having time to buy the ticket at the kiosk because the tram arrived just when I got there. Normally the ticket price is 2.50 zloties but buying it from the tram driver they cost 0.50 zloties more.

The idea was to take the 10:30 am bus to Oswiecim. The nice tram driver gave me indications in English about how to go to the bus station but on my way to find it I went to the train station instead realizing it until I asked at the information window where to buy the bus ticket to Oswiecim. I guess the problem was I did not know that to go to the bus station it is necessary to go through the mall that was in front of the tram stop.

Not pretending to challenge the destiny I went to one of the ticket windows to buy a train ticket to Oswiecim for 11.00 zloties. Everything happens with a reason and being there going to Auschwitz around 60 years after the last train made its last journey with human cargo for the concentration camp.

When I was in Riga I sent a message to a French Couchsurfer who was registered to participate at a Couchsurfing meeting in Krakow. Like me, she was looking for a place to stay in Krakow and I suggested going together on Friday to visit Auschwitz. On Thursday night finally I had a chance to check my email again having a message from her saying she was interested in going to Auschwitz with somebody else because she did not know what she was going to find there. That night I sent another message asking her to meet at some specific point of the bus station. I never got a message back and I saw on Friday morning at that point she did not opened my message yet (you can see in CS if people opened your message or not). I guess my destiny was to go to Auschwitz alone and by train.

I waited all my life to visit Auschwitz. I read and saw before so many documentaries about World War II I feeling every minute those scenes coming back to my mind when I was seating in the train making the 1.5 hours ride from Krakow to Oswiecim a non easy experience.

Being in Oswiecim I decided to walk from the train station to Auschwitz. I estimate it is around 2 Km and there are signs in the way telling the visitors where to go. The admission to the grounds of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial is free of charge but it is highly recommended to pay to watch the movie as the first thing you do when you arrive.

The old barracks are now the exhibitions of the museum and the visitor can see how the prisoners’ life was including a visit to the gas chamber and the crematoria. The work of The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum is very important to help the world to keep in mind that this never should happen again. The atmosphere in Auschwitz is heavy and made me wonder why in Panama we did not preserved some of the places used on Noriega times as a memorial for all of those who died under the 21 years dictatorial regime.

At 3:30 pm I took the bus (free of charge) to Birkenau. This huge concentration camp is located 3 Km from Auschwitz and all surrounded by electrified barbwire, towers and it is still possible to see the gun machine nests in the ground around the camp. Inside the barracks it is possible to see the beds and latrines, giving you a glimpse about how was the tough life inside those walls. All around the camp is possible to see pictures located in strategic points where you can see how was that specific place under the Nazi regime, illustrating the terrible conditions people brought against their will suffered.

After almost a complete day walking under the sun around Auschwitz and Birkenau, visiting the old barracks, the crematoria, gas chamber and monuments, a feeling of sadness inside me made me to want to leave at least a flower for the memory of all those who die victims of injustices in concentration camps and dictatorship regimes all around the world, but not having anything else all I could leave was a tear on that soil once covered with blood.

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