A couple of days after my last post was may 17th, the Norwegian national day. In Norway this is a big thing, so the Norwegians in San Juan (Kjersti, Maren, Kaja, Tommy and myself) decided to celebrate as well. Despite being a bit “tired” from the pub crawl the night before, we started the day with champagne breakfast, fruit and the Norwegian flag. After breakfast we went up to Naked Tiger, a beautiful hostel in the hills overlooking the city. Word soon got out that we were celebrating, and soon everybody joined the celebration of “Norway day” as it soon got called. We had more champagne and strawberries by the pool, and to do a local twist, we had the piñatas. Three of them we got, a spiderman (for Mike), a creepy rabbit and a huge Winnie the Pooh. These were filled with candy, and later bashed to pieces with a bat. Happy Norway day indeed! The rest of the day was spent relaxing by the pool, and in the evening we went out and had a lobster dinner. All in all, a different, but very successful May 17th!
At this point I had stayed in San Juan longer than planned, so the next morning I went towards the Costa Rican border. On my way I caught up with Eloise, Andy and Mattie, and we all joined forces. The first part of the journey went without problems, but when we made it to the border, it turned out that there were some technical difficulties. Thus we had to wait in the sun for three hours. When we finally left, we discovered that we were too late to get our connecting bus, so we had to stay a night on our way to Monteverde. When we finally got there, it was well worth it though. It is high up in the mountains, the nature is beautiful, and it is nice and cool. It started raining the second we got there, but we all agreed that it was nice to be wet from rain instead of sweat, for once. Groce, but true.
Next morning I got up early to do zip-lining / canopying. 21 different lines back and forth across the canyon, including swings and a 1km supermanline. This was very fun, but it was only a warm-up for my next activity: bungee jumping. I was a little bit scared when the cable car started moving, but it was nothing compared to the feeling I had when I jumped off it. The first half of a second is awesome, because you are jumping off. Then you start to fall, and you look down to the river 143mts below you. That’s when the fear starts for real. Going down and up changes from being terrifying to awesome and back again, but when you stop and you are just hanging there, and its quite nice to chill in the middle of the air. All in all, bungee jumping was an awesome thrill, but I don’t know if Ill get the urge to do it again anytime soon.
After this, I left Monteverde, and a couple of days later, I made it to Bocas del Toro, an island outside Panama. Here I have been the last few days, and I haven’t done that much. I have had a couple of dives (very nice dives, but not as good as Utilla), and relaxed in a hammock. Now I'm at he airport in San JJose, Costa Rica, waiting for y flight to NYC. It will be awesome to see all my friends from NYC again, but it is so sad to leave, because it has been an amazing trip! I won’t do a summary (yet), but I must say I have really enjoyed being here, and I have seen and done so many incredible things!
Adios!
lørdag 25. mai 2013
torsdag 16. mai 2013
Nicaragua
Hello!
After my previous post I stayed a few more days at DD where I went for a couple of walks, got a massage in the garden and read a couple of books. Pretty much nothing, which is awesome.
Anyways, when I finally left, it was May 1st, workers day. I didn´t think about this, so when I came to the Hondurian/Nicaraguan border, I got stuck. No buses. Luckily I had met a nice Nicaraguan girl on the bus, and she had a friend who picked her up in a truck. She also happened to have a mother who runs a hostel in Ocotal, close to the border, where I could stay. Furthermore, this girl worked in tourism, so she gave me all the tips I needed for travelling in Nicaragua. Every cloud has a silver lining.
The next day I left for Estellí where I spent a couple of hours touring a cigar factory. I tried to make my own cigar, but that didn´t go too well... After the tour I headed down to León, a city close to the Pacific coast. Main activity: Vulcano boarding.
Nicaragua has a lot of vulcanoes, and a few years ago an Aussie decided to slide down one of them. After trying car doors, fridges, snowboards and a few other things, he realized that a simple board/sled was the best thing. Thus, vulcano boarding was born. Today León is famous for the this activity, partly because its the only place in the world where its possible, and partly because its fun - a lot of fun! I got a top speed of 59km/hrs (40mph), and was fastest of the boys. This got me a free night at surf turtle lodge, a nearby hostel. Here I went the next day, and it is one of those places from paradise. The lodge is at the beach on a small island off the coast. The hostel was simple, but it was surrounded by palms, and it had an awesome view of the ocean. Furthermore, the sun was shining, the hammocks were comfy, and the drinks were cold. One of the better places I have stayed on this trip!
Next stop out was Granada, a nice colonial city a bit further south. I stayed here for a few days, but my cough returned, so I didn´t do much. I went to a nice marked, got another nice massage, relaxed by the pool and went out for cofees and pub trivias. I also had a job interview, so now I just have to keep my fingers crossed.
When my cough had gotten better, I took the ferry to Isla de Ometepe. The island lies in Central Americas biggest freshwater lake, and is dominated by two massive vulcanoes, Concepcion and Maderas (approx 1600 and 1400mts). A couple of hours after I got there, I decided to climb Maderas the following day. With me was an Irish couple, Desmond and Liz. I had heard that it was the thing to do on the island, so I didn´t get scared by the prospect of an 8hour trip. The thing that sucked was that we had to get up at 4am... Anyways, we got up at four and took the bus towards the vulcano. The bus broke down twice, so we had to walk a bit further than planned. After a breakfast stop at a local finca, we started climbing. The first thing I noticed was the difference from the vulcanoes in Antigua and Leon. Unlike those dusty and barren places, this was super green and lush and there were plants everywhere. The second thing I noticed was that the guide was in a terrible shape. We walked super super slow, and he stopped every 10 or 15 minutes to explain about some plants "to teach us about the stuff". It would have been a bit more convincing if he didn´t need to catch his breath before explaining... We made it to the top, and inside the crater, there was a big forest, and an open plain with a small lake. It was exactly like the vulcano in the the movie "You only live twice", except that this lake was real, and there were no bad guys hidden inside the vulcano (that we know of...) After lunch, we went back down. And it was a looooong way. When we finally made it to the bus stop, we heard that the bus, the last bus of the day, had passed early. Two minutes later it started raining. Rotten luck. But when we sat there, sad, tired and thinking about what to do, a tourist truck passed by and gave us a ride back. The luck of the irish finally came! When we finally got back it was 6pm, so the our 8hour hike had turned into a 14hour expedition. Awesome.
Despite the hike being a bit longer than planned, we rented bikes the next morning and went to Ojo de Agua, a small lagoon. The day after we all had to leave, and after a grand pizza-lunch, we went back to the mainland. Here we had yet another encounter with sneaky taxi drivers. "No more buses, last one left. No buses, only taxi. Special price for you, only 15 dollars. Very cheap, buen priceo. No buses, only taxi". After telling them to sod of for the umpteenth time, they finally left. And 30 minutes later, the bus came. Price: 1 dollar. Fancy that.
Now I´m in San Juan Del Sur, right on the pacific coast. I had my first surfing lessons on monday, and it was great fun!
Our teacher made a film of us, and you can check that out here; http://vimeo.com/66267631
Apart from surfing, San Juan is basically beach, pool and pubs, so thats nice. There are a few Norwegians at my hostel, so tomorrow we´ll celebrate May 17th, the norwegian national day. Wuhuuu! After a couple of months of going back and forth, I´ve finally managed to meet up with Mike whom I first met back in Antigua, and thats awesome as well. Hi Mike!
Ciaoo!
After my previous post I stayed a few more days at DD where I went for a couple of walks, got a massage in the garden and read a couple of books. Pretty much nothing, which is awesome.
Anyways, when I finally left, it was May 1st, workers day. I didn´t think about this, so when I came to the Hondurian/Nicaraguan border, I got stuck. No buses. Luckily I had met a nice Nicaraguan girl on the bus, and she had a friend who picked her up in a truck. She also happened to have a mother who runs a hostel in Ocotal, close to the border, where I could stay. Furthermore, this girl worked in tourism, so she gave me all the tips I needed for travelling in Nicaragua. Every cloud has a silver lining.
The next day I left for Estellí where I spent a couple of hours touring a cigar factory. I tried to make my own cigar, but that didn´t go too well... After the tour I headed down to León, a city close to the Pacific coast. Main activity: Vulcano boarding.
Nicaragua has a lot of vulcanoes, and a few years ago an Aussie decided to slide down one of them. After trying car doors, fridges, snowboards and a few other things, he realized that a simple board/sled was the best thing. Thus, vulcano boarding was born. Today León is famous for the this activity, partly because its the only place in the world where its possible, and partly because its fun - a lot of fun! I got a top speed of 59km/hrs (40mph), and was fastest of the boys. This got me a free night at surf turtle lodge, a nearby hostel. Here I went the next day, and it is one of those places from paradise. The lodge is at the beach on a small island off the coast. The hostel was simple, but it was surrounded by palms, and it had an awesome view of the ocean. Furthermore, the sun was shining, the hammocks were comfy, and the drinks were cold. One of the better places I have stayed on this trip!
Next stop out was Granada, a nice colonial city a bit further south. I stayed here for a few days, but my cough returned, so I didn´t do much. I went to a nice marked, got another nice massage, relaxed by the pool and went out for cofees and pub trivias. I also had a job interview, so now I just have to keep my fingers crossed.
When my cough had gotten better, I took the ferry to Isla de Ometepe. The island lies in Central Americas biggest freshwater lake, and is dominated by two massive vulcanoes, Concepcion and Maderas (approx 1600 and 1400mts). A couple of hours after I got there, I decided to climb Maderas the following day. With me was an Irish couple, Desmond and Liz. I had heard that it was the thing to do on the island, so I didn´t get scared by the prospect of an 8hour trip. The thing that sucked was that we had to get up at 4am... Anyways, we got up at four and took the bus towards the vulcano. The bus broke down twice, so we had to walk a bit further than planned. After a breakfast stop at a local finca, we started climbing. The first thing I noticed was the difference from the vulcanoes in Antigua and Leon. Unlike those dusty and barren places, this was super green and lush and there were plants everywhere. The second thing I noticed was that the guide was in a terrible shape. We walked super super slow, and he stopped every 10 or 15 minutes to explain about some plants "to teach us about the stuff". It would have been a bit more convincing if he didn´t need to catch his breath before explaining... We made it to the top, and inside the crater, there was a big forest, and an open plain with a small lake. It was exactly like the vulcano in the the movie "You only live twice", except that this lake was real, and there were no bad guys hidden inside the vulcano (that we know of...) After lunch, we went back down. And it was a looooong way. When we finally made it to the bus stop, we heard that the bus, the last bus of the day, had passed early. Two minutes later it started raining. Rotten luck. But when we sat there, sad, tired and thinking about what to do, a tourist truck passed by and gave us a ride back. The luck of the irish finally came! When we finally got back it was 6pm, so the our 8hour hike had turned into a 14hour expedition. Awesome.
Despite the hike being a bit longer than planned, we rented bikes the next morning and went to Ojo de Agua, a small lagoon. The day after we all had to leave, and after a grand pizza-lunch, we went back to the mainland. Here we had yet another encounter with sneaky taxi drivers. "No more buses, last one left. No buses, only taxi. Special price for you, only 15 dollars. Very cheap, buen priceo. No buses, only taxi". After telling them to sod of for the umpteenth time, they finally left. And 30 minutes later, the bus came. Price: 1 dollar. Fancy that.
Now I´m in San Juan Del Sur, right on the pacific coast. I had my first surfing lessons on monday, and it was great fun!
Our teacher made a film of us, and you can check that out here; http://vimeo.com/66267631
Apart from surfing, San Juan is basically beach, pool and pubs, so thats nice. There are a few Norwegians at my hostel, so tomorrow we´ll celebrate May 17th, the norwegian national day. Wuhuuu! After a couple of months of going back and forth, I´ve finally managed to meet up with Mike whom I first met back in Antigua, and thats awesome as well. Hi Mike!
Ciaoo!
søndag 28. april 2013
I'm alive!
Hello everybody!
Before I left, I said that if it went more than one week without any signs of life, you could assume that one of three things had happened. It's now been five weeks since my last post, by I have not been kidnapped, nor have I've been killed. It has been a combination of the other two, being too busy having fun and having bad internet. I'm sorry it took so long, but now I'm back! (with a very long post)
After I came back from Cuba, I spent a few days travelling down to Utila, an island off Honduras' carribbean coast. The first leg of the journey, from Cancun down to Chetumal and through Belize to Flores (Guatemala), went fine. The second, not so much. I spent 26 hours and seven different buses to get to La Ceiba. And finding these buses wasn't too easy either. People told me all kinds of different things, and I spent a LOT of time walking back and forth, waiting for buses that never came. And when I finally got a bus, the bus brought me to a different border crossing than I had planned, and I just wanted to pack up and go home. Travelling is awesome most of the time, but sometimes it sucks. And when it sucks, it really sucks, 'cause you're stranded in the middle of nowhere on the other side of the world with the closest friend a thousand miles away - if not more. But then you find a place to sleep , and the next day it's so much better. And I'm very glad I stayed, because the next afternoon, I made it to lovely Utila.
Utila is a tiny island at the edge of the Caribbean ocean. For tourists and short time visitors the town basically consists of one street. I had planned on staying there for one, maybe two weeks. I ended up staying there for five.
The reason I came to Utila was the same as everyone else - diving. Ever since I was a kid, I've spent more time under water than on the surface, and I have always wanted to learn how to dive properly. My plan was to take the PADI Open Water, the basic diving course. This is a four or five day course consisting of theory, classromteaching, videos, quizzes, shallow water practice, and then some proper dives. When you complete this course, you can dive anywhere in the world, and you are licensed to go down to 18meters /60feet. This wasn't quite enough, so I decided to to advanced as well, to be able to descend to 30meters. After this, I got infected, so I ended up doing wreck-, deep- and nitrox specialties, as well as rescue diver. Wreck enables you to enter wrecks (very, very cool), deep enables you to go down to 40meters, the deepest that's allowed for recreational diving, and nitrox allows you to use a special gas blend so you can stay underwater for longer. Rescue diver is basically an underwater lifeguard/first aid-course. You learn how to recognize and treat diving-related illnesses (which is quite a few) , how to surface with and treat unconscious divers and what to do if various situations occur, such as if your buddy runs out of air. The whole course ends in "the dive from hell" where everything goes wrong. Your instructors panics and tries to remove your regulator (mouthpiece) or other gear, acts crazy as if in narcosis and every other possible thing. The course is very fun, but also quite challenging and tiring, so I was glad when it was over.
Diving itself is awesome, and I love it. It's so fun to swim around, go up and down and float around. You see all kids of cool things, pretty corals, beautiful fish, turtles, dolphins, eagle rays, squids - the list is endless. And when you don't see anything but sand, it's enough just to swim around in the calm, silent sea. If this bores you, you can just fool around - do gymnastics, go for a moon run, skate or whatever. It's simply amazing !
When I wasn't diving, I spent the time relaxing, eating and hanging out. As I said, Utila is a small place - the guy you meet at the beach at noon is the same guy who will bring you dinner at Foo King at six and drinks in Tranquila at midnight. There's so many amazing people there, and you get to know them so well, especially when you're there for over a month. The staff and divemasters at Parrots, my diveshop, were especially friendly, and after a while, I got included in some of the staff activities, such as dinner at Alfred and Tatianas place (the owners) and staff dive at Honeycomb. For this I'm very grateful, and I miss Parrots and Utila already....
But even though I loved Utila, I wanted to get back on the road. So Thursday morning I left , exactly five weeks after I first came. I joined forces with four friendly Irish guys, Mark, Gary, Ken and Jack, and made my way down to Lake Yajao. Here I'm staying at a local brewery for a few days. The beer is so-so, but the location and surrounding area is beautiful. The hostel is in the middle of the forest, and all around are lovely tracks and paths, and of course, the lake. They also have hot water here, and today I had my first hot shower in six weeks - it was awesome!
Another thing, I have now booked tickets home. I will leave central-America on may 26th. From there I will go to New York where I will stay until June 3rd when I finally will go home to Norway. So, my friends in NYC and you back home, it's just to mark the dates in your calendars! It's going to be sad to leave, but it will also be very nice to come home.
As out can see, I've uploaded a bunch of pictures. For some reason, I can't add text to the pictures, but they are all from Utila. The order is messed up, but amongst them is a turtle, squids, a parrot fish, two normal parrots, a spotted eagle-ray, dolphins and a bunch of people. Enjoy!
Before I left, I said that if it went more than one week without any signs of life, you could assume that one of three things had happened. It's now been five weeks since my last post, by I have not been kidnapped, nor have I've been killed. It has been a combination of the other two, being too busy having fun and having bad internet. I'm sorry it took so long, but now I'm back! (with a very long post)
After I came back from Cuba, I spent a few days travelling down to Utila, an island off Honduras' carribbean coast. The first leg of the journey, from Cancun down to Chetumal and through Belize to Flores (Guatemala), went fine. The second, not so much. I spent 26 hours and seven different buses to get to La Ceiba. And finding these buses wasn't too easy either. People told me all kinds of different things, and I spent a LOT of time walking back and forth, waiting for buses that never came. And when I finally got a bus, the bus brought me to a different border crossing than I had planned, and I just wanted to pack up and go home. Travelling is awesome most of the time, but sometimes it sucks. And when it sucks, it really sucks, 'cause you're stranded in the middle of nowhere on the other side of the world with the closest friend a thousand miles away - if not more. But then you find a place to sleep , and the next day it's so much better. And I'm very glad I stayed, because the next afternoon, I made it to lovely Utila.
Utila is a tiny island at the edge of the Caribbean ocean. For tourists and short time visitors the town basically consists of one street. I had planned on staying there for one, maybe two weeks. I ended up staying there for five.
The reason I came to Utila was the same as everyone else - diving. Ever since I was a kid, I've spent more time under water than on the surface, and I have always wanted to learn how to dive properly. My plan was to take the PADI Open Water, the basic diving course. This is a four or five day course consisting of theory, classromteaching, videos, quizzes, shallow water practice, and then some proper dives. When you complete this course, you can dive anywhere in the world, and you are licensed to go down to 18meters /60feet. This wasn't quite enough, so I decided to to advanced as well, to be able to descend to 30meters. After this, I got infected, so I ended up doing wreck-, deep- and nitrox specialties, as well as rescue diver. Wreck enables you to enter wrecks (very, very cool), deep enables you to go down to 40meters, the deepest that's allowed for recreational diving, and nitrox allows you to use a special gas blend so you can stay underwater for longer. Rescue diver is basically an underwater lifeguard/first aid-course. You learn how to recognize and treat diving-related illnesses (which is quite a few) , how to surface with and treat unconscious divers and what to do if various situations occur, such as if your buddy runs out of air. The whole course ends in "the dive from hell" where everything goes wrong. Your instructors panics and tries to remove your regulator (mouthpiece) or other gear, acts crazy as if in narcosis and every other possible thing. The course is very fun, but also quite challenging and tiring, so I was glad when it was over.
Diving itself is awesome, and I love it. It's so fun to swim around, go up and down and float around. You see all kids of cool things, pretty corals, beautiful fish, turtles, dolphins, eagle rays, squids - the list is endless. And when you don't see anything but sand, it's enough just to swim around in the calm, silent sea. If this bores you, you can just fool around - do gymnastics, go for a moon run, skate or whatever. It's simply amazing !
When I wasn't diving, I spent the time relaxing, eating and hanging out. As I said, Utila is a small place - the guy you meet at the beach at noon is the same guy who will bring you dinner at Foo King at six and drinks in Tranquila at midnight. There's so many amazing people there, and you get to know them so well, especially when you're there for over a month. The staff and divemasters at Parrots, my diveshop, were especially friendly, and after a while, I got included in some of the staff activities, such as dinner at Alfred and Tatianas place (the owners) and staff dive at Honeycomb. For this I'm very grateful, and I miss Parrots and Utila already....
But even though I loved Utila, I wanted to get back on the road. So Thursday morning I left , exactly five weeks after I first came. I joined forces with four friendly Irish guys, Mark, Gary, Ken and Jack, and made my way down to Lake Yajao. Here I'm staying at a local brewery for a few days. The beer is so-so, but the location and surrounding area is beautiful. The hostel is in the middle of the forest, and all around are lovely tracks and paths, and of course, the lake. They also have hot water here, and today I had my first hot shower in six weeks - it was awesome!
Another thing, I have now booked tickets home. I will leave central-America on may 26th. From there I will go to New York where I will stay until June 3rd when I finally will go home to Norway. So, my friends in NYC and you back home, it's just to mark the dates in your calendars! It's going to be sad to leave, but it will also be very nice to come home.
As out can see, I've uploaded a bunch of pictures. For some reason, I can't add text to the pictures, but they are all from Utila. The order is messed up, but amongst them is a turtle, squids, a parrot fish, two normal parrots, a spotted eagle-ray, dolphins and a bunch of people. Enjoy!
torsdag 21. mars 2013
Cuba!
Aaand, Im back from Cuba. I'm sorry for the lack of life on facebook and email the last ten days, but as you might know, the internet access on Cuba is very limited... I had to go to one of the big hotels in Havanna to use a computer, and even then it was incredibly slow, about half of the time was spent waiting. But despite laggy connection and a bit difficult computers, I managed to submit my application to Copenhagen School of Business, so now I just have to wait and see...
A few minutes after I posted my last post, I went to board my plane. Since it was going to Cuba, they had an extra checkpoint with soldiers and a dog checking for drugs and stuff. Suddenly the dog starts sniffing my backpack. I started thinking that someone might have slipped something in my bag, and obviously got quite nervous. It didnt help that the gun wasn't pointing at the floor anymore, but at me. The dog didn't mark (luckily), but the guards nevertheless wanted to check my bag. In the end it turned out that the dog was simply hungry, and wanted my half-eaten chicken sandwich. Unprofessional son of a bitch. (pun intended) Thus, slightly shaken, I boarded the plane.#thatmomentwhenyoufindyourselflookingdownthebarrelofagunafterthenarkotics-dogtakesaninterestinyourbackpack.
When we got to Cuba, the first thing that met us was yet another security controll. I guess they REALLY dont want you to smuggle anything into Cuba... The customs and immigrations was ok, but they didn't quite like my American visa (from my time in NY). Nevertheless, I got through it without problems.
After retrieving my baggage, I got in touch with a couple of other travellers, and since I really didnt have anywhere to go, I followed them to their casa. In Cuba you don't have hostels -you either live in hotels (which costs a lot), or you live in Casa Particulares, private houses who rents out rooms to tourists. Me and Roy, one of my friends from the airport, ended up at the house of a sweet old lady, Rakel. Even though it was a bit odd at first, I must admit that I liked that more than fancy hotels.
The first three or four days were spent sightseeing in Havanna. We visited Museum de la Revolucion, Plaza de Revolucion, and all other places which had something to do with the revolucion, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara or Jose Marti. Which is more or less everywhere, because these guys are REALLY popular in Cuba. Now, Im not going to start on any political stuff, but it was quite interesting to visit the museum. We learned how (and I quote) "the brave freedomfighters sacrificed themselves in the battle against the despot Batista and his terrible henchmen", and how "the "imperialistic Yankees" did everything in their power to stop them"...."But then the heroic revolutionaries managed to overthrow the dictatorship and brought a new era to Cuba, one of enlightenment, freedom and prosperity - free of capitalist influence". You get the drill.
During these days I spent most of the time with Roy and a few other people, and so we all decided to go to Trinidad together. We were four in total, Bruno from Brasil, Yuko from Japan, Roy from Israel and me. Quite an international group. After a round of bargaining, we got in a taxi, but five minutes later, the guy were like "umm, I actually don't have a license to take people to Trinidad, so if we get pulled over, you are not paying me. Im only a friend doing you a favor". Quite.
Everything is very regulated in Cuba. Cubans can't live in the same Casa Particulares as tourists, you need licenses for everything, and the casas have to report which persons are staying with them at all times. In adittion there are two currencies in Cuba. A tourist currency, Pesos Convertibles (CUC) and Pesos Nacionales (MND). One CUC is approx. one US dollar, and one CUC is 24Mnd. Both currencies are used by everybody, but there are some restrictions. For example, its illegal to charge for lodging in MND. And since both currencies are called pesos, you have to allways make sure whether you are talking about CUC or MND. If not you can end up paying 15 dollars instead of 0.40 for a tortilla. There's also the story about the ignorant tourist who wanted a pinapple. The price was 25, so he gave the guy 25CUCs, saying "damn, Cuba is expensive". Of course, the vendor did not correct him, he just got a weeks salary for an already over-priced pineapple.
Anyways, in Trinidad, we mostly spent the days at the beach. And what a beach! Pure, white sand as far as the eye could see, blue water and palms. The palms also had coconuts, so Bruno and Roy went hunting for these. A short while later, we were drinking fresh coconut water mixed with rum and ice. In adittion I had brought the biggest cigar I could find. Life was quite good.
As all the members of our little group were from different parts of the world, we were all eager to learn about eachothers culture. As a result, on friday night, we had a traditional sabbatical dinner led by Roy. (video will come later-hopefully). On saturday, the people we stayed with had a family party, and we were of course invited. The evening was spent dancing, playing domino (which was surprisingly fun, especially when we beat the cheating kid) and chatting. It was very, very nice, and I appreciate that the family invited us.
The day after we went back to Havanna, but then Bruno had to leave for Jamaica. The day after, Yuko left as well, and there were only Roy and me left. Thus, we decided to go to Vinjales. We got there in a slightly foul mood. There were a shitload of rain, and our taxi driver had cheated us quite badly (we paid half the price when we went back to Havanna). Cuban taxi drivers in general are not the nicest people... Anyways, the highlight of Vinjales was a trip on horseback. For the first time in my life I rode for more than five minutes. I was a bit nervous, but the horse was very nice, and I survived the four hour trip - although my thighs hurt pretty bad. The trip itself was awesome. We rode in what's known as "the valley of silence", and it was quite beautiful. We visited a tobacco plantation and learned about the whole tobacco-process, saw a big cave and went to a lookout-point. All in all, very nice. And speaking of tobacco, quite a few cigars were consumed during my time at Cuba, but since the part of the leaves containing nicotine is removed when you're making cigars, you wont see mee walking around town with a cigarette anytime soon. Mom, you can relax.
The next day, we went back to Havanna were we were once again greeted by Rakels open arms. But this was my last night, and the day after (today), I had to go back to Mexico. Now, Cancun is not the worst place to go back to, but it sucked that I had to leave. I spent ten days in Cuba, but I could easily have spent a couple of months there. There were so much to see, so many friendly people (locals and tourists alike), good food and drink (the drinks especially). The cars were amazing as well, they do actually have old, american cars. They are in various conditions though, the one we had to Vinjales had a leaky roof, so when we got there, there was a small puddle at the bottom of the car, and my bag was wet due to the broken window.---
Now, this has been my longest post ever, but there is still so much I could write about what we saw and did, the people we met and cuba in general. But that will have to wait. Knowing myself, I will probably tell you everything both two and three times when I get back anyways. I also have a shitload of pictures, and since I for the first time in months actually have a good connection, I'll upload a bunch
Lastly, thanks to Roy, Yuko and Bruno for making Cuba awesome! #powerofthegroup
Peace and love!
A few minutes after I posted my last post, I went to board my plane. Since it was going to Cuba, they had an extra checkpoint with soldiers and a dog checking for drugs and stuff. Suddenly the dog starts sniffing my backpack. I started thinking that someone might have slipped something in my bag, and obviously got quite nervous. It didnt help that the gun wasn't pointing at the floor anymore, but at me. The dog didn't mark (luckily), but the guards nevertheless wanted to check my bag. In the end it turned out that the dog was simply hungry, and wanted my half-eaten chicken sandwich. Unprofessional son of a bitch. (pun intended) Thus, slightly shaken, I boarded the plane.#thatmomentwhenyoufindyourselflookingdownthebarrelofagunafterthenarkotics-dogtakesaninterestinyourbackpack.
When we got to Cuba, the first thing that met us was yet another security controll. I guess they REALLY dont want you to smuggle anything into Cuba... The customs and immigrations was ok, but they didn't quite like my American visa (from my time in NY). Nevertheless, I got through it without problems.
After retrieving my baggage, I got in touch with a couple of other travellers, and since I really didnt have anywhere to go, I followed them to their casa. In Cuba you don't have hostels -you either live in hotels (which costs a lot), or you live in Casa Particulares, private houses who rents out rooms to tourists. Me and Roy, one of my friends from the airport, ended up at the house of a sweet old lady, Rakel. Even though it was a bit odd at first, I must admit that I liked that more than fancy hotels.
The first three or four days were spent sightseeing in Havanna. We visited Museum de la Revolucion, Plaza de Revolucion, and all other places which had something to do with the revolucion, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara or Jose Marti. Which is more or less everywhere, because these guys are REALLY popular in Cuba. Now, Im not going to start on any political stuff, but it was quite interesting to visit the museum. We learned how (and I quote) "the brave freedomfighters sacrificed themselves in the battle against the despot Batista and his terrible henchmen", and how "the "imperialistic Yankees" did everything in their power to stop them"...."But then the heroic revolutionaries managed to overthrow the dictatorship and brought a new era to Cuba, one of enlightenment, freedom and prosperity - free of capitalist influence". You get the drill.
During these days I spent most of the time with Roy and a few other people, and so we all decided to go to Trinidad together. We were four in total, Bruno from Brasil, Yuko from Japan, Roy from Israel and me. Quite an international group. After a round of bargaining, we got in a taxi, but five minutes later, the guy were like "umm, I actually don't have a license to take people to Trinidad, so if we get pulled over, you are not paying me. Im only a friend doing you a favor". Quite.
Everything is very regulated in Cuba. Cubans can't live in the same Casa Particulares as tourists, you need licenses for everything, and the casas have to report which persons are staying with them at all times. In adittion there are two currencies in Cuba. A tourist currency, Pesos Convertibles (CUC) and Pesos Nacionales (MND). One CUC is approx. one US dollar, and one CUC is 24Mnd. Both currencies are used by everybody, but there are some restrictions. For example, its illegal to charge for lodging in MND. And since both currencies are called pesos, you have to allways make sure whether you are talking about CUC or MND. If not you can end up paying 15 dollars instead of 0.40 for a tortilla. There's also the story about the ignorant tourist who wanted a pinapple. The price was 25, so he gave the guy 25CUCs, saying "damn, Cuba is expensive". Of course, the vendor did not correct him, he just got a weeks salary for an already over-priced pineapple.
Anyways, in Trinidad, we mostly spent the days at the beach. And what a beach! Pure, white sand as far as the eye could see, blue water and palms. The palms also had coconuts, so Bruno and Roy went hunting for these. A short while later, we were drinking fresh coconut water mixed with rum and ice. In adittion I had brought the biggest cigar I could find. Life was quite good.
As all the members of our little group were from different parts of the world, we were all eager to learn about eachothers culture. As a result, on friday night, we had a traditional sabbatical dinner led by Roy. (video will come later-hopefully). On saturday, the people we stayed with had a family party, and we were of course invited. The evening was spent dancing, playing domino (which was surprisingly fun, especially when we beat the cheating kid) and chatting. It was very, very nice, and I appreciate that the family invited us.
The day after we went back to Havanna, but then Bruno had to leave for Jamaica. The day after, Yuko left as well, and there were only Roy and me left. Thus, we decided to go to Vinjales. We got there in a slightly foul mood. There were a shitload of rain, and our taxi driver had cheated us quite badly (we paid half the price when we went back to Havanna). Cuban taxi drivers in general are not the nicest people... Anyways, the highlight of Vinjales was a trip on horseback. For the first time in my life I rode for more than five minutes. I was a bit nervous, but the horse was very nice, and I survived the four hour trip - although my thighs hurt pretty bad. The trip itself was awesome. We rode in what's known as "the valley of silence", and it was quite beautiful. We visited a tobacco plantation and learned about the whole tobacco-process, saw a big cave and went to a lookout-point. All in all, very nice. And speaking of tobacco, quite a few cigars were consumed during my time at Cuba, but since the part of the leaves containing nicotine is removed when you're making cigars, you wont see mee walking around town with a cigarette anytime soon. Mom, you can relax.
The next day, we went back to Havanna were we were once again greeted by Rakels open arms. But this was my last night, and the day after (today), I had to go back to Mexico. Now, Cancun is not the worst place to go back to, but it sucked that I had to leave. I spent ten days in Cuba, but I could easily have spent a couple of months there. There were so much to see, so many friendly people (locals and tourists alike), good food and drink (the drinks especially). The cars were amazing as well, they do actually have old, american cars. They are in various conditions though, the one we had to Vinjales had a leaky roof, so when we got there, there was a small puddle at the bottom of the car, and my bag was wet due to the broken window.---
Now, this has been my longest post ever, but there is still so much I could write about what we saw and did, the people we met and cuba in general. But that will have to wait. Knowing myself, I will probably tell you everything both two and three times when I get back anyways. I also have a shitload of pictures, and since I for the first time in months actually have a good connection, I'll upload a bunch
Lastly, thanks to Roy, Yuko and Bruno for making Cuba awesome! #powerofthegroup
Peace and love!
mandag 11. mars 2013
Mexico!
When I first got to Flores, I planned on staying there for a couple of nights. Seven nights later I finally left. Destination: Palenque, Mexico.
In company with my friend, Asian Andy (his words, not mine) I took a bus to the border, crossed the river in a tiny , local boat and then a bus onwards to Palenque. The border-crossing itself went without a hitch, but the journey took ten hours or so, we were quite exhausted when we got there.
The town of Palenque itself doesn't have anything special to see, but there are some quite nice ruins nearby. The Mayan city of palenque was quite big, with temples, palaces, towers and all. In addition the nature there is beautiful. Worth a visit. After a couple of days here I caught the bus to Campeche, a few hours north. And for the first time in ages I was actually on a real bus! All the buses I've taken in Guatemala was minibuses, so it was nice to relax in a big, airconditioned bus with reclining seats and movies. It's more expensive than Guatemala, but worth it. And besides, it was quite fun to watch Fast Five dubbed in Spanish.
The bus rides themselves are also quite eventful. During my six busrides, my bus has been stopped five times on routine inspections. The cops are looking for drugs, illegal immigrants and weapons. They are very polite, and there hasn't been a problem yet, but they always have their hands on their guns, ready for everything. Quite different from back home.
And speaking of police, I've discovered that Mexico is organized quite like the US, in fact, the official name of Mexico is "los estados unidos Mexico". It's probably all well and good, but it has to be a judicial nightmare. Tourist police, local police, state police, federal police and the military. I'm glad I don't have to deal with all that.
Anyways, Campeche is another nice city. It was the first place Christopher Columbus touched land on the Yucatan, and ever since then, it's been a big, Important, and last but not least, a wealthy city. This caused the city to be a hot target for pirates for decades, until the Spanish decided that enough was enough, and made Campeche to the biggest fortress in the new world. The defenses consisted of big walls, fortresses and outlying batteries. You can still see quite a lot of these today, and they have several museums dedicated to this, the pirating, weapons, ships and a lot of other stuff. During my second day in town, I visited no less than three of these.
After a few days in Campeche, I took the bus north to Merida, another colonial city. I spent a couple of days strolling around town, visiting museums and other touristy stuff. Then I spent a day In the city of Valladolid and the ruins of Chichen Itza. Chichen Itza is probably the most famous of the Mayan cities, and I think it's onof the new seven wonders of the world. It is quite spectacular, but I must admit I got a bit disappointed. I think that after visiting the ruins of El Zotz, Tikal and Palenque in two weeks, I've just seen too many stones and pyramids in too short time. #firstworldproblems.
But since I've been such a good tourist lately, I have decided to do something else for a few days. That brought me here, to lovely Cancun. The city of Cancun is basically built as a city for tourists, and there is an abundance of big resorts, malls, clubs and bars, kind of the Mexican Las Vegas. But whereas Vegas is in the desert, Cancun is by the ocean, and the beaches are amazing! Pure white sand and crystal clear water. Definetly a good place to start tanning. Cancun is also similar to Vegas at another point - the partying. Europeans go to Greece and Spain during the summer for partying, and American students (and everybody else) comes to Cancun for the spring break. During March and April, the city is packed with students, all out looking for a good time. The clubs are awesome, and the parties fantastic! Yesterday I went to Coco Bongo, the biggest place in town, and the show they put on was very, very good. Actors, dancers and acrobats, smoke, lazers, confetti, light and sound - you name it. The atmosphere was accordingly, and people didnt leave untill it started to get light outside. The downside with all this is that you are so busy having fun that you dont notice how much money you are spending untill its to late. "Insuficcient funds" is not a good message to get when you are trying to withdraw money... Im just glad that I booked my tickets to Cuba before the weekend and not after, haha. And yes, that's right - Cuba. Since I only did one month of Spanish school instead of two, I now have time to go there as well. My flight is leaving in an hour, and then I will spend the next ten days chilling at the beach, while drinking rum and puffing a big cuban cigar. Life is good!
-Magnus
PS; my internet sucks, so unfortunately Im not able to post any pictures at the moment. Ill try to do it later.
søndag 24. februar 2013
Welcome to the jungle!
A couple of hours after I got to Flores I lay in the hammock, chilling and doing nothing. I was quite tired, so my plan was just to chill for a couple of days, then spend a day at Tikal, this huge Maya city nearby before heading west to Mexico. Suddenly this dutch couple whom I've never spoken to before came and asked if I wanted to do this three day jungle tour. This was as far from what I had planned as possible, but after thinking long and hard, I thought "why not?" and said yes. Now, a few days later, I'm very glad that I did. The trip was amazing!
The trip started at 6:am, and after a breakfast at a local comedor, we began to walk. It was seven of us in total, Gus and Susanna from Holland, Eirin from Canada, Deborah from Switzerland, two local guides and myself. The trip started at a leisurely pace with us walking down this dirt road through the outskirts in the jungle. While we walked, we chatted, and the guides taught us about various plants and their medical abilities. One of them had roots which worked as pain-killers, and when we chewed them, we could actually feel our mouths go numb. It it worked way more quickly than ibuprofen and other stuff...
After a few hours of walking we came to a small campsite where we would spend the night. At dusk, the guide took us to this grotto, and when we sat there, thousands and thousands of bats left the caves and flew out over ourheads. It was quite a sight.
Next morning we got up at 4:30, yes I actually got up voluntary at 4:30 , and hiked for 30 minutes to the ruins of El Zotz, a small city. There, from the top of a 35m high temple we watched the sunrise and had fresh fruit. Twas quite an amazing view. And as we sat there we could hear the jungle waking up, especially the howler monkeys. These monkeys are quite small, but they make a lot of noise. Apparently, their screams were used as the base for the dinosaur-roares in Jurassic park, that's how loud and powerful they are. I'm pretty sure they are used as the dragon sounds in Skyrim as well, and as I sat there with skyrim songs playing on my iPod , I couldn't help feel like I was in the game - which is totally awesome. And that was my nerdy moment of the day.
Anyways, after sunrise our guide dressed up in this costume made of leaves and performed a dance o f his ancestors, the Mayans. Very interesting. Later we explored the ruins before returning to the campsite for lunch. During the walk that day, we came into the real jungle, and I have to tell you, if the jungle was a person, it would be a two-sided one. Granted, there are all kinds of medical plants and trees that can give you water and stuff, but at the Same time, it's dangerous as hell.
Unlike the Norwegian forests that I'm used to, the jungle basically wants to kill you. When we walked, we had to watch our feets constantly in order to avoid tripping and stepping on snakes and other animals, and when we looked up, we would find small vines (or gigant logs ) few inches from our face. The wines were often covered in small, but very painful thornes. Even many of the trees had spikes. In addittion to the evil plants, there are all kinds of animals. We had to dispose of a couple of snakes and scorpions laying in our path (which is why the guide always walked first), and there were of course an abundance of mosquitoes, ants, ticks, flies and spiders. I quickly learned another lesson; Norwegian bug-spray sucks. Seriously, even though I covered my body in thick layers of spray four times a day, I still got bitten all the time. Not cool. In addition, this huge ant crawled inside shorts and bit my inner thigh while we were playing cards. The pain was surprisingly strong, and I could hardly walk for an hour. Damned ants, what did I ever do to them? And last but not least, there's the climate. The jungle is so dense, hot and humid, so we basically bathed in sweat after five minutes. Yummy.
Day three we came into thicker jungle. We tried to keep stuff from hitting our faces, but after five minutes we just gave up and let plants, spiderwebs and other stuff slap us in our faces more or less non-stop for five hours.. Nevertheless it was great fun, and I liked that it was a bit challenging. After five hours of briskly walk, we came to Tikal. I have never been so glad to see other tourists in mywhole life. To quote Eirin "look, clean people!" Needless to say, they weren't too happy to see us, us seven dirty, sweaty and smelling people. We couldn't had cared less though, and we just sat there, enjoying our cold sodas.
After lunch we had this sunset tour, and that was awesome. Tikal was one of the last big Maya cities, and it is believed that more than 100, 000 people lived in the city centre, with many more living in the surrounding villages. There's many big temples there, and a lot of stuff to see. The sunset itself were also amazing.
So, to sum it up; even though it was tiresome and I've never been as sweaty, dirty and mosquito-bitten my whole life, the trip was amazing. It was fun walking in the jungle with a local guide who told us stories from his grandparents and Mayan folklore, and we saw some amazing things. The people were really nice as well, s so it was absolutely worth it. And for those who wondered, we walked around 60kms in total, which is not that bad in two and a half days.
Now I've spent couple of days chilling in Flores, and tomorrow or the day after, I'm heading to Mexico.
So long!
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