Imagen by John Lennon created by Playing for Change

Earth, our home

Please have a look at this movie, makes you think twice!

HOME, our Planet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU

Thanks!

The Girl Effect

Today, I became an investor

I stumbled on the non-profit organization KIVA about a month ago when killing some time online. I found KIVA to be such a inspirational non-profit that I signed up immediately. This organization lends money to people in third world countries with help from "normal" citizens all over the world. So it is basically a "to the people from the people" philosophy :)

The minimum loan is $25 (20€) and you can choose who to loan to and after x months the loan will be paid back by the person you loaned it to. I wanted to focus on women in Africa and I chose a women called Jacinta Mugore Mwangi living in Ngong, Kenya. She needed to loan $700 to expand her retail business and especially increase her stock of cereals since they are very much in demand and gives her a huge profit margin. Within less that a day, 20 lenders from all over the world, lended her app. $25 each and viola she will be able to get the loan through the field partner Kadet in Kenya. She has now 14 months to pay back the loan and I believe in her as she has successfully paid back two previous loans.

Here us Jacinta in her store.

I will excitedly follow Jacinta and see how she develops and as soon as I have a job myself I will invest 20€ in someone else who needs it more than me.

You can check out KIVA here www.kiva.org and maybe find someone you want to help.

"To the people from the people"

Feeling good...

Don't do anything that you don't really want to do. 

Keep yourself in a place of feeling good. 

Reach for the thought that feels better - and watch what happens.

--Abraham Hicks

Just life...

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,
but by the places and moments that take our breath away.

Sum it all up...

I thought it was about time to sum up my backpacking trip once and for all as my trip is coming to an end. Except for not having to pack my backpack I am still somewhat on my trip as I am doing just about nothing these days (a very difficult skill to have), enjoying the summer sunshine, the nature and good books. Being at my folk's place on the country side in Finland, is the best ending to the trip and the best adjustment back to reality. Soon I will have to put my high heels back on and go back to work...

My 7.5 months backpacking trip through Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and the east coast of the States was an amazing and well needed trip! I stayed close to 1 month in each country and I had the best time of my life and really, truly enjoyed the freedom of backpacking and not knowing the next step. Backpacking is a way of life and the best way to travel. It is cheap, fun and adventurous! Here comes the best and the best of my trip:

• Favorite country: Guatemala, Panama and Colombia
• Best food: Local food in Colombia (platanos covered with chicken sause with hints of cheese and veggies), tortillas in Mexico and bbq:ed lobster tail and marinated shrimps in Belize
• Best sunset: So many sunsets, but the most memorable is from the beach in San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua... the sunset was just so strong and beautiful
• Hottest place: The surfer town Santa Teresa in Costa Rica... spent a lot of time in the hammock
• Coldest weather: In Guatemala around New Years ...brrrr... why didn't I bring my woolen socks, hat and gloves and for god sake my own 5 inch sleeping bag??
• Scariest thing I did: Standing on top of Pacaya volcano in Guatemala trying not to fall over and step in the flowing lava as the wind was blowing like crazy in the darkness...did I mention it was dark and that I could feel the lava moving under me. This volcano actually erupted 4 months later. Thank God I managed to climb down before that happened.
• Funniest moment: Dancing like insane at the CocoLoco pier bar in Utila (Honduras) while being sick and having fever... who said you can't have fun when you are sick??
• Scariest moment: The first time I heard howler monkeys. I thought it was 5 huge gorillas that was going to attack me.. and I was in the middle of the jungle somewhere in Guatemala with nowhere to hide... hahaha.
• The funniest thing I did: Flying like a superman (well superwomen) while canopying in the beautiful, green forest in  Monteverde, Costa Rica
• Best dance: Pieter from Holland definitely had the best moves, I had the best time dancing on the beach bar in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua and dancing salsa in the hostel in Panama city.
• Most beautiful women: The Canadian guy who dressed up as a girl to get the free drinks for ladies in the bar... and I actually thought it was a girl! Good job Cam!
• Best drink: RUM, rum rum, and the best one is Flor de Cana from Nicaragua or One Barrel from Belize... and it has to be rum with pineapple juice (ron y pina)!
• Best beach: No doubt, the islands in Archipelago San Blas outside Panama City in the Caribbean sea.. amazing beaches, snorkeling and tranquilo life
• Scariest chicken bus ride: Riding up and down and around the mountains in Guatemala while the bus driver is speeding like there is no tomorrow (when this happens just close your eyes and try to sleep or pray... it works!)
• Best body painter: The crazy Englishman David that has traveled the world many times and always carry body paint. All 20 of us had a blast painting each other :)
• Best party: Daniel's birthday party in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua... what a party!!! so much love!
• Gained: tons of incredible experiences, memories and some kilos
• Lost: a blue jacket, lotion and 5 years
• Learned: to live in the moment, never take anything for granted, to laugh and enjoy life, that sharing is caring and that you always should pack lighter than you think ... oh and I learned how to make coconut milk from scratch and to drum..somewhat
• Thought: thought someone how to float, dance salsa and drink a lot of water
• Most interesting locals: The Kuna people in Panama and the crazy Garifunas along the Caribbean coast
• Best Mayan ruins: Tikal in Guatemala.. amazing!
• Biggest fish: Barracudas
• What not to do while in Central America: be in a hurry
• Funniest CouchSurfing host: Charlie in Cali, Colombia, he had the funniest jokes
• Best hostel: Pagalu in Puerto Viejo in Costa Rica
• Worst room: Sleeping with cockroaches in Cauhita, Costa Rica, in my private room... so much for private!
• Best market: the fruit market in Medellin Colombia..wow I wanted to by every fruit in there, everything looked so exotic and tasty!
• Most memorable song: One more night with hmm a reggae singer... I heard this song every time I woke up in the hostel Bellas on the island Caye Caulker in Belize.... ahh yes I WILL stay one more night!
• Best bar: The Split in Caye Caulker, Belize (the best bar vibe and reggae, rum punches and clear blue water to chill in)
• The thing that made me scream the most and think I am going to die: The huge Tarzan Swing while canopying in Monteverde, Costa Rica .. Wow my heart git stock in my throat
• Tastiest fruit: I looooooove passion fruit, maracuya and Costa Rica has the best papaya, Panama the best coconuts and Colombia is just fruit heaven!
• Best music vibe: I wanted to marry the DJ playing at the beach bar in San Juan Del Sur cos he played the very best music and I danced like insane the whole night :) .. I think he turned down my marriage proposal...
• Funniest chicken bus ride: sitting side by side with 7 people in a row in a school bus, with small Mayan people in Guatemala holding on for life to the railing not to squeeze to death the poor small man next to me when the bus took steep turns left and right around the mountains...  this was a 4h bus ride and I couldn't stop laughing at the end as it was just insane :)
• Best guide book: Lonely Planet's Central America on a shoestring

There are just too many "best ofs" and memories that I could fill a 300 page book. I had a blast and was very lucky throughout my whole trip; nothing got stolen or broken and I met so many lovely, caring and funny fellow backpackers and locals on my journey. I can strongly recommend a trip to Central America! It is beautiful, cheap, has amazing nature, oceans, surf waves, beaches, people, fruit, islands, rum, and much more! Just go for it!

Always remember the magical times in life!

And remember to laugh! The situation may be critical but never serious :)

The adventure continues...

Loving the summer in Finland

biking in the forest

I have reached my definitively last stop on my trip; Dagsmark village on the West coast of Finland. Here the grass is actually greener, the sky is bluer, the air is cleaner, the flowers are more colorful and the silence is real. It is lovely to be in Finland during the summer when the sun is shining and the birds are singing until 2 am in the morning. Hey, you can actually still sunbath at 10 o'clock at night when the sun is still shining bright.

my cute nephew

The best part of visiting my family is getting to know my new 2 months old nephew. As the new auntie I am, I could sit and admire him all day long and be pretty content doing just about nothing else than that. I think I am in love... with a 29 year old younger man.... oh boy.

me and my Mum

Besides adoring the baby, I have been pretty busy visiting family, attending a biking event, having a yard sale at the annual fair in town (where I also sold some yummie waffles :), and now attending my 10 year high school reunion. But my main goal is to just relaaaaaaaaaaaaax and pick up the skill of doing nothing before I will have to start and do a-whole-lot-of-things aka work....lol!

Peace out and sending you all good summer vibes!

back in Europe, London :)

My five days in London went by fast. Got to crash at my lovely friends R&R's place down in Clapham Common and spent my last time sleeping on an air mattress..... thank God!

The weather in London was almost has hot as in DC with blue skies and sunshine, which is not something you see for 5 days straight in London ;) yohooooo!

So while the sun was shining I met up with a bunch of friends here and there and enjoyed the heat in Hyde Park while listing to music from the free World Music Festival. Nice! As it was the World Cup finals, the games were on everywhere. I am not a big big fan but I managed to watch the last game Spain vs Holland... but oh my it was event less... finally after 120 min or so into the game someone finally scored! (Spain won by the way if you have been hibernating).

London was fun but pretty busy and I was looking forward to go and really relax in Finland, so off I went with Ryanair early Monday morning to catch my flight home to Finland and to finally really end my trip and say aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh "It was a good one!" :)

Barbora (whom I met in Panama) and me in Hyde Park at the World Music Festival

Lots of love and an update will come about Finland....

Happy 4th July in D.C.

I have now officially celebrated (for the first time in my life) America's Independence day, 4th of July in the US of A :)

Me and my DC friends Margo and Dean went downtown to the Mall early on to attend one of the many demonstrations. I had conveniently chosen to take part of the Legalize weed rally :) I have never attended any demonstrations in my life and I thought this was a good one to start with. It was quite a small one but it was fun! The protesters met up at Lafayette Park and walked down to Lincoln Memorial where a reggae concert awaited us in the park. In the rally I also bumped into a lot of other Couchsurfers as DC had their annual Couch Crash all weekend.


We had a great time in the sun, dancing reggae and enjoying the breeze and the people. Later on in the evening we met up with even more CSers, had a picnic in the park and watched the fireworks from the Mall. Beautiful! Afterwards we ended up going to a house party that was part of the Couch Crash and wow there was tons of people from all around the world and $1 beers to buy :) As we had to catch the last metro at midnight we didn't stay for too long but that was all good as our legs felt like spaghetti after cruising around all day. We had such a great day!

Today, is my last day in D.C and sort of my last day on my backpacking trip. I am ending where I started; 7 months ago I flew into D.C in the cold cold winter and now I am leaving in the hot hot sun. But it is not all over just yet. I still have 5 more days of vacationing in London before I head home to Finland for the rest of the summer.

I have had a great last week here in DC with my friend Margo, which I met 5 years ago on another backpacking trip in Brasil. It is amazing the people you meet while backpacking and more amazing that we still keep in touch and visit one another now and then. :) So thanks Margo for letting me crash at your place and I had a good time! There has been a lot of BBQs and drinks, and not to forget our Entourage marathon. :) I hope to see you in Finland soon!

I better go and pack the backpack for almost the last time and see you over there in London!

Hasta Luego amigos!

B-day bash, Midsummer fest, Gay Pride, Brooklyn = NYC

I had a great time in New York with a lot of events and festivities!

Friday night was my former London roommate/Toronto classmate's birthday party in his apartment on East 50th street. A supergood location and fun people to have some drinks with. With a hangover in the morning I managed to wake up early and take myself over to Brooklyn, where I would couch crash for the rest of my weekend. I have been many times in New York but this was the first time I have really been to Brooklyn and it is a really nice place. If I would work in New York Brooklyn would be the place to live in. It is calmer and just so much cuter :)

Through Couchsurfing I happened to meet another Finnish-Swedish girl that also lived in Brooklyn and she invited me to Prospect Park in Brooklyn for a Midsummer's Day picnic with other Nordics, Scandinavians and the random American. We had a lovely afternoon eating Swedish meatballs from Ikea, ragbrod(!!), Finnish licorice, Wasa knackebrod and other yummy stuff while playing charades and enjoying the sun. :)

Sunday was all about the NY Gay Pride parade! I met up with two other couchsurfers outside the Empire States building and we managed to find a good spot in the crowds to check out the fab and crazy gay parade. Some had beautiful amazing costumes while others barely had no clothing what so ever. I loved it! Who would say no to watching naked hot men dancing on the streets?! ;-)

Since I stayed in Brooklyn I had to do the famous walk over Brooklyn bridge even though I had done it before. It is just such a nice walk even though it was 31'C warm. Hot, hot, hot! After the hot catwalk, I cruised around lower Manhattan; Chinatown, Little Italy, Soho and then met up with my new found friend Kwon in Chelsea. There she showed me the High Line, a new park that has been built on top of the old railway lane. It stretches out for 3-4 blocks and they plan to extend it for 10 more. It was a cool and refreshing park, very innovative and creative with flowers and trees planted on the railway. You can see pics of it in my pictures.

I had a very good time in New York and walked so much that my feet needed a foot massage or at least a gentle foot rub. But it is all happy days for my feet as they have been in flip flops now for 7 months, so they can't complain really.

Anyways, after my fun days in NY I jumped back on the double-decker megabus to DC to spend my last week in the States with the president (and yeah my friend Margo)!

DC and CT

My last Greyhound trip was from Raleigh to DC, where I stopped for 1 day to visit my dear alfase friend Margo. From here on I took the fancy cheap double decker MegaBus up to New York City, where I changed for the train up to Newtown, Connecticut. Newtown, is a small town 2 h north of New York, and it was here I spent my gap year after high school to work as a au-pair for two lovely kids named Henry and Felix. :) This is 10 years ago...Already! This means that I'm either old or that time has gone by really really fast and I am still 20 years old... and the boys, well they are not babies anymore, they are tall and smart teenagers :)

It is good to be back though and catch up on the changes and non-changes that has happened. We have had plenty of ice-cream, counted Felix's hens several times, made a duct tape belt (!), played an energetic monopoly game, visited Stew Leonard's just because of all the free samples, got lost while driving but thanks to the GPS on Felix's iPhone we got saved, and we have had some delicious dinners cooked my Catherine the Mum :) What else can you ask for?! I really do enjoy my extended holiday :)

Tonight, I am off to the city, Manhattan, for a looong weekend to meet up with old friends, check out Brooklyn and hopefully get to see some other couchsurfers.

Hasta luego!

Wilmington & Raleigh

After a couple of busy days in Charleston I hitched a ride with David, my Charleston host, up the East coast to Wilmington, where I enjoyed a couple of days of relaxation with my new CS host Hill. Hill showed me some good North Carolinian hospitality and gave me some nice tours of Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach. Wrightsville Beach is a laid-back beach town with miles-long beaches, piers, surf shops and tanned people :) In between the touring, we had some very good discussions, shared some good travel stories and talked about the great life of a backpacker! Hill showed me a trailer to an awesome movie about the life of backpackers all over the world A Map For Saturday. I can't wait to see this movie!! I think all backpackers will love it! If you want to know what the backpacker life is all about then it is something you want to watch too :)

Hill also showed me the cool site and non-profit organization Playing For Change. I absolutely love this! One of my favorite songs/videos is this one: War / No more Trouble If eveybody would focus on projects like this there would for sure be no wars.

My next Couchsurfing experience was in Raleigh. Luck stoke me twice and I got a ride with Hill up to Raleigh, where we met up with Eric, my last-minute-request host :) Raleigh might not have been the most interesting city but we had a good time and met up with other Couchsurfers in town and shared our traveling stories. I only spend two nights and 1 full day in Raleigh so didn't have much time to do much plus you always need to relax...it is vacation time after all! 

By the way, if anyone wants a hug, I offer them for free :) freehugscampaign.org

Charleston, South Carolina

How ya doin ya all!

Trying to crack down on my Southern accent and eat loads of butterfilled pancakes, cheese covered fried chicken wings, and tons of cavety cheering Italian ice. Wow, what a diet!

Charleston is a beautiful place though, with its cubblestone filled streets, 17th century homes, ghost hunted prison, and a harbor front filled with sail boats. It is definitely worth a visit if you happen to pass by!

I am also couchsurfing here with a kind gentleman called David. It turned out that the two Australian girls I met on the bus from Jacksonville up to Charleston was also going to couchsurf with David so we all bonded in the bus, got picked up by David and have all had a very good time. David has been touring us downtown, taking us to some good bars and a reggae festival. We also ended up going to a house party with a live band playing in the living room and I have to say that they were so good... I even bought their CD. What a nice place Charleston is!

David also took us to a stand up comedy show and afterwards we went to listen to the best Jazz drummer in town at the fancy 5 star restaurant wearing my flip flops and a shirt with a hole in it.. Hahahaha... not quite the dress code but I passed and the music was the best :)

Saturday night, more couchsurfers came to crash at David's place and I almost lost counting...1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7....8 surfers! I told him he should open a hostel ;) But we managed, David has a lot of space and beddings... and the more the merrier right! :)

Tomorrow, I will hitch a ride with David up north and spend a couple of days in Wilmington.

Jacksonville, Florida

After spending a good amount of time in Miami and the Keys it felt good to be on the road again and on the move. The Greyhound bus wasn't as bad as I remembered and with a very good book ("Message in a bottle") my 10h journey to Jacksonville went really fast (plus I almost finished the book!).

My Couchsurfing host Liz picked me up at the bus station and introduced me to her lovely two cats in her apartment. These energetic cats ended up keeping me awake most of the night as they tossed and turned in my bed. But as I love cats I didn't mind :) The other day I caught one of the cats drinking from the toilet and I managed to get it on a picture. Yum, Yum....

Liz is a great host, but as I am here during the weekdays, she works a lot and I don't get to see her as much. However, she introduced me to her yoga studio and yesterday I finally got to do some much needed yoga. (I am in desperate need of some regular yoga... my backpack is starting to kill me.)

Liz also lent me her bike and I went on a couple of relaxing bike rides along the Jacksonville river and downtown. I have almost forgot how much I love biking. Jacksonville and Avondale (where Liz lives) is a very beautiful place and the people are very sweet. I am starting to feel the Southern hospitality...

Ciao for now and see in the next city!

Key West...

....the most southern tip of Florida and 90 miles from Cuba, that's where I went over the weekend with some Couchsurfers. I met Brook and her daughter Emerson at a CS event in Miami and she was looking for people to join them and her husband Bryan for a weekend trip down south and me and an Italien girl, Fransesca, ended up going with them. The road trip down there was beautiful as you ride on the long bridges that takes you from one small island to the next one. Brook had booked a cute little hotel for us and we got a room with our own kitchenette so we could cook our own food.

The Eden House Hotel http://www.edenhouse.com/ was a really nice place with free happy hour drinks every day at 4pm, so we made sure to be in the pool for that time :) They also surprised us with free hot dogs and hamburgers one afternoon :) ...freebies are always appreciated!

Key West is a hot place...it was like Colombia hot....you sweat by doing just about nothing. It is a very beautiful town though with pretty houses and a long harbour front. I was a bit surprised by how big the town was as I was expecting something smaller and less cars and I guess less tourists... maybe I got used to those random fishing villages in Colombia and Central America that just has less tourists. Anyways, we had a good time down south and we got Emerson, 4 years old, to entertain us.

Back in Miami I ended up couchsurfing one night with Brook and Bryan in Boca Raton before I continued on my State side trip north to Jacksonville.

Oh by the way, during my time in Key West I became an AUNTIE to a beautiful little baby boy!!!! yeeeeiiiiii :)

Welcome to Miami...

There are so many beaches here, I get all confused... South Beach, Miami Beach, North Beach, Nikki Beach.. to me all of Miami is one big beach :)

I have had a really great time in Miami so far and I have done so many things already that it feels like I have been here for weeks. However, I am still acclimatising to the Western world, like to actually flush down the paper in the toilet. Don't ask, but this is a hard thing for my brain to pick up on after separating the paper for the last 6 months in Latin America. (It is probably more environmental friendly to separate anyways... so why do we flush it down?)

Anyways, back to my story and Miami.

After my short flight from Colombia to Fort Lauderdale I took the train downtown to meet up with my last minute Couchurfing host Mike at his place. Mike took me on even though I send him a request 1 or 2 days before my arrival :) I ended up having a great time with Mike and a couple of other couchsurfers that night by eating pizza (of course I am in the States, I have to have pizza) during a heavy rainfall and then drumming in the Full Moon on the beach with some 200 other people. Truly fun until the cops came and broke up the good vibes. But all good! Peace and harmony.... :)

After staying with Mike for one night I moved to another couchsurfer's place, Rochelle, which happened to be a really good friend to Mike, hence we all ended up spending a lot of time to together all weekend. Rochelle, took me out to Calle Ocho in Little Havana for a CS dinner on Friday and the night ended with dancing reaggeton and salsa on the streets. :) The next day, the Miami CS group had arranged a big BBQ on the beach and we all met up again and enjoyed some really really goood fooood. It was so good I didnt have to eat for 2 days......(Wow, I love BBQs, especially when you can take a dip in the Caribbean Ocean while the ribs are BBQing.) We had a really nice day (again!).

Yesterday, we again met up with a couple of CSers and went to the famous Nikki Beach to dance in the sand and enjoy some drinks in the hot sun. This was again a really fun day and we ended up playing adult Bingo at The Standard hotel and swimming in the pool and chilling in their jacuzzi until 2am!! I just love night swims :)) and we slept like babies when we got home.

Mike and Rochelle has been really good hosts and showed me some real Miami hospitality and taken really good care of me. Today, I am about to embark another Couchsurfer's couch here in Miami as I am moving place and staying with Earl for a couple of days until I am heading for Key West, the very southern tip of Florida.

Life is good! :)

(This Is Rochelle and Mike in the bathtub at The Standard hotel and Spa)

Tayrona and last days in Colombia...

For my last days in Colombia I spoiled myself to go to Tayrona national park and Cabo beach. After a hot bus ride 1h east of Taganga I had to hike and sweat for 2h to get to this beautiful spot. And it was absolutely worth it! These beaches had the same grand status as San Blas in Panama (!), sooo beautiful with white sand, crystal clear waters, coconut trees and hot thot weather. You can not go wrong with these combos! So I enjoyed two full days lazing on the beach and drinking coconut water and eating coconut meat. Yum yum.. so good! (How will I be able to live without coconuts?)  As it was very hot! I had to stay out of the sun a bit or otherwise I would have turned into a boiled lobster.

As the only budget option for accommodation was hammocks I had brought my own sweet black hammock with me to use as a bed and it wasn't as bad as I had expected. But your back have to get used to it, so the second night was better than the first night. I have also started to do morning yoga now and I think my back was really happy about that :)

As you sleep out in nature you tend to go to bed when the sun goes down and wake up when the sun rises. So I went happily to the beach at 5.30 in the morning to watch the sunrise. (Why don't I do this every day?? Maybe cos I don't live on a beautiful beach and don't go to bed at 9pm every night...).

Anyways, I truly enjoyed my time in Tayrona and now I am back in Taganga getting ready to leave Colombia. So I'm doing my last minute laundry, cleaning the mud off my backpack, throwing stuff away and packing and drinking as much fruit juice as I can!

I have quite a long journey in front of me. First I need to sweat in the minibus to get to Santa Marta bus terminal, then I will freeze in the air condition bus on my way to Barranquilla, where I probably have to sweat a little again in a minibus that will take me to the airport. Here, I have my flight to Fort Lauderdale at 8pm, but with a transfer and a 6h stop over in Bogota. Ahhh, what don't you do for a night at the airport :) I have stocked up on cookies and a good book for these pleasent hours in the airport. And then early tomorrow morning I am finally off to Florida!! yyeeeiiiii.... and straight off to Miami as I will go to couchsurf with some very cool people there :)

So, my journey has now ended in Central and South America and it feels good to say good bye. I have so many good memories from my last 6 months here. Ahhhh... :) But I am ready to move on and experience new crazy things in the States.

So bye bye Colombia! Thank you for everything :)

Taganga

I am back up in the north... in a small beach-fishing village called Taganga, just 10min outside of Santa Marta. And I can just say one thing, IT IS HOT! Thank lord for the ocean!! as a dip in the Caribbean Sea is just sooooo nice and cooling.

I have exactly 1 week (!!) left in Colombia before I head north to the States so I am truly enjoying my last days in South America by having fresh fruit juices every morning. (I soo need to keep up with that habit when I am back home.) If I am lucky my D.C. friend will join me here in Taganga and Tayrona Park for my last week. Cross my fingers!

Feel strange to be at the end of my Central America + Colombia trip but I alm also getting excited for my north American excursion :)

Time to cool down in the ocean! Ciao!

busy Bogota and tranquilo San Gil

So I ended up crashing at Charley´s (Elena and Chris´s friend) place in Bogota and I enjoyed four relaxing and hectic days in Bogota. It was relaxing as I basically had the whole apartment to myself and I could sleep as long as I wanted and it was hectic as soon as I stepped out of the apartment and into the busy life of Bogota. There lives around 9 million people in Bogota and everybody seem to go to work at the same time so the traffic is insane and if you get stuck in it, it will take you hours to go from one side of the city to the other. One good thing though is the TransMileno bus system they have which will sweep you downtown in 20 minutes or so. It is basically a bus working as a metro as it has its own lane on the road. Very efficient but very crowded. I had the same love hate relationship to it as I have for the tube in London.

In Bogota I met up with another Finnish girl that was doing her internship in the city for 4 months. She found me on CouchSurfing and asked me on a coffee date. It was very nice to meet a fellow citizen (there are not that any Finns out there traveling..dont ask me why...) and she showed me around the rich part of Bogota and I was truly impressed. Prices in this part of time is the same as in Finland... which is very odd to me.. and how can they afford anything?? There is such a big difference between the rich and the poor in Colombia that it is almost scary. However, there is the presidential election in two weeks and I hope this gap will get smaller with the new president, which I hope will be Mockus! Anyways, Bogota was interesting but not my kind of place.... now you see San Gil on the other hand is my kind of place.

A 6h bus ride north of Bogota up and down and around the mountains there is a small town called San Gil. It is the xtrem sports town of Colombia. Here you can go white water rafting, paragliding, rappelling down a 180m waterfall, swim in natural pools and much more. So I like!

After couchsurfing for 2 weeks or so it was about time for a hostel again and right now I am staying in one of the nicest and friendliest hostels I have been in throughout my trip. It is called Sam´s VIP hostel http://samsviphostel.minihostels.com and it has the most perfext location right at the central plaza (park). Sam decided to make his beautiful house a hostel and I love it!

Here I also met Chris and Mandi, a couple I met earlier in Leon Nicaragua 3 months ago! So random and fun to see people you have met before. I have had a blast in this place and enjoyed the nature and the small town feeling. The other day we went to the very beautiful 180m waterfall swimming and splashing in the water in the middle of the jungle. It was a true Indiana Jones feeling! Loved it!

Saturday night also included a lot of rom drinking in the hostel, in the park, and the club. We had a crazy fun time and ended up in the local hot spot dancing salsa, merengue, and other fun Colombian dances with the locals. I havent had so much fun in a looong time. Ah looooooved it!

Then yesterday we went to the telenovela (soap opera) city of Colombia, Barichara. This was the most pitoresque, tranquilo town I have been in so far and so beautiful. A perfect day trip for a hangover Sunday. To me this town gave me a true Zorro feeling. I could imagen Zorro and his horse running down the streets fighting bad guys and rescuing pretty Caterine Zeta Jones from the flower-covered bacloneys. Ah so romantic! :)

Now, we are off to explore the local natural pools that is suppose to be somewhere in the forest. As it is very hot here during the day it will be so nice to cool off with a swim.

Hasta luego!

Cali - so much more than salsa (!)

As it turned out, Cali is so much more than salsa. I had a great, great time in Cali due to the fact that I met the sweetest couple in town that offered me an air-mattress on CouchSurfing :)
After spending five days I can say that for me Cali is is about:

• the people (their hospitality, their smiles, their curiosity and their laughs)
• family (I happened to be there on Mother´s Day, which I ended up celebrating with my host´s big big family that had the most amazing food ever)
• all about sharing and caring for each other
• FOOD and FRUITS (delicous Cali food such as the ones in the picture: boiled platanos covered with cheese, chicken, beans and salsa sauce and not to mention Lulada juice!)
• sun, sun, sun and hot weather
• salsa music and dancing (of course)
• fake boobs, butts and prostitutes (the famous "love motels" :)
• crazy Colombian traffic

My CouchSurfing hosts Elena and Chris showed me true Cali hospitality and I would like to thank them for putting me up in their place and taking their time to show me around Cali and inviting me into their lives for a couple of days. I had some fun and interesting discussions, loved the time swimming (not to mention the sauna(!)) at the county club, the salsa club (as you can see in the picture I am trying top get into the salsa beat), loved the jewerly making 101 course, the ice-cream (!!), the arepas, dinners, and visiting Chris´ family for Mother´s Day!

Last by not least I would like to thank Charly (in the pic), who saved me from the crazy taxi driver when I arrived on my first day and thought me about "70 iputa" and for offering me his place in Bogota!

Have a great trip in Europe Elena and Chris! You will love it :) Gracias por todo!

Cali - the salsa capital of the world!

I am now in Cali - the salsa capital of the world - they say... but I got to know that they only dance salsa in the weekends ( so much for salsa capital of the world!) due to the fact that Colombians work A LOT... six days a week from 6am to 6pm...wow...crazy.. no wonder thet don´t have any energy left to go out and dance.

Cali is otherwise not the most beautiful city I have seen. I did expect some prettier things... However they do have palm trees and it is hot here! So it is not that bad. You can see some pics of Cali here.

The people is lovely though, like in the rest of the country, and at the moment I am couchsurfing with a very fun and cute couple Elena and Chris. I have my own designated spot on an air mattress in the living room - not bad :) Last night, they took me out for dinner to enjoy some delicous "tipico" Cali food. I had a platano (plantain - that is banana) covered with frijoles (beans) meat, cheese and some good sauce. Wow it was good and soooo filling :) I also got introduced to a sour fruit juice called lulada ... yum yum so good. I absolutely love Colombian food!

peaceful Guatape and Salento

After spending more than a week in Medellin is was defintely time for some country side adventures. I had been recommended by my couchsurfer hosts to visit Guatape, a small town 2 h from Medellin, and in no time I had found an American guy who offered me his couch in Guatape. Greg, my host, had just moved to Guatape and was looking into starting a hostel in town and managed to show me the property he was looking into. He had found a beautiful house in a hill overlooking the town. The business deal has not gone through yet but I def think Guatape is THE place to start a hostel. It is such a pitoreque little Colombian town with tons of lakes and montains surrounding it. It is also famous for its big ROCK, El Penol. This humongous rock probably hit the earth millions of years ago and is now a popular tourist attraction. You can walk up the 200m rock, 465 steps up and get the most amazing view of the Colombian country side! It was breath-taking! I will soon upload some trillion pictures of this rock... :)

After relaxing and breathing fresh air for 3 days I headed back to Medellin to spend my last night with my dear CouchSurfing hosts Ana and Jesus. We ended up going out salsa in Rumbantana and drinking some Colombian rum :) It was a great last night before I headed south to Salento.

After a short ride on the night bus (I arrived 4am in the morning to the bus staion in Pereira instead of 6am that I had planned) and another short minibus ride I arrived to the mountain and coffee town Salento 7am in the morning. Salento is another pitoresque little town that you fall in love with in seconds. It is located in a valley in between green lushious bamboo forests and mountains. Here I stayed in a beautiful coffee farm hostel called Plantation House. You can check it out here http://www.theplantationhousesalento.com. It is owned by a British man Tim who has settled and married in Salento. They had dorms both in the hostel house and at the coffee farm itself and I ended up sleeping at the coffee farm,which was built in the green mountains hills among bamboo trees, banana trees, coffee plants and the rain forest. It was peaceful, quiet and just lovely. The view from my room was just breath takingly beautiful over the green valley and I couldnt have asked for more. And when I say green it was this fresh kind of green that you see right after it has been raining... you just feel like eating it! hehehe at least me. I truly enjoyed my stay there :)

Pictures will be coming very very soon!

CouchSurfing and paragliding in Medellin

I ended up staying quite some time in Medellin, mostly due to my sweet CouchSurfing hosts that showed me what real Colombian hospitaliy is, took time to show me the city and told me many stories about Medellin, such as the famous drug kind Pablo Escobar and the more famous plastic surgeries.

The first picture is of my very first CouchSurfing host (ever!!), Silvia, the born and bread Medellin chica, who is a  TV producer, university teacher, mother of two cats, diver and traveller. The picture is from the Minorista market in Medellin, THE place to go to when buying your groceries. It was one big market and I ended up buying so many fruits that I have never tried or seen before. Colombians, are notorious for their juices and I think every household has it´s own juicemaker as everyone seem to have delicous fruit juices for breakfast. I got to try some very very very good fruits and juices that I would just die for if we had it back home! Silvia and I had a lot of discussions around plastic surgeries as Medellin is famous for all its fake boobs, asses, lips, faces, you name it! Girls start as early as 15 years old to adjust their boody parts, sad but true. I have no idea why these women and men have plastic surgeries as Colombians are beautiful people. They defintely do not need it! One day on the metro I was guessing which girls had fake boobs and which did not. Think I counted tons more fake ones than real. So no I am all boobed-out! .....not to mention assed-out!

My second CouchSurfing exeprience was with the lovely and sweet couple Ana (the actress and teacher) and Jesus ("Chucho") (the arcitect and music collector). The picture is from downtown Medellin outside a typical Colombian restaurant, where they took me for dinner. Here we had the most food I have had in a long time and the most delicious Colombian "tipico" food I have tried so far! Colombians, as all latin Americans, tend to eat a lot of rice as well but what is famous in Colombia is their arepa, a sort of tortilla looking flat bread that is made of corn or flour, taste like nothing but is eaten daily as a bread with their food. I have gotten use to the arepa and today i bought some for myself to eat with a fried egg and cheese. Not so bad at all! Chucho has the most amazing music collection that I have ever seen. He simply just have the best world music ever, hence, we ended up talking a lot about music and of course dancing. He made me a very good DVD with the mest music and he took me to some salsa hot spots in town where we dances until late and where I got to try the famous Colombian "aquardiente". This alcoholic drink you drink as a shot with a glass of water. It was one damn strong shot!! you just have to have that glass of water afterwards otherwise u will get smashed drunk in seconds! Chuco also took me around the city of Medellin on his motorcycle and that was one good experience as well! Weeeeiiiiiiii, he drove fast!

He also told me the stories about the drugs in Medellin and the famous Pablo Escobar, who is worldly known as the biggest drug king on the planet. Well was, as he got killed about 20 years ago by the Colombian government. Ever since he got killed the city of Medellin has done a massive job in trying to remove the drug-city stamp from its pavements and invested billions of dollars in the city and its people. Now Medellin is more famous for its fashion and medical tourism than drugs. However, the drugs haven´t dissapeared from the city it is just dealt with more smootly and underground. As for me, no one offered me anything so I think the city has done a good job - not that I look like the want-to-be drug addict anyway..well...yet. LOL!

My last day in Medellin, me and Ana went Paragliding! Medellin is also famous for paragliding and it was just a must for me to try as it has been on my list for so long! We took the local bus up to the very top of one of the mountains surrounding the city and got ourselves two Colombian paragliding pilots! It was a tandem flight, thank God. We were quite excited and scared for the big jump but when looking at the others flying it looked so peaceful so the nerves calmed down quite a bit. The take off went smooth even though you run towards the edge of the mountain and you have no idea what is going to happen! But seconds later you are softly gliding in the air with the birds around you. It was one tranquilo, relaxing and peaceful moment :) I truly enjoyed it!! and the views of the mountains, the landscape and the city was just amazing! This must be how it is to be a bird :)

mondern Medellin, Colombia

The nightbus to Medellin went smooth with somewhat plenty of sleep. I had prepared the tbus rip with plenty of warm cloths but for sure it wasnt enough as the driver turned the heat down to north pole cold...brrrrr.... Why on earth do they do that?

I had arranged a couch to sleep on in Medellin through CouchSurfin.org before I arrived and I can proudly say that I am not a CouchSurfing virgin anymore! CouchSurfing is a website for people that want to meet local people and sleep on their couches and vice versa: locals offer couches to travellers from all over the world. I have known about the website for years but it wasnt until 2 months ago I actually created an account. After staying in tons of hostels throughout Central America, I decided that I had to do something different in Colombia, so my aim is to CouchSurf all of Colombia for 1 month (at least). I hope to meet loads of locals, who can show me the secrets of the city only the locals know about.

So far I have had a very good experience. At the moment I am CouchSurfing with a women called Silvia in Medellin, who is taking good care of me and showing me what to do in town. A very nice and friendly girl indeed and I get to know so much about Colombia and the people here (paisas) that I wouldnt have had a clue about staying in a hostel. I am also thankful she took me on board even though I had no references on my profile (you know I could have been a lunatic psycotic person)..hehehe. So Thanks!

Medellin, there are so many things to see and do here. I am very impressed by the city and its good infrastructure. I am especially surprised by the metro cable cars the city has build over the favela slum areas so the poor people will have a chance to work downtown and be part of the city. It only costs 80cents to take the metro cable cars and the metro all over the city and it is fast, clean, and impressive. I went up and down the cable cars myself as I really enjoyed the ride (I could do this all day by the way :) and the views are just amazing!

Another big thing in Medellin is paragliding! They take you up the mountains and then you swoosh of the mountain gliding and sailing in the air over Medellin. Paragliding has been on my TO DO LIST for so long that I dont think I can resist the offer!! and for 40 bucks, who can say no to that!

Tomorrow, I have a picnic date with my Dutch girlfriend Dorien that I meet back in January in Honduras. It is so cool we are in the same town again!

in beautiful Cartagena, Colombia

The flight to Cartagena went smooth and fast (1h) in a propella plane across the Caribbean sea. I had company by this German young guy that is traveling from Alska to Argentina for 1 year. We bumped into each other the other day at the hostel in Panama City,  4.5 months after we bumped into each at the Mayan ruins in Palenque Mexico! The backpacker world is small. Lol!

Im very excited to finally be in Colombia, my last country on my Central America journey. However, it feels like I started a new chapter as I am officially in South America and Colombia is huge! It is double the size of France or California state. SO it is biiig. Nothing like the small countries in Central America.

Cartagena itself is a very beautiful Spanish colonial city from the 16th century with amazing buildings in the old town and new modern skyliners in the new part of town. Here is a good link about the city http://www.cartagenacaribe.com/ Salsa is played everywhere and last night I got to dance a bit myself :)

Staying at a really cool place as well called Media Lunas hostel http://www.medialunahostel.com/ a place I would recommend if you are ever in this part of the world. Cartagena though is HOT and I mean sweaty hot so I end up just lazing around all day... :) I have been here 4 days now and it is time to move on down south to the City of Eternal Spring - Medellin (which I really hope has cool spring weather!) It is a 13h bus journey so tonight I will hop on the night bus and hopefully sleep my way to Medellin.

See you there!

Off to Colombia!!!

Weeeeiiiiiii flying to Colombia today! See you in Cartagena :))

San Blas, Panama

Life is gooooooooooooooooooood what else can I say :) !! Had the most delicious coconuts ever in San Blas - real paradise islands. I have seen many beaches and places in my life but I have to admit that San Blas have the most beautiful beaches in the world! It was truly amazing and so relaxing. Days consisted of swimming, sunbathing, snorkling, eating, reading, napping, drinking coconuts... And so it continued for a whole week... ah such a hard life!

We were about 30 backpackers on the island and maybe 20 more local Kuna people - kid´s and families. You could easily walk around the whole island in 15 minutes. We also went on small trips to other beautiful isolated islands and managed to see how the local people lived all isolated on small islands. According to their law, no tourists were allowed to stay on these islands. They truly have an easy life even though it was pretty poor. But you really don´t need much to survive in this place. Funny enough everyone had mobile phones and you could see the kids wanting to be all Western with hip hop clothes while the older Kuna women was wearing traditional colourful dresses. You can see some pics in my albums on Picasa.

All good comes to an end and now I am back in Panama City for some salsa dancing :) aaarrribba!

...off to paradise...

...to relax and enjoy the Caribbean islands of San Blas in Panama. So Mum this is for you to know that I am still alive and alright even though I won't have internet and mobile for a week or two, hence not reachable... I like the sound of this already.. hehehe. So this is where I will be San Blas.

"So much of who we are is where we have been"

Got Lost in the mountains but found myself in Panama City

After celebrating my birthday for 1 week in Bocas it was time for some cool down time up in the Panamanian mountains. On my way there I found a Finnish girl Maria to travel with and as we hiked with our huge heavy backpacks up the steep hill to the hostel (why do they build hostels so damn up high?) it was nice to have a fellow country women along, who understand the meaning of Sisu! (if you don't know what it means, google it) I so needed one :)

It was so worth the tedious hike up that hill as the view from the LOST and FOUND hostel was truly beautiful and peaceful. You can check it out here http://www.lostandfoundlodge.com. The following day we even hiked some more, we did a 5h hike in the cloud forest and aaahhh so nice, beautiful and refreshing (I think I use the word nice and beautiful way too often in this blog by the way...) and it was so good for the nowadays unfit me.

At the hostel we met two sweet old American guys that kindly offered us a free ride into Panama city the following day. So off we went on a 7h road trip to the biggest city in Central America. I have to say that Panama is way more developed than I thought.... at moments it felt like we where driving through the States.. I mean we even stopped at McDonalds! Geeez.... Dont like it that they have taken over the world.

Anyways, the sweet gentlemen dropped us off in Panama city and we hailed a taxi to take us to the best hostel in town, Luna's Castle http://www.lunascastlehostel.com which feels like home already... I mean free pancake and banana breakfast, guys playing guitars, people singing, in house movie theater, tons of books to read, free internet, our own big balcony, beers in the fridge....who wouldn't feel at home??

And tomorrow is all about discovering what this city has to offer before it will go into Semana Santa (Easter) celebrations. (By the way, I cannot believe it is Easter already, it was just Christmas!!)

But first on my list is to for the first time try CEVICHE, which is suppose to be the best here. Thanks wikipedia for explaining what it is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceviche.

Birthday cake and tattoo...

Biiiiirthdaaaaaaaaaaaaay.....

..... and in Bocas del Toro among good friends, sunshine, reggae, ron y pina, beautiful islands, clear water, good vibes, and a cool Hostel Heiki. :)

My 28th has been more than great and I hope my 29th will be even better! I have a feeling it will!!

"The only measurement for success is happiness".

in Bocas del Toro....

..Panama! Made it to Panamamamamam :) Costa Rica was a lot of fun but too heavy on my wallet.... a tiny bit too expensive for my backpacker budget but managed to stay 3 weeks. It is a beautiful country but with also a lot of tourists and then mainly Americans and Canadians.... I kind of started to miss the real 6-months-traveling-central-america--on-a-budget-backpackers.

So I feel like now Im back on the real backpacker road again. So far Panama looks really nice and I cant wait to explore it some more!

Pura vida!

Eatl, pray, and love...

...a women's search for everything... and a MUST read for every women out there (hey you fellows should read it too). You will fall in love with this book! Such a funny, inspiriational and yummie book!

paradise in Cauhita and partying in Puerto Viejo

After enjoying the cool breeze in Monteverde for 5 days I decided to head down to the capital of San Jose. However, after sweating in the bus for 4 hours I decided to not get off at San Jose but to continue down to the east coast of Cost Rica. What would I have done in San jose anyways... it is just another big hot city... usually not so fun in comparison to the Caribbean coast!

I ended up getting of in Cauhita, this little Caribbean rastaman town on the south east coast of Costa Rica. And for the first time on my whooooole trip, I took a room for myself...no dorm but my own private room! This is luxury for a backpacker as I have so far always shared with 1 or more people. So nice, I truly enjoyed it :)

In Cauhita I explored the big national reservation forest that goes along the long white beach for 7km or so. This was truly a beautiful place and as I was walking along the trail by the beach I managed to see monkeys up in the tree tops, raccoon looking for food on the ground and slots snoozing away all curled up in the trees. I also spotted beautiful big blue butterflies, hummingbirds (kolibris), a huge gray iguana, millions of leaf-carrying ants and dozens of lizards and geckos that I almost stepped on.

After a 2km walk I found this most amazing spot on the beach with post card perfect palmtrees hanging down over the turquoise water.... I spent the whole day there lazing in the shallow water reading my book and enjoying the beauty. Ahhhhhh... which I could bottle it all up and take it home with me.

However, it was time to move on and now I have made it to Puerto Viejo de Tamarindo, my last stop in Costa Rica before heading to Panama. This beach place is only 1/2h away from Cauhita and is known to be a party town... so I am all eager to see what kind of rum they offer here!

I am staying in this pretty place called Pagalu hostel http://pagalu.com/index.html One of the nicest hostels I have been in! Thanks Dorien for recommending it!

aaaaiiiaaaiiiaaaaaa......!

Canopying in Monteverde was the most fun ever! oh my gosh I haven't screamed so much in a loooong time. LOL! I went with a company called Extremo and indeed it was extreeem! I went on 15 zip-line platforms ranging from 100-700m long with the longest being 1km and 180m high!! And this wasnt enough, on this one I went flying as a Superwomen.... with nothing, and i mean nothing to hold on to! I was tided up from the waste down with my arms out as a bird and zzzzhhhhwooooooo there I went flying for 1km. Geeeeeeeeez my heart was beating so fast as this was damn hiiigh up in between the mountains and the valley. Wow! Such a beautiful view and what an andrenaline rush! 

But the scariest was the Tarzan swing...(which I renamed to the Jane swing). This was one huuuugh swing out into the forest and nevereverland. I was fairly clueless about what to do so the guys just told me to hold the rope (I was actually chained to the rope as not to fall), bend my knees and then they just pushed me off the edge! AAAAAAAAAiiiiiiaaiaiaiaiaiaiaiaiai geeeeez thought im gonna die! LOL! My heart went to visit my brain for a second as I dropped straight down into the air and the ssshwwwwoooh were swinging out into the forest. Wow!!! I screamed like a women about to give birth..hehehe. Thank god I don't have any pictures of this.

If u ever get a chance to do this. Go for it!

Canopying in Monteverde...

After been sweating on the beach, gazing at sexy surfers, and swollowed plenty of salt water in Santa Tereza and Montezuma, I have now made my way to the cool mountains in Monteverde. It took one whole day to get here in one hot bus, and then I mean drip sweating hot bus. Wow! Never been in such a hot bus in my whole life! But I guess it had to be the first time some time right :)

I enjoyed a very good sleep last night in Pension Santa Elena http://www.pensionsantaelena.com and now feel fresh and clear headed, my brain seems to be working again as I thought I might have sweated out all my brain cells. I tell you when it is HOT, your brain dies slowly. You feel like doing NOTHING and then I mean nothing. Just thinking about walking 300m to the store is exhuasting so you end up not going at all because you are already tired by just thinking about it. Hence, I stayed in the hammock for quite some days and hopefully lost some weight as well.

But now with this cool breeze flying through my hair and armpits, I feel like I can actually accomplish something. So guess what, this morning I booked a trip with EXTREMO to go canopying, zip-lining, rappelling and in general just fly like superman in the jungle (they actually have a zip line called Superman) and swing like Tarzan from the bamboo trees...can I possibly swing like Jane instead? I will have to ask...

I hope for some safe swinging and gliding and will hola back at you soon!

aaaaiiaaiiiaaaaaaaa! (quote by Tarzan)

Santa Teresa, Costa Rica

I have made it to the Pasific coast of Costa Rica! AT the moment I am in the surfer town of Santa Teresa on the west coast of Cost Rica. This is really a beautiful spot with beautiful people everywhere! Wow, everyone just look great! This is a place where you take picture perfect post cards.

Im staying at a new hostel called Seven7 run by two sweet Israelis. Im really liking this place as it is basically one big house and only about 10 people stayiing here..so we are one big happy family :) One big reason why I like Santa Teresa so much is that I found a place to finally do some yoga. It had been 2 months since my last yoga class in Guatemala! Way too long. So now I have been taking yoga in the mornings and just relaxing the rest of the day. It is definitely time to do some detoxing and eat some healthy food. I love to be able to cook my own food in our big kitchen.

Now it is time to go to the beach and hit the waves..and then I mean waves..this is truly a paradise for any surfer out there..so many beautiful and biiiig waves. Im not surfing though..taking more easy with the boogy board, but hey it is still difficult to catch the wave!

Tomorrow, we plan go fishing and hopefully catch some bigass fish! And then I mean biiiiig fish.... no little snipers and shrimps. Hopefully we will spot whales and dolphines as well.

Tday is also a special day, it is my grandmother´s birthday! So HAPPY BIRTHDAY...GRATTIS PA FODELSEDAGEN MOMMO! 77 and going strong! :) xoxo

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

Everybody dance now! Ta ta tata ta....

Once upon a time, five backpackers met on the island Utila in Honduras and made a pack that on the 26th February they would all be down in Nicaragua celebrating their lovely German friend´s 34th birthday. And for sure they all made plus brought more friends with them. There was a lot of cake, even more Flor de Cana rom, and most of all great music blasting all night at The Pier.

What can I say... never danced so much in a looooong time! and where else to party and dance than on the beach in Central America. I had so much fun with the most kind and best spirited people ever. That wasone good party. Awesome! (as some Americans would say ;)  Gonna miss u guys!

Tomorrow is a new day and a new chapter begins... I will say bye bye to Nicaragua and HERE I COME Costa Rica!

iiiihhhaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Quote of the Day

"Backpacking may be hard on the body but it is wonderful for the soul."
-my friend Josie Duan -

sunsets...

I think I have about 568 pictures by now of beautiful beautiful sunsets ..and I am only half way through my trip :) But can one have enough pictures of sunsets, I doubt.

This one is from Isla de Ometepe on the Lake Nicaragua. Just amazing...

Good vibes!

Tarantella.....

iikk...jag sag just en tarantella spidel!!! blaaaaaa..... Vakten har pa vandrarhemmet hitta den nagonstans och satte den i ett ambar. Ganska stor en...typ som en stor kaffekopp.

Iallafall. Jag bor nu pa ett vandrarhem som heter Hacienda Merida. Deras hemsida ar http://www.hmerida.com. Bra och fint stalle har vid vattnet. Traffat trevliga manniskor och idag ska vi aka ut med nagra kajaker och paddla runt och hoppas vi ser nagra apor.

igar vandra jag upp till ett 34m vattenfall...fint men det var en lang promenad pa 5h dit och tillbaka. Hett var det oxa i solen mitt pa dagen men fick kyla av under vattnet. Skoooont!

Stotte idag ihop med en tjej jag traffa i Utila i Honduras. Jattetrevligt! Varlden ar sa liten! Vi reser all at samma hall :)

Isla de Ometepe

I have been relaxing in Isla de Ometepe for the last week at the ecological farm El Zopitel, where life is simple and good. Nothing better than homemade bread, granola cookies and pizza straight from the stone oven.... yummie!

Today I moved to another hostel south of the island called Hacienda Merida. This is a very nice place as well and close to the 34m waterfall in San Ramon, which I am gonna try to visit tomorrow.

My calves are still a bit soar after climbing one of the vulcanos on the island. This one, Vulcano Madera, is 1300m high and it took 3.5h to get to the top. Amazing views from there and on the top there was a big crater with water...but didnt dear to swim in it. Went through some amazing forest/jungle to get to the top and heard some howler monkeys howling up in the trees. Unfortunately, didnt see any though.

see ya later.... im going back to my hammock!

more hottttness...

..and then I dont mean the men of the streets of Granada but the suuuuuun! It is hot here in Granada, too hot for me I have to say.... so tomorrow I will head out to a lake again. I need the water around me to cool down.

I'm going with the boat from Granada to Isla Ometepe, a 3h ride on the big lake of Nicaragua. My destination is Hostel Zopilote, which is an organic farm/hostel/volunteer place/etc on the island. You can check out the place here http://www.ometepezopilote.com/

I hope to be able to eat some real healty food whilst there as my body cannot take any more rice and beans and fried stuff. Food in Central America is not the most healty ones. The best I have had so far was the lobster tails and shrimps in Belize and my own fish I cought in Utila.

Ok I am off to the hammock!

Happy Valentines and Chinese New Years!

Laguna de Apuyo, Nicaragua

I'm in love...again! This time in Laguna de Apoyo.

This is an amazing place close to Managua and Granada in Nicaragua. Originally a volcano that blasted hundreds of years ago and is now one huge crater about 3 km wide filled with soft fresh water.

It is one of those places you can spend days and weeks doing nothing than relaxing, swimming and enjoying the beauty. I stayed in this tranquilo place called the Monkey hut right at the water of the crater. Lovely place with lovely people. We were only 6 people staying there from all walks of life: Donna and Richard (an energetic couple on their 70s from Seattle), John (a great musician from Oregon), Josie (a funny Chinese women from Toronto), Billy (another great guitarist and singer from San Fransisco), and me. The 6 of us had the most fun yet simple evening together last nite....we shared 2 humangous pizzas, had interesting conversations, and listen to such good live music by John and Billy while singing along in the warm night on the terrace overlooking the sea.. SO simple but so nice. I love it when people travel with their guitars and share their music and singing. Great vibes!

And this morning my day started early at 7am with a fresh swim in the sea, then a peaceful kayak tour, and then surpisingly dancing salsa 8 in the morning with John, who is a great dancer, on the sunny terrace. This is the first time I have been dancing salsa 8 in the morning...ah so much fun! I should always start the day like that! Should be my prioroty from now on. After yet another dip in the sea to cool down I ended my morning with dark 75% cacao choclate and red wine! Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.......life can not get better than this! I am sure loving myself and living my life ;)

Later I shared a ride with Billy to Granada, where I met up with my travel companions Daniel and Pieter. This is now the 5th time I bumped into them in Nicaragua. Hehehe..sweet!

We just ate one of the best meals in Nicaragua and the boys have pasted out in the hammock.

Trust your vibes!