Wow wow wow.. What more to say.. That was that, we are back, we are happy, and this is the last bloginnlegg..
What more is there to say? We had a blast, we are tired and happy and need to rest and sleep and we are looking forward to see you all again!!! And we are so grateful to have had the opportunity to make this trip.. Already planning the next..
Some have asked about a more philosophical ending, if we found the meaning and all, I don´t know, I´ll leave that one for Kristoffer.
Thank you all for reading:)
Gunhild
lørdag 18. april 2009
New York!! :)
So, Heine was one of Kristoffers seminar teachers at philosophy a long time ago, and he and his girlfriend, Trine, welcomed us to New York with open hearts and a warm livingroom! (Despite the fact that Heine didn´t quite place Kristoffer right in his memory till the last night we were there.. Amazing people!!) The first night at their place we sat up till half past 2, none of us knowing the time, talking:) The next morning they went to school, and K and I went to take over New York (was even my birthday, nice day for that!) Started the day with New York bagels, mmmmm, walk all the way from 30th street to Wall street, saw quite a lot of different districts and sensed the tense feelings at Wall Street. Took the ferry over to Staten Island to see the Statue of Liberty on the way. Took the ferry back, and took even more pictures of Statue of Liberty. Metro to Brooklyn, saw Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Skyline and Manhattan Bridge from Brooklyn, beautiful!! Walked Brooklyn Bridge, wow wow wow. Took Metro to Central Grand Station, wow wow wow, walked to Empire Sate Building, was approx 1 1/5 hour queue to get up, so we walked back to Rockefeller Center, paid and went up to 70th floor, and saw the city by night.. Wow wow wow.. Went down again after a few hours, and went to Times Square, to see it by night, amazing. Went home to Heine and Trine, exhausted!
Tuesday we didn´t have quite the same speed, but walked a lot in Greenwich village, Soho, Noho, Meatpacking District and so on. Quite a lot of shopping(spend the rest of our money and a little bit more, or what K?) Tired after mondays walking, tired after Tuesdays walking, we slept very well that night! Wednesday we got up at 8, had bagels for breakfast with Heine and Trine, and then we moved to Harlem, to couchsurf! Stayed with Nathan and Rachel, nice people! Spent the day just me and K, saw most of Central Park, Guggenheim(just the outside, the lobby and the cafè, hehe) and the International Center for Photography, and more of Downtown. Went home to Harlem, Nathan had cooked for us, so we brought New York Cheesecake for dessert, mhmhm! Went to a jazzplace and had a Manhattan on Manhattan, hehehe!
Thursday was our last day in New York, but it was sunny(the rest of the days were not!), so we went back to Central Park to get some sunny pictures, more shopping in Greenwich Village and then we packed our bags and left Harlem and New York and went to JFK. The flight went well, but we didn´t sleep at all, almost, because ther was a personal screen and lot of movies and tvshows, yeah!
Arrived in Dublin(amazingly cold!!!!!!) at 5 in the morning, spent some time at the airport, then went to town, sat in 2 different cafés and slept because of jetlag. Decided to go back to the airport without seeing much of Dublin, next time, to tired, went back to the airport and checked our luggage, ate and flew to Torp, Norway, slept almost the entire way, but saw Hardangervidda with snow from above, Norway is beautiful too, I have to say!!! Arrived on time, immigration and customs was really quick, and then WE WERE BACK!!!!!! Mamma, pappa, Britta, Janjan, Halvard, Marita and Oda Sofie met us, and had made us a picnic in the cafeteria with norwegian milk, brown cheese and knekkebrød, mmmmmmm!!!
Then we left, K to his mothers house, and I to my parents house, and this is so weeeeird, being home, but really great too!!!!!!! PUH!!!!g
Tuesday we didn´t have quite the same speed, but walked a lot in Greenwich village, Soho, Noho, Meatpacking District and so on. Quite a lot of shopping(spend the rest of our money and a little bit more, or what K?) Tired after mondays walking, tired after Tuesdays walking, we slept very well that night! Wednesday we got up at 8, had bagels for breakfast with Heine and Trine, and then we moved to Harlem, to couchsurf! Stayed with Nathan and Rachel, nice people! Spent the day just me and K, saw most of Central Park, Guggenheim(just the outside, the lobby and the cafè, hehe) and the International Center for Photography, and more of Downtown. Went home to Harlem, Nathan had cooked for us, so we brought New York Cheesecake for dessert, mhmhm! Went to a jazzplace and had a Manhattan on Manhattan, hehehe!
Thursday was our last day in New York, but it was sunny(the rest of the days were not!), so we went back to Central Park to get some sunny pictures, more shopping in Greenwich Village and then we packed our bags and left Harlem and New York and went to JFK. The flight went well, but we didn´t sleep at all, almost, because ther was a personal screen and lot of movies and tvshows, yeah!
Arrived in Dublin(amazingly cold!!!!!!) at 5 in the morning, spent some time at the airport, then went to town, sat in 2 different cafés and slept because of jetlag. Decided to go back to the airport without seeing much of Dublin, next time, to tired, went back to the airport and checked our luggage, ate and flew to Torp, Norway, slept almost the entire way, but saw Hardangervidda with snow from above, Norway is beautiful too, I have to say!!! Arrived on time, immigration and customs was really quick, and then WE WERE BACK!!!!!! Mamma, pappa, Britta, Janjan, Halvard, Marita and Oda Sofie met us, and had made us a picnic in the cafeteria with norwegian milk, brown cheese and knekkebrød, mmmmmmm!!!
Then we left, K to his mothers house, and I to my parents house, and this is so weeeeird, being home, but really great too!!!!!!! PUH!!!!g
Washington DC
We flew to New York, landed in the morning, and left quite quickly to go to Washington DC, to visit Taylor for the weekend!!! The bus took long enough, but not much more than 5 hours, and then he picked us up, we went to a restaurant and then had a scenic drive through Washington DCs nicest parts. Saw the skyline(hehe) from the big cathedral and the main shopping street and more. Went home to his parents house, skyped with Ayumi in Japan, and then had to get some sleep. Had big plans about getting up early, but woke up at 9:30, when Taylor came to tell us the time and maybe we wanted to get up.. Hehehe! Went sightseeing after breakfast, saw the White House, Capitol, Washington Monument and Natural History Museum and Air and Space museum, where they had a planetarium, which we definitely need to build in Norway, great stuff! The weather was not so good, so it was great to be in Washington, where almost all the museums are free and very good! :) Cooked dinner(or Taylor and K cooked, I watched..) and made a lot lot lot of popcorn with butter and salt and watched Annie Hall on digital TV:)
Sunday we got up slightly earlier, left to see all the memorials, saw Jefferson, Roosevelt, Second World War, Lincoln and Vietnam War memorials, quite happy with all of that sightseeing in one day!
And all of a sudden the weekend had passed, and we said goodbye to Taylor(again) and cried a bit(again) and took the bus to New York!! Arrived quite late, and was met by Heine, a norwegian philosopher who had said yes to let us sleep in the livingroom for a few nights, but that is a different story!
g
Sunday we got up slightly earlier, left to see all the memorials, saw Jefferson, Roosevelt, Second World War, Lincoln and Vietnam War memorials, quite happy with all of that sightseeing in one day!
And all of a sudden the weekend had passed, and we said goodbye to Taylor(again) and cried a bit(again) and took the bus to New York!! Arrived quite late, and was met by Heine, a norwegian philosopher who had said yes to let us sleep in the livingroom for a few nights, but that is a different story!
g
Copan Ruinas
I just have to say that I must be the nicest girlfriend, I stayed 7 days in El Salvador doing nothing, just so he could surf all he wanted.. Well, it was not so bad, laying in the hammock and sleeping and reading all day, but I usually get really bored after a while.
I did this time too, so 7 days went just ok, then it was time to move on. We tried to take the lazy way back to Honduras with a direct bus, but couldn´t find the one that left when we wanted, so we took a chickenbus to the border, and then a tuk tuk over the border, then taxi to next town, and then a new bus. Ended up spending a long time on the last bus, so we missed the final bus we needed that day and had to spend a night in La Entrada, don´t do the same, it is not a nice place, and definitely not an exciting place! Hahaha! Was just for one night though, and the next morning we got up early and left for Copan Ruinas, a small town with big Mayan ruins and all. (All Ragnhild said when I asked if we should go there was : Well, if you want to luck at old stones, go ahead!) Went shopping the first day and watched tv, yeah! Next day we saw the ruins, they were amazing, great, and then we got so tired we hardly had energy to see the museum that had all the original stones and carvings, hehe!
Left Copan on Skjærtorsdag, and K got all nervous and sweaty because we hadn´t thought about it being Skjæertorsdag, so there was no buses they told us at the hotel. Turned out there were buses, all we needed, hehe! So we got to San Pedro Sula, ate some pizza at the busstation and left straight for the airport, where we waited 6 hours to fly out, to NEW YORK!!!
g
I did this time too, so 7 days went just ok, then it was time to move on. We tried to take the lazy way back to Honduras with a direct bus, but couldn´t find the one that left when we wanted, so we took a chickenbus to the border, and then a tuk tuk over the border, then taxi to next town, and then a new bus. Ended up spending a long time on the last bus, so we missed the final bus we needed that day and had to spend a night in La Entrada, don´t do the same, it is not a nice place, and definitely not an exciting place! Hahaha! Was just for one night though, and the next morning we got up early and left for Copan Ruinas, a small town with big Mayan ruins and all. (All Ragnhild said when I asked if we should go there was : Well, if you want to luck at old stones, go ahead!) Went shopping the first day and watched tv, yeah! Next day we saw the ruins, they were amazing, great, and then we got so tired we hardly had energy to see the museum that had all the original stones and carvings, hehe!
Left Copan on Skjærtorsdag, and K got all nervous and sweaty because we hadn´t thought about it being Skjæertorsdag, so there was no buses they told us at the hotel. Turned out there were buses, all we needed, hehe! So we got to San Pedro Sula, ate some pizza at the busstation and left straight for the airport, where we waited 6 hours to fly out, to NEW YORK!!!
g
fredag 3. april 2009
Okey!
Allright, 3 comments convinces me! (I kind of know you all are still reading, haha, but I sat on a scorpion, so I thought that might was enough to get a comment, and now I got 3, I´m happy as ever;)
So, the donkey story, it all happened in Trujillo, but I think maybe I haven´t even told you about Utila? No, I haven´t!
After that sick week in Guatemala and San Pedro Sula, we had 2 good days in Tela, stayed at a great new hostel, with clean rooms and all, and why is that interestin? It is not so many of those, and it was really pleasant, and we felt like we were splurging, but it wasn´t expensive, so it was just a great deal! OK, maybe not so interesting, but it was a wooden house, and I´m so tired of all the cement..
OK, so after Tela, we were a bit in the blue about what to do and where to go, but we decided after some time to join Ragnhild and go to Utila, and island outside La Ceiba on the Caribbean Coast, where Kjersti was kind of waiting for us and hoping that we wouldn´t force her to join us on the mainland again, and I kind of can see why, Utila is a tiny island with ok beaches(have seen better, but is you came straight from Norway they would be more than ok)and lots of good restaurants and hostels, and lots of diving! So we took the boat over there, and surprised Kjersti a lot, and found a nice little hotell, and after that we spent 5 days just eating good food and enjoying good company and nice beaches. The last day we went on a day trip tp the Cayes, a small bunch of tiny tiny tiny islands just outside Utila, I spent the day at the biggest one of the tiniest one, it lives 1000 people out there, in total, and they live on top of each other, it was not room for one more house or one more person, haha, it was full! Did some snorkeling and some sunbathing and then Kristoffer went with the boat to have 2 fun dives!!! He saw giant sea turtles and a lot of fish, and I don´t know, cause I can´t dive, so you have to ask him when we are coming back. But on the way back to Utila in the evening we all saw 4 dolphins from the boat!! Amazing!
The day after we left Utila for Trujillo, further up on the Caribbean Coast on the mainland, so we said goodbye to Ragnhild and Kjersti late that night, and took the boat at 06 in the morning back to La Ceiba, and then onwards with bus for a few hours. We arrived at 12 at a place called Casa Kiwi, outside of Trujillo, a small hostel thing on the beach which Lonely Planet says a lot of good things about, but it turned out the restaurant, the only option for getting a meal, wasn´t that good.. But the thing they have got is a shipwreck, close to the beach, which you can go snorkelling on.. Lonely Planet says it is "easily accessible from the beach", but I think maybe this is a place they have not been to, just written about! Kristoffer managed to swim out there, I guess it was 400 meters, and then you can add the wind and the tides, so on the way back, he really felt it, I didn´t have the guts to try.. The next day we tried to get closer to the wreck on land, but then the beach stops and we walked in rubbish and I don´t know what, it was disgusting, and the water was yellow and smelly and full of slime and algae, so when we reached a point where it was maybe just 200 meters to swim out, then the water was so disgusting that I decided not to do it, not worth it.. Maybe some other time! But this is where the story of the donkey comes:
We were walking along the mainroad that goes along the beach to get as close to the wreck as we could, when all of a sudden that thing that moves towards us is not a donkey and a man or a man on a bike or whatever, it is just a donkey, trotting on alone along the mainroad, nice and gentle on the side of the road, hehe, but when it got closer to us it started screaming, you know, skryte, like donkeys do, and it showed us it´s teeth in a scary way and running towards us, and Kristoffer just lept over the road to the other side, and I followed his example, and then the donkey passed us, but it didn´t attack or anything, it just shut up and followed it´s original plan, whatever that was, and continued along the main road on it´s own. HAHA, WHAT A SIGHT! And then later that day, after we had not swum out to the wreck, but returned to Casa Kiwi and had a swim at that nice beach, clean and all, then all of a sudden a cow comes walking towards us, all alone on the beach!!! HAHAHAHAHA
So we left Casa Kiwi (and are planning to send LP a mail about what it is really like..) We went in to Trujillo, a small town (only 10 000 or something) and saw an old spanish fort and had a great dinner of Conch soup and Lobster soup, mhmhm! The next day we thought of going to El Salvador, but Trujillo was so nice we decided to stay one more day. We went and saw the strangest museum ever, just a giant collection of old stuff, a barn full of items and dust and I don´t know what, but I do know that that museum is perfect for all the men in my family, they know how to see the valuable in old stuff like that, old coins and stamps and chairs and telephones and writingmachines and bombs and even some old Mayan sculptures and so on and so on.. Crazy filled barn.. Outside the barn was a big cage with 4 spidermonkeys in, and althought they looked really bored and that is really sad, it was amazing to come so close to them. Did you know that monkeys hands have the softest fingers, and even fingernails? It was amazing.
And that evening, of all things, a lonely horse comes walking down the street in town, all alone, but definetely with a plan and mission, HAHAHAHA!!!!
So, after more good food and good vibes in Trujillo, we finally left for El Salvador, on the Sunday, caught a bus at 06 in the morning, and changed buses in San Pedro Sula, didn´t get all the way to El Salvador that day, since it was Sunday and less buses, so we had a stopover in Santa Rosa close to the border in Honduras, a nice little town, with a good pizzeria and we even had TV in our room, so I watched Sense and Sensibility, HAHAHAHA!!
On Monday we arrived in El Salvador, spent a few hectic hours in San Salvador, the capital, to try and find the right bus, and finally we left for La Libertad, changed buses again and arrived at Tunco beach in the evening. Found a nice place to stay, with a pool and a good restaurante, and every day since, it is Friday today, so for the last 4 days, I have stayed in the hammock and the pool and Kristoffer is surfing all he can, getting better every day! Yeah! We like El Salvador too:)
g
So, the donkey story, it all happened in Trujillo, but I think maybe I haven´t even told you about Utila? No, I haven´t!
After that sick week in Guatemala and San Pedro Sula, we had 2 good days in Tela, stayed at a great new hostel, with clean rooms and all, and why is that interestin? It is not so many of those, and it was really pleasant, and we felt like we were splurging, but it wasn´t expensive, so it was just a great deal! OK, maybe not so interesting, but it was a wooden house, and I´m so tired of all the cement..
OK, so after Tela, we were a bit in the blue about what to do and where to go, but we decided after some time to join Ragnhild and go to Utila, and island outside La Ceiba on the Caribbean Coast, where Kjersti was kind of waiting for us and hoping that we wouldn´t force her to join us on the mainland again, and I kind of can see why, Utila is a tiny island with ok beaches(have seen better, but is you came straight from Norway they would be more than ok)and lots of good restaurants and hostels, and lots of diving! So we took the boat over there, and surprised Kjersti a lot, and found a nice little hotell, and after that we spent 5 days just eating good food and enjoying good company and nice beaches. The last day we went on a day trip tp the Cayes, a small bunch of tiny tiny tiny islands just outside Utila, I spent the day at the biggest one of the tiniest one, it lives 1000 people out there, in total, and they live on top of each other, it was not room for one more house or one more person, haha, it was full! Did some snorkeling and some sunbathing and then Kristoffer went with the boat to have 2 fun dives!!! He saw giant sea turtles and a lot of fish, and I don´t know, cause I can´t dive, so you have to ask him when we are coming back. But on the way back to Utila in the evening we all saw 4 dolphins from the boat!! Amazing!
The day after we left Utila for Trujillo, further up on the Caribbean Coast on the mainland, so we said goodbye to Ragnhild and Kjersti late that night, and took the boat at 06 in the morning back to La Ceiba, and then onwards with bus for a few hours. We arrived at 12 at a place called Casa Kiwi, outside of Trujillo, a small hostel thing on the beach which Lonely Planet says a lot of good things about, but it turned out the restaurant, the only option for getting a meal, wasn´t that good.. But the thing they have got is a shipwreck, close to the beach, which you can go snorkelling on.. Lonely Planet says it is "easily accessible from the beach", but I think maybe this is a place they have not been to, just written about! Kristoffer managed to swim out there, I guess it was 400 meters, and then you can add the wind and the tides, so on the way back, he really felt it, I didn´t have the guts to try.. The next day we tried to get closer to the wreck on land, but then the beach stops and we walked in rubbish and I don´t know what, it was disgusting, and the water was yellow and smelly and full of slime and algae, so when we reached a point where it was maybe just 200 meters to swim out, then the water was so disgusting that I decided not to do it, not worth it.. Maybe some other time! But this is where the story of the donkey comes:
We were walking along the mainroad that goes along the beach to get as close to the wreck as we could, when all of a sudden that thing that moves towards us is not a donkey and a man or a man on a bike or whatever, it is just a donkey, trotting on alone along the mainroad, nice and gentle on the side of the road, hehe, but when it got closer to us it started screaming, you know, skryte, like donkeys do, and it showed us it´s teeth in a scary way and running towards us, and Kristoffer just lept over the road to the other side, and I followed his example, and then the donkey passed us, but it didn´t attack or anything, it just shut up and followed it´s original plan, whatever that was, and continued along the main road on it´s own. HAHA, WHAT A SIGHT! And then later that day, after we had not swum out to the wreck, but returned to Casa Kiwi and had a swim at that nice beach, clean and all, then all of a sudden a cow comes walking towards us, all alone on the beach!!! HAHAHAHAHA
So we left Casa Kiwi (and are planning to send LP a mail about what it is really like..) We went in to Trujillo, a small town (only 10 000 or something) and saw an old spanish fort and had a great dinner of Conch soup and Lobster soup, mhmhm! The next day we thought of going to El Salvador, but Trujillo was so nice we decided to stay one more day. We went and saw the strangest museum ever, just a giant collection of old stuff, a barn full of items and dust and I don´t know what, but I do know that that museum is perfect for all the men in my family, they know how to see the valuable in old stuff like that, old coins and stamps and chairs and telephones and writingmachines and bombs and even some old Mayan sculptures and so on and so on.. Crazy filled barn.. Outside the barn was a big cage with 4 spidermonkeys in, and althought they looked really bored and that is really sad, it was amazing to come so close to them. Did you know that monkeys hands have the softest fingers, and even fingernails? It was amazing.
And that evening, of all things, a lonely horse comes walking down the street in town, all alone, but definetely with a plan and mission, HAHAHAHA!!!!
So, after more good food and good vibes in Trujillo, we finally left for El Salvador, on the Sunday, caught a bus at 06 in the morning, and changed buses in San Pedro Sula, didn´t get all the way to El Salvador that day, since it was Sunday and less buses, so we had a stopover in Santa Rosa close to the border in Honduras, a nice little town, with a good pizzeria and we even had TV in our room, so I watched Sense and Sensibility, HAHAHAHA!!
On Monday we arrived in El Salvador, spent a few hectic hours in San Salvador, the capital, to try and find the right bus, and finally we left for La Libertad, changed buses again and arrived at Tunco beach in the evening. Found a nice place to stay, with a pool and a good restaurante, and every day since, it is Friday today, so for the last 4 days, I have stayed in the hammock and the pool and Kristoffer is surfing all he can, getting better every day! Yeah! We like El Salvador too:)
g
torsdag 2. april 2009
Hm....
Seems to me nobody cares anymore(no comment on the El Mirador trip?????), so I won't tell you a great story about a donkey.. Haha!
onsdag 18. mars 2009
The last days in Guatemala
So, the last week, it is a week today since we came out of the jungle, and we were supposed to have done so much, and what happened? We have been puking and having serious stomachtroubles, so the last week looks like this:
Thursday, left Flores, went to Rio Dulce. Not sick.
Friday, stayed in Rio Dulce to do some very much needed laundry.
Saturday, tried to get to Honduras, only got to the border town, Puerto Barrios, because Ragnhild got sick, spent 3 hours in a McDonalds(she on the toilet..) along the way to Puerto Barrios before we decided to just stay the night, when the night comes Ragnhild is better, but Kristoffer is not feeling well.
Sunday, Gunhild and Kristoffer are staying in bed all day after having spent the entire night on the toilet, no food or water is kept inside the body.. Very sick..
Monday, all 3 of us are feeling better, so we´re crossing the border to Honduras, and going to San Pedro Sula. Finds a hostel, Gunhild stays in bed all evening. Kristoffer and Ragnhild goes to a restaurant to eat dinner. The next morning...
Tuesday, Gunhild is fine, but haven´t eaten in 22 hours, Kristoffer and Ragnhild are so sick, they cannot do anything. Not anything at all..
And today, we´re all feeling better, Ragnhild is still a bit klein, but we managed to get our butts to Tela, which has got a beach, so today we have seen the Caribbean Sea! We´re here!!! Yeah!
Tomorrow we´re not doing anything, but beach.
Why am I telling all this? It has been horrible. It is so much worse to be sick when you´re far away from home, where is gulroetter og knekkebroed when you need it here? NOwhere..
I´m hungry again, and I have spent 2 hours here now, I´m going out!
Have a great not sick time back home!:)
-g
Thursday, left Flores, went to Rio Dulce. Not sick.
Friday, stayed in Rio Dulce to do some very much needed laundry.
Saturday, tried to get to Honduras, only got to the border town, Puerto Barrios, because Ragnhild got sick, spent 3 hours in a McDonalds(she on the toilet..) along the way to Puerto Barrios before we decided to just stay the night, when the night comes Ragnhild is better, but Kristoffer is not feeling well.
Sunday, Gunhild and Kristoffer are staying in bed all day after having spent the entire night on the toilet, no food or water is kept inside the body.. Very sick..
Monday, all 3 of us are feeling better, so we´re crossing the border to Honduras, and going to San Pedro Sula. Finds a hostel, Gunhild stays in bed all evening. Kristoffer and Ragnhild goes to a restaurant to eat dinner. The next morning...
Tuesday, Gunhild is fine, but haven´t eaten in 22 hours, Kristoffer and Ragnhild are so sick, they cannot do anything. Not anything at all..
And today, we´re all feeling better, Ragnhild is still a bit klein, but we managed to get our butts to Tela, which has got a beach, so today we have seen the Caribbean Sea! We´re here!!! Yeah!
Tomorrow we´re not doing anything, but beach.
Why am I telling all this? It has been horrible. It is so much worse to be sick when you´re far away from home, where is gulroetter og knekkebroed when you need it here? NOwhere..
I´m hungry again, and I have spent 2 hours here now, I´m going out!
Have a great not sick time back home!:)
-g
El Mirador, el grande jungel trip..
(I´m sorry this is a week later than it should be, so many good stories, but we have been sick, so things take a bit longer..)
Anyways,
we left Flores early on Saturday 7th in the morning, after breakfast at 0600 at the travelagency, which was also a restaurant and a hotel, amazing! After eating, and waiting for the tour agency guy to fix it all and fill our car with water and tents and all, we left, 3 hours on a bumpy road, and then we were in Carmelita, where it all was going to start. We met our guide, Alex, and waited for a looong time while they packed our luggage and a lot of food and tents and all on 3 horses, and then the horses left, and we waited some more, don´t know why, and then finally, we left to, Kristoffer, Ragnhild and me and a crazy german guy called Peter and Alex the guide. I think we had walked maybe 5 minutes when the guide lighted his first spliff, and the rest of the trip he walked in a cloud of smoke and giggles.. Hehe, grrrreat guide!
We walked and walked(not in a nice slow speed, either, pretty hard core jungle walk-almost-jog speed) but stopped a lot to watch parrots, tucans, monkeys and other jungleanimals and birds, and it was quite amazing! After a looooong time, we had lunch, then we walked for a loooooooooooong time again, and when I thought we were going to die, we were there! I think we spent almost 6 hours on the walk, and the day before we had met a swedish girl who just came back from the same trip, and she said the walk was so easy, they only used 3 hours, and we were exhausted and used 6!!! (Hm...) (She also told us we had to bring warm clothes, because it was freezing at night(no it wasn´t, no need for the big woollen sweater..),that the food was horrible(no it wasn´t, although maybe a bit original..)(the walks were easy(NO!)(well, basically, when we met her, we were so happy because she told us a lot, and then we prepared ourselves after what she said, and then it turns out everything she said, we felt the opposite!!)
After 6 hours of walk, we had sore legs, and Ragnhild had already gotten the biggest blisters(gnagsaar) on her heels, and this was just the first day. I was happy enough, with my 100kroners shoes from a H&M like shop in Australia which are absolutely not meant for walking any distance.. The sole on my shoes are maybe 0,5 cm thick..Hehehe! Isn´t it ironic? But we got to rest and Alex made us a great meal with chickensoup, and he gave us coffee and we had a campfire, and the mood was good, they gave us thick mattresses and blankets in the tents and it was a toilet to sit on at the camp, what more can you ask for? Day number one, good good:)
Sunday, we woke up early, after sleeping through all the junglesounds (sometimes the howlermonkeys woke us up(broel-ape, de skriker saa syyyykt, som loever liksom, men ikke helt..))and we had breakfast, then we packed the horses and cleanedthe camp and left, at 10:30. After 5 minutes we found an orange - tree, and had 15 minutes break, after that we found a camp where some men live for a month or two, they work and gather palm leaves in the jungle, and we looked at their camp for some time, then we walked five minutes more, and crazy Peter found an ant on a tree with a fungus growing out of it´s head, and he had seen a documentary about that on TV, and apparently it is really rare and seldom, and I think we spent 45 minutes there, then we tried to walk some more, and then we met the horse guy(he called himself Chuck Norris, hehe, great guy!) and one of the horses had made all the luggage fall off, so we had lunch and repacked the horses and spent more than 1 hour there, after just 2 hours of actual walking.. Can´t say the speed was great this day, but our guide was to busy making a straw hat inside his cloud of smoke, and we didn´t know how far it was. "One hour" he said, then after 30 minutes, he said, "2 hours more", then after one hour, he said "40 minutes", then we stopped believe in him, and just walked all we could, it was getting late, and we were so tired, and Ragnhild could hardly walk because of her blisters... When it started getting dark, I started getting scared, and we had no idea how far we had left, and the mood was not very good, to be honest, we were not happy with the guide, and not happy with ourselves that chose this entirely on our own, and no one forced us to choose a 5 day jungletrek trip, did they? NO. Our bad, hehe! I think we walked 1 hour in the dark, with only one flashlight, and it was not funny at all. When I looked at my watch when we finally arrived at El Mirador, we had spent more than 10 hours in the jungle!! AND THEN I SAT ON A SCORPION!!!!!!! AUAUAUAUAUAUAUAUAU!!!!
That is the most painful sting ever, and I was so scared! I just sat down on the bench next to the fire when we got there and immideatly it stinged my bum, and I screamed and cried and leaped up yelling and the guide and another guy said "scorpio" and I almost died of fear, and they started searching for it with flashlights and all, to see what kind of scorpion it was, and I had to drop my pants in public for everyone to search for the bite, and they got very anxious.. After 10 minutes it wasn´t so painful anymore, and I could still feel my bum and my legs and I was still standing, so they were happy, it was a brown or black scorpion, not a blue and green one, then we would have had a problem. Later I got kind of a panickattack, but that is normal, they said, so then everything was fine, we ate and I went to bed and I woke up the next day, still alive, halleluja;) Day 2, not so good.. (it was even the worlds women day, or what we call it..Hm..)
Day 3, El Mirador.
There we were, 60 km into the jungle, 2 days of hard walking, and we were so excited to see the ruins and all!!! And it was amazing, it really was, it is just that most of it is covered with a meter or 2 of earth.. And trees and jungle and all, hehe, so we walked on the paths and the guide showed us this hill and that hill and yes, that is a pyramide underneath under there, and another one under that hill and so on, and we thought, well is this it? But the El Dante, the biggest pyramide in El Mirador(which is the biggest Mayan ruins ever found) is partly dug out, at least the top part, so we got to climb to the top, and watch nothing but jungle in all directions and it was so unbelievebly beautiful and special I have no words. That was truly great. We could se as far as Mexico(we could have walked there, only 7 km more..)and the best part, we could see the other Maya ruins in the area! Far far away in several directions, there were big bumps in the otherwise very flat green carpet of jungle, and that was other Mayan ruins, pyramides, Tikal, Nakbe, Tintal, and others, it was truly amazing. And with so many birds, and monkeys and, no, it was worth it! We saw more places at El Mirador that was more dug out, we saw the aquaducts they made, some parts of pottery and ceramics they have found and more temples, we saw a lot. And it is so old, they started building it 200 - 300 years B.C, and then left it 150 A.D and then they came back and bulit more on top of everything at some point after that as well. And you might call me weird, but there is a strange energy going on in the jungle there, it really was special. We had a lunch break and then the best thing ever, a "shower" at least some water to throw over ourselves and some soap, and a good rest, then we climbed El Tigre to watch the sunset over the jungle.. Amazing..
After the sunset we had dinner, then we paid one of the guards that works at El Mirador to let us into a tunnel under El Jaguar, one of the buildings and tempels, and we went under the tempels into to tunnel and saw old old old statues and paintings and walls that they are digging out at the moment, and it was really special. I even put my hand in a handprint of a Maya Indian in the wall, special! I also got so scared, because it was just me and Ragnhild and Alex, and we had to crawl at one point to get further into the tunnel, and they went first and I was left there and a giant underworld SPIDER came running and I reacted like a real girl and screamed and closed my eyes, haha, and then it stopped and after some time it hid in the walls, so I hurried along, puh! Ask me to draw it for you, it was giant, and looked so weird and ugly, puh, was worried there..
Day 3, very good!
Day 4, we tried really hard to start early, and we kind of managed. The thing was, we had no more bread, so there was no lunch break during the long walk through the jungle, so we didn´t spend that long, we walked in total for 6 hours that day, and had 30 minutes break. And Ragnhild and I had some help from the horse, so it wasn´t so bad. Well, it was bad, I could hardly walk when we arrived in the afternoon, but Ragnhild was worse, her heels were dead. So we relaxed and complained a bit, then we had lunch and then Chuck Norris showed us the Tintal pyramides (same camp as day 1, but then we didn´t have time to see anything.)and we watched the sunset, and then had dinner, and then we went up there again to see the moon, it was fullmoon, so we didn´t see that many stars, but it was beautiful.
No mattresses in the tent the last night. Day 4, pain in feet and legs, otherwise fine.
Day 5, last day, ultimo dia..
This was the day we started the earliest and walked the quickest, no lunch and only 10 minutes break, and after 4 hours we were at Alex´s house in Carmelita again!! I have never had so much pain in my legs before, although I had no blisters, it was so painful just beacuse we had walked so long distances.. 120 km in total and 4 days of walking. Then all the walkin we did when we were at El Mirador is not counted..
We went straight to the local shop and bought a well deserved can of coke or beer, and sat and waited for our driver. Slept in the car for 2 hours, and then it was all over, we were back in Flores, ready for the best shower ever.
Will I ever do it again?
Not with those shoes, although they didn´t give me blisters, maybe it is not possible to do without a bit of pain, or a lot of pain.. Maybe, if I can hire a horse just for me. But that is painful too, after several hours. I´m not sure. The thing is, it was so special up there, really, and I would love to see it in 50 years, when more of it is dug out.. Hm.. I´ll have to think about it.
If you should do it? Definitely! It´s worth it, but be ready for a lot, A LOT OF PAIN!
BUT WE MADE IT, YEAH!!!!
Very pleased with ourselves:)
-g
Anyways,
we left Flores early on Saturday 7th in the morning, after breakfast at 0600 at the travelagency, which was also a restaurant and a hotel, amazing! After eating, and waiting for the tour agency guy to fix it all and fill our car with water and tents and all, we left, 3 hours on a bumpy road, and then we were in Carmelita, where it all was going to start. We met our guide, Alex, and waited for a looong time while they packed our luggage and a lot of food and tents and all on 3 horses, and then the horses left, and we waited some more, don´t know why, and then finally, we left to, Kristoffer, Ragnhild and me and a crazy german guy called Peter and Alex the guide. I think we had walked maybe 5 minutes when the guide lighted his first spliff, and the rest of the trip he walked in a cloud of smoke and giggles.. Hehe, grrrreat guide!
We walked and walked(not in a nice slow speed, either, pretty hard core jungle walk-almost-jog speed) but stopped a lot to watch parrots, tucans, monkeys and other jungleanimals and birds, and it was quite amazing! After a looooong time, we had lunch, then we walked for a loooooooooooong time again, and when I thought we were going to die, we were there! I think we spent almost 6 hours on the walk, and the day before we had met a swedish girl who just came back from the same trip, and she said the walk was so easy, they only used 3 hours, and we were exhausted and used 6!!! (Hm...) (She also told us we had to bring warm clothes, because it was freezing at night(no it wasn´t, no need for the big woollen sweater..),that the food was horrible(no it wasn´t, although maybe a bit original..)(the walks were easy(NO!)(well, basically, when we met her, we were so happy because she told us a lot, and then we prepared ourselves after what she said, and then it turns out everything she said, we felt the opposite!!)
After 6 hours of walk, we had sore legs, and Ragnhild had already gotten the biggest blisters(gnagsaar) on her heels, and this was just the first day. I was happy enough, with my 100kroners shoes from a H&M like shop in Australia which are absolutely not meant for walking any distance.. The sole on my shoes are maybe 0,5 cm thick..Hehehe! Isn´t it ironic? But we got to rest and Alex made us a great meal with chickensoup, and he gave us coffee and we had a campfire, and the mood was good, they gave us thick mattresses and blankets in the tents and it was a toilet to sit on at the camp, what more can you ask for? Day number one, good good:)
Sunday, we woke up early, after sleeping through all the junglesounds (sometimes the howlermonkeys woke us up(broel-ape, de skriker saa syyyykt, som loever liksom, men ikke helt..))and we had breakfast, then we packed the horses and cleanedthe camp and left, at 10:30. After 5 minutes we found an orange - tree, and had 15 minutes break, after that we found a camp where some men live for a month or two, they work and gather palm leaves in the jungle, and we looked at their camp for some time, then we walked five minutes more, and crazy Peter found an ant on a tree with a fungus growing out of it´s head, and he had seen a documentary about that on TV, and apparently it is really rare and seldom, and I think we spent 45 minutes there, then we tried to walk some more, and then we met the horse guy(he called himself Chuck Norris, hehe, great guy!) and one of the horses had made all the luggage fall off, so we had lunch and repacked the horses and spent more than 1 hour there, after just 2 hours of actual walking.. Can´t say the speed was great this day, but our guide was to busy making a straw hat inside his cloud of smoke, and we didn´t know how far it was. "One hour" he said, then after 30 minutes, he said, "2 hours more", then after one hour, he said "40 minutes", then we stopped believe in him, and just walked all we could, it was getting late, and we were so tired, and Ragnhild could hardly walk because of her blisters... When it started getting dark, I started getting scared, and we had no idea how far we had left, and the mood was not very good, to be honest, we were not happy with the guide, and not happy with ourselves that chose this entirely on our own, and no one forced us to choose a 5 day jungletrek trip, did they? NO. Our bad, hehe! I think we walked 1 hour in the dark, with only one flashlight, and it was not funny at all. When I looked at my watch when we finally arrived at El Mirador, we had spent more than 10 hours in the jungle!! AND THEN I SAT ON A SCORPION!!!!!!! AUAUAUAUAUAUAUAUAU!!!!
That is the most painful sting ever, and I was so scared! I just sat down on the bench next to the fire when we got there and immideatly it stinged my bum, and I screamed and cried and leaped up yelling and the guide and another guy said "scorpio" and I almost died of fear, and they started searching for it with flashlights and all, to see what kind of scorpion it was, and I had to drop my pants in public for everyone to search for the bite, and they got very anxious.. After 10 minutes it wasn´t so painful anymore, and I could still feel my bum and my legs and I was still standing, so they were happy, it was a brown or black scorpion, not a blue and green one, then we would have had a problem. Later I got kind of a panickattack, but that is normal, they said, so then everything was fine, we ate and I went to bed and I woke up the next day, still alive, halleluja;) Day 2, not so good.. (it was even the worlds women day, or what we call it..Hm..)
Day 3, El Mirador.
There we were, 60 km into the jungle, 2 days of hard walking, and we were so excited to see the ruins and all!!! And it was amazing, it really was, it is just that most of it is covered with a meter or 2 of earth.. And trees and jungle and all, hehe, so we walked on the paths and the guide showed us this hill and that hill and yes, that is a pyramide underneath under there, and another one under that hill and so on, and we thought, well is this it? But the El Dante, the biggest pyramide in El Mirador(which is the biggest Mayan ruins ever found) is partly dug out, at least the top part, so we got to climb to the top, and watch nothing but jungle in all directions and it was so unbelievebly beautiful and special I have no words. That was truly great. We could se as far as Mexico(we could have walked there, only 7 km more..)and the best part, we could see the other Maya ruins in the area! Far far away in several directions, there were big bumps in the otherwise very flat green carpet of jungle, and that was other Mayan ruins, pyramides, Tikal, Nakbe, Tintal, and others, it was truly amazing. And with so many birds, and monkeys and, no, it was worth it! We saw more places at El Mirador that was more dug out, we saw the aquaducts they made, some parts of pottery and ceramics they have found and more temples, we saw a lot. And it is so old, they started building it 200 - 300 years B.C, and then left it 150 A.D and then they came back and bulit more on top of everything at some point after that as well. And you might call me weird, but there is a strange energy going on in the jungle there, it really was special. We had a lunch break and then the best thing ever, a "shower" at least some water to throw over ourselves and some soap, and a good rest, then we climbed El Tigre to watch the sunset over the jungle.. Amazing..
After the sunset we had dinner, then we paid one of the guards that works at El Mirador to let us into a tunnel under El Jaguar, one of the buildings and tempels, and we went under the tempels into to tunnel and saw old old old statues and paintings and walls that they are digging out at the moment, and it was really special. I even put my hand in a handprint of a Maya Indian in the wall, special! I also got so scared, because it was just me and Ragnhild and Alex, and we had to crawl at one point to get further into the tunnel, and they went first and I was left there and a giant underworld SPIDER came running and I reacted like a real girl and screamed and closed my eyes, haha, and then it stopped and after some time it hid in the walls, so I hurried along, puh! Ask me to draw it for you, it was giant, and looked so weird and ugly, puh, was worried there..
Day 3, very good!
Day 4, we tried really hard to start early, and we kind of managed. The thing was, we had no more bread, so there was no lunch break during the long walk through the jungle, so we didn´t spend that long, we walked in total for 6 hours that day, and had 30 minutes break. And Ragnhild and I had some help from the horse, so it wasn´t so bad. Well, it was bad, I could hardly walk when we arrived in the afternoon, but Ragnhild was worse, her heels were dead. So we relaxed and complained a bit, then we had lunch and then Chuck Norris showed us the Tintal pyramides (same camp as day 1, but then we didn´t have time to see anything.)and we watched the sunset, and then had dinner, and then we went up there again to see the moon, it was fullmoon, so we didn´t see that many stars, but it was beautiful.
No mattresses in the tent the last night. Day 4, pain in feet and legs, otherwise fine.
Day 5, last day, ultimo dia..
This was the day we started the earliest and walked the quickest, no lunch and only 10 minutes break, and after 4 hours we were at Alex´s house in Carmelita again!! I have never had so much pain in my legs before, although I had no blisters, it was so painful just beacuse we had walked so long distances.. 120 km in total and 4 days of walking. Then all the walkin we did when we were at El Mirador is not counted..
We went straight to the local shop and bought a well deserved can of coke or beer, and sat and waited for our driver. Slept in the car for 2 hours, and then it was all over, we were back in Flores, ready for the best shower ever.
Will I ever do it again?
Not with those shoes, although they didn´t give me blisters, maybe it is not possible to do without a bit of pain, or a lot of pain.. Maybe, if I can hire a horse just for me. But that is painful too, after several hours. I´m not sure. The thing is, it was so special up there, really, and I would love to see it in 50 years, when more of it is dug out.. Hm.. I´ll have to think about it.
If you should do it? Definitely! It´s worth it, but be ready for a lot, A LOT OF PAIN!
BUT WE MADE IT, YEAH!!!!
Very pleased with ourselves:)
-g
fredag 6. mars 2009
Back to Coban and then Flores
We left Lanquin on Wednesday morning, after a nice breakfast and some packing of all the backpacks of course. Kjersti decided she didn´t want to join us to Flores, because she has already been here before, and was not at all interested in seing the Maya ruins again, but we all took the bus to Coban, and went to all the banks to get money for all of us( strange thing with atms in Guatemala, they never seem to work very well..) And after spending an hour in different banks we finally had enough to split, and Ragnhild, Kristoffer and I went to find a bus to Flores. After 5 minutes walking down one street we already had a guy that took us to the bus and promised a grrreat price, but he apparently had got nothing to do with the bus company(or, rather, the two guys owning the car that served as a bus from Coban to Flores that day..), so we ended up paying a bit more than the grrreat price, but it was ok, the bus was direct and all they said, so we jumped in and looked forward to a great busride lasting 5 hours. It only took 5 and a half hour, but they cramped the car tjocka block full of people, at one point I counted 30 people in a car with seats for 15 at the most.. :) Genuine Guatemala! And it didn´t drive us all the way to Flores either, hehe, but a nice man from the bus gave us a ride, and it was only 5 minutes from the busstation in Santa Elena, which is the town we´re in now, we´re just at Flores, a small island just outside the town, together with all the tourists, and all that is here is restaurants, hotels, touragencies and cafes, hehehe, backpackerheaven;) It is a beautiful beach, and we saw the sunset yesterday all 3 of us, so rooomantic;)
Well, we´re only here to find a tour into the jungle, but the first day here, we were a bit lazy(and I think this place too, is one of those places where it is too easy to just stay and stay and do nothing... ), so we didn´t exactly find anything yesterday, even though we visited all the touristagencies yesterday, hehe! Weren´t really sure what we were looking for either, but as the time passed and all the agencies told us the same, we started to get a feeling that we had to go furthest and longest, so this morning, we ended up organizing a tour with our hostel(which was the last place we asked for tours and prices and all, hehe, typically) and we had a long ride to the atm with a taxidriver (with a t shirt that said I´m not an alcoholic, I´m drunk..) and emptied our accounts to pay for the tour(the taxidriver didn´t empty our accounts, we did..) and then we felt so excited and now we´re getting quite stressed out, because we are going into the jungle for 5 days, starting tomorrow morning at 06 am, walking walking walking for 5 days into the jungle to see El Mirador, the biggest Mayan ruins ever found, which are not revealed yet, they are still digging and digging. Interesting! And how on earth are we supposed to get ready to go for a walk for 5 days into the jungle in about 12 hours from now??
Well, I know how.. Get off the internet, buy toilet paper and batteries for the camera, and then pack good shoes(don´t have, so that´s easy) and sunscreen and mosquitorepellant.. :)
So, wish us luck, and we´ll be back in a 5 - 6 days time! (With some great photos, right, Kristoffer???)
g
Well, we´re only here to find a tour into the jungle, but the first day here, we were a bit lazy(and I think this place too, is one of those places where it is too easy to just stay and stay and do nothing... ), so we didn´t exactly find anything yesterday, even though we visited all the touristagencies yesterday, hehe! Weren´t really sure what we were looking for either, but as the time passed and all the agencies told us the same, we started to get a feeling that we had to go furthest and longest, so this morning, we ended up organizing a tour with our hostel(which was the last place we asked for tours and prices and all, hehe, typically) and we had a long ride to the atm with a taxidriver (with a t shirt that said I´m not an alcoholic, I´m drunk..) and emptied our accounts to pay for the tour(the taxidriver didn´t empty our accounts, we did..) and then we felt so excited and now we´re getting quite stressed out, because we are going into the jungle for 5 days, starting tomorrow morning at 06 am, walking walking walking for 5 days into the jungle to see El Mirador, the biggest Mayan ruins ever found, which are not revealed yet, they are still digging and digging. Interesting! And how on earth are we supposed to get ready to go for a walk for 5 days into the jungle in about 12 hours from now??
Well, I know how.. Get off the internet, buy toilet paper and batteries for the camera, and then pack good shoes(don´t have, so that´s easy) and sunscreen and mosquitorepellant.. :)
So, wish us luck, and we´ll be back in a 5 - 6 days time! (With some great photos, right, Kristoffer???)
g
torsdag 5. mars 2009
Lanquin and Semuc Champey
Rettelse: Sostrene sisters er ikke fra Vik(MY BAD!)men fra Rosendal (et nydelig sted ved Hardangerfjorden, med Norges eneste baroni), har jeg akkurat faatt opplyst fra sida her naa, beklager det i forrige innlegg..
So:
We finally left San Pedro after 2 and a half weeks stutying hard:) I got really sick on the bus from San Pedro to Coban and my entire breakfast almost made it up again to see the clear sky, but I avoided it with a scream, bought Lays potato chips with original flavour(salt) and the rest of the trip was fine:) The road from San Pedro isn´t the best in the world, as it goes from the Laguna and up up up the mountain side..:) Spent the entire day(Saturday) in the car and on the bus, traveling through an amazing landscape, Guatemala is so beautiful! Unbelievable! (K is fixing some photos any day now, it is just that he has got this idea in his head that he has to buy a boat and sail home, or even better, by a boat he can live in back home, so all his time on internet is spent looking at boat adds... Hm..) Arrived in Coban late(well it was 8, but we were exhausted), and all 4 of us(still going strong along the road with Ragnhild and Kjersti)stuffed our bags into the dorm room and found a great pizzaplace! Totally king;)
Sunday, well, we tried to start early, but that didn´t really happen, well kind of, and we found a bus to Lanquin, further away hidden in the mountains.. Took 1 1/2 hour, and we arrived in backpacker heaven, a small place with a giant hostel, very popular amongst Lonely Planet readers(that´s how we ended up there..) Stuffed our bags in the dorm again and had lunch and several hours of playing cards(spardame, the sisters are unbeatable!), it was raining and cold and not the best place to be when it is raining and cold, as the point of being there is either nature or nature.. So, when the sun finally looked out at us after all those hours, Ragnhild and I went on a Panther safari(on our own, crazy chicks), and saw an old church, the entire town in 5 minutes and a guy maybe being robbed, I´m not sure. He was laying alongside the road, sleeping( I thought he was dead, but I´m a drama queen), and people(many!) were searching through his pockets.. Looking for identification so they could call his wife and get her to get him? Not so sure..
After the very succesful panther safari, we had dinner. And I am getting hungry, so I have to cut all the details that aren´t necessary! Monday, raining, cardgames, went t some huge caves in the afternoon, where we could walk inside the mountain for 500 meters, but the cave itself is much bigger, just that the lights stops after 500 meters, and no one really knows where it ends, hehe:) Amazing stalagmites and stalagtites or what you call them:) An adventure;) (Photos coming, or what, Kristoffer?)
Tuesday, tried to get up early to go to Semuc Champey, further into the mountains and valleys, a nature park.The best part was the ride there, in the back of a truck, beautiful, and very genuine;) The park was good too, a nice mirador(viewpoint on top of a mountain), we saw monkeys and the big attraction was a natural limestone "bridge" where the river floated underneath a layer of limestone, and in the limestone it was several natural pools with crystal clear (icecold) water! Nice swimming;) That must be one of natures most pretty places in the world, quite spectacular! (Photos coming..) (Or what, Kristoffer?) And then the ride back to Lanquin in the back of a truck, grrrreat times;)
And now I´m hungry for lunch, so I´ll tell you all about Coban and Flores another time:) We arrived in Flores last night, so it is not much to tell yet, but we´re heading for the beach now:)
Have a good one!
g
So:
We finally left San Pedro after 2 and a half weeks stutying hard:) I got really sick on the bus from San Pedro to Coban and my entire breakfast almost made it up again to see the clear sky, but I avoided it with a scream, bought Lays potato chips with original flavour(salt) and the rest of the trip was fine:) The road from San Pedro isn´t the best in the world, as it goes from the Laguna and up up up the mountain side..:) Spent the entire day(Saturday) in the car and on the bus, traveling through an amazing landscape, Guatemala is so beautiful! Unbelievable! (K is fixing some photos any day now, it is just that he has got this idea in his head that he has to buy a boat and sail home, or even better, by a boat he can live in back home, so all his time on internet is spent looking at boat adds... Hm..) Arrived in Coban late(well it was 8, but we were exhausted), and all 4 of us(still going strong along the road with Ragnhild and Kjersti)stuffed our bags into the dorm room and found a great pizzaplace! Totally king;)
Sunday, well, we tried to start early, but that didn´t really happen, well kind of, and we found a bus to Lanquin, further away hidden in the mountains.. Took 1 1/2 hour, and we arrived in backpacker heaven, a small place with a giant hostel, very popular amongst Lonely Planet readers(that´s how we ended up there..) Stuffed our bags in the dorm again and had lunch and several hours of playing cards(spardame, the sisters are unbeatable!), it was raining and cold and not the best place to be when it is raining and cold, as the point of being there is either nature or nature.. So, when the sun finally looked out at us after all those hours, Ragnhild and I went on a Panther safari(on our own, crazy chicks), and saw an old church, the entire town in 5 minutes and a guy maybe being robbed, I´m not sure. He was laying alongside the road, sleeping( I thought he was dead, but I´m a drama queen), and people(many!) were searching through his pockets.. Looking for identification so they could call his wife and get her to get him? Not so sure..
After the very succesful panther safari, we had dinner. And I am getting hungry, so I have to cut all the details that aren´t necessary! Monday, raining, cardgames, went t some huge caves in the afternoon, where we could walk inside the mountain for 500 meters, but the cave itself is much bigger, just that the lights stops after 500 meters, and no one really knows where it ends, hehe:) Amazing stalagmites and stalagtites or what you call them:) An adventure;) (Photos coming, or what, Kristoffer?)
Tuesday, tried to get up early to go to Semuc Champey, further into the mountains and valleys, a nature park.The best part was the ride there, in the back of a truck, beautiful, and very genuine;) The park was good too, a nice mirador(viewpoint on top of a mountain), we saw monkeys and the big attraction was a natural limestone "bridge" where the river floated underneath a layer of limestone, and in the limestone it was several natural pools with crystal clear (icecold) water! Nice swimming;) That must be one of natures most pretty places in the world, quite spectacular! (Photos coming..) (Or what, Kristoffer?) And then the ride back to Lanquin in the back of a truck, grrrreat times;)
And now I´m hungry for lunch, so I´ll tell you all about Coban and Flores another time:) We arrived in Flores last night, so it is not much to tell yet, but we´re heading for the beach now:)
Have a good one!
g
mandag 23. februar 2009
San Pedro la Laguna
We are still here, going to school everyday learning spanish:) So not much are happening, but I feel I didn´t describe it properly last time:)
It is really beautiful here, with mountains and volcanos and a lake, our little town is by the lakeside, and we went for a swim once, but the water is like norwegian water in early summer, so it is not the best swim I´ve had on this trip, hehe;) I think we are spoilt by all the beautiful places we have been, so it took us a week to find that we are living in a pretty place, hehe;) That´s what happens when you travel for a year or more, hehehe!
Still, we are enjoying our days, celebrated one year on the road last week, and go to school everyday. The coffeefruit really smells all the time, kind of sour and rotten, but not bad. We meet new people everyday, and learns a lot about the indigenous cultures here from our teachers. Kristoffer is really good at speaking one of the Maya languages, hehe, they have this clicking noise in between the words, or in the word, I don´t know, and he can do it, I´m hopeless, hehe! There are 22 languages in Guatemala, pluss spanish.. Not bad!
We have been going to school for 1 week now, and it is getting complicated! Both are finished with presens, but I´m stuck at something with directo y indirecto objetivo, which is not similar to anything in english or norwegian, but they have it in french,so Kristoffer has got it, and is moving on to preteritum tomorrow, hehe! My teacher is really strict, and I´m supposed to have a test tomorrow, in all three groups of verbs in presens, so no fun for me tonight, I have to study:) Kristoffers teacher is not so strict, so he won´t have a test, unfair!
On Friday we enjoyed free salsa lessons at one of the cafes we have spent most time, they have amazing coffee here, and the dancing was great too! Me gusta bailar salsa! Y nos gustamos bailar salsa! Or something;) Bailar all night long, great times!
On Saturday we went on a daytrip to San Marcos, on the other side of the lake, and everyone told us to go there, it was so beautiful and a special energy and all, hehe, and we didn´t get it at all, HAHA, maybe we didn´t find the right place, I don´t know, couldn´t feel the energy, and that place was like unbelievable small! One path from the lakeside up to centre, and that´s it! Explain it to me if you can, Kaia! HIhihi! But we took a tuk tuk home instead of the boat and drove through San Pabla and San Juan, and saw more people, and those two towns are less turistic, so it was a good day anyway.
Yesterday, Sunday, we went to Guatemalas second biggest market in Chichicastenango, didn´t get a shuttle bus from San Pedro(should have ordered it the day before..)so we took the boat to Panajachel, the biggest town around the lake, and a bus from there, took us longer, but we still had 3 hours or more on the market so it was fine:) Kristoffer bought more than me! For me it was just too much to choose from, I couldn´t decide what to get! But I bought a great bag, in bluegreenish colour, and it is so beautiful, but every time I touch it my hands go blue, so I have to wash it many times before I can use it..
Other than that, I guess it is official that we are coming home to Norway on the 17th of April:) Looking forward to that! We still haven´t found cheap tickets from Central America to New York where we are flying from on the 16th of April, so if anyone finds anything, let us know! ;)
I think that´s it.. Going to school everyday now, so all the days seems the same, weird, just like home, but that´s the way it is:)
5 more days, and then on Saturday we´re moving on, don´t know for sure where yet, but we´ll get there!:)
Have good days back home!
g
It is really beautiful here, with mountains and volcanos and a lake, our little town is by the lakeside, and we went for a swim once, but the water is like norwegian water in early summer, so it is not the best swim I´ve had on this trip, hehe;) I think we are spoilt by all the beautiful places we have been, so it took us a week to find that we are living in a pretty place, hehe;) That´s what happens when you travel for a year or more, hehehe!
Still, we are enjoying our days, celebrated one year on the road last week, and go to school everyday. The coffeefruit really smells all the time, kind of sour and rotten, but not bad. We meet new people everyday, and learns a lot about the indigenous cultures here from our teachers. Kristoffer is really good at speaking one of the Maya languages, hehe, they have this clicking noise in between the words, or in the word, I don´t know, and he can do it, I´m hopeless, hehe! There are 22 languages in Guatemala, pluss spanish.. Not bad!
We have been going to school for 1 week now, and it is getting complicated! Both are finished with presens, but I´m stuck at something with directo y indirecto objetivo, which is not similar to anything in english or norwegian, but they have it in french,so Kristoffer has got it, and is moving on to preteritum tomorrow, hehe! My teacher is really strict, and I´m supposed to have a test tomorrow, in all three groups of verbs in presens, so no fun for me tonight, I have to study:) Kristoffers teacher is not so strict, so he won´t have a test, unfair!
On Friday we enjoyed free salsa lessons at one of the cafes we have spent most time, they have amazing coffee here, and the dancing was great too! Me gusta bailar salsa! Y nos gustamos bailar salsa! Or something;) Bailar all night long, great times!
On Saturday we went on a daytrip to San Marcos, on the other side of the lake, and everyone told us to go there, it was so beautiful and a special energy and all, hehe, and we didn´t get it at all, HAHA, maybe we didn´t find the right place, I don´t know, couldn´t feel the energy, and that place was like unbelievable small! One path from the lakeside up to centre, and that´s it! Explain it to me if you can, Kaia! HIhihi! But we took a tuk tuk home instead of the boat and drove through San Pabla and San Juan, and saw more people, and those two towns are less turistic, so it was a good day anyway.
Yesterday, Sunday, we went to Guatemalas second biggest market in Chichicastenango, didn´t get a shuttle bus from San Pedro(should have ordered it the day before..)so we took the boat to Panajachel, the biggest town around the lake, and a bus from there, took us longer, but we still had 3 hours or more on the market so it was fine:) Kristoffer bought more than me! For me it was just too much to choose from, I couldn´t decide what to get! But I bought a great bag, in bluegreenish colour, and it is so beautiful, but every time I touch it my hands go blue, so I have to wash it many times before I can use it..
Other than that, I guess it is official that we are coming home to Norway on the 17th of April:) Looking forward to that! We still haven´t found cheap tickets from Central America to New York where we are flying from on the 16th of April, so if anyone finds anything, let us know! ;)
I think that´s it.. Going to school everyday now, so all the days seems the same, weird, just like home, but that´s the way it is:)
5 more days, and then on Saturday we´re moving on, don´t know for sure where yet, but we´ll get there!:)
Have good days back home!
g
søndag 15. februar 2009
Mexico City - San Cristobal de las casas-Guatemala
We left Mexico City last monday, the day after the bullfights, and the same day as Kristian and Martine left too. Found a night bus, so after a long night and 14 hours on the bus we arrived in San Cristobal, a small town south in Mexico. We decided to stay one day, as we both were struggling with a cold. Might have been the cold weather in Mexico City and the pollution..
San Cristobal was an amazing place, lots to see and do, but we only spent one night, and relaxed mostly. I think this is the kind of place you can end up staying for a lot longer than you planned, great vide, cafees and restaurants, and happy people:)
But the morning after we left for the Guatemalan border, took a bus 3 hours, walked into immigration on one side of the border, got our stamp, took a taxi for 10 minutes and walked into the Guatemalan office, got our stamp there to, and then we walked out on the street and crossed under a (vei bom anyone?), you know this thing that closes the road for traffic, black and yellow, oh well, we walked under it and then we were in Guatemala. After a meal and finding a bank we found a chicken bus, who promised to take us to San Pedro la laguna, up in the mountains. So they threw our luggage on the roof and tucked us inside this old school bus from the states and off we went. After a few really bumpy hours they told us to change bus, so they helped us with the luggage and put us on the next bus, he even paid our next fare for us, since he had told us we would get all the way for one sum. And then it was more hours of bumpy roads, till we had to change bus again! We got help this time too, but had to pay a bit more. Doesn´t matter, still cheaper than the tourist bus:) And this bus took us all the way till San Pedro la laguna, we thought we had to take a boat to get there, but turns out we didnt´t:) So after 3 changes of bus and 8 hours on the road we arrived in San Pedro, and that was last Wednesday, and we are still here, tomorrow we will start taking spanish lessons and all, hihi, interesting:)
We have met friends from Norway here too, Ragnhild from filosofi and her sister Kjersti, so we are a gang of 4 more or less totally crazy norwegians ruling the streets of San Pedro! The two sisters are from Vik so no question about the ruling, hehehe;) Good times in Guatemala!
We have tried some of the food here too, and bbq chicken bought at the streets, together with tacos mexican style are so far the favourites:) It is also a place with a lot of backpackers, which sets its colour, but it means good cafees and restaurants, and really good spanish schools, so that is why we are here:) It is really interesting for the coffee nerd Kristoffer too, cause the coffee factories are close here, and we walk past them on the streets every day, easily recognised by the smell of rotten coffeefruits laying outside in heaps and heaps:) It is the rest they don´t use, ok, here we go, first they pick the coffeefruit, then dry it a bit(I think) then they wash it in long canals, and gets out the coffee bean, and the rest of the fruit is what they leave beside the streets in heaps, and it smells really strange.. Then they dry the coffebeans on the streets(yes, right on the asphalt..) and pack it in bags and send it away:)
So much about the coffee, he can tell you more, I guess you will find pictures of the process on flickr soon too:)
Just have to tell about Valentines Day, which we celebrated in a hot tub under the stars(oh well, was really cloudy) with 5 others, haha, so much for romance! But it was great, those sisters from Vik know how to entertain, hehe, they even rap, hehehehe!
Now, lunchtime.
g
San Cristobal was an amazing place, lots to see and do, but we only spent one night, and relaxed mostly. I think this is the kind of place you can end up staying for a lot longer than you planned, great vide, cafees and restaurants, and happy people:)
But the morning after we left for the Guatemalan border, took a bus 3 hours, walked into immigration on one side of the border, got our stamp, took a taxi for 10 minutes and walked into the Guatemalan office, got our stamp there to, and then we walked out on the street and crossed under a (vei bom anyone?), you know this thing that closes the road for traffic, black and yellow, oh well, we walked under it and then we were in Guatemala. After a meal and finding a bank we found a chicken bus, who promised to take us to San Pedro la laguna, up in the mountains. So they threw our luggage on the roof and tucked us inside this old school bus from the states and off we went. After a few really bumpy hours they told us to change bus, so they helped us with the luggage and put us on the next bus, he even paid our next fare for us, since he had told us we would get all the way for one sum. And then it was more hours of bumpy roads, till we had to change bus again! We got help this time too, but had to pay a bit more. Doesn´t matter, still cheaper than the tourist bus:) And this bus took us all the way till San Pedro la laguna, we thought we had to take a boat to get there, but turns out we didnt´t:) So after 3 changes of bus and 8 hours on the road we arrived in San Pedro, and that was last Wednesday, and we are still here, tomorrow we will start taking spanish lessons and all, hihi, interesting:)
We have met friends from Norway here too, Ragnhild from filosofi and her sister Kjersti, so we are a gang of 4 more or less totally crazy norwegians ruling the streets of San Pedro! The two sisters are from Vik so no question about the ruling, hehehe;) Good times in Guatemala!
We have tried some of the food here too, and bbq chicken bought at the streets, together with tacos mexican style are so far the favourites:) It is also a place with a lot of backpackers, which sets its colour, but it means good cafees and restaurants, and really good spanish schools, so that is why we are here:) It is really interesting for the coffee nerd Kristoffer too, cause the coffee factories are close here, and we walk past them on the streets every day, easily recognised by the smell of rotten coffeefruits laying outside in heaps and heaps:) It is the rest they don´t use, ok, here we go, first they pick the coffeefruit, then dry it a bit(I think) then they wash it in long canals, and gets out the coffee bean, and the rest of the fruit is what they leave beside the streets in heaps, and it smells really strange.. Then they dry the coffebeans on the streets(yes, right on the asphalt..) and pack it in bags and send it away:)
So much about the coffee, he can tell you more, I guess you will find pictures of the process on flickr soon too:)
Just have to tell about Valentines Day, which we celebrated in a hot tub under the stars(oh well, was really cloudy) with 5 others, haha, so much for romance! But it was great, those sisters from Vik know how to entertain, hehe, they even rap, hehehehe!
Now, lunchtime.
g
Mexico City
We managed to get some sleep, moved to a more quiet place, and had lovely days with our happy hosts in central parts of the city, ate a lot of interesting and really good food, and I have to say that mexican food is nothing like the "mexican food" we get back home, um um um, this is real stuff! We are quite brave when it comes to street stalls and street food now, and enjoyed a lot of great and cheap food in Mexico City.
The best thing about Mexico City was meeting up with our Norwegian friends Kristian and Martine, who have been traveling in South America and Central America for 10 months, we all had a lot of stories to tell, and spent a lot of time together:) grrreat times! We even went to a bullfight, you know, the real spanish thing with a matador and a bull and all, and it was, well, how can I even tell this, I know a lot of my animal loving friends will stòp loving me now, but it really was interesting! Like, really interesting, the stadion was full of people, and they treat the matador like a king or the biggest hero ever, and the ambience was amazing!! And what a show! They use approximately 30 minutes or more on each bull, and it really is like a dance and looks very well coreografed and all the colors, and all the audience are quiet and then at the same time shout OLÊ and it is really special! And the rules, I thought it was just about killing the bull, but no, it is so much more. The last 2 minutes are awful, of course, and they , don´t read this if you don´t have a strong stomach, but they even cut off the bulls ears after it is dead, and the tail, depending on how good a performance the matador made, and how much the audience are cheering.. Which was a bit odd. And then the matador and his team of men walk slowly around the ring and people go crazy and throw their hats and jackets down so the matador can touch it, and then you have good luck, or something. What a show!
And I am sorry to all of you who are really disappointed in us for supporting this thing, but I am happy to have seen it for myself. Hah.
g
The best thing about Mexico City was meeting up with our Norwegian friends Kristian and Martine, who have been traveling in South America and Central America for 10 months, we all had a lot of stories to tell, and spent a lot of time together:) grrreat times! We even went to a bullfight, you know, the real spanish thing with a matador and a bull and all, and it was, well, how can I even tell this, I know a lot of my animal loving friends will stòp loving me now, but it really was interesting! Like, really interesting, the stadion was full of people, and they treat the matador like a king or the biggest hero ever, and the ambience was amazing!! And what a show! They use approximately 30 minutes or more on each bull, and it really is like a dance and looks very well coreografed and all the colors, and all the audience are quiet and then at the same time shout OLÊ and it is really special! And the rules, I thought it was just about killing the bull, but no, it is so much more. The last 2 minutes are awful, of course, and they , don´t read this if you don´t have a strong stomach, but they even cut off the bulls ears after it is dead, and the tail, depending on how good a performance the matador made, and how much the audience are cheering.. Which was a bit odd. And then the matador and his team of men walk slowly around the ring and people go crazy and throw their hats and jackets down so the matador can touch it, and then you have good luck, or something. What a show!
And I am sorry to all of you who are really disappointed in us for supporting this thing, but I am happy to have seen it for myself. Hah.
g
tirsdag 3. februar 2009
From Hobart to Mexico City!
We left Hobart on a thursday night, flew to Sydney, where my bigbrothersbestfriendfromchildhood, Hakon, picked us up from the airport, took us home and let us sleep on his couch. The Friday after, we spent seeing Sydney, alltogether we spent 20 hours in Sydney, not bad, or very bad, depends how you see things! We had enough time to see the Operahouse, The Rocks and the Bridge and also the botanical gardens and some other stuff, so it was good:) Then Hakon drove us back to the airport, where we spent 1 hour in line to check in, then found out the states has changed their rules again, so we needed an adress on where we were going to stay in Hawaii, in order to get to check in. That got very stressfull, with shouting airhostesses and an internet that didn´t work and all, but 5 minutes before they closed the check in, we had found an adress(was not the right one, but never mind) and we ran threw immigration and customs and to the gate, and made it! PUH!! Still, didn´t sleep at all that well on the plane, and we were really tired when we got to Hawaii in the morning, to have another Friday(we crossed the dateline, so we have had 2 Friday the 30th January 2009, beat that!!), and spent most of the day in different cafes, waiting for our host to pick us up after work. Turns out he worked for the army and lived just outside Pearl Harbor!
Saturday we went to the beach, with a lot of family of the host, cousins and uncles and wifes and babys and all, and Kristoffer learned the basics in surfing! He has still got sore muscles, hehe!After the beachlife, our host took us to a big big market, and after that he showed us Pearl Harbor(mostly closed, unless you pay a lot to be on a tour for tourists..) and we saw the biggest warships in the world and a lot of strange stuff, I dont know, I am not that into war, but I could see that it was big guns and stuff.. Hehe! Cool place to have seen, since not that many people get to see it!
On Sunday we spent the day with Charlotte, a girl I used to work with in Oppegaard, she is studying English in Hawaii, and lives almost on Waikiki Beach, the most famous beach in Honolulu. She showed us her Hawaii, and we had a great time! Thanks a lot for taking care of us, Charlotte!!:)
Then we flew from Honolulu to San Fransisco on Sunday night, with timedifferences and all it took 5 hours and we landed in San Fransisco 05 in the morning, took a train to town(went to the worng place first, turns out there is two Richmonds in San Fransisco, both with a bridge..) so when we at last got to the right place, to see The Golden Gate Bridge, you know, the one you see in all the movies, the red one, we had to jog/run 3 km(and the streets of San Fransisco is mainly up and down, and I mean crazy hilly!!) to get to a place where we could see the bridge! And then we took an old tram through the streets back to the train and got to the airport just in time to eat breakfast and go through customs and then fly to Mexico City. That took 5 hours too, and I cant remember a thing, I was too tired to do anything, I slept through it all!
We landed in Mexico City last night, and found the metro and found the way to our host here, and it turned out we were going to share a floor in an apartment with 16 people! The planned taking care of the jetlag didnt happen, to be honest, but it was only nice people so it is ok. Today I have been so tired, so I am really not enjoying Mexico yet, but give me some sleep and a coffee and I will be fine! Hopefully we can get some more sleep tonight!:)
No, time for lunch! Have a good one back home!
g
Saturday we went to the beach, with a lot of family of the host, cousins and uncles and wifes and babys and all, and Kristoffer learned the basics in surfing! He has still got sore muscles, hehe!After the beachlife, our host took us to a big big market, and after that he showed us Pearl Harbor(mostly closed, unless you pay a lot to be on a tour for tourists..) and we saw the biggest warships in the world and a lot of strange stuff, I dont know, I am not that into war, but I could see that it was big guns and stuff.. Hehe! Cool place to have seen, since not that many people get to see it!
On Sunday we spent the day with Charlotte, a girl I used to work with in Oppegaard, she is studying English in Hawaii, and lives almost on Waikiki Beach, the most famous beach in Honolulu. She showed us her Hawaii, and we had a great time! Thanks a lot for taking care of us, Charlotte!!:)
Then we flew from Honolulu to San Fransisco on Sunday night, with timedifferences and all it took 5 hours and we landed in San Fransisco 05 in the morning, took a train to town(went to the worng place first, turns out there is two Richmonds in San Fransisco, both with a bridge..) so when we at last got to the right place, to see The Golden Gate Bridge, you know, the one you see in all the movies, the red one, we had to jog/run 3 km(and the streets of San Fransisco is mainly up and down, and I mean crazy hilly!!) to get to a place where we could see the bridge! And then we took an old tram through the streets back to the train and got to the airport just in time to eat breakfast and go through customs and then fly to Mexico City. That took 5 hours too, and I cant remember a thing, I was too tired to do anything, I slept through it all!
We landed in Mexico City last night, and found the metro and found the way to our host here, and it turned out we were going to share a floor in an apartment with 16 people! The planned taking care of the jetlag didnt happen, to be honest, but it was only nice people so it is ok. Today I have been so tired, so I am really not enjoying Mexico yet, but give me some sleep and a coffee and I will be fine! Hopefully we can get some more sleep tonight!:)
No, time for lunch! Have a good one back home!
g
tirsdag 27. januar 2009
Back to Hobart.
We left Devonport Friday night(the 23rd), and have had a lovely long weekend in Hobart, staying with a local guy called James Parry! The long weekend was because of Australia Day on Monday, like 17.mai, just without the parades:) We went to the beach, and James held a concert(turns out he is a very talented musician!) and then we drove from barbeque to barbeque, just like every australian does that day, it is all about summer and sun and barbeque and not have to work.
Interestingly enough, the Indigenous people call it Invation Day, so to honour them and tell the world we see their side of the story too, and that it is a horrible story, we wore stickers with the Aboriginal Flag, in black and red with a yellow sun in the middle.
All in all it was a good day!
The rest of the time in Hobart, we have been fixing money stuff in the bank, gone to the museum, James has shown us the inside of Knockwood, that's an institution in Hobart, a pub that is more than 100 years old, called Nobby by the australians(why oh why do they have to make shortnames for everuthing? Aussie(Australia/australian), Tassie(Tasmania), Oz(Australia), Tas Vac( Tasmanian Vacuum Cleaners) and so on and so on.. Everything should end with ssie... or something:) Hahaha!) and read a lot of books and basically not been stressed out:) It's been a good week, and as we knew, so much more is going on in Hobart, compared to Devonport.. Turns out Devonport is the 3rd biggest city in Tassie(hehehe), and it is small... Well, all of Tassie(hehehe) is 500 000 people, so it is not the biggest place ever:) But Hobart has got charm and a good musicscene, it's share of the worlds happy hippies and nice cafees, and is not at all a bad place to stay for a few days:)
And now we're going to see the museum again, didn't have time to see it all yesterday!
g
Interestingly enough, the Indigenous people call it Invation Day, so to honour them and tell the world we see their side of the story too, and that it is a horrible story, we wore stickers with the Aboriginal Flag, in black and red with a yellow sun in the middle.
All in all it was a good day!
The rest of the time in Hobart, we have been fixing money stuff in the bank, gone to the museum, James has shown us the inside of Knockwood, that's an institution in Hobart, a pub that is more than 100 years old, called Nobby by the australians(why oh why do they have to make shortnames for everuthing? Aussie(Australia/australian), Tassie(Tasmania), Oz(Australia), Tas Vac( Tasmanian Vacuum Cleaners) and so on and so on.. Everything should end with ssie... or something:) Hahaha!) and read a lot of books and basically not been stressed out:) It's been a good week, and as we knew, so much more is going on in Hobart, compared to Devonport.. Turns out Devonport is the 3rd biggest city in Tassie(hehehe), and it is small... Well, all of Tassie(hehehe) is 500 000 people, so it is not the biggest place ever:) But Hobart has got charm and a good musicscene, it's share of the worlds happy hippies and nice cafees, and is not at all a bad place to stay for a few days:)
And now we're going to see the museum again, didn't have time to see it all yesterday!
g
torsdag 22. januar 2009
Lakris-spisere
Siden 25 desember har vi naa spist 800 gr salt lakris, julegave fra Marit og Jason, tusen takk for gaven!
Hehe, vi regna paa det og Kristoffer har spist gjennomsnittlig 20 gr pr dag, 600 gr til sammen..
GRATULERER KRISTOFFER, FOR FANTASTISK INNSATS!
g
Hehe, vi regna paa det og Kristoffer har spist gjennomsnittlig 20 gr pr dag, 600 gr til sammen..
GRATULERER KRISTOFFER, FOR FANTASTISK INNSATS!
g
tirsdag 20. januar 2009
Hobart and Devonport
Here comes a tiny diary..
After enjoying Hobart and couchsurfing with Joanna for a few days, desperately calling every fruitfarm we could find on Yelow Pages, this happened:
Wed 14th january
0830 in the morning we are woken by the phone(slept long because of an excellent barbeque with Joanna and her friends the night before). It was Spreyton Fruitfarm needing pickers, and we said yes, of course!
So we packed our bags and ran for the bus, and went to Devonport, north on Tasmania(Hobart is all the way down south), that took all day. We met a really nice girl/woman on the bus, Jennifer, and she and her dad helped us finding a hostel for the night and everything, nice people! She even invited us for a concert on Sunday..
The lady at the hostel were quite negative, and said it wasn't season, so we probably didn't have a job after all.. So we went to bed a bit down.
Thursday 15th January
Woke up quite early, and called Spreyton Frutifarm. We got a job! We just had to get there by our selves.. It was only 6 km they said, so we tried to walk. Turned out to be more like 10 km, took us two hours.. That's a loooong way to work! But we could start straight away, so we just signed and started picking cherrys, and surprisingly pleasant job! Outside all day, sunshine, all good:) And we even got a bus back home, got a lift 3 km and then took the bus the remaining 7 km, and we were so tired, but when we finally got to the hostel, it turned out we didn't have a bed, the dorm was fully booked! So our bags was just pressed into the corner. Luckily they had another room.. So we had at least a place to stay for the night.
Friday 16th.
Up early, ran to the bus, almost missed it, cause we didn't know where it left from. Got to the farm at 8:45, after the bus, we still had to walk 3 loooong km.. Worked all day, and got a lift so we made it to the last bus home that day. Got to the hostel, and had to move, they were fully booked for the weekend. Put the backpacks on and walked 2 km to another hostel. Ate dinner at Hungry Jacks(Burger King)
Saturday 17th
Had to move to another hostel, cause they were full.. Enjoyed a day off, not doing much. Went to the cinema at night. Was ok.
Sunday 18th
An amazing day!
Jennifers dad, Glen, picked us up in Devonport(This is the people who helped us on Wednesday..)and drove us to Ulverstone, where the concert was. Turns out it is Jennifer that is playing, classic piano improvisation, it might have been a world premier on that kind of concert. She is really talented and has been a pianist for 23 years! And we had no idea she was a musician! Amazing! I have never heard anything like that, she just sat down and played, picked the notes down from the air or something, it was extraordinary!
After the concert, we went home to their house, and had coffee and sandwiches. When everyone else had left, the family decided to take us on a roadtrip, so we drove around for a few hours, seeing opiumfields(yes, it is opium, but for pharmaceutical use, and we couldn't take a picutre, the fields are watched with satelite..) Gunns Plains(amazing valley view..), and Ocean road. We ended the trip in a pizza place, and had dinner, and then they drove us home. Amazing!
Monday 19th
Up early, bus, walk 3 km, work all day, ran, I said RAN to catch the bus home(last bus..) and we made it! We even made it to the bikeshop, and rented 2 bikes, so now we didn't have to stress with the bus in the morning and we could get to work on time. Great!
Tuesday 20th.
Had to get up at 0530, pack our bags(had to move hostel that day too, cause they didn't allow people to stay more than 3 nights.. I don't know why! Just a rule..), breakfast, and then 10 km bikeride to work! Got there at 7:30 in the morning! great! Worked all day, and at 4:15 pm(15 minutes before we're finished for the day) they tell us that we are fired. FIRED!!! No more job.. Not enought cherrys for all the pickers, so the backpackers got fired first.. Puh! So ironic, we had just got the bikes!
So we left the farm, and were a bit sad and everything. And then we had to get back on our bikes, 10 km, and get our bags. And then ride back towards the farm for 3 km to get to the new hostel... A long day. And so ironic, we had finally solved the transportationproblem, and found a place to stay that was closer to the farm. And then they fired us.. Hm.. Many bad words would fit in here, haha!:)
Wednesday 21st
Well, yeah, that's today, and I think maybe it is time for us to see that Devonport is not the place for us, this is not meant to be, hahaha!:) In one week we'll leave for Sydney and then Honolulu, and then Mexico.. So we should just let it go and enjoy Tasmania!(On the bike we have paid for for so many days and now not need anymore?) Hehehe!:)
Yep, that was our week, any better?
g:)
After enjoying Hobart and couchsurfing with Joanna for a few days, desperately calling every fruitfarm we could find on Yelow Pages, this happened:
Wed 14th january
0830 in the morning we are woken by the phone(slept long because of an excellent barbeque with Joanna and her friends the night before). It was Spreyton Fruitfarm needing pickers, and we said yes, of course!
So we packed our bags and ran for the bus, and went to Devonport, north on Tasmania(Hobart is all the way down south), that took all day. We met a really nice girl/woman on the bus, Jennifer, and she and her dad helped us finding a hostel for the night and everything, nice people! She even invited us for a concert on Sunday..
The lady at the hostel were quite negative, and said it wasn't season, so we probably didn't have a job after all.. So we went to bed a bit down.
Thursday 15th January
Woke up quite early, and called Spreyton Frutifarm. We got a job! We just had to get there by our selves.. It was only 6 km they said, so we tried to walk. Turned out to be more like 10 km, took us two hours.. That's a loooong way to work! But we could start straight away, so we just signed and started picking cherrys, and surprisingly pleasant job! Outside all day, sunshine, all good:) And we even got a bus back home, got a lift 3 km and then took the bus the remaining 7 km, and we were so tired, but when we finally got to the hostel, it turned out we didn't have a bed, the dorm was fully booked! So our bags was just pressed into the corner. Luckily they had another room.. So we had at least a place to stay for the night.
Friday 16th.
Up early, ran to the bus, almost missed it, cause we didn't know where it left from. Got to the farm at 8:45, after the bus, we still had to walk 3 loooong km.. Worked all day, and got a lift so we made it to the last bus home that day. Got to the hostel, and had to move, they were fully booked for the weekend. Put the backpacks on and walked 2 km to another hostel. Ate dinner at Hungry Jacks(Burger King)
Saturday 17th
Had to move to another hostel, cause they were full.. Enjoyed a day off, not doing much. Went to the cinema at night. Was ok.
Sunday 18th
An amazing day!
Jennifers dad, Glen, picked us up in Devonport(This is the people who helped us on Wednesday..)and drove us to Ulverstone, where the concert was. Turns out it is Jennifer that is playing, classic piano improvisation, it might have been a world premier on that kind of concert. She is really talented and has been a pianist for 23 years! And we had no idea she was a musician! Amazing! I have never heard anything like that, she just sat down and played, picked the notes down from the air or something, it was extraordinary!
After the concert, we went home to their house, and had coffee and sandwiches. When everyone else had left, the family decided to take us on a roadtrip, so we drove around for a few hours, seeing opiumfields(yes, it is opium, but for pharmaceutical use, and we couldn't take a picutre, the fields are watched with satelite..) Gunns Plains(amazing valley view..), and Ocean road. We ended the trip in a pizza place, and had dinner, and then they drove us home. Amazing!
Monday 19th
Up early, bus, walk 3 km, work all day, ran, I said RAN to catch the bus home(last bus..) and we made it! We even made it to the bikeshop, and rented 2 bikes, so now we didn't have to stress with the bus in the morning and we could get to work on time. Great!
Tuesday 20th.
Had to get up at 0530, pack our bags(had to move hostel that day too, cause they didn't allow people to stay more than 3 nights.. I don't know why! Just a rule..), breakfast, and then 10 km bikeride to work! Got there at 7:30 in the morning! great! Worked all day, and at 4:15 pm(15 minutes before we're finished for the day) they tell us that we are fired. FIRED!!! No more job.. Not enought cherrys for all the pickers, so the backpackers got fired first.. Puh! So ironic, we had just got the bikes!
So we left the farm, and were a bit sad and everything. And then we had to get back on our bikes, 10 km, and get our bags. And then ride back towards the farm for 3 km to get to the new hostel... A long day. And so ironic, we had finally solved the transportationproblem, and found a place to stay that was closer to the farm. And then they fired us.. Hm.. Many bad words would fit in here, haha!:)
Wednesday 21st
Well, yeah, that's today, and I think maybe it is time for us to see that Devonport is not the place for us, this is not meant to be, hahaha!:) In one week we'll leave for Sydney and then Honolulu, and then Mexico.. So we should just let it go and enjoy Tasmania!(On the bike we have paid for for so many days and now not need anymore?) Hehehe!:)
Yep, that was our week, any better?
g:)
lørdag 10. januar 2009
From Melbourne to Hobart, to find a job..
We had a great time in Melbourne, and were able to stay longer than planned, because of Charlie, our couhcsurfing host, we stayed almost a week on his couch, great times:) Managed to see a concert with Lykke Li(from Sweden) and a lot of cafe's and surely a lot of internetcafes to, trying to figure things out.
We went to the government tax office one day, and the ugly guy in there laughed at us when we asked if we could get our tax back, and then he said slowly: N-O, Y-O-U C-A-N N-O-T G-E-T Y-O-U-R M-O-N-E-Y B-A-C-K , Y-O-U A-R-E O-N A H-O-L-I-D-A-Y, A H-O-L-I-D-A-Y... So apparently it makes perfectly sense to the government to take advantage of poor backpackers that are leaving the country, we have only paid 30% tax, and we're not using any of the good stuff coming from taxes in this country.. How stupid. And in a way horrible, it is so much money......
So we left Melbourne(were we had a great time, except from that horrible guy in the tax office..) and went to Hobart, on Tasmania, because everyone said that's where to go now, if you want a job for a few weeks! It is fruitpicking going on, a lot of it, but as it shows, everyone else has had the same idea, so here we are, soon we have called all the fruitfarm on this island, and none needs help.. Just not meant to be? Is that so? Horrible news, if you ask me!
But we have some good news too!(apart from being unemployed, which is really a dreadful feeling, even if it is only for a few days or weeks, we feel so useless! Not good..) We have bought tickets to Central America! The 30th of January we will fly to Honolulu(yes, Hawaii baby!!) and stay there a few days, then we have got tickets from Honolulu to Mexico City, where we will land in the beginning of February. Can't wait! So if we can't find a job now, we will just eat nudles for 3 weeks and then go to central america where everything is cheaper:) Sounds like a good plan to me:)
And that's about it!
If anyone knows anyone who needs a helping hand for 2 weeks time on Tasmania, let us know:) We'll do pretty much anything!
You have a good one, then!
g
We went to the government tax office one day, and the ugly guy in there laughed at us when we asked if we could get our tax back, and then he said slowly: N-O, Y-O-U C-A-N N-O-T G-E-T Y-O-U-R M-O-N-E-Y B-A-C-K , Y-O-U A-R-E O-N A H-O-L-I-D-A-Y, A H-O-L-I-D-A-Y... So apparently it makes perfectly sense to the government to take advantage of poor backpackers that are leaving the country, we have only paid 30% tax, and we're not using any of the good stuff coming from taxes in this country.. How stupid. And in a way horrible, it is so much money......
So we left Melbourne(were we had a great time, except from that horrible guy in the tax office..) and went to Hobart, on Tasmania, because everyone said that's where to go now, if you want a job for a few weeks! It is fruitpicking going on, a lot of it, but as it shows, everyone else has had the same idea, so here we are, soon we have called all the fruitfarm on this island, and none needs help.. Just not meant to be? Is that so? Horrible news, if you ask me!
But we have some good news too!(apart from being unemployed, which is really a dreadful feeling, even if it is only for a few days or weeks, we feel so useless! Not good..) We have bought tickets to Central America! The 30th of January we will fly to Honolulu(yes, Hawaii baby!!) and stay there a few days, then we have got tickets from Honolulu to Mexico City, where we will land in the beginning of February. Can't wait! So if we can't find a job now, we will just eat nudles for 3 weeks and then go to central america where everything is cheaper:) Sounds like a good plan to me:)
And that's about it!
If anyone knows anyone who needs a helping hand for 2 weeks time on Tasmania, let us know:) We'll do pretty much anything!
You have a good one, then!
g
Abonner på:
Innlegg (Atom)
