Unemployed

3 months have passed since I began working for the Swedish equivalent of TNT, Fedex and DPD and now my contract is up. Having some extra cash over the summer holiday is nice, but I sure do love wasting my time on those rainy swedish summer days. Yes Sir I do...
But those days will soon be over. Soon I'll be in the promised land of liver necrosis and warm beer. UK here I come. But not just yet. Staring at the dark Malmö sky I figure I will always remember it this way. Bright, but rainy. Probably like the UK but not quite.
Other news: Well, there isn't any really.

Zee Grand Finale

So folks, now that I've been home a couple of weeks, I've decided to finally finish of the fantastic tale of the BIATCH. The trip that definetly will become the beacon of light and nostalgia when they lock me up in a moldy old classroom and hand me back the life of labour , hard work and strive.
Let's just pick up where I last left y'all.
After La Fortuna, the GAP trip was nearing it's end and we made our way to the capital of Costa Rica, San José.
The transportation was the good ol' switch bus, switch bus until we arrived safely in San José. As the last place we would sleep, GAP arranged a rather nice hotel with nice soft big beds and all the coffee a man can drink. Now that was the life. Cable TV and coffee. Coffee and TV. But just for a little while. We had our farewell dinner, gave a tip to Pedro which was compulsary by GAP regulations. 20 USD per week and person. We travelled with Gap for about 4 weeks. You do the maths. But the solution to our economic problem solved itself really. We passed a brown envelope around and every one put in as much as they wanted. Slipped him a nice 20 USD bill. Fair or not fair, we are student/bums so paying that kind of a tip would mean starvation for the rest of the trip. That wasn't going to happen... I hate being forced to pay tip. Even at restaurants they simply put the service charge in the bill, even when the service is crappy. Hate that stuff
Yes, we had our farewell dinner, and of course went out to party on the last day with the group. If anyone hasn't heard this before, I need to inform you that San José is rumoured to be a very dangerous city, with drug crazed transvestites roaming the parks at night.
The club we were headed to was on the other side of the central park, so we decided to play it a little safe. We went around. I must remark that we didn't see anyone on the streets. No people, no thugs and definetly no drug crazed transvestites.
The club was great, Latin music, lot's of perty girls. Definetly a good night to be out partying.
The next day, the group said Hasta la vista and we all went our separte ways.
most people flew home, me Micke and Filippa went on to Puerto Viejo, on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica.
We took the bus and arrived at Rocking J's, where you could rent a comfy hammock for 5USD/night, or a tent for 6USD.
Rented a tent and this is the place, ladies and gentlemen where we spent our last days of the trip.
In Puerto Viejo, we enjoyed beaches suitable for postcards, with warm water, great people and awesome atmosphere. Well. speaking about atmosphere, it wasn't very healthy. People smoked weed everywhere and always. Rain or sun, day or night, people at Rocking J's were toking up. Insane. No one cared about cops and people spent their days laying on the beach, and the nights at local bars. Despite the heavily contaminated air (the smell of sweet Mary Jane everwhere), it was a great place to relax and waste our days. We were going from beach, to dinner, to bar to bed for almost 7 days. I couldn't even imagine there even existed a place like this in the world. No place I ever have been to was so relaxed and so independent of time. Not that I carried a watch anyway but it was great not to care what time it was. Nothing mattered here. If you were hungry, you ate, if you were thirsty, you drank. If you were tired you slept. Cool place indeed.
But time flew us by and we had to return to San José to catch our flight. Cheap bastards as we were /are we arrived in San José on the 23rd, ate at Burger King then headed directly to the airport where we spent the night and day until our flight 17:00.
Great and cheap experience. We entertained ourselved by watching some dudes wrap their luggage in plastic (what's up with that?) and by rating them according to performance.
We were informed that our connecting flight from Madrid to CPH was cancelled, so Iberia payed for a hotelnight in the heart of Madrid. Wicked town I must say. We ate dinner, had a real continental breakfast (I have NEVER EVER eaten so much. it was pure gluttony. I ate so much I felt ill and then I ate some more, it was soo good) and flew back to Sweden. Of course we filed a formal complaint about the flight being cancelled and according to european law we are entiteled to compensation, but that'll probably take ages.
But yes, we came back to the cold cold motherland and so ended the BIATCH. Worth every penny and every second. I saw alot of things and learned even more about the world and different cultures. I also found some of the answers I was looking for in what to do with my life. I can summerise it as follows: Rich is the way to be. Not because of the money but because the possibilities and freedom that comes with financial independece. How I will reach that level is a completly different matter but I'll definetly give it a shot.
Now it's time to embrace the new life. No more bumming around. Time to do what I am supposed to do.
But I'll always remember this trip, with a heart warming nostalgia and dream back to the days of laying on tropical beaches, soaking the sun and enjoying the feeling of only existing in the moment...

La Fortuna

La Fortuna, Costa Rica. The city of hot springs, vulcanoes and adventure sports. We arrived in La Fortuna after a rather quick drive from Monteverde. This city is small. Really small. Like 9 blocks in total I would say, but all of them are filled with adventure operators. So of course, we had to do something, and when in La Fortuna, you do what everybody does... Hike up the vulcano! A little info about the Fortuna Vulcano. People began suspecting something when their usually cold river started turning into a warm stream. Wasn´t that great? Hot and for free! But just to be sure, soem people were hired in to investigate it. They came to the conclusion that the mountain near the village wasn´t a mountain but a vulcano. But people didn´t really mind and didn´t move. On the 29th of July 1968 (great date eeh. note that 68 is 86 backwards!) the vulcano erupted, covering the village in liquid hot magma... And lava stones aswell. Another village was rebult, the one that is La Fortuna and tourists poured in to se the secondary tropical humid forrest, the hotsprings and the volcano. So we went aswell. It was a pleasant hike, nothiung rough unfortunetly, when we look at the vulcano, see a big puff of gases and small redglowing boulder turning black and then rolling down the vulcano, leaving a trail of dust and fumes behind it. The guide told us that small eruptions happen all the time, but it has been quite a while he saw one as big as this one. We were at quite a distance from the vulcano (apperantly safety regulations only allow tourists to reach the base of the vulcano so we could go up it) but we could see the thing go tumbeling down anyway. The guide said the rock was as big as a bus. Wicked!
Then it was off to one of the most relaxing things I have done on this trip. Hot springs. Hot water pumped up to a Aq-Va-Kul kind of place. Lots of tourists but my old aching joints didn´t care. Ah.... Just what the doctor prescribed.
So thats what we have been up to more or less in La Fortuna.
I must mention that it seems that no emails are getting through to me so if you wish, please leave a message on the comment section of the blog.
I´m almost home friends so I´ll see you soon.

Back online... for now.

Back online my friends and boy have you been missing out.
Quite frankly, it is way to much to write exactly what has happened but I´ll write the highlights.
Honduras was a blast. Alot of beach, alot of relaxing, some clubbing. a swinging good time.
In Nicaragua I met up with a friend I met in Goettingen 2 years ago. Oliver. He lives in San Marcos outside of Grenada. On the island of Ometepe the highlight was when I fell off a bike and hit a rather rocky road (my poor poor camera, still working but it got a rather nasty beating).
Mainhighlight yes...
Currently I´m sitting at a Internet café in Monterverde, Costa Rica. The last country we are going to visit. It´s probably just as cold as sweden because we´re up the mountains but I´ll keep you updated friends. I´m almost home. Won´t be long so just hold on.

Honduras

Here we are again. We have just crossed the border over to Honduras. Haven't seen much yet but I bet its going to be good.
The last day in Guatemala was pretty good. I finally got a proper shot of espresso (local coffee of course) and Antigua began easter celebrations with a big procession. There were flowers on the street, everyone dressed in purple (a traditional color). Quite fascinating! Other news is that the first part of the trip has ended, some of the friends we met are now on their way home, and others have taken their places on this trip to San Jose, Costa Rica... We'll keep you updated if we can. There is still uncertainty about the availability of internet cafes...

Back in Antigua

Well friends. We went to Panajachel, by chicken bus. took 5 hours and wasn't even half as bad as the Siem Reap bus. the town is located right by lake Atitlan. Big lake, created by volcanos and speaking of which, there were 3 active volcanes by the lake... Nice and safe. We mainly cruised around, went swimming, visited a couple of town with extremly crowded markets. No biggies really. Except that all the women wore traditional dresses all day long. That looked pretty cool actually.
Other news. After being rejected by almost all schools I applied for in the USA, University of California Berkeley saved my arse and offered my a place. Now I have to decide if the states is the place for me or if I should take the offers from England instead. Decisions decisions decisions....
Anyhow. We're back in Antigua now, just had my hear cut and got a shave aswell. There really is no feeling like a straight razor. Why aren't there more barbershops in Europe??
This was just a quick update. I'll post something else right before we leave Guatemalaor when we arrive in Honduras.

Alive and well in Guatemala

Allright. Where should I start... First of all, I apologise for not updating the blog since Belize (ATM Caves). There are two main reasons for that. The primary one is that as we entered Guatemala, prices for internet went up, and availability dropped to almost, almost nill. So I haven't actually had access to a computer for this time. Another reason is that time really flies by here. It's like Belize one day, Guatemala the next an voila, 4 days have passed. But I do my best.. SO....
What was the last scoop. Yeah... the furry tarantula... Great stuff. The next day we packed our bags and headed down to the Belize Guatemala border... And guess what. Belize liked us so much and they wanted us to stay so badly that we had to pay 18 USD just to leave the country... Isn't that sweet... Except for that little detail I really enjoyed Belize. Oh well. After passing the border and avoiding our tourleaders dodgy "pals" who love to exchange our cash into the new local currency with insane commisions we drove on to the beautiful city of Flores. Flores is a small island (take 20 minutes to walk around and about 15 minutes to reach a slightly larger town S:t Helena) that is rather expensive but it has personality. And like its said in Pulp Fiction. Personality goes a long way. But besides the feel to the town, there was really nothing to do. Just walk around, waste the day. Anyway, in Flores, I realised three things. First of all: There is a great restaurant by the beaches that serves killer chicken shishkebabs. I mean REALLY good. The second thing is that Guatemala has really good lager. The third, and this one is a real treat my friends... My bankcard is not accepted the ATMS in Flores. Yay... Need I say that it was not living on the extremely small amount I had exchanged? Anyway. the big thing in Flores was the day trip to a Mayan city, Tikal, Lot of temples, beautiful architecture and lots of howler monkeys, spider monkeys and stuff like that (video/photo evidence available). Long walks though. Took us like 5 hours to get around (including short stops)...
Moving on from Flores. 5 hours on a rather comfy bus (I mean it) we arrived in Rio Dulce. Rio Dulce, is located next to a river (wasn't that a surprise?) which we had to cross to get to a jungle hacienda named Tijax. It was like Trek stop (if you recall), alot of trees but normal toilets and really bad managment. I ordered chicken breast at the restaurant, got a raw, yes raw and bloody chickenleg... Sent it back, still chickenleg... Smegin (*^@$%&*$^(@*).
Oh yes. Another difference. At Trek stop, the only really nasty spider we saw was the owners pet tarantula. At Tijax, there were big ass, nasty spiders everytime you entered your cabin. With FANGS and stuff. But good bless DEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide), insect repellent. Got those things on the run. Plus cockroaches but we just threw them into the river and saw how fish devoured them... great fun I say.
Anyway. We spent our day walking a couple of kilometers to a castle outside rio dulce. Castillo de San Felipe I think it was called. Something like that. The castle wasn't that interesting but the walk there! Great. Lot of nature and you pass a few really small town. Recommended.
On the way back I tried my bankcard in Rio Dulce instead. Didn't work. I came to the conclusion that my card won't work in Guatemala... Pardon my french but that sucks ass considering my current financial situation. But no worries. I walked into a bank and got money the good old fashioned way. Armed robbery (I kid). No problems at the bank so I've got some money for food now (yay!). Moving on...
We stayed two nights then moved on to Antigua, where I m located at the moment. There is a lovely active vulcano about 30-50 kilometers away that had a rather violent eruption last month. But we have all been practicing the emergency "duck and cover" routine... Just in case.
It's another town with personallity, the hotel is great and food prices are cheap. My kind of town! We just arrived today so we haven't seen that much but you can expect and update in about 3-4 days.
I'm doing fine, travelling with the group is rather fun. Great people and we do what we want anyway.
I hope all is well with everyone! Cheers friends and see you soon.