I'm in love again, again!

Yes I am, I'm in love.

I'm in love with moments in time, I'm in love with all the wonderful people that have been around me this last year. And the ones that have always been there. I'm in love with places that I have come across on this journey and the feelings these special places have given me.

There is so much beauty around the world and I have been so lucky to be able to just travel around and take it all in for the better parts of a year. I think I have learned to appreciate beauty more than I did before, as well as I have learned to take pleasure in the the small things in life. Every day I see things that makes me smile and think to my self what a wonderful world we are living in and I tell my self I'm lucky to be right here right now. Every choice and every decision I've made have led to something good. And they will continue to. No regrets, never.

Buddha once said "As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are. Otherwise you'll miss most of your life." I couldn't agree more. Be present, don't think about tomorrow or yesterday just be aware of the moment, whatever it might be and strive to see the positive in everything.

Life is short, break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that made you smile!

So be in love with the world and remember that ordinary things are beautiful too.

Hitch hiking Cuba

Traveling around Cuba on a tight budget is not the easiest thing you can do. The tourist busses are really expensive, and renting a car was not an option either when we were two girls without a driving license. But with a lot, a lot of patience, some spanish knowledge, a will to fight your way through and accept that you will be treated a bit worse than others, it's fully possible.

So we did. We hitch hiked through Cuba.

I was tiered, hot, angry as hell, I cried and I laughed, and I waited and waited and waited. But if you ask me if it was worth it, I would say yes. And wether I would do it again, definitely!

Inside a "human - truck" as we liked to call it. Crowded

On the back of a truck somewhere in Cuba

And there was waiting, lots of waiting.

La Havana

Magic on the Guatemalan highland

Steve in front of the church in Nebaj

one of many beautiful valleys we passed

the first village we stayed at consisted of about 20 houses

early morning breakfast in the mountains

el altiplano

mountain mist

Oh beauty!

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with god,
whatever you conceive him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

written by Max Ehrmann in the 1920s

Erupting volcanoes ans hurricanes.

It had been raining heavily for almost a week when Volcan de Pacaya erupted. It normally do erupt every now and then, but this time, it was a big eruption. For a night and a day it rained volcanic ashes over Guatemala City and the whole place turned black. In the villages close to the volcano people got evacuated fast. Unfortunately, not fast enough. Some people got stuck, and disappeared.

The rain didn’t stop. It felt like someone had opened the sky and was throwing water down over Guatemala with all their force. It soon became known that it was a hurricane that was sweeping across the country. Hurricane Agatha. The worst hurricane since Stan hit Guatemala in 2006.

I spent the next days with my friend Lili and her family in Patzicia, watching the news as the reality of the catastrophe became known. Guatemala City flooded because of all the volcanic ashes clogging all the cities drainage. All over the country rivers flooded, tearing down bridges, mudslides ruined crops, houses got caught in the slides and got covered under layers of mud, roads were blocked as the mud and trees piled up on the roads, some places the roads just simply disappeared. Over 200 people has died ( a number that I strongly believe is a huge understatement), thousands have been evacuated as their homes got flooded or were in risk of getting torn down. People lost everything they had. Hundreds were without homes, dry clothes and food for days. And as always, it is the poorest people that got hit the hardest and suffered the most.

My friends mom forbade me to leave their house for a few days until mother nature had settled, the roads got cleared and opened and things were somehow back to normal. As I left Patzicia and headed towards Lago de Atitlan ( supposedly the most beautiful lake in the world) I got to see with my own eyes the damages the country suffered. It was not a pretty sight that awaited me along the roads of Guatemala.

This used to be a road in San Marcos la Laguna

Half the road blocked by the mudslides in a remote are of Guatemala. The houses on the right are filled with mud or completely torn down.

Waiting for the road to be cleared so traffic can return to normal

Oh beautiful Guatemala

I fell in love with Guatemala as soon as I crossed the border from Mexico. The nature is beautiful; winding roads through never-ending green hills and mountains, cornfields as far as the eye can see, pine forests and tropical jungle in a wonderful mix all dotted by bright and colorful women walking along the roads carrying heavy bundles of food or firewood on their heads and a baby on the back.

The firs days in this country that I’ve been looking forward to visiting for so long, I spent in Antigua, a colonial town with bright colored buildings, cobbled stoned streets and a beautiful central park set in a valley surrounded by mountains and volcanoes. There is not much to do in Antigua so I strolled along the streets, got lost several times in the huge marked where you can find almost anything you could possibly want and I climbed the only active volcano in the area; volcan de Pacaya. It was an hour an a half walk straight up through beautiful surroundings and we were followed by a bunch of locals with horses trying to sell us a “taxi natural”. The last 30 minutes we were walking on old lava that got warmer and warmer the higher up we got. After grilling marshmallows on the lava and watching the sun set behind another volcano we made our way down to the waiting bus in the dark.

Antigua

Volcan de Pacaya

A few days in Antigua was enough so I went to stay at my friend Nelson’s house for two days. He lives in a small village called Chixolis and I can honestly say that I don’t think there has been many foreigners there before me. I got a lot of curious and surprised looks from the villagers as I made my way up through the hills with my big pack-pack to Nelson’s house. It was a nice change to get away from the tourist circuit of Antigua for a while to the quiet hillside village. I enjoyed listening to the birds sing all day long and as the dark came I sat watching the fireflies light up the cool night.

My next destination was Lanquin and Semuc Champey (meaning hiding river in the local Maya language). I got there and it was raining pretty heavily, but with the view from the guest house I was staying at the rain really didn’t matter. Surrounded by jungle and mountains the spectacular view was breathtaking as the heavy rain clouds hang low over the mountains.

View from the Guest house

The first day in Lanquin was spent in the hammocks, reading books, playing cards, chatting about all and nothing and enjoying hot chocolate and cinnamon buns hidden away from the rain. Day two I went out with some other travelers I had met at the guest house ventured out to Semuch Champey and the caves despite of the heavy rains. Inside the caves runs a river that is normally quite calm, but because of the rains the last days the reality turned out to be quite different. The currents were strong and the water level way higher than normal so the normally peaceful walk with candles through the caves became a struggle as we fought our way against the currents, swimming with one hand, holding on the to the walls trying to keep our candles (our only source of light) from going out as well as not to be dragged out into the big waterfall outside the cave. Quite an adventure if you ask me.

The sign outside the caves where we went in...

Semuc Champey