It's coming to an end!!

Yeah, I know I've been lazy about my blogging lately, but I think you've gotten a pretty good idea about what I've been doing by looking at my photos. And also, who's got time to read travel blogs during the hectic christmas/New Year's season anyway?

Well, I'm in my second last Latin America destination at the moment, Salento, Colombia! It's a beautiful place! Quiet, harmonic, full of green hills, cows, horses and friendly people. A perfect place to appreciate my last bit of lazyness before my real life catches up on me. But not only lazyness: Hiking, horseback riding and mountain biking!

 

Sooo. what have I been doing the last couple of months? (Relax, I'm not gonna try to describe everything in detail.) After Nicaragua, I spent about a month in Venezuela. It was just what I needed, a little break from the backpacker bubble. Because there aren't many tourists there! It's a shame, cause Venezuela has got a lot to offer: Beautiful sceneries including beaches, jungle, mountains, friendly people, adventure. But I guess it's considered too dangerous for most people, and I agree that you need to know what you're doing if you go there: In Caracas, for example, 40-70 people get killed every weekend! And in Merida (2 million people) 17 people got killed on New Year's eve and it wasn't even big news! I was lucky to have local guidance the whole time and nothing really happened to me. 

The last 3 weeks have been spent in Colombia! And everyone's been absolutely right: It's a GREAT country to travel in! And yes, the people are that friendly. I spent a week in a beach town, Taganga and beautiful Parque Tayrona, a national park full of beaches. I did a 3 day dive safari there, Advanced Diver - check!

Then I moved on to Cartagena and Medellin. Both big, modern cities: Cartagena is hot and colonial, Medellin is metropolitan and organized. Both great for partying and last minute - tanning by the hostel pool! The mud volcano in Cartagena was a highlight - like a girl said: Gives buoyancy a whole new meaning! There's no bottom in the mud, you float, even in upright position!  So, will I be the tannest doctor in Gjøvik? Don't really think so. My tan seems to last for 10 minutes and by the time I'm working it's gonna be more than 2 weeks since my last tanning session...

Adventure week in Honduras & Nicaragua!

After Utila, we went to Lago Yojoa, the biggest lake in Honduras. We heard there was a waterfall there, sounded nice enough. So we went to see it, and yep, it was nice enough. Then we got offered a tour behind the waterfall and it was CRAAZY! We didn't see any paths or caves, and we wondered how we would get in behind it. Well, we went RIGHT through it! The impact of the water hitting our backs was absurd, we had to cover our eyes and breathe through our noses. And you could look up and see the the water coming thundering down on us! The whole thing was topped by jumping a 10 meter drop into the river.

Next stop: Leon (after 4 chicken buses and a overnight stop, instead of the 2 direct buses in one day that we heard of). We went volcano boarding the same afternoon, JUST as crazy! This is what you do:
1.Hike up a volcano
2. Put on a orange prison style suit and goggles
3. Sit on your board, go down
4: If you're totally awesome: Be stupid and don't break until it's too late and get on the speed record board with 87km/h
5: If you're even more awesome: Take advantage of your complimentary 7 mojitos and get so embarassingly legless that your travel buddy has to walk you home and put you to bed.

The next day we went on a tour to the beach, where we cruised through the mangrove forests, released baby turtles on the beach, made a bonfire and slept under the stars. The next morning we went for a run on the beach and surfed a little.

After 2 packed days we went on to Granada. Spent less than a day there, just strolled around the city. Next stop was Isla Ometepe, a massive island in the even more massive Lake Nicaragua. It feels more like the ocean, just with fresh water; waves and everything! Here, we went horse back riding to a beautiful lagoon thingy and hiked a volcano. Probably not the most spectacular hike ever (no view whatsoever on the top), but nice jungely scenery and good exercise - took us 8 hours!

After this it was definately time some more relaxing beach time, so we went to San Juan del Sur, a surf town close to the Costa Rican border, much loved by backpackers. Yes, the place is FULL of them, but the atmosphere and nightlife is great, the surf good and the beaches beautiful. I stayed there for a few days, great not to pack my bag every 2 days!

More caribbean groove

Back to the caribbean coast! I bussed up to Rio Dulce and Livingston on the caribbean coast of Guatemala. Rio Dulce - Sweet River - is really sweet! Nice and quiet, blue skies and turquise water, jungle on the shores the whole way. I stayed in an amazing hotel on a secluded spot in the jungle at the shore, filled with hammocks, cats, dogs and with deilicioso family style dinners where everybody sat down together. I had some relaxing days, except that I was foolish enough to show the owner's daughter the games in my iPhone - she would't leave me alone after that. It was a bit disturbing when the 6 year old woke me up in my hammock saying "Tiineee, Tiiiineee, let's kill some zombies, it's so funny when the big ones get their heads chopped off!".

I did a day trip to Livingston, the only town in Guatemala with a black population. The atmosphere is quite different from the rest of the country, with a lot of rastafaris and creole slang. We had the pleasure of a little unofficial guided tour through the black neighbourhood. He told us all about that Livingston isn't all about reggae and chillin', the black population live in a very separated area, and has a lot more problems than the latinos. They live in poverty, the latinos control most of the resources and the tourist industry, and they usually don't hire black people.

Then I got 3 boats, 3 buses and a taxi, all in one day, to make it to Utila, Honduras! A caribbean island that's ALL about the diving. To be honest, I didn't really feel like I got to know Honduras there - it's very international and you might as well forget that you're supposed to practice your spanish. I stayed there for 6 days, got my open water diving certificate there, and loved it! Unfortunately no sharks or dolphins, but enough fish, stingrays, lobsters and a turtle to keep me entertained. I also played my first real poker game with money and got myself another bikini :) Most entertaining moment on land: A drunk diving instructur telling us about being a member of the Mile Low Club (people who's had sex underwater) - 10 meters depth! She taught us that you just to put on some extra weights and not waste too much time making it enjoyable.

Finding myself (or who I don't wanna be) in Lake Atitlan and dancing in Antigua

After 7 weeks in Mexico, I finally entered a new country!! I took a shuttle to San Pedro, by Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. A beautiful place to relax, loved by alternative long term stayers who want to find themselves, learning spanish, meditating, doing yoga and eating organic food, that sort of thing. I only spent 2 days there and kept mostly to myself, but I did have some interesting experiences:

I hiked a volcano, that felt more like a normal mountain, but with cool jungle and a beautiful view from the top. It was supposed to take 2,5 hours, but it took me almost 4, and nearly killed me! I thought I was pretty fit. It was just me and my small funny guide, which meant a lot of quality local chatting. It pleased me that his spanish was worse than mine sometimes - around the lake, they all speak tribal languages, each town seems to have their own.

The next morning I went swimming in the lake, beautiful!! That's where I had my most interesting/scary conversation so far on this trip: 

I met a fellow swimmer on the shore, a nice english 47 year old lady. She was a yoga teacher and staying in San Pedro for a few months, writing a book. Typical lake person. I got confirmed that she was on the alternative side when I told her I'd just finished med school: "Hospitals are just so barbaric, I think!" Thank you very much, ma'am, that's gonna be my work place in a couple of months. 

Then it got worse: I had noticed that she had an open wound in her face, I just guessed she'd swam into a rock or something. But now she told me that it had started off really small last year, and it had just kept growing. And haha, those silly doctors actually diagnosed it as skin cancer and wanted to cut it out! She would rather jump in front of a train; It would leave a terrible scar, and it would just be a temporary solution, since cancer is all about toxins circulating in your blood. No, her method was better: It was all about cleansing your whole system, she used strict diet, yoga, herbs and aloe vera. And it was healing, she could feel it! She was even taking photos of it as proof and was planning to write a book about it. Then I asked if it had actually become smaller. "Oh, no, it's bigger than ever! But that's because the toxins need to come out.". I didn't try too hard to convince her otherwise, just said that I couldn't be happier if this worked, but hoped that she would at least consider other options if it didn't heal soon. "Oh, no, that won't not necessary, it will all be gone in a month, maybe less." And the best part? Her boyfriend was a doctor.

After this disturbing talk I went to Antigua for a week. It's my second time in this city and I LOVE it. I thought I'd might get bored after a few days, since I didn't have spanish school or volunteer work like most people, and I did most of the sightseeing/touristy stuff on my last visit. But I enjoyed every minute! I just felt really at home. The first day we went to the circus, lots of entertainment for 1 dollar! The staff consisted of around 10 people, one guy seemed to do most of the acts. The only animals were dogs and a monkey we never actually saw performing, he was just hangig out behind the tent. Other highlights were creepy smurfs that scared the kids and a 12 year old chubby boy in a see-through shirt that could juggle with his feet. The rest of the week was spent walking around, eating great food, going to the market, hanging out on the rooftop terrace in the hostel, waiting for the volcano to erupt, which it did, several times! And of course dancing salsa!! Had private lessons every day, my teacher, Andres was really good, tiny and adorable. The social dancing in the evenings were also great fun, these guys can really dance! 

City life and death parties in San Cristóbal

 

After 3 weeks on the beach, I got a  night bus to San Cristóbal, a hippie-filled colonial town in Chiapas, Mexico. The cold nights were a bit harsh after the coast, but I enjoyed my stay a lot! I met up with a group I met in Puerto Escondido. It was nice to get an urban feeling again after inflatable killer whales and coconuts. We spent a lot of time just walking around in the streets between the chai lattes (we got addicted, had 2 every day). The best touristy thing there was a boat trip down a stunning canyon. 

We were also in San Cristóbal during el Dia de Muertes - The Day of the Dead. It's the day of the year to celebrate, not mourne, the dead. The town was full of decorations and dressed up people, quite similar to Halloween. But then the cemetery it was something I've never seen before: The whole place looked like a festival! The "streets" between the tomb stones (that were more like little houses) were full of people, big groups were gathered around the tomb stones (that were covered in colorful flowers) eating, laughing, drinking beer. People selling snacks, bands playing music. Not a single sad face, they were just partying with their lost ones! Would love to bring this tradition back home. The only thing less charming was that people threw their garbage on the ground. 

Beach bumming at the Pacific coast

After Oaxaca and a lethal 8 hour bus ride, me and my Aussie/Kiwi-crew arrived in Puerto Escondido, a surf town on the pacific coast of Mexico. And we loved it immediately! Well, except that we got a little overwhelmed the first night by an australian invastion of the rooftop terrace at the hostel. They fulfilled all stereotypes: Loud, drunk, blonde and VERY australian. We were sober, tired and disgusted.

But the next day everything turned out okay, Mayflower, the hostel, it definitely a place for beach bums and surfers who just want to hang out on the beach and have a good time. And most of them, like us, love it and stay longer than planned. Even if the water on the Pacific side isn't as crystal clear as on the Carribean coast, this was definitely more my kind of place: Yes, it's touristy but not to the same extent, and the atmosphere is more relaxed, surfy and backpackery. I was thrilled to see waves again, and to be surfing!! I got a huge reminder why I LOVE this sport, even if it's hard work and not very rewarding unless you're really good. I didn't even get put of it when one of the girls hit a rock and needed 30 (!) stitches on her thigh - 3 layers.

We also had a wonderful stay in Zipolite, a quiet town a bit further southeast on the coast. Not much to do there, but you don't need much if you live right ON a gorgeous beach like that. We did some activities tho:

-A mediocre snorkelig trip where the highlight was diving from a 5m rock (I'd never done more than 3m, and that in a swimming pool)

-Horseback riding on the beach. Superb as usual, and quite interesting to hear the guide's story about falling down from a 4 story building the year before and how it changed his view on life. And we went past a 7 year old plane wreck, which apparently had contained big amounts of cocaine, but the people in the plane and all the drugs got away.

After 6 days it was time to leave, like Chris said; "It's a bit like being on holiday with your parents, except cooler, freakier parents". The crowd was long term stayers, eccentrics in their 40/50's who sat on the beach and drank beer all day, getting wrinkly and high. We were just too young and normal.

After Zipolite, 50% of the crew (including me) actually went back to Puerto Escondido for some more beach time. We went to a Halloween Party, where me and Sarah, AND Chris, dressed up as slutty devils. We cross-dressed a french boy too, he turned out to have an impressive cleavage with the help of my favourite push-up bra.

Oaxaca

On the way to the pacific coast I made a stop in Oaxaca. Quite nice city, a bit bigger than Guanajuato and not as charming, but it's got quite a few sights nearby. We became quickly a nice group on people doing adventures together.

Day 1: Market and Mezcal tasting (Mezcal = similar to Tequila, but from a different region) and a bit of clubbing with some nice fellas we met at the Mezcal bar.

Day 2: Adventurous ride in the back of a truck to Hierva de Agua - gas and minerals bubbling up from the ground that make massive formations that look like petrified waterfalls (se picture). We had a bit of a hike to see all of it, which was rewarded with swimming in natural pools at the site afterwards. mmMmm!

Day 3: 8 Crazy gringos on bikes in the middle of Mexican traffic! We rode about 50km, first uphill to some ruins in Monte Alban, then to El Tule, the world's widest tree. The ruins were..you know, ruiny, the tree was BIG! A bit disturbing that there's a church next to it and it happened to be a funeral there that day, in the middle of us tourists taking pictures of the tree. Salsa dancing in the evening - not that many people but great fun. The only sort of mexican in our group made a fool of himself (and us) by shouting " La Bamba para los gringos!!!" to the band several times.