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

Honduras part 2: Under the caribbean sun

Utila is a beautiful little island where life goes by slowly The island is covered in coconut palms and diving schools, baleadas (traditional Honduran food made of a big wheat tortilla filled with beans, eggs, cheese and onions) and the best sea food I’ve had in a very long time. The locals are a mix of blacks, whites and latinos and even though Honduras is a spanish speaking country, it’s the caribbean broken english that dominates.

When we’re not diving our time is spent mostly in the hammocks out on the dock reading books, talking about all and nothing and napping every now and then. If it gets too hot, something that happens quite a lot, we jump in to the clear turquoise water and swim around for a while before we climb back into our hammocks for some more relaxation. As the sun goes down below the caribbean horizon and the colors explode over the sky we head out to one of the many restaurants and enjoy a feast of grilled fished; tuna, barracuda, kingfish or snapper. The choices are many and I’m loving it!

the dock and hammock area at sunset

As I said, time goes by slowly. But the days fly by and all of a sudden our national day, 17th of may, arrives. There is hand drawn flags, several liters of cheap booze, home made cake, balloons, bread and white cheese and big signs with our national anthem and other norwegian songs. Posters inviting anyone who wants to come celebrate with us are hung up all over the village and when there is no more booze left we are about 25 people parading down the street with lids and one harmonica as our only instruments, singing and shouting as we make our way to the amazing bar TreeTanic (the whole bare is a piece of art in the top of a tree) where the party continues till late!

the national anthem, booze and flag

parading through the streets

It was quite an interesting celebration and a good way to end a my week long stay in the caribbean!

Honduras part 1: Under the caribbean sea

I’ve always been a bit scared of water. Getting water in my eyes and nose has always made me panic. My mom used to make fun of me saying that when I was a kid I managed to take a shower without getting water in my face and that when I went swimming I always kept my head about a meter above the water to make sure that i never got water in my nose. So as you understand, water has never really been my strongest side.

And then, all of a sudden, I find myself on the small island of Utila in the caribbean sea on the northern coast of Honduras signing up to learn how to scuba dive!

Julianne, Erik and Vegard (three friends from Norway) had gotten to Utila a day before me, and as I step out of the boat (more like a floating metal box than a boat) from the mainland I expected to see them waiting. But no, on the dock I see a tall, blond, stranger standing with a sign saying “Ms. Maren Trondsen Johansen”. Surprised, I walk over to him and introduce myself. I figure that Julianne and the crew had sent him to get me. I find the whole situation quite funny and start laughing when I see my friends heads pop out from behind a building just down the road.

The four of us together with a funny danish guy starts our diving lessons the same afternoon with the first bits of theory that we have to go through. Our teacher is a laid back californian girl called Sarah and she turns out to be a great help as I struggle to conquer my fear of getting water in my nose.

Day two at the Island we get ready to go diving for the very first time. Putting on our super tight wet suits, fins and masks, weight belts and oxygen tanks I realize that I’m actually quite nervous.

The equipment ready to be put on

We get ourself with all the equipment on over to the end of the dock, it’s surprisingly heavy and walking with fins, weight belts and the tank on our back is a challenge on it’s own. And then we jump in, sink to the bottom (it’s only about two meters deep) and stand on our knees on the bottom. It takes a while before I realize that I can breath, but once I start breathing it’s pretty amazing to be down there. There’s a few exercises that needs to be done under water and everything goes just fine until I have to fill my mask with water and clear it out while being under water. Filling it up, water gets in my nose and I panic and shoot to the surface. I panic the first time, the second time and the third time. After about 5-6 failed attempts I finally manage to do it and the class continues.

happy divers

The next three days we dive of the boat in deeper water out in the lagoon. Our first dive we go down to 12 meters, swimming around the coral reef amongst tropical fishes in all sorts of colors is a wonderful experience. But what gave me the biggest kick was floating weightlessly under water, seeing other people above and below me and then, realizing that we’re actually breathing under water!

With every dive I get more and more exited about diving, the fear goes away as I got comfortable with the equipment, learn how to control my buoyancy, realize that I’m not going to drown under water and that I can handle (sort of) getting water in my nose.

After four days of classes, a day of fun diving and a very relaxed exam, I get certified as an open water diver. And yes, I am proud of that.

The girl who was scared of water learned to dive!

A day at the farm

Once again I find myself in a place where the day starts early.

early morning view over the Oaxaca valley

At 6am my alarm goes of and it is time to get up. It´s pitch black outside an all I can see is the lights from the city further down the valley. I head over to the outdoor kitchen and make myself some breakfast. Oatmeal porridge, a cup of tea and a good book is all it takes to cure me of my grumpy-morning-mood. And as I sit there, every mo
rning, looking out over the valley as the smallest hint of daylight starts appearing I realize that I actually like this time of day. Dawn is when everything starts over again and I think I like the thought of starting over again.

And then, an hour later, the work starts. Digging ditches, working the fields, cutting grass, making paths and harvesting honey from the agressive africanized bees they have at the farm, always making sure all the hard work gets done before the sun starts heating for real.

Around noon it´s time for lunch. Freshly coocked vegetables straight from the garden is enjoied in the shadows of the kitchen, away from the burning sun.

Some days we go out to the bees. I´m terrefied of bees, but dressed up in a space-suit-looking costume I went out there. The queen bee was moved, honey was harvested and braught back to the farm. I think it is the best honey I´ve ever tasted!

An afternoon nap is mandatory, a nice way to avoid the midday heat. When nap-time is over, I head out to the fields once again. It´s mostly planting and watering in the afternoon, not much hard work and that suits me very well.

And when the work is done for the day, I stit down with a cup of tea made of herbs from the garden and watch the mountains change color as the sun sets behind them. Every evening it looks different as the mountains turns different shades of blue, purple, orange or pink. And every evening is calm and quiet as the night slowly sinks in over the valley. I retire to my room after dinner to get a good nights sleep, because tomorrow is yet another early morning.

Semana Santa

Semana Santa, or easter as we call it, is a big deal in Mexico. Especially in central Mexico because they are the most religious parts of the country. And this was where I found myself during parts of the celebrations at least.

I had met up with a guy called Rodrigo (through CouchSurfing) from Queretaro who was my own private guide while I was there. He knows absolutely everything there is to know about his city's history, culture and traditions and was more than willing to share his knowledge with me and Andre , a couch surfer from Brazil that was also there at that time.

Me, Andre and Rodrigo

Queretaro is a beautiful old colonial town with a ridiculous number of churches, town squares and fountains, and with all its churches I think it's the perfect place for semana santa celebrations.

During the holidays the town is filled with visitors from all the cities and villages around (not many tourists though..) and when I say filled, I really mean filled! Everywhere you go there is people, food stands, balloons and cotton candy. It's almost like 17th of may back home. Despite the crowds, morning, mid-day and night, it's always really calm. And I like Queretaro for that.

My first day in town, Rodrigo and his mom takes me to a tiny village outside of Queretaro to show me a special kind of celebration that is nowhere to be found but there. Basically what happens is that the boys and the men of the village dresses up, half in masks and half without, and then they fight with machetes. Yes, real machetes, and yes, there are injuries, but nothing serous. It's a representation of good (no masks) fighting evil (masks) and this goes on for two days straight. It was really fun to see, up until the point where a group of masked guys get a bit to "interested" in me and get a bit too close with their machetes. But then came the police and chased them away. All good, just a little scare.

me with one of the creepy masked guys..

The same night is the night when everyone goes to church. No, not once, but seven times in seven different churches. And I tag along with Rodrigo and his mom. Think I've spent more time in churches since I came to Queretaro than the rest of my life combined. But it was interesting to see how devoted people are and how seriously they take their faith. It was a nice experience to go from church to church and watch people.

The next day begins the processions in town. An impressive silent procession with young girls dressed up as angels, monks in red, white, purple, black, grey and green clothes, all carrying big statues of different saints representing their brotherhood or big wooden crosses. And at the end comes the morning women dressed in black and purple. And it keeps going for quite some time. Think we spent about two hours watching the parade before it came to an end. And it was all quiet.

Baja California

So I made it to Mexico. The first two weeks were spent in the Baja peninsula on the western part of the country. My first stop after crossing the border in Tijuana was Ensenada. A quiet cost town with loads of wonderful people.

I spent my days there wandering the streets, eating fish tacos and sleeping on benches in the sun. One afternoon I found a place that had a dance session going on. It was the retired people in Ensenada that met up every Sunday to dance together. So of course, I joined. Spent about 5 hours dancing salsa with them, it was great fun!

The nights were spent at Hussongs Cantina, the oldest bar in California. A great place with all sorts of people, cheap drinks and good music. Live music all the time. BAnds that walk around and the guests can pay to get any song that they want. Wonderful.

salsa in ENsenada

Live music in the bar

Fun people at Hussongs Cantina

After a few days in Ensenada I got on a bus to head south. I stopped in Catavina, a tiny tiny place in the middle of the desert. There are rocks, cave paintings, cactuses and sun and that's about it. But it was a charming place and worth the stop over even though if it was only for a night.

The desert, mexican style.

I left the desert in a truck. Decided to hitch hike the rest of the way down south because the buses were really expensive. So, a truck driver picked me up. Was a bit skeptical to it, but he turned out to be a nice guy, so I was encouraged to keep up with the hitch hiking. I passed by Guerrero Negro where I went whale watching, then headed down south to Mulege. Mulege is a palm oasis in a desert valley. It is calm and quiet and nothing really happends in Mulege, which was perfect. 4 days doing nothing much except going to the beach, eating fish tacos (yes, I do love them) and watching Dexter with the retired american I was living with before I got into yet another car which had "Ditch the bitch and let's go racing" written on the front window, and headed south to La Paz, my last stop before heading to mainland Mexico.

Mulege

Baja has been lovely, but I feel like it is Mexico light. Looking forward to exploring the mainland and seeing more of this huge country!

Los Angeles

This is where I stayed (for two days at least), Manhattan Beach.

And yes, it was loads of surfers and life guards in red swimming wear, just like on TV!

LA bus at night time

Hollywood