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

Leaving chop-stick-land

After about six months on the road in Asia I'm leaving this continent. It's been wonderful and the experiences many. Since this is the end of Asia, for this time, I thought I should sum up a few of the highlights so far.

Summing up six months is not easy, and the highlights has not necessarily been one specific place or monument, but more the atmosphere of a place, the people around me and the way it makes me feel.

The highlights are moments where everything seems right, where life is perfect and I feel that there is nowhere else in the world that I would rather be. So here goes!

1. Dancing on the underground in Moscow, Russia.

2. Chanting and meditating with the monks in Mongolia and Laos.

3. The magic of the Olkhon Island in Siberia, Russia.

4. Life in Beijing and everything that includes.

5. Being invited to tea by a Tibetan family in Ani Gompa, Sichuan province, China.

6. Living life at TacomePai, a wonderful farm in northern Thailand.

7. Walking among the temples of Angkor Wat.

8. Hanging out with elephants in Hongsa, Laos.

9. Taking trains. The atmosphere on long train rides in Russia and Asia is something special.

10. Celebrating christmas on the roof of a boat with wonderful people in Halong Bay, Vietnam.

11. Sleeping in a hammock under the stars in the jungle in Cambodia.

12. Lazy days by the river in Muang Ngoi, Laos

13. Enjoying the sunset over the Mekong river and then watching the stars appear on the sky, Luang Phrabang, Laos

14. Looking out over Tiger Leaping Gorge after four hours climbing straight up, Yunnan, China.

15. And of course, meeting you. You all know who you are!

Brunei

Do you know the capital of Brunei? Do you even know where Brunei is? No? Well, neither did I until I had a day stopover there for a day on my way to the Philippines.

I can tell you now that Brunei is situated on the island of Borneo, bordered by Malaysia on all sides. And the capital's name is Bandar Seri Begawan. Pretty funky name if you ask me. Brunei is a muslim sultanate and it has a lot of strange rules. For example there is no alcohol whatsoever to be bought in the country and if you throw trash on the ground you can get a fine of about 5000 Euros! So you probably understand that it is a very clean country. Or, I shouldn't say country cus all I got to see was the capital .

The capital has, as I said, a strange name and it is an equally strange place where modernity and tradition goes hand in hand. You see woman covered from head to toe in beautiful clothes whilst others are walk around with their hair hanging loose in the wind in mini skirts and high heals. There are men and women in business clothes, driving fancy cars and absolutely every one I spoke to spoke perfectly English.

In the heart of the city there is a beautiful mosque that is the pride of the sultanate. It has an escalator inside (strange) and a big golden dome that can be seen from basically anywhere in town.

Next to the mosque is the river that surrounds the town. And in the river the old village of Kampung Ayer can be found. It is a village on stilts with wooden bridges going from house to house and on the river below there are boats cruising around transporting people from the main land and out to the village. Fascinating place!

And the people are amazingly friendly , so helpful and caring. There was always people asking if I was okay, if I knew my way, if they could help, smiling and saying hello as I passed by. It was when the taxi driver told me to wait for the bus because the taxi would be too expensive that I was convinced that they were the nicest people I have ever met.

By the way, did end up taking the taxi, and yes, it was way too expensive, but since the driver was so nice it was worth it!

A short and exciting stop. Brunei was definitely worth it!