Striking News
This is my blog nr. 100 and here are the News:The weekend before last I had a night out with Fredy, Rosa, Julio Cesar (no joke), Silvia, and Paméla from the school. They are all teachers except Paméla who is the secretary. After dinner we went to a karaoke bar. A funny experience. Everybody is sitting down and the mic is brought to you when it is your turn to sing and you pay 25 cents for each song. So for two hours I listened to songs in spanish with an ocational Beatles song thrown in the mix , courtesy of yours truely. Then in the end of each song you are graded. Our neighbours at the next tabel had bought a tequila bouttle and were quite generous;). After that we went to a Peña bar (bar with live local music) and danced until 3 in the morning... good fun. Apart from studying all last week, We celabrated Julio Cesars´ birthday last friday...which almost got out of hand in the end...NOT FOR ME! I always behave at parties as you well know;). Saturday I was supposed to go to Laguna de Cuicocha with Fredy (a volcano crater with a lake and two islands) but Fredy was to hungover to make it so we went sunday instead. It was a great trip but hard, five hours of walking around the crater. A beautiful day and beautiful view. It was possible to see 4 volcanos from there. After the walk we took a camioneta (A Pick Up truck where you sit in the back with 4-10 other ppl.) down to the village at about 80-9o km an hour...I was holding on to my hat all the way! It was shortly after dinner that I went to sleep dead tired but not for long as I got a stomac pain and a headache that lasted thru the night and made me stay home sick the next day. Tuesday I was ready to rock and roll again and went to school again.
You are probably still wondering about the title "Striking News"(A title I borrowed from my brother Sverrir) and waiting for some big motherf..... news. Well here they are:
I found out that the assholes that mugged my in Costa Rica probably managed to us my danish credit card in the short time that passed before I could close it. It seems that they called or used the internet to book a flight to Florid! costing my no less than $1100 US!!!! As all the problems I have had in this trip were not enough!!! What have I done to deserve to deserve this!!!. I`ll maybe be able to get this money back but not until I get back to Denmark so this makes a serious dent in my travelplans. I`m still waiting for my Mastercard to arrive from Denmark and well, considering the problems I have had, I´m crossing my fingers.
Well enough for you to chew on for now.
Hasta la bastards!
Nonni
p.s.
I`m seriously thinking of taking the advice of my friend Halli and changing my email adress to nonninotsocoolanymore@hotmail.com
take care and write soon :)
N
Laguna de Cuicocha
At last som stability
After recovering of the stomach infection, I had a couple of days in Panama City. Panama City is actually a pretty cool city. It is very modern and I even found a SUBWAY there YEAH!!!. I went to one of the biggest supermarkets I have ever seen and it was open 24 hours all the days of the week, like a huge 7/11 only cheaper, much cheaper! Bought 10 bananas for 25 cents. I used a big part of monday arranging my Visa to Ecuador. First I went to the embassy. I had to get two pictures of me and the ticket to Ecuador. I found a travel agent just around the corner ($426 us) and an hour later I had the pictures. Back at the embassy they arranged the rest of the paperwork and I was all set to go. The next morning I decided to have an early start and got the taxi driver to show me the Panama Canal before driving me to the airport. Very impressive indeed. The flight was short and sweet but I was pretty nervous as I went through the pass control. But it went smoothly and soon I was on a bus bound for Otavalo. There I went to the school where Rosa was waiting for me. Soon I was picked up by members of the family where I am staying. Nice house, nice ppl, nice room, and a very short walk from the school. After having dinner I went to meet my good friend Fredy and Rosa, Rosa and Julio Cesar(who is my teacher)from the school. They had some beers but I could not because of the medication I was taking after the "Panama incident". The next day I started school and at 15:00 I took the bus to Ibarra to meet with Fredy. We had a look around town and then took a taxi to a lake nearby. I had found out that there was a golf course there so we went exploring. We found it and promptly decided we would go next week or the one after and play ($15US for the whole day). After school today I have been walking around trying to find a bookstore which are practically non existing. To morrow I´m going out with my friends here in Otavalo. Enough for now and pictures from Cuba and Panama soon.
Otavalo Market
From bad to worse!
Last time I wrote, I was in Cuba. I have actually a lot to say about Cuba, but for now I will keep to the essential travelstory. After Arriving in Cuba and finding my Casa Particular (home stay). I had a couple of days in Havana. Did not do much, but on day I had a personal guide (friend of my havana family) who drove me to the most interesting places in town for 20 dollars. Very nice guy. It was so hot in Habana thad I could only walk around couple of hours before becoming soaked in sweat (and it is not even high season). It was easier to stay home with the airconditioning on. Well basicly it was on all the time...apart from when the electricity was out (I`ll get more into that later).
Apart from the Old town of Havana, I did not like the city one bit. Hot, dirty, and ppl. hassling me all the time. "hello my friend where are you from" is a very common start and when ppl. begin like that, they always want your money one way or the other. I learned that the hard way! Im not going into that now...too embarrassing really. Might tell you one day if you ask nicely and promise not to laugh.
So my advise to that kind of hassel is to say "no gracias" politely and walk on...if that does not work then say "no moleste" which is a polite way of saying: "Get out of my face you fucking asshole!" I have some more advise, pointers, and usless information for you later.
After Havana I went for 4 days to a town called Trinidad (about 5 hours busdrive from Havana) and, I must say, it is my kind of a town. It is the third oldest colonial town in Cuba and has got lots of beautiful buildings. There I spent my time roaming the streets, sitting at bars with a cold beer,a book and listening to live Cuban music...sweet. first real time thad I have had to really relax and enjoy myself. The beach is also wery close. I went one day, even if I am not much of a beach person. I took a
Coco Taxi which is like a motorcycle taxi. There I found a guy with a sailboat who wanted to take my to the reef for snorkeling for 9 dollars an hour. I jumped at it (together with a french guy) and even though the one hour included the 20 min trip there and 20 min. trip back, it was worth it. After I opend a couple of beers at the beach bar before returning to Trinidad. I stayed at a very nice place in Trinidad close to the center and used every opportunity to go to the Casa De La Musica and listening to some great original Cuban
Son music. If you are in cube for a short time then go to Trinidad. The town and it`s surroundings has the essential essence of Cuba.
Now here is where the real trouble starts!
After Trinidad I had two more nights in Havana and then I got on a plane bound for Quito, Ecuador. After couple of hours in Panama airport, I was off to Quito where my friend Fredy was waiting for my at the airport. It was not a long flight and it was a happy man who stepped of the plane at the brand new airport in Quito. I was looking forward to meet my friend Fredy and everything was just dandy when suddenly dissaster struck! As I came to the passport check, this is roughly how it went:
Girl: Passport please
Me: There you go (big smile)
Girl: You are from Iceland?
Me: Yes...Islandia
Girl: And your visa?
Me: What! I don`t need a Visa.
Girl: Yes you do, new rules, you are not allowed to enter the country.
Me: WHAT! It must be a mistake
Girl: Here is a list of countries who need a Visa.
(I quickly looked throug the list)
Afganistan
Albania
Irac
Iran
Israel
Iceland!!!!
Me: Shit Fuck fuck shit O MY GOD!!!! fuck (and so on)
Girl: We`ll have to send you back to Havana or Panama.
Me: WHAT! (I said that a lot) can`t you do anything? arrange it here or something (here I was beginning to panic).
Girl: No sorry, you have to hurry the plane is about to leave.
Me: Fuck!
So that resulted in me now stuck here in Panama City waiting to go to the Ecuadorian embassy to get a Visa and try again.
But wait...I`m not finished:
The night I came to Panama City (which incidentally is the Panamas Independence day) I got sick and ended up in hospital at 5:00 in the morning. It turned out to be a bacteria infection and I was also severely dehydrated (had drunk a lot of weater but it just went straight through me)and had to get a drop. Holy crap, that neadle hurts. It was not until late yesterday that I was feeling better and now I`m fine, just have to take some antibiotics for a couple of more days.
All this crap, has reeked havok on my budget (Cuba was also very expensive). So now it seams like I`m coming home allready in February...maybe even sooner.
Well, now I`m going to bed and to morrow I go to the embassy with my fingers crossed and hope for the best. Wish me luck!
p.s. George W. Bush says Hi!
