World Travelblog

Addicted to this game! Hero`s Arm`s! Wow!

2009-10-08T16:33:00.001-05:00

I have been totally addicted to this Zelda like game lately, recommend you check it out.. IT`s free!

What am I up to?

2009-08-29T16:27:00.007-05:00

Living the life on Isla Mujeres, thats what!

Although the life is somewhat a little dull right now, as my girlfriend has been gone for more than 3 months now, and will return on the fourth.. That means she`ll be here soon! Good for me, eh!?

Well what do I do all the time here on Isla Mujeres you ask?
My daily routines are somewhat flimsy, but randomly I wake up 9 or 10 in the morning.. get some breakfast, take a walk along the beaches on the Carribbean side of Isla to see what new treasures there are too be found.. It`s always something new showing up, from crazy fish, half eaten by some kind of seamonster, beautiful shells, driftwood and other trinkets.. This really is an amazing place to find beautiful free stuff!

Now what I try to do during my walks is try to find out some kind of new idea for a product that I could use for my business.. I always have some kind of crazy ideas, but rarely ever make anything out of them..
I want to take it a step further, and really try to come up with something creative and brilliant that people would be interested in..

I have a few projects going already, but since I have been told to not share to much, I can`t even tell you about them..
It`s pretty frustrating to burst with ideas, but if I share them someone else might pick up the idea, and they could be the ones profiting from them.. Or I could just sit on it and it would gain nobody.. Dillemma! :p

When I`m not out and about going crazy, I have found this brilliant place for snorkelling just outside Avalon Hotel, and keep going back there.. So far I`ve seen stingrays, moray eels, thousands of fish in enourmous schools, beautiful coral fishes and much more.. Always looking for some treasure though.. You never know if there is any gold left somewhere after the pirate Mundaca that used to live here..

Speaking of which, I want a metal detector! I really think I could find some valuables on this island paradise!
So the next posts here will, if I`m lucky enough be about my new detector and what I discover! :)

Other than that, I am as always, my geeky self.. I love spending time in front of my computer, and get a lot of hassle for doing it.. But right now my only contact with my friends and family back in Norway is through the net, and as Isla can be very quiet sometimes it`s always good to hear news..

Oh.. And did I tell you I have an art gallery here now? Oh yeah..

The bartending school did unfortunately not fall through at the moment, but we found inspiration through my creative and artistic mother helping us out to set up our gallery!
It`s going well and we are now proud owners of our very own art gallery on Isla Mujeres!

If you are ever on this island paradise, please come check us out, we have a wide collection of art from around the world!
It`s called La Noruega Art Gallery and our website can be found on www.lanoruega.com

Curious about something else? Ask some quiestions, I don`t think there are that many actually following my updates, would be cool to get some feedback once in a while..

Salud mis amigos!

Project Grow-A-Goatee

2008-11-24T19:49:00.004-06:00

Before returning to Isla Mujeres, I thought it would be a great idea to grow a goatee!
Why not?
So here is a little photopost of my different "goatee styles" :p
Hope you enjoy the photos, please feel free to comment

Photo to the left: "Hulk Goatee" and right: the "Fidel look"

"The famous Goatee in a rubber band look"

Twisted Goatee"

And here is the little bugger... 3 months of growth, all cut off because me and my girlfriend do not enjoy hair in our mouths when we make out.. It`s a hard life, eh?

Challenge:
Can you grow more than me in 3 months?Almost six cm, or 2,2 inches!

And here I am, freshly shaven, happy as always! (the red mark on my neck is from my fight with the vacuum cleaner.. *cough*)

Hotels on Isla Mujeres

2008-11-21T20:36:00.001-06:00

I have received many emails with questions about where to stay when they visit Isla Mujeres.. There are many options, ranging from luxury resorts to cheap hostals, and it all depends on your taste and wallet size.. So to be fair, I`ll list all known hotels and hostals I could find information about, with links so you can check it out yourself, or even book your dream vacation on.. I hope I got all, if you know about any that are not on my list, please email me, and I`ll add it as soon as possible! Ok.. Starting Alphabetically with descriptions :

Hotels on Isla Mujeres

Avalon

The Avalon Reef Club Isla Mujeres is a luxury-class hotel located 41 kilometers from Cancun International Airport. This beautiful property is a great hotel that offers its guests plenty of reasons to stay there. The hotel is close to several sights worth checking out during their visit. In addition, an array of awesome amenities await guests when they check in, helping to make each stay more enjoyable and pleasurable. The number of facilities, features and services is seemingly endless. It is the ideal choice when staying in this vibrant city.
When it comes to the hotel's accommodations, guests will find everything they want and need. With tastefully appointed guest rooms that are well stocked with the modern amenities travelers expect today, the hotel goes a long way to make sure everyone enjoys their stay. Adding to the overall pleasure of a stay here is the attentive and personable staff. Always professional, the knowledgeable staff is on call for every guest's needs and requests. The hotel is close to area dining, entertainment and shopping venues.

Casa de los Sueños Spa & resort

Exclusivity is guaranteed with eight originally decorated rooms all with an ocean view terrace, plus a dream Villa with an atmosphere designed to heighten the senses and promote total well-being. Wake up to tranquility and discover the flavors of nature, comfortable luxury, Mexican hospitality, and Mayan culture. To ensure the peaceful environment televisions, telephones, alarm clocks and the visits of children under age of 21 are not part of our services. This will allow you to be as close as possible to the beauty and sounds of nature.
No children allowed.

Casa Ixchel Boutique Hotel
The Hotel Was Built in 1980 and Comprises a Total of 9 Guest Rooms. The Hotel Offers a Holistic Place in Which To Relax and Recharge Body, Mind and Soul. It is Situated Right On the Shores of the Caribbean Sea, and Provides Guests With Terraces With Both Sun and Shade, from Which They Can Enjoy the Beauty of the Natural Surroundings. Facilities On Offer Include Wlan Internet Access, a Children'S Playground and Parking For Those Arriving by Car.

Cristalmar Beach club & resort

Surrounded by turquoise waters, the Cristalmar Resort & Beach Club offers secluded tranquility, yet is close enough to explore the mainland, historic sites and Cancun nightlife. Located on the quiet south coast of Isla Mujeres 3 miles from downtown pier, the resort offers a diver shop, game room, pool, restuarant, mopeds, bicycles, golf carts, diving, fishing and land excursions. The 1 and 2 bedroom units has kitchenette, dining room, hot & cold water.

Ixchel Beach hotel
Positioned one-half kilometer from downtown Isla Mujeres in Mexico, the beachfront Ixchel Beach Hotel stands less than eight kilometers from the Ixchel Ruins.
Garaffon National Park is located six kilometers away.
The Sunset Grill is a beachfront palapa that features buffet and a la carte service for breakfast, snacks and Mexican seafood for lunch and gourmet and international specialties for dinner. The Kalak snack bar prepares buffet-style breakfasts and offers poolside service. Wireless Internet access is available in public areas of the hotel. Property conveniences include laundry facilities, concierge services and a 24-hour front desk. An outdoor pool and beach frontage offer seaside recreation, and massage services are available upon request.

This hotel features 48 air-conditioned guestrooms, and one- and two-bedroom suites. Accommodations reflect the colors of the beach and boast garden and/or ocean views. All rooms feature satellite television, CD and DVD players, safe-deposit boxes and marble bathrooms with showers, only. Suites include balconies or terraces, separate master bedrooms, dining and living areas. Kitchenettes contain refrigerators, coffeemakers, toasters, microwave ovens and bottled water. Select suites feature jetted tubs. Penthouse accommodations connect to bedroom suites via spiral stairways and include roof gardens.

Los Arcos Suites
Placed in the heart of Isla Mujeres and offering comfortable accommodation, this property is a new jewel that combines the taste of Mexico with all modern conveniences for a memorable stay. Located on the famous Ave Hidalgo, the Suites Los Arcos is in center of the shopping and dinning district of the beautiful island of Isla Mujeres. The hotel offers completely equipped suites that come with a well equipped kitchenette as well. There is no restaurant available on-site. During leisure, you can visit the various attractions of the city.

Na Balam Hotel
Na Balam is a refuge for the soul in the Mexican Caribbean on Isla Mujeres, a small island only 20 minutes from Cancun. It is a site chosen by nature to enjoy every sunrise in México. The Na Balam Hotel is located on the most magnificent beach in the Mexican Caribbean with tropical gardens and hammocks under beautiful palm trees.

The hotels 28 rooms are all surrounded by tropical gardens and come with a king size or two queen beds, a private terrace or balcony, air conditioning and ceiling fans and in-room safety deposit boxes and 24 hours security protection. The 3 magnificent suites feature a king sized bed, Mayan-Modern decoration, air-conditioning, ceiling fans, a private patio and a small pool with hydro-massage with a stunning view of the inlet; ideal for honeymooners or anyone wishing a romantic and/or peaceful stay in a beautiful place.

Nautibeach suites & town resort
An earthly wonder of sand and sea meet at Nautibeach Condos nestled on the north end beach of Isla Mujeres, Mexico.
Your own balcony compliments your beautiful two bedroom condo and together offer a space for recharging your spirit, watching masterpiece sunsets, planning your next day, or doing nothing.

Nautibeach Condos offers the perfect island retreat, with an emphasis on superior and friendly personal service.

Experience the barefoot elegance of Nautibeach Condos.

Palace Hotel

Small and luxurious, located on the beautiful and charming island of Isla Mujeres, on a powdery-white sand beach, this resort is sure to guarantee a private and relaxed stay. Guests can lounge around the free form pool or on the tranquil beach or for a bit of the local custom, they can enjoy the nice breeze lying on one of hammocks strung amongst the palm frees.

This all-inclusive resort features 62 Superior Deluxe accommodations all with a double Jacuzzi, balcony and 24-hour room service. A variety of international favorites offer a la carte breakfast and dinner. And don't miss the ample lunch buffet in the open-air restaurant by the sand where you can enjoy the Caribbean breeze.

Perla del Caribe Marazul Hotel

(No Photo at the moment)

The Hotel Perla Del Caribe is situated on the beach in the heart of Isla Mujeres, approximately 30 minutes by boat to Cancun.
Hotel amenities include babysitting, restaurant, bar, outdoor pool, and two sundecks.
Guest rooms feature fully tiled bathrooms, hot and cold running water, A/C (most rooms), telephones, and balconies.

Pocna

The Pocna Hostel is located on Isla Mujeres. It is only 6 blocks from the pier and even closer to the beach. The hotel offers beds in mixed dormitories and private rooms. There is also camping available for guests with tents. There is a game room, meeting area, restaurant/bar, beach bar, pool, beach volleyball, internet, cable television, table tennis and wireless internet access. Very popular with backpackers, and the beach bar at night is worth a look if you like to party!

Posada del Mar beach club & hotel

Posada del Mar is a small Caribbean Style hotel set among lush tropical grounds, consisting of 30 rooms in the Main Building with three floors and 21 large rooms in the New Section. Isla Mujeres and Posada del Mar are an excellent combination for children. Two children, 11 years and under, can stay FREE in the same room with two full-paying adults. When you stay at Posada del Mar you are considered to be a member of our family. Just ask and we will do our best to accommodate you. Guest rooms are equipped with tile floors, individual air conditioning, a ceiling fan, shower and balcony. A colonial style aqueduct provides a waterfall into our swimming pool. When our guests are not out exploring the island, they are lounging around our swimming pool

Privilege Aluxes Hotel

Featuring 124 luxury units, brand new modern facilities for those travelers looking for an excellence privileged surrounding. The five scaled floor Privilege Aluxes Isla Mujeres hotel buildings are in front of Playa Norte, considered one of the best beaches in the area which is suntan perfect under the breeze of the coconut trees, to savor typical, fresh and gourmet dishes. Spectacular sunsets to admire are an everyday experience to guests, visitors and locals. The north end of the 4.6 miles long island is ideal to swim and relax just a few steps from the hotel. Due to the excellent conditions it is one of the perfect places for aquatic activities.

ALL INCLUSIVE Gourmet, by PRIVILEGE HOTELS, two outdoor swimming pools, room service 24 hrs Three Gourmet Restaurants, Pool Bar: Lunch ? Snack, Bartender & waiter service at Solarium, Pools & Beach, Minibar in every room (refilled daily, water, juices, soft drinks, beers and snacks), Coffee service in the rooms: daily replacement, Safety deposit boxes, Fitness & hotel facilities & beach.

Raintree`s Villa Vera Hotel

Spread over five floors, this professionally managed luxury resort offers tasteful amenities to discriminating travelers. The Sandcastle at Birch Bay has condominium units, guest amenity areas, retail space and the attention to detail of a first class hotel. Our two-bedroom condominiums average 1050 square feet, and the three bedroom residences averaging 1280 square feet. Each unit is professionally decorated and furnished and includes washer/dryers, balconies and dual line phones. Every unit has a view. The on-site restaurant, provides room service and convenient food service. Guests have access to a ground floor health club with male and female locker rooms and a fully equipped workout room. The on site day spa is available for massage or facials as well as a number of other relaxing treatments.

Secreto Hotel

Secreto Is An Oasis Of Casual Luxury Within The Small Fisherman S Village Of Isla Mujeres. Situated On A Secluded Cove And Surrounded By Palm Trees, This Small Hotel Feels Like Your Own Private Beach House. Discreet And Secretive - Just As The Name Implies. Not Even An Entrance Sign Notifies You Of Its Existence Underscoring Secreto S Very Essence. Your Room Exudes Warmth And Intimacy, Whether You Re Relaxing Under The Veils Of Secreto S Four-post Beds Or Enjoying A Cocktail On Your Terrace. At Night, Open Your Terrace Doors, And Let The Tropical Breeze Whisk You To Sleep. Every Room Offers Superb Ocean Views, And Features The Very Best In Amenities, Including Your Own Cd Sound System. During The Day, Cool Tropical Winds Refresh Those Passing The Day Away From The Comfort Of A Deep, Outside Living Room Sofa. Panoramic Ocean Views Create The Perfect Back-drop For Enjoying Breakfast Or Getting A Massage. With Its Handsome Architecture And Mediterranean Sensuality. Secreto Is The Perfect Setting For A Blissful Vacation At The Beach.

Unika Unique Hideaway resort

The hotel stands 14 kilometers north of Cancun and transports guests via yacht from its Cancun VIP Lounge to Isla Mujeres.
Guests are greeted with chilled champagne and cool towels. Rejuvenation continues at The Spa, presenting a menu of Mayan-inspired services such as indigenous steam bath sessions. The Spa's fitness area features an assortment of cardiovascular and weight-training equipment and stocks chilled towels. The Spa's Garden Studio sets the scene for yoga, Pilates and tai chi sessions. Outdoor activities include island tours on golf carts and kayaking adventures in Caribbean waters.
Unik offers several dining options. Pearl restaurant pairs fresh seafood and pasta with wine selections by the hotel's resident sommelier. Jade restaurant fuses Asian and Mexican flavors to create a unique gourmet menu. The poolside Breeze restaurant utilizes fresh seasonal produce and seafood from local farmers and fishermen. Additionally, La Isla diner provides poolside lunch service while Aqua pool bar mixes specialty tropical cocktails.

Guestrooms at Unik feature flat-screen televisions with DVD/CD players. Cable television is provided. A bedding menu offers a selection of pillows and linens. Feather duvets top the beds. Room services include butler service and nightly aromatherapy turn-down service. Select suites open to ocean-view terraces with spa tubs and outdoor living areas. Bathrooms supply bathrobes, slippers, designer toiletries and woven cotton towels. Select bathrooms feature spa tubs and marble-top vanities with double sinks.
Near the resort, the vestiges of an ancient temple preserve the story of Ixchel, Mayan goddess of the moon and fertility.

Villa Rolandi Thalasso spa gourmet & beach club
This luxury resort lies between the white-sand beach and the Makax Lagoon. The ferry terminal is located a short distance away. Dolphin Discovery, where these extraordinary mammals greet visitors with a handshake and a kiss on the cheek, is located one kilometer from this property.

This resort delivers complimentary continental breakfasts to its guests, daily. An extensive bar accompanies the Restaurant Casa Rolandi Isla Mujeres which is known for its signature Swiss-Northern Italian cuisine. Complimentary Internet access and fax and photocopy services are available 24 hours a day. Constructed in modern Mexican-Mediterranean style, the hotel features Tikul stone floors and tiled vault ceilings that are built to absorb sound. An outdoor pool features a cascading waterfall, where the atmosphere is ideal for sunbathing and sipping cocktails. The front desk staff can arrange tours, fishing excursions, scuba-diving expeditions and boat rentals. Resort amenities include on-site laundry facilities, massage by appointment, and room service. The hotel also offers discounted passes to a nearby fitness center.

Villa Rolandi offers 35 air-conditioned, ocean-front Junior Suites with fully stocked refreshment cabinets, digital-lock safes, and cable television. Private bathrooms are tiled in marble and feature showers, separate vanity areas, terry bathrobes and slippers. Private balconies feature uniquely designed spa tubs. Inviting detail lends warmth to the suites' individualized layouts that feature rich, custom-crafted wood furnishings. Artworks and design accents, such as wrought-iron railings, vibrant fabrics and marble-topped counters, reflect this region's colorful Mexican heritage.

These are some of the most popular hotels, I found a couple more, but little information about them, if you need any help please mail us, and we`ll do our best to get your hotel here..

Updating other blogs..

2008-10-22T23:27:00.003-05:00

I am currently working hard on promoting Isla Mujeres with it`s own blog on http://islalife.blogspot.com , and it`s turning out great! This is why there has been few posts lately! Keep checking back, as updates will come..
If you are interested in writing for IslaLife, please contact us!

Help a fellow traveller!

2008-06-15T07:30:00.006-05:00

A friend of mine from Kristiansand, Norway wants to move down to Mexico and join us on Isla Mujeres!

She has heard so much about this incredible island, and wants to experience all it has to offer.

Thereza is her name, and as she describes herself on her profile page on www.nettby.no : "I think mahogany, fur and McDonald's are uncool, I have a thing for post it notes and elephant babies, my favorite color is red, and I never wear to of the same socks!"

Who can deny such a person the experience of a lifetime?

She is working hard now in Norway to get the funds for travelling and living the first couple of months before she finds some work. All money she earns will be added in the equation so you can keep posted on how far she has come!

I think it would be a great idea if all of us here on the internetz got together and helped her out, so I have made a donation page on paypal for her!
If you can, please help!

As soon as enough funds are in, she will be leaving the cold summers of Norway to live on our beautiful island, Isla Mujeres, in Mexico.

The necessary amount is 25000 NOK (3,108.735 EUR or 4,769.72 USD) and I will keep you posted on how fast we can reach the amount needed!
Please help with as little or as much as possible! If everybody shares just a little, it would help SO much!

I have started the donation with 50NOK (6.21747 EUR or 9.53944 USD) as I am not a rich guy myself, but anything goes, and this means we only need 24950 NOK (3,102.518 EUR or 4,760.18 USD) to get her to Mexico!

Help us change someones life, wouldn't you have liked it if someone had done this for you?

Birthday in Cancùn!

2008-02-17T17:10:00.007-06:00

Believe it or not, February 16. was my birthday!
And I am now 28 years young.. Not getting any older in any way! :D

But the thing I wanted to write to you about today is how it was celebrated! :D
Merethe surprised me with an idea of going to Cancùn and celebrate there instead of on Isla Mujeres, so we booked a hotel room at Imperial Hotel Laguna, and brought no clothes for the evening with us, just a buttload of money! :D Cancùn is pretty expensive, so we had to come prepared!

We left Isla Mujeres early, took the ferry over and then a taxi directly to the hotel.. After delivering our stuff at the hotel we went to Plaza las Americas and got some breakfast, then we found a hairstylist (a cute gay couple) got our hair nice, I even got a shave too!
Merethe cut her hair for the first time since coming to Mexico, and I think she was relieved!
After fixing the hair, I went a quick trip to the dentist and fixed a tooth, then we went shopping!
We saw lots of nice stuff, but as it normally is when you go shopping and have money to spend, it was hard finding stuff we really wanted!

I ended up buying a pair of nice shoes, pants, 2 long armed shirts, 1 short armed shirt, and some nice comfy beachpants to wear in the evenings..

Merethe bought some pretty shoes, 2 nice top's and some sexy pants and a purse matching everything! :)

When we were finally done, and after we bought a bottle of nice wine, and some snacks we went back to the hotel and started getting ready to paint the town red!

Around Nine thirty we took a taxi to Coco Bongo, and bought our Open Bar passes, stood in line and waited 20 minutes, we got in!

Coco Bongo was huuuge!
The shows started almost immediately and was very varied..

There were showgirls dancing on stage, performance artists falling from the roof, we saw Batman and Neo from "The Matrix" jump down, balloons flying everywhere, lightsticks, paper pieces, crazy lights, Marilyn Monroe, Britney Spears, all just copies ofcourse, but what a show!

Time passed so quickly, we were there around 22.00 and all of a sudden it was 03.00! Crazy times!

Mambo Number fiiiiiiive!

As you can see, lots of cool stuff happening, and LOTS of people!

This one I want for my next birthday! Pleeeeaaase? Pretty please? With a cherry on top?
*winkwink*

Wonderful Jamaica!

2008-02-11T14:24:00.000-06:00

Yah, MAN! Jamaica Maaan!

(photos coming soon!)

We got up really early, checked out from our hotel, and took off in a nice Lada taxi.. I thought the Cubans were good drivers until our ride to the airport! They drive as maniacs!

Anyway, we got to the airport, remembered to pay our airport tax (25 CUC) and took off!

Jamaica here we come!

When we got to Jamaica, we actually had a little problem getting past the immigration checkpoint!

We had to try three times (the third one was the lucky one!) first we had not filled in our hotel, as we did not know which hotel we wanted to live in, they said we had to have a confirmed booking so they knew where we were going to stay, I thought that was kind of weird, as we are backpackers, and I myself prefer to see the hotel before I choose to live there.. Anyway, we had to go back to a tourist”office” where they helped us find a room at a cheap hotel in Montego Bay, Gloriana Hotel & Spa, then we tried the immigration again, and this time they found out we had been living in Mexico for a while. Then we were sent to the health department or something like that, just so they could ask us if we were infected with Malaria, we told them we had not been to any area in Mexico where there was a Malaria threat, and they stamped our visa and told us to try the immigration again.. This time it worked! Wee! We were in Jamaica!

We went to the atm, and were pretty confused! How much was a Jamaican dollar worth? Same as the US? Doh! I thought 600 dollars probably was enough for the first days, but how wrong was i?

600 J$ is about 13 NOK, or 2,3 USD! Hehe.. doh!

We took a veeeery short cabride (got suckered, paid 10 USD for the trip) and it was over in about 3 minutes! We should have known!

After arriving at the hotel, we found our room and the biggest double bed I have seen in my life! HUGE!

We went looking around, thinking that Montego Bay was a huge city, as it is known as Jamaica's 2. biggest city after Kingston, but Montego Bay was not so huge, the part closest to our hotel was the “Hip Strip” where all the bars, hotels, and beaches were, and we saw very few people, and it looked like the businesses had little to do other than to try to hassle the few tourists walking around into their shops.

In Jamaica, you have to say a lot of “No thank you`s”, as you get asked if you want to buy just about anything! If they don't have it, you don't need it! :p

Montego Bay is really just a laid back place! The beaches are incredible, with water as clear as crystal! Tons of fish swim around by the corals, we even saw some squid, and a huuuge Barracuda!

The shopping is ok, a little expensive compared to Mexico, and a lot of little Indian shops trying to sucker you with unreasonably bad prices! And they talk shit about the local shops, just to get you to buy something from them.. Bad way to run a business if you ask me! :)

The weather in Jamaica was fantastic! 32°C everyday! We even got a little more colour!

We took a trip to the local tourist office, and they helped us with some trips, the 3. day there we went on a Crocodile Safari up Black River, we saw a couple of crocs, and then a HUGE one! I don't think swimming in this river is a good idea! Our guide told us a lot about the river and about the huge “dreadlock” trees there, and the special birds living in the area.

A nice trip, a little bit short if you ask me, I would have loved to been on the river a little longer..

When the crocodile safari was over, we went to YS falls, plenty of really nice waterfalls, and the water was actually warm! :)

The next day was 6. february and you all know what day that is, right?

Yeah! You guessed it! Bob Marley's birthday! And we were lucky enough to get on with a tour bus going to Nine Mile where Bob Marley lived, and was buried! This was a trip I had been looking forward to, as I have seen a great video on youtube, I hoped to meet the incredibly funny tourguide working there!

And we did! He was just as funny as on the video!

Seeing where Bob lived and the places he sung about, and seeing the burial place was almost a religious experience! The pictures in his room shows he was a real guy, singing about real stuff. And at Bob's pillow, the rock where he used to rest with a joint in hos mouth was also pretty cool! :)

Bob Live!

After the tour, we hung around by a restaurant/scene, where they did some practice sessions for the memorial concert that was going on there at night. Cool music! Cool atmosphere, and just perfect weather! :)

On our way back we saw Rose Hall, where it is said to be a ghost of a former inhabitant, Miss Rosa Parks, she killed 3 housbands and a lover to gain their fortunes, and she was known for being quite evil.

Other than this, we have mostly just relaxed on the beach, gone shopping, and have been eating well!

We found a cool place where they had great pizza, at Jamaican Bob sled restaurant, they show the movie Cool Runnings on repeat, they have sponsor clothes for the Jamaican Bob sled team! Funny place!

Oh! We also had our first KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) in Jamaica! I wish this place was in Norway, I think it would have done well there!

We met a crazy gang from Canada, and went out on a wild night, first going to The Brewery, where the Karaoke was crazy, and one of the Canadians sung his shirt off, and shocked the people working there so much that they gave him a free bottle of champagne! :D After eating, we took off to see Jamaicas casino, which was a little disappointing, as they only had slotmachines, and no real games! I want to play poker and blackjack if I am to waste my money, not boring slotmachines!

After having a quick look in the casino, we were supposed to go to Margaritaville, Montego Bay's party place, but there were hardly any people here.. So we decided to check out another place, called Pier 1.

Pier 1 was crowded, loud, and full of people in all ages! The old creepy guys watching the young girls was not a plus.. We were there for a couple of drinks, then headed back home in one of the local “taxis”

A tough night out, we fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow! :D

The last day was spent on Doctors Cove Bathing Club where the beach is just amazing! We had a great breakfast and got some snorkelling and sunbathing done!

After a relaxing day we fell quickly asleep and took off from Sangster International Airport the next morning! :D

A week was not enough time in Jamaica, I would have loved being there another week!

Different Cuba!

2008-02-11T13:41:00.001-06:00

Cuba, the country of differences.

We got up and ready to have enough time to pack our last stuff, and then head off to the harbour on Isla Mujeres where we took the ferry to Gran Puerto Juarez, where we got to the airport by taxi (250,- Pesos)

We had little problems getting on the air plane, but they have some weird planes!

Instead of using a air condition unit on the plane, I think they are using some kind of freezing gas. When we got on the plane, they turned it on, and it looked like it was smoke everywhere!

If I were afraid to fly, this would probably have scared me half to death! :p Funny to see the looks on peoples faces, though.

1 hour and 15 minutes later we were in Havana, Cuba!

What a difference, I must say!

The first thing we noticed were of course the cars, I am guessing at least 2/3 of the cars here are from before Castro took over, 50`s models most of them.

But what surprised me more was that there were actually quite a lot of nicer, newer cars there as well!

Anyway, I had a student friend that was living in Havana at the time, and she helped us find a hotel nearby where she lived. So Hotel Lido was our first night there, and we weren't impressed!

We got a room with no working television, the curtains where wet, just as if someone had just cleaned them, but they weren't clean, they were dirty and mouldy!

Other than that, the room was all right, the beds were actually kind of comfy.

We went out to eat, and asked the hotel for directions, as we just arrived, and had no clue what to find, they showed us to a little «Casa Particulare» right on the corner of the block where we`re living. The food was not so great, the prices were high (10 Cuc) and they really did not seem so happy to help us. We hoped this was just a one time thing, and that not everywhere in Cuba was like this.. But how wrong were we? :p

We met up with my friend, Marte and she showed me and Merethe around the centre, which was both beautiful and sad at the same time..

How all these fantastic buildings can just fall apart, all because of the government, was not a pretty sight!

The next day, we walked around town to look at the sights, and so many important historical places are in Havana, you have the great wall that once surrounded Havana, and kept it safe from pirates and other bad guys, then the bars where Ernest Hemingway frequented, and not to mention the forts, the cannons, the big squares, book markets full of Che Guevara books, and the old cigar ladies sitting in the streets waiting to be taken picture of together with you (we fell for it! ) The lady we are with is said to be the same one that is in the Lonely Planet guidebook for Cuba.. She was very colourful and popular!

We also changed hotels, this time to a Casa Particulare that was on the other side of the street from Hotel Lido.. This place was not so nice..

After a night there, we found out the beds were hard as rocks, the bathroom smelled like septic and the air condition was noisy as hell! We decided quickly that this was not the place for us, and changed to Hotel Lincoln the next nights.. Lincoln was not so bad compared to the other places we lived in, we got a suite for a nice price (75 CUC) per night, and then we had an extra room where my mother could sleep! Oh! We also had a television with lots of channels! (Most of them were in Spanish, but actually a few that were in English too!)

Nice place with a nice view from the roof! The food is still nothing to brag about, not even at the Hotel. We decided to try out some of the more “fancy” places and went to Gran Parque Hotel, and this place is a place I normally would not eat, mostly because prices in such a fancy place normally go through the roof! But the only thing expensive about the hotel were it`s rooms.. The food was great! The menu had a huge variety of good food, and I was not disappointed a single time!

We even had our own personal pianist playing for us, and we could ask for just about any song!

So if you want to eat well, and not too expensive, go for one of the two restaurants there!

If you crave a nice lunch, they serve good food in the hotel lobby as well!

We went on a guided day trip to Viñales, and there we visited the cigar factory, the cigar plantation, went to have a nice lunch on the countryside, and then we went through some beautiful caves in the area, where they even had boats to drive us through the underground rivers that came from the limestone mountains in the area.

Later we took a look at the famous Viñales valley, and the gigantic mural on the mountainside (Castro`s idea)

Not a bad trip!

Other than this, Havana was kind of grey, and we soon got bored with just walking around looking at buildings falling apart, people begging on the streets, and just seeing all these creative people being suppressed by an old man that probably has not seen the outside of his house in quite a while, if he has, he must have quite some conscience, if this was his vision in 1959, he has failed completely! How could anyone not care about how the people of Cuba live? Ok, they may have great health and school systems, but these things are not important if they have no nice place to live!

We talked to a couple of Cubans and they said the only way to get extra money (they get 30 CUC per month, doctors get a whole 40 CUC per month) is to get extra money from the tourists, either by doing them favours, or trying to hassle them.. So sad!

They are hoping for change, but know it will take a loooong time for anything to happen, they are hoping maybe the government will learn something from China, as China has more to offer its people in the “New Communism”

The last days we spent walking around Havana looking at the markets, the people, and for a nice place to eat (not so lucky with that one)

I can recommend Cuba to people that are not afraid of leaving their hotels, going outside the big city, to really see how the people are living!

Oh, and it probably helps if you speak Spanish! You gotta learn to listen to the Cuban Spanish as it is really really fast! Compared to Mexico, it is almost like another language!

Mexico, Cuba, Jamaica!

2008-02-08T14:15:00.000-06:00

Just a short post to keep you updated on what is going on in my travelling life! :)

We had a nice trip to Havana, Cuba, and were amazed over how such a large city is just falling apart! The houses there are really not in good shape, and it`s such a shame as they are (were) beautiful! Lots of poor people on the streets and very huge differences!

We had a daytrip with a guide to Viñales, and that was great too! Other than that, food was terrible, we really missed having more options on the menu..
After 10 days in Cuba, we were off to Montego Bay, Jamaica, where everything is just fantastic! HUUUGE difference in these two countries.. Huge freedom in Jamaica compared to Cuba!
We are staying at Gloriana Hotel & Spa, which has a special story behind how it was started.
We have already gone on crocodile safari up Black River, then to Y.S falls, where there were some beautiful waterfalls.. On Bob Marleys birthday, we went to Nine Mile where Bob lived, and is buried, and that was close to a religious experience! And we even met the hilariously funny tourguide from the following Youtube video! :)
Incredibly funny!

But I will not go into too many details yet, will have huge update with pictures when I come back to Mexico! :)

Whats up on Isla Mujeres?!

2008-01-23T17:28:00.001-06:00

Aaaallright!

This is going to be one hell of a blogpost!

There has been so much happening the last couple of months, I am almost embarrassed that I haven`t updated my blog more often! Sorry all readers!

After arriving at Isla Mujeres, things have just been fantastic! We had a good time in Guanajuato, but Isla Mujeres is more our thing!
What I love most about Isla is that it is so full of life, the beaches are wonderful, the people are friendly, there is always something happening here, and the prices are allright!

What we have been up to lately?
Well, now I really have to think a little back, as there have been so many adventures!

Since we got here, we have had a wonderful time at the beach, and exploring the island a little, we met a nice couple from San Francisco and together we went snorkelling not far from the port, the only thing was that on that particular day, the currents were a little rough, so the visibility was as I have learned to say in Mexico, «mas o menos» (more or less),we have been enjoying the good restaurants of Isla Mujeres, and went together to Cancun for a daytrip, and the following day took a look at the incredible sights of Chichen Itza's ruins. But this you can already read a lot about in my earlier posts.

After Aman & Susan went back to «Frisco» we had a few days here alone again before we were supposed to meet Elin & Richard the 24. December, but they got stuck in New York, and had to celebrate their Christmas on a Hotel in the centre.

They arrived the next day, but their bags did not. Sad for us too, as our «christmas present» was in those bags, Norwegian chocolate, milk chocolate! We have found very little chocolate in Mexico that we like.. And we were reeeeeaaaallly looking forward to having some for Christmas.

They had a very hard time trying to find some information about where the bags were.. Nobody knew anything, and I think they were pretty fed up in the end..

With Elin & Richard we went driving around the Island, drove by the Rooneys that were visiting the Island and together with them we went looking for seashells, which we found MANY of!

We rented a Golf Car and had a nice look at the scenery, the beautiful houses, the iguanas, and went to the most Eastern part of Mexico, which just happens to be on Isla Mujeres. We also took a nice trip to Cancun and ate some good grub at Hard Rock Cafe Cancùn (cool place!)

We also went diving, and saw nice corals, some cool fish, and even went to visit the caves of the sleeping shark.. We only found one shark though, but i was a cool dive anyway! Lots of corals, caves and weird fish everywhere! Merethe got a little tan while she was there too! :P

Elin & Richard went to Tulum to check out the ruins, we decided to stay home as we have to save money, can't waste it all the first month here.

They had booked a trip to Chichen Itza the next day, and luckily for them, as they could not get back to Isla Mujeres, as a small storm was brewing, and the winds were crazy! The ferry did not cross for 1,5 days, and we felt like we were on a deserted island as we heard the wind howling outside, seeing the palm trees, and then we lost power on the entire island for a few hours.. It was cool! I think I am falling in love with this island!

New Years eve was celebrated with a nice dinner at Olivia and then a little private party on our roof!

Richard wanted a tattoo while he was here, and we found a tatoo parlour in the back of a shop which looked like it was at least halfway decent..

Check out the tattoo!

It looked like it hurt a little, but thats just how it is supposed to be! Gotta suffer a little to gain a little! :)

The day before they were leaving we decided to take the girls to the dolphinarium on the island, and to say the least, they had a great time! I will try to post the video here, but despues (later)

I got a lot of great pictures, and Merethe bought some there as well..

The dolphinarium is not cheap, she ended up paying 2600 pesos for the «royal» package which included being pushed by your feet by the dolpins, dolphin tow, handshake, dolphin kiss, and some more stuff, then the photo/video package.. It`s not cheap, but it`s something she'll remember!

Flying dolphins?

While Elin & Richard's two weeks was over, they had to go back home, and on the final day, they got their bags finally! They got them on the airport when they were checking in for the flight home..

So we did not get any chocolate for christmas :(

Terrible stuff!

We have been meeting people from Guanajuato here all the time lately, Merethe met some nice people while she was horsebackriding in GTO, and many of these went on to Isla Mujeres and were still there when we arrived!

Gustavo is a suavè guy from Mexico City, he works in a bar and is better in Spanish than English :)

Then we have the Israeli`s that were everywhere!

And ofcourse Hallgeir that was here and made the Island a little more bright! A good guy from Bergen, Norway

After a few days, on the 8. January our next visitor arrived, Ursula!

This is a girl that likes to party, and we had a hard time following her around! :)

We had some good days on the beach, and have been around the island looking at the sights, the shores, and ofcourse the iguanas that are everywhere on Isla!

We thought it would be a fun thing to buy a piñata for new years, but we never got around to whacking it.. Then we decided to have a party at our apartment to kill it!'

We suddenly had a lot of guests, and had a great time trying to fool each other with where it was..

I accidentally broke my devilstick while we where whacking around :( I'll guess I have to buy myself a new one then..

Partyparty!

On the 15. January my mother arrived in Cancùn and we've been very busy while she is here...

Lots of stuff to show and to do!

We went together with them to Chichen Itza again, but this time the tour was not as exciting.
The tourguide we had this time was not as interesting.. This guy just had cheap jokes, little knowledge and was just full of crap. He did not tell us about half of the stuff that our favourite, George from bus #32 did! We were a little disappointed, as we hoped Ursula and mom could get the same cool experience we had when we were at Chichen Itza.

She decided to get a tattoo as well.. A nice hawaiian flower around her ancle

Ursula wanted to swim with the dolphins, so we went with her there, and got some good pictures.

A little more windy this day!

Other than our experiences, the beaches, bars and restaurants are where we have been hanging out.
Especially this nice place called Comono (placed in the shopping street) is a cool place to be.

The couple that runs the place are very nice, and the food is great! They also have hookah's (water pipes) and wireless internet! So most of the time that is where I am posting to my blog from. (not that it has been so many updates while I have been here)

Oh! And I got myself a new tattoo as well!
I was inspired by The Da Vinci Code, and just love this motive!

Earth, Air, Fire, Water is what it says, even if you turn it upside down. It is already healed and looks great I think!

Merethe got a new piercing on her lower lip, and I think she looks great with it!

What we are doing next is leaving to Havana, Cuba 10 days, then going to Montego bay, Jamaica a week and then back to Cancùn and Isla Mujeres..

I hope I did not bore you to death with this update, I will try updating more often, it is just harder when I do not have internet in my apartment. I hope that will change! :P

Oh.. And if this post seems messy it is because i had to slap this together while listening to Merethe and my mother talking in the background.. Sorry! :p

We have big plans here.. I will reveal nothing until it is 100% certain..

Mwahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Viva Mexico!

La buena vida

2008-01-11T19:57:00.000-06:00

The life on Isla Mujeres is great!
The reason the posts are running a little behind is just that the beach is soooooo good and the sun soooo hot that sometimes I just have to prioritize a little bit in Islas favour.. I will have a huge update here again soon, hope you will check back! :)

Bye for now! Just got a fruitshake at Comono, a great restaurant with Hookahs(waterpipes) :D

-D-

Ps: here`s a little teaser of whats to come in the update :)

Curious yet? :p

Oh.. And a Happy new 2008 to you all! :)

Feliz Navidad!

2007-12-24T10:25:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to wish all my readers a merry christmas!
I hope you will all have nice celebrations, nice presents, and happy times! :)
More updates to come soon! :)

We made the apartment feel a little more "christmassy"

We bought a piñata for christmas! :D

Aaaw.. look at the cute widdle jaguar and christmas tree! :D

Here is how we celebrated Christmas 2007
I just have to say this is one of my nicest christmasses ever! :)
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Want a sip?

Hot christmasbabe!

OhYEAH!
This guy will soon face a hard stick!

Christmas at Casa Isla Mujeres! :)

We found some seashells on the beach..

Penguins in Isla Mujeres!
Nice eeeh.. Christmastree! :p

Snorkelling, Cancùn, Cenotes & Chichen Itza

2007-12-18T15:46:00.000-06:00

After staying on Isla Mujeres a couple of days, we met a nice couple from Estados Unidos (Usa) and have been hanging out with them the last couple of days here..

We went snorkelling on Saturday, but it was a little windy, and the currents were a little edgy, so the trip was cut short because of that, but the 2 or so hours we were in the water we saw some cool colourful fish, lots of corals, and I even caught a glimpse of some Barracudas lurking about..

We have «one time» underwater camera, but we`re saving those pictures for later, so stop by, and they may be out! :)

On sunday we thought it would be a good idea to see what the mainland had to offer, and took the ferry to Cancùn to go sightseeing..

My first impression of Cancùn was not the best, as we have become a little more adjusted to the laidback island of Isla Mujeres.. Cancùn is made for tourists, and people who want to spend a years salary in a couple of weeks! There are shops everywhere, Gucci, Rolex, fancy jewelry, expensive food, drinks and even the cabs are expensive compared to any other place in Mexico..

It`s crazyprices everywhere, and in they eyes of a backpacker, it`s terrible! But on the other hand, the people that usually stay in Cancùn are the people that don`t mind spending a lot on vacation, visiting with their yachts, living in ritzy hotels with all inclusive, and paying extra for VIP entrance to discos and bars.. It`s not my thing as I feel I miss out a lot on what is really happening around. I prefer walking around looking at how the locals make their living or relaxing in a hammock at the beach, buying directly from the locals help contribute to their wellbeing.. Buying rolexes at the gigantic malls in Cancùn is probably just helping some big company give more money to their stockholders..

Anyway.. Cancùn is a crazy place, with flashy lights, lots of people everywhere, huge shops, huge restaurants, and people offering trips to this and that on every corner.. We even fell for one of their packages at the end of the day.. We wanted to go visit Chichen Itza, and were thinking about renting a car for a day, drive up to the pyramids, and maybe spend the night close by, that way we could see the sound/light show..

But as we walked around in Cancùn, we found a guy offering a full day trip with a guide to Chichen Itza, the Cenotes, and showing Valladolid, including buffèt and a dance show.. He charged 440 pesos (220,- NOK) per person for this.. To rent a car would cost 440,- for a day too, but this would not be including food, highway tolls, gas, or a guide, so we went for the easy alternative... Relaxing on a airconditioned bus..

I would recommend this to anyone not known in the area, as it is a much easier and cheaper alternative to doing stuff yourself.. :)

We were picked up early the next morning and the busride took about 2.5 hours.. after 1.5 hours we stopped by the Cenote, and this was an incredible sight..

It was a huge hole in the ground, and stairs had been made for easy access to the gigantic underground well..

Roots hanging down from the top of it all the way down to the water, and the water was several hundred meters deep, connecting with other cenotes several miles away.. Looks like something from a paradise movie, and absolutely a sight!

It was a little bit crowded, as this was a very popular place to go with the tourbuses..

But people were jumping in the Cenote all the time! Just look at the pictures and you`ll see what I mean..

After the Cenotes, it was off to get some grub, and we drove for 10min before arriving at the buffèt..

Here they had great food, and the locals showed us some of their dances, they balanced bottles and serving trays on their heads while dancing, and showed some real skill balancing this.. Must have had a lot of practice!

Then it was off to the main attraction, the pyramid and ruins of Chichen Itza:

The guide brought us around to all the attractions and told us a lot of how things were done here back in the days of the Maya and the Toltecs.

He told us how the real human offerings were done, not by cutting open the chest to see the beating hearts, but by cutting open the stomachs of the poor victims, then reaching in under the ribs to grab the heart and pull it out, still beating and pumping out blood while they had it in their hands.. Terrible stuff! He also told us about how the pyramids were built using a mix of rubber, clay and water to make the cement water resistant and last until our days..

He showed us how that if you stood directly in front of the stairs to the pyramid and clapped your hands, the echo sounded like an eagle screeching, and as eagles were a big deal for the mayans, they had calculated exactly how to get this effect.

The same with the ball park.. Here there were 7 players on each team, dressed in heavy armour, beautiful feathers, and trying to get a heavy compact rubber ball through the «hoops» which was an almost impossible achievement, as throwing the ball directly through the hoop was not possible.. It was not allowed touching the ball with your hands, they had wooden sticks.

They had to use geometry to find the perfect spot for the ball to bounce off the wall, then through the hoop. If you stand in front of the hoops, and clap, the clap will echo 7 times back an forth, symbolizing the 7 players on each team.

In the game, one goal and the game was over. The captain of the winning team was honoured by decapitation, this giving him direct access to the heavens and the gods. This was a great honour for the Mayan people.

Death was not seen as a punishment or a bad thing, it was a way to the next life and to glory.

Human sacrifice was done daily to send «messengers» to the gods asking for rain or sun.

The priests were astrologers, and using the stars calculated exactly when the sun would get blocked by other planets, down to the minute/second. The huge pyramid is actually a mayan calendar, and is incredibly complex.

According to the Mayan calendar, december 2012 is going to be the end of a 26 000 year circle, where the earth`s «wobble» will come full circle. There are many theories about what will happen, some say the poles of the earth will turn upside down, others the world will end, and some that there will be huge changes to climate and the way we live. I guess the only way to find out is by waiting for it.. :)

People also said the world would end in 2000, but we`re still here, messing it up!

When you are at the site, you will be guaranteed to be asked a couple hundred times if you want to buy stuff, there is lots and lots of beautiful artwork for sale, and the locals make their living of the tourists buying stuff.. Some give you good prices, others have found out that some «gringos» pay whatever they say so they charge higher.. I would recommend asking around the different places for prices, and haggle as much as you want.. you can find many similar works around so don`t worry if one guy is expensive.

I bought a ceremonial offering knife for 150 pesos (75,- NOK) but they charged a lot more other places for this.. Just use your head when buying.. If you are happy with the price, and they are happy with the price, buy it! Remember you are helping the locals in most of the cases here.. And these are not rich people..

The guide told us how the Mayan people still live in the areas, living off the forests, hunting meat, fishing, and growing what they need. We were told that the Mayans today aren`t even registered in the «system» as they have to pay to get a birth certificate, and if they pay for this they have to pay taxes.. And as most of their system is built up around them living of their own natural land, not the commercialized world «we» live in they do not want this..

Even the women who give birth, do not go to hospitals or anything. Giving birth is done by sitting on the knees tying a sheet around their belly, and as the first retractions come they tie the sheet harder and harder, helping the baby out.. They have no social aid, no benefits and noone else than their families to help them if anything goes wrong.

I gotta say I am impressed.. But this is they way they have done it since 1000`s of years ago..

After a long day walking around the area, we were happy to get back on the bus again, getting a little shut-eye before coming back to Cancùn doing some last minute shopping and then taking the ferry back to laidback and quiet Isla Mujeres..

Life is good on Isla Mujeres... and we`re not leaving here until the end of January..

Aah! Paradise!

Entertainment for you all! (First part)

2007-12-14T18:04:00.000-06:00

We were looking around in Isla Mujeres, and stumbled upon a little cute Italian Icecream store, and inside they sold these funky books called "Cabo Bob's definitive Mexican Slang 101" and as it says on the first page, "This book is pirated, ripped off, printed and distributed in Mexico. Illegal and possibly even immoral in your more normal type of country." So I thought I could use it for your entertainment. I found a website promoting this book at Slang 101 if you are interested in more of the same..

Well.. to start off:

1. Hasta la bye-bye
(Hi/bye and basic boogy-woogy)

HELLO
Just as nobody actually says , "How do you do?" anymore, nobody uses phraseboook greetings like Como està Usted? At least say Como Estamos (COE moe aist AH mose) -- "How are we?" or simply Buenas (BWAY nahs) to be a little folksier (and avoid confusion about tense). But since you bought this book you'll want to say Què Onda? (kay OHN dah), the standard greeting for the youthful, with-it, and disaffected.
The expression means something like, "Whats the vibes?" and has survived the sixties to become a close equivalent to "What up?" in the States. Tack on buey and you`ve got Mexico's answer to "Happening homeboy?"
Que transas? (kay TRAHN sahs) is an even hipper, streetwise way to ask what`s up or to imply "What`s the deal?" Bien transa, on the other hand, means a cheat.

Goodbye
There are also parting words more with it than just adios. The popular way to say "See you around" is nos vemos (noce VAY moce) -- literally, "We`ll see each other"
"Later" is simply luego (loo EY goe) and Al rato (ahl RAH toe) means "back in a minute"
More formally, one hears Que te vaya bien (kay tay VIE yah byain), which means "Fare you well". Plain old "bye bye" works too -- it`s considered fairly hip in Mexico, just as we (and they) use "Ciao"

Yes
In the street people say Simòn (see MONE) instead of Si, especially to emphasize the affirmative, like if you`re really hot and somebody asks you if you want a beer.
Come down hard on the last syllable.
Hipsters also use other owrds instead of si, usually those that start with the syllable, like cilindros (cylinders) or cigarros (cigarettes).
The coolest is simply "ìs"
Claro means "of course", but slangster often express "sure", "you bet", etc. as clarìn or even clarìnete (clar een AYT ay)

No Way, Jose
Nel (nayl) is a popular word for "no" especially sassy street responses like "nope" or "nah", you also hear Nel pastel, and nones cantones.
Nada (nothing) and No hay (noe EYE)-- there isn`t any are big concepts in Mexico -- No hay, no hay is a tv catch phrase seen on bumper stickers and decals (calcomanias in Spanish) and often good for a laugh.
A response of ni marta means "not a bit", "not a word", etc. And ni sueños (nee SWAIN yoes) is a comeback to remember-- it mean "not in your wildest dreams".

You and me
Even simple words like Yo for "I" and mi for "me" get slanged. Frequently heard are:
Yolanda, melin, menta, me manta.
Instead of tù or ti, slangsters often use words like tunas, tiburcio for "you"
A lot of Mexican slang is based on improvising synonyms by using words that start with the same syllable -- it can be fun to try rolling your own.

More to come later! I have lots more of this later!
Like it?

Finally at Isla Mujeres!

2007-12-12T00:41:00.000-06:00

Allright! We are finally here!
After taking the cab from Guanajuato to Leon (cost 300 Pesos) we had to wait there for 4 hours until the plane left for Mexico City, cold and boring at the airport, but we managed fine! :)
Then it was off to Mexico City and we only had time to run past the McDonalds and Burger King at the airport, to Merethes regret.. :D She was hungry!
After running to catch the plane, and after a couple of hours on it, we arrive in Cancùn! But our bags did not! Everyone else got theirs, and we did not! :(
After waiting some more, we got to talk to a supervisor, and he found the bags on another plane, so we had to wait 15 minutes more for the bags to arrive.
We thought some breakfast would be nice, so we ordered 2 cheeseburgers and something to drink, and were shocked when we had to pay 290 Pesos for both.. We can tell we are not in Guanajuato anymore, this here is the tourist area! If you wanna play, you gotta pay!

Anyway.. After getting our bags (woohoow!) we took a cab from the airport (560 pesos !!!!) to Puerta Norte, where the ferry was just about to leave.. 35 pesos (cheap!) to take the ferry from Cancùn to Isla Mujeres, and it's only a 30 minute ride with the express ferry!
When we got there, we found a suitcase carrying guy who helped us with our bags so we could get to Poc-na, our hostal. I talked to the guy and asked him if he knew of any apartments around here for rent for a month or two, he said yes, and we arranged to meet him wednesday to go look for one..

Playa Norte @ Isla Mujeres

Oooh.. guess what, we have wireless internet at the hostal! Sweet!

Check out the view from our room at the Hostal!

It only took us about 30 min before we ran into some friends we met in Guanajuato! We just missed Mirit, as she left Isla on monday.. too bad!

Ooh.. We thought the hostal was a little expensive, so we went out looking for another place to stay, since we are staying for a couple of months, at the first apartment we saw, they wanted 10000 Pesos/ 1000 USD / 5000,- NOK which we thought was reeeeeally expensive!
But after a little looking around we found a place where they had a nice one for only 4000 Pesos/400 USD /2000,- NOK! Sweet!
So tomorrow we are moving from Pocna!
Will post pictures of the new place as soon as I have them!

Me relaxing in our hammock at the Hostal

"Sorry we are open" :D

Penguins @ Isla Mujeres
Merethe packing and looking like she has a lot of work to do!

Sundown @ Playa Norte!
Abandoned car in the streets of Isla Mujeres

Is this some new rule? First we have to put all liquids in small plastic bags, and now it's illegal with lighters as well? Looking forward to when everybody has to go naked because of "the terrorists"

This sign was by our boarding gate.. A little late to tell us no guns or knives, no?

More to come! Keep checking in! :)

Our last days in Guanajuato

2007-12-10T15:42:00.000-06:00

Our days in Guanajuato are numbered!

As I am writing this, it's our last day in Guanajuato, and we are packing our bags and trying to throw away as much as possible! It's incredible how much stuff we managed to collect in those 3,5 months we have been here..

We tried sending some of the movies we bought here with Heidi, but she got stopped in the customs in Amsterdam, and the took away about 40 movies! :( Pinche Customs!
The rest of the stuff we are dragging with us, hope we don't have to pay anything extra for overweight!

Anyway.. We are leaving with a cab around 3 at night, going to Leon, and taking the plane from there early in the morning! It's a 30-45 min car ride to Leon, then we fly to Mexico City, change planes, and then fly to Cancun! Woohoow!
As long as we get our stuff to Isla Mujeres everything will be allright, then we can send the stuff home with our friends from Norway that are visiting us this Christmas!

We had a wonderful time in Guanajuato, met tons of great people, got to travel the areas around Guanajuato, Leon, Maruata and lots more, learned some Español, concerts during Cervantino, BarFly, Cuba Mia, Los Lobos, Bar Ocho, La Kech, and ofcourse our favorite, Cafè Santo!

Thanks everybody for being friends, partying, studying, and travelling with us!

Sarah & Luis

Maggie & Erin
Maggie & Sara (freaky nails!)
Sarah (nordlendinga) & Merethe
Crazy times in Guanajuato during the Cervantino!
Decorations in Botellita
More decorations.
Drinking tequila with Erin
Oooh! I forgot to tell you guys I had a 25 pesos haircut!
That's about 12.50 NOK and around 2 USD!
Cheap stuff, he was done cutting my hair in about 5 minutes, and gave me a "choirboy" look when he was done! And to think we pay around 800 Pesos (400,- NOK /80 USD) in Norway for a haircut! It is truly insane!
Damn! I'm handsome! :P (Bob says Hi!)

Pamela & Mark
Hallgeir (El Pirato) We'll be seeing you on Isla Mujeres this xmas!

Heidi :) She will be joining on Isla Mujeres!
Chris Arenz (Shaggy)

Nadine

Enrique (Kike)

Pino & Mike
Michelle & Enrique (Kike)

Gene

Margareth and Mike

Suzan & Margareth and her kids :)

I probably forgot to post a picture of YOU here, but if you feel you should be here to, send me a mail! :)

I am guessing that I am not going to be online that much when I arrive at Isla Mujeres, but we'll see what happens! :) We have a lot of things we want to do there, including diving with sharks, swimming with dolphins, go see the sea turtles, enjoy the sun, enjoy our hammock, and just relax and put our feet up!
I will be posting pictures here as soon as I have any! :)

Oh, and for christmas, money is fine! :) No need to stress with gifts, as money is the only gift I need nowadays! :p

Life's GREAT!

I am "famous"! :)

2007-11-30T11:30:00.000-06:00

Not long ago I was contacted by Carmen Bolanos from NuNomad, she was very interested in what I had done lately and what I was going to do, as she had read my blog.
She wanted to interview me so she could tell other "nomads" how it is to be in a different country, travel tips and so on.. :)

Well.. Today the interview was posted and is now available at http://bluesuitnomads.typepad.com/blue_suit_nomads/2007/11/meet-the-noma-1.html

Woohoow! I hope this will bring me a little more people on my blog, or at least inspire people to get out of their couches, and do something creative with their lives!

Take a look, why don'tcha? :)

-D-

A wonderful trip to the beach!

2007-11-06T18:51:00.000-06:00

Maruata is beautiful!
There! I said it!
I'll even say it again! MARUATA IS BEAUTIFUL!

We were getting a bit ready for the beach, and when we heard some friends from school were going, we were allowed to tag along with them.. :)

Check out the slideshow i made from the trip!
(thanks to Heidi for downloading the Zumba music)

We started at 21:00 and left for the Central de Autobus in Guanajuato, there we took the PrimeraPlus express to Leon, which takes about 45 min.In Leon we had to wait for the other guys/girls to show up.. They had bought the tickets for us. :)
They show up around 22.00 and we have to wait some more, because our bus to Colima was not leaving until 23:30.
Luckily for us, the bus we were taking was 1.class, airconditioned and had comforable seats.. :) We wake up around 06:00 and quickly get on the next bus leaving for Maruata.. That took around 2-3 hours, also it was more comfortable than you would think..
And when we first arrived it was a warm, pleasant beach we layed our eyes upon!

This place doubles as a beach/turtle reservation.. :p In the daytime there are a few people enjoying the beach, but it's not too crowded. And in the night, the seaturtles crawl up on the beaches to digg big holes to lay their eggs in.

This was the only turtle we saw on the beach.. :( (a rare and endangered animalcrackerturtle)

We were told that some of these eggs usually got stolen by thieves trying to make a quick buck, but we did'nt even get to see any turtles, or egg-thieves for that matter... :(

The first day, we just had to buy a hammock, and instead of buying one each, we opted for the double one.. :D Fits 2 people easily! Comfy too!
It was actually too comfy, because I hardly got out of it after we bought it! :D
We got the other two couples to buy as well, probably because we were having such a nice time in ours.. :D

Anyways... The first night was great, we were a bit tired after the trip so we took a early night, around 20:00 (!!)

The next morning, I woke up early to catch the sunrise, listen to the waves and all inn all just enjoy the beach, but quickly found out that 2 backpacks had been stolen from one of the tents of our travelfriends.. They had gone to the toilet for 5 minutes, and when they came back, both their backpacks were missing from the tent.. :( SUCKS!
They had their money, phones, mp3players and all their clothes.. :/
Luckily, we had enough money so we could share, and they had everything they needed.
Even though they drank mostly mescal, cheapcheap booze, (20 pesos / 10 Nok)
they were happy! :D

The beach was lovely, but now we always had to have someone guarding the tents so we knew our valuables were safe.. And we suddenly got more suspicious of the people passing by all the time..

As I was writing, the beach was lovely, and it had these huge kickass waves coming in all the time, with some crazy undercurrents, so we had to be a bit careful..
But the water was lovely, there were lots of different fish in the water, but they weren't that easy to spot because of the waves.. Merethe found a Blowfish dead on the beach, and I found what looks like a Barracuda head.. :p Maybe it was eaten by a shark? hehe.. who knows?

They had bathrooms and showers close to where we camped, and we had to pay 5 pesos for every time we used it.. a little expensive, but not to bad..

We drank and ate good fish at the "restaurant" on the beach, they had good fish there, even though it was a little expensive.. (70 pesos for a plate of fish, chips, salsa, lime, and some more salsa)
But it was good enough to return there, and I even got Merethe to eat fish!! (WOW!)

This night was a little more comfortable than the night before(it was hot as hell in the tent!)
but we still went to bed early.. hehe.. It must be the sea air or something.. Lazy days.. ;)

The next morning the unlucky couple found out that their sandals were now stolen, and had nothing to wear on their feet.. :( Really unlucky!
We got more suspicious, but got the others to watch our tent while we took a little walk to a nearby hill.. After walking some steps, and through some bushes we came to the top, and WHAT a view! It was really beautiful!
And next to our beach was another nice area where we found a little cave through a rock, a huge cove with some scary waves and some more huts.

We also found out that the local "shops" weren't what you call too tourist friendly, they need some more stuff in their shops.. a little more choices would be nice.. But we survived! They had tostadas, salsa, and donuts, and of course Beer! :D

The day went by quickly, and the next morning nothing was stolen from the camp and we all felt better! :D
We enjoyed yet another lazy day in the hammock, doing nothing but swimming, eating, drinking and relaxing :D Oooh.. life is tough!
I bet a lot of people back in Norway are a bit envious right now! :p hah!

In your face for not joining us over here! :D

Anyway... we ended the night with playing Pantalones, the dice game (rules can be found in an earlier post) and all got drunk and merry! Pantalones is a dangerous game to play! Everybody gets drunk, and gets to know the "Pinche Sombrero" (which in our case was a Tuk from Canada)
"Pinche Tuk" :p

We got to bed, and were drunk and sleepy, but something was weird when we suddenly woke up and heard voices and saw shadows..
Merethe heard something touch the tent and she screamed for them to get away, I woke up, screamed as well, got my devilstick and kept looking out, but saw nobody..
We slept with one eye open and didn't get the best sleep in the world..

The next day when I was laying in my hammock, I noticed something with the tent, it was cut at the front corner...

The bastards actually tried stealing something through the hole that hey cut!
Luckily for us, we had no valuables close to where the hole was. (Note to self: Keep valuables in the middle when sleeping in tents)
I had some tape and taped it so the ants and mosquitoes didn't come in through it..

But now we tought it was maybe time to get going before we lost anything else... Not to fun to leave such a beatiful beach, but a real shower would not hurt to much either.. hehe

We left around 15.30 and took the bus to Colima, but were stopped on the way, there was a army checkpoint and they were checking "everyones" bags and suitcases for drugs, weapons and other scary stuff.. They were very eager to find something illegal (probably so they could get some bribe money, and scare the tourists a little) But they had nothing on us and had to let us go! :D hah! In your faces!

After this little pause in our bustravels, we finally got to Colima a couple of hours later.. Only to find out that the last bus left 1,5 hours before, but the next one was only 9 hours away and as we already felt as real backpackers, we took a trip to Colima to the giant market they have there! It doubles as a market for cows, horses and other farmanimals.. They even had a quad bike circuit if you wanted to go driving.. :D
There was also a huge fare there, with lots of different rides and horror houses and whatnot..
After eating and looking around for a few hours we took the bus to the center of town to get some cash and eat some icecream.. :D Colima was a nice town, but very quiet at nighttime.. a bit boring actually... I prefer Guanajuato over Colima anyday.. :D

Anyway.. as we had to wait until 04.00 we went back to the Central de autobus, bought some beers and got comfy by some benches.. :)

The time went by fast, and before we knew it we were on the bus to Leòn.. Yet another comfy busride.. not much to complain about on the buses here..
Arrived in Leòn around 0900 and quickly took our last bus to Guanajuato..

Guanajuato is a bit cold now in the evenings, and we could really feel the cold after sleeping on a hot beach for the last few days! Brrr!

I miss Maruata... *sob*

Oh well.. In December it's Isla Mujeres! (the Island of the Ladies)

Check out miss stretchy!

Louis and his best friend, Mr.Tequila

Playing Pantalones

Louis (one of the guys who got robbed) was hungry as hell, and we had just bought him some fries, he was happy as hell, he put on a lot of mayo and salsa and ketchup, and was just about to sit on his chair, when his friend moved the chair, and he fell on his ass, losing his fries, and being covered in salsamayoketchupfries.. Boy was he pissed..
So his friend bought him another plate of fries and Merethe and Sara gave him everything he needed. He smiled a lot after this! :)

Sunrise in Maruata, with one of the local ladies cleaning the beach.

More of the sunrise...

Merethe showing off!

Nice, eh?

Far down here, and nothing but big waves to land on!

Omg, teh Crabz0rz!

Some kind of vulture looking birds, there were a lot of these!

More pictures in my facebook gallery, will be coming back soon with a little Spanish update, so pay attention, and visit once in a while! :D Maybe you'll learn something?

Rotary Club gone insane!

2007-10-30T14:10:00.000-06:00

Wow!
I never thought I was going to have any trouble at school here, but this is just a ridiculous story..
Every monday at school we tell of something that has happened in the weekend or that we read about in the papers.

Our class consists of 2 Norwegians, a German, two or three Japanese (they are not there so often) , an American and a girl from Turkey.

So as we tell our different stories, and a story pops up from one of us about how the borders between Turkey and Irak has a major dispute right now, and that there are 50 000 soldiers and thousand tanks from Turkey just by the border to Irak, and that Turkey claims that they are being invaded. And that this is a silly thing to do of the Turks as they may be attacking American Allies if they decide to enter Irak.
The Turkish from class then says that this is probably just a lie from the media, and that the Turkish are so kind to it's people and "all other countries, and never wants to join the EU" etc.

We then discuss this a little while, and move on to the next story, something about how another nuclear test has taken place, and how sad this is both for other countries, the environment and so on... We carry on with class as normal, and don't think any more about the stuff..

Then the next day after the first class we see a bunch of people speaking with our teacher, the look our way a lot, and seem mad for some reason.. They speak with the teacher a long time, and when the German is passing them, they stop him ask him if he speaks Spanish, when he says yes, they start to accuse him of being a racist, and bashing Turkey, and being hatefull against the Turkish student.
He is so shocked by this that he says he doesn't want to speak with them anymore, since they are accusing him of being a racist, which I know for a fact the he isn't.

Later that day the teacher wanted to speak with both me and the German about this, and she says that 4 people from the Rotary Club in Guanajuato came to school because the Turkish student told the family she lived with about what we discussed in class.
We are guessing her version of the story was a little different, because they were threatening our teacher that they had "contacts" in the University we attend, and that they could get us thrown out of school for talking about this.

The teacher told us that whatever happened that we discuss in class, is not going to affect us in any way, and that we should not worry about this, but who the hell do those Rotary people think they are?! Are the people there so brainwashed that they can't have other opinions ?
What the hell?

Is the world really this crazy nowadays that we can't discuss subjects that happen in the world, and point out other countries differences and errors without it boiling down to people being racist?!

For me, this is just a incredible story to tell, and I was somewhat hoping that they would try to get us kicked out, just so I could have an excuse to really tell them off! This is truly incredible!

Oh well..

To hell with the Rotary Club if this is how they treat people that are not in their sacred "union"

A trip to the Zoologico in Leon

2007-10-30T13:33:00.000-06:00

Sunday we decided to go to Leòn and visit the Zoo there.
It's only a little hour bussride from Guanajuato, and compared to being in cold Guanajuato, Leòn is much warmer, as it's not so high in the mountains.
We met Mark and his friend Pamela there, she had a car, so we drove for 10-15 minutes and were there.! Not far from the Central de Autobus!
The entrance fee was only 30 pesos! Cheapcheap.
But we soon figured out why the price was so cheap.. It was not so much to see there other than the animals, the park looked like it was old, and most of the "entertainment" was worn out, or being fixed at the moment.
The animals were placed in very small areas, not like at home where the animals have huge areas where they can run around and have a "natural" area to live in. Here most of them were placed in small cages, and looked like they were suffering.
It was a bit sad to see, I would have preferred to pay extra in the park so the animals could have better conditions.
They have a large variety of animals, but we were mostly stoked about seeing the polar bear! As I am from Norway and still haven't seen a polar bear for real, it's kinda funny to go to Mexico to see one for the first time! :p
And we got to see two! They had one of the better areas to be in, I think.. At least compared to many of the other animals.
Some of the bears we saw looked like they were full of shit everywhere, and did not look like they were happy..
It's sad to see such a thing in 2007.. There should be some more rules about how animals are supposed to be treated in a park!

Anyways.. Here are some of the pictures we took.. :) More pictures on the facebook gallery!

Daniel, Merethe, Pamela and Mark

Aaaaw!

Mr.Giraffe

Gots to get some tan! :D

Cactus.. Had to go to the zoo to find them! hehe Thought they would be everywhere in Mexico! All those movies have been lying to me!

Lazy polar bear in Mexico! :D

There was supposed to be white tigers here, but we could not find it. :( to bad! I've never seen a white one before! I think it was sleeping in the bushes somewhere...

Chilling in the sun

This was a happy chap!

Here's the other one! Maybe a female? It was smaller than the other one anyway.. :p
Black bear.. Scary! :p
Dramallama!
Begging monkey!

Unclear picture, but this cat looked like it was really comfortable, resting his paws like that.

All in all, a ok trip, just a bit sad to see that not all the animals were treated so well..

We have moved!

2007-10-21T17:03:00.000-05:00

Numbah Six! :D

Although our old apartment was ok, we weren't that happy with it, the roof was leaking when it rained, we saw rats in the ceiling, the walls were wet because of the roof leaking, and that made patches of fungus grow in certain areas, and thats not good for anyones health! There was no door to the bathroom, and we had to use a carpet instead..

But it was furnished, and was very central so we thought it was ok..

Especially since we payed 2500 pesos (1250,- NOK) a month with water and electricity included in the rent. But then our landlord changed the deal, and we suddenly got the bill for the water.. It wasn't that much, and after some grumbling and being annoyed, we payed it.. But not more than a couple of weeks later, we got another bill, this time for the electricity.. and that was the final straw for our part.. We gave notice to the landlord that we would not pay for this as it was not part of our arrangement, and then started packing!

We called a lady we had talked to earlier about an apartment, and she fixed it for us so that the next day we had already moved! The new place is much nicer, the bathroom has
a real door, it looks clean, the internet is faster and we have an incredible view of the city.

It's not as big as the previous place, and not as much furniture, but we don't care! :D
It is a 5-10 minute walk from our old place, and we have to walk up a steep hill to get here, but it is still worth it.

I just look at the hill as my workout! Yesterday we walked up and down this hill 4 times and I have a goal to make Merethe walk all the way without having to stop for a break or complain over it! :p hehe

So we have moved up in the world, to say the least!
We pay 2700 pesos (1350,- NOK) a month here, but its worth it!

Rain protection in the old apartment after we complained about the leaky roof
(It did not help)

Inside old apartment

More of the insides of the old apartment

One of many mold/fungus spots in the old one..

NEW ONE!
Daniel the conquerer of new apartments!
Our very own fridge and micro!
Gotta get up our decorations!
Merethe happy in bed (as always..)
Not quite unpacked yet
Enjoying the view at night
Nicer, eh?
Computahpowah!
Faster internet!

Our balcony! Nice view?

More of the view!
Guanajuato as far as the eye can see!
Fantastic!
Downstairs

Mark lives just across the street in the middle of this green building.
Just outside our door.
Check out the wirechaos!

Cervantino festival 2007

2007-10-21T16:12:00.000-05:00

Today, Sunday is the last day of the 3 week long culture festival Cervantino, which has been an incredible experience!
I have been to three concerts, Baaba Maal, Orquestra Alejandro y Los Onyx and Buika, very interesting all of them, even though Baaba Maal was the best!

The festival started out pretty nicely with not too many tourists visiting our little town, but then more and more people came, it was ok in the middle of the week the first days, but then it got crowded, more and more street vendors showed up, they have a HUGE hippie market, where we have been 4 times already, and going there once more today to shop some more before they close it down.

There are performance artists everywhere, clowns, dancers, hippies, small kids showing off, and stuff to shop almost on every 2meters of the street!

Crazytimes, but what an experience..

The people that run the Quart music festival in Kristiansand could probably have a lot to learn from this place.. It must be at least 10 x bigger than the Quart festival here..

I was lucky enough to get to film this Spraypaint artist in action, hope you like it!

Nice, eh?

Other than that, the last few days have been wild! Just to get from one end of the street to the other, you have to fight your way through large crowds! Never seen anything this crowded in my life, people everywhere! I wonder how many people that come to Guanajuato during this festival, it must be 10-20.000 at least!

And there are police on every corner, just a 5 minute walk, and we counted 50+ police officers.. They seem to be doing their job, and we haven't been bothered by any suspicious ones.

Drinking in the streets is not legal in Mexico, and they uphold this pretty well.. Compared to Norway, the police here just take your drinks, pour them out and let you go with a warning.. In Norway you get a HUGE fine, and sometimes even have to go to the police station..

We saw a couple of hippies with large peace signs on their clothes getting checked by the police, probably looking for drugs, but very ironic to see these peace loving hippies getting stopped by "the man" :p

As you will see in the pictures, it was totally insane!

Some random guy that wanted to be in our photo! He was so happy because he just got one of the last cases of Cerveza from the nearest kiosk

I hope this isn't dog poop!
Yo!

Lots of people!

The same guy that i filmed earlier is displaying some of his artworks
Mr.Scorpion set free!
Pirates of the Caribbean, Gold edition!
FOTO!FOTO!FOTO!
The clowns putting on a show at one of the squares..
Mr.Silversurfer.. This guy was dangerous if he touched you.. You got silver all over your clothes, and it was almost impossible to get rid off!
Walking around with their instruments.. not easy when there are so many people!
Merethe, Mark, Sofy and Pamela
Candy! (dulces in spanish)
Trying on crazy hats at the hippiemarket

More people!
My tickets from the Cervantino
My lovely chicken salad

More people, this is actually when its early, and not so many people..
A huge globe was rolling around in the streets..
Yepp.. even MORE people!
Some of the local "circus" artists showing off
Don't fall!
Heidi and Pollo giving each other weird looks! :p
My wonderful Narañada!
Merethes Pollo y champiñones, she wasn't that happy! :p

Merethe and Hallgeir :D
Here everybody started shouting PIRATO! PIRATO! PIRATO! And when they saw that I took pictures, they all charged towards me and Merethe and started shouting FOTO!FOTO!FOTO!
Merethe caught by the festivalpeople! :D
Crowd after crowd!
Police doing their job.."Is there any alcohol in this?!"

Someone got busted! The streets were wet with all the bottles the police had poured out!
Even more people!
Here they charged a clown just walking by..

To sum things up, a wonderful festival, and I wouldn't miss it for anything!

Partyupdate

2007-10-21T15:37:00.000-05:00

We've had a couple of parties lately, and I thought I should just put them all under the same post here.. As I have been really lazy lately and no updated the blog regularly, I this is my 6. post just for the day, so bare with me a little! :D

At Barfly with Mark and Chris

Mark and my namebrother, Daniel, they met randomly in Guanajuato, both are from the same town in Germany, Giessen.. The world is a small place!

Don't even ask!

Trying out Marks new hat! Jah Man! Rastah man!
Surprise picture of Mike trying to have some peace and quiet at a restaurant
Party in our old flat
Group photo! Weee!

Heidi smiling! (you should see her angry!)

This old lady was walking around selling chewing gum in BarFly when she decided it would be a good idea to take a litt nap right next to me :)
The partypeople in action!
Getting psyched up about going to Jamaica next year! :D

Norwegian flag at BarFly!

Our new friend from Norway, Hallgeir from Bergen, also known as Hal, or Pirato
Old lady still sleeping

Hal and his funky friend! He actually tagged on the wall on BarFly while we were there! Funny dude!

Me with a glowstick through my tongue! I am totally crazy!
Pino enjoying a Indio and a fag together with Mike
Partygirl!
PartyGirls!
Sweet!

All lined up and ready to Pose!
Mikes birthdaycake!
Mark looks scared!
Party up in here!
Kike and Michelle getting jiggy with it!

A Mariachi visiting class!

2007-10-21T15:17:00.001-05:00

We got a visit from one of our former classmates, Gene, and he had brought with him a friend.
A real life mariachi and showman!

It is our theory that this guy only knows three or four different grips on his guitar, as all the songs he sang were backed up by the same grips and same rhythm of the guitar! If you look closely you can see how the guitar is worn out on the top, probably because of him not playing other than these few notes! :p
Funny guy! A real Pavarotti.. (eeh)

He showed us these old pictures from back in the day when he was playing in a band

Quite handsome, eh?
Here you can see him together with one of our teachers, Luz
Mr Lova lovah! :p
(Merethe thinks he looks like the cricket in the Disney cartoons, Jiminy Cricket!)

Gene showing us how to play the airguitar!

As you can guess, a fantastic experience! :P

Buika concert

2007-10-21T15:11:00.000-05:00

Not so exciting concert with Buika, it was allrigth, but nothing to write home about.. A bit to calm for my taste..
Just a few pictures for your entertainment.. Sorry for the crappy quality.. :p

We found a scorpion in the bathroom!

2007-10-21T14:26:00.001-05:00

Our neighbours girlfriend, Michelle came into our apartment and was slightly upset as she was going to have a shower and saw something "insecty, and maybe scorpion looking" in her bathroom. I was having a couple of friends over, and we ran to the bathroom to have a look. Nothing gets guys going more than to be able to face something dangerous! :D Cool stuff!

I managed to catch it in a plastic cup after chasing it around a little while.. For those of you out there that aren't familiar with scorpions, they are FAST!

One of my buddies managed to film it and as you can see in the video, chaos was going on! :p

Looks creepy, right?

I released it after a couple of days, it was really pissed at me for catching in, and tried stinging plenty of times..

This specific scorpion was not dangerous, as our teacher at school told us, it was about as dangerous as a bee sting, but as I am no scorpion expert, I will see any scorpion as dangerous until proven otherwise! :)

Orquestra Alejandro y los Onyx - Cervantino 2007

2007-10-21T13:50:00.001-05:00

Orquestra Alejandro Y los Onyx concert during the Cervantino festival, a cuban orquestra that was really fascinating! Cuban rhytms never grow old in my ears! They put on a great show and it was truly great!

Traffic accident outside our school

2007-10-19T10:44:00.001-05:00

We were in class, when we suddenly heard a lot of tyrescreeching, an engine trying as hard as it could to push forward and then a loud bang!
There is a steep road going just outside our classroom, and a truck transporting water was trying to get up to the top, but it seems it was overloaded and that the engine was not strong enough to carry it up (or maybe the tires where too worn out, this is Mexico after all)
It went backwards, and luckily for him, no cars were behind it.. Only a big concrete pole and a circuit box..
The concrete pole was supporting the stairs on the pic, and was broken, same with the circuit box..
A few minutes later the police arrived to check out what was up.. Same with a tow truck.. :P
The driver looked really frustrated, hope he was insured! :)

Crashboombang!

Police arriving at the scene of the accident.
Curious people from our class, from the left, Pino, Melany and Pati

Bystanders are helping to unload the water from one truck into a smaller one

Police writing a report, or maybe a fine?

Truck moved, and the police are checking out the damage

Witnesses?

Broken concrete pillar + circuit box

Cervantino 2007 Baaba Maal concert!

2007-10-05T12:04:00.001-05:00

Every year Guanajuato hosts the Cervantino festival, which lasts from 3.Oct until 21.Oct
Since we were lucky enough to be here before it started we decided to go to at least one of the concerts. And as many on our school recommended Baaba Maal we decided that was one of them!
Baaba Maal is a uniquely talented singer from Senegal.
He's equally at home with an acoustic guitar playing traditional folk music or playing the hottest international dance music. He's finally emerging into the international spotlight as one of the world's hottest performers. (From Worldbeatplanet.com)
He plays reggea, soul, funk, pop and lots of other different styles, and is a great artist!

Mark

Check out the video of his Talking Drum!

Heidi, Chris A. and a german girl that Mark knew watching the show-

At the end of the show they got up a lot of people on stage and everybody was dancing to the great rythms!

Here you see Chris on stage!
Here our friend from school, Chris is rocking it on stage with Baaba Maal standing right in front of him!

After the concert we went home to party with a whole group from school!
We played pantalones together and got pretty drunk!
Pantalones is the perfect drinking game! :D

Maybe more concerts will be showing up here if we find something exciting to see! :)

Whats up in Guanajuato?

2007-10-03T15:57:00.000-05:00

A lot of stuff has happened lately, and as I have been busy and/or lazy no new posts have showed up!

But today is a day full of good energy, so I`ll get some stuff done!
We decided to have a small gathering on our roof with some of the people from class, and so we ended up with a happy gang consisting of Merethe, Daniel, Gene, Gene`s wife Susan, Mike, Mikes wife Margareth, and their 3 kids too.
Daniel, Gene and Mike, with the kids in front playing my computer
A great gang! We took our table up on the roof, got lots of bottles of wine, and were all in a good mood! :)

Since the last independence day, we had another local independence day, celebrating El Pipilas attack on Alhondiga, where the Spaniards took shelter waiting for backup troops so they could turn the Mexicans away.. El Pipila took on the mission of burning down the gates by wearing a large stone plate on his back while the Spanish were shooting at him.. He managed to get to the gates and burn them down so they could win back Mexico!
We had the day off school on the friday the independence day was, so on Thursdag we went partying with some cool Americans, and the taught us to play a cool drinking game called Pantalones.
The red hat = Pinche Sombrero (Damn Sombrero!)

Rules of Pantalones!
In this picture, i forgot to say Pantalones, and Chris got me! DRINK!

The rules are easy, you need a set of dices, a silly hat known as "Pinche Sombrero" and a lot of alcohol to drink! :)
If you get a total sum of 3 on the dice (1+2, 2+1) you have to wear the Pinche Sombrero.
Whenever someone rolles the dice and a 3 appears on one of the two dice, you have to drink! (The 3`s apper OFTEN!)
Whenever someone rolls 1+1 everybody has to drink, this is known as "Social".
2+2, 3+3, 4+4, 5+5 is "Dar" and this means you can give away as many drinks as the the dice say, so if the dice show 3+3 you can give one of your fellow drinkers 3 gulps or give 2 gulps to one, and 1 to the other guy/girl.
3+4 or any other combination that totals to 7 and you have to say "Pantalones" with a real gringo accent and then the last one saying it has to drink.
Any combination giving the total sum of 11 and the first person saying "Naaaantucket" (again with a gringo accent) and the two people sitting next to him has to drink.

Oh.. And you have to speak Spanish the whole time while you play it, even though everybody are English speaking. The one who forgets has to... You guessed it! DRINK!

It`s a great game and it got us hammered pretty quickly!
Me filtering the rest of the wine through a napkin after Merethe had a litt "whoopsie" :p

And as Chris had to leave for the bus for Puerto Vallarta (10 hours on the bus and he`s at the beach) we went home ready to party some more!
We made a lot of noise so the other people living here noticed we were in a partymood! Then got them to join us at our place!
Kike, our Mexican neighbor had his girlfriend from Usa over for a visit, and she joined us too!
The happy gang: Merethe, Michelle, Heid and Chris A.
Mark getting it on with some Tequila!

Oh.. And the Independence day the next morning..We were almost to late, it started at 09:00 in the next morning and were awake at 12:30.. We got up and out to have a look at the parade (there`s always a parade in Guanajuato, but this one was HUGE!)
What we saw kind of scared me.. A huge display of the Mexican army and their weapons, and I thought the independence day was a day for the people, by the people.. There was a lot of military show off`s and at the end the Caballeros came on their horses. (not that way, you PERV!)
Mike, Mark and Merethe (the three M`s!)
Mike and his family in the crowd!

More pictures on my facebook page!

Here are some random funny images we took in Guanajuato.

Mexican Handsfree!

Merethe bought her hat here.. The brown one on the bottom!
Just a random guy walking around with a Iguana on his shoulder.. perfectly normal in Guanajuato!
Buy a refrigerator and get 18 sixpacks of beer included! WTF? Why don`t they have these kind of offers in Norway? I would buy a new fridge every month! :p

That`s all for now.. Please feel free to comment, you guys suck at commenting!

The Mexican Independence day!

2007-09-16T16:34:00.001-05:00

Saturday we celebrated the Mexican independence day!
This was done by partying like maniacs, making lots of noise and painting the Mexican colours on our faces! Woohoow!

Here the garbagetruck arriving in all its glory! :)
At Cuba Mia
We met these happy and probably drunk Mexicans on our way to Che Bar, where there was a concert and lots and lots of people!
Say TEQUILA!
Me and Heidi making a ruckus with our horns!
The horny bunch!
Woohooow!
Heidi with one of her Mexican boys! He was preeeeetty drunk!
Here we are at Cuba Mia! Met some more of Heidi`s fitness friends.. VIVA MEXICO!
Lots of people in the streets!

Merethe and her balloons!
Heidi and her Corona :D
Heidi and Merethe

Trip to El Pipila

2007-09-16T15:25:00.000-05:00

We took a trip to one of Guanajuato`s famous tourist sites, the El Pipila statue which overlooks Guanajuato.
El Pipila is a known independence fighter in Mexico, and was known for teaching the Mexicans who were under siege by the Spaniards crafts, reading, writing and fighting for whats important!
When there was an uprising against the Spaniards, The Spaniards took shelter in Alhòndiga, a fortress, while waiting for more troops. The only way for the Mexicans to enter the fortress was by burning one of the two doors there, but this was very dangerous. Bullets and arrows killed a lot of men trying to do this. When the rebels were asked if someone would try this again, nobody said yes, until Pipila stood up among the people, and used a stone plate on his back as armour.
He succeeded and was able to burn the doors down.
The monument shows Pipila with a torch and at the base of the statue the words "...there are still other Alhóndigas left to burn" are written.

There are three ways to get to the top, walking, driving a huge detour and using the funicular, a cablecart.
We chose to walk, to Merethe`s regret.. It was a 10-15 minute walk, but up steep and narrow alleys!

Here she is walking up the alleys that lead to the top!
The view halfway to the top
Merethe taking a breather on the way
Still walking! :)
Finally she`s there! She has to work on her stamina I think! hehe.. Totally exhausted!

El Pipila in its splendour!

The view from the top is incredible! You can see all of Guanajuato and probably some more than that too! Lots of pictures of the view underneath here!

Cactus!
On the top there are tons of natives selling homemade bracelets, jewelry, nicknacks and other stuff you probably don`t need!

Enjoying the view! :)

The square trees is the main tourist area in Guanajuato. It`s in front of a beautiful church, and there are restaurants with expensive tourist prices all around the trees.
In the evening there are usually hundred of people just enjoying themselves, listening to the Mariachis, or dancing here. Very nice!

The Back of El Pipila

A pigeon enjoying the view

Lots of new stuff on World Travelblog!

2007-09-11T20:37:00.000-05:00

I have now updated the blog with a gallery, so if you take a look beneath the counter you will find lots of galleries from Mexico and my other journeys!
There will be a HUGE update when I get the time, and I will post images and stories from my other travels around the world!

In my galleries I now have pictures from Denmark, France, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Egypt, Norway, Thailand and probably some more countries I forgot!

If you find any links not working, please tell me so I can fix it! :)

Once again, feel free to comment as this helps improve the blog!

All pictures are copyrighted and are not allowed to be used without my permission!

Whoa! That's a lot of pictures!

2007-09-08T10:36:00.000-05:00

The sun is shining once again in Guanajuato!

So now we have been able to enjoy our roof some more! :)
Hopefully our high tech rain protection device that our landlord, Uncle Freddy installed will hold the rain out of our flat! :p

High tech stuff!

We are still looking for other alternatives regarding an apartment, but for now its ok while the sun is shining!

The local buses are everywhere!

A funny wall I just had to have a picture of! :)

The Mexican independence day is coming up, and those lazy Mexicans are already starting
to hang the decorations up.. I don't believe they like stressing with anything.. Always do things so they have plenty of time! :) But it`s nice! People are already starting to get into the partymood and we are looking forward to partying as crazy when the day finally arrives!

How do you get people to not touch something very lethal?
Easy! Just post a skull near the power towers, and nobody will be stupid enough to touch anything nearby.. The wires stick out like there's no tomorrow, so I try avoiding these towers as much as I can.. Damn! :p

Here you can see the result of me and Heidi eating at the restaurant.. Both of us are done eating, and you can only guess which one is mine and which is Heidi's (hint: the empty one's Heidi's! )

Me waiting for the girls.. They stop and flirt with every Mexican they can see! Hehe..
But hey.. Life is good! :D

The guy on the picture here owns half of Guanajuato, but is a man of respect! He works on "ground level" with the regular guys, carrying stuff around, doing dishes, helping out.. Even though he has enough dough to just put his feet up and enjoy himself!
I think he's a role model for all wealthy people!
Keep up the good work!

As i got tired of my "dull" hair colour, I dyed it black as the night!
The next day someone asked me if I was feeling ill, since I looked so pale.. hehe.. This only means MORE TIME ON OUR ROOF! I need to get some colour on my pale body! :D

Here we are on our night out with two of our classmates, Gene and Mike from the States! We had a great time, Gene brought his wife and Mike his family! A fun bunch!

SMILE!
These creepy narrow alleys can hide some real gems!
We went in and found a really nice restaurant hidden away here!
Nice, eh?
Here we are inside the hidden restaurant
Mike, Merethe, Daniel and part of Mike's son.
Notice the hands? hehe!
Oh! Nora, Mike's daughter took this picture! She'll be a good photographer one day! :)

This is me on one of our favorite restaurants, Cafè Santo!
Great food! Great prices! Great service! :)

Me in front of my computer..
I've spent a couple of hours in front of "my only friend" much to Merethes dislike! :p

PhunkyPhreak walking down the stairs!

These dogs bark at about everything they see.. Really nice place for them to get some air without running away.. Even though they looked like they were going to jump on a tall truck driving underneath.. VIVA MEXICO! Lazy people! :p

This is just a bragging photo so Gene can see what kind of swords, axes and knives I have back home.. :)
The rod looking thing in the middle of the two axes turn in to two swords when you "open" it :)
Sai knives, Pirate dagger, Viking axes and some more daggers :)

Rainy days in Guanajuato!

2007-09-03T20:53:00.000-05:00

The last couple of days have been kind of slow. We are experiencing what the «hurricane» season has to offer of clouds and rain.. Hurricane Dean has passed and disappeared, but now two others are on their way to Mexico, and these guys are spreading their «love» in the form of clouds covering our beloved sun, and sudden downpours of rain.. They tend to be over in 15 – 20 minutes and it's dry again after an hour, so it's not the biggest of problems.. We are too high up in the mountains (2000m) to be affected by the stormy winds :D I don't believe global warming is the cause, but the 50 year cycle!(prove me wrong, environmentalists!

But OUR problem is that our nice roof, which we enjoy a great view from, and also spend hours tanning our white bodies on.. IS LEAKING!

We get water dripping down the roof when the heavy rain sets in, for now only by the front door, and next to our bathroom «door».. We are surviving for now, but have notified our school that we would like to see what other options there are for us.. You never know, maybe we can get something just as nice without leaking roofs?

Our beloved popcorn popping landlord, Uncle Freddy has tried patching the roof with a large commercial canvas, but this has only delayed the water some.. Lets see if he can fix it sooner or later.. (preferably sooner!) I'll take some pictures of this tomorrow, but now it's.. You guessed it.. RAINING!

While it normally doesn't rain that much here, even the locals are saying how much more rain there has been. We have had temperatures of about 15-18 celsius and have had to wear sweaters! (!!!) Not that happy about this, but hey! We are still in Mexico, while most of you guys reading this.. are NOT! Haha!

But you probably don't have the same problems we do here either..

I am beginning to eat better as my stomach is supposedly getting bigger (according to Heidi, the nutrition expert) and feeling more energetic. Woohoow! I bet you are dancing with joy right now! I am, anyways! :p

Other than that, Merethe misses a real kitchen, as we are mostly preparing our food in the microwave (I use it primarily for heating up water for my cups of noodles) But it's so cheap eating out (at restaurants, you perv!) that we do that pretty often..
A full meal with dinner and drinks usually doesn't cost more than 50-60 NOK (10 US$, or 120 Mexican Peso) And this could probably be even cheaper, if we weren't so in love with Cafe Santo..A really nice cafe! But with weird art on their walls.. :)

Just as this buttershrimp, or Shrimperfly.. :p Got any better suggestions on names?

The Spanish course is going pretty neat for me, I feel I am learning more and more Spanish, and will soon be talking like a local.. (uhm.. at least better than a tourist)

I have one hour in class a day which Merethe is not in, and here we are learning these really funny tongue twisters, so we can learn better to pronounce the different Spanish words.. Here are some of them.. We learn a new one pretty often, so I'll try to post them all here.. :)

Try saying them out loud.. Then try it again faster.. and faster..

Funneeeh!

Trabalenguas:

1.
Erre con erre cigarro
Erre con erre barril
Ràpido corren los carros
Cargados de azucar del ferrocarril

2.
Tres Tristes Tigres
Tragaban trigo en un trigal
En un trigal tragaban trigo
Tres Tristes Tigres

3. (this one I thought was harder than the others..)
El que poco coco come
poco coco compra: El que poca
capa se tapa, poca capa se compra.
Como yo poco coco como, poco
coco compro, y como poca capa metapo
poca capa me compro.

4.
Pedro Perèz pide permiso
para partir a Paris
Para ponerse peluca postiza
porque parece puerco pelado!

We also had to do a presentation of our hometowns, and this is what I managed to say about Kristiansand, Norway in Spanish!

Una presentacion de Kristiansand

Voy a hablar sobre mi ciudad, Kristiansand

Kristiansand es la capital del condado de Vest Agder, Noruega.
Por su poblacion es el sexto mayor ciudad de Noruega.
Mi ciudad esta en el sur del paìs.
La ciudad tenia una poblacion habitantes de setenta y seis mil novecientos (76 900)
Kristiansand fue fundado del rey Christian Cuarto, quien en mil seisentas cuarento y uno (1641) dijo «Aqui se erigera la ciudad!»
El Centro de Kristiansand se llama «Kvadraturen» debido la forma cuadrada de sus calles
Tienes muchos lugares interesantes, hay un festival de music famoso, el quart festival
Es una ciudad muy bonita con muchas turistas en el verano

Eso es todo!

Muchas gracias por su atencion!

Good eh?
So this is what we are learning in class..

I'll probably post some more notes on this subject later so keep on checking my blog! Maybe I can teach you people out there something as well? :)

This is it for my update for now, hope you enjoyed it!
Feel free to comment on the blog! I love feedback!

Hasta Luego!

-Daniel-

The day of the mummies!

2007-08-28T17:50:00.000-05:00

It's been a couple of days since i last wrote something about our time in Guanajuato, so here's my update!

We are finally in class at Escuela de Idiomas, and I'm having a great time learning Spanish. I can now count to one million, know a lot of new Spanish words, and am beginning to see connections when I listen to people, so I can actually understand a lot more than before we came here.

My Spanish class!

Merethe studying hard! :p

Me hardly awake! 08:00 every morning is EARLY!

Merethe is hanging on, but having a hard time understanding it all because the tutoring is mainly in Spanish. But She'll get there! Luckily Heidi is next door if the going gets too tough and we don't have a clue! :)

Other than that we have been shopping a lot lately.. Mostly for stuff we need in our apartment, some movies, candy, sunglasses, water, water and more water (even though Merethe hardly drinks any of it! She's picky!

I bought a new keyboard, as I can't get my bluetooth one to work here.. (I hope it's not broken! )
We had to buy a couple of blankets, one for the bed and one for our bathroom! We finally have hot water! I had to go buy a huuuge gas container just for our waterheater.. Did'nt know it was as easy as just a flame that is constantly on under the watertank.. But it works! One container is enough for 5-6 months of hot water and it's cheap! 300 Peso (about 150 Nkr)

Scary alley.. Don't want to be climbing these stairs drunk! :D

Want to count the houses?

If you're not happy with my picture update, I have alot more pictures on my facebook page, contact me if you can't find me or the pics! :)

Would be cool to skate down here.. and survive! :p

Our landlord, "Uncle Freddy" is often by to check that we have everything that we need, and also to make Palomitas (Popcorn) which he sells to all the silly tourists :) We usually get some for free! (Lucky us!)

We are getting two new neighbours as well, one of them is Kike, a friend of Heidi's and the other is some guy I havent met yet who is going to use his "room" as an office.. Probably wont be seeing too much of him though..

Do not bring guns or knives to the shopping mall?!?

So far we have been shopping mostly in Guanajuato, but had to have a trip to Leon, where the real shopping is supposed to be done!
Leon is the town of the Zapaterias (shoestores)! When we arrived at the bus station after a long trip with a local singer and his untuned guitar, all I could see were one Zapateria after another, stacked! Ofcourse I did'nt get any good pictures of this, since I am a forgetful chap! :p I did get some of outside Walmart though! (WOOOW!)

The trip back was more pleasant, as we had to pay 36 peso (instead of the usual 30) and got the 1. class bus! Before we got on the bus we were given a bag with a free beverage of choice, and a packet of cookies! On the bus the aircondition was working great and the movie was excellent (even though it was in Spanish)

Oh! And today! We have been walking to the Museo de las Momias de Guanajuato, the Mummy museum! It's a long walk and up a steep hill, so we were exhausted when we got there. (Our stamina has been improving more and more since the first days, where we hardly could do anything without stopping for a quick breather..)

Anyways, the mummy museum is freaky..
Apparently the local people had/have to pay a small fee every year to keep their deceased in their final resting place, and if they can't do this the bodies are dug up, and taken to the museum where they are put on display for all to see.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but it was really weird seeing all those people so well preserved (there is something about the earth and climate here that naturally mummifies the bodies, so they don't rot )

We saw everything from small children to adults, and even one corpse of a woman who supposedly had been buried alive in the 1900's! Her body looked really terrified!
I took some pictures of postcards so I have something to show you guys out there.. The museum also has the smallest mummy in existence, a very tiny one of a 5-6 month child! Disturbing to watch, but still very enchanting..

We also took a lot of pictures nearby the museum, and as you can see, the view is quite brilliant!
I recommend taking the trip just for the view if the museum sounds too freaky!
On the long walk home I found out I was going to be a real tourist, so I now have pictures of almost everything on our way back :)

Oh! I seem to have lost some weight as well since my operation! I weighed 89 kg last July, when my stomach started acting up, and now i am down to 64!! My beer belly is totally gone, and I have a flat stomach! *shocked*

Not exactly Mr. Muscle.. :P

Merethe is telling me to eat some fat food so I can get bigger again, but all I need to do now is start training! (if i can get my ass in gear! :p) Heidi keeps telling me to come train! And maybe one of these days I will! hehe.. Get some muscles instead of fat.. that should be good? :p

Great view!Something else I have noticed is that Guanajuatans have their own kind of hand brake! I'll collect some more pictures of this weird phenomenon, but here are three of them!

If you want to use any of the pictures here comercially, my permission has to be given!

More Guanajuato pictures!

2007-08-26T22:47:00.000-05:00

It's idnight! And the oon is up!

Walmart scarystuff!
hahahaa!
Guanajuato by napkin!

There were Indians!
Mmmmh! Gooood!

Ding, Ding!
Poor lady..

Clean up? Why?

A short visit to Cuba Mia!

2007-08-25T00:53:00.000-05:00

Church look familiar?
Try watching the movie "Once upon a time in Mexico" :)

A short visit to Guanajuato's Salsa place numero Uno!
(as you propably can see on some of our pictures,we were too tired to stay long.. :p
Mañana, we will be ready to party hard!

Picture Update!

2007-08-23T21:32:00.001-05:00

Only some pictures today, more later! :)
Dean has passed.. we noticed some rain.. :p

Mariachi's playing not far from our apartment.

Daniel has been in the shower! :p

Our Sunroof!
The view from our classroom!

We found this sign at a giant mall in Guanajuato called Mega Comercial

The view from "our" plane!

We live right by the purple building :)

Me by the school kiosk.

Hola! Que tal?

Our alley!

Our school is just behind the university!

Dean passing by!

The computernerd!

The view from our roof!

Dean is coming!!!

2007-08-20T18:58:00.000-05:00

A wonderful day in Guanajuato, starting with us getting up really early, throwing ourselves in the shower!

We went to the University of Guanajuato to register with Escuela de Idiomas (NOT Idiotas! :p )
That was a long process... We were told they opened at 08:00, but since we`re beginning to understand the Mexican way, we arrived at 09:00, and had perfect timing because when we got there they were unlocking the door to the office! :) Nobody is in a hurry in Mexico! Wonderful if you're not in a hurry, but terrible if you are!

We had to take a little test so they could place us in the correct Spanish levels, and even though it looks like I'm trying to look at Heidi`s test, I didn't!

Me and Merethe are starting the at level 1, while Heidi who is a Spanish speaking goddess, is starting level 5.. :p
But we`ll kick her ass in Spanish later! (hopefully)

After the test, we had to go to a different office, and fill out some paperwork.. Then go to a copy place to have our passports copied, then take some passport photos for our student Id, and after that.. Go to the bank, pay our Spanish course, and take everything back to the University..
took us around 3,5 hours :p
As I said before.. nobody is in a hurry in Mexico!

It was a nice day, and after some relaxing in our flat me and Merethe went out to look around!

Guanajuato is such a gem! It`s really beautiful everywhere!
We went shopping and bought a blanket and some cleaning products for when our toilet is fixed..
Now we are using the bathroom next to Heidi`s flat until ours is done..

oh! And since everybody is asking us about Hurricane Dean, here is what I know..
We are 2000m above sealevel and just about in the middle of the country, and according to the locals here they never have any real problems with hurricanes.. :) They did get some grape sized hail here a week before we arrived..

Oh well.. Now it`s off to have some food! :D