Adventures with a backpack
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If I could fall in love with a city...

So Sydney was a great success, no doubt. If I could fall in love with a city I would be head over heels for Sydney right now. Its open spaces, the harbour, the greenery and the fresh air... This is what a city should be like. The weather was not too terribly hot either when I arrived, its still only spring time here but summer is coming I assure you.
Thinking of it, the only bad thing I can say about Sydney is that it is terribly expensive, at least for travelers, which is a shame because you hear a lot about Sydneys fine restaurants, nice bars and some crazy partying. For me as a traveler however, I dont want to spend 25-40 dollars in a fine restaurant or buy a drink for 18-25 dollars in fancy bars so luckily there are some budget alternatives too, though those are probably not the way to experience "the real Sydney" according to some people. On the other hand, most people traveling to Sydney come here to work and if you get a good job you could probably make at least 18-25 dollars an hour, which is pretty good, so in the end its not too expensive living here, its just us poor travelers not looking to work in Sydney who might think twice before heading out for the third dinner out that week.
I should not complain though, definetely not, because I have managed to get by really cheap so far. Thanks to the splendid idea of couchsurfing I have had free accommodation for my stay in Sydney and considering what 9 nights in a hostel would have cost me I have saved soooo much money.
When I arrived in Sydney I was greated by David, a really friendly and funny guy from England who is currently living and working in Sydney and even though he lives in a tiny room in an apartment shared with 8 (or more) other people he let me sleep on his blow up mattress on his floor and he took me sightseeing in Sydney and made my short stay a really nice one. He introduced me to "goon", the infamous Australian wine thats apparently very well known to give bad hungovers but also because it is o cheap, and we walked around Circular Quay, saw the opera house, crossed the harbour bridge, visited Kings Cross and yeah... basically we saw most sights in Sydney that are free.
Two days after my arrival I headed for another couchsurfing experience, I moved out to Hornsby to stay with the Reefman family. Now, Hornsby is a part of Sydney which you reach by train and it takes about 40-50 minutes to get to Sydney CBD so it is basically one of Sydneys suburbs, more like a small town of its own. A pretty quiet place I would say, not very much happening there from what I experienced but it might just be I missed out on all the fun. So far out of the city center it was close to the bush though so one of my days there I went for a bushwalk which was quite stunning actually. It was no bigger deal than just go out in the woods back home really but considering the difference in environment it was quite interesting. And sweaty also, there were a lot of hills and some climbing to be done.
The family I stayed with is called Reefman. Its a nice family of 7 (might even be 8, I dont know if there is an older brother who doesnt live at home) people living right next to the bush in the outskirts of Hornsby. The dad, Peter, was working a lot so I didnt see much of him and the son Nick who was the one I got in contact with through couchsurfing had just started a new job selling wine so I did not see him very much either except from a short time in the morning and a couple of hours in the night. The mum, Donrita, and the youngest son Josïah did home schooling so I saw a bit more of them every day and then apart from those there was Isaac, Jerôme and Mariëtte, though the two last ones were barely at home so I guess Isaac is the one I spent most time talking to, and that was not very much to be honest.
The family was really nice and friendly, they were, but they were so disciplined I felt awkward being there. Donrita and Josïah had bible studies in the mornings and for every meal the family would pray. They didnt ask me to do it, thank god, but I felt awkward not doing it when everyone else did. I would not dare sleep longer than until 7 in the morning because people were walking through where I was sleeping, all of the time and I felt awkward being in the house when they did home schooling because I was afraid I might interrupt. And yes, just so disciplined. During my 3 days there I dont think I ever heard Donrita or Peter tell Josïah anything good or compliment him, it was always just "Josïah, why is your room not tidy?", "Josïah I told you to wash the dishes immediately when you were done.", "Why arent you studying, Josïah?", "Josïah you wont get to watch any more tv because you do not do what I tell you to do.".
Needless to say, however nice the family was that home was no place for me and besides, Hornsby was quite boring when youd had your look at the place. I moved back into the CBD and lucky for me David would not mind having me stay another 4 nights at his place.
So, well, back in Sydney and guess what? I still hadnt visited the beach and since I came back in the weekend when would be a better time to go there? I met up with Shannie and yes, this is a funny story; I first met Shannie on my travels in South America, we worked together in Lima, and then on my second day in Sydney I just randomly walked into her in the streets of Redfern, of all places in Sydney. I knew she would be in Sydney but Redfern is not really a touristic place so bumping into her there was quite a surprise.
Anyway, so it was saturday, steaming hot and a great day to visit the beach. I went to Shannies shared place in Bondi (yes, she lives in Bondi, as do almost every fucking swede in Sydney) where we sat chatting with the other people in the house before we went to the famous beach. And what a beach! People may say Bondi is too toutistic but in my opinion theres a good reason everyone wants to go there. It is beautiful! Marvellous! And when you are a girl of course you dont mind all the hot, tanned guys working out at the outdoor gym right by the beach. Its like a dream! So yeah, Bondi is on the must do-list and Im definetely going there again when I get back to Sydney.
On the sunday I visited Bronte Beach and that one was absolutely stunning too. I imagine Cogee and the other surrounding beaches might be the same and if you really, really dont want to go to Bondi those beaches might very well do instead.
On the monday night me and David were joined by another couchsurfer, a girl named Rose who is the same age as me, studies in Brisbane at the moment and just arrived from a roadtrip from there to Sydney through the Blue Mountains. We went out to see the opera house and the harbour bridge at night, had a drink in the lounge on the 36th floor of Shang La Hotel (or whatever the name was) where you had an amazing view of the city and then we had a short walk in Darling Harbour. Now I am currently in Melbourne and god, if I could fall in love with a city... Is it only me falling in love with every new place I visit or is Australia in general just amazing?
1 December 2012  | Länk | Australia | 0 kommentar
Home Sweet Home

Just in case you did not know already... Im home now, been home for a week and a half. No one knew except from my best friend and my uncle, the latter who picked me up by the train station, bringing my brother to surprise him and then drove me home so I could surprise my family. Indeed they were surprised!

Best friend and swedish beer, it is actually some what good to be home!
23 Maj 2012  | Länk | Other stuff | 0 kommentar
Welcome To The Loki Family!

Hola amigos!
I know its been some time since the last entry now but I have been busy enjoying my time as being a member of the Loki staff in Lima. Yes, thats right, I got myself a job and that as a bartender aswell. It is great, I meet so many people and the people I work with are absolutely gorgeous and so funny.

Started working a week ago and already I feel like everyone in the staff here is gonna be a great friend of mine for the rest of my life. Jislin, an adorable French guy, is the other n00bie here with me and together we make an awful beer pong team which we noticed last tuesday when we got our asses kicked by Ricky and Hernan, two of the bar managers. Me and Steve are getting along so well I want to adopt him as my big brother and always have him around me and I guess I would have felt the same way about Seth if he wouldnt have left too early for me to get to know him better.
Talking about getting along with people I think I will find that me and Hernan are gonna have an interesting relationship, the sort of relationship where you keep mocking each other, tease and never would admit that you actually like each other. Sort of like siblings, once again.

Anyways, theres not much else to update about. Im running out of money and Lima is not the best city for people without much money so that makes me spend most of my time in or around the hostel or by the beach. I have fallen in love though, with a gorgeous australian guy, so for a while I will enjoy my time with or without money.

Not much longer until I get home, get ready for me!

Love
25 April 2012  | Länk | South America | 0 kommentar
A Short History of Machu Picchu

To start with I have to say that Machu Picchu turned out to be a little different from what I had expected it to be. The place itself was amazing, magnificent even, and being there I felt like I had actually achieved something, that I had actually visited a place of importance, but still... It was different from what I had had in mind.
I dont think I am the only one in the world who actually thought that Machu Picchu was really, really old. I thought it was at least thousands of years old and that the city in the time of the incas (or as it really was, the time of the quechuas which is the real name of the people) was a big religious spot, a city of very much importance and that that was the reason why it is so popular to visit today.
I was wrong.
Apparently Machu Picchu was not a very important city at all as I understood it, it was simply just a regular, small city placed in the mountains and the reason to why it is so heavily visited these days is because it wasnt found by the conquistadors and therefore not destroyed and turned european as other cities of south america by the time. Of course it is still pretty amazing how the place is still there, almost untouched and full of history, but you can imagine the slight feeling of disappointment when you thought you were visiting a holy spot and it turned out to be just a regular place, just older than what you are used to and with a different culture to it.
Still, I have to say once again, it was utterly cool. Machu Picchu is 70% original, all the rocks and buildings have stood there since the city was in building process and only 10% of the place is newly added. (These 10% consisting of mostly vegetation and the rest of the 20% is restorations of buildings falling apart.)
I had thought Machu Picchu was thousands of years old, containing so much history and spirits, but I was prooved to be wrong in this too. Apparently the city was built in the 15th century (not even completed by the time the conquistadors arrived to south america but still in building process, about 20 years left until the city would be complete from what our guide told us) and then abandoned in the 1530s something when the conquistadors came across the sea. It was found again in 1911 by the american historian Hiram Bingham.

Oh well, maybe it was not quite what I had expected but it was still worth it. Visiting Machu Picchu is one of the things you cant miss while traveling in South America and though I had my doubts for a while (being low on money already and then getting robbed was not really optimal when the tours to Machu Picchu already are quite expensive) I do not regret it one bit. The aching in my calfs and my thighs I can survive and we found a pretty cheap tour for the whole of it, we had to get up 4 am in the morning to climb the stairs to get to the lost city and the whole morning it was raining and freezing cold. We were cold to the bone, I felt like a drowned dog, but in the end... It was a pretty good day.
14 April 2012  | Länk | South America | 0 kommentar
Hitchhiking

Tried a new way of traveling and finally had some excitement again, hitchhiking was the way!
Yeah so, the story is as follows: Me and Julia met this israelian guy in Iqique who apparently is hitchhiking his way through south america. That sounded pretty fun we thought and after Francis had decided to go with this guy the next day we decided to too, just to try it on you know.
Four people hitchhiking may not be the easiest way to travel and we didnt really think we would actually make it, like, who would pick up not only one but instead four people with big bags? People did, it turned out, and in four trips we made it to Arica in six hours. First people who stopped gave us a ride from Iqique to a gas station outside of town and from there we got a free ride with a taxi driver on his way to celebrate easter with his family in Antofagasta. He dropped us of in Humberstone, a very dull place in the desert, where we had to wait for some time in the bright sun but after a while a guy in a big van picked us up. This guy was a douchebag though, I didnt like him at all. He wanted us to pay for the ride but we told him we got no money. Still he picked us up and let us go with him but for the whole ride he wouldnt stop talking about how stupid we were to not have money and standing in the sun waiting, but hey! The point of hitchhiking is not having to pay, right? This dude later refused to drive us all the way into Arica and instead he dropped us of by the prison some kilometres outside of town, once again in the middle of the desert under the steaming hot sun. Luckily we didnt have to wait for long until an elder couple picked us up and drove us the rest of the way.
And now were here! And now were going to Peru!
9 April 2012  | Länk | South America | 0 kommentar


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