Hamam & Massage Heaven
6 Januari 2025, Maghribi ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C
This morning, we froze our butts off while surfing. The day started with us having breakfast on the rooftop—again in the dark, because apparently, we’re committed to the “rustic adventurer” vibe. By 8 a.m., we were at the surf spot, ready to catch stronger waves than the day before.
Catching a wave was like winning a battle, but every victory came with a price: being pushed all the way back to shore and then fighting our way back to the lineup. At one point, Nadja and I were both trying to paddle past the breaking waves, only to realize we were going absolutely nowhere. Every few meters of progress was met with yet another wave slapping us right back to where we started.
To make matters worse, the sun wasn’t shining, so it was freezing. My whole body was shaking, and when my toes started turning suspiciously white, I decided that was my cue to bail. (Don’t worry, my toes are fine now.) Once out of the water, Philip—a guy from our surf camp—Nadja, and I walked back to The Riat (our camp) for a hot shower. On the way, we made a pit stop for coffee (Philip and me) and an Oreo chocolate milkshake (Nadja). Priorities.
After our shower, we had lunch on the terrace, where I heroically tried to study a bit. Eventually, the sun came out, and things started to feel less like north pole.
By 4 p.m., it was time for our Hammam and Massage appointment. I had never been to a hammam before, but let me just say—it was an experience. First, we were served Moroccan tea (complete with two obligatory sugar cubes), and then we were handed two bags for our clothes.
Two women brought us to another room, where they massaged us with oil and scrubbed us from head to toe—basically exfoliating us into a state of rebirth. They even removed the calluses from our feet (which, to be honest, felt a little personal). Afterward, they washed us with some special soap, gave us a head massage with shampoo, and finished with a fancy hair treatment.
The hammam hour was followed by an hour-long relax massage. And wow, it lived up to its name—I think I melted into the table at one point. Nadja loved it so much she immediately booked another session for tomorrow.
After this blissful experience, we went back to the camp to watch the sunset, had another shower (we’re basically clean freaks now), and then walked down to the beach for dinner. We were craving tajine, but, naturally, all the restaurants we tried were out of it. After wandering around, we finally found a tiny spot right next to The Riat, where the staff assured me (after some good French-English-Moroccan negotiations) that their tajine was gluten-free.
It was just amazing. The food was delicious, and the people working there were incredibly kind, which made the whole experience even better.
Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and warm, and I can’t wait. Fingers crossed we can actually feel our toes after surfing this time!Baca lagi
Warm and Sunny January
5 Januari 2025, Maghribi ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
Yesterday, when I left Zurich in the morning it was minus 5 degrees, very foggy and the streets were pure ice. Switzerland really wanted to tell me to get away as soon as possible. I took the train to Basel and met Nadja on the Bus to the Euroairport. We had booked an Easyjet flight to Agadir with only handluggage. The hand luggage - thing had caused quite a tragedy & a small panic attack the night before but let‘s not get into that… In the bus we got a message from easyjet that the flight was going to be delayed 2 hours, but then at the airport we didnt read that anywhere anymore, so after 2 hours, the security and passport control and the boarding, we were sitting on the plane, ready to depart in time.
We were lucky to have a window seat, so we got to see the Atlas from above, otherwise i just read a bit and slept.
In Agadir we got picked up by Mustafa who drove us to the camp in Tamraght. The car ride was quite ehm impressive/shocking/scary - anyways he drove like crazy through the traffic, but we got to see a very pretty sunset, which deistracted us from the street and his way of driving:). When we arrived at camp they gave us dinner & all the information we needed, showed us our room and we went go sleep. Today we woke up at 7 and had breakfast on the roof terrace in the dark. It was quite cold so early in the morning so we were all wearing warm clothes. There was freshly squeezed orange juice ready for us and they had glutenfree pancakes, fruits, yogurt, nuts and honey. A perfect start of the day. We got ready quickly and made our way down to choose out surfboards, leashes and wetsuit and headed to the besch with one of the buses. At the beach it was very cold since the sun hadnt risen, especially the sand and our feet were freezing, so we put our wetsuit on and started running around to keep us warm. Eventually the warm-up started and shortly after we were ready to catch some waves. As we were walking to the water we caught the flrst rays of sun and it was just beautiful:) Nadja and I are in the same group and we had a lot of fun. The first couple of waves were gread and I was able to catch them. As time went by and i got more and more tired, also the waves got pretty bad. Therefore after about 2hrs we decided to head back to the beach, where we had lunch, sunbathed, read a bit and walked around. Luckily, thanks to the sun, it had gotten much warmer than in the morning. We walked to a little café at the beach to get a smoothie and passed by a Tajine restaurant (picture of the elder man). After we had walked back to the camp we finally got to appreciate how pretty it is by sunlight. I‘ve rarely seen such a pretty building and I love how everything is so „open“ and how green it is. We stayed on the rooftop terrace and read, talked to others and I even studied, until the sunset. After sunset we were served typical maroccan tajine for dinner, which was delicious. However, Nadja and I both still struggle a bit with all the beans and this food which is rather jard to digest.. let‘s hope we get used to it fast! After dinner we stayed at the table with some other people from camp and chatted with them. Now we decided to head to our room to get enough sleep for the day tomorrow:)Baca lagi
Adjø Norway
13 September 2024, Norway ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C
Crazy how time flies. I‘m sitting at the airport in Bergen and trying to read papers for my upcoming project next week but my mind constantly wanders to all the beautiful things I’ve experienced in the past two weeks. This little runaway was very much needed and the best thing I could‘ve done:)
I‘m tired but incredibly happy, i‘ve seen so many things in such a short time and i‘m so thankful for it.
Norway is such a fascinating country and i will be back for sure to explore more of these amazing landscapes, try more ciders and meet new people:)
For now, I‘m (more or less) ready for studying again;)Baca lagi
Freezing overnight hike to Stavali
12 September 2024, Norway ⋅ 🌫 2 °C
We woke up in the morning and checked the weather app to see what hike we could do in the following two days. Our plan was to sleep in a cabin on the mountain over night and hike down the day after. The temperatures had dropped quite a bit and there was snow on the top of the mountains. Plus the app also indicated lightning at some spots in the mountains, which obviously meant we couldnt go there. There was however one hike to a cabin called stavali, which seemed doable despite these conditions and we decided to go for it. We drove with the car to Kinsarvik and listened to some motivation songs since it was raining quite heavily. But after screaming „feel the rain on your skin, no one else can feel it for you only you can let it in……“ (song is called unwritten), we were ready to go. The hike was 14 kilometres one way with about 1100 meters of elevation. It lead past 3 huge and impressive waterfalls and up quite steep and slippery rocks. The hike was very long and it took us 6 hours and a couple of mood swings from desperate to laughing all the time, to get to Stavali. We had to cross a couple of rivers on our way so our feet were DRENCHED. The hut was self-service, which means that there‘s no one and you have to put on the fire yourself, cook and do everything. We were SUPER LUCKY that two norwegian guys, Chris and Ronny had arrived about an hour before us and had already put on a fire so the cabin was nice and warm when we arrived. They had even lighted some candles and it all looked very inviting. Although the cabin has 62 beds, it was only the 4 of us. Norine and I cooked dinner, we made some Sodd, which was avaiable at the hut with potatos, carrots and meatballs and warmed it up in a pan from the kitchen. After dinner we talked to Chris and Ronny for a long time, we shared a ginger beer, played games drank hot chocolate and heated ourselves up at the fireplace. The talks with the two of them were very interesting. We went to bed at around 11 and decided that we were all going to have breakfast together the following day.
The night was quite rough because the fire was gone at some point and it got very cold. I dont even know how many layers I slept in. ALSO i had gotten a notification that the results of bioanalytics exam had been uploaded BUT our phones didnt have any connection after about half of the hike so I had to wait until the next day and it was freaking me out. This and the cold really made it an awful night in which I constantly woke up. The next morning we woke up and cooked a big pan of hot porridge with cinnamon and honey for all of us. We got ready and hiked down. My back was hurting, probably from the hike of the day before, the heavy backpack and the bad night. The shoes and socks were still wet even though we tried to dry them. But we knew that as soon as we would get to Lofthus we would go to the sauna, and this gave us so much energy that the hike fown was actually quite nice. Even the sun came out for a while:) after 5,5 hours we were sitting in the car, happy that we had survived our 2 day trip and ready for the spa to warm us up again:)Baca lagi
Via Ferrata & Spa Day
10 September 2024, Norway ⋅ ☀️ 6 °C
In the evening when I arrived at Norine‘s place we had a looooong talk to catch up with everything that had happened in eachothers life‘s - and damn that was a lot.
Her flatmade offered me to sleep in her bed because he wasnt there for another two weeks and I was very thankful because I had a bed and a room by myself and slept like a baby.
In the morning we had breakfast & made our way to the Tyssedal Via Ferrata, one of the hikes Norine guides.
I‘m so fascinated by how she does things, how she handles her life and how she just follows her dreams wherever they may lead her.
This was the first Via Ferrata of my life and I didnt know I would like it that much! We climbed up a Rock along pipes that had been built in the early 20th century. The area is and was very important for hydroelectricity. On our way up the views got prettier and prettier. At some point the sun caught up with us and warmed our freezing hands, which made clinbing a lot easier!
As we were up, Norine gave me a provate guided Tour in the Tunnels and the Pipes. I was so surprised I didnt know we could enter them, nor that she was actually giving tours to people. As we hiked back home it started to rain and we decided to go to the Spa in Lofthus after eating lunch.
Norine can go there for free and I was allowed to go with her without having to pay. The spa was part of a very nice and rather fancy hotel. There was a sauna with view on the fjord, different Pools, an outdoor pool and a way to reach the fjoord, which I obviously did, and so, yesterday I had my first swim in a Fjord:) it was quite cold, but somce I could just jump back to the sauna it didn‘t matter that much.
In the evening we drove past a „Sideri“ (a place where they make cider) and we bought one for dinner.
After a cooking & eating pasta with veggie saue, we watched a movie & drank our cider.Baca lagi
PengembaraOh man your little text warmed my heart soooo much! 🫶🏼 I had such a good time with you there, what an adventure we had! Love you much
Rain and Stormy
9 September 2024, Norway ⋅ 🌧 14 °C
I absolutely love solo travelling! Not only because I can do whatever I want whenever I want but also because I pay way more attention to details while travelling. Today for example I realized that there are MANY public toilets all over Bergen. Also I came to the conclusion that people from northern countries build colorful houses to counteract the bad, grey weather. And the last observation was that even though Bergen is the city with the most rain, people still are optimistic, because in every shop I was given paper bags (which obviously were DRENCHED after 3 meters of walking).
So my day started with a delicious glutenfree cinnamon roll and a double shot Cappuccino at Baker Brun. Then I walked on some very pretty streets, got into a talk about the rainy weather with a norvegian man from that neighbourhood and walked to the Aquarium. When I arrived at the aquarium my jeans were COMPLETELY wet, even my underpants were wet. The aquarium was very nice because they showed many local habitats and ecosystems and had an exposition on different algae and how they can be used by humans.
After the aquarium I walked to a lookout and because I was still wet, plus was freezing, I started running. I honestly dont know if there were any drugs in that cinnamon roll or if it was just the sugar-high, but I was so incredibly happy. Despite the storm and the wind i was laughing, running around enjoying the rain on my skin and just being thankful for these moments I had just by myself. I went to see the university of Bergen then grabbed lunch to-go and made my way to the train station to take the train to Odda:)
On the train a (very friendly) conductor had to tell me that I had accidentally bought a bus-ticket instead of a train ticket, which was quite embarassing. However the train ride was beautiful. I saw fjords, rivers, small towns and forests. Now I‘m currently sitting in the bus, quite proud of myself I even got the right ticket and excited to see Norine in two hours! :)Baca lagi
Fishsoup & Fløyen
8 September 2024, Norway ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C
Early wake up in Zürich and, after less than 12 hours, I found myself at the airport AGAIN. hihi
Okay to be fair at that point I was not too amused. I was tired, the night before I had done nothing but washing clothes and packing my stuff for the following week. WHY hadnt I allowed myself even 1 day „off“ between two vacations?? But then still I was happy to leave again. Being back felt a bit weird to be honest. During the past week I had really forgotten I still had a life back home..
On the flight from Amsterdam to Bergen I sat next to a friendly elder man who turned out to be Professor at the university of Bergen, doing research on obesity and growth and hormone signalling during puperty. We talked all flight long. He talked about his work, asked me many things about myself and my studies and even told me about his kids, grandkids etc. I took the opportunity to ask him about Bergen, some sightseeing I could do and how I could get to the city from the Airport.
So, When I arrived I knew where I had to go, took the train and 25 mins later i stood in Bergen sendrum. I checked into my hostel & met 2 solo traveller girls, Finja and Caro. Finja is also celiac - but a hardcore one. I told her I was going to try some local food somewhere in the evening and she said she never eats outside, only has yogurt-drinks and nuts while travelling and doesnt use the hostel‘s kitchen because she‘s too scared of getting colon cancer at the age of 50. I then told her that I would definitely prefer eating outside and being careful in my choice of restaurants and running the risk getting colon cancer instead of never eating out, never trying local food, and living up to my 90s or until I get smashed by a car.
Maybe I was too direct because she seemed quite shocked about my lifestyle and my statement. Eventually I left to walk around the city. I didnt make it far, it was pouring outside so I walked into the first cute restaurant and ordered a traditional fish soup from Bergen. It was good but I was slightly disappointed that there were about 4 miniature pieces of Salmon and 3 pieces of Cod. But still it warmed we up and gave me enough energy to walk around, see the fishmarket, the harbour, the old Brygge village and even do the 50 mins hike to Fløyen. It’s always better to be warm than cold. So I was wearing 4 layers which all had so say goodbye at some point on my way up the hill. In the end I was only wearing a t’shirt and had to carry my hoodies and jacket… On top of Fløyen I bumped into Caro, who had taken the train to get on the hill. We headed back to the hostel together. I changed and went out again to look for a restaurant where I could eat some local speciality. On my way Thomas Tschanen, a childhood friend, texted me that he had seen I was in Bergen and gave me some Restaurant recommendations. Great coincidence since I was looking for one at that moment. I decided to try Fjellskål, one of the restaurants he told me to go to. It was quite different to sit at a fancy restaurant alone. I think also the (very good looking, blond, tall and blue eyed-) norvegian waiter thought it was strange because he came quite often to ask if everything was alright and when I had glutenfree bread left after dinner he brought me a „present from the kitchen“ which was a scallop in a sauce, baked with parmesan, where I could dip my bread in. Either norvegian people are very friendly or he just felt sorry for me haha;) Anyways the salmon was delicious and also the glass of white wine fit very well. I was super satisfied when I left and strolled a bit through the city until i made my way back to the hostel to get some sleep.Baca lagi
Ultima serata, bagno freddo e fuoco
13 April 2023, Itali ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C
After our dance session we came down from the top balcony and bumped into Gabriele who provided us with breakfast for tomorrow. He gave us yogurt, fruit, muesli, bisquits and more. We then headed down to the lobby, did the check out and went out for dinner to l‘Osteria where Kai commited blasphemy against one of the central pillars of italian cuisine by putting parmigiano (which was meant for the pasta) on the focaccia with olive oil and salt. Lisa was not amused and one of the waitors even rolled his eyes.
Dinner was „spettacolare“. Kai composed a list of things one should know when travelling with lisa upon her request. The list got very long - you‘re seeing a short excerpt.
Back at the hotel we bade a long and sincere goodbye to Gabriele and told him about lisas marriage plans (you‘ll probably get to see that one day) - the hotel‘s booked already. Then we went to our room and unwrapped our lampion which we had bought in Florence. We snuck out of the hotel because we had already said bye to Gabriele and thought it was weird to say bye again and went to the beach. We tried to light the little thingy in the bottom of the paper lamp but set the whole thing on fire. It drifted vertically for three metres before falling into the sea. Kai could barely fish it out again and when he did it looked like an abused elephant condom. (Oh god we‘re having so much fun writing this). Then we had the best idea of the entire week and decided to go swimming. Kai surprisingly was already wearing his bathing suit, Lisa had her underclothes. The water wasnt as cold as expected but the wind was. We dodged the street lights as we walked the 100 metres back to the hotel, said goodnight one last time to Gabriele, made sure not to get too much sand in the hotel but Kai still spilled some „beach“ all over our bathroom floor. After we had both showered, we warmed ourselved up with the hairdrier and wrapped ourselved in our blankets.
What an evening - and we still have to pack.Baca lagi
Loved the dance moves and the list. The "grande finale" seemed "perfetto" for a fun, relaxing week full of culinary delights and great friendship. Thank you for sharing! [TB]
Grande Finale
13 April 2023, Itali ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C
As for the grande Finale Kai and I will write the following post together: brace yourselves
Even though we went to bed early yesterday, we slept in again. After breakfast we noticed a huge, somewhat obscene and grotesque misspelling in the former blog-post which has been duly removed after a short mental breakdown and a trmendous amount of embarassement on Lisas part. Great start of the day!
We took the train to Corniglia and walked up to the village from the train station, where we debated as to which path would lead us to Volastra.
Lisa set the pace to our hike by racing up the rather steep slope. We stopped counting the „fellow civilians“ after 40+ (after 15 minutes) and covered 350 vertical meters within a half hour. Drenched in sweat, we collapsed at the top and fortified our position our position with a selfie. A flat stretch through forests and vineyards followed, accompanied by discussions on the lack of magic in today‘s world, evil gnomes and bears ( Lisa is still traumatized by Mordu [see ‚Brave‘] ) and the ether of the universe. Upon arriving in Volastra, our brave heroes turned in at the local focacceria to still their stomachs. A steep descent down to Manarola ensued, where Lisa‘s right knee almost disociated from the Lisa Leg complex.
We stopped for a drink and were greatly overcharged in a colorful indian bistro with italian staff and a goof balcony with a nice view. We fled from the tourists crowding the town‘s main street by taking any flight of stairs which led in the right direction. Back on the path to Riomaggiore we started playing „nationality guess“, it wasnt that difficult though because most of them were either american or french. The climb was easy for us because we‘re „schwizer Berggeisse“ but the others were struggeling like hell. We wanted to go back with the boat but the waves were too big so we had to take the train one more time. Back in Monterosso, Kai had the most exotic ice cream of the week - 3 scoops of extra dark chocolate, whereas Lisa opted for boring old Pistacchio, Chocolate and Maracuja. At the hotel we started writing the blog in the afternoon sunshine, but ended up dancing to 2000s Pop songs. A Nonna opened her window to applaud us from across the street. After the sun disappeared, our night began…
Stay tuned for our late night post!Baca lagi
Highspeed hike and french invasion
12 April 2023, Itali ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
Turns out backpacking got us quite exhausted, so today we slept in until 8, which is already pretty late for both of us.
We had breakfast at our Beautiful hostel and it was wonderful. Gabriele had prepared homemade cakes, spinach tartes and had put fresh strabwerries, kiwis and bananas, nature yogurt and a cheese selection on the buffet for us. There were even Glutenfree Crackers, Müesli, Bread and Cookies. Once again, Bingo! After brekkie we got dressed, left the hotel and went to the beach. It was raining a bit but the atmosphere and the scenery were so breathtaking that the weather didnt bother us at all. We walked from Monterosso to Vernazza, stopped there for a bit, I bought earrings (Mami li vedi nella foto sul balcone;)) and walked on to Corniglia. It took us about 2 hours and 10 minutes for both tracks. We didn’t run but we walked quite fast, at least compared to the people aound us. Kai counted about 167 people, we passed. Again on our hike we had great conversations. I love how I can just simply say everything that comes to my mind without having to overthink even a word, knowing that Kai would accept it or if not, we would have an interesting discussion about it. Another funny thing was that most people we passed or crossed were french, so Kai and I pretended to be french from time to time. Oui, certainement, baguette.
In Corniglia, after enjoying an ice cream with basil, honey and pistacchio flavour, we jumped on a train, which brought us back to Monterosso, where we took extended showers and sat down on our small balcony. Eventually the sun came out, WOW, so we took our wine glasses from our room and…. filled them with fanta and toasted to us, our amazing holidays and our hike.
(Little update on Kai‘s italian: I always let him ask for everything, tell him how to spell certain words and teach him how to, you know, „act“ italian;) and even though sometimes he gets people a bit confused because he mixes up the order of words in a sentence or the letters, he‘s making great progress!!)
Gabriele had recommended us to go to Ristorante da Eraldo and the food was really good. Kai had Pappardelle alla Carbonara and I had Calamarata con verdura grigliata.
The day had gotten us really tired, when we were home at around 8pm we went straight to bed and after reading a bit we fell asleep.
(Yes we sound like an old married couple in their 80ies, but we were tired so please dont judge:)Baca lagi
Waiting for David and finding the sea
11 April 2023, Itali ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
Today was mainly walking around, eating and waiting for our time slot at the Academia to finally get to see the real David. After we woke up Kai went downstairs to attack the breakfast buffet while I showered and packed my backpack. By the time I got down he was at the pancakes with nutella AND butter. (I dared to tell him that nutella was already made of butter but he didnt really want to hear it)
We still had our 3 day pass Tickets for the Dome so before the checkout we went to the Piazza to see if we could get in. The dome only opened at 10 so we went to a shop to buy some postcards and headed back to the hotel for the check-out. At 10 we entered the Dome and were almost the first ones in. We were very impressed by the size and height of the Cathedral. The Cupola with its paintings was breathtaking. Before leaving for the archaeological area, Kai and I both lighted candles for our loved ones.
When we went outside we went to a juicebar where Kai had his second breakfast and I had a smoothie with a banana bread. From there on we didnt really have a plan, we walked around for a long time and eventually found a nice café where we ordered coffee and wrote our postcards. We wanted to see the national library which unfortunately wasnt open for tourists, so we went to the Via dei Neri where I got Focaccia and Kai pizza. Then it was finally 15:15 and we went to the Academia. We were a bit worried when we saw the humongous line in front of the building. Soon we figured out that since we had bought the tickets in advance we could just jump the line and go directly to the entrance, which we did, and it worked perfectly. A few moments later we were standing in front of the huge statue of David. We both have to admit this guy was absolutely good looking, and crazy hot. We admired this piece of art for a couple of minutes but then left quite fast, since we had to catch out train half an hour later. The train to Pisa was very crowded, therefore I had to squeeze myself between the window and our backpacks. In Pisa we noticed that we could take another train than we had planned and we would be way faster. We ran to the biglietteria, made the seat reservations like Speedy Gonzales, got on the platform and jumped on the train.
The journey to cinque terre was very nice, we passed pretty landscapes and sceneries until we arrived at the sea. We were both so hyped when we saw the waves crashing on the cliffs, the cute pictoresque village with houses of different colours and the green hills surrounding it all. Our hotel la Stella della Marina did not only meet our expectations, it exceeded them by far. The owner Gabriel, was really friendly and showed us a map of Monterosso, the village, gave us recommendations on restaurants and showed us all the nice hiking trails of the area. The room he gave us had a private bathroom and a even small balcony. I was so incredibly happy. After we had unpacked our stuff and settled down for a moment we went to the village and looked for a restaurant. We walked around for a bit but most of the restaurants that looked nice were already full so we decided to get Pizza. It was a good decision, the Pizza was really good. Poor me had to pay Kai‘s dinner too because I had lost a stupid bet earlier. Kai even wanted to get a Nutella-Chocolate-Calzone for two people as dessert and I am so so thankful he didnt. We went back to the hotel and went to sleep:)
Excited for the hike tomorrow!Baca lagi
Fotto on Giotto
10 April 2023, Itali ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C
Today was the day Apollo and Aphrodite took a Fotto on Giotto. We woke up and had breakfast at our amazing hotel. Kai ate for a family of at least 10 people so it took us a while but when we finished, we were ready to burn all those calories on our way up the Giotto tower, where, as the title of today‘s blog already says, we took a (hundred) photo(s). What we saw from up there was astonishing, we could see the Dome from a perfect perspective and the view over the old city houses was beautiful. We agreed that Florence was way prettier than Milan and that if it werent for the annoying tourist crowds, we would stay here.
By the way while we were standing in line for the tower, we started writing our own CV‘s vice versa and had a really good time just standing there in the sun, laughing and waiting for us to get closer to the entrance.
After climbing the 87.4 metres high Campanile di Giotto and admiring the view, we went to the Cathedral Museum. For lunch we had Glutenfree Focaccia. Mine was really good, but unfortunately they gave Kai the wrong one. He got proschutto, which he doesnt like, instead of salami & arugula. So in the end he only had the focaccia bread and wasnt too happy about it. In the afternoon we visited the Uffizi art museum. We managed to see all the 7 „must see“ paintings we had read about. After learning so many new things about art our poor brains needed some calories, so we „diffused“ to the famous Gelateria Santa Trinita where Kai probably had the biggest ice cream in the world. We ate it by the river and stayed there for hours and hours having the best conversations. We figured out that if my man wasnt going to surprise me with a weekend in florence I wouldnt want him, talked a lot about people walking past us, our spirit animals and decided to set a one year goal for both of us. Our original plan was to walk back to the hotel but then we spontanously bought to-go gin tonics, yes non-alcoholic, and toasted to our wonderful afternoon.
We diffused to the restaurant „Sgrano“, again 100% gf and had wayy to much pasta there. Since they had Cantucci on the menu we ordered some but instead of getting them with wine as recommended by the restaurant I ordered them with an espresso and got laughed at by the entire staff. (At this point I have to admit, life without alcohol is hard) We had arrived at the restaurant as two people but left as a trio. Our foodbaby Leonardo accompanied us home. On our way back we meandered thorugh the streets and eventually got to our hotel still laughing pretty hard, where the receptionist eyed us suspiciously.
Funny ending of a hilarious day.Baca lagi
Fake David and sunbathing
9 April 2023, Itali ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
We woke up in the Ostello bello early and tried not to wake up the other 3 people in our room. Considering that they were snoring I think we managed to let them sleep. We had breakfast at the ostello and left for the train station. We hadnt been able to reserve our seats so we had already imagined possible scenarios of a conducteur asking for our tickets and us acting like confused swiss passengers. However at the Milano Centrale Station we went to the biglietteria and asked for seat reservations and it was way easier than expected. A couple of minutes later we were sitting on the train to Florence.
When we arrived we headed to the Hotel Ginori al Duomo. We couldnt find it at first but we passed a very fancy looking hotel, where we both agreed that if we were going to come back 20 years later with more money, we would definitely stay at that place. The strange thing was that we weren‘t able to find the hotel we had booked and it took us some time to realize that what we had booked was actually the super fancy one we had passed by right before. We went in a bit confused and went to the lobby to ask for our room. The receptionist told us our rooms were ready by 3 pm and took our baggage. Before we left the hotel, we changed our clothes, made sure we looked a bit less like swiss backpackers and more like real „fiorentini“.
We walked right to the Cathedral and passed all the important monuments of the city until we got to the river and passed the Ponte Vecchio. There were so many tourists on the bridge and Kai and I (mostly I) started to get really annoyed because of the amount of people and everybody pushing around and us getting squeezed. At some point we just wanted to get out of there, so we grabbed an ice cream and walked away from the crowd. We ended up in some cute little streets above the actual city center and walked up there. It was very peaceful and I could have „strolled“ along those streets forever. We went to the Giardino Boboli and mainly sunbathed on the grass with a beautiful view of the city. (Kai just said these were the best 20 mins lf the trip so far - hope that was a bit exhagerated)
In the evening we went to our hotel room which was right in the attic. Whereas the narrow hotel hallways had carpeted floor, ours was wooden. We had a big modern private bathroom and a skylight. The bed was huge and super comfy. We drank the last bit of Gin Tonic and celebrated Pascua in our room. BIG SURPRISE: Kai‘s parents had bought glutenfree chocolate easter bunnies for us and Kai made me look for mine all over the room:) Finally I found it on the rooftop!!
We had dinner at Quinoa, a 100% glutenfree restaurant in the city center, where I had delicious Ravioli.
We walked back home & went to bed.
Goodnight:)Baca lagi
Victoria Secret Angel & Versace Adonis
8 April 2023, Itali ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C
(Short information for everybody reading this blog. This is a summary of all my thoughts and experiences, which I usually write down (quite tired) at the end of each day, without paying attention to any grammatical rules nor spelling, so please dont be surprised if suddenly the tense changes or letters are missing:))
Turns out Italy did not disappoint us. When we woke up at 7:30 the sun was shining and it was warm enough to walk around without an anorak, gloves and scarf. We went to the Officina Zero, which is a 100% glutenfree bakery, to start of our day with some Croissants, coffee and a freshly squeezed orange juice. We headed to the metro station close by and took a train to the Duomo. Finally we realized what the tickets we had bought really were for. They brought us to the terraces on the rooftop of the building. It was absolutely insane, we didnt even realize it was possible to get up there. We were really happy and decided to stay there for a while and enjoy the sun. Later on we visited the inside and the archaeological area of the cathedral. Our visit made us hungry, therefore we walked over to Amorino (still the very best gelato ever) and grabbed an ice cream. First Kai only wanted to get chocolate but then I convinced him to try different flavours since he was at such a good gelateria, and even though he didnt admit it, I‘m quite sure he thanked me later. Although, what he didn’t appreciate for sure was the „short“ stop at Victoria Secret… well I just had to. What is a trip to Milan without some „serious“ shopping? I returned Kai the favour and spent at least an hour in shoe stores with him, because he couldnt decide whether to buy red, yes red, special edition vans or not. He bought them in the end and was happy, so it was worth the wait:).
We strolled along the street, went to a supermarket, bought some drinks and snacks and sat down in a park next to the Basilica San Lorenzo. However, the park wasnt as nice as we thought, there were some really weird emo- teenies, walking around, smoking and drinking, which lead Kai and I to have an extended conversation about education which almost lasted throughout the rest of the day. Anyways, we walked on and found a very pretty bar outside, so we sat down and ordered two analcoholic cocktails. Felt quite fancy;))
We stayed there for a while and enjoyed the sunrays tickeling on our faces.
On our way to the restaurant „Bistró“, I had found on a „glutenfree guide“ website earlier, we walked past a canal with bars, cute little shops and art galleries. We hadnt seen such a charming part of the city before and I was glad we had come cross it.
After a couple of minutes we found ourselves walking through a less touristic part of the city and saw an old man carrying boxes of wine out of his car. Kai stepped over to him and offered to help. The man was very surprised at first but accepted Kai‘s offer. They went inside the house while I looked after his cute dog. For a moment I was a bit worried because they took a while to get back. But then they came back and the man thanked us a thousant times. We talked for a bit and he offered to invite us to his house for a glass of wine, but when he looked for his keys to open up the gate he realised he had left them inside, so we waited for about 20 minues until he had called all his contacts and had finally found somebody who could open up the gate for him. Before we left he invited us again but we declined, saying we had a reservation, so he gave us one of his wine bottles and wished us all the best.
Although I must admit the day was over all incredibly aweosme, my highlight was dinner. The Ristorante Bistró is a 100% glutenfree place where they offer all types of Lasagne, fresh homemade pasta, delicious burgers with soft buns and honestly everything somebody could wish for. I felt like I was in heaven. I can’t remember the last time I had such good bread it was just exquisite. I was more than full but I just couldnt say no to dessert, so we ordered a Tiramisú scomposto. Kai doesnt even like coffee, but he knew that for me this Tiramisu was just a „to die for“ so he shared it with me!
We gave the girl a good tip and „rolled“ (at least I did) to the next metro station and drove home, packed all our stuff and went to bed where I am now currently reflecting on our awesome day and writing this blog!
Good night to switzerland:)Baca lagi
Day 1 & Arrival in freezing Milano
7 April 2023, Itali ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
Friday morning, 05:00, the alarm rang, I woke up and for once I was actually excited to get out of bed. Our journey to Italy was about to start and I couldnt wait. Im still surprised by how we got onto the train at Zurich main station, closed our eyes and opened them up to see the city of Milano in front of us. I hadn‘t had coffee that morning so by the time we stepped out of the Milano Centrale Central station I was starving. We went to the ostello bello to leave our baggage and walked to the city center. On our way I finally got my coffee at the official illy store - you can tell I was happy:) On our walk Kai held his first siesta and we grabbed a glutenfree Gipfeli (my first in almost a year!!!) We visited the Duomo and bought tickets for the following day. We weren‘t sure what we bought exactly but we figured it out eventually;). We went to the „quartiere di Brera“ and walked around until we found a shop where Kai spotted a Gould painting and ran right in. We ended up talking to the shopowner, a very nice old italian lady who showed Kai her whole Gould collection. Im sure she would have adopted him if she could. We went for lunch where Kai had pizza Diavola and I had polipo su un insalatina di patate tiepida - yummm.
After lunch we went to the Castello Sforzesco. I dont know if thats just me but I always thought Italy was always warm and sunny. Well I was wrong. It started getting quite cold and we were happy to go into the museum of the castel. After we walkted through the endless corridors and got out we realized we had missed Leonardo Da Vinci‘s famous fresco. So i told Kai to ask somebody about it in italian.. Unfortunately Kai didnt remember how the hall where the fresco was located was called, and he asked for the wood-hall, whoch was definitely wrong. The poor man was super confused but in the end we found the place and even bumped into Michelangelo‘s Pietá;) What a coincidence! We walked back all the way to the hostel and „froze our asses off“ (excuse my english;))
Before we went for dinner to an italian restaurant close to the hostel we drank (alcoholfree) gin tonics on our rooftop, which unfortunately weren‘t close as good as real ones.. but hey at least we tried.
After having walked 27’000 steps we went to sleep quite early in order to be in shape for the following day!
Good night:)Baca lagi
Grande Finale
26 Julai 2022, Costa Rica ⋅ 🌧 19 °C
On our last day we drove our car back from Puerto Viejo to San José and took some family pictures with our Vierlivier and Persephone on the way. [Even though Noah had had some problems accepting our youngest child Persephone in the beginning, because he felt that she caught a big part of my attention and he probably was jealous, I think now he starts tolerating her and seeing her as a member of our invincible team!] We crossed the whole country one more time, drove behind huge trucks, got annoyed, listened to good music, sang along and eventually got to our Hostel. After we organized all our stuff we went to the city center where we walked through the mercado central. We drank a coffee at a pretty Café and went to the supermarket to buy all the ingredients to cook Paella. Back in the Hostel we prepared our dinner and it turned out delicious, probably the best we‘ve ever made, even with fresh seafood. Yummie. We went to sleep early because we were tired and we had a long day ahead. When we woke up we walked to the grocery store to buy milk, made pancakes one last time and headed to the airport, where we said goodbye to our vierlivier and where we are currently waiting for our boarding.
On this backpacking trip through the whole country of Costa Rica i‘ve learned incredibly much. On one hand i‘ve learned how to live with only a few belongings, shower with cold water every day and fight agains aggressive mosquitos. On the other hand I learned a lot about nature and its inhabitants, the culture and the people. The costa ricans have enthralled and inspired me with their „joie de vivre“, their pura vida.
I hope I will be able to take a part of this with me and to continue being thankful for the smallest things, just like the „ticos“ taught me. This experience has changed me and was the best thing I could‘ve done.
Thanks to you for reading my posts and for showing so much interest in my adventure! See you soon in Switzerland!
Ich chans chum erwarte euch z‘gseh❤️
Pura vida!Baca lagi
Punta Uva - Last Day
25 Julai 2022, Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
I woke up very early, so while Noah was still sleeping I took my bike and drove around the town looking for a coffee. It was quite hard to find because it was only 6am but eventually I found a place. The coffee was not the best but It was coffee. I drove to a beach nearby to drink it. Then I drove on to Playa Cocles, a bit further and then came back. Once Noah was awake we tried to make pancakes but since the pans were non really non stick and not even the oil helped, we gave it up and I ate granola with fruits. Noah ate leftovers from the day before. At 9:30 we went to the „Jaguar Rescue Center“ (this is only the name, there are no jaguars) where they showed us the different animals they had rescued and the ones that couldnt be released back into nature because of various reasons. It was really interesting to see these wild animals so close and to learn more about them. Later on we drove to Punta Uva with our bikes, a beautiful beach with a reef where we went snorkelling. There weren‘t a lot of corals but plenty of colorful fish. After our beach chillout we went to a restaurant called „Tostas“ where everything they had, could be done glutenfree. We took smoothies and big Saladbowls. I had very good bread too and even bought some in the end. In the evening after some souvenir shopping, we went to the Beach with two drinks and watched the sunset. There were two children playing around in the sand and giggeling and clearly having a lot of fun and seeing it made me really happy. We ate dinner at the hostel. It wasnt our fanciest dinner but it was good:)
Unbelievable our time in Costa Rica is almost over…Baca lagi
Exploring Puerto Viejo
23 Julai 2022, Costa Rica ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C
Of course to be able to explore you gotta have the right equipment. With our helmets and glasses we were ready for whatever may come:). When we got to the Casa Wolaba, our hostel for the next couple of days, we got some bad news. They told us that they had expected us the day before, and since we werent there they had just given the room to somebody else a couple of minutes ago. We were really surprised and to be honest at the beginning I thought it was our mistake and we might had booked it wrong because we had booked so many hostels at once and it had been quite complicated with the dates. However I doublechecked and saw that on hostelworld we had chosen the right dates and I showed it to the receptionists as a proof. They admitted it was due to a problem in the system and were sorry but couldnt do anything about it. We realized it wasnt getting to a point so we started looking for another hostel until suddenly the girl who had gotten pur doubleroom said she would look for another hostel since it was her last night anyways and she only got our room because we weren‘t there, she hadndt even booked a private room in the first place. This was very friendly and fair from her and we thanked her a rhousand times. We couldnt check in right away, so we walked around the city and checked out some shops and stands. Puerto Viejo is the prettiest city i‘ve seen in Costa Rica so far. It reminded me a bit of Las Terrenas and made me feel at home right away. We could tell that the atmosphere was very different from what we had experienced at the pacific coast. While the other side was quite busy and definitely overhyped, over here we could really feel the carribbean warm, relaxed and easy-going vibe. In the evening we ate dinner at the hostel and met a couple of people whom I went out with later. There were many young backpackers, all like us, travelling through the country and living their best life. Noah was tired so after palying beerpong he went to bed and I joined the group. When we got to Johnny‘s, a bar right at the beach, it started to rain. At first the mood was going down and even though the bar inside was super busy we tried to hide from the pouring rain. Then, looking outside I saw people dancing in the rain along the music and singing their lungs out. I was so fascinated and hyped that I didnt care about my dry clothes anymore. I went outside and danced with them. A couple of minutes later I was completely wet and undescribably happy. This was what I had wished for on the carribbean side of the country, this was what I called pura vida, and pura vida it was. At some point I lost the rest of the group and ended up dancing with two guys of which one was getting wayyyyy too close to me the whole time. As hard as I tried dancing away he kept coming closer until I realized it was time to go. I didnt even tell them because I knew that he would try to hold me back (eww) and walked out. It was pretty dark and I wasnt sure about which way to go. My data didnt work either and there were some strange people standing at the side of the street so I decided to indulge into the carribbean-puertoviejo- lifestyle completely and take a tuc tuc home. Its actually the same like the motoconchos in Las Terrenas but they have 3 wheels and look more like a car. I found one and told him to bring me to Casa Wolaba, our Hostel. It all worked out perfectly and 15 minutes later I was lying in bed and ready to sleep:)
The next morning we woke up and rented bikes. This is how all the people in Puerto Viejo move from one place to another. It‘s quite big and when there‘s traffic, the bike is the best choice. We didnt really have a plan so we just drove along the sea, checked out some beaches and viewpoints until we got to the manzanillo nationalpark at the end of the road. There we had to continue by foot. We saw really pretty beaches woth crystal clear blue water and even went into a cave where we struggled getting out because the waves were crashing on the rocks pretty hard. On our way back we stopped at a foodstand to get typical mango con sal y chile, which is basically fresh cut mango with hotsauce and salt. What we didnt know was that zhe hot sauce was actually burning hot - my lips and mouth were dying. We went back to the village and ordered an Aperol Spritz and a frappuccino with chocolate. Quiz: Who got which beverage? Very hard to guess, right? Then we went to Cocles beach where we saw people playing Volleyball. Noah of course joined them and I did too for a while but when Noah went on to play on the field against the good players I was just a gread supporter and cheerleader:) Noah palyed like a professional, I was so happy and cheered, they even kicked out the current leaders from the volleyfield! At night we went to Shaku Con Fusion Restaurant with two guys we met. There we drank one of the best cocktails i‘ve had in CR, it was a mix of blackberry, coconut rum and dark rum. The restaurant was famous for its sauces. The idea was that you could choose a sauce and whether you wanted veggies, chicken, shrimps or the fish- catch of the day. All the sauces were homemade and glutenfree - juppieee! I ended up taking Sweet Guava Green Curry with fresh Mahi Mahi and it was delicious. Noah took the Mahi Mahi with Tandoori Sauce. I ate way to much and almost rolled home. I was so tired that I slept right away. Noah played beerpong with the others downstairs but came upstairs 20 mins later. What a day of pura vida!Baca lagi
Our way down the eastcoast
23 Julai 2022, Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
We had about 4 hours of driving ahead so I offered Noah to drive for a bit as long as the streets were not too crowded and it was all pretty mich straight highway. I managed to drive pretty well but when we got to a crossroad in the middle of a city and i had to slow down and stop, then start over again, slow down it got too stressful so we stopped and got cash at the atm. Apparently there was a problem with my card or the atm itsself because the card came out but the money didnt. We had some problems finding out whether the money had been deducted or not but finally it was all good. In the end we got the money, filled the tanks, bought 3kg of lychees and were ready for the rest of the drive. We stopped at a beach where we ate some things we had bought and our leftovers for lunch and found a coconut which we opened and drank.Baca lagi
Tortuguero - where the turtles live
22 Julai 2022, Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C
When we arrived in Tortuguero after about 1 hour of boat, we walked around the small village. There was one street with many shops for tourists, places where they selled tours and various restaurants and coffee shops. As we were walking it started to rain. It wasnt just raindrops it felt like a waterfall above our heads, so we hid in a café and drank a cocktail. I had a ginger cucumber lemon vodka tonic and Noah drank some crazy banana coco loco. We went to bed quite early that night because we had to be ready for the next day! Our alarm was set for 5:12 am, because at 5:45 we had to be ready at the reception for our canoe tour through the Tortuguero Nationalpark. We had actually expected Kayaks but Canoes were okay too since we didnt have to workout that much then:) The tour was very interesting we saw many monkeys, birds, iguanas, jesus christ lizards, more birds, more iguanas, some caimans and we even saw a small sea turtle. We only saw its head, nevertheless it was my highlight. Funfact: the jesus christ turtle got his name because due to its velocity and the shape of its feet it can run on water for a short distance. After the tour Noah had to do some stuff for university and was really tired, so he read and slept for a while and I enjoyed the time I had on my own. First I made breakfast and was entertained by a cute little cat miauing and jumping on the table all the time, then I walked around the village. I walked to one end until I got to the supermarket and bought some food, which I wanted to bring home first before walking on. on the way back somehow I ended up on the beach. As I was walking I found a coconut and decided to try to open it up to see if there was coconut water in it. I felt like Tarzan once again but was happy when I got to drink the fresh water came out. I went back to the Aracari Garden Hostel, left the groceries and walked on. At this point I have to say that the hostel we booked was really nice. Just like it says in its name, they have a huge garden with hammocks and tables, an outdoor kitchen and nice private rooms. I walked back to the village, this time in the other direction. I was a bit thirsty so I got a smoothie and talked with the owners of the place for while. Since I didnt want to drink it while I was walking, I sat down in a small park and soom some children, all boys, came up to me and asked me if I wanted to buy a bracelet they had made. I couldnt say no so I tried one on but it was too small, so I asked them if they could make it bigger and sat down next to them. They talked to me, asked me where I was from and told me they were between 7 and 9 years old and lived in Tortuguero. They wanted to earn some money so them and their friends could all have a picknick together. When I asked them what they wanted to eat they started telling me about delicious cookies, cakes, bread, crackers, fruit, sweets and it made me really happy just to listen to them and watch them. I think it is just beautiful how grateful they are for such simple things. European children would probably buy some online games with their money. But it seems like children here just have a completely different attitude towards certain things. I could feel their appreciation and it warmed my heart. Later on I went to the seaturtle conservacy center, which was kind of a museum and they let me watch a very interesting movie about the seaturtles in Tortuguero, about how everything had started and had been built up by the biologist Archie Carr, and about the current projects. I also visited the second part of the museum where they explained certain characteristics of seaturtles and especially talked about them being at risk of extinction because of global warming and most of all, human impact. After I left I went back to the hostel where Noah was waiting and we went to the Tortuguero Nationalpark Trail. I was tired of walking to be honest but still we did the 5 kilometres in our boots we had to rent because the path was very muddy at some points. Afterwards we went to the Buddah Café again and I had a Cocktail and Noah ate something between lunch and dinner, it was a whole meal though. We watched the sunset, sitting at a really good spot, on beach chairs right at the river on the café’s terrace. At night at 10pm after real dinner, we went on a turtle tour and got to see seaturtles nesting, laying eggs, covering the nest and making their way back to the sea. It was a lot of waiting because tourists were just allowed to see some specific parts of the process, they tried to let the turtles as undisturbed as possible, which I thought was great. At first we were worried it would be a bit of a tourist trap, but then after seeing the turtles we were proved wrong. The next morning i prepared Porridge with fresh fruits and Granola for myself and we left for La Pavona with the boat. At some point during the ride the waves got high and water came into the boat. Noah got pretty wet and so did the backpacks and suitcases at the bottom of the boat. Luckily our stuff was on top. Noah tought it was really funny:)Baca lagi
Heading To The East Coast
21 Julai 2022, Costa Rica ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C
We had breakfast at the Organico in La Fortuna. It‘s an almost glutenfree place that serves meals three times a day. I had a coffee, a juice and a smoothiebowl with glutenfree granola and it really made up for the pasta the night before. Then we left with all our things and drove to La Pavona, to the „embarquero de barcos“ the port for the boarts when you want to go to Tortuguero, a place that can only be reached either by boat or by plane. On our way there we stopped twice, one time to buy lychees from a seller on the road and the second time walk around in a park because we had been sotting in the car for a long time. We got to La Pavona and waited for the next boat. It took us one hour to get to Tortuguero later on but we had a very nice view throughout the whole time. We weren‘t really enthousiastic about wearing these stupid life vests though.Baca lagi
The Invisible Volcano
19 Julai 2022, Costa Rica ⋅ 🌧 25 °C
We got to the Casa Torre Eco Lodge in the early afternoon and chilled a bit first. Then we drove to the Catarata De Fortuna, the Waterfalls. When we arrived at the entrance we started following the path leading to the falls. We saw many signs saying that there were 500 stairsteps ahead and that this path wasnt suited for pregnant, obese, ill and people over 50 and that they should walk it at their own risk. After we had walked down these 500 steps I was delighted to see a very familiar face. Till was standing right in front of me with his bathing suit and glasses, pale white skin as usual and a smile on his face even though he hadn‘t seen me yet:) So I ran towards him, said TILLLLL and hugged him. He was totally surprised and pretty confused in the beginning. He introduced me and Noah to his friend Loris, he is traveling with. We talked for a while and decided to go for a drink in La Fortuna later on. They had been staying in Selina Hostel for 3 days already and I had known they were there but seeing them at the Waterfalls was a total coincidence. Noah and I went to the falls which were way too touristy, went into the water, walked on the stones and decided these were now definitely the last waterfalls we would visit in Costa Rica. At some point we walked back, hiked up the 500 steps, got to the car and drove to the small city. I had expected it to be prettier but at least it had a park with some flowers. Oh and there was a chocolate factory and shop - where I bought some 100% cacao chocolate, I wanted to use for something I learned here and that i‘ll talk about later. We also bought 2 chocolate sweets, one with orange and the other one with passion fruit, just to try. We walked on and drank a coffee. I am very proud to state that with me Noah is starting to drink/like/tolerate coffee! We started off with Latte Macchiato, went straight to Mocha and today we got to his first Cappuccino. It was a mistake, he actually had wanted a mocha but hey, we‘re getting there. (Statement 21.7.2022). At the coffee place we met Till and Loris and went to the Fortuna Pub to drink a Guaro Sour, one of my new favourite Cocktails. As much as I love Amaretto sour, this might have become my new number 1. We also played some Jenga and had lots of fun. When we got back to the Hotel, I was so tired that I fell asleep without even cooking and eating dinner. The next morning we woke up and hoped for a nice volcano view.. well no.. Nevertheless we went to the Nationalpark with Fabian, a guy we met at the Hotel and walked on the paths. There were some pretty viewpoints, still wirhout volcano view and we got to walk on lava fields whoch was interesting. When we got back my dream came true and I saw a sloth from really really close. It was so so so cute. Almost as cute as Persephone. We went to the terrace and relaxed a bit and ate. I ate the rest of the Curry and Noah made 250grams of Pasta with Cheese, yum. Then a bit later finally I took my cacao pieces and started cutting them. When we were in Santa Teresa we met two girls in the kitchen of our Hostel who were making some kind of bewerage and because I didnt really know what it was I asked. She said she was making hot chocolate with pure cacao which was part of a ritual. She told me that it was all about prepairing the ingredients, stirring them all together and while stirring, putting in as much good and positive energy as possible and then putting it in a mug. Before drinking, one should say positive things and think about what makes them happy and what they‘re thankful for. Then drink it slowly. She asked if Noah and I wanted to try and of course we said yes. So she made us one too and gave it to us. We shared it on the terrace afterwards and it was really nice and actually felt good. I actually liked the idea of it so lich that I bought a chocolate block too and made it aswell. Consequently we drank our hot cacao and relaxed a bit longer. In the late afternoon we drove to la Fortuna and picked up Till and Loris to drive to the natural hot springs. They were my highlight of the Fortuna-trip but unfortunately nobody took pictures of it! Still to keep the memory better I tried to draw what I could still see in my head the day after. It was really beautiful. Due to the volcano and the underground heat, the rivers all carry hot water. At the place we went, over time the water and the currents had built some kind of hot pools. Above, the plants had built a ceiling out of leaves, we could still see the sky though. We stayed there until it got dark and even received beer from other people who were there. Imagine - ice cold beer in a hot natural pool, pretty cool right? Oh I almost forgot the best part of it: as it got dark we started seeing fireflies everywhere, it looked really magical. In the evening the four of us went to Anch‘io Restaurant in La Fortuna. There was glutenfree pasta and I was super excited. I ordered Pasta ai frutti di Mare and asked what sauce they would make it with. They told me it was olive oil so I said yes. But then they brought me white sauce and said the olive oil spoon had already been contaminated with gluten so they wanted to be sure. Even though I absolutely dislike white sauce I didnt send it back and ate about an eighth of it, then gave it to Noah since he‘s always hungry anyways. My high expectations being destroyed like that really killed my mood for a while but then it got better with the Guaro Sour we drank at the Selina Hostel later on.Baca lagi
Back on the Road to la Fortuna
19 Julai 2022, Costa Rica ⋅ 🌧 24 °C
From Santa Elena we drove on a beautiful road, crossing parts of Guanacaste‘s flatlands and hills, passing little cities and villages until we got to the Lake Arenal. We drove around the whole lake on the highway, stopped for Nachos and Smoothies at a Restaurant and drove on to our next place for the night: Casa Torre Eco Lodge with view on the Arenal Vulcano.Baca lagi
EXTREME adventure Monteverde
18 Julai 2022, Costa Rica ⋅ 🌧 19 °C
We thought the Roads up to Monteverde were much worse and deifficult to drive on than they actually turned out to be. As we were driving up the narrow but still asphalted roads we started feeling the cool and fresh air from outside and knew we had almost reached our next destination. Santa Elena is located in a forested mountainious region at 1600 meters above sea level and is biologically the most diverse place in Costa rica, due to its cloud forest that has established thanks to the cold and humid climate. When we arrived we checked in at OutBox Inn Hostel, a very modern hostel in the center of Santa Elena completely made out of wood, with an outdoor kitchen on the balcony. We walked around Santa Elena and explored the tiny center. We saw a beautiful Sunset and were joined by a dog who accompanied us back to our hostel. We cooked in our outdoor kitchen and tried to make lentil pasta with eggplant and kale, but the stove heated up veeeryy slowly. After all we did it and had dinner, although it got pretty late. The next day we were picked up after breakfast and brought to the Selvatura Park where we did a hanging bridges hike through the cloudforest. It was very nice and we even had an encounter with a cute monkey walking past us. In the afternoon a dream of mine came true: we went bunjee jumping. Apparently it‘s the highest jump in whole central america, 146 metres above the forest and 60 metres of free fall! When we got there apart from us there was one other girl, Sandra from Germany, who told us it was already her fourth bunjee jump. As we got on the platform which was like a Gondola that brought us to the middle of the canyon, I expected myself getting really nervous and excited and full of adrenalin, but actually no. I didnt feel anything except for happiness to try something new. When they asked who wanted to jump first and the others ones didnt say amything I just went. They attached my feet to this long blue rope and brought me to the edge of the platform. They did a doublecheck, I asked again if I could really just jump, looked forward and jumped. Only the seco d I jumped off I felt the adrenaling rushing through my veins, a feeling which while I was falling was replaced by doubt if it would actually hold me, especially as the forest was coming closer and closer. However already a couple of seconds later on I felt something lifting me up from my feet and pulling me upwards and I knew for sure I was safe. I rebounced a couple of times which was awesome because It felt like flying until they gave me the second rope where I could attach myself in order for them to pull me up. Noah was next and aswell did it quite easily. Sandra took about a minute because she was pannicking in the beginning. After bunjee we went to a coffee place, read our books for a bit and relaxed from all the excitment. Subsequently we rented a motorbike and drove around the coty and nearby hills we both drove it by turns and I have to admit than other than the car, I might even be a better motodriver than Noah. I guess the streets of The dominican Las Terrenas have taught me a lot. We saw the sunset while we were driwing which was beautiful. Sooner or later we returned the bike and cooked Quinoa- Lentil Curry with PakChoi, Kale, Potato, Tomatos and Zucchini, while drinking cocktails from a bar close by. I really hope Noah doesnt die from my healthy food, I think he already has a massive deficiency and lack of bread and carbs im his system.. or at least that‘s what he sais;)
We went to bed, where I cuddles with persephone, the sloth, our newest family member!🦥Baca lagi
Crossing the Nicoya Pensinsula
17 Julai 2022, Costa Rica ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
The cool thing about having a car is that you can stop wherever and whenever you want. Thats what we did on our roadtrip from Montezuma to Santa Elena in Monteverde. Before leaving the hostel we went for a walk at the beach where we found very pretty shells and stones. We started driving around 11 and took Sebastian and Anton with us. They hopped off at a busstop a couple of kilometres away from Nicoya. They were heading to Samara and hoped to get on a bus in that direction. Noah and I stopped to get some fresh coconut water and buy very cheap fruit for breakfast the next morning. Our next stop was the „puente de amistad de Taiwan“ or something like that. It wasnt that crazy of a place but since it was on our way and we wanted to get out of the car for a while it was great. Then we stopped at a food truck place where we drank a cappuccino and a mochacchino. Noah‘s mochaccino was already veery sweet and even though it already had a strong chocolate flavour he even put more sugar in;) After 3 hours of driving we started getting closer to the monteverde forests. We felt the air getting cooler and the vegetation around us changing. The street we were driving on was asphalt, however it was quite narrow, there were many curves and it was extremely steep. Noah drove like a pro, he managed to bring our car and us up this mount everest in one piece. We started seeing the foggy rainforests of monteverde at some point and got aut of the car a couple of times to get a better view. We arrived in Santa Elena at the OutBox Inn Hotel in the late afternoon.Baca lagi
Montezuma,my „spiritual“ heaven on earth
16 Julai 2022, Costa Rica ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C
As we were getting closer to Montezuma I already started to feel that this was going to be a good place. The road led us through a very small colorful citycenter and a bit further along the coast. We didnt find our hostel at first and were a bit confused but then we saw it and walked into a green garden with flowers and trees and people playing games and getting tanned on the soft green grass. First of all we were amazed by the beautiful view in front of us, then, as I looked more closely to the people because I wanted to know what type of people this place hosted, when I suddenly noticed a head with short light blond hair. As I looked more closely I recognized Sebastian playing chess on the ground with another guy. I was so so so suprised and happy to see him. We had kind of lost him after leaving Dominical so seeing him now was really awesome. The other guy was Anton, a german friend he had met in Mexico and with whom he had traveled to Nicaragua and Panama. We met Antinea, a colunteer working at the hostel as a work & travel and she told us we couldnt do the check -in yet, so we left our stuff and walked to the center because just like every Saturday there was the prganic farmers market. The market consists in lical people selling their homemade products. There was home made Ricotta, Granola, hot sauce, bracelets (Noah and I bought 2 together as a souvenir), streetfood, clothes and many fruits and veggies. There was also music played by people with guitars and ukuleles. I absolutely LOVED this place and I couldnt resist, I bought veggies for dinner. We went to the center of the village and got an ice cream at a place Sebastian our ice cream specialist recommended. Then we walked on to a place called Piedra Colorada that we found on google maps and looked nice. We stayed there and went back to the hostel. The Hostel was so nice that Noah and I enjoyed just staying there. I read a bit, wrote and relaxed. Then we started cooking dinner. At the Piedra Colorada, The boys and I decided that we were gonna cook for the 4 of us. I wanted to make Quinoah bowl so I told the guys what veggies they had to cut and where to put them and coordinated everything which resulted in a good & healthy Quinoa Bowl. We drank Sangría from the supermarket as we were cooking which was way better than expected. When we sat down at the table we could tell that the other guests at the hostel were a bit jealous because we had made such a plate for dinner. Others were just eating basic spaghettis or rice with whatever instead. I was really happy because Anton and Sebastian were so so greatful for eating with us. They said this was the healthiest meal they had eaten so far and that they were very thankful for me cooking for them and that it was very good. I love it when people appreciate my effort, it makes me want to do such things for people if I know that its not going to be taken for granted. After dinner I told them that they had to clean the kitchen and I went out with Antinea to a bar in town wjere people played live music. There we met a friend of hers and had a drink. It was kind of crazy. Antinea was 28 years old and Marci her friend 39, so there was a 10 and 20 year age difference between us but still it felt like we all had the exact same age, I couldnt even tell what age, just three women listening to music, sitting in a bar, talking about some quite deep topics and just exchanging our thoughts and feelings. I think I desperately needed some female energy:) Both of them are quite different than me, way more spiritual, something I never really considered or even thought about but it was super interesting to listen to their opinions, their experiences and what they had to say about it. I even opened up to them about things that were making me angry and sad at the moment and it felt good to talk with them, even though they technically were strangers to me. Later on the boys came after their chess game and the kitchen cleaning. We went to „Chico‘s“ Bar and danced until about 1. Then we saw a streetfood truck in front of the bar and Noah had a funny looking hot dog, (Baby was fed and quiet again) which Anton called perro caliente directly translated to spanish, which obviously doesnt work. Eventually after dancing a bit more we went back to the hostel. We slept at about 2 and I woke up the next morning at 5:30. I dont know why and I probably would‘ve tried to go back to sleep but then I saw that the sky was all pink through the tiny window and decided I had to see. When I got out I got suprised by a beautiful sunrise (I didnt even know I could see the sun risind over the horizon from this place!!!!)
Currently I am lying in a cozy Hammok after 3 hours of sleep and writing this. Tired but very happy and absolutely keen on living many more experiences here.Baca lagi
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