Laander

Just a little preface before the actual post: I know that I am pretty far behind compared to my actual location (which is New Zealand!), but I hope to catch up sometime - stay tuned!)

Here goes (beware: long post):

When we (Ani, Lau and I) got to Arequipa after a long 10-hour bus drive in the night, my nose started running and I felt cold. No wonder, as the seats next to the windows in the bus got REALLY cold during the night. Most of the locals had brought a blanket and some warm clothe, but cleaver as I am, I only had my t-shirt, a fleece and my jacket. Oh, and by the way, the bus trip had a pretty unusual start: when we had taken our seats and the bus drivers assistant had turned on the televisions, some real heavy death-metal started blasting out of the speakers. It went on for 20 minutes! As no one seem to react and everybody was getting rather irritated, I got up, turned off the DVD player for the monitors and gone was the ”music”. It seemed that the rip-off movie compilation DVD had a menu soundtrack that would run in a loop with the thrash-metal rocking in the background. Later on, when the movie came on, it was ”Starship Troopers” with Spanish language synchronized on top of it – and that definitely didn’t make a bad movie I had seen +4 times better!

Anyway, we got to Arequipa, found a nice hostal close the main plaza (after been tracked down by a deluded woman wanting us to stay at her lousy hospedaje) and went for the terrace on the roof – sweet! Sunshine, couches, a cold Cusquena (local beer from Cuzco) and just relaxation. A day or two after (not sure) we took off the for Colca Canyon 2 day trip.

The Colca Canyon trip was great – it included a long drive over the desert mountains, bathing in hot springs and an amazing view over Cruz del Condor (and Colca canyon itself), where condors were circling one of the deepest canyons in the world (approx 4000 meters straight down is an amazing view). It was a good short trip all together and the highlight in our Arequipa stay. I remember sitting on the hillside, a little away from the usual canyon outpost, and enjoying the view of the mountains. When I get to be a 60-year-old man and I’ve earned my fortune, that is the view I want to wake up to every morning. Living in the highlands of Peru - that should be achievable right?!

Anyway, next stop on the route was Puno, which is a small city located on the coast to lake Titicaca (the biggest lake in South America). I specifically remember the bus trip there, as it was absolutely lousy. My comrade, the guy sitting next to me for the 6 hour drive, was so fucking disgusting. I am not exaggerating when I say that the guy was blowing his nose in his jacket, spitting on the floor and generally smelled like shit. When he sneezed once in a while, I could literally feel a rain of mouth interior hitting me – and not to mention the loud throat sounds he was continually making. Great. 6 hours of hell ride.

Puno was a somewhat small town that seemed to exist mostly for the tourism that the lake was producing. One night, we went to the local bar, which turned out to be great fun – I met a Danish girl that was travelling together with a group of other youngsters. Oh, and by the way, as they don’t use crushed ice in Peru, DON’T order a Mojito and expect it to be good! The Mojito I got there was probably the worst I ever had. Hrmp..

The morning after, we went off for the floating islands, which is the main attraction at the lake. Basically, the local indigenous people fled to the lake, when the Inca uprising approached the lake. At the lake, the people constructed artificial floating islands out of siv (?) and made a living there. More about this here. Anyway, the 4-hour trip to the islands was interesting indeed – but tourism has definitely had its touch on the islands. The people had television inside their small cabins powered by solar power and they did a “Vamos a la Playa” dance for us when we left. It felt a little too much really. But looking apart from that, it was fun to see how islands made of siv actually had become a home of so many people.

Next stop was Copacabana. The border crossing from Peru to Bolivia was seamless – you get your passport stamp, walk through the check (where they don’t check you at all) and get the immigration paper. Bus continued on the other side and soon we were in Copacabana. The main place to stay seemed to be a big hotel called Hotel Mirador located right out to the coast, so we checked in there. I got my own 3-bed room (paid for a single room only though), which had a perfect view of the lake. The big panorama window made the sunset/sunrise a spectacular view and Copacabana itself was very calm and quiet in addition. We had a few nice days there. Lau did some Yoga with me – she’s a Yoga instructor and it was a good spot for it (but damn I’m inflexible!) The meals were cheap (Bolivia is even more cheap than Peru) – for around 15 Bolivianos (estimated $2 dollars) you get a 3 dish meal including soft drinks. You don’t get that in Denmark for sure! The evening after we arrived, we chilled, relaxed and enjoyed the calm atmosphere. I saw a movie on my laptop called “The Art of Travel” that I liked a lot (nice concept, bad acting tho) – it’s about a guy leaving home and going to South America with only his daypack. A lot of stuff is happening in the movie, but at some point in the end, he goes to Cuzco, lake Titicaca and Salar de Uyuni – which is exactly the same places I’ve been! In Cuzco, I recognized the central Plaza de Armas and a café he was sitting in – the exact same café where I had breakfast one day. His way of thinking represents a lot of mine really, so I could easily identify with the urge for freedom and breaking out of routine and habits.

Last experience from Copacabana was an evening in a rowing boat on the lake. We asked a local captain hanging around the harbour if we could rent one of the boats and for 25 Bolivianos we got an hour of rowing. Watching the sunset from the boat was quite an experience and summed up the stay there excellently. Only thing I missed was a girl to share the moment with – a bottle of champagne and the sunset of lake Titicaca in a rowing boat sounds like the perfect romantic moment doesn’t it

It was time for goodbyes – I had to leave Ani and Lau to go off for the craziness of La Paz. This goes in the next blog post.

• Pictures coming soon!
• Video compilation (at Viddler)

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A lot has happened since last post. Let me see.

At the end of the week I had my last few lessons at the language school. The one-week course had been good – but I’ve learned that it’s practically impossible to learn Spanish in a week! The course has resulted in a +20 pages notebook and a very basic Spanish vocabulary that gets me around. The weekend and days after the school, I spent most of the time at the host family, as I wanted to get completely rid of a slight influenza that was lurking. Together with Ann-Dominique and Beata (girls from school), we went to a small town outside of Cuzco and did a three-hour trek through a forest-painted valley. Limbiza (I think its spelled like that), who was a Slovakian woman who lived in Cuzco and worked as a tour guide, was also with us on the trip and was very informative. She lived with her Peruvian family and knew a lot of the local culture and I think I learned more from her on that day, that any other had taught me the past week. All together it was a great trip and it helped a little on the general laziness that hits you when you don’t really have a current plan.

Next was the Inca Trail trekking trip. A few days before the trek, I moved to a hostal closer to the center of Cuzco. It was nice to have a little time for myself after staying with the family for 1.5 weeks – don’t get me wrong, the stay was very exciting and I met along of nice people during the many mornings and evenings!

However, it was time for the trek. First of, let me say that the 4 days Inca Trail on the Andean mountains to Machu Picchu was great. We started off driving to the take-off point in small mini-bus (the busses are in general really good down here, although there are some exceptions – see later post). My team consisted of 4 Argentinians; two of them being a couple and the other two were girls in the late 20’s. Now, 4 Argentinians, who randomly seem to came from Buenos Aires all of them, speak Spanish. And as I only speak enough Spanish to order a beer, ask for the toilet and buy a bus ticket, it was rather hard to join the conversation at first. But, after a few hours, English got to be the language of choice and thorough the whole trip, we had great fun.
The mountains, forest and nature in general are so extremely beautiful in the Andeans. The climb to 4200 meters was hard, admitted, but that’s part of the experience – and really added some adrenaline to the trek. Machu Picchu, which is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was amazing. We arrived at the spot around 6-7 am in the morning – it was foggy and we couldn’t see anything. None-the-less, the few people at the place at the early morning combined with the buildings (=ruins), hillside plateaus and beautiful nature, made the whole stay there very tranquil. Later, when the clouds took off and sun sunshine arrived, Machu Picchu revealed itself and it was breathtaking. I remember sitting on a stonewall, a little outside the general tourist area, and looking at the majestic mountains, wrapped in low hanging clouds and sunshine. Listening to the river below, feeling the warm weather – it’s  a memorable moment… Unfortunately, my camera ran out of battery just before we got to Machu Picchu, so the video and pictures from the place are few. The others did however take quite a few pictures, which I will add later when I get a hold of them.

Coming back from Machu Picchu and Aguas Calliente by train and bus, I checked in at Loki Hostal in Cuzco. Stayed there a few days with two of the girls from the trip and met two German guys. The plan was now Puno, Titicaca, but because of a road block (due to a strike) on the road, I was forced to make a round-trip to Arequipa first – which turned out to be a great experience. More on this later tho’, as this post is already way too long.

Oh, and by the way - I have found a beautiful Bolivian girl, which I have decided to spent the rest of my life with. I love her and she loves me - that is all we need to know. Currently looking for an apartment in La Paz, so if anyone knows someone who knows someone else that has one for sale, please let me know. Mom and dad: I might now be coming home to summer anyway. I hope you understand my decision! Love you

Notes to self:

• Taxi’s are cheap in Peru! $1 across of Cuzco
• Truche (trout) is good and paired up with a tomato soup and a Cusquena, you can’t go wrong
• The highlands are so beautiful. When I get to be an old bitter millionaire, I’ll build my own house here (100$ a square meter I think it is)
• I had great fun with all the Spanish students, the Argentinean amigos and the other gringos I met in bars, hostals and busses
• Don’t ever say “Concha tu Madre” to a Bolivian - ever!
• Peru is lovely… Me like

Pics and vid:

• Pictures from the 3-hour trek outside of Cuzco and the 4-day Inca Trail to Machu Picchu (at Flickr)
• Video compilation (at Viddler) at last - took its time to get it online!

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This is gonna be a short post as I am running out of time at the internet café here in Cuzco.

On Saturday, I arrived to Cuzco and got picked up by my host family at the airport. Victor, the father and Fernando, drove me to the home, located a little outside the center in an area called La Florida. Fortunately, Fernando speaks perfectly good English - my own Spanish vocabulary doesn’t get me any further than what I can read in the guide books (and that’s not long!)

For the last few days, I’ve been to the Spanish school where I’m currently (trying) to learn a little Spanish. I like it a lot - people are so nice here and there are plenty of other foreign young people to have fun with. So far, I’ve met so many people that I had to write all the names down on paper in order to remember them

Anyway, Saturday we went for some bars and a good night - Mythology, Mama Africa and the Roots i think the places were called. The following day, I got struck with some bad altitude sickness and was practically lying in bed all bed. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday was better tho and the school took all the time (what I did in the remaining hours apart from school is in one big blurry resemblance).

Time for bed now. Took quite a lot photos and made a short video compilation of the different places. See below..

Hope you’re all having fun back at DK - I am here!

• Pictures from leaving Lima and a few days in Cuzco (at Flickr)
• Video compilation (at Viddler)

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Finally, after flying from Copenhagen to London, sleeping/chilling in the Heathrow for 10 hours, flying from London to Madrid, waiting another 6 hours and finally taking a 11 hour plane to Lima – I am here!

The first day in Lima was pretty relaxed, yet interesting. In the airport, I met 3 German girls that were around my own age (two of them were named Maria, the last one I don’t remember). They we’re pretty much in the same situation as me, but with the advantage that they already booked a Bed & Breakfast in northern Lima and I didn’t yet. None-the-less, I hooked up with them and traveled to the small casa in Los Olivos in a red pickup truck driven by the owners’ husband.

The house was a private home owned by Miriam (they have a website I found: www.lima1night.com). It was a nice stay; I got my own 3 bed’ed room with breakfast included in the morning. Also, transport to and from the aeropuerto was included in the already cheap price, so it was a bargain. Miriam even helped me call a hostel for the day after and booked a room for me.

When arriving the following day at B&B Jose Luis, which is located in Miraflores – the nicest part of Lima –, I was met by a huge and really cool warren. I got a room, went for some lunch (chicken) and then met two interesting gringos (meaning non-indigenous travelers, typically backpackers). The woman was from Hawaii and had 6 children altogether: one was a poker player in Las Vegas, one traveled with her around South America and two actually did music with Joey Moe (who is a Danish, kind of famous, hip-hop artist) in the U.S. Apparently her son had lost his passport and were forced to immigrate Peru illegally from Ecuador – pretty crazy! Thomas, the other one, was from Oregon in U.S. and came from Ecuador also, after a long stay there. His profession was, as far as I remember, being a doctor with specialty in Lung Surgery. He had relatives in Finland, which was the closest relation between each other we could find.

This evening, I went to central Miraflores in Lima with him and had some dinner at a local restaurant – in Peru, their specialty is Cervice, which is lime marinated raw fish – very good! Also, we went by a Casino, but my 5 bucks unfortunately didn’t have any luck in ‘em ☺

Anyway, just a little heads up from Lima – It’s awesome to finally be traveling and it has been a great first few days to shoot the trip off! There’s a few pics and a vid below for you to check out:

• Pictures from the first few days (at Flickr)

• Video compilation (at Viddler)

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The clock is around 1:30 am and I’m sitting at the laptop, preparing the last few things before the trip takes off. I am very excited to say the least and honestly, I am somewhat unsure of what to expect. But that’s also the beauty of it: the uncertainties of the unknown, in combination with foreign culture, freedom, responsibility and meeting new people, is what makes up a great adventure

For now, I just wanted to leave this little note and share the following map with you - it depicts the traveling route I have planned so far. Google Maps is a great tool for creating dynamic geo-tagged maps!

Take-off from Denmark is 5th of March (Wednesday) - pretty damn soon!!

Travel route on Google Maps - click to see!

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Get your headphones on, turn up the volume, lean back and close your eyes. This is gonna blow you away!

Start your virtual haircut by pressing play below:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

• Download Mp3
• On YouTube if you prefer

Here’s another few holophonic audio illusions if you crave more: One Man’s Blog

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I recently found this nice little plugin called StatusPress that shows your Facebook status on Wordpress. It’s been developed by Adam Walker Cleaveland (pomomusings.com) and serves a simple solution to bloggers who would like to easily integrate their Facebook status to Wordpress.

The initial release lacked a timestamp feature, which C. Scott Andreas (paradoxica) added. The only problem was that the plugin was not available as a widget - which is why I chose to continue where they laid off..

For this release, I have made some enhancements:

• NEW! Added the option to remove first name in the beginning of messages
• Available as a widget with options (controls)
• Option to enable/disable the timestamp
• Option to have the status item on your Wordpress page link to the facebook message
• A minor mathmatical calculation error fixed
• Tested to work with WordPress v. 2.7.1

Download the Plugin here!

Just after I finished the development and started writing this post, I found that Brian D. Goad (briandgoad.com) actually widgetized the plugin just as I. I have chosen to release it anyway

Quick setup instructions.

1. Login to Facebook and go to this link: http://www.facebook.com/minifeed.php?filter=11
2. Right click on My Status in the right column and copy the link
3. Download the Plugin, install it and activate the widget
4. Paste in the Facebook feed URL to the widget option and enjoy!

You can see a working demo on my sidebar to the right. Let me know i you have any questions or new feature requests!

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This year is going to be an exciting year - very exciting!

For this post I am going to break my own tenets and make a post about myself.. Me, me and only me. Yes, hell, I’ll even do it in detail for your entertainment (I just pray that anyone should find this interesting).

For the last two weeks, I’ve been skiing - in Austria and Norway respectively. First week was with a group of guys (including my good friend and neighbor Nicolaj) for one week of drunken Snowboarding in Saalbach, Austria. Great trip! Got to experience world famous afterskiing cabin Hinterhag, where people get drunk in Weissbier and Flying Hirsch and then head down the slope for 100-200 metres to get back into town - on skiis that is! We finished the week with an off-piste trip on the backside of some mountain, which ended up taking 4 hours of downhill, uphill and nearly cost us a seat in the bus home (we arrived 5 minutes before the bus drivers patience ran out). When we finally got home (bad seats + 16 hours bus drive = aching spine), i got a quick shower, ordered a pizza, had a long nights sleep and took off to the airport for a plane to Oslo (Norway). After hooking up with Stefan and Kasper (two family members), we left Kastrup airport, landed in Oslo and took a train til Kvitfjell, where we stayed for the following week. It’s been a nice stay - relaxed and cozy. Personally, I had a some great trips on Langrenn (cross-country skiing) throughout the Norwegian fjell.

Right now it’s 10:28 PM and I’m sitting in front of the dying fireplace, tapping my way through this post, while the rest of the +9 person cabin is at sleep. What will the next weeks, months bring? More excitement? Adventure and danger? New faces and fascinating foreign culture? Enlightened self-realization?

I’ll sleep on this for now, mold it through, work it and bring a post in the nearest future with my upcoming plans Good night!

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The guys over at Blog Action Day really deserves an applause. By now, over 12,000 blogs have participated in the event and that’s over 12 million readers in estimated audience!

In summary, Blog Action Day is about generating awareness on a particular subject though mass participation - this year poverty.
The idea: awareness through social media.
The weapon: blog posts.
The goal: fighting poverty through enlightment. Brilliant!

Well, for me to do my own contribution, I will ask you to consider buying a Simple Living t-shirt from Nadia Plesner Foundation. My cousine Kasper at A Question Of is delivering the fairtrade t-shirts, brought in directly from a well-established factory in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

Spread the word!

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