Dear reader

Whether you’re a friend, family or just a random stranger: once again, I welcome you to my blog and my adventures. It’s been a while since I last wrote you. Or anyone. Or anything, really. After my time in Fiji, I started travelling with friends and family and I lost sight of sharing my travels with the world. I’m not mad, just disappointed. In myself. In you. In the world.

Anyway, today I write from Bocas del Toro, Panama. Once again, I’m faaaaaar away. A  two-hour drive, 10.5 hour flight, 35 minute cab ride, a night in a hotel and another 1 hour flight away, to be exact. For those who need visual support:

So now you know what my current location is, let me tell you where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing the last couple of months. Just a couple of words and pictures to show you how amazing it all was.

Palau

After the wonders of Fiji and living on the smallest of islands, the destination changed but the goal remained: diving. After several flights and transfers, I reached Palau and met up with one of the greatest men in my life: my dad. We spent two weeks diving and eating. Gosh, there was so much food, what was a nice change after Caqalai, to be fair. Not eating stupid aubergine five times a week was really refreshing.

We spent a couple of days in a hotel and diving with a local dive school, after which we spent a week on a “live-aboard”. A live-aboard is a boat where you do nothing, except:

No joke. A typical day looks like this: breakfast –> dive 1 –> morning snack –> dive 2 –> lunch –> dive 3 –> afternoon snack — > dive 4 –> dinner –> dive 5. AND REPEAT. It was amazing, it’s like Disneyland for divers. But better. And more fun. The credits for the pictures below go out to Ben, who spends his days managing the Palau Aggressor Fleet and taking some bad-ass pictures.

Aruba

After Palau I went home, only to fly on to the other side of the world 72 hours later. Those 3 days were filled with reunions and comfort food. My luggage got stuck somewhere in Taiwan, so that was a nice extra stress factor considering I really needed my bag to travel on to Aruba.

Anyway, Aruba. It’s boring. Don’t go there. Ever. The only thing you can really do, is lie on a, beach drinking rum. Not as fun as Jack Sparrow makes it out to be.

Lucky for me, I didn’t have to go through this mind numbing boredom alone. There was a friend with me: Birgit. She’s completely bonkers. It’s safe to say we got bored. Quickly. We did some diving, which was fun considering it was Birgit’s first time ever. We climbed 622 steps to the top of a hill with a not-so-spectacular view and ate away our feeling. Conclusion? Don’t go to Aruba unless you want to lie on a beach and do nothing for a week.

Suriname

After picking our noses for a week, we went to visit one of our friends in Suriname. Ellen, one of my dearest friends (click here and scroll down to the bottom to see a wonderful collection of pictures), was doing an internship in Paramaribo, Suriname’s capital. As soon as we arrived, it was like coming home. Do you have those people in your life too? They don’t make you feel like home, they ARE home. No matter where in the world you see each other.

We went on a swamp trip, a hiking trip and a quad-biking tour. We did a cooking class and explored the wonders of Paramaribo and it’s amazing Parbo (the local beer).

Bigi Pan

Okay, so swamp trip must sound a little vague and weird. Well, it was. It all started with the taxi ride. Birgit and I were picked up by a driver and put into a car. We thought we were on our way to Bigi Pan (the name of this vague swamp), but it turned out we were on our way to pick up another passenger, let’s call him Tim. After picking up Tim, we were on our way once again. But, no no, still not headed towards Bigi Pan. We picked up Lisa and her 2 month-old daughter, Mimi. After Lisa and Mimi, the car still had room so we picked up Wendy. By this time, we’d been in the car for almost 2 hours and we still had no idea where we going, or what was going on. From this point everything just went downhill. Tim kept asking to stop the car so he could smoke, offering us a cigarette every 5 seconds. Lisa and Mimi were seated between Birgit and I, so the two of us were used as baby-entertainers. Every time she started crying, Mimi would be handed to either Birgit or me, in the hopes that we could make her stop. Those of you who know me, know that I’m a real baby whisperer so that went very, very well. By the time we’d been in the car for 3,5 hours and Lisa started changing Mimi’s diaper IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CAR, and Wendy started to feel sick and was throwing up out the window, I was sure we were on candid camera. When Lisa asked me to “entertain” her daughter while she was feeding her, my brain just stopped working. HOW DO YOU ENTERTAIN A 2-MONTH OLD IN A CAR WITH NOTHING MORE THAN YOUR HANDS AND FACE? It was not a great success.

After 4,5 hours, the car stopped and the driver told us “we had arrived”, dropped us off and drove on with all the other passengers. So there we were, in the middle of nowhere, not having a clue where we were or what to do or even where to go. Eventually, it turned out we were in the right place, luckily. That weird-ass car ride had not been for nothing.

We spent 2 days and a night on and in a swamp in the middle of nowhere. We were accompanied by two Dutch families who were just delightful and seemed to enjoy themselves as much as we did.

We helped paint the place, swam in the swamp and set out at night to catch a Kaiman (which apparently is a crocodile, not a fish). Long story short: Birgit and I had a great time. The other families not so much. We accidentally stole 2 of their beers. They noticed and things got really, really ugly. And awkward. Oh, the awkwardness.

Fredberg

After being “home” for a couple of days (and processing the events of the swamp trip), Ellen, Birgit, Ellen’s roomies and I set out on a hiking trip. We all went out the night before, what turned out to be a GREAT idea until we had to get up at 7 in the morning to go climb a mountain.

This entire trip was AMAZING. We spent one day walking and climbing, to end up at the top of a mountain where Fred (who the mountain is named after) had built a camp. The view on each side of the camp is breathtaking and totally worth the climb with OR without hangover.

The second day was spent walking back to a house in the middle of the jungle, next to river WITH rope swing. We spent the day swinging, swimming and playing card games. It was a great weekend.

Quadbiking

Enough with the words on Suriname, here are some pictures:

Colombia

In a super spontaneous moment Tanja and I decided to go to Colombia and visit Cristina. We all met in Fiji and knew we would never see eachother again, considering we all live on oposites of the world (as in: Europe, Australia and Colombia). I only spent 10 days in the country, but had a hell of a time.

We started out in Bogota, where Tanja and I did a “free walking tour” through La Candelaria, the older part of the city. We got to taste some local food and saw lots of small places you might not see without a tour. Honestly, I think Bogota is the biggest city I’ve ever set foot in. There’s just no end to it.

Afterwards, the three of us went to visit Monserrate, where you get to look over the entire city. At first, the fog was so thick, we couldn’t see anything. Then it started pouring down with rain. Yay. Bummer. We went to have some Coca Tea and once the sky cleared up, the view was breathtaking.

After Bogota we went to Villa de Leyva, where the Jesus statue on top of the hill is surprisingly small. We flew into Cartagena, stayed a couple of nights, had my phone stolen and took the bus to Santa Marta. After Santa Marta, Tanja and I went on to Palomino, a tiny village that consists only of one dirt road, and dozens of hostels and restaurants. Lots of going back and forth in Colombia, but it really is a beautiful country.

USA

After the trip in Colombia, I went home. For two whole weeks. Saw some friends, reunited with my family and, most important of all: reunited with my dog. There’s nothing like the unconditional love of a dog. Not really unconditional though, she seems to love me more when I have food.

After being home FOR TWO WHOLE WEEKS, my dad and I spent three weeks in the US, driving from Washington D.C. to the Keys and all the way back up. We spent some time diving (obviously), did a boat tour in the Everglades and met up with Nick, a friend we met in Palau. We were lucky to see everything before hurricane Irma came through. Shout out to all the people who were in any way effected by Irma. (In the picture on the right I’m sitting in the place where Forest Gump’s bench used to be. It’s currently on display in some museum).

Oh, oh aaaand we went to Universal Studios and Disney World. How could I forget?! We rode the Hogwarts Express and walked through Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade and went to Olivander’s to get a wand. It was Potter-tastic!

Remember how I said earlier that a live-aboard in Palau in like Disney World for adults, but better? Yeah, Disney World: not as fun as you’d imagine it to be. I had a great time, don’t get me wrong, but it was just so busy. And so warm. Jesus, Florida, go easy on the heat next time.

September, October and Present

By the time we got home from the US, it was September and all my plans had finished. I had some minor events planned, but nothing major and certainly no big travels. My life is really sad, I know.

Eventually, I ended up being home less than I suspected I would be, but still more than I would have liked. I ended up going to Scotland for three weeks, spent a week in Croatia with my brother; went to Oktoberfest and spent three weekends in London. Even though it sounds like I wasn’t home at all, it was really good to spend some time with the people who matter most in my life. Having lunch once every six months just isn’t enough.

So, now you know what I’ve been up to. Yes, it is a lot. No, I’m still not done. Not done writing, not done diving and not done travelling. As mentioned above, I’m currently in Panama. The question is: why? Well, Panama is a great place to learn to hablas Espanol. And to dive. Let’s not forget about the diving.

My first impressions of Panama were quite funny, if I do say so myself. The taxi that took me from the airport to my hotel, seemed to only have three gears and no seat belts BUT luckily, the car did have a screen to play video clips. Not just any video clips, but video clips starring Pierce Brosnan. It was an amazing 35 minutes.

Bocas del Toro is a tiny town where I’ll spend the next month of my life. Tomorrow is a national holiday, so naturally I’m going diving. My first dive in months. There’s nothing that can really express my excitement, but this song comes pretty close:

That’s it, folks. The last 5 months of my life in just 2128 words. Don’t forget to check out the new theme song and song of the week (click: MENU!).

Write you soon

Fi