Scandinavia tour continues

Three weeks has gone so fast! I can't even believe it. Tomorrow I will fly to Sweden, be with Saara and Eddi and see Stine and Jesper!!

I am so glad I got proper winter in Helsinki, skiing, ice skating, sledging and yesterday we went to Messilä for snowboarding. Awesome day!! Damn I love winter, next year I want to go somewhere in Europe for a week to ski. Hike up the mountain and come down as slowly as possible :)

Quite a lot of mixed feelings about going. It's been so hectic even though I have had three weeks to see everyone and do stuff, but it was't enough. So I am happy to leave so I don't need to feel preasure if I don't have time to see all my friends and I don't need to feel guilty not spending all my time at home. But I just love Helsinki! It has everything <3 Food, I think I have gained at least five kilos ;)

One week

One week has gone already! Where?  It feels that the time flies even faster here than it did in South-America ;)

We have nice minus degrees and little bit of snow, could be more if you ask me. It's enough for crosscountry skiing and snowboarding. But it is so dark!! It gets light after 9am and starts to get dark around 4pm. I have always been morning person, but now it feels like a torture to get up before 9am. 

Helsinki has definitely had a facelift. Or is it because Finland is turning 100 years, but we have got so many nice new cafes and restaurants, so much is happening around the centre, lots of art shows and museums. I like it, I like it a lot! It has been great to be at home. Chilling out, doing nothing, Sunday brunch, sauna, skiing, movies, coffee shops,..

It hasn't been a shock to be back, I was ready to leave South-America (for a while). It's nice to be home. I think it might start to be depressing when I go back to England, because then my holiday really is over and I need to find a job and start working again!  But now, I still have three weeks left :D

Home

Helsinki!!! Grey, dark, drizzly rain and melted snow, WELCOME! 

Seriously my first thought was great. When we got out of the plane, right end of the tube was border control checking passports and one of them called me. Okey, what is going on?! This passport has been informed to be stolen, he said. Excuse me? What the f@!k? Yes, we have mark on this to be stolen. It was all very confusing but I think he ment the one which was stolen in Ecuador in May. I got through and I still don't understand really what happened..

Two days I have just been with my family and playing with my gorgeous nephew and godson Eddi <3 Narripie has got little chubby again.. We had dinner with cousins yesterday and oh my we ate well! Tuesday when I arrived we had after christmas dinner, all my favorites. Damn I have missed these foods!! Plus I have been eaiting so much candy already that I think I will return to England as a chubby girl.. :D

Today we got some fresh powder snow!

Sao Paulo

Last city of our trip! Our CS host bailed on us, but David invite us to stay at his place. So great! We took taxi to Guaratigue and bus from there to Sao Paulo. Without David we would have been once again headless chickens trying to find bus or metro connection from Tiete to the centre. 

Saturday, our last weekend so we went to see Sao Paulos night life. I have proparly talked about sushi the last six months and now I finally got some :) We bought drinks from a trolley and sat at the steps while watching passing people. There was three guys hypnotizing people, I volunteered but I wasn't potential candidate because didn't speak portugese. Damn it! 

Sunday we went sightseeing, not so much to see. Few nice houses and skyscrapers but mostly many homeless people, drug addicts and prostitutes. It was almost disgusting at some point, they smelled so bad, had dirty clothes and were really out from this world. Vila Magadale area where we went in the evening felt nicest. Lots of student living there, hostels, parks and bars with outside terraces. We ate in Pizzaria Milana, oh my! So good :D propably the best caipiriñas and the best pizza! Proper italian make. And staff was so nice also, I hugged our waiter when we left :) 

We are now already at the airport. Took metro and public bus and it was so much faster than we thought. 22h and I will be crying Helsinki-Vantaa airport meeting my family!! Crazy!!! 

Source Temple week 2

8th Day

Last day of 2016! We have had 323 amazing travel days this year. 

We started morning with yoga. Followed by group mantra, I didn't know what to expect but it was great! We had booklet with different songs, instruments and then we just improvised. It was so wonderful and powerful experience, I had happy tears rolling on my cheeks :) We helped with making pizzas for everyone, in proper stone oven, so delicious. It was nice to share the moment with all the residents. Nice cool dip to the waterfall and group dinner at our volunteer house. Found a bottle of sparkling apple drink to celebrate the year change!

9th Day

Hyvää tätä vuotta! I baked bananabread and we had Venezuelan breakfast cooked by Trini. Nice playful game of beach volleyball and afternoon snooze next to the lake. I woke up when Gaudinho (neighbors dog) was licking my face, totally ignored him because I was so sleepy. Ten minutes later when I got up, I couldn't find my sunglasses. That illbehaved dog had chewed them for his afternoon snack!! Whole bunch of us went for a walk to the other waterfall and it was as amazing as in the first time! So green, refreshing, beautiful,..

12th Day 

I woke up so tired! I even turned my alarm off and skipped meditation and yoga. I think it was the first time it really hit me. Our trip is over. Five days and we will be back in Europe. I am not sad to go home, it will be great to be with my family and I am so happy to see all friends, two new persons to meet - Eddi and Otto <3 But no more new cities and places to explore, goodbye sea and sun, warmness and heat. Fresh fruits I will miss so much, beautiful flowers and palmtrees.

14th Day
Again I was feeling very lazy in the morning, got up and stared the sunrise. I got very excited when Pablo and Alice told me I would be working in the workshop! Last day and finally some carpentry :) But I cheered too soon, plans changed and I was in the kitchen duty.. This place definitely has some old fashioned rules going on that girls are not allowed in heavy liftings and boys stayes away from kitchen.

Otherwise day was nice. Some snoozing, swimming on the lake, packing, planting some seedlings at Trinitys places and cooking for last meal for all volunteers. Three course meal by Riikka and Rob - pumpkin soup, lentil curry abd bananabread! I must say, our group has been very nice. But why there always has to be one person to ruin everything? Be the selfish one, not helping and participating, not considering others? You come to Sourse Temple where everything is about love and started, be togerher and being mindful for others. And one person goes solo.

This was just the perfect way of ending our trip! Tomorrow morning we will have morning matras before leaving, so will leave as a very happy girlm shiva shiva shiva shambo.. I actually hot some more energy, if I would have more money left I could definitely continue this tripnfew months more :) But now it is time to go home. Face the proper Finnish winter, -35° degrees in Inari the other day!

Finnish connections

Being such a small country (still less than 6milj.), you wouldn't think you would meet so many other fellow travellers. Especially in South-America, ten times the size of Finland and more than half a billion people.. But still, during our one year travel, now and a then Finland has popped its head out :D 

We only met five other Finnish travellers. First finn we met was Niilo in Cabo de la Vela, Colombia. And this was so funny. We talked in English for the first two hours and then when I pulled my bag out which said 'juoksija' he was like 'hitto soikoon, ootko sä suomesta?' :D

Second finn was Tiina in San Gil, Colombia. I thought I heard finnish being talked in the bus but I wasn't sure. Then the next day when we went rafting and I saw her name I was certain she must be from Finland.

In Colombia a town called Sogamosa, had an ice cream place called Jäätelö - Helado.

Bolivia we volunteered in Mikas place, whose mother was Finnish. Mika also told that in Santa Cruz there is a guy who owns a pizzeria who is from Finland. We went to see it but he wasn't there at the moment. Samaipata we met third finn who was working in Santa Cruz.

Puerto Natales in Chile had a hostel called Wild Horse whose owner was from Finland, but she wasn't there when I dropped by. And in Valparaiso we walked pass Wärtsilä office.

In Argentina close to El Chalten was a farm called Estancia Helsingfors. It was little out of our way so I don't know what the connection was. The same in the north, town called Colonia Finlandesa, was out of our route. Argentina also produced lot of cream cheese called Finlandia.

Iguazu Falls we met Finnish Anna with her mother. Later in Ilha do Mel we heard that they had just been the same restaurant as we were, only day before and also in the fortress we went to.

A man who helped us to find right metro in Rio greeted us in finnish 'Tervetuloa Rioon!' His friend worked for Nokia. Later at the Escadeira Sedaron we met two finns.

Cabo de Frio we met Lanetta who worked in diveshop. She was the same girl who had worked in the same diveshop in Colombia we went to!

Source Temple week 1

We found HelpX volunteering place near Cunha for two weeks. Source Temple is community about 30 people all over the world. They have all decided to live here in full harmony, filled with love and peace, enjoying working together and doing everyday chores. Main thing is to be mindful for others and live in the moment. Which isn't very hard when everything around us is so beautiful. We have two small lakes to swim after the days work, also Hawaii beach next to the river, yoga-gazebo and community hall. Green hills surrounding us and inviting for walks, and couple waterfalls also.

We are eight volunteers at the moment, we do different things from cooking, gardening (own organic veggies!), building, painting, sawing, landscaping, carpentry,.. Pretty much everything. We have neighmors dogs and horses plus so cute billy (baby goat) named Billy :D 

3rd Day

Monday, our first working day, also Boxing Day. I totally skipped Christmas this year. At any point I haven't felt like Christmas. We came here Saturday morning, before that I called home where everything sounded wonderful, normal, plenty of delicious foods. We had Christmas BBQ here, tons of meat and salad, great fire and river to cool down. Today six people were moving houses so we helped moving the stuff. This place has about 20 houses and our volunteer guesthouse, each house is different and individual.

Later I participated for prayer (it was actually really relaxing) and we swam on the lake, played some yatzy and cards and made dinner. Well I wasn't in the mood for beans so I made Christmas porridge - riisipuuro. Me and Rob walked to the nearby Pimenta waterfalls and it was in three layers, two pools to swim. 

4th Day

Getting up at 4am for voluntary meditation, continued for yoga class at 5am and had a little snooze before breakfast. I was on kitchen duty and I started it with feeding the fish on our two lakes. Do you know how relaxing it was? This whole place is just so wonderful, no hurries and you can take all the time you need to do the job you are given. So I sat down, threw some old bread and watched when the fish came and ate it all. Cooked delicious lunch and took a nap in the hammock. 

6th Day

Morning meditation and yoga, I did them alone because the guided one was too fast for me. Ate breakfast with others, homemade jam and bread! I painted a house for the whole four hours, time went so fast and it was so much fun :) I really enjoyed it. Lunch was amazing also! Just gets better and better, beans and rice (standard) but then always at least three different salads. 

After lunch me, Agostina and Caitlin went riding with Juilmar. And oh my good! The best horse riding ever! We went top of the hill where we had stunning 360° view, so green everywhere :) we continued to the waterfall, crossed two rivers, I was one big smile. And it only got better when we got to the waterfall, we swam behind it! Incredible!! Probably the first time I have swam behind the waterfall. Evening we cook delicious meal from lunch leftovers, pumpkin pancakes and beansteaks. Later Felipe thaught us brazilian game, Truco. But I think this day was the best of all <3 

7th Day

Full week!! Days starts to be pretty rutin like already - meditation, yoga, brekkie, work, lunch, free time, prayer, free time. And I am loving it! :) Could I just stay here? 

Tomorrow is Saturday, no work. Last day of 2016. We have heard rumours that we might have pizza night tomorrow, but there won't be any kind of party. So I might be sleeping when year changes, which I haven't done since I was a kid. Tonight we go see what this village has to offer ;) 

Happy New year for everyone!!