The End!

So this it. Today is my last day of my journey.

But what did I do in the last weeks?
Well, I spent 2,5 weeks in Paradise in Little Corn Island. I went diving again to a place called "Blowing Rock". It's quite far away from Little Corn, 40 min by boat. I took the camera with me again and managed to take 300 pictures in 2 dives (ca. 1,5 hours). The coolest thing there were the sharks.

I left Little Corn on Friday, June 10th. This was a very interesting experience. I hadn't changed my ticket as I did not know when I would finally leave. So on that day I took the Panga (little boat) to Big Corn and went to the airport. There I wanted to buy a new ticket. But I was told to wait till 8 (in the morning) to see if there is a no-show as the flight is full, so I waited. There was also an american couple with me, they had changed their flight, but nobody at the airport did know about that, and nobody really cared. So I felt a bit stupid that I was so honest and wanted to buy a new ticket.

About 20 min later, a new (and friendly) woman was sitting at the counter, so I tried again  (important: it was NOT 8 yet). I told her that I tried to change my ticket but have no idea if it worked as I had to call the airport again and again. And she told me that changing my ticket would cost me $15... well, that's acceptable. So my ticket was changed and I was on the flight. When we finally got on the plane, it was not even half full...

The plane then made a first stop in Bluefields. There, all the passengers in the back were asked to change their seats and take a seat further in the front. I asked the (very unmotivated) stewardess why... well, because it is necessary. We very quickly found out why. In the last row, a guy with cap, accompanied by 2 police-men was taking his seat. When we left the plane in Managua we could see that he had a towell above his hands -  to mask the handcuffs. So obviously in Nicaragua criminals are transported in normal planes.

I spent one night in Managua and then went on to Playa del Coco in Costa Rica. The beach there is not worth seeing, diving there also is not so much of a big adventure, but I can say now that I dove in the Carribean and in the Pacific. Diving there, I saw some more sharks, this time white-tipped reef sharks. I had a very nice hotel with aircondition, kitchen in the room and swimming-pool and, very important - good working internet. So I stayed quite some time there, enjoying the luxurious life and doing some of the online-trainings required for the training next week.

And then finally, I went to San Jose. And what can I say, I hated it. The city is not very nice, it was raining a lot and the taxi-drivers do not understand adresses, have no idea about numbers and all lie to you. But I had a nice hostel and could manage to book a trip to Tortuguero for the next day.

So the next day I was picked up at my hostel at 6 in the morning to go to Tortuguero. This is a nice little very laid-back village in the Carribean. It is famous for the turtles nesting there. We first went about 4 hours by bus and then 2 more hours by boat. On the way there we already did some wildlife spotting and saw many different monkey, birds and butterflies.

In Tortuguero, we had a local guide showing us the village - that took us approximately 10 minutes, as it is really VERY small. But the beach is nice, although it's very dark sand and the waves are kind of rough. In the evening I did the turtle-tour although it is still not the nesting season. But we were successfull, we saw a sea turtle covering up the eggs and making her way back to the ocean. This was really very impressive and so cool!

The next morning we first had a 2 hours boat-tour in the canals around Tortuguero and then a 1 hour "hike" through the jungle. The hike basically was more like a, come on let's go for a nice walk and the jungle was not jungly at all, but it was nice.

And then it was already time to go back to San Jose again. But I still have to tell you something, the coolest thing that happened in Tortuguero. I stayed at a nice hostel there which also has a restaurant. And there I met Wendy, who was my diving-instructor in Honduras. Right now she is travelling in Costa Rica with her husband. It was so cool to meet her there at this completely remote spot in the middle of nowhere.

Back in San Jose I got the rest of my luggage and went to the bus for Panama. It was supposed to leave at 11 pm but, of course it was late. I slept most of the busride, until we reached the border. That was at 4:30 the next morning. We were told to get out of the bus, the sun was rising and it was cool. When everybody was out of the bus we were informed that the Costa Rican border will open at 6!!! and the Panamanian border at 7!!! So we had to wait there for hours. But okay, the time passed, I left Costa Rica, I entered Panama, I went back in the bus and straight back to sleep until we were almost in Panama City.

To get into Panama City you have to cross la Puenta Americas, a big bridge over the entrance to the canal on the pacific side. And right at the time when we were crossing the bridge, a big container-ship was on its way to the Pacific. Very cool view.

I stayed here in Panama for 4 days and I did quite some sightseeing. On the first day I explored the area around my hostel. It's the banking-area and there are so many sky-skrapers, unbelievable. And I went to Casco Viejo, a somewhat ancient area in Panama. On the second day then I went to the canal to one of the locks and spent 6 hours there watching the ships passing it. This is just so impressive. If you ever come to Panama, you have to watch the canal and the locks.

Today I went on one of the worlds most beautiful trainrides - from Panama City to Colon (the city on the carribean side of the canal). And the ride really is beautiful. At the beginning it is right along the canal - I saw a HUGE ship in the locks, and then it goes along the lakes and through the jungle. It just is wonderful.

And here the adventure stops. I am in my hostel, try to relax a bit, and will soon start packing my backpack again. Tomorrow I will be on planes most of the time and then finally arrive in Chicago.

Let's see if there happens anything worth talking about.

2 Weeks in Paradise...

...and I still don't want to leave.

I arrived on Little Corn Island 2 weeks ago, I am staying in a little cabin directly at the beach and the only things between me and the ocean is 5 meters of beach on 2 palm-trees. The view is just beautiful and the weather is perfect, well - now.

When I arrived here, the weather was picture-postcard like for 3 days... when I was under water most of the time doing my Advanced Open Water Certificate. And then it started to rain. We wanted to do a Night-Dive on Sunday, but had to postpone it to Monday, due to bad weather (rain and storm), on Monday, we had to postpone it to Tuesday, and then to Wednesday, because the weather did not get better (it was even "cold" some time, the clothes wouldn't dry anymore but get damper and damper...) But finally we did the Night-Dive on Wednesday evening. I can say, I am not the biggest fan of Night-Dives. Everything is so dark (obviously), you only see, what your light allows you to see, and there are soo many small fishes and whatever around you, it feels like bugs. But the one thing which will make me do it again and again: Swimming with the stars (less romantically, you could also call it Bioluminsecence). At one point we knelt down in the sand (I still have troubles with that, but lying is okay as well) switched off our lights, waited a bit, and then moved our hands... and the stars came out... and then we just started swimming. There's just no way I can describe this experience, you have to do it yourself, but it feels like swimming through a million stars!

I also had one dive with a camera - underwater photography, this was real fun. I have to get a waterproof case for my own camera! But the coolest thing there... while doing our safety stop, some dolphins came along to say hello... and I can proof it, I have a video! On the same day I went fishing with some locals, they gave me a line, so that I was occupied, and I really caught a fish, which I then had prepared for me for dinner. And to make this day even more perfect, we saw a rainbow, when we were heading back to the island. It was wonderful.

Apart from that, I did not do very much here... in the first week I had a neighbour from Germany, and also 2 swiss girls stayed at Carlito's Place (where I am staying). We had dinner together every evening and also shared some bottles of Rum. I also met Richard, a guy from the US who has been living on this Island for 7 months now, and he wants to stay.

On Saturday he had a little "pig-party". The pig was shipped over from Nicaragua mainland (poor piggy, had to survive a 2 days boat-journey). And then the poor pig was killed, stuffed with vegetables and wrapped in Banana-leaves. This then was put in a hole in the sand in which a fire had beend burning on stones for the last 6 hours so that the stones are really hot. Then everything is covered with some more Banana-leaves and sand and you have to wait for 8 hours. (Apparently, this is a method from Hawaii and Richard read about it in the Internet and wanted to try it).

The result then is a well cooked but not very nicely looking pig and many many locals trying to get their share of it. I was there when the pig came out, but seeing how it then was being massacred, I did not wish to get a part of it... instead I ate som coconut bread, which is really delicious.

On Thursday the sun came back, and since then I am very busy swimming (not too much, I do not want to get exhausted) lying in my hammock and sitting on my porch. And believe me, this can really be exhausting as well. I get up round 6:15 in the morning (why is it so hard to get up this early when you have to go to work) and go on a walk for the beach for about 1 hour. And then I start reading... I am totally relaxed by now, don't care about the internet anymore and (that is the most important thing) finally managed to NOT check my work-e-mails anymore. But I must admit that I am reading "business"-books. I just finished reading "Blink" (nice to read, nice information, but I am not too sure about what the message really is...) Right now I am reading "Emotional Intelligence" and it really is interesting, but as I am not married (yet) the last parts haven't been very helpful for me. This morning I started with the part of emotional intelligence at work... let's see if it brings any new insights.

And I also started working on "The 7 habbits of highly effective people". For the AIESECers among you... NALDS all over again. I just finished the first 3 habbits and will soon start with the 4th one. This really is very intense and makes me think very much about the last 3 years and of course also about the future. But the good thing is, that the past has not been wasted. I am on a very good path to where and who I want to be, although I did not think about it too much in the past (apart from the sessions with my Erfolgs-Team which I now realize, helped me a lot).

The sad thing is, I have to leave Little Corn on Friday... because I still have to go all the way to Panama. But I will go scuba diving again tomorrow (finally my left hand is better, I have some nasty rash there, either it was the attempted murder-attack by the ants, or it is an allergy) and hopefully see some Hammerhead-Sharks and I will be scuba diving in Playa del Coco in Costa Rica (finally going to the beach at the Pacific). Maybe I will also go to the Caribean side in Costa Rica to see some turtles, but I first have to find out if there are turtles to see right now. And then I will head straight to Panama. There, apart from doing some sight-seeing, I (I can't believe it) have to do WORK... I received an e-mail that I am supposed to do 3 complete days of preparation for the training in Chicago... so this will be one of the main tasks in Panama.

So far for now, concerning that there is absolutely nothing happening on Little Corn Island, I had quite an interesting time.

And for those who miss me... I'll be back soon, July 4th is THE Day!