Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened - What did I learn?

I am getting used to wearing shoes, wearing something more than bikinis all day and not getting all the hugs every morning and evening, as well as not having Adrian running amazing yoga classes 6 times a week and therefore doing yoga alone with YouTube every morning. On top of that, dancing on my own is definitely not as fun as with my mamacitas and papis 💗 But what did I learn and reflect on during the 40 days unplanned "retreat" (also known as lockdown)?

But life goes on and so far I’m happy to be home. Many asked me if I would do it again or was it worth it - absolutely, with no hesitation! The people, place and the whole super absurd experience are something that I will always carry with me. The experience kind of reminds me of the times in USA in 2010-11 and I still have many of those people in my life, so I know I won’t forget. I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the things I learned and want to take home with me. Hopefully this text also acts as a reminder for myself in case I get lost in my busy life. 

My happy place (wearing what became like my normal oufit: bikinis and definitely no shoes)

The most important thing: I was happier and more stress-free than ever during the past decade (or more). Thanks to all the time we had and the people around me who inspired me to start daily meditation, I started to reflect on what were then the things that made me unhappy or caused me negative stress. Those were so personal things, that I will not list those here. It was really painful but much needed process. Painful for many reasons: accept how much self-sabotage I keep doing to myself as well as to realize that being happier would also mean letting some people go. 

On the other hand, I also realized who are the most important people for me and those, who give me a lot of energy and make me feel awesome. I hope those people know I'm talking about them 💗 It's also great how these special times reunited me with some of the old friends who got a bit left behind during the past couple of crazy years.

You can't dance with sad face, so go ahead and dance your worries away!

(Video was shot like 2 hours before I left)

The kids really made my days 

Then there were the people. I barely knew everyone's age, nationality and country of residence, and not sure I even knew everyone’s profession. Even the language didn’t matter, we always found a way to communicate :D There I was just Else. I wasn’t defined by any of my accomplishments, degrees or mistakes. There was no pressure to perform or achieve anything. I can tell that after way too many years working and studying in super competitive environments I kind of forgot how that really feels. And it feels amazing.

Love it how guests, volunteers and staff became a one big family, despite the language barriers.
Photo from Andrea's birthday party 

My goodbye brunch with these amazing people 💗

My sister from another mister, can't wait to see what future holds for you

In addition to the mental things, I’m taking some very concrete habits with me: I have been doing at least a short yoga every morning before breakfast. Every day, I take a moment to meditate, even if it was only few minutes. I also found an eating rhythm that works really well for me: intermittent fasting with eating within 8 hours (for me starting from breakfast) and fasting for 16 hours. (Thanks G and Vidas for introducing it to me 😘) I’m not crazy strict with that (not going to skip dinners with friends), but it made me feel so good and energetic that want to keep up with that habit. 

In Minca, I also fell in love with dancing, so I really hope I can continue dancing bachata, salsa and reggaeton. I was super lucky to have an amazing dance teacher Adrian around. I never thought I could dance, so I'm really proud of myself. Click and check what I learned in  around 2 weeks from my bachata video:  

https://www.instagram.com/tv/B_3MD1Vj8nU/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

I’m so thankful for the whole experience and especially for the amazing people it brought to my life. Such a cliché, but it’s impossible to explain the whole experience for someone that wasn’t there. It’s so surreal and absurd to be in lockdown in jungle village with random people in the middle of pandemic, with zero physical contacts to the outside world for 40 days. But now it’s over for me and even though I did cry a lot when packing and leaving, I’m still extremely happy and thankful it happened to me. 

Thank you everyone who was part of this! Muchas gracias a todos <3 

Thank you for reading my blog and all the amazing messages I've received, really means a lot to me. Until the next adventures!

Love,

Else

P.S. Pool train is always a great idea, just because porque no? 😄

I'm coming home, I'm coming home, tell the world that I'm coming home

It took 5 days, 5 take-offs, 5 landings, 6 cities, 4 countries, 23 hours on planes, 16 hours in bus, 10 hours at airports, 2 nights at airport hotels and 1 hour in cars. But I’m home now.

Wearing a mask all times, wiping everything with 70% alcohol, desinfecting hands, trying to keep the distance. I got pretty scared of other people after being completely isolated for 40 days!

The 40^th day of lockdown, the day when it was time for me to go home. After couple of unsuccessful attempts, I received an email from Finnish embassy in Bogota to ask my interest to take an evacuation flight with priority for Nordic country citizens. The embassy would also organize transportation to Bogota, which was the most difficult parts of returning home. As the idea of going home had been growing in my head for some days, I decided to take the flight. It was time to go home.

So much happened and was a lot to take in, therefore it’s a long text this time.

Day 1 - Leaving Minca and bus chase

After morning yoga we had an amazing brunch, thanks to Ivan and Kizzi <3. The original bus pick up time was 12:00, then postponed to 2pm and the same morning to 2:30pm. Around 2pm the hostel owner called the bus driver to check whether they’re on schedule, and of course they weren’t (it’s latin America, duh). So the driver promised to inform when they’re on their way. That extra time led to very spontaneous day party and table dance battle :D

When in Colombia: your bus is late, so what else can you do but dance?

After around 4 postpones by the driver, I suddenly got a call around 5:30pm that the bus is waiting for me in Minca main street. So we left right away, but the road down to the village is super bumpy and takes a while. It felt super weird to drive through the gates and leave the hostel premises for the first time after 40 days. The whole village was totally empty.

Once down there was a roadblock with police and no bus anywhere. We got the information that the bus left already (WTF?!?)  and that hostel owner cannot drive me further. So I had to jump into the taxi, and the driver said we need to chase the bus 😅 So we did, it was pretty wild ride (glad mom didn’t know about it). During the ride I got information about the bus location and that it’s waiting for me down the mountain road.

After finding the bus and disinfecting everything before getting in, the mysteries started to reveal. First of all, I heard that the bus never actually got to Minca. They were stopped halfway up the hill and the driver was fined since the road is too dangerous for such big vehicle. The driver had taken a mototaxi to pick the other girl up from Minca. So the police, saying the bus left, was making up stories.

But in the end I made it to the bus and that’s the most important part.

Way too many red flags, especially around Minca and Santa Marta 😢 

Blocked roads and empty streets throughout the country

Day 2 – Arrival to Bogota

Driving through Colombia was also an emotional experience, not only because of leaving my safe haven, but because of seeing how bad things were in the world outside the hostel gates. Every city and village was like a ghost town, and there were so many red flags along the road – way too many L (red flag = urgent help needed, family has no water/food)

Luckily I had a lot of amazing food that hostel chef Ivan and Kizzi made for me (thank you <3). And of course a bottle of rum, just for sleeping of course. We had a mini rum-night by sharing the rum to couple of bottles and sipping it sophisticatedly from plastic bottles before falling asleep. It really helped, I slept like 6 hours. Why I never discovered rum as sleeping aid before??

Arrival to Bogota was pretty absurd: no people or cars on streets, most shops closed and people actually keeping the 2m distance when lining. I was also not allowed to leave the hotel to buy anything, since it was men’s day (every other day is for men, every other for women, but never for tourists or hotel gets fined). Luckily the receptionist offered to do the groceries for us.

In Bogota I was sleeping a lot, joining Minca yoga class via Zoom and in the evening had one final rum night on hotel’s roof terrace with other Nordic people leaving with the same flight. Was interesting to hear everyone’s lockdown stories.

Rush hour in Bogota, normally it would be packed with cars and people

Day 3 – New kind of airport experience

After chill morning with some yoga, it was finally time to head to the airport (around 1pm). We had to be there 5 hours before the flight. Since the airport was only opened for evacuation flights, the line outside was couple of hundred meters long with people trying to keep some distance. Everyone had to wear a mask. Slowly but steadily we got through the process:

1. Wait, wait and wait outside (luckily with new friends)

2. Scrub your hands with soap and disinfection gel
3. Pass the body temperature scanner

4. Register at your embassy desk  

5. Take elevator upstairs (only 2 people allowed, marked spots on opposite corners)
6. Line for baggage drop (appropriate distances in line was marked on the floor) 

7. Make your alcohol pump bottle explode (at least my backpack was super clean)

8. Line for security check (and realize you still have rum left -> empty the bottle with the help from another Finn. You can always count on your own people.)

9. Be lucky that security check lady didn’t realize I had jar of mangojam with me cause it was hidden under liquids

10. Sit on the floor and wait for boarding on totally stranded airport.
11. Get on the plane and on the window seat (yes!)

Danish-Swedish-Finnish-Colombian team of happy campers at Bogota airport

Bogota El Dorado international airport at 5:30 pm. Scary quiet.

We took off from Bogota, landed to Quito (Ecuador), got some more people in, took off, landed to Quyaquil (Ecuador) for maintenance and fuel stop and finally took off to fly all the way to Europe. Luckily we weren’t allowed to leave the plane during the stops, since the corona situation in Ecuador is the worst in whole South America. After taking off from Quyaquil we finally got food (around 12:30am), was starving!

Day 4 - Stockholm

After couple of movies (finally watched Joker!), some hours of sleep it was time for breakfast – around 4 pm Swedish time :D We landed to Stockholm around 6 pm after nice and easy 18 hours on a plane. I was so dead tired that my plan to sleep at the airport changed really quickly and took a hotel room from Clarion (maybe also because mom said she will pay for it. Moms always know best 💗). 

Hot shower with pressure, all the lotions and products available and princess bed felt like a paradise. Not to mention the BEEF burger I had with couple of beers with my plane neighbors. But then it was time to call it a night and get a good rest in the princess bed before the last day of travelling.

Princess bed in Clarion Arlanda Airport

Thanks Clarion mirror for trying with your slogan, but no one looks great after 18 hours on plane 🙈

My first meal back in Europe

Day 5 – Home sweet home

Only 2 more flights to go! Grabbed a good hotel breakfast and great coffee (with oat milk <3) to go (no buffet because of corona). Due to the empty airport, it took us less than 10 minutes to drop bags and security check. Showing all the documents to prove that I live in Germany took the longest time. Since I couldn’t buy any souvenirs from Colombia, I got a little crazy when finding all the Finnish candies in tax free, especially salmiakki (=Finnish salty licorice). The bags said “share size” – YOU WISH!

Morning rush hour Stockholm airport (8:30 am)

Flight to Frankfurt was fast and smooth, then some chilling at the airport (and trying to hide from people cause some got way too close) and finally last flight to Munich. I was super happy when the closest person was 4 rows away, since I’m a bit scared of people. On the other flight every seat was taken.

"All by myself, I wanna be, all by myself" :D

Munich airport

At 4:10pm I finally landed to Munich. It felt so weird, but also really good to be home. I’m happy to have such amazing friend who not only picked me up from the airport, but also brought me some homemade protein waffles with chocolate, vanilla sauce and blueberries. Thank you Sarah 💚

These waffles definitely made my day

It’s really weird but it felt really good to arrive home. I have my own space, all my own things, own bed – and I can walk around naked with no one bothering (yes, I basically spent the first two days at home naked or bath rope, I knew you wanted to know that 😆). What did I eat first? Cheese, a lot of cheese. I missed it so much that I got humble 10 sorts of cheese to get started. And Augustiner (the best beer ever).

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Reading this, I realized that rum really played an important role in this whole experience 😄 But I guarantee it’s still under control. Exceptional situations just require exceptional methods!

I got to spend 40 amazing days in paradise, surrounded by people I now consider as very close friends, they were my quarantine family after all. I hope it wasn’t goodbye, I hope it was “until next time”. Leaving is never fun, saying goodbye never gets easier. Siembra Hostel will always have a place in my heart as another home, thank you Dylan and the whole staff!

I also wanted to say huge thanks to Finnish embassy in Bogota. They did incredible job, managing to get every single Finnish person, who wanted to leave, back to Finland. Most nationalities didn't have the same opportunities. I am extremely thankful how they made sure I was okay throughout the lockdown and arranged everything for me to get home. 

The next post (and probably last one for now) will be about the things I learned and reflected on during the quarantine. What do I want to keep in my life also after the quarantine? Or what have I realized I should leave out of my life? More about those later!

Love,

Else

Why is the rum gone? 

What do people in poverty and need look like? Just like me and you

The situation in Colombia is getting unbearable for the locals. Thousands of people line up for emergency food and many have hanged a red flag outside their houses -  meaning that they are in need of urgent help with no food or water. Coming from a wealthy country with a well functioning social security system, it's first of all hard to understand the situation and even harder to witness all that threatening the people that you consider as your family here in Minca. It's even harder since I know that I can't help all of them alone. With this post, I want to to raise awareness and maybe trigger someone to donate to the Minca fundraiser. 

Can you tell who is (or might become a person) in need? I can't.

Video shot during the weekly grocery shopping trip in Santa Marta on Tuesday April 21st by Adam Walker (member of my quarantine family).

Imagine the situation: 

Basically everything, like your farm and source of income, was taken away from you during the time of Guerilla violence and later the government gave your family a piece of land to live in and start fresh. You start a family business in tourism industry maybe by driving moto taxis, running a hostel/restaurant, or maybe giving tours for bird watching or cacao farming. You live from hand to mouth, just enough to provide your family, but with no opportunity to save money. 

Then comes coronavirus with at least 1,5-month-long lockdown followed by rumours that the tourism industry might have to remain closed for up to 18 months. You cannot work, meaning no income, leading to no food and water. What would you do?

In Finland I would just contact unemployment office with few clicks and then receive part of my salary as unemployment benefits. The social security system would always support me.  I could use my savings, or in worst case scenario ask my family to help me out. 

But what about the people in coutries like Colombia where no such thing as social security system exists? 

This is what happens to them:

Colombians starve as funds to combat COVID-19 crisis embezzled

As governments struggle to reach all those in need, many have resorted to hanging red rags from their windows to signal they need help. (Read the whole article here)

(If the video doesn't work, click HERE to watch it)

Listen our chef Yainer (26yrs), father of 4, to better understand the situation here in Minca:

(This was really hard for me to listen, since I consider these people as my family. Have been teaching the kids English and to swim, as well as just playing around with these little angels. Truth really hurts.)  

(If the video doesn't work, click HERE to watch it)

Despite the horrible situation, these people around us are truly amazing and always greet me with a smile on their face  - and I really hope it can stay that way. To do something, the local business owners established Minca Covid Relief movement to collect donations to help the families in Minca - classified as poorest level neighborhood in the country. 

Luckily the fundraiser has started very well and it's now releaving the urgent life-threatening needs. Still, to help the community to become more self-sufficient in long run, more help is needed. If you want to help, click here to donate. Every penny counts 🙏

Stay tuned with social media channels:

Facebook: Minca Covid Relief

Instagram: @minca_covid_felief

These little angels just make my day 🥰 But they too will need some help.

Stay safe and have a great day 💚

Love,
Else

Losing control and finding comfort in having a gun aroud, wait WHAT?!?

I don't know what's happening, don't know how long this is going to last, can’t go out, can’t travel, can’t do groceries, can’t eat out, can’t go for a run, can’t see my friends and family... How do I feel about losing control? Or why having a gun at the property gives me comfort while I would be super anxious if there was one in Europe?

This was my 6th cancelled flight in one month, so should be used to these by now. But this one hit me extremely hard. Until this point I had my own flight, but now I'm officially stranded and fully rely on the evacuation flights with no idea when and if they will take place. So this simple notification meant that I had no more control over schedules, transportation or other planning.

l guess most of us are experiencing the feeling of losing control over many things that we never even thought about or knew to appreciate in our daily life. Inspired with these people around me, I have done a lot of self-reflection during these now 26 days in complete lockdown. I also realized how weirdly my mind works when I'm in strange environment with most of the control taken away from me. 

I have no or very little control over:

• Not able to plan anything (it’s kind of cool though)
• Not allowed to leave the hostel properties (don’t really want to go to Colombian prison for breaking the curfew)
• Where to stay (there’s no way I could leave during the lockdown, and most places are closed)
• When and what I eat (couple of options and timeframes for each meal)
• Cannot cook myself
• Who I spend time with 
• Not allowed to do groceries or buy what I want/need (e.g. sunscreen)
• No place to go for a run (normally my way to cope with difficult situations, clear my head and keep it together)
• How long does the lockdown last
• When and how I can go back home (no panic, I'm very comfortable here)

Breakfast (10am) - Lunch (2pm) - Dinner (7pm) create core for the daily structure, and like we learned in Finland: good food, better mood.

I even got upset cause I ran out of oats for my porridge and had to give up on making my own breakfast every now and then (now I have some more, so panic is over). Sounds ridiculous, but that was one of the last “my own things” that I had control over, so in a way that totally makes sense.

It took some time for me to notice how these small and simple things give me a lot of comfort, just because I (unconsciously) have control over the following:

• Daily routines
• Yoga, workouts, other activities
• Working / Studying
• Reading
• Also the mealtimes create important structure (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
• Mindset: trying to think positively and see the bright sides of everything, but also allowing the sad feelings come and go
• Having a clear action plan for basically every possible scenario

Daily yoga and meditation keep me sane by being super important part of my daily structure as well as keeping me physically active. (But the mosquito bites all over legs make me go crazy)

A week ago, we had a meeting to discuss action plans for every possible scenario from someone getting corona symptoms to the situation getting unstable in the area. We got to know that there is for example a gun behind locked doors and people around who are trained to use it. Desperate people with no food and money might do extremely desperate things and since we are in Colombia, where for example the police is not like in Europe, you really need to be aware of safety matters. I’m in the middle of the jungle far from big cities, so the likelihood for something happening is small, but the possibility still exists.

This is where I realized how my mind does very weird things to keep me sane and survive . Back home I’m quite strongly against guns (hunting is an exception) and being around guns makes me very anxious. But this situation is so absurd that after the first shock I actually felt very safe to know that basically no scenario can come as a surprise since there’s an action plan for everything. I feel I have control over one thing. What else could I do? Freak out, pack my backpack and leave during a lockdown? It’s crazy how human mind can really make great things to survive, at least for me, just by accepting the situation and trying to see things in positive light. I guess this is also how all the brainwashing during difficult times work, since people want to believe good things. 

My hide-out and happy place, takes about 20 min walk in and by the river to get there

But all good here, I actually really enjoy the time I have for all the self-reflection, doing meditation, or just lying in a hammock or sitting by the waterfall to watch butterflies (there are A LOT) and how water flows and carries all the leaves and branches. And don’t worry, I’m not swimming in those deep waters with my deepest thoughts all the time. There’s a lot of cocktails, fun and laughter to balance it out. Like our yoga and dance teacher Adrian said: I feel I’ve got a new family and home far away from my home country.

Love,
Else

Sky on fire - The most amazing sunset so far

About my quarantine family and birthday party on Corona Cruises

We are 11 guests, 4 volunteers, ~15 staff members and their kids, coming from 13 different nationalities: Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, Spain, France, Lithuania, UK, Slovakia, Israel, Hungary, Netherlands, Germany and me from Finland. 

My quarantine birthday party with bunch of tourists on Corona Cruises

Fun fact is that basically none of us guests decided to come of stay here, but somehow we all still did. It’s funny to think all the coincidences and small decisions that brought us all here. Maybe we should believe in destiny? 

We have been here now for 3 weeks in a complete lockdown, but it feels like I've known these people for much longer time. We became really close super quickly (latest after the first party :D ) and I love the family-like feeling here, with strongly blurring the lines between staff and guests. Everyone collects their dishes, help picking mangoes and doing other things. We sometimes take turns to act as guest chefs with our amazing kitchen staff (will devote one post later just for the great food here).

Birthday special

One of the most memorable days was of course my birthday on March 25th. I knew that I will be abroad and might celebrate it with some new friends (plan was to be in Medellin), but nothing special. First we our daily morning yoga with a birthday special. And because I love organizing parties, decided to throw a theme party – tourist party on Corona Cruises ship simulator. Loved the effort everyone made for their outfits!

My dream cake 😍

The cocktails here are dangerously good

“Never have I ever” bingo, learning Finnish group dance Letkajenkka and limbo, as well as amazing tacos, tequila shots and my dream come true: a mango cake! Huge thanks for everyone here who made it happen, I had a blast <3

Love,
Else