Turn the tide on plastics

When I was travelling in Indonesia early 2001, I was astonished about the enormous amounts of rubbish everywhere. It was like visiting a huge rubbish dump. You could find rubbish on the streets, in train stations, in trains, in National Parcs, in vulcanoes, on the beach, etc., etc. It was so difficult for me to understand why people just threw their rubbish out of the window when travelling by bus, train or boat. It was also impossible to loose track of the paths that I was hiking on as you just needed to follow a trail of trash. Even nature 'lovers' obviously couldn't care less. When I asked people why they didn't keep their trash with them (and throw it in a dustbin), it felt like they didn't understand my question.  It had obviously become such a habit to just throw it everywhere.  When I was lying in bed, I often contemplated about organizing trash collection as my next career move. 

When Anna and I visited Indonesia again in 2008, it had become even worse. When we would go diving, air had to be released from our tanks in order to clear the surface above when surfacing from a dive. It felt like diving in a the sewage. We also visited more remote parts of Indonesia like the Molucas and the Spice Islands. It was however as bad as in the populated areas. When we hiked Devil's mountain (it was 666 m high), I took a plastic bag with me and used it to fill it with trash. It was full rather quickly. When I saw the pictures of Kuta beach (Bali) in the news earlier this week, I was not surprised. The beaches were full with rubbish, despite the fact that local authorities employed 600+ people and 34 trucks to remove 100 tonnes of plastic every day. Whatever they did, every day the beaches were covered by plastic by the incoming tide. 

We have now been traveling some 7 weeks and I still cannot get used to seeing rubbish. Ok, it is not as bad as in Indonesia (the second largest ocean polluter after China) but it still does feel awkward. Even as Costa Rica aims for nature tourism, people do throw away a lot of trash. Panama is a little worse, with Bocas de Toro (like Bali, a tourist hotspot) being the most polluted place that we have visited in Panama so far. Today, I took a picture from a beach in Panama City. Not as bad as Kuta but it gives an impression. 

We as parents, try to set a good example to our girls. We try to limit our consumption, we re-use (we e.g. bought steel straws) where possible, we educate our girls, and we only leave footprints at the places that we visit. We also take a plastic bag with us to collect trash when we go out for hikes in the mountains an on the beaches. It will not 'turn the tide on plastic' but it does feel good to do something about this huge problem.  Like today, when we visited a NP close to Panama City and did a short 60 minutes hike. 

It is great to read about the several initiatives to clean up the oceans and to limit the usage of plastic like the UN initiative to 'Turn the tide on plastic'. So far, 40 countries (CR and Indonesia included) have signed a treaty and committed themselves  to decrease the pollution of plastic to the seas by 70% by 2025. That is quite am ambitious but also necessary goal. The 'Turn the tide on plastic' VO 65, currently competing in the Volvo Ocean Race does great work to bring this issue (oceans being polluted with plastic trash) to the attention of the bigger public. I just hope they win some races to attract an even bigger crowed. 

Hopefully when our kids are big enough to travel by themselves, things might have changed for the better. Our little bags with collected trash will not make a difference but the UN initiative might create the awareness and trigger the action that was missing in 2001 and 2008 and is still missing in 2017. Hopefully 2018 will be a turning point. I might will also give that career contemplation from 2001 another thought......what more can I do! 

T w t t part 2

I always claimed that 3-6 months was the best age to travel with children. No worry about food, they don’t move around and are in general quite happy to just tag along, as long as the parents are closeby. What is it then like to travel with a 6 year old, a 4 year old and a 15 month toddler?

Well...

6 years - as our experiences with 6 year olds travel partners are limited to one it is hard to say what is the age phase and what is the personality. This specific 6 year old however has a quite high energy level and is happy to hike (maximum 2 hours though, and with regular fika intervals), go in museums or just anything that involves interaction and learning opportunities. Nothing beats a swimming pool and a playground though. And the sugar obsession is almost worse than her mother’s.

4 years - likes basically everything the older sister likes, but the energy runs out quicker (”my legs have fallen asleeeeeeeeep”). Have learnt the word ”democracy” - that we decide together how we shall spend the day. Can survive on ketchup alone.

15 months - is still quite happy to be carried around, at least for a while. Then she wants to walk on her own. That takes time... so many things to explore on the ground! As discovering the world can be done absolutely everywhere, and her whole family is around her most of the time she is generelly very happy. And determined.

So, even with these ages it is great to go travelling. At least before 6 pm when all batteries are starting to run out. The girls are amazing door openers, and just playing with local kids at the town square beats most tourist attractions. However, when it comes to enjoying a meal I believe that we need to wait for another 8 years or so...

Travelling with three terrorists

I remember that when we were travelling with a three month old Junia in New Zealand, we got comments about how brave we were on several occations. Now, travelling with three kids (even if they are a bit older), we haven’t had a single comment about bravery, and feel really relaxed in general, even if there of course are more potential dangers here than on Bergsgatan.

1. Traffic - Justus has been a fantastic driver, and the girls have been perfect passengers in their Swedish car seats. When we’ve had a rental car this is. In Panama City we have handed in the car and are travelling by taxi (a constant negotiation of 3-7 dollar/ride, but also great music and conversations.) When Kiara enters a taxi she is transformed to an overactive snake, crawling everywhere, trying all interesting buttons and handles at the door, and usually ends up on the floor where she either tries to wriggle herself to the front or goes treasury hunting. All those one pence coins might make her rich one day.

When being out of the car and trying to cross a road it seams like our girls are carrying some massive VIP signs, as cars always let us pass immediately and are then thanked by queen waves from the ladies. 

2. Health - After Alma’s emergency hospital visit with ear infection the first week the girls have - knock on wood - been well. When their parents’ stomaches have given walkover on several occations they are proudly displaying their sausages to the whole family.

All three have developped serious ”summer knees” which they carry with pride.

3. Scary animals - Even if we have seen both poisonous frogs, a scorpion and a tarentula is the only wildlife that has done us any harm mosquitos. Those blood suckers can sometimes even make us long for the Swedish winter.

4. Criminality - I know that I am naive, but I have not on one occation felt unsafe during this trip. Ok, we are only out during daylight and don’t hang out in the seediest areas, but people are all really friendly, and maybe even more than usually because of the three door openers.

The girls get massive amounts of positive attention, and their Spanish is improving by the day (una leche fria por favor). Travelling with kids in general, and to these countries in particular, can definately be recommended.

Santa Fe - week 6

After our wonderful but rather 'wet' time in Bocas del Toro, we took a plane to Panama City. I was a litlle concerned about the state and quality of the plane but when I saw that it was a old KLM Fokker 50, I was relieved. Always nice to fly in my (and apparently also Quirijn's) favorite Dutch build nostalgic 70s plane. 

Our girls usually behave quite well in planes but this time, it was not our passenger' s flight. Kiara really didn't want to sleep and she would not allow her fellow passengers to have a short nap either. Whatever we tried, she made noise.  When we embarked the plane, Alma had also decided to go out ' in style', meaning in her own pace and with a big backpack, hence blocking the entire pathway for the remaining passengers. Especially a 'scooter look-a-like' was not amused, telling me to "take care of my kids". Sure, you just "jump all over the world". 

Anyway, when we arrived at the appartment, we were all astonished about the sheer size of Pamama City. It more looked like Hong Kong or New York with all the skyscrapers. The next day, after one night in yet another great apartment, we decided to stay a few days longer to get some big city vibes. We returned the car and did some typical big city things like visiting a mall, go to the theater ('Congelada - Frozen'), eat good food, look for the best roof top bar (rather disappointing, we ended up on the13th floor of the Trump Tower, which we refused of course), visted parcs and played in playgrounds. Wonderful after having been in the jungle and on the beach the last 5 weeks. 

Getting out of the city was rather stressful. Driving a car in Costa Rica was OK but navigating our way of this huge and chaotic Central American city was of another order. We managed (WAZE is so amazing!!) and we arrived on the 3-lane Interamericana, where it became 'business as usual' again. The road up to Santa Fe passed through wonderful scenery and apart from some potholes, was in a very good state. It is such a wonderful country Panama!

The home exchange location was once again a 'picture perfect' mountain chalet. Too bad that the hot water boiler didn't work though when we arrived, and not when we left 4 nights later either. The host warned us several times for the deadly snakes that were roaming the area but he didn't tell us about the army ant nest in the cupboard. So when I took a blanket from a shelf I was directly attacked by those bloody creatures. Believe me, a bite really hurts and I was bleeding where they had bitten me. Amazing that such a little creature has such strong jaws. The vacuum cleaner became very handy and I played matador with the whole nest. After an hour or so, the whole room was spotlessly clean and Junia and Alma agred to sleep in the room again. Welcome in Santa Fe!

Although Santa Fe is all about hiking, we took it rather easy. One afternoon, we for example just sat and played with the local kids at the central bus stop. Our girls ("gringitas") where a nice attraction to the local youth with their blond hair. Another day, we visted a local organic farm and got a tour around the house. Yet another day, I was sick and the rest of the family did some homework, played games and looked at movies. Perfectly chill! 

One of the things I was rather happy about was the fact that Santa Fe was still rather clean. It was not so heavily polluted as Bocas. Locals obviously appreciated their own environment and didn't throw their trash just about everywhere. When we left Santa Fe, we felt good about our visist. We also felt good about the fact that we had shortened it with a few days. 

The ant nest in the cupboard (do mind the eggs.....rather disgusting)

Hanging around with the local kids

"Daddy, there is a spider". "Sure Alma, just keeping on walking". "WTF!!!"

'Brugguhloop'

Dinner 'Fam Vandermeer-style'

Beatiful scenery (roadtrip worthy if you have patience)

"Feliz Navidad"

Bocas del Toro

Sorry about the back log in blogging, but here comes an update about our first stop in Panama, the archipelago Bocas del Toro. Unfortunately we had rain every day here, but I didn’t mind too much as I wouldn’t burn that way.

In Bocas we took water taxis to explore different islands (the girls loved the roller coaster rides), Justus went snorkling with Alma and Junia (Alma has practised her skills in different pools and is a great snorkeler. Her favourite fish was the ”råttfisk” (rocka)) and I even had a night out with our neighbour! (A Panamanian living in Helsingborg.) Her daughters also inherited Junia and Alma’s boogie boards, as we had already by far exceeded the luggage limit on the small Air Panama plane that was going to take us to Panama City. 

Typical Bocas architecture 

Life jackets for children... not really.

Photos

Alma picking carambole

Natural facepainting

Making chocolate from scratch

Punta Uva

Walking over to Panama

Last week in Costa Rica

Our last week in Costa Rica we spent in my possibly favourite part of the country, the south west corner where they mix coconut milk with their rice and beans. 

In this Chiquita part of the country it was quite an impressive drive down, not only bananas, bananas, bananas, but also containers, containerns, containers, like a giant had been playing with building blocks. Impressive. Reading about the United Fruit history and the conditions for the plantation workers is rather depressing though.

We had some great hiking in Cahuita national park, where a big group of howlermonkeys passed above our heads and some good beach time (but these waves were a bit more hard core than those in Tamarindo). All three girls have gone from having a certain respect for even small waves to being totally fearless. Kiara needs to be punktmarkerad to say the least. Another highlight was a tour in an indiginous tribe, where we learnt how to make chocolate (our guide claimed that mixing it with milk was a big no-no), and learnt about their culture. Justus and I found it really interesting, the girls mainly liked the face painting and all the hands on experiences.

I wonder how this trip influences the girls, as at least Junia, maybe also Alma, will remember parts of it. It is fantastic to be able to spend so much time together, but the fights are also rather frequent, and even if the girls often play great together, they also miss their friends a fair bit. Kiara really likes to have both her sisters and parents around (even if she is extremely mum-ish now, wonder how the kindergarden start will go...)

Tamagringo

After our wonderful time in Dominicalito we headed north to visit the beach town Tamarindo - or “Tamagringo” as the locals call it. The apartment was this time located in the middle of the village, right at the ‘heart of all the action’. When we unloaded the car, we directly noticed the smell of the herby substance we are so used to when visiting Amsterdam. It also came with the American accent.  Yes, after a long seven hours drive (including two breaks) we had finally arrived. 

Although being housed in the middle of the centre, we could still hear the howler monkeys every morning. It was either them (the monkeys) or Kiara who was waking us up. Kiara makes it btw a habit to wake up between 05:15 and 05:45 every morning so not much nightlife for us in this nice but not too crowded beach town. 

The main attraction in Tamarindo is obviously its wonderful beach. In Dominicalito, the waves were a little too high for save swimming but here in Tamarindo, they were just perfect. One of the first times that we were swimming, Alma and Junia got to borrow a boogie board from two American girls. As they both hit the waves quite perfectly, they were sold right away and they wanted to have their own board. One of the many surf shops in town had a nice pair of second hand, though slightly damaged boards for sale. The local grocery store sold some duck tape and together they made the perfect boards. I am sure Håkan would have been very proud of me. 

The rest of our time in Tamarindo was mostly spend at the beach and in the water. Going there in the morning around 08:30 and leaving again around 11:00. Lunch between 11:30 - 13:00. Siesta between 13:00 and 15:00 and back again shortly after that. The sun went down around 17:30 so that was also the time for us to go home. Not the typical Anna and Justus style of spending our time but we really enjoyed it. 

One thing that really annoys and worries us is the fact that that there is so much rubbish in the water and on the beach. And this is Costa Rica, one of the more environmental conscious countries and it is that bad already. It is sad and worrying at the same time, especially as it seems to get worse every year. 

To make the girls more environmental conscious, we often go out (with a “bolsa de plastico”) and clean parts of the beach. It is amazing what you actually find but cans of beer, plastic straws and bottle tops are the most frequent findings. It makes a good family activity and it is educational and rewarding at the same time.

Today (In Puerto Viejo), I was even offered a beer (by an astonished local family) when I was cleaning the beach. I kindly rejected the offer, asked them to take their trash with them and left them wondering about my priorities. A ‘gringo’ cleaning up their beach will certainly make a great story on their next birthday party. As long as it ‘spreads the word’ and that they take their trash with them, I am all fine with that. We might have even inspired them, and all the other families on the beach that day. Lets just hope so because something really needs to be done. 

The food in Tamarindo was quite varied. From typical American (and delicious!!) burgers, very healthy vegan stuff to the usual rice and beans. Our local favorite was the ‘surf shack’ were they sold the best burgers and milkshakes. The owner coincidentally lived in the same apartment building and also had young children. She also knew a god nanny so Anna and I got to go out and had dinner without the kids. It goes without saying that we truly enjoyed that opportunity, albeit the food not being that good. We had higher expectations. The cocktails were awesome though. 

Food

The typical food in Costa Rica is rice and beans. A la breakfast they are mixed, together with some onion, pepper and coriander, and called "gallo pinto". The painted rooster, as the literal translation is, is served with sour cream, scrambled eggs and fried plantains if you are lucky. A la lunch the rice and beans are instead served separate and called casado (meaning married, even if they now are divorced on the plate) with meat or fish, and hopefully those sweet, oil dripping plantains again.

Kiara is the one in our family who enjoyes this kind of food the most. She is a massive fan of the black beans which she picks out one by one, and when there is none left she continues with the rice (still the one by one method.) Junia and Alma are unfortunately not that easy to please any longer, and the standard kids menu (fries with fish sticks/ breaded chicken) is altered with plain scrambled eggs. Today they were out of fries where we ate lunch so Alma's mid day meal consisted of two bags of ketchup. 

We usually eat lunch out, and dinner time is 

a) too early b) too chaotic for most restaurants so then we eat at home. I remember Richard Tellstrom (meal reseacher) saying that the average Swedish family had 10 standard dishes they altered between. For families with children the number was down to five. During our last months here we have served 

1. "cheese soup" (broccoli soup with as many vegetables smuggled in as possible, in the mixer in order to make sure not one tiny piece of carrot is visible, and top with cheese)

2. scrambled eggs with a) carrot sticks (Alma), b) boiled carrot sticks (Kiara), c) avocado (Junia)

3. Pasta with tomato sauce (tried to sell it as ketchup sauce as Alma is an extreme rasist when it comes to her pasta - she wants it white.) 

With all that said, we have had some fantastic food this trip. And scrambled eggs, chips and ketchup means both protein, carbs and vegetables, right?

Tamarindo

The set-up of this trip was basically based upon where and when we found home exchanges (5 of them) and for the remaining weeks we booked airbnb. So far we have been really lucky with our home exchanges - amazing homes in brilliant places! 

The week in Domenical we spent in a mansion in the middle of the jungle, where we especially enjoyed the indoor/ outdoor pool, the fantastic view and the wildlife (toucans and monkeys especially). The small place Domenical was about 10 min drive away, a surfers place which was touristy in a good way - meaning great fish tacos and coconut pies, but still a dirt road and not too exploited. Definitely no resorts. We spent our days swimming in waterfalls, checking out the first marine national park in Central America (but no whale spotting season unfortunately) and playing in the pool. One day we also took the 1 hr drive to Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica's smallest and most popular national park. This park is like an open zoo with amazing beaches. The monkeys and raccoons are so used to humans that you sometimes need to chase them away as they approach your bag in search for food. And they are quick... Alma got devastated as her sandwich was left alone on a picnic table for a second, and was found in the top of a tree the next.

Yesterday we said goodbye to this corner of paradise and drove about 5 hours north, to Tamarindo - also known as Tamagringo. Here prices are in dolares instead of colones, and even if it is still a surf place (meaning laid back and great hamburgers) it is also the party and tourist Mekka of Costa Rica. Our home exchange apartment is in the middle of all this, and it was strange to fall asleep to the sound of music instead of the jungle noises last night. I quite like the change that it is possible to pop out and buy ice cream in the evening though. Today we bought two 2nd hand boogie boards so I am quite certain that we'll enjoy this week as well... Just need to find some silvertejp.

Our pool in Dominical

In Manuel Antonio

Alma eating a new sandwich - protecting it well 

Manuel Antonio

Climbing a waterfall

Saving a humming bird who landed in the pool

Dominical

After a fantastic week in Monteverde with beautiful hiking (not so much appreciated by Junia and Alma who required endless story telling and candy bribes in order to walk further than 10 minutes) we yesterday drove about 4 hours and 10 degrees warmer. This second home exchange is just as fantastic as the first, we have swopped our garden agoutis to toucans! 

Alma by the way tried the emergency room in Monteverde (the waiting time was maybe a 1/5 of the waiting time of what we are used to in the emergency room in Stockholm....) and is now on antibiotics due to a double ear infection, Kiara has a mild eye infection, Anna's stomache has checked out twice (but was ok one day in between) and Justus' stomache is ... as Justus' stomache. Junia is very well though!

When looking up from the pool in Dominical...

Evening show at our anfi theatre in Monteverde

Afternoon swim in Dominical

Happy hiker

A friend in our garden in Monteverde...

... where we had great view from the balcony. Here one of our 3 agoutis!

Monteverde garden

Bats in Dominical

Highway with leaf cutting ants

Pura vida!

I can't understand that it took me 15 years to come back to this fantastic country, but better late than never. The month here will be quite different than the 6 months I spent here last time, less barra libre and more playgrounds. After three days the jetlag is beginning to feel bearable (good thing that the girls are so easy to put to bed, they even ask for it, not so good that the whole family is awake at 4 at the latest.)

We spent the first night in an Italian owned airbnb close to the airport (where he had a pool with an inflatable unicorn - total happiness.) Then we drove the next morning the approx. 3 hours up to the cloud forest in Monteverde. Here we have an amazing home exchange, a fantasic huge house, with a former bar including dance floor and disco lamp, amfi theatre as well as outdoor hot tub. Not to forget, a lovely garden with so many birds, kolibris and also our possible new favourite animal, agouti (or beaver, as the girls call it.) When the whole family was relaxing in the hot tub today, we also got company from a little scorpion. He was quickly removed with a cyclope though. Outside of our backyard we have also spotted a tarantula, monkeys and an armadillo. Then the camera fingers were not up to Lucky Luke speed unfortunately. But right now, we just heard some noise outside the door, and it turned out that a coati had moved into our compost garbage.

We will stay here one week, and the Swedish summer climate together with some hiking, fantastic cakes and fresh fruit shakes makes us very sure that this is the best way to spend November!

Lovely air Edelweiss - Kiara even got a bassinet! And she is the first of our daughters who also managed to sleep in one!

First batido

Our balcony...

... Our disco...

... Hot tub...

... and backyard neighbour