Life's a Beach!

Adios Cozumel, Hola Cancun!

After four days on lovely Cozumel, I and my BFF arrived Cancun, our final destination of our trip.

Cozumel gave us a whole bunch of unforgettable memories and we met people we will never forget. If someone forced me to pick my three favorite things about our visit to Cozumel it would be: Diving the Palancar Reef, Diego and Eric's family and fantastic food! If you ask me to rank amongst the three, I will have to refuse!

As you might know, we received our PADI Open Water Diving certificates just last week. Two days ago we did our first dive as certified divers. We booked a two-tank dive with the Deep Blue Dive Shop and we found ourselves missing our beloved Dive Master from Tulum. But brave as only unknowledgable can be, we braced ourselves and made our deepest dive to date, with a new Dive Master and a  new dive group. It was absolutely amazing! Aldo, the Dive Master, was reassuring and calm. Our dive group was made up of the two of us, Mike and Rose from Denver and a Canadian. The Dive Shop receptionist, Ricardo, also joined us and added a big smile to the whole experience. We loved every second of it! We still have a lot to learn, but we are starting to understand why people who love diving, love diving!

We were lucky to have such a great experience when diving, but the great experience of Cozumel would not have been possible without Eric, Diego and their family.

Let me introduce Eric. He is a young adult who is still at school, but during his spare time (read school breaks) he works as a receptionist at the hotel where we stayed from 8am to 3 pm, and later at night he works at his family restaurant from 7 pm to 11 pm. It was such a pleasure to see his big smile every morning and he was ever so helpful with absolutely EVERYTHING. No task was too big och too small.

Eric's father, Diego, ran a family restaurant just a block from the hotel. Calling it a restaurant is a slight exaggeration, it's more like a food cart, some plastic furnitures under a plastic tarp ceiling. Diego and family was just as lovely as their son. And they were also ever so helpful and service minded. They made us feel so welcomed, it was difficult to say good bye after our four day stay.

This brings me to the third thing I mentioned, the food! I love good food! Good food can made any day a better day. And if good food is combined with dirt cheap prices, I am in heaven! Diego's family restaurant served the freshed fish and shrimp tacos I have ever encountered. The cost of three hearty tacos was 45 pesos! If you had the pork or beef taco, it would only cost you 36 pesos! Insane! We ate at Diego's everyday except one. I have missed his food at every meal ever since!

While on the subject, I should mention another fish and seafood restaurant on Cozumel. Pricier, but heavenly good was "La Perlita" restaurant. Our hotel manager sent us there for our Christmas Day dinner and  Oh Boy, was it worth every single pesos! I had the best octopus of my life!

I could go on and on about Cozumel, but it's time to leave that island behind, not only physically, but emotionally. We are now in Cancun and about the celebrate New Year's Eve in a few days. Who knows what new adventures await us. The only thing we do know, is that we will fly back to San Francisco from Cozumel on Jan 2nd and hopefully we will have enough time to swing by Diego's for our final meal in Mexico.

Crowded seas

The ocean is vast. Too vast to comprehend. But now I know it can be crowded, too crowded to explain.

Theres and I did our last dive with our Dive Master yesterday. It was us and a Mexican family made up of a father, a teenaged daughter and a teenaged son. The sea was pretty rough, but calm enough to venture out to the coral reef outside Tulum.

All is well until we are realize there is some logistical problems. First of all, the currents were surprisingly strong, secondly, my eqipment was too big and thirdly, three of us (me included) were VERY interested in swimming right behind the dive master. Theres soon realizes that three of us were fighting for the same spot and decided to take a step back. She's very clever. I, on the other hand, am willing to fight for what I want. If you've read my previous blog posts, this should come as no surprise. However, the teenaged son is more than willing to give me a fight for my money. The result is as expected, we were like two swimming bumper-cars throughout both dives (45 min each).

So, we did a two tank dive. Between dives we change tanks, but also got ourselves to a new location. I started to feel a bit seasick, but stupid as I am, I pretended everything was fine. Everyone else looked fine and I didn't want to create a scen. After a while, Theres asks me how I'm doing and I fess up. Appearently I'm not the only one feeling the force of the ocean. She's not doing too hot either but even worse, the father and the son are turning green.

The dive master realizes we were all about to hurl and hurried us into the water. What a difference it made! Everything felt a 1000 times better and the second dive was great. It was still very crowded and at one point the five of us were like rag-dolls in a tumble dryer. It's a good thing I don't have a issue beeing VERY close to people I don't know.

It happened at least twenty more things I would like to mention, but there is no time and I very much doubt there is any interest. All in all, it was fun, funny and a great experience.

One last note. I can't write about December 23rd without mentioning Theres' birthday. I had the privilage to celebrate my BFF in Mexico with gifts, drinks and awesome food. I hope she had a great birthday, cause her happiness means the world to me.

Sun, sand and diving

Greetings from Mexico! And a special shout-out to fellow divers out there!

A few days ago, I and my BFF, Theres, arrived in sunny Mexico. Our flight landed on a sun-drenched Cozumel and one drink, one ferry and one bus ride later, we arrived in Tulum and eventually made our way to Zamas Hotel. As we walked the sandy path leading down to the reception, we found ourselves in our own slice of heaven. After our last trip to Thailand, we were afraid we would find ourselves disappointed if our accomodation in Mexico would be any less than the perfect bunglow we had last year. But there were no reasons to be afraid. Our beach bungalow in Tulum is AMAZING!

But our accomodation is only one aspect to our vacation. Our diving adventure is another. I didn't even know I wanted to dive until Theres suggested it last year. And where better to do it than Mexico? In the company of a couple from Switzerland and our diving instructor, we have learnt all the basic techniques and slowly, but surely, we're starting to feel comfortable and in control of our diving. I will admit that I was a bit overwhelmed after the first dive but maybe I should not have expected to master the art of diving after 2 hours of diving. This afternoon we'll do our written exam and we still have one open water dive to complete, but after that, we'll have our PADI Open Water Certifications!

The only little mishap is that my camera decided the diving was a bad idea. Before you conclude that I must be stupid to expect otherwise, you should know that I have a waterproof sports camera, recommended to use while diving. I'm not sure what happened, but when I opened the battery compartment a small ocean poured out. I'm pretty sure it's not going to recover from it's diving injury, unlike Theres, who is well on her way to full recovery after a very rough encounter with her diving mask.

Enough said, for now. Why blog about amazing Mexico when I can live it?

Happy Holidays!

A tad too early, some would say. Already too late, according to all retail stores. Just the right time, if you ask me.

I wish you all Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

My birthday was a few days ago and now that that's done, I feel ready to climb onboard the Christmas Express to Santaville. Or to be more precise, I'm soon about to board the Christmas Express flight to Cancun. Unlike last year, I will not be shoveling snow, not be freezing and not be drinking hot beverages by the fireplace. This year I will be diving, suntanning and drinking margaritas in Mexico. I'm replacing the reindeer with a pinata. Instead of a parka I will be wearing a bikini.

The holiday season can be a lot of things. Fun, festive or magical. Unfortunately, too many find it stressful, expensive or lonely. Much of it, I believe, is caused by the assumption that Christmas has to be perfect. The food and decorations need to surpass last year's and should ultimately put Martha Stewart to shame. The gifts need to be the latest/newest/biggest/smallest/coolest thing that has happened since sliced bread. The people around you need to be as many as possible, even if your brother-in-law makes everyone uncomfortable, your cousins haven't spoken to each other all year and your uncle's new girlfriend is a wrench (the brother-in-law, the cousins and the wrench are all hypothetical).

Obviously, there are many who love cooking up a feast, love to find the perfect gift for their loved ones and surrounds themselves with only close family and friends.

Ultimately, I think the Holiday season should be about happiness. Your personal happiness and spreading happiness around you. With this in mind, and heart, I wish you all a Happy Holiday.

Whats goin on..

Saw this video today. It made me sad, but more than anything, it made me angry. What kind of a person are you, if the only way to express your own frustration is through bullying others? What personal background justifies hurting a person over and over again? What is wrong with you if take pleasure in making someone break inside?

I've read the comments people wrote after seeing this video. Many were very encouraging and sympathetic. However, many accused him of being a fake. I don't know what's true or not, and frankly I don't care. This story is not fake, this situation is not make-believe and for every story made public there are hundreds of people suffering in the dark.

My thankful everyday

It's the week after Thanksgiving. With so many things in life to be thankful about, it's almost difficult to know where to begin. Over the weekend I have been contemplating what I should write this post about. What is the one stand out thing that I'm extra thankful for? The answer was right before my eyes, but just as with a pair of clean glasses, I looked straight through them, without realizing that even the most beautiful thing in the world would look like a blur without my glasses.

I'm thankful that I just returned from a trip to Camas and Seattle where I spent time with new and old friends I've met throughout the past decade.
I'm thankful that I started my day by driving my husband to a job that he loves.
I'm thankful that I'm healthy and went to the gym for a morning workout.
I'm thankful that I have great health insurance which enables me to get my allergy shots on Tuesdays.
I'm thankful that I could go grocery shopping for a meal with friends tomorrow.
I'm thankful I get to talk to my parents, regardless of our geographical location.
I'm thankful that I'm just about to email my best friend about our upcoming trip to Mexico.
I'm thankful that I get to spend everyday loving who I choose to love and being loved in return.
I'm thankful that the biggest problem in my life is that I gained a few pounds over Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful that I know what really matters. I'm thankful for my everyday.

Sauna Etiquette

As you may have figured out, I'm Scandinasian. I have roots in Taiwan and Sweden. With other words, I'm not from Finland. One of the consequences of being from elsewhere than Finland, is that I don't have as much authority to write about the culture surrounding saunas. However, I feel prompted to speak up.

Even though saunas are inherently Finish, as a Swede you are exposed to saunas from an early age. Most public swimming pools have a sauna facility, many people have saunas in their homes and many Scandinavians will at some point have made the run to a sauna after a quick dip in a freezing lake or after rolling around naked in snow.

There are "rules" surrounding saunas. At a public swimming pool, usually there will be a sauna for men and one for women. You are expected to change out of your bathing suit, shower and only bring a towel into the sauna. As for your private sauna at home or by the lake, it's pretty much the same rule. Since it's usually for both men and women, you're as naked as you feel comfortable with and you bring a towel.

I like saunas. They are not as easy to find in the US as they are in Sweden. So I was pleasantly surprised to find out that my 24 Hour Fitness have a sauna as well as a steam room. Since they are for both men and women it was obvious that everyone would be wearing their swimming attire. Or so I thought...

First of all, the sauna was packed! Only a minority of people were wearing their bathing suits/trunks. The majority of people came straight from the gym floor. After a work out. All covered in sweat. Still wearing their gym cloths. And still in their sneakers! What?!?

I realize that this might seem totally normal to some people, this might even be the norm in the US. But to me, it was too bizarr. I understand that the whole point of being in a sauna is to sweat and that I shouldn't be bothered by gym sweat, but gym sweat and sauna sweat is not the same thing (don't ask me why). I couldn't even make myself go in.

To my relief, the steam room did live up to my expectations. First of all, it wasn't too packed. Secondly, the dress code was as anticipated. It all made sense and I could finally sit down, lean back and relax.

Until today, when I went back to the steam room. It was packed! And people came straight from the gym floor. After a work out. All covered in sweat. Still wearing their gym cloths. And still in their sneakers! This made no sense at all! I can almost wrap my head around my sauna experience, and that being a cultural difference, but sitting fully clothed in a steam room is not rational. Why would you want to get all of your cloths drenched and why on earth would you want to steam your shoes?

I don't know where I'll go from here. The winter is fast approaching. Maybe I'll just have to do without saunas and steam rooms. But I guess I shouldn't complain. At least I can substitute the sauna with some reliable Californian sun.

Useless activities

An activity can be fun, good, necessary, bad, boring and more. We enjoy an activity or get through an activity because it usually has a purpose. But some activities are just plain useless. Specifically two useless activities have grown beyond being merely useless, they have grown into my pet peeves.

Waiting in line and looking for something lost. I can feel the frustration grow just writing the words!

I understand the purpose of a line. It will eventually get me closer to my goal. But the actual activity of standing in line is useless. It doesn't matter if I have all the time in the world, it is still a source of frustration. My husband tells me that it doesn't matter how frustrated I am, I will not get there any sooner. I find it less frustrating when he's not in line with me...

I might hate the activity, but I never cut in line, in fact, I hate when people do. However, there are some "grey-areas" that allow some wiggle room, if you ask me. One is when they open a new cash register. It is anarchy until a new line has formed. The order in which you joined the other lines has no significance at all. My husband vastly disagrees with me on this. So, I only get away with it when I shop alone or if I'm carrying our merchandise and the wallet.

You can find another "grey-area" at, e.g. amusement parks, where they sometimes have a holding area for the next group of passengers waiting for the ride. What used to be a line is morphed into a group and who knows who's first, second or last? In this situation I'm happy to adjust my position to a more beneficial one. I do have a limit on how big of an advancement I am allowed to make and I try very hard not to take it too far. As I said, I hate when people cut in in line.

The second useless activity is looking for something lost. It's great finding what ever you're looking for, but the time spent leading up to that moment is a total waste of time. This activity is a bit different from waiting in line because it has many layers of frustration.

Firstly, you only realize something is lost when you need it. So there's a time aspect to it. Often when you're looking for something you're in a hurry. Secondly, regardless of if you're in a hurry of not, it prevents you from continuing to do what you set out to do because you can't find the thing you need and until you find it you can't proceed or you need to abandone you initial plan. Thirdly and the most frustrating thing is that you're in the situation because you didn't manage to put the thing where you would easily find it. Unlike waiting in line, this useless activity is self-inflicted. I guess, if you have a family or a pet, you could blame them, but more often than not, it is all your fault.

Who is afraid of whom?

Happy Wedding Anniversary to me and my husband. We've now been married two years. It's been two wonderful years, full of happiness and bliss. This could easily turn into a long, never-ending, tribute to my wonderful husband, but it would just be stating the obvious.

Instead, this will be about delusions and the never-ending journey of self-discovery.

Last year we chose to celebrate our anniversary in Sacramento. It wasn't our first choice, but if you realize too late that your wedding day is the same day as Columbus Day, you'll find that most other places of interest are fully booked.

This year we learnt our lesson. A few months ago we booked a small cabin in Big Sur. We were looking forward to a nice weekend of hiking. What a delusion! We don't hike. The few times we've hiked it's been ok, but not particularly great. We are generally gaming and watching movies kind of people.

Last Friday we arrived at our cabin. It was the sweetest little cabin with a queen bed and a half bath. At least I knew myself well enough to know it wouldn't feel like a vacation if I didn't have at least a half bath in very close proximity.

I had prepared a feast of pork skewers and vegetables and we were both pretty hungry when we arrived. We brought with us a whole bunch of fire wood, but little did we know how long time it would take to turn fire wood into charcoal.

While waiting for the fire to burn out my husband suddenly saw a cat in the dried up river next to our cabin. After a closer look, the cat turned out to be a skunk. And the skunk was well within spraying distance. We slowly back away hoping we wouldn't scare it.

After a loooooong wait for the fire to turn into charcoal, we lost our patience and decided to turn our food into charcoal instead. Surprisingly, cooking pork over open flames turned out to be ok. The food tasted great! I'm not denying that starvation tends to elevate any flavor, but we were full and satisfied.

By this time it was pitch black and we were more than ready to turn in for the night. As we were packing away our food I glanced over into the dried up river, just to make sure there were no animals around. What I saw scared the bejesus out fo me. Four pairs of eyes staring at me. A pack of raccoons! I have never met one before, let alone a pack! I had no idea they were that big! I'll admit I panicked and fled into our cabin. I've heard horror stories about raccoons and I was not prepared to add a story of my own!

Fast forward to the next day. We had breakfast and headed out to Andrew Molera Park. We decided on a 8 mile hike along the coast, up a mountain, through some Redwood forest and back. The sun was shining and the trail was beautiful! However, the climb up the mountain was intensely strenuous at times and I had to question why I thought this was a good idea, when there must be a million other things I rather do.

After finally making it up the mountain I was looking forward to strolling down the mountain, through the beautiful forrest. And it was nice, for about 10 min or so. As we strolled down the trail I suddenly saw a snake crossing our path. Not just any snake, but a rattlesnake. This time I actually didn't panic. I told my husband to stop and back up. I informed him about our situation and we tried to make as much noise as possible and eventually we made our way passed the snake. For the reminder of our hike, I had my eyes pierced on the trail and didn't see much of the view. We saw no more snakes, but we did hear another one further down the trail.

We had planned to hike on Sunday as well, but we were both a bit freaked out by our close encounters with nature. Some people pay good money to enjoy nature and be close to wildlife. We are not those people. I've always thought I can handle most situations and that I'm not particularly squeamish, but I am, I absolutely am.

As we packed our bags on Sunday, we decided to leave Big Sur after breakfast. We were done with hiking. Instead we changed our plans and headed to the Gilroy shopping outlet. In the car we decided, for our next anniversary, we're heading to Napa or Sonoma to drink wine.

Bear with me...

As you might have noticed, I haven't blogged as frequently lately. There are actually plenty of things to write about. Since my last blog post I've been to my first book-club, I've been to a Health and Fitness Expo, I've taken a Segway tour in Golden Gate Park, I've done a Ghost Tour in China Town, I've hiked and I've had my first proper run down a mountain (which turned out to be easy on the lungs, but heavy on the quads and knees). But as of lately, I'm pre-occupied with a much bigger project.

So, I ask you to bear with me. I fully intend to continue blogging as frequently as possible, and if you stick with me, I will soon invite you to join me on one of my life's biggest adventures to date (and no, it does not involve babies).

Thanks for reading!