We went on a snorkeling tour one of the days - packed with sun block and frog feet :).






Full of sea lions everywhere, by the island of Espiritu Santo. We were snorkeling among them, really scary! At least the big ones, they were huge. Could easily have eaten me if they had wanted to. The younger ones were playing around a lot, swimming really close.








The whole gang, driver and guide in the middle. Me and the hostel people to the right, and then the nice Mexican family on holidays, finding it necessary to go snorkeling in full make-up and lip gloss. Including eleven year old daughter. But nice, yes. And yes, I also know I'm closing my eyes, point taken.

So, another day (don't know which one, but on vacation you're not supposed to anyway) we went by bus to aother beach, belonging to some resort hotels. Also spotted some cactuses on the way - yes, we're tourists. Had quite enough of them on the road trip later on though. They're everywhere.







This would be the famous Texan guy, being so amazed we could speak both Swedish and American. The USA - center of the world. Nice and funny guy though, on a 'man vacation' far away from the wives in the family.





Enjoyed the sunset at the hotel bar, and then went in to town again - really nice evening!

Strolled around in the streets of La Paz...




El Malecon - the walk along the coast in the city - really beautiful!

We then took a taxi to the nearest beach. The driver totally made us pay too much, even though we tried to bitch about it haha. Guess he figured we were tourists, somehow. Next time we took the bus anyway, way better.

The beach was nice, although kinda crowded with La Paz people, who were all very talkative - so I got to practise my Spanish. :)

We also met an American guy and his Mexican tourist police friend (I know: guide books says to STAY AWAY from Mexican police - but they offered free ride, what to do?).



We went with them to a really really nice beach, more private and a bit further from the city. We stayed there, watched the sunset and had a really..intereseting evening. Conclusion: Mexican police people are weird.

So this is how our trip to La Paz, Baja California Sur, started - amazing views from the plane over Monterrey, the mountains, Sierra Madre.


We started off the vacation with lunch by the sea side - finally water, sand, playa, sea breeze... VACATION !





Comida Mexicana - most of the times meaning tortilla, cheese, and cheese. And a touch of sugar. But also, if you manage to pick the right thing of the menu - it's awesome. Still with tortilla though - can't have a meal without it.

Last weeks pool party at Mario's place.


Sofie, Eliza, Barbara and me.




Christin, me, Luis, Barbara and Eliza by the pool =)

... well, at least back in Monterrey, don't know if I can call it home yet. But it feels good (could be the AC that does it..). Will go to una fiesta tonight, will be picked up at eight.

Will upload photos first thing tomorrow, but I haven't got that many from the roadtrip though, since my battery decided to die on me. But I'll steal some from Barbara :)

Back home means back to my computor and Skype, so I could also talk to Andreas again - finally!! Makes me feel so much better, and not so far away as I am.

Hm, I think it'll actually rain - I heard some thunder. Hope that makes it a bit "colder".

Get back to you tomorrow, I have to fix my nails. :)

Vacation time is over, today we fly back to Monterrey. Feels good in a way though, to know that uni starts next week and that I´ll have things to do.

Think there might be another poolparty tonight, or afternoon. Don´t really know, the mexican way of thinking baout time is a bit strange. We´ll see.

Back from roadtrip!

Barbara was bitten by a pelikan and we put up our tent on a scorpion. But we´re alive! Second night we traded the tent for a huge luxury villa in the hills of San Lucas, the place of a girl we met on the first evening. Woke up to an amazing view of the entire bay with the sun just rising - beautiful!

Will upload pictures when I´m back in Monterrey, the flight is tomorrow morning.

Change of plans again, since we had trouble finding a place to stay in Los Cabos. We´ll head down to the city and see if we can rent a acar for the last days here, do a small roadtrip around the edge of Baja :)

... is a phone call ... =)

THe boat tour yesterday was a lt of fun! We got to swim and snorkel with sea lions!! Which, yes, was really scary - the big ones are HUGE. And according to the driver could also be a bit territorial and aggressive. GOod to know. But the small ones were swimming around and playing.

Will see if we move from La Paz to Los Cabos, further down Baja California, today. BUt that depends on if we find a place to stay there..

SPent yesterday at another, smaller beach. We met an american guy there, about 45 years old from Texas, who as very impressed by our multi-linguility.. "So you speak Swedish, American, Spanish.."  Interesting guy, really funny.

Also found out that aparently you can eat pig nipple, Barbara did that in Australia. I´m so jealous.

The plan of the day is to go out on a boat snorkeling trip, if there is place for us, since we haven´t booked or anything.

Soo vacation started today - weçve been to the beach almost since we arrived here in La Paz. At the moment it´s just 35 degrees, yesterday it was apparently 45. That´s nice.

Btw. If you´re on a suicide mission - just get in a car in Mexico. I get the close to death experiences all the time. That´s also nice.

Wont update so much while here, but when I get back I´ll post all the pictures, of the pool party before we left Monterrey, of La Paz, and the really nice beach we went to today to watch the sunset :)

Hasta la vista.

We booked flight tickets to La Paz today, me, Sofie and Barbara. Meaning vacation, playa, ocean... It's on Baja California, the half island thing in the west, and we leave on Thursday. Can't wait!

Now we're headed to the pool we found by campus, some 30 pesos well spent I would say..

... is annoying. Have to go there today to try to get my number working.

And the cochroach is still there.

... is annoying. Have to go there today to try to get my number working.

And the cochroach is still there.

So Woodstock - really really really cool bar, maybe 20 minutes outside of Monterrey, with live music with all the best from 60s to... I could say 90s, but since I know nothing of music I'll just let it be. It was cool anyway, with guitarres decorating every possible space, monuments to the Beatles, Queen, blabla other legends I don't know the names of .. :)

This day has really flown away. We left the hostel at noon, really nice place btw - so if you come her I would recommend it : La Casa del Barrio. And really nice owner =)



José Juan - hostel owner.

After getting keys and contracts and everything we met up with Barbara and went to....


We spent over two hours in there, for sure, shopping for necessities. All I need to do now is make my room livable, I think I'll buy a plant or something. Will do tomorrow.

As for wildlife. There are two golden retrievers living in the garden of the house, to which I have my view. There is a dead cochroach in the bathroom, which I hope is magically removed til I want to use the shower. And also that it has no cousins. There was arat running over my feet upstairs. The others had never seen any rats before, so lets hope its a lone wolf or something like it.

Good morning world! So today me and Sofie move from the hostel to the house near Tec. Have to pack everything again somehow, crazily spread out everywhere at the moment. Later on today I think we'll meet up with Barbara to go to Wall-Mart. Well, I've never been there before so I'm aloud to think it's super cool :P

Would not like to be lactose intolerant in this country (sorry Andreas) - there's cheese practically everywhere. Just thought you should know :P.

And Juan! Apparently I have no accent whatsoever on my Spanish - ha, didn't I tell you I'm amazing :P

Just came back from this bar where they showed Mexico-Haiti soccer -  and of course, Mexico won. Have to be a bit patriotic on their behalf, don't I? Went there with Sofie, Kristina, Lisa, and the hostel manager and his friend. Really nice. And I think I can now oficially say I've learned how to drink beer. This demands some applouses, just so you know.

We'll soon be off to a bar place called Woodstock, apparently really cool, some 30 minutes away by car. Will bring you photo evidence later on.


Sergio, Kristina, Lisa, José Juan, me and Sofie =)

Today me, Sofie and the Canadian we met at the hostel, Barbara went to this artificial river thing in the city. We went on a boat tour on it to this huge park.



Barbara and Sofie.




Riverwalk. And a big fountain thing that the guide said alot about but that I can't remember (--> didn't understand). The Sierra Madre mountains in the background.


Sofie and me trying to cool down a bit...

Afterwards we had dinner with Barbara's cousin and her boyfriend and another friend. Really nice, and probabaly we'll go out later tonight :)

So our first day, yesterday I think.. getting a bit lost with the days here.. we spent going to the campus, the Tec. It's huge, and it took quite a while to figure out how to get to the International Office place. Genina, the person who seemed responsible for the exchange poeple, was really nice and helped us getting in touch with someone who rented rooms. So a bit later we could go there and be shown the place, and we decided to both move there. So I changed my plans baout the place I was originally going to, since it then seemed too expensive compared to all other places.

So on Monday we'll move from the hostal to the house. I'll also have to fix the phone thing then. I have got a Mexican sim card and number, but apparently it doesn't work yet since it's not registered. It's some new law to fight the drug mafia, so everyone has to register, and I'm guessing it'll be nicely complicated since I'm not Mexican. But that's the problems of Monday.

So finally some updates then.

The flight here went fine, although the plane to Atlanta was over an hour late, which made us miss the connection to Monterrey. Nic flight though, with Coca Cola sponsored drinks all the time =). When we got to Atlanta we had to go through security, which seemed to be a science of its own. Yes, that took a while, with finger prints, photos and randomly weird questions.

We then had to rebook our flight, and found out that we had to get on a flight that left in 10 minutes. And if we didn't catch that one we would have to fly to Boston, I think, and then wait there til the morning to fly to Monterrey. Not the favourite option, so we then had to run all through the airport, carrying bags and gasping for air. Pretty sight I assume, particularly when we ran past what seemed to be the entire American military on the way. But we made it!

When we got to Monterrey in the middle of the night it was still really warm, 30 degrees or so, and we had a lot to carry. But we took a taxi in to the city and to the hostel, Casa del Barrio, where we were met by really nice people.

Ok some pics, will have to do more later. First shows the view from one of the university buildings, the mountains around the city are super cool. Second would be part of the hostel.

We joined a Canadian exchange student to some techno party yesterday night - really fun going out, it's been a while :) Probably still tired from jetlag/heat though.

Ok, write later :)

So... my adapter doesn't work, so my computor will die pretty soon. But I'll write more once that's fixed. Got a new place to live also, cheaper and closer to school, but a bit less comfortable. Will see :)

Anyway, will update better later.

... I'm melting...

It is seriously warm here, think it was over 30 degrees even when we got here yesterday night. So first mission today: SHOWER! After that we'll be off to explore the city, and try to find campus.

Btw. American security. Massive. Note: it is prohibited to, in the aircraft, form groups of three people or more. Should this occur you will be asked to return to your seats immediately.

... or two. I can lift it, really. For about 2 seconds.

Suitcase packed and done at 22 kg. Which, I have to say, is an amazing half kilo less than what is allowed. And the backpack is only ten kg. Had to leave some things behind though, but still, awesomly efficient, if you ask me. Only problem now would be how I'm supposed to carry it all. Plus computor bag and hand luggage. Guess I will notice tomorrow.

Last day at home then.. Feels like I still have a million things to do, which I do. Have to do the packing now, and weigh it. Dad borrowed a scale from the neighbours, don't want to pay for overweight.

Then I have to go shopping for grandma, figure out all the important phone numbers and stuff I might need, panicate, panicate, panicate.

And then it's Harry Potter! =) Finally!

Perfect summer evening yesterday, dinner was really nice. Then ended the night with some wine and "The Full Monty" :)

So ok, packing is on. And I never realised how much space stuff takes. I just thought I had some clothes and some things, but my suitcase is already full. We'll see how this goes... but I'm now on a break for ..the rest of the day probably, packing is making me tired. Mentally.

Will now spend some time with Oprah :)

Really nice BBQ yesterday, although we'll now have to eat potatoes til the day we die.







Food a la Andersson. Lucky he ate before...

Mm, am scrutinizing (that's a word, right?) my wardrobe. It's hard to know what to bring and what not to bring. And for the stuff I don't bring - should I simply throw stuff away, or should I save...? Ahh.... all I want is to go shopping! But I doubt that would help in this case. Have to look forward to shopping a la Mexico..

BBQ tonight then. Or something like it if the rain continues.

Ok, have to do the packig thing today, even though it's really boring. When I moved from Uppsala it took me days, mostly because I had to take breaks every ten minutes due to mental exhaustion.

Another important thing on the agenda today: lördagsgodis!! Best day of the week :)

Really, what happened to the summer..? At least it's not pouring down anymore, but still.

Had fika with Astrid and Karro today, really nice seeing them again, been a while.. as usual with people nowadays. And now it'll be another year til next time I guess.

Think I'll start packing a bit tomorrow, so Emma, expect a call... Am looking forward to it on the one hand, but on the other I really hate packing. It's just energytaking, especially now when it feels so final and important. Have to find a scale to weigh it on too, but that's a later problem.

Ahh my legs ... they hurt. Träningsvärk! Or, according to dictionary; delayed onset muscle soreness. Amazing how you learn new things every day, isn't it?

Bread is now done, looks awesome, to compliment myself. Final test tomorrow to see if they're edible.

Yes, that's me. Am baking bread, a la Leila. Will see how things turn out.

Just have to brag a bit about my incredibly active yesterday;

went jogging around the channel, Göta that is, and I didn't walk once! All the way to Treöresbron. Amazing. Especially since the last time I did that was sometimes in the gymnasium. Can feel it today though, my legs hurt. Så går det.

My new computor skin thing. Shopping - happiness.

Emelie and Andreas in holes...



The mansion of Alfred Nobel...




...and Nobel himself...

Basic fact: everything above Uppsala is considered as Norrland. Everything above Östergötland til Uppsala must then be LillNorrland.

Had a really nice time with Emelie. And now I finally got to meet the famous Tilda, cutest cat ever (after the Prince of course). We've spent the day sightseeing Karlskoga, which maybe isn't the largest city in the world, but still. It was anyway really nice at the Nobel museum, previous home of Alfred Nobel. The guide/actor guy was really good!

Yesterday we was going to BBQ, but due to the worst thunderstorm ever that didn't happen. But it was cozy anyhow, except for when the lightning nearly hit us.. that was just scary.

Will now enjoy my 'lördagsgodis' :)

Livet är hårt ibland. Just said goodbye to Lovisa, älskade systeryster, who went back home to Skåneland today. Hopefully I'll see her again, in Mexico,.. otherwise it wont be until next summer! It's starting to feel a bit more real now, the whole moving away thing.. However, we did have an awesome allsång-in-the-car-bad-careoke-version-goodbye :)

Ended the evening in Varamon. It was beautiful, with warm, soft water, sunset, calmness.

The entire amazing Ekholm family: pappa, Pelle Prins, söstra mi, mamma, and me.

Had a nice BBQ with the family yesterday, a lot of fun. And it was nice to see Kicki again.

Will soon be going to Övralid with Andreas, Lovisa and grandma for some fika, and sightseeing. But I think sis managed to convince grandma that there's no need for us to go inside the Heidenstam house with the guides.. been there, seen that, and the guides were, as I remember it, booring. But fika is always nice, and it's really warm and sunny today too.

Will go to Varamon or so later, hoping the water is a bit warmer there now. And have to get in touch with Jessie, not easy to know when she's online. How many hours difference is there to China?