Mexico

Some of you (Alex from London, Silke from Munich) have asked me about where else we would be going on this trip and for how long, so I am thinking I should update you on what THE BIG TRIP is, how long it is supposed to last and where it will lead us. First of all, the idea to travel the world rose in 2002 when Fredrik and myself saved money for THE BIG TRIP. However, we changed plans and moved to Spain in stead to learn Spanish and to live the Spanish life. We stayed there for a year, finished our intensive Spanish course (5 hours a day during 10 months) and moved on to Mexico with the intention to find a job. We both joined Bovis Lend Lease (International Construction Consultant), in Mexico, Fredrik as HR Manager and I as Project Manager. We spent almost 3 years in Mexico, first in Puebla 4 months, then in Mexico City (or DF as the Mexicans call it). The last 8 months I was sent to Monterrey to build a plant for a German client so we were commuting between Mexico City and Monterrey during that time.

The dream of THE BIG TRIP never vanished and we made new plans to travel the world but this time we would make THE BIG TRIP to our official honey moon. We got married in January, 2007 on Isla Mujeres in Mexico as you might have seen from the earlier photos. So far we have travelled Mexico, Cuba and Guatemala. The plan is to carry on travelling by bus to Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. We plan to be there in March or April. From there we will take a plane possibly to Bogota in Colombia or directly to Ecuador. There we are planing to travel the mainland of Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands and later on Peru and Bolivia. This will probably take until the end of May or beginning of June. Then we will be visiting Europe, first Sweden during June and then Germany during July. If everything goes right, we are planning to celebrate our WEDDING (just the party), a second time, in a more informal way in Germany at my parents house. That will be around mid July (maybe the 14th or the 21st) and it will be out in the garden by the pool (Poolparty). EVERYBODY IS INVITED and more than welcome to celebrate with us. From there we will be carrying on our honey moon (THE BIG TRIP) towards east, visiting some countries in Eastern Europe and taking the Trans-Siberian railway from St Petersbourg over Moscow to Bejing. From then on we have not really defined our travel route. We definitely want to see more of China, we might go to Japan to visit some friends, we most probably will travel further south since the climate suits us better there. A part from travelling, the idea is to find a new job somewhere in Asia. You might think, how challenging since we don´t know the cultures nor the languages they speak there and you are right but we definitly want to give it a try. “Wer nicht wagt, der nicht gewinnt” wie man so schön auf Deutsch sagt or in Englisch “Nothing ventured, nothing gained” or in Swedish "Friskt vågat, hälften vunnet".

So, this is more or less THE BIG TRIP but don´t be suprised if it will turn out differently since we are quite open to changes and if we prefer to go somewhere else we will do so.

Later you will be able to see on this web page how it turns out.

Bye for now!

Sabrina

17 hours of travelling, that was quite exhausting but exciting as well. First we got on a first business class bus (really good standard and not expensive) from San Cristobal to Palenque, taking us 5 hours for 200 km on serpentine roads. We arrived 4 o’clock in the morning and had to wait 2 hours at the busstation before carrying on to Frontera Corozal (the Mexican – Guatemalan border) in a mini van (not to bad, however with very little space for your legs, even for me). Once in Frontera Corozal we took a “lancha” (boat) to Betel, going on the river, Rio Usumacinta, which forms the border between Mexico and Guatemala in that area. After half an hour we arrived in Betel, Guatemala, to take a “Chicken Bus”. That is how they call the buses in Guatemala and to be honest I felt like a chicken, it was hot, tight and smelly. After 4 more hours on the chicken bus and bumpy roads we arrived in Flores, exhausting and happy to finally have arrived. The day after we managed to get up at 3 o’clock in the morning to see the sunrise (with quite some clouds) from the highest tempel (70 m) in Tikal (the most amazing Maya site).

Bye for now!

Sabrina

Hello to all English speaking friends (and all the rest of you who understand and read English)!!!

I think it is about time to write something in English as so far I have only updated my family and friends in Germany, writing in German on this web page.

San Cristóbal de las Casas is worth a visit that is for sure. It is a bit colder than all the other places we have visited so far on our trip (Cuba, Yucatan). During the day it is nice and warm, about 25 °C but at night it gets pretty cold, down to 5 °C. Well, it is not too bad thinking of all the people in Germany and Sweden and elsewhere on the same latitude or even further north. San Cristóbal is a lovely place surrounded by Mayan villages and situated in a beautiful rangy setting with lots of pine trees. We took the opportunity and did a mountain bike trip to a remote indigenous village and a monastery which today is used for “Mayan” rituals. We were not allowed to take any pictures during the trip since the indigenous people believe that if you take a photo of a person, a place or an object energy is taken from them. After our mountain bike tour we allowed ourselves a one hour, whole body massage. Mhhh, we enjoyed that a lot. By the way, the food is great here. They have lots of vegetarian restaurants, just perfect for me. This morning we all (Fredrik, Anna and myself) went jogging. That was not too easy since breathing is much more difficult on this altitude, 2.100 m. Tonight (1-Feb) we will be leaving San Cristóbal heading for Flores (close to Tikal) in Guatemala. You will hear more from me then.

Take care and have fun where ever you are!

Lots of hugs,

Sabrina (Fredrik and Anna)

Man kann wohl ohne weiteres behaupten, dass Xpujil das kleinste Kaff Mexikos ist. Naja, wir waren hier auch nur einen Tag und eigentlich auch nur wegen der sagenhaften Mayastätte, Calakmul. Calakmul soll nach Angaben Lonely Planets (unserem Reiseführer) noch grösser als Tikal (Mayastätte in Guatemala) sein. Die Ruinen wurden zum ersten mal in den 30er Jahren entdeckt und das Ende der Ausgrabungen und Restaurationen ist immer noch nicht absehbar. Das tolle und faszinierende an der Mayastätte ist (ausser den Pyramidenbauten, die man besteigen kann), das sie kaum besucht wird. Wir haben ungefähr 5 weitere Personen an dem Tag gesehen. Die Atmosphäre war recht mystisch.

Ausserdem haben wir noch etliche wilde Fasane gesehen, eine Anzahl an in den Bäumen rumschwingenden Affen und die verschiedensten Vögel. Wir waren alle drei (Anna, Fredrik und ich (Sabrina)) einig, dass der Besuch ein tolles Erlebnis war.

Bis demnächst!!!

Liebe Grüsse,

Sabrina

The big trip started yesterday and we (Fredrik, Anna and myself) are in Cancun, Mexico. Tomorrow we will be off to Cuba for 9 days. We will be staying with a cuban family, so that´ll be very interesting.

Bye for now,

Sabrina