Ikke som alle andre – (“Not like everyone else”)

A dedication is in place – Last week one of my favorite artists in the world passed away, only 70 yrs old. He was Norwegian, he was short statured, but nonetheless full of life and definitely one of a kind. Unfortunately I never got to experience him live in concert, but I’ve always loved his music and lyrics, something that with ease has been passed down to Mille. Going down to our summerhouse in Portør Norway, we always listen to his songs. So this next post I will honour him in my own way, coupling some of my favorite song titles of his to our travel experiences. So this to Norways entertainer number 1 (who passed down the offer of being part of Genesis!) – Jahn Teigen – ingen over , ingen ved siden! Its not important to be like everybody else – be yourself, trust yourself, believe in yourself, live your dream, embrace life, it costs a lot but it pays off in the end – the best time of your life is NOW! Lines, wrinkles, bumps and scars are just a signature of a life well lived!

This year we as a family decided to make a huge change in our lives, to do something different and not be like everyone else. We are fortunate to have this opportunity, I am so grateful that Mille and Noah trusted Eriks and my decision of just ripping up the roots from everything safe and well known, and set out together on this adventure of a lifetime. It has given the 4 of us a lot of time to wonder about life, about what is important and not so important and most of all it has given us what most of us do have too little of; quality time together as a family with all its ups and downs. Its not always easy to go against the flow and be different, and its frightening to jump into the unknown! But we are loving every second of this adventure while at the same time missing all our loved ones – friends and family, and especially Sandie – back home. I guess there is a truth to the saying “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”.

“MIL ETTER MIL”(“Mile after mile”) – You might think Costa Rica is a small country, and numberwise it doesn´t supersede Norway with 4,5 million compared to our 6 million. but the stretches of road needed to travel to get from place to place is unbelievable! And the roads vary from rocks and cravices with small roadside restaurants and fruit stands to vast jungle to smooth asphalt for miles and miles either beachside or in the jungle. And if the hotel/airbnb/lodge/guidebook to different sightseeings says you need a 4×4 to get to their location, YOU NEED A 4X4!!!

And how totally in need we were of a 4×4 we were very soon to experience: – going through deep riverbeds on the way to the Montezuma waterfall. – going over the long and unbelievable dirtroadstretch from Hotel Leyenda in Puerto Carrillo to Santa Theresa. – going up the road to the zip lines in Arenal – and last but not least; getting up the Kitzbuehl-steep road to the stunning airbnb house “Morpho” we are renting in Uvita(to put it this way: today we have made a shopping list the length of my arm so we don’t need to go down and up the road again the next 9 days…).

Pictures of steep hills and plunging mountainsides that drop off the side of the road don’t really show in pictures, but even so I had to take the pictures to remember myself. As you can see some of the dirt roads are more orange/red, and in the rainy season this turns in to mud, and the cars just slide around, and you apparently have the same effect as water-planing on the mud… Thank goodness we are here in dry-season and therefore have not had the doubted pleasure of experiencing that! And in addition the riverbeds aren’t as deep now as in rainy season….And if I tell you they drive with bikes as well as American sized trucks on these roads, and these actually try to bypass each other uphill or downhill or around beds with the dust flying and blocking the view, you’ll probably think Im just exaggerating to make the story better, but in fact I’m just stating a fact. Thank goodness the passenger side of our car doesn’t have an extra break-pedal, because it would definitely be used super frequently (I do break all the time, but there is only the car floor to push)- and probably not only when needed- to Eriks huge annoyance!

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OPTIMIST, jeg vet det går bra til sist – back to the story about the rental-car… well, as we now know (and are utterly grateful for), Europcar Mexico finally did realize the knickers-in-twist we were stuck in at our arrival at Playa Negra, Santa Cruz, Guancaste with the wrong car, a Suzuki Ertiga (7 seater W/ 1 L engine and low set wheels), helped us! It took quite a lot of desperate emails/whatsapp msg / Skype-calls to fix it, but the result is that we LOVE our brand new Hyunday Tucson, bright white colour, with A/C an actual 4WD and easy connection with smartphone so that we can use Waze (the google map equivalent used here)! They even threw in a roof rack for Eriks surfboard and an extra week of use due to the inconvenience! What a lucky gang we are! Så lenge jeg lever her, er jeg en OPTIMIST!

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ADIEU…