wonderwhattherestoftheworldisdoin'

Society

2010-10-22T19:23:00.008+02:00

Oh it's a mystery to me.

We have a greed, with which we have agreed

and you think you have to want more than you need

until you have it all, you won't be free.

Society, you're a crazy breed.

I hope you're not lonely, without me.

When you want more than you have, you think you need

and when you think more then you want, your thoughts begin to bleed.

I think I need a bigger place

cause when you have more than you think, you need more space.

Society, you're a crazy breed.

I hope you're not lonely, without me.

Society, crazy indeed

I hope you're not lonely, without me.

There's those thinkin' more or less, less is more,

but if less is more, how you keepin' score?

It means every point you make, your level drops.

Kinda like you're startin' from the top

and you can't do that.

Society, you're a crazy breed.

I hope you're not lonely, without me.

Society, crazy indeed

I hope you're not lonely, without me.

Society, have mercy on me.

I hope you're not angry, if I disagree.

Society, crazy indeed

I hope you're not lonely

without me.

- Eddie Vedder -

Back in Amsterdam

2010-03-24T20:33:00.018+01:00

A trip always ends sometime, somewhere. For me it ended March 17th in Amsterdam. The most beautiful city I have ever visited in my life before. I learned that on March 17th. Next week "normal life" starts again, time again to wonderwhattherestoftheworldisdoin'

The W - Torres del Paine

2010-02-14T17:58:00.006+01:00

Inmiddels in El Calafate, de gateway naar een indrukwekkende gletsjer: Perito Moreno. Een van de weinige gletsjers die niet kleiner wordt. Hij groeit elke dag met twee meter, maar krimpt met hetzelfde tempo. Morgen gaan we kijken. Maar eerst het verhaal van onze vijfdaagse hike. Een hele belevenis.

Op dag 1 werden we met een ferryboot afgezet bij het startpunt van de hike. De wind was genadeloos dus iedereen had een wat aarzelend begin. In plukjes trokken de hikers wat onzeker weg van het meer. Eenmaal op gang was het prima en we kregen het al snel warm. We waren op weg naar een gletsjer. Was fantastisch om te zien, een klomp ijs die als een klauw over een meer ligt.

Dag 2 moesten we dezelfde route weer omlaag en daarna nog een lang stuk verder. Ook deze dag lag het zwaartepunt op het einde van de route. Via grote rotsbrokken klauterden we ons een weg omhoog, met naast ons een woeste watermassa die naar beneden denderde en een grote ijsmassa. Eenmaal boven was de camping toch iets anders dan we in gedachten hadden. Wij hadden ons verheugd op een warme douche en een lekker bord eten, maar de camping bleek geen van die faciliteiten te hebben. Je kon er simpelweg alleen je tentje opzetten. Er stond welgeteld nog 1 andere tent, van een groep expeditieklimmers. En wij dus, korte tijd later. Snel een pastaatje opgezet want er hing regen in de lucht. En net na het afwassen, in de waterval/rivier, begon het te regenen. Onze hoop dat het de volgende dag weer droog zou zijn, bleek ijdel...

Om twaalf uur s middags de volgende dag lagen we nog in de tent te wachten tot het zou stoppen met regenen. Uiteindelijk de knoop doorgehakt en de tent opgebroken en in de regen naar beneden gehiked, en verder. Onze derde camping was doorweekt, inclusief alle campinggasten. Laatstgenoemden hadden zich allemaal verzameld in de sobere, door gaskachels verwarmde refugio. Dat is een restaurant slash hostel. Het was bomvol en iedereen probeerde een bordje eten te versieren. Dat bleek nog niet mee te vallen, want ze hadden niet genoeg eten, kregen we een paar keer te horen. Zonder reservering helaas geen maal, was het verhaal. Maar de aanhouder wint, bij het derde personeelslid kregen we (Erik in zijn beste Spaans) het voor elkaar een menuutje te bestellen voor half acht. Naast de strijd om voedsel ging ook de nog heftigere strijd (eerder een veldslag) om een plekje bij een van de twee kachels door. Niet zozeer om er zelf bij te zitten, als wel om je natte spullen er bij in de buurt te krijgen. Natte schoenen, sokken, broeken, lange onderbroeken, truien streden alle om voorrang. Ook die van Vlijm. Mijn spiksplinternieuwe schoentjes en waterdichte jas hadden hun werk goed gedaan, maar Erik had minder geluk. Zijn schoenen en jas waren, na een reis van een half jaar, niet meer zo waterdicht (ergo: doorweekt). Na het smakelijke eten (ballen gehakt met aardappelpuree) de tent opgezet in de hoop dat het binnen nog een beetje droog was. Onze nog droge handdoek kwam goed van pas om een klein plasje water in de binnentent te doen verdwijnen en de nacht verliep verder prima.

De volgende ochtende regende het nog altijd, maar er gloorde hoop aan de horizon. Het werd iets lichter. Rond het middaguur was het zowaar droog en we zetten onze tocht voort, met vrijwel alle kleren weer droog en zelfs Eriks schoenen waren draagbaar geworden. Na een mooie hike in prima weer vlakbij het hoogtepunt van de tour de force, de fameuze torres del paine (naar het gelijknamige park), onze tent opgezet. Het regende weer. Helaas. Maar we hadden nog altijd de hoop dat het op de slotdag miraculeus zou opklaren.... En hoop doet...

Onze gebeden werden gehoord. Tegen zeven uur uit de tent gekropen en ... daar was de zon! Mijn adrenalinepeil steeg tot grote hoogte en ik moedigde Erik aan om toch vooral op te schieten. We moesten omhoog, nu! Het weer kon hier immers elk moment weer omslaan. Dat mocht ons niet overkomen, want eigenlijk hadden de reisgidsen ons bevolen om al om vijf uur op te staan en op weg te gaan naar de enorme rotspartijen. Erik was iets minder uitbundig, met in zijn achterhoofd de hike die ons nog te wachten stond. Een kleine twintig minuten later waren we op weg, in de zon. Erik voorop, volgens vast stramien. (Erik had de voorkeur voorop te lopen.) Halverwege moest ik hem toch voorbij, ik kon me niet meer bedwingen, nu was het immers nog zonnig en we konden het niet laten gebeuren die rotsen te zien verdwijnen achter een partij mist. (Een gedachte die ik inderdaad maar moeilijk los kon laten.) Ik bleef vlak voor Erik lopen en zonder ontbijt, maar met fris gletsjerwater, klommen we het laatste stuk bijna verticaal omhoog. De beloning was ernaar, toen we ons samen over de laatste paar rotsblokken hesen. Onbeschrijfelijk. Met een lach op onze gezicht daalden we naar het diepe dal, waar een bus ons opwachtte.

CF

Enthusiasm, Living Dreams on the Antarctic

2010-01-31T18:26:00.017+01:00

Buenos dias, buenos dias Antarcticos.

I have been enthusiastic in my life a lot of times before. But this, this was beyond limits. For now, I guess there only can be 3 moments more special then this one in the future, my best friends wedding, the love of my life and getting children with her. And yes, I am being somewhat egoistical with these 3 moments. But, although you try hard not to, special moments fade away over time. This moment will take longer then others, my 10 day trip to The White Continent of Antarctica. My nerves and enthusiasm on the day of departure literly made me pee every 15 minutes. A big smile on my face, greeting everyone I passed on the streets with my most friendly ¨Buenas Tardes¨. Still 4 long hours to go before boarding the Ushuaia... Ready to go! On the pier my adrenaline was sky high, even managed to lightly insult some of the many Dutch people standing in line in front of me for boarding. Dolores, who responded to all my emails, while arranging the trip, walked me to my room. They gave me an upgrade as the boat was not fully occupied. My roommate Sander was already there, a Dutchman who more or less welcomed me with typical Dutch candy called drop, a good beginning! What kind of people can you expect for a cruise like this? The average age usually was between 50 and 60 so I expected to be surrounded by a bunch of retired Americans. There were just a few of them, the group was surprisingly enough very young! After a welcome glass of champagne and some instructions we sailed off through the Beagle Channel. We practised the mandatory safety instructions and settled ourselfs onboard. We would soon arrive at the famous Drake Passage. During the navigation the crew offered us very interesting lectures. We were extremely lucky, the weather and wind conditions were very calm. The Drake Passage did not show us where it is famous for, we had a smooth navigation and arrived half a day earlier at the South Shetland Islands then originally planned.

There is sooo much more to tell, but the journey continues. I have to wrap up the days we´ve spent on the Antarctic:

January 21: Aitcho Island.
Our first landing!!! With small zodiacs we cruised to the island, welcomed by an overwhelming smell of the hundreds Adelie and a few Chinstrap penguins. The Chinstrap penguin, my personal favorite, they are so cool!!! Something you get used to during the trip, the penguins and there smell were always present. The weather was exactly what you expect in this part of the world, It was cold and windy and snow covered the deck on the boat. Perfect conditions for a first landing! Well, for some people the waves made it quite difficult to enter and exit the Zodiacs. As it was breading season we saw lots of chicks looking like plume penguins children would have back home. I was impressed by the first ice bergs we saw, they are enormous! On the island, one looked like a giant slice of melon. I guess an architect can get lots of inspiration by looking at all the differently shaped ice bergs.

January 22: Brown Bluff. Gourdin Island.
Our first Continental landing on the Antarctic at Brown Bluff!! As I managed to be in the front of the first zodiac I stepped on land first. It was also the day we spotted our first whale!!! I became best ¨whale buddies¨ with Petra, most of the times she was the one spotting the whales first, a natural born whale spotter. Her constant enthusiasm was one of a kind and made me smile even more. I became known as the ¨Whale Whisperer¨ being able to order them when we wanted to see them. Yes, we were as kids so happy! We identified two species during the trip, the Humpback whale, with wings like an airplane, and my personal favorite the Minke whales. We have seen them jumping out of the water several times, from a distance though.

January 23: Foyn Harbor. Cuverville Island. Neko Harbor.
One of the best days of the trip, the sun shine! The expedition staff made a brilliant move to schedule 3 landings instead of the normal 2. We visited some historical remainings and a shipwreak of whale hunters. We enjoyed the sunset in the beautiful bay of Neko Harbor. Listening to the magical sounds of breaking ice pieces of the glaciers. The scenery here was at it´s best, the jumping Minke whales made the day end in style. It was hard to fall asleep of the days impressions.

January 24: Danco Island. Paradise Bay. Lemaire Channel.
I remember Danco Island as the biggest Penguin City. As the city was covered by snow the penguins had to be creative in finding their way back home. So, they created several penguin highways! How impressive is that! Paradise Bay would have been extremely impressive on a sunny day, unfortunately it was cloudy. The bay is surrounded by many glaciers and was filled with krill. Krill is what most whales like to eat but we did not see them here. I guess it is a sensitive animal, when the sun is out you find them all over the place, on a cloudy day, they remain under water most of the time.

January 25: Vernadsky Station. Pleneau Island.
Vernadsky is a Ukrainian research station. It is also known for having the most southern bar in the world, serving shots of vodka for just 3 dollars each! We were seperated into 2 groups, luckily I was in the first one, enabling me to enjoy a shot of vodka! The second group was less fortunate, they ran out of vodka... As the Ukrainians would be picked up early March I guess they prefered to save some stock for their own consumption.... Sorry guys! In the afternoon the staff changed the plan again as ice bergs unabled us to navigate to our original landing site. Again we were lucky, the sun came out and many species of seals enjoyed the warmth and were sunbathing on the many ice bergs. The shapes of the ice bergs and the light of the sun made it a very colourful day. Wow, this was sooo cool!!!

January 26: Whalers Bay and Telefon Bay, Deception Island.
Our last day before sailing back to Ushuaia. Deception Island is created by the lava of the underwater volcano shaping the island into a C-form. We could enter the mouth. As the weather conditions were not in our favor we landed twice on the island. Too bad because a diferent landing area was scheduled in the afternoon with the possibility to see the colourfull Macaroni Penguins. It would have been the 4th penguin species we saw on the Antarctic. Nevertheless the snow and the black volcanic landscape made the island look very surreal, and I forgot about the Macaroni Penguin quickly.

January 27-29: Drake Passage. Beagle Channel. Ushuaia, Argentina.
Out of precaution we started navigating back to Ushuaia on the 27th. Many pasengers became sick this time at the Drake Passage. I was lucky, although I had to use sea sickness pills, I was quite fine. Overthinking all the great and impressive things we´ve seen on the way back to Ushuaia. I met a lot of great people with whom I laught and smiled a lot, we had so much fun.

So, thank you, thank you so much, Agustin, Dany, Emanuel, Sander, Jerom, Kasey, Petra & Ak, Cormac & Alice, Margot, Marloes, Birgit, Clyde & Miriam, Schackleton, all the other staff and people on board of the Ushuaia and Antarpply for making this a trip of a lifetime.

My brother will upload some pictures soon, so keep an eye out on the picture area!

When depression meets creativity

2010-01-14T19:53:00.028+01:00

Rio Gallegos, all the way in the south of Argentina, is one of those cities. It´s the first city where I litterly have to count the hours, minutes is even better, to get the hell out of there. First seat available is on Saturday. That´s what the friendly lady at the busstation told me when I arrived early in the morning. That after a 20 hour busride from Puerto Madryn. The lady told me that on Wednesday... So, the controllers among you can count the days I have to spent here in Rio Gallegos. Correct, 3 full days. As I am travelling on my own at the moment you cannot just sip coffee or drink beers all day (and that does not sound so tempting anyway). It is a bit more difficult to find something to do. It´s cold, it´s rainy and gray all day here in Rio Gallegos. Yes, Rio Gallegos is one of those depressing cities out here in the middle of nowhere. It might look nice on the map, close to the beach, just like Puerto Madryn. But, the temperatures are not like Madryn, and the beach certainly does not look similar either. Here, the sand is not white, there are no people on the beach and I guess the water is even more cold then in Madryn. Damn, it is so easy to enjoy yourself on a beach with 30 degrees celcius. You can enjoy reading a good book, watch the locals play soccer and play a game along with them. You can approach the most beautiful lady I´ve ever seen in my life to practise my Spanish with. Yes, it is so easy to enjoy yourself on the beach!! Guess, I will miss Madryn for the next few days. But, there is a bit of hope about my waiting time in Rio Gallegos. While walking around I passed the local tennisclub. I did not really pay attention to it at first but then I thought it could be a good way of spending my time here, on the tennis court. So, I walked in and asked what the possibilities were. Obviously it is easy to rent a court for an hour but it would be nice to have an opponent on the other side of the court!!! The one and only tennis teacher of Rio Gallegos was just as enthusiastically as I was and invited me for a game against him first to see what kind of level I have. That´s what I did this afternoon. The teacher is making some phone calls right now to arrange a match for either tonight or tomorrow night, so it wil be Argentina versus Holland on the tennis court!

To be continued.... or maybe not when the results are bad for the Dutch side...

Game 1:
I arrived early. Alberto was en punto. We played a few balls first to get warm. The indoor court is totally different then the gravel I am used to play on. This court is extremely fast. Alberto suggested I started with serving. Game on! After less then 10 minutes I was down with 2-0. I guess my travelling time has not influenced my temper. My tennis buddy in Holland, Elsbeth, has a perfect understanding how that looks like, when I loose my temper. Unfortunately it does not help me, it has a negative effect on my game. Anyway, I managed to win my own service game, 2-1 for Argentina. I also won the next game, 2-2. The next games we both lost our services and we equaled at 5-5. Time to start playing tennis I thought, I got a pretty good impression of his weaknesses by now and it was time to make advantage of that. I won the first set with 7-5, that also was the end of the game, we only had an hour. I got a new invitation for a game, against another competitor, again Argentina versus Holland, tonight at 9 pm, game on!

Game 2:
I arrived early. Martin was already there gaining us an extra half hour. Again I was invited to start serving. Game on! First impression was that he would be better then Alberto, yesterday´s competitor. I won my own service game, good start. Martin´s up for serving. I quickly learned his service can be quite strong, unfortunately for him he cannot produce them too often. 2-0 for Holland :). After that it went fast, Martin has a big weakness, he did not move... I won the first set with 6-0. The second set I laid back a little and let Martin win two service games. That might sound arrogant but it simply is the truth. I won the second set, and the game, with 6-0 and 6-2. Martin was not as bad as the results might tell you, he just was too slow in his anticipation! When you play a ball you need to anticipate where you might be expecting the next one! Anyway, I was extremely thankfull I could play 2 games of tennis in Rio Gallegos, Argentina. Allthough the town is very depressing, the tennis does make it a special place for me. More the people then the tennis, they are so friendly. Off course it is interesting to have a chat with a foreigner and off course it makes it even more interesting that I look totally different then the locals here. But still, I am surprised how friendly everyone is towards me. I really am starting to like Argentina. Makes me wonder, how it would be like living and working here.

I arrived in Ushuaia yesterday, the most southern city in the world. A boat will bring me even further, going on a 10 day cruise to Antarctica on Tuesday. Game on!

Some new Did you Knows

2010-01-08T10:57:00.002+01:00

- The Chilean PDI (Policia de Investigaciones) thoroughly searched the most friendly looking South African I have ever seen, while crossing the border with Argentina. Guess influenced by the recent terrorist attempt by that Nigerian

- First time in South America that a bus(driver) droppes me off on the highway in Chile

- R.I.P. Sandro....

- An Irish lady told me Ireland has a population of 4 million people, while there are 40 million Irish passports...

- Plata, plata, plata, plata, plata, plata, plata, plata, plata, plata, plata, plata, plata, ..... !!!

- For some reason I have the urge to go running here, for some other reason I am happy I did not bring proper running shoes with me

- I have not seen any Accenture clothing since Machu Picchu, but I ran into 2 Dutch collegues on the streets of Buenos Aires... Can you believe that!

- The Argentinos keep in pride their siesta, all shops are closed, leaving a bunchload of cruise ship money spenders behind disappointed

- In the meantime the beach is packed with mate sipping locals, never leave home without a thermo and the mate!!!

- Since I discovered the front window seat of the bus I pretend my brother is driving it, gives me a good and save feeling

- There is a guy driving around Puerto Madryn with his dog standing on top of his car, it really is a hilarious sight!

- For the record, a very nice video I made of the Commerson Dolphins I saw yesterday in Rawson:

Rain has Come

2010-01-01T13:39:00.002+01:00

Not just a good song from Silkstone, it comes in daily here at the Lake District. Guess for a reason, it fills the lakes and keeps the place it´s beautiful green looks. But, I must admit, despite all it´s beauty here, I still do not like the rain, it gets me wet. I do not mind getting wet from a good hot shower, a swim in the freezing waters of the lakes or from a sweaty hike in the jungle. But rain, rain is something different, it gets me wet... The weather seems not to be in my favour. A week ago, during Christmas, I had a 50/50 percent chance the clouds would clear up or would´nt. If chances are 50/50, what should you do, GO or NO GO? I obviously chose to GO and climb that snowcapped volcano! A day later I knew I should have chosen to wait, but life is easy if you know the results of a day later right? The bastard of the travel agency was not willing to give me a good deal to try again the next day. He was French. Nevertheless, the hike up to 2.200 meters in the clouds, snow and rain, was good fun! I had great company from an interesting 21 year old ¨Van lady¨. This Canadian from Vancouver was different from what you expect from a standard 21 year old girl. She had a strong opinion and was certainly not afraid to share that with others. A strong woman, one far from shy, unbreakable, good fun. Good fun to tease aroud with, find something fragile. The hike in the snow made my feet get wet and cold, guess my shoes are not that waterproof anymore. The climb was a piece of cake, very easy so you can imagine how pissed off I was for not being able to reach the crater. Despite the fact that we would not get the view of a sunny day, I still was aiming for the crater. I am sure we would have survived the strong wind and cold feet. But, on 2.200 meters, just 400 meters from the crater we were ¨forced¨ to slide down. That was the good part, sliding down on the snow!! Would have been great doing that from 2.600 meters down. Guess you can feel how I felt now right? We were down before we knew it. Dissapointed but somewhat sattisfied with what we´ve done, guess it was something special anyway, we turned back to town. It´s not that you climb a snowcapped volcano every day, especially not in the conditions we did it.

Time to leave the one snowcapped volcano behind to travel to the next one. This is where rain has come even more dramatically, haven´t seen the sun for 3 straight days in a row. Obviously haven´t seen the snowcapped volcanoes either. There suppose to be two, hiding behind the rain clouds. I was hoping it would clear up when I took the bus to the Petrohue waterfalls, on a sunny day the views can be stunning. It kept raining but it was a good daytrip. After the falls I was waiting on the side of the road for the bus to come. While waiting a minivan passed by and I waived it to the sidewalks to ask them where they were heading. They were going to another lake closeby and invited me to come along. Why not I said. It was packed with 19 to 21 year old missionarries from the US, Chile, Argentina and Honduras. They work here in Chile for 2 years and then head back home again. Interesting project and amazing to hear the Americans speak fluently in Spanish! The lake was very nice but their next plan was even nicer, we were heading up to the level of where the snow starts on the Osorno volcano. Obviously the view from there is normally stunning, but not in the current conditions, it was snowing and very cloudy. Could not see more then a few meters and it was freezingly cold! But again, it keeps surprising me how friendly the people are here. In each country you will find them, or better, they will find you! It turned out to be a special day with cool kids and a lot of practicing my Spanish. Talked about the good times I had years ago on the Bay Islands in Honduras, talked about the dikes in Holland, about Maxima and obviously about religion and even more about soccer! Good fun and saved me some pesos!

New Years Eve was good fun, went to an Italian restaurant with a cute lady from the UK and a hell of an Irish lady. I´ve met them twice before, in Galapagos and in Mendoza, good fun to catch up again and share our travel experiences. Also the owners of the restaurant really tried to make it a special night for us. They served us a 3 course meal, a lot of wine and 2 bottles of champagne to celebrate the New Year. The luck was on our sides, the rain stopped falling down enabling the town to light it´s yearly fireworks. The champagne and the fireworks helped me giving me the feeling we indeed were closing a year and opening a new one.

Patagonia and Antarctica are coming close!! What can I wish for more at the start of 2010.

Happy Holidays!!!

2009-12-23T15:34:00.006+01:00

At the foot of a snow capped volcano in Pucon, Chile I wish you a:

Happy Christmas and a stunning New Year!!!

Feliz Navidad y próspero Ano Nuevo!!!

Fijne (witte) Kerstdagen en een fantastisch Nieuw Jaar!!!

Erik

Wonderwhattherestoftheworldisdoin´

Current Ipod Top 5

2009-12-07T14:21:00.001+01:00

1. Feeling Good - Muse

2. Sundance - Novastar

3. Down by the River - Dave Mathews & Tim Raynolds

4. Better Man (+ Run Away) - Pearl Jam

5. Synapse - Bush

I uploaded some new pictures from Argentina, also includes some of Tafi del Valle described in previous blog post: http://picasaweb.google.com/erikvlijm/Argentina

Unseen truth in Tafi del Valle

2009-12-04T11:01:00.001+01:00

Another Monday morning, a few weeks ago. We had to wake up early to catch the bus with final destination Tucuman. It would be our last travelling day together. Sandrine would continue to Tucuman while I wanted to stay a few days in a picturesque little town called Tafi del Valle. Tafi is situated in the north of Argentina, between Cafayate and Tucuman. It lies in a beautiful valley close to many vineyards and overlooking a beautiful lake. The water flows directly from the Andes mountains into the lake. Tafi does not seem to see many tourists, it is more a town for the people from Tucuman, trying to escape the enormous heat there during summer time. Sandrine and I spend a fantastic month together in Bolivia, doing crazy hiking, biking and horseriding. But, we both had to continue on our own, she would have to speed up her travel while I should take my time and relax a bit more. Just a conflict in schedules forced us to separate. Sandrine decided to at least spend a few hours in Tafi del Valle before continuing. I checked into my hostel and after a very nice breakfast together we went for another hike. Hiking with Sandrine always was special, we either ended up going the wrong way, taking a huge de-tour, or hiking close next to the mountain edge giving us a dangerous feeling. In any way, this hike suppose to be very easy, it would lead us through farming fields full of cows and horses, finally ending up at the lake. Piece of cake we thought, compared what we had achieved before, a nice way of ending our journey together. We expected it would take us just an hour to reach the lake, after an hour of walking, and passing the river four times, we were more or less halfway. As Sandrine would have to catch the bus later that afternoon we had to speed up a bit. The scenery was beautiful and the smell of farming was intense, we loved it. Also the cows that just gave birth to some calfs made our last few hours together very special. An hour, and many cows and calfs, later we arrived at the edge of the lake. It had a beautiful white sand beach and the blue-green color of the water was inviting enough to go for a quick swim. The water was very refreshing but unfortunately we could not enjoy it for long, Sandrine had to catch a bus. On the way back, in the far distance, we saw a cowboy riding his horse. When he came a little closer, but still far away, we saw he was accompanied by two dogs. This made the picture complete we thought and continued walking. Suddenly we heard some noise coming from the cowboy´s direction. Sandrine picked it op earlier then I did and started to scream we had to run away! Run Erik, run!! I looked at the cowboy and saw the two dogs running into our direction! As they were barking loudly they did not seem to have friendly intensions. We decided to run towards the closest tree possible and climb it, hoping to be safe there and wait for the cowboy to back off his dogs. As there was only one tree in the area, and nothing else to hide from a dog, it was the best we could think off. We ran as fast as we could, luckily I was wearing my sandals, making it a bit easier to run. Sandrine on the other hand had her flipflops on and had more trouble keeping up a good speed. I arrived at the tree first, climbing it quickly so I could give Sandrine a hand, helping her up the tree as quickly as possible. The dogs came in close, very close... I tried to remain calm but saw it would be a close call getting Sandrine up in the tree in time. Sandrine reached for my hand and I tried to pull her up, but before I could do so one of the dogs bite Sandrine her leg, holding it tight. Sandrine was screaming like hell but for some reason looked to have a calm expression in her face. I tried to kick the dog away with my leg and got biten myself by the other dog, luckily the dog could not hold on to me. I was not able to get Sandrine in the tree. I kept on trying and trying but my efforts seem to be useless, the dog would not let go and in the meantime the other dog had a good grip on Sandrine´s other leg. I was screaming for the cowboy to order the dogs to back off but he did not do anything, he laughed and decided to walk away from us. Sandrine gave me a last smile, she said it was okay, let me go, time has come, time to let go, our journey ends here. I was exhausted and could not hold on to her hand, I tried and tried but it was impossible, the two dogs were to strong. It felt like a lifetime past by, I thought about the great time we spend together, was this the way it had to end? Is this what god had in mind when we met each other on the island of the sun? I had to let Sandrine go, the dogs did not spare her. It was time to let go.

Bs. As.

2009-11-29T21:39:00.003+01:00

Vanzelfsprekend was ik (veel) te vroeg op het station van Cordoba aangekomen voor de bus naar Buenos Aires. De bus zou om 8u in de ochtend vertrekken, ik was om 7.10 present. Op mijn gemakje heb ik een medialuna (zo heet een crossaint hier) gegeten en een flesje appelsap gedronken. Om 7.45 ben ik richting platforms 6-15 gewandeld. Ik controleerde nog één keer mijn ticket, inderdaad, de maatschappij waarmee ik zou reizen heette Urquiza dus zocht ik of de bus toevallig te vroeg was. Dat was uiteraard niet het geval. Om 7.55 uur geen Urquiza bus. Om 8.00 uur geen Urquiza bus. Voor de zekerheid vraag ik een medewerker of de bus niet toevallig van platform is gewijzigd. Hij antwoord: Nee meneer, nog even geduld hebben. Om 8.10 zie ik dan eindelijk een Urquiza bus verschijnen, maar helaas, deze bus gaat de verkeerde richting op, naar Tucuman waar ik al geweest ben. Op mijn beste spaans vraag ik om 8.15 opnieuw of de bus niet toevallig vertraagd is. Nee meneer, wacht nog even 5 minuten. Op datzelfde moment zie ik een bus van de maatschappij ¨Sierras del Cordoba¨ met als eindpunt ¨Retiro¨ vertrekken. Er gaat een lampje branden, ik pak mijn ticket er opnieuw bij, en verdomd, daarop staat ook de maatschappij ¨Sierras del Cordoba¨ vermeld... Om 8.20 vraag ik opnieuw hoe of wat. Eindelijk een duidelijk antwoord, de bus is al vertrokken meneer! Goed, om 8.30 meld ik me netjes bij een verkooppunt van Urquiza en geef aan dat ik denk de bus gemist te hebben. Dat klopt inderdaad meneer. Ik geef aan dat ik niet wist dat de bus ook van een andere maatschappij had kunnen zijn. Dat klopt inderdaad meneer beantwoord een medewerker. Om 8.35 overhandigd hij mij een nieuw busticket, opnieuw 1,5 uur wachten... en, belangrijker, de bus kan opnieuw van de maatschappij Urquiza OF Sierras del Cordoba zijn!! Opnieuw wachten dus, en vanzelfsprekend was ik opnieuw te vroeg. Om exact 10 uur verschijnt een Urquiza bus met opschrift ¨Retiro¨! Ik was onderweg naar Buenos Aires.

De volgende dag in Buenos Aires regende het pijpestelen! Echt Nederlands herfst weer! Tenminste, met het enige verschil dat de bladeren aan de bomen hier nog steeds groen zijn en niet van de takken vallen. Tussen de buien door voor het eerst de stad verkent. Op Avenida Florida dacht ik even een straat act te kunnen overbluffen. Drie kopjes en één balletje, je kent het wel. De beste man verplaatste het kopje met het balletje vingervlug. Niet vlug genoeg voor mijn ¨Vlijmscherpe¨ ogen natuurlijk! Op mijn gemakje zag ik mensen winnen en verliezen! Ondertussen werd ik vermaakt door een aantal huisvrouwtjes. Zie je dat, zie je dat, het balletje bevindt zich helemaal in het kopje rechts!!! zegt één van de huisvrouwtjes. Ik besluit een gokje te wagen, mij krijg je niet gek dacht ik, dus ik neem aan dat ik mijn inzet van 100 pesos (17 euro) met gemak weet te verdubbelen. Het andere huisvrouwtje helpt me nog even door het kopje iets omhoog te houden, inderdaad, het balletje ligt er onder! Op het moment dat ik eenmaal mijn 100 pesos heb gevonden en aangeef te willen spelen voor dat ene kopje is tot mijn verbazing het balletje weg!!!!! No shit, dacht ik! Ik heb het mis!!! Een 2e poging, opnieuw wordt ik vriendelijk geholpen door één van de huisvrouwtjes, ze vraagt me zelfs of ik niet wat meer kan inzetten zodat ik mijn eerder verloren 100 pesos kan terugverdienen. Opnieuw ben ik overtuigd en zoek mijn 100 pesos erbij, meer heb ik niet en wil ik ook niet inzetten. En verdomd, opnieuw is het balletje zoek!!!! Achteraf weet ik dat ik besodemietert ben, door zowel de man die die kopjes verplaatste als door de huisvrouwtjes, dat hoorde vanzelfsprekend allemaal bij de act. Ik denk dat op het moment dat je je geld erbij pakt ze het balletje snel verplaatsen. Overdonderd, bedroeft maar met een kleine glimlach loop ik verder, terug naar het hostel om ¨nieuw¨geld te halen voor een lunch. Bienvenidos en Buenos Aires!

From snowpeaks to jungle in Bolivia

2009-11-10T20:23:00.013+01:00

We planned to go up to the snowpeaks of Huana Potosi, a mountain just outside of La Paz. Unfortunately a strenious cold hold me back from doing this fairly difficult 3 day hike up to 6000 meters. I cannot highlight it more often, traveling is not as easy as you believe it is. All those Monday morning activities are not that easy, even have to get up at 5 sometimes to catch a bus or jeep or boat to start a trip... Monday mornings are just as difficult as Tuesday mornings... But honestly, the cold was a pain in the ass. So, instead of hiking we decided to go biking first! We left to Sorata a little earlier then planned to do a single trail of serious (hardcore sounds nice aswell) mountain biking! The trail is hand made by Travis (andeanepics.com) and the local land owners and is considered more dangerous then the famous Death Road to Coroico. Thus we considered this was a better alternative then this very commercialised Death Road trip. It certainly was a challenge. Together with Serge from Canada, with whom I have been traveling since Copacabana, Travis, Argentinan Alejandro and our driver Eusebio we left Sorata up to the Llampu mountain. A 2,5 hour 4x4 jeep ride up to 4800 meters with stunning views on the valley of Sorata. You can imagine this required excellent driving skills from Eusebio, he did a great job! Arriving at 4.800 meters we took a little snack and a banana to give the energy level a boast. In the meantime Travis checked the bikes, especially the breaks off course. Time to hit the peddle. The first session took us down the dirt roads to get the feeling over the bikes and an understanding how the breaks work in order to control the speed. It was pretty tough I must say, you try to hold on the steer very well makign your hands feel a little sour. Going down is surely something different then biking on the flat lands of Holland. Serge and I were really enjoying the biking and challenged each other a bit once in a while. We crossed many small rivers and waterfalls until two hours later the road stopped and we reached an altitude of approximately 2.700 meters. 15 minutes later we were accompanied by the Jeep to bring us back up again, it is all about the downhill biking, going up will be saved for later. After a Guacamole and chocolate lunch we went back to the starting point again for some serious single trail biking! Serge found the adrenaline rush and biked down a very challenging 45 degrees hill, if you go to slow you will fall, if you go to fast you will fall. I left the hill for what it was, following my conservative side :) All the rest went pretty smooth until I started to get tired, and when a dog decided to chase me and got scared and on the next corner I fell (1-0 for the dog). On a bike going down at speed it unfortunately does not work to pick up rocks.... 30 minutes later I missed another corner, I just had no more energy left in my body after being sick for a few days. Anyway, it was a great trip and good in preperation for the 5 day tour we booked to Rurrenabaque (Rurre). Rurre lies in between the jungle and the pampas, a remote area in the north west of Bolivia. The 5 day tour is something not a lot of people do, it takes 2 days of biking and 3 days on a boat through the jungle. Before leaving on this tour on Monday we first did a 20 kilometer hike to the caves of San Pedro. Just follow the river was the advice we got from the hostel owner. We did follow the river on the edge of the mountain. A more then challenging path with a lot of small passages along the ridge, a passage over a round pipe was the limit for me. No way I would pass that, afterwards we heard we did not follow the right path. I confinced Serge to take a detour which he accepted after a French couple also refused passing here. The path was not much easier but we managed to get to the Caves. The cave was pretty special as it contained a 400 meter long lake inside. It was another good and challenging day. On Sunday we relaxed a bit and on Monday the journey to Rurrenabaque started! I´ll wrap it up, the biking was not as challenging as the single track we did but the scenery was beautiful. It also took more time as the group was biking at a different speed. It also contained more uphill biking which I really enjoyed, this is where I was at my best, going up! The day ended with a beautiful sunset. Day 2 was even more uphill, Serge and I remained at the front of the group all day, having good fun. The 3 days on the river Beni were very relaxing, a bit of hiking in the jungle, swimming, camping along the river and eating a lot of great banana bread. We passed hundreds of local miners, hoping to find that one big piece of gold for a better future. While swimming, very small pieces of gold glinstered in the water, a nice sight. The search for ¨oro¨ (gold) is a big thing here. Arriving in Rurre we booked a 3 day Pampas tour for the following day, another relaxing trip mainly on the boat looking at all the wildlife the Pampas has to offer, we´ve seen hundreds of cayman, many capibaras, some monkeys, river dolphins and while searching for Anaconda´s we also found a Cobra snake. Seeing both species of snake was quite impressive. On the last day we fished for piranha´s, I almost lost my patience but finally catched one myself. It was served for diner at night. Bolivia, so far so good!

Next: the salt flats of Uyuni and hopefully my first time of horseback riding in Tupiza!

For some great pictures of Bolivia check out the link below or use the picture link above (Thanks again broer!):
http://picasaweb.google.com/erikvlijm/Bolivia

Memories and some Did you Knows

2009-10-27T04:38:00.000+01:00

It is impossible to write about everything that happens during your travel time, and obviously I do not want to write about everything either! But, there are some highlights and a few ¨did you knows¨ that are funny and interesting to share (and also good for my own memory as I do not keep a diary). Let me sum up a few:

- 9 out of 10 times a Visa request from a Colombian citizen is refused without any reason

- During the Lost City hike a Dutch guy was wearing an Accenture hat :-S

- Before entering a bus in Guayaguil a lady did a full body search, and with full I mean FULL

- Cuzco (and also Nazca) with a Z is the Spanish spelling, Cusco and Nasca with an S is the Peruvian spelling

- They still have to learn ¨het nieuwe rijden¨ (driving economically) all over South America

- Cusco is like Thailand, all over the place you hear the word ¨massaaage¨

- At Machu Picchu an American lady was wearing an Accenture Chicago T-shirt :-S

- I am proud of my dad running the Amsterdam half marathon in 1.52.49! BRAVO!

- I am happy to speak some Spanish, the locals here are muy muy amable!

- Some locals here thought Danish Jorgen was my father, maybe they thought Merete is my sister?

- It is very difficult to keep track of roomnumbers and hostel names

- A Peruvian tourguide told us the Russians want to bring potatoes into the cosmo

- Bolivia might look small on the map but is the size of both France and Spain together

- I almost got bittten by a dog on the Island of the Sun, the dog scared the hell out of me

A source of inspiration

2009-10-21T17:05:00.006+02:00

When we arrived at ¨The Lost City of the Tayronas¨ in Colombia our tourguide Jose sang us a song and this certainly deserves it´s own blog posting, still is a source of inspiration for me. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCKv5TPJYIA

Unfortunately I do not have a good picture of this very special and friendly Colombian, but this is him from the back (thanks to Sandro for making the movie!):

Muchas gracias amigo Jose!

A second, also special song from Jose, can be found using the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiRFpppmDwE&feature=player_profilepage

A True World Wonder

2009-10-20T16:34:00.020+02:00

Machu Picchu! I think I can say I saw allot of world wonders during my travelling already, Machu Picchu was (I guess only) my second world wonder out of the ancient and medieval world wonders after visiting the great pyramid of Giza in Egypt. But Machu Picchu trully is a world wonder!!! The minute I saw the impressive city and it´s Wayna Picchu in the background a big smile turned up on my face. It´s a true miracle they can build such an impressive city on an even more impressive location at an altitude of 2.430 meters above sea level. I felt very, very happy up there in this mysterious atmosphere!! Machu Pikchu (in Quechua) is situated on a mountain ridge in the Urubamba valley and is often referred to as ¨The Lost City of the Incas¨. The city did not last a long live, they started building it at AD 1430 but abandoned it already a hundred years later at the time of the Spanish conquest. I admit I did not do the 4 day Inca Trail hike, you would need a long time reservation for this but they also have some other hiking possibilities I did not go for. Instead of hiking we took the Backpacker train on Saturday from Purroy (close to Cusco) to Aguas Calientes. A beautiful trip through snow peaked mountains giving the area an incredible scenery. I am sure some magic happened at 10 ´o clock in the morning (1700 hours Dutch time) while sitting in the train. :) Arriving at Aguas Calientes a lady was holding up a sign with Jorgen´s name, we did not expect that but as we forgot the name of the hostal this was a pleasant surprise. Instead of going up to Machu Picchu on the same day decided to first spent the night and get up early in the morning to hike to Machu Picchu. We started the hike at 4´in the morning and it still was completely dark, we did not bring a flashlight but luckily others were so smart to bring one and we could follow them. As my condition is a little better then the Danish we all walked at our own past. I arrived within the hour at 5 and was surprised to see that I was one of the first fifteen people upthere. It still would take another hour before the first busload of tourist would arrive. It is obviously not only nice to see this lost Inka City without having to many people yet there but it also enables you to hike up Wayna Picchu (the peak mountain on the background of all classic Machu Picchu pictures) as there is only a limited number of people that can go up. When the gates opened at 6 and the Danish arrived as well we soon were amazed by it´s beauty. There simply are no words to explain what showes up in front of you. As I said, a big smile turned up on my face and allot of disbelieve that the Inkas were able to build a city in such a scenery. It truly is a world wonder! We walked around the city and visited all the hot spots for the next 3 hours. At 10 I could go up Wayna Picchu, a tough hike mainly uphill of (afterwards only a surprising) 30 minutes. From here you have a stunning view of the location of the city and it´s surroundings. For me personally I could feel it is a magical place. It made me a very happy man with a big smile on my face.

For some more stunning pictures check the link below (or soon the picture link above):

http://picasaweb.google.com/erikvlijm/MachuPicchu

Camel Travel Bag

2009-10-13T19:15:00.004+02:00

Creo que ahora es possible escribir un pequena historia en Espanol (sin dictionario). Es un historia muy importante parra mi, es la historia de mi mochilla ¨Camel Travel Bag¨. Yo compre mi Camel approximamente quando era 15 anos. Yo fui a l´escuela con mi bicicletta y siempre tenia mi mochilla conmigo. Tambien viaje con mi Camel mucho, hasta la Sur Africa, buzeo a Mexico y Thailande y tambien caminando all los vulcanos de Costa Rica y Guatamala. Siempre viaje con mi Camel, creo que mi mochilla es como un novia, ella es siempre alli. Ahora mi mochilla Camel es muerte, el cremallera (?) no functionado mas. Soy muy triste y no me gusta que es nescescita poner mi mochilla all bazura.

I think it now is possible to write a short story in Spanish (without dictionary). It is a story that is very important to me, it´s a story about my ¨Camel Travel Bag¨. I bought my Camel approximately when I was 15 years old. I went to school with my bike and always had my bag with me. I also travelled with my Camel a lot, to South Africa, diving in Mexico and Thailand and also walking on the volcanoes in Costa Rica and Guatemala. Always travelling with my Camel, I think my bag is like a partner, she is always there. Now, my Camel backpack died, the zipper does not work anymore. I am very sad and do not like it is required to put my backpack in the trashcan. (more or less literly translated...). Haha, this is quite funny... :)

GOOD NEWS! Erick, a guy working at the hostel in Nasca, was very happy to accept my Camel Travel Bag as a gift and promised me if he has a chance to come to Holland he will bring it with him! :) The bag now starts a second life, making me a happy person.

Wildlife of Galapagos

2009-10-08T18:34:00.015+02:00

It was Friday afternoon, still in Bogota, Colombia. I already confirmed a flight to Quito, Ecuador for the next day but sent some emails to see what the possibilities were for a trip to Galapagos. I called my dad and told him about my plans, it felt like he was standing next to me. A perfectly clear line, too bad mom was not around for a chat. After a 10 minute call I checked my email and found an offer for an 8 day cruise in Galapagos. A cruise is the best way to see as much as possible of all the islands and see allot of wildlife. I decided to confirm this last minute offer. It meant I had to fly to Quito on Saturday, cash the money for the cruise, pay the organisation and catch an early flight to Baltra airport Galapagos on Sunday. It all worked out perfectly fine. Upon arrival I found a guy holding a piece of paper with the name: Yolita II. His name was Franklin, the guide for the cruise onboard of the Yolita II. The boat was a first class cruise at the rate of a tourist class. A German couple (Honeymooners!), two dutch girls, a Danish couple and a comedian from Spain also joined, and on the boat we found 3 UK girls plus a friendly German. That made us a group of 11 people on a boat that can handle 16 passengers in total. We left Baltra harbor after doing a safety check. When the alarm sounded we had to grap our safety gear, if possible bring some shoes or sandals and get up to the second level. I was happy being able to hear the alarm. A half hour daily briefing helped us understanding the plans and activities of the next day. In a nutshell the program and islands we visited were as followed:

Day 1: Baltra - Bachas Beach
Day 2: Plazas - Santa Fe
Day 3: Espanola
Day 4: Floreana
Day 5: Santa Cruz - Charles Darwin Station
Day 6: Rabida - Sombrero Chino
Day 7: Bartolome - Sullivan Bay
Day 8: North Seymour - Baltra

As the boat was not totally ocupied I had the luxery having a double room for myself. Well, that was for one night only as the Jesus from Spain could not sleep in his room he asked if it was okay to sleep in my room. That was okay, he did not snore :) Exploring Galapagos by boat is truly amazing, being someone who loves the water I really enjoyed it. Without sickness pills and sleeping quite well, despite the fact the boat was navigating in rough water, I was lucky. As my memory is lacking at the moment let me describe some highlights. Santa Fe, we snorkled there for 45 minutes and the result was amazing, I have been diving 50 times before in the Carribean but never saw that many big animals in one dive, and this was just snorkling!! White tip Sharks, turtles, sea lions, sting rays and eagle rays all in the same bay of Santa Fe! Yes, my first snorkling experience in the Pacific and this overruled everything I saw in the Carribean. I am not saying it was the most beautiful area I dived at but from a wildlife perspective this truly is paradise! Desembarking on Santa Fe also enabled us to see allot of wildlife, we saw the blue footed booby, the sea lions and land and marine iguanas from really close. It is just indescribable how beautiful and diverse all the different islands are. I fell in love with the sea lions, together with Heather we decided that they look so ¨huggable¨ and friendly! In the water they are very curious as well, they swim up to your face, open there mooth and turn around, I guess they are just a few centimeters from your eyes! I was also gently ¨kissed¨ by one in my hand, it bite me very sofly. Every day they kept us company while snorkling. I am sure I made quite a cool picture of the sea lion approaching me with the disposable underwater camera I bought. Every day felt like a very special day on Galapagos. No wonder the German Honeymooners chose this cruise! :) The food was excellent, they really spoiled us every day with 2 hot meals (3 courses) and a good breakfast. Also the hot chocolate was a great surprise after coming back from a snorkling trip. The staff of Yolita II made this trip one to remember. On the land we have visited the Charles Darwin station. There to started several programs to keep the population of the land turtles and iguanas in good condition. The land turtles are enormous and I was happy we visited them in their natural behaviour aswell (next to the Darwin station). After 8 great days we desembarked again on the main island Santa Cruz. I still had a few days to explore the island and made some diving plans. The diving trip took us to Gordon Rocks. This area is mostly famous of the big hamerhead sharks that are oftenly seen there. The dive itself was under very difficult conditions, the current came from above, down, left and right, visibility was no more then 4 meters, it was hard work and we breathed heavily making the dive a short one of 34 minutes. The first dive we saw the hamerhead, while holding on to a rock to maintain in position we saw a few passing through. They were more easy to spot while lookink at a sandy spot on the bottom. I have to admit I saw the hamerhead but honesly could not really see the shape of the head. Just saw an enormous animal with big fins passing by. We also saw big eagle rays during dive one. The ending of the dive was not so good, I was unable to do my safety stop, after diving at 28 meters you should have a safety stop of 3 minutes above 6 meters. The current just pushed me to the surface in less then 30 seconds. I felt very unsecure of missing my safety stop but luckily it turned out to be just fine. Nevertheless it was very important to DO the safety stop during the second dive! For a minute I had second thoughts diving a second time at the same location. The dive master also highlighted the tough conditions. It was not better then dive one and I really did not enjoy myself during the dive which for me is truly something special about diving, the calm and relaxed atmosphere you feel down there was totaly not the case at Gordon Rocks. I was more concerned about myself down there then trying to spot the wildlife. It was a good learning experience but this dive did make me decide that I had seen enough in Galapagos and did not dive anymore (next to the fact that paying 120 dollars for a two tank dive was a bit expensive). I saw the wildlife of Galapagos (and did not describe all the other birds and animals we have seen)!!

For pictures:
http://www.erikvlijm.com/index6.html

Peace at Hacienda Guayabal

2009-09-24T23:53:00.005+02:00

If you are seeking for a place to relax, be served exellent food, drink nice coffee then enjoy the surroundings of the Hacienda Guayabal. It is located 15 minutes from Chichina in Colombia and hostess Maria Theresa will give you are very warm welcome. There simply cannot be a better hostess then Maria Theresa, she is very sweet and service minded. Fresh juices, a beer, incredible lunches and dinners, everything is being prepared with love and care. I went there after hiking a 5000 meter vulcano in the National Park of Los Nevados with Sandro and Harald. The hike was very easy, despite the height it was not too bad breathing and walking at this altitude. And yes, it was very cold up here, coming from 30+ degrees in Taganga to 2+ degrees here on the volcano just a few days later. Honestly we were a little bit dissapointed, I must say the best part of the trip were the 13 to 15 year old school girls that wanted to take pictures of us Europeans. Off course the blond hair and blue eyes turned all of them in love. Not much I can do about it, would have been nice if it worked that way in Europe... :) Anyway, if you have seen more volcanoes than just one, like I have in Guatamala and Costa Rica, this trip is not much special. Not to mention the hot spring, I really was looking forward to that but we ended up in a swimming pool with hot water. Yes, the water came from a natural source of the volcano but a swimming pool??? Not something you expect visiting a hot spring, you expect some nice flowers surrounding the pools. Or am I asking to much here now? Heading back to Manizales we played a few games of pool and drank a few beers. The Dutch traveled along to Cali, as I still wanted to go to the capital of Colombia I did not join them but went to the Hacienda to relax for a few days. The first night I was accompanied by two Americans, the remaining 2 nights I had the Hacienda for my own. Together with hostess Maria Theresa, a cook, a lady for housecleaning and a dozen of friendly Colombians working on the coffee farm. At night I had the house on my own, everyone went home despite the dogs and a guard protecting the farm at night with a shotgun. Obviously I felt very save and secure. Especially when Marie Theresa gave me a flash light and introduced me to the guard. His name was Oscar, in case I needed anything I just had to shout his name. Twice a day a group of tourist arrived to do a tour around the farm. I really enjoyed my time here. A few days earlier I did the same tour with Sandro and Harald. That made me decide to go back. The surroundings are awesome, as far as you can look you see the coffee plant. During the tour we learned a plant can get 28 years old, we also got explained some history of the farm and the diseases they suffered over the years. I had access to everything, I saw the Colombians collecting the coffee beans with their hands. I saw how the bags were weighted and they get paid by the kilo. I saw how the beans are released from their skin and end up in a basin. The good coffee sinks and the bad coffee floats. The good coffee is exported to Europe, the bad coffee is for the Colombians. Yes, I really enjoyed my time here, the beautiful surroundings and being spoiled by Marie Theresa. I guess I have to come back one day, I told Marie Theresa that I should come back with my mom. She would love it here as much as I did, no, she would love it even more! The tropical flowers and vegetation, the birds and the swimming pool for a refreshment. Little Switserland in Colombia. If you consider visiting them, find some more information on http://www.haciendaguayabal.com/. I found peace.

For my pictures use the link below:
http://picasaweb.google.com/erikvlijm/Manizales

Walking in the Lost World

2009-09-16T15:05:00.017+02:00

Updated with pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/erikvlijm/CiudadPerdida#

Rockin´ in the Free World. I thought about this Neil Young song a lot during the hike up to Ciudad Perdida in Colombia . The Lost City. It indeed is a bit lost as it is not easy to find. On the other hand, if you know where to cross the river and then simply follow the path you might catch a glimpse of the 1200+ stairs up to the city. But as we crossed the river more then a dozen times I suggest you do a guided tour. I had to report myself at 8.15 am sharp at the tourism office, the door was still locked and no one was there. 5 minutes later (off course I was too early) two couples from England arrived with whom I will do the tour. 15 minutes later the doors of the office where opened for us and we dropped our big backpacks there in order to do the hike with just the required items. I obviously packed all the items required, perhaps I could have done better on the ´personal hygienic items´ but on the other hand you are hiking in the jungle in which it is not that easy to keep yourself and especially your clothes clean. Set to go! A 2,5 hour jeep tour guided us towards the entrance of the park. But first we had to buy some more stuff along the way, fill up the tank and give some local people a taxi ride towards a location close by. All part of the deal when you travel, just remain patience. The military checked our names on the list and asked us one by one who we were and did a quick check of all the items stored in the jeep. We were allowed to enter the park, so the backdoor of the jeep closed again. The door us tourists could not open from the inside. The road uphill, downhill, uphill reminded us of the fact we could not open the door.... It was an amazing and perhaps sometimes a little bit scary Jeep ride! After an hour and a half we arrived at a small village from which we would start the tour. After some sandwiches we only had to walk 7 kilometers on day one. It took us a good 3 hours to get to the first house. 2 other groups already arrived earlier wish was good fun having some nice people around, among them 3 guys from Holland . Day 2 was an easy one, all though I must admit it was quite tough for me but a waterhole in the river made up for it. We saw a poisonous snake of 30 centimeters and a non-poisonous one of 2 meters . That’s why we do the tour with a guide.... After arrival we played a game of Yannif, a truly brilliant card game from Israel . You need a bit more intelligence then playing asshole for instance.... Day 3 took us all the way to Ciudad Perdida, after crossing the river 9 times, you turn left at the waterfall and climb thre muddy way up to the stairs, why do they call it the lost city???? The 1200+ stairs take you up to the city. We arrived in style with allot of rain we where soaking wet. Not that we were not wet of the humidity every day but the rain made us wet differently. It was a great entrance of something you hiked your life for. Upon arrival we were greeted by some soldiers who spend 9 months up there and enjoy some - mainly foreign female - company. We made it..... The evening was one to remember, after dinner our guide wanted to sing us a song. Sandro, my friends would love to have a glimpse of what went on so please sent me the movie when you have some time? Thank you :) After him it off course was our turn, we sang the Wilhelmus and some Andre Hazes songs. We also helped the Germans a bit with singing gute nacht freunden. It was a night to remember, not just only because of my diarea..... Day 4 was killing, we hiked back 2 days in one day, the uphill part really was tough, Rockin´ in the free world... But, all the credits go to Roel, a Dutchman who walked his ass of having blisters all over his feet. He truly rocked up there! Day 5 ended the tour, I really lost it for the last 40 minutes. The people who know me best know what I am talking about, hell yes I could have used some ´kom op Vlijm´!! After arriving as last the same Roel bought me a coke so I could sit still.... I needed that. Also thanks to Harald, his enthusiasm helped me through the tough times! The next day I relaxed a bit with Sandro and Harald in Taganga. After my experience in the hospital this time the police played a part in my travel script. One of the Dutch, I will not highlight his name, bought quite a big portion of pot. When I went to the supermarket to buy us a bear, just one of the Dutch was still there. The other one was arrested... Yes, shit happens I guess... He came back with the message he needed to cash 1 million pesos, representing approximately 350 euros in cash. Because he had to cash the money someone else needed to stay at the police station. It wasn’t me. I was needed to do some translating in the cab towards a working ATM. We decided to make a plan and not pay the full million. Although we had no idea how they would respond. We paid 450 at first, I had a spare 300 in case it was needed. Which it was.... So we paid 750 in total of I would say black police money. They made a picture of the Dutch with a cell phone and when I arrived and could tak some Spanish they started to talk about soccer! Yes, that´s also Colombia....

Ps. no time to do a spelling check, also am already a week ahead of this story, more to follow soon when I have some more time :)

For a Dutch version of this post, check the link below, thanks broer!

http://www.erikvlijm.com/nieuws/verloren_stad.html

San Andres Islande, Colombia

2009-09-03T22:24:00.005+02:00

Maar eens een berichtje in het Nederlands. :) Heb weinig te melden, op een eiland hoor je natuurlijk ook in een hangmat te liggen en verder niet veel te doen. Dat klopt aardig, op de hangmat na dan (helaas). Veel meer dan ontbijten, duiken, lunchen, boek lezen, eten en een dagje rond het eiland fietsen doe ik niet. Het duiken is echt fantastisch! Prachtig koraal en veel mooie kleurrijke vissen. Duik 2x per dag en heb dat nu 3x gedaan. De eerste dag was nog wel het meest indrukwekkend, op locatie ¨La Piramide¨ hebben we enorme sting rays gezien, ze lagen heerlijk rustig in het zand. Je kon ze zelfs een aardig tikje op hun neus geven! Erg cool. Tijdens dezelfde duik ook een schildpad gezien. Het dagje fietsen viel me best zwaar, het hele eiland rond is een kilometer of 40 heb ik me laten vertellen maar dat terwijl het 30 plus graden is valt niet te vergelijken met een rondje Monnikendam. :) was erg zwaar. Verder is er hier op het eiland amper een europeaan te bekennen, moet het dus echt van mijn spaans hebben. Valt niet altijd even mee, heb nog veel, heel veel te leren zeg maar... Inmiddels met een Braziliaanse, een Argentijn en een Colombiaan gedoken. Mooi werk dat duiken. Morgen hetzelfde programma! Zaterdag maar eens kijken hoe de locals hier een (voetbal) interland van Colombia volgen.

Een aantal foto´s die ik van een Colombiaan op de mail heb ontvangen en mijn broer online heeft gezet: http://www.erikvlijm.com/foto/san_andres/index.html

AANVULLING:
Gisteren een dagje een scooter gehuurd en opnieuw rond het eiland gecrost. Dit keer ook langs de laguna gereden. Daar aangekomen stong er uiteraard een gids voor me klaar. Maar besloten een gids te nemen, 4 ogen zien meer dan 2. Een goede beslissing. Hij, tenminste, hij leek als een hij wist enorm veel van de bomen en andere vegetatie. Erg interessant. Ook de lokale echte bewoners - meer van afrikaanse/britse afkomst - kende hij maar al te goed. Zo ook de oudste bewoner van het eiland, 108 jaar uit, vertelde hij me. Toen hij vertelde dat hij ´Beatrice´ heette en haar man haar verlaten had vanwege overmatig drank gebruik begreep ik dat hij een zij was. Als ik weer foto´s kan uploaden moet je zelf maar bepalen van welk geslacht hij/zij is.... Maar, dat neemt niet weg dat het een hele goede gids was! Heb veel geleerd over chocolade, mango bomen, guava bomen en ben alweer heel veel van dat alles vergeten... De laguna lag er mooi bij, heb kleine krokodillen gezien en ook een kleine schildpad. De toen ging verder, met haar achterop de scooter, naar een locatie - de 4 bergen - genaamd. Al met al waren we zo´n 2,5u verder toen de tour ten einde kwam. Ik betaalde haar 15 dollar en cruisde weer verder op de scooter. Op het zuidelijkse puntje wachte weer een beloning, een groep van zo´n 50 dolfijnen zwom en sprong voorbij! Prachtig gezicht, nu maar hopen dat ze morgen tijdens mijn laatste duik hier nog een keer voorbij zwemmen! ´s Avonds met een Ier en Colombiaanse de dag - op kosten van het hotel waar zij verblijven - met een biertje afgesloten. Was wel grappig, en dag eerder had ik bij de bakker een broodje gegeten en vriendelijk gedag gezegd tegen wat colombiaanse toeristen. Die bleken ook in dat All Inclusive hotel te zitten. Toen ik de Ier kwam oppikken voor een biertje en wat eten kwam ik hun weer tegen, gelijk komen ze vriendelijk op je af om een praatje te maken. Ook zorgden ze gelijk voor een coupon dat ik gratis en voor niks kon mee-eten. Goed geregeld dus allemaal, en wat ontzettend vriendelijk zijn de mensen hier. Vanmiddag ga ik met de Ier en Colombiaanse (waarvan ik de namen dus alweer vergeten ben, heel handig...) naar het stadion, schijnt dat we voor 7 dollar 4 wedstrijden mogen bekijken... Lijkt me wat veel van het goede maar we zien wel. Colombia heeft in ieder geval met 2-0 van Ecuador gewonnen, de locals hier werden nog blijer toen Brazilie Argentinie met 3-1 klop gaf... Daar was ik wat minder blij mee, zou zonde zijn als god zelf (Diego Maradona) er niet bij is met zijn sterren team in Afrika. Ook hoop ik nog ergens een wedstrijdje van Argentinie mee te pikken.

Panic Attack

2009-08-26T18:59:00.005+02:00

We agreed to have dinner at some place downtown Cartagena, he suppose to pick me up at 7, which he did. He arrived in time but surprisingly by cab, a young lady sitting next to him and I was asked to sit in the front of the car. I first expected some kind of surprise, we are going to a Rumba maybe and he brought us some company? That thought was not really truth. The girl exit the cab and was replaced by a guy. Bernd dropped on a bag on my lap - with al his valuables and papers - in such a hurry I understood there was something wrong. A bloody t-shirt was wrapped around his hand and he did not look like he was ready to party. He managed to cut his hand in the ceilings ventilator and we were on our way to the hospital. That´s where I spend the next 5 hours helping him where I possible can. He, Bernd, is the guy I met in the morning during the diving trip. He is just about to finish his trip this Friday after traveling for more then a year. Going to the hospital in Colombia is a great experience really! It was packed with locals, mainly with their children crying like fire alarms. Offcourse a guard patrols in front of the hospital and is responsible for who is and who is not allowed to enter the building. Crying mothers and sad fathers where among the people that were not allowed to get in. That did not count for the guy selling his cups of coffee. He walked in, straight to the area where people were lying down on the bed and served them a fresh coffee for 200 colombian pesos only. Isn´t that brilliant or what!! In the end Bernd´s injury was not as bad as it looked like, the x-rays did not show a fracture so with some painkillers he will be able to catch his flight home on Friday. The evening ended without a proper meal but with a snickers and a couple of apples.

Next destination: San Andres Islande on the 29th of August

A few (one by one) uploaded pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/erikvlijm/Cartagena#

Eaten by a fish

2009-08-25T23:38:00.005+02:00

Isla Rosario - Today - after two years - I encountered the water again for 2 dives. It took in about twohours to get to an island with a magnificant wooden house. A true diver's paradise with people cooking us meals and making fresh juices. If they informed it was possible to overnight I would have definately done so. I had no problem going down with my 11 pound weightbelt. The minute we reach the bottom we saw a fish that looked like a small shark. It was one of those 'cleaning' fish you see when picking up your chinese food at a local restaurant.... Apparently he really liked my skin because he kept close to me for the full 46 minute dive. At first I thought it was quite funny but after 10 minutes it started to annoy me just a little bit. I now know how women feel when they wax their legs.. :) This fish literally ate my leg blank! Crazy Colombian fish. The coral at the first dive and the fish we saw was slighly dissapointing. The second dive - luckily without the cleaning fish - was much nicer. The coral had more colour and we saw groups of fish. Unfortunately we missed the turtle who lives closeby. Overall a nice Dutch day, my buddy happened to be from Holland.

some evidence of the fish eating me

Instinct

2009-08-23T16:12:00.005+02:00

When you travel you trust on your instinct, at least, that's what I do. My arrival in Caracas felt far from good. You could feel the tension, which currently is very much alive in this city/country. Upon arrival it started with the black market currency exchange. If you cash money out of the ATM you will get 2 bolivianos for 1 dollar. If you exchange a dollar at the black market you will get 6 bolivianos!!! Lesson number one is to bring allot of cash to Venezuela. Luckily I knew this but did not bring enough to make my visit here as cheap as possible. My second - and biggest - worry was that there is allot of crime in this city and a political unstable situation, read this article if you are interested from the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8216588.stm (thanks Cyriel).

After exchanging my dollars at a local travel agency (making sure I do not collect false money) and arrived at my hotel they explicitly told me NOT to go out of the hotel because it is a very dangerous area at the moment! Great....

So, I trusted on my instinct, and booked a ticket to Cartagena Colombia. Leaving behind a beautiful country of which I did not see a single thing (sorry Gunnar). But I trusted on a travellers instinct.

Off He Goes

2009-08-19T13:00:00.002+02:00

Know a man...his face seems pulled and tense...

Like he's riding on a motorbike... in the strongest winds

So I approach with tact... suggest that he should relax...

But he's always moving much too fast...

I wonder bout his insides...
Its like his thoughts are too big for his size
He's been taken... where? I don't know... off he goes
With his perfectly... unkept hope... there he goes...

Lyrics: Eddie Vedder - Off He Goes

Off I go indeed.... Allthough the lyrics do not exactly match, there is some truth in it. Music and it's lyrics will always be there, wherever in the world you go the sound will always be there to boost your confidence and create a strong powerfull independent you. I wonder which song will be my favorite during this trip. Last time I got allot of support from Silverchairs "Shade".

Anyway, as many of you asked what my plans actually are, what the must sees for me are I started wondering if I indeed should make a plan yes or no. I decided not to, or, at least not for the full 7 months. Let's only look ahead for the next few weeks. So here's the plan:

(For those who read the article before, looks like I have to postpone Los Roques....)

So, the map above is the plan....!!!! Please note the red line highlights the border of Venezuela, it is NOT the route I will follow....

Pearl Jam - Ahoy Rotterdam

2009-08-14T10:19:00.013+02:00

Six months ago I was very pissed missing the original sales date for another Pearl Jam concert in The Netherlands. Last time they performed live in NL was already 2 years ago so you can imagine tickets were sold in a one breath rapidity. Offcourse you can buy tickets through commercial organisations for double the price easily but at that point in time I did not intend to participate in this crap. As I could not sleep last wednesday night Pearl Jam's concert crossed my mind, if I remember correctly the concert is on August 13th? At that moment I considered a Pearl Jam concert is worth any price and as I will only be here for another week I just have to be there. Waking up the next morning I turned my computer on and started the search for tickets. Obviously the commercial organisations still had some left. I still had doubts buying tickets through this channel and supporting it by doing so. But, I had to put my moral arguments aside. No way I am going to miss a performance of the best live band in the world! I called a friend and we decided to buy the double priced tickets! It was worth every single cent! Damn, these guys can perform!

They kicked off around 9 with "Eldery Woman Behind the Counter in a small Town" and ended 2 hours and 15 minutes later with "Yellow Ledbetter". During that timeframe they played many songs, I loved the powerfull session during the beginning of the concert. "Black" really was a highlight also as they did not play it in Nijmegen in 2007 and I really missed that. Obviously they have so many good songs they cannot play them all. Well, would be nice to have an 8 hour plus PJ concert! :) It was a brilliant evening last night!

Set List:
Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town
Last Exit
Animal
The Fixer
Given To Fly
Severed Hand
Why Go
Dissident
Brother
Gone
Even Flow
Wishlist
Nothingman
1/2 Full
Black
Got Some
Go

Encore 1
Life Wasted
Better Man (Save it for Later)
Daughter
Lukin
Comatose
Alive

Encore 2
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
Love Reign O'er Me
Do The Evolution
The Real Me
Yellow Ledbetter

Graduation / Heading SA Party

2009-08-08T20:36:00.020+02:00

For a split second it felt like this party was doomed to failure. I first had to postpone my party with 2 weeks being sick like hell for a week. Not a happy memory. I was able to reach everyone in time to cancel the party and re-invite them again. It was unfortunate that just half of the people who would have came on the original date could come today. Anyway, when the new date arrived yesterday I figured out my staircase can also function like a slide. It was my first time missing a step and easily slided down the remaining 12 stairs... A great attraction, NOT! Luckily it only resulted in a bruse on my butt and some other small scratches... The party was finally on! I really enjoyed myself and was very happy bringing together some more great people. It was very nice catching up with all of you and more then enough reason to come back to NL after my 7 month journey!!

A special thanks to Mom for the great snacks! Thanks Mom!

No more Amsterdam (for now)

2009-08-01T20:51:00.008+02:00

After my London adventures also my Amsterdam adventures come to an end, at least for the next 8 months. Again a great experience with great people. It had it moments, sometimes very tough, most of the time very challenging and interesting. Together we also shared a lot of fun moments. I personally marked the day we had coffee in the Vondelpark, we played tennis, we played soccer, we played beach-volley (with a remarkable final and last game), we trained our humor, we went water-skiing, we went skiing, we walked through the redlight district, we celebrated a wedding, we had a serious accident in the car park and quite a few 12.30 lunches. Thanks for that! Allthough they might not be too happy ending up on my blog, find below some of the great people I worked with and with whom I enjoyed my last Accenture lunch:

These Men rock a little bit less - The Eagles

2009-07-18T11:32:00.004+02:00

It was a gift of my parents, going to a concert of The Eagles all together. I must say I was positively surprised, I expected an exact copy of what you would hear listening to one of their albums. I must admit I do not know much about their repertoire despite "Hotel California" and a few other songs. Also must admit when Paul Carrack started to play I thought it were already The Eagles... That explains my knowledge of this band and I can confirm you I was not the only one... Anyway, the first 5 songs were too mellow for me, after they finished Hotel California it started to get much better, with more guitar it became more powerfull music. That's what I like, the power explosions. I enjoyed the evening seeing them for the first time, but can imagine when they show more enthusiasm on stage it can even be better. Allthough incomparable, AC/DC really rocked compared to these guys!!!

These Men still Rock - AC/DC

2009-06-24T16:52:00.006+02:00

Link to my brothers blog for story:
http://woody-duiven.blogspot.com/

Barcelona, Gaudi vs Messi

2009-05-15T10:51:00.021+02:00

In April and May we had a lot to celebrate this year, my dad retired, we celebrated his and my own birthday and on May 8th my parents were 39 years married. Enough reasons to spoil them with a trip to the lively Catalan city of Barcelona. As a surprise I decided to join them. We arrived in the afternoon and after finally finding the train to the City Center I was challenged to speak a word of Spanish again. A pretty easy start, asking where we had to get out of the train: "un pregunta por favor, nosotros gueremos ir a'll estacion de Lesseps, a donde es nescessito salida esta tren?" I said. They understood me perfectly but responded in Catalan, speaking with the speed of a Ferrari and I did not understand a single word she was saying. Well, maybe I understood on which station we had to get off but I responded in English: "Sorry, but I cannot follow, could you repeat that slowly please?" Let's hope I will soon improve my Spanish again during my trip in South America. After we settled our bags we went to do some first sightseeing at the main road "La Rambla". This road almost felt like a place in Holland, tourists only and quite a lot of Dutch speaking people around you. I kept on believing these people were not Dutch allthough knowing better. We spent the remaining days visiting everthing Gaudi designed before he was hit by a tram almost a 100 years ago. One of the highlights of the weekend, other then Gaudi, was supposed to be the championship of FC Barcelona. Everything went well until the extra time of the second half. On Saturday Valencia beat Real Madrid, all Barcelona had to do was win on Sunday against Villareal. My dad and I were witness of a fairly good match in the stadium. At half time Barcelona led 3 to 1 and the 98 thousand visitors were singing "Campeones" out loud, I screamed with them. During the second half Barcelona scored 2 more goals but both were in offsite position according to the referee. The game ended in a 3-3 draw resulting in the postponement of a great fiesta. Allthough we really enjoyed the fabulous moves of players like Iniesta, Xavi and Messi it did end with a certain disappointment. See below some highlights of the weekend in pictures and a short movie. For more pictures go to: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=125355&id=624441256&l=90b92d7a9c

A Way Out - Updated

2009-03-19T20:29:00.004+01:00

More then a year ago, in September '07 I created my first "A Way Out" posting, time for an update! Per the below 'Announcements' posting I made some decisions on a possible Way Out. I have to highlight possible because there are some steps I need achieve first to make this happen. Step 1. finish my final paper - which I am working on right now, believe it or not, just having a short tea break - assuring I can graduate this June. Step 2 will be the easy part, book a ticket and make some travelling plans. So, what does my Ipod tell me this time:

Current Top 5:
1. Racoon - Thinking of You
2. Milow - You Don't Know
3. Patrick Park - Stay with me Tomorrow
4. Powderfinger - Up & Down & Back Again
5. Patrick Park - Saint with a Fever
6. Kings of Leon - Closer (worth mentioning)

Overall Top 5:
1. Saybia - A Way Out (how surprising)
2. Silverchair - Shade (standing strong)
3. Silverchair - Suicidal Dream (still nr 3)
4. Damien Rice - I Remember (lost nr1 position)
5. Jeff Buckley - Dream Brother (same old, same old)

The overall Top 5 is almost unchanged, I am sure one of the current top 5 will reach the overall list soon. Anyway, enjoy Saybia live from Lowlands performing A Way Out:

Announcements

2009-02-20T22:19:00.000+01:00

Most people are alert when they hear the word announcement. What will it concern, who will it concern, can I personally benefit from it, do I like the thought, do I understand what drives this announcement, do I like the person involved? Tons of questions rise in a split second. Yesterday we finalized the full CFM team meeting with an announcement regarding me. During the morning I already had the opportunity to inform the people I am directly responsible for. They were surprised, did not expect something like this but responded in a very positive way.

Yesterday it was announced that I need to give priority to graduate in June and take May and June off to get this done. As this will already be challenging enough next decision is to give myself a reward for doing this. I will come back to work in July and, if approved by leadership, will go on an approved Leave of Absence from August 09 coming back in my Accenture role in April 10. What am I going to do? Another ‘self development’ trip to South America!

Today, I feel very relieved, the word is out, decision made, not yet everyone informed and Accenture did not yet approve my LOA but this will not hold me back from doing this. One thing settled that keeps me awake for some time, some other items still to work on...

Skiing France

2009-02-20T21:36:00.015+01:00

Skiing treated me in a great way this year. Special people, special moments, good atmosphere, a lot of happy moments with a lot of smiling. Great memories. Find below some picture highlights of my first skiing trip to Les Menuires France, a full view can be found using the following link:

http://picasaweb.google.nl/erikvlijm/SkingFrance

Study - Creating Concert Overview

2009-01-02T22:22:00.012+01:00

Instead of doing what I should be doing, studying, I try to find all kind of reasons to do something else. Does that sound familiar or? I actually start positive, I open my final paper document, which currently is nothing more then just 1 page, the front page, and scroll a bit. I must say, the frontpage looks quite impressive now!! I look again, scroll some more and open a webbrowser to check my email, which I also did 5 minutes ago. Nothing new, I need to drink something, maybe a cup of tea gives me the required inspiration. While getting it I find my last concert ticket lying on the table. I should create an overview of all concerts I visited and from which I still 'saved' the original ticket! (That might already sounds a bit crazy??). Anyway, find the overview below and it will take me at least some hours to figure out the concerts I visited for which I did not save the ticket.... What a day.

1 Pearl Jam 06-11-1996 Parkhal Rai, Amsterdam
2 Radiohead 24-06-1997 Vredenburg, Utrecht
3 Manic Street Preachers 29-03-1999 Vredenburg, Utrecht
4 The Cardigans 01-04-1999 Paradiso, Amsterdam
5 Bush 13-06-1999 Tivoli, Utrecht
6 K's Choice 28-06-1999 Carre, Amsterdam
7 Counting Crows 17-10-1999 Melkweg, Amsterdam
8 Live 01-12-1999 Statenhal, Den Haag
9 Bush 19-01-2000 013, Tilburg
10 Pearl Jam 03-07-2000 Ahoy, Rotterdam - cancelled
11 Radiohead 15-09-2000 Goffertpark, Nijmegen
12 K's Choice 01-11-2000 Ahoy, Rotterdam
13 Red Hot Chili Peppers 23-08-2001 Jaarbeurs, Utrecht
14 Live 12-10-2001 Ahoy, Rotterdam
15 Travis 05-11-2001 Vredenburg, Utrecht
16 Bush 29-11-2001 HMH, Amsterdam
17 Coldplay 05-07-2002 HMH, Amsterdam
18 Counting Crows 26-08-2002 HMH, Amsterdam
19 Coldplay 05-11-2002 Ahoy, Rotterdam
20 Counting Crows 04-02-2003 HMH, Amsterdam
21 Saybia 17-02-2003 Paradiso, Amsterdam
22 Red Hot Chili Peppers 19-03-2003 Ahoy, Rotterdam
23 Arid 21-06-2003 013, Tilburg
24 Live + Coldplay 01-07-2003 Goffertpark, Nijmegen
25 Travis 18-11-2003 Pepsi Stage, Amsterdam
26 Madrugada 17-05-2005 Melkweg, Amsterdam
27 Starsailor 12-10-2005 Melkweg, Amsterdam
28 Starsailor 25-11-2005 Paradiso, Amsterdam
29 Ben Harper 22-06-2006 HMH, Amsterdam
30 Pearl Jam 29-08-2006 Gelredome, Arnhem
31 Snow Patrol 05-02-2007 HMH, Amsterdam
32 Damien Rice 20-03-2007 013, Tilburg
33 Pearl Jam 28-06-2007 Goffertpark, Nijmegen
34 Damien Rice 04-07-2007 L'Olympia, Paris
35 Stereophonics 16-09-2007 Tivoli, Utrecht
36 Saybia 04-12-2007 Paradiso, Amsterdam
37 Elbow 25-06-2008 Paradiso, Amsterdam
38 Ben Harper 07-07-2008 HMH, Amsterdam
39 Iron Maiden 16-08-2008 TT Circuit, Assen
40 Saybia 01-11-2008 Paard van Troje, Den Haag
41 Travis 10-12-2008 Melkweg, Amsterdam

Oslo

2008-10-26T14:13:00.024+01:00

Not an overseas flight this year, stayed in Europe to spend some time on getting my final paper for my study started. I certainly started but was hoping to do a bit more then I did in the end. Good thing was I also planned a short trip to Oslo to visit a friend who moved to Norway and signed a local contract with Accenture.

I arrived Thursday late afternoon and met Jan Willem at 'Nasjonalteatret'. For those of you who are not that good in understanding Norwegian that is the National Theatre. :-) Later that evening we ate a hamburger at a local pub named 'Donalds' and had a few drinks with two other Dutch guys. JW and I had one beer and the other two Dutch guys drank 4 cocktails in the meantime. Thank god I do not fancy cocktails! On Friday we did some Oslo sightseeing and prepared for some serious workout on Saturday. The Oslo surroundings are perfect for some serious mountainbiking! We left around 11 and before we could go offroad we had to climb approximately 8 km of asphalt first. Ok, this certainly is different from cycling in a flat country like NL.... We entered the forest not knowing (or at least I did not know) we still had in about 20 km of climbing infront of us!!! Damn, this was killing me! I was happy my efforts paid out, the first stop showed great views and also the hot chocolate including a Norwegian waffle were well deserved! Luckily the second part of the trip went more down...! That saved the day! Tired but satisfied we arrived at JW's place and ate some local sausages with potato pancakes with ketchup and mustard. Great shit after 50 km of cycling! On Sunday we ended my trip visiting the 'vikingskipshuset' museum. You can hardly imagine the Vikings were able to travel overseas with such a simple manufactured boat! Find below some pictures of a great Northern weekend!

Opa's 80th Birthday

2008-02-22T10:23:00.007+01:00

Link to my brother's blog:

Opa 80 jaren jong!

No more London

2008-01-31T12:53:00.006+01:00

My last project assignment on the Sirius Unilever deal was a great experience. Not only from a financial perspective but also working out of the Accenture London office once in a while was very nice. The days I spent there were usually long, exhausting though very enjoyable. This week was my last week working on the Sirius Programme. We gathered all together for a team meeting and a "say goodbye" dinner, unfortunately not in London, no, the Unilever location "Port Sunlight" in Liverpool was chosen. I will not leave Accenture, they offered me another challenge as CFM Teamlead C&HT. Find below some pictures of the great people I worked with:

Talkin' Thai - Phuket Thailand

2007-12-27T20:43:00.000+01:00

After the Bay Islands and Cozumel it was about time to discover the underwater world again somewhere else, somewhere warm and sunny, somewhere colourful, somewhere "coralfull", somewhere with tons of fish, somewhere I've never been before, somewhere like Thailand! The flight first took us somewhere sandy, we did a stopover in Muscat, Oman to drop one of the few Dutch people who were not going on this bargain holiday to Phuket. Try to imagine what a Boeing 767 filled with over 250 Dutch looks like and put me on a seat somewhere in the middle... Anyway, we arrived late in the afternoon and after separating everyone a bus took us to Patong Beach, the town where I was staying. Patong was bigger then I thought and very, very touristy. The hotel (Graceland Resort) really was brilliant, I had a nice and comfortable room with a very funny view, not a beach view room, no, I had a room overlooking the hotel staff dormitory! After I informed myself on all the diving possibilities here I rented my gear and decided to plan 5 diving trips up front keeping a day of relaxing in between the dives. First dive at "Racha Yai" was particularly not a good one to start with. We were diving with an Australian family and dad was able to "litterly suck" all his air in less then half an hour on this max. 18 meter dive! He "forgot" to mention this to the dive master and when she asked him and he only had 20 bar left (giving him probably less then a minute diving time) it was obvious he needed more air then he still had left to do the standard safety stop!! The dive master shared her air with this gentleman and that gave us a total diving time of 48 minutes. Back on the boat we enjoyed the lunch and obviously talked about the incident on the first dive. With the others I decided to dive apart from the group, making sure we would not be bothered again. Before we jumped in the water for the second dive we were surprised by four dolphins passing by! It was the first time I ever saw wild dolphins so that was one of the highlights this holiday! As we entered the water only 5 minutes from when we saw the dolphins it was unfortunate we did not see them under water.

But diving can even be worse then diving with an "airsucker". On my second diving day we went to a place called "Anemone Reef". This suppose to be very colourful with allot of fish and obviously anemones. I was not privileged to see this thanks to my dive master.... I admit the visibility was less then 3 meters but I never experienced a dive master going into the opposite direction! Next to sand and water the only living thing I saw this dive were my fellow divers! After 28 minutes we decided to abort the dive and return to the boat. I couldn't believe the dive master did not know where to go! Luckily the second dive of that day was one of the best dives this trip at "Shark Point". A spot with 3 pinnacles and a maximum depth of 22 meters. Highlight was a Leopard Shark lying quietly in the sand. After everyone saw the shark I was able to move in closer making sure it would move. He swam right at me, that was a great moment! The 3rd dive of the day was one to quickly forget again. This time the dive master ran out of air because he was looking for something underwater. He was swimming like a madman and ran out of air before his group and as I was closest by the two of us did a safety stop together and finished this dive after only 32 minutes, leaving half of my tank useless. Luckily for me all the remaining dives were without incidents seeing turtles, a tigertail seahorse!, sting ray, banded sea snakes, octopus, allot of different morray's, scorpionfish, lionfish and cuttlefish and tons of other colourful fish like "Nemo" and scary triggerfish (with teeth that can bite your ear off!). Another highlight was my last dive at "King Cruiser". An 85 meter passenger ferry that hit Anemone Reef and sank to a maximum depth of 32 meters. Here we truly saw a wall of thousands of fish.

Offcourse I also enjoyed the Thai food, all the massage, "tuk tuk", and handmade suite offers every single day! Also the touristic trip to the Phi Phi Islands where the movie "The Beach" with lovely Virginie Ledoyen was filmed was great. A beach full of people and powered speedboats blocking most of the water was great! Find below some of my nicest pictures:

New Underwater Cozumel Pictures

2007-11-10T13:16:00.000+01:00

Almost a year after that brilliant diving experience in Cozumel a Japanese diving buddy sorted out all her pictures and send me some underwater shots of the days we dived together! They are so beautiful that I simply must post them here!! Thank you Ryoko Hayashi, all the credits are for you!

A Way Out

2007-09-08T11:18:00.000+02:00

The title might sound a bit terrifying but no worries, I'm far from looking for A Way Out..... It's the name of a song I listen to the most currently, it comes from Saybia's new album "Eyes on the Highway". The song builds itself up in a way I like it the most, start slow, end powerfull. Matching lyrics make this song another "five star" song in my Itunes library. Let's hope they soon will perform it live in Amsterdam.

Current top 5:

1. Saybia - A Way Out

2. Travis - 3 Times And You Lose

3. Paolo Nutini - Autumn

4. Travis - Eyes Wide Open

5. Stereophonics - Mr Writer

Overall top 5:

1. Damien Rice - I Remember

2. Silverchair - Shade

3. Silverchair - Suicidal Dream

4. Damien Rice - Woman Like a Man

5. Jeff Buckley - Dream Brother

I will finish this posting with my mom being a daredevil, the pictures explain itself, no more words needed:

Paris: "Damien Rice and Rodin"

2007-07-04T22:03:00.000+02:00

2 days after that brilliant concert from Damien Rice in Tilburg late March I decided to book tickets for another concert in Paris. That show was last Wednesday. We left around 10 in the morning and expected to be in Paris around 3 pm. Unfortunately it took us 40 minutes to cross one single street downtown Paris!! Finally we arrived at our Hotel, which was situated accross the street of the famous "Moulin Rouge". We freshed up a bit and prepared ourselfs for another legendary concert. Offcourse, after seeing Pearl Jam a week ago it was a bit difficult to adjust, My brains kept on repeating the lyrics of "Rockin' in the Free World" instead of songs like "Amie", "Volcano" or "The Blowers Daughter". Walking to the venue we passed the "Opera" building, a great piece of architecture. When we arrived and walked towards stage it was funny to see that allot of french students who arrived early were sitting on the floor. It was even more funny that I was, with my 1.75 cm, one of the tallest people! No annoying rows of Dutch people standing in front of me this time! I guess the French were annoyed by me this time! Anyway, this concert was incomparable with the first time I saw Damien Rice. This concert was good but just could not reach the level of the 1st. In the beginning I missed Bell X1 as a support act, this time Vivienne Long played a few songs including the one I was impressed by before "Random Man on the Motorway". This time it could not impress me, it was different hearing it even before Damien came on stage. In Tilburg they performed this song close to the end, it then was way more special. When Damien came on stage they started with some "quiet" songs and they really came loose during "Me, My Yoke" and "Woman like a Man" which I thought was the best song that night. Damien finished it off with some "theatre play" during "Cheers Darlin'", a waiter came on stage and served him some french wine and a cigarette. I thought this was a bit over the top but the French offcourse loved it! In the end it was a great, special evening in Paris. Lucky for us there was more to come, Paris itself!

Next day, a nice French breakfast was served at the hotel, we were still a bit sleepy but that changed very fast. We decided to go and look for Le Tour Eiffel (I must say it was not really hard to find) and walk from there to the Rodin Museum. Offcourse you all know that Auguste Rodin (1840 - 1917) was a master sculptor who made famous sculptures like "The Thinker" and "The Kiss". The sculptors were surrounded by a beautiful Garden and exhibition house. After two hours and seeing allot of Rodin his famous work we walked to the exit. That was quite a funny moment, I was waiting for my friend, who was bying something from the shop, and then of a sudden Damien Rice with I assume his girlfriend past me and left the museum. So for all of you who did not know, Damien is into art and history and off all museums in Paris he decided to go see the work of Auguste Rodin, just like us! Funny moment. At night we had a great diner at a restaurant called "L'Annexe" (http://www.lannexe-montmartre.fr/) close to the Sacre Coeur. If you are planning a trip to Paris I can really recommend this restaurant, their "Papillotte de poisson et légumes" was excellent! On Friday we visited the house of Honoré Balzac (1799 - 1850) who was a nineteenth century French novelist. We had different expectations, we expected to see how he had lived and what kind of furniture and art he had in his house but it was more a museum about his work. In two full days in Paris we have seen allot, walked allot and drank a few beers and French wine. Saturday afternoon we drove back home, it was a great trip.

PJ keeps on Rockin' in the Free World

2007-06-30T21:22:00.000+02:00

Mark this date: 28th of June 2007 - Nijmegen The Netherlands - Pearl Jam in the Park. One word: Legendary! And legendary it was! A suppose to be rainy day started off very sunny!! That already was a good start and the first band playing on stage, Perry Farrell, was surprisingly good too. The other two bands, Kings of Leon and Incubus were a little bit disappointing, I personally expected more from these bands, to me it felt like they simply completed their set list and disappeared. Less then 4 hours later "Release" hit the venue, 30.000 people waiting desperately for Pearl Jam to come on stage! They came on stage playing "Go", and after that a bunch of other true old school grunge songs followed! Eddie honered a Dutch fan who died in the Roskilde incident 7 years ago by playing "Better Man" for the family who were present. Impressive moment. Eddie was like how we know him, against everything that has to do with Bush and his politics, screaming "No More War", emotional, active and thankfull to the audience making it possible for him to live this kind of life. It was a concert with many highlights but "Rocking in the Free World" and "Corduroy" were one of my personal favorites. What a show, what a performance, I can't name a better (live) band. It was legendary....

Full Setlist:
Release
Go
Hail Hail
World Wide Suicide
Whipping
Do the Evolution
Given to Fly
Not For You
Wishlist
Even Flow
Insignificance
Unemployable
Jeremy
Nothingman
Better Man / Save it for Later
Corduroy
Who Go

Encore 1:
Comatose
Daughter / Another Brick in the Wall/War
Leash
Rearviewmirror

Encore 2:
No More
Blood
Alive
Rockin' in the Free World
Yellow Ledbetter

Dad's Skydiving Adventure

2007-04-27T10:25:00.001+02:00

When my dad turned 60 last year I gave him a book with a note in it. Pick yourself a date and we go skydiving! Everything starts when you turn 60! So far he didn't pick a date so I decided to help him a little bit. On his 61st birthday it was his time. I called him early in the morning telling him he needed to pack a bag and bring a toothbrush. He did not have a single clue. Arriving at their place I told him we were going to skydive this afternoon. He was surprised but in the end expected it after my phonecall earlier that morning only bringing a toothbrush confused him a bit.... After a quick briefing and an equipment check we entered the small plane to go to an altitude of 9000 ft (3 kilometers). I had to go first. It was a bit strange hanging out of a plane at an altitude of 9000 ft but before I could imagine we jumped into the big hole. Damn, what an experience having a free fall for over 30 seconds, I can assure you 30 seconds feels like ages, it was amazing! After the free fall it becomes very quiet, not as quiet as diving can be but certainly more impressive, hanging in a deep blue sky with nothing more than a parachute. My dad left a minute after me with a cameraman hanging only one meter below him! Who could have thought he would do a thing like this at his 61st birthday having no fear at all!! Something I sure can admire. He had the time of his life, he enjoyed every minute of it and, like me, was stoked when we hit the grass again. What an experience...!

Watch it on Video:

Damien Rice 013 Tilburg

2007-03-20T20:58:00.000+01:00

s' Middags scheen het zonnetje nog heerlijk, al dagdromend reden we van Amsterdam naar Tilburg. Letterlijk dagdromend want ik had niet in de gaten dat er zich voor me een file vormde, moest plotseling bot op de rem maar gelukkig waren de remmen van mn nieuwe leaseauto van goede kwaliteit. In Tilburg aangekomen hadden we wat moeite een goed restaurant te vinden maar waar we uiteindelijk belanden was het eten van erg goede kwaliteit. Rond 8 uur de zaal opgezocht en een mooi plekje uitgekozen. Het voorprogramma in de vorm van Bell X1 (oude band van Damien Rice) was al begonnen en klonk erg goed. Rond 21.15 gaan opnieuw de lichten uit en betreed Damien Rice het podium en openen ze met B-side "The Professor & La Fille Danse". Wat een geluid zeg, fantastisch! Na het derde nummer dringt het tot me door dat Lisa Hannigan er deze keer niet bij is. Ik ben kort even teleurgesteld maar het is duidelijk dat Damien samen met hoofdrolspeler celliste Vyvienne Long het ook zonder Lisa afkunnen. Tuurlijk mis je het fantastische samenspel tussen die twee maar voor dit concert was het als een verschil tussen een dikke 9 en een 10. Vyvienne zorgt er voor dat de lachspieren van het publiek ook in beweging komen door haar eigen nummer "Random Man On The Motorway" te spelen. Haar stem past precies bij haar vertoning, erg lief en schattig. Wat een verbluffende show geven ze hier weg. In 2 uur tijd worden zo'n beetje beide cd's volledig afgewerkt. "9 Crimes" heeft Damien voor de toegift bewaard, ook zonder Lisa een geweldig nummer. Het lijkt nu bijna afgelopen maar onder het genot van een glas champagne ter gelegenheid van de verjaardag van gitarist Joel spelen ze toepasselijk "Cheers Darlin" en komt er nog een tweede toegift door zonder enige geluidsversterking "Cannonball" te spelen voor een muisstille zaal. Conclusie, fenominaal!

Costarican Adrian in Amsterdam

2007-02-17T20:04:00.000+01:00

Diving Megiko

2007-01-05T20:23:00.000+01:00

Mi Casa Oud West Amsterdam

2006-12-31T21:07:00.000+01:00