Happy New Year / Gott Nytt År

I want to wish all my friends, in all different time zones, a very Happy New Year!

I believe I'm one of the last one's to enter 2010.

May 2010 bring you health, wealth and happiness!

Again, Happy New Year and Gott Nytt År as we say in Sweden

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

Sent from my iTouch

Crabby

No, I'm not describing my mood! I'm talking about all the land crabs
that inhabitats this motu (island).
As soon as it gets a little cooler in the evening they come out of
their holes in the ground. We have one living on the side of the
terrace. He's one of the really shy ones (which they all are more or
less), while others along the walkway is more.... courageous.

Coming down the walkway, especially at night is rather interesting!
You can hear them everywhere and suddenly there is one right in front
of you with the little claws up in the air, ready to be brave! I'm not
sure what he thinks he can do?! Seriously! Attack? Pinch my toe?
Anyway....














They steal too! I have a pair of flip flopps outside on the terrace and one morning I found one of them in the garden.... Maybe he could not stand the smell all the way to his little house and left it half way! Ha ha ha!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla
Sent from my iTouch

It's Christmas!

Finally Christmas has arrived!

In Sweden we celebrate Christmas on the 24th and the real celebration
usually kicks off by Kalle Anka (Donald Duck) at 3pm. It is a
tradition in Swedish homes since 1959, for the families to gather
around the TV to watch the show together! And its the same show played
every year, with just an additional snippet from the new Walt Disney
movie. There is a great article about this tradition, seen through an
"outsiders" eyes at http://www.slate.com/id/2239252/

After Kalle Anka Christmas begins! In the evening (we are still on the
24th!) Santa comes to your house, knocks on your door and comes in and
hands out presents to everyone (except if you are on the naughty
list!). He sure is a busy man!

Food, food and more food is of course on the schedule too! My
favorites are Janssons Frestelse (janssons temptation, which is a
potato gratin) meat balls, and the Swedish Christmas ham, which there
will be non of, this year.

This year I will go and see a Polyneisan show at the hotel which most
likely will involve drums, dance and maybe some fire! I'm looking
forward to the event tonight! It will be interesting!

But I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, or as we say in
Sweden, God Jul!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

Sent from my iTouch

Hitch Hiker's Guide... In Bora Bora

On Sunday we went to the main island to go to the grocery store that
is open on Sundays. It's located just past the beautiful beach in
Meitera, 8 km from Vaitape, according to someone. The problem is that
we don't have a car or other type of transportation, and walking is
not an option (seriously, who would walk 8 km in 31 degrees celcius,
with stray dogs like pitbulls wandering the streets?!)!

So we managed to squeeze in to a taxi with another couple and we were
dropped off by the restaurant we had decided to have lunch at. Both of
us already knew exactly what to order and we planned to order before
we sat down at the table. When we arrived, they had just closed....!
(to note, it was only 2:40pm. Who closes lunch that early??). So we
had to walk to the next place down the street. When you have already
made up your mind on one thing, anything else is just not the same...
And so was the food at the snack chack!

After lunch we walked over to the grocery store, filled up the
backpack and started to walk towards Vaitape. We knew there was some
kind of shuttle going halfway around the island but had no idea of
what time and from where it was going. There was also no taxis in sight.

As we had not seen any bus stops along the road, it was kind of a
natural instinct to waive down a bus as it passed. And it stopped, and
was I happy or what?! I was still not ready to be chased by dogs.

As we got on we checked if the bus would stop in Vaitape, and sure,
that was no problems. Just down the road from where we got on, the bus
driver stopped to pick up a family of 3. At this point he introduced
us to the people in the bus (a total of 7 people) who all were going
to church! It was mom and pap, kid 1 and 2 and the cousin and grandma!).

I assume it was the church bus we flagged down!

Before dropping us off he told us not to miss the church event the
same evening at 6:30 pm and pointed to a place in the harbour.
Everyone in the bus waived good bye and off they went to church!

I have to say, they sure are friendly people over here, and no, we
didn't go!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

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Back to the Apartment

After 2 days of cleaning, blisters on my fingers and a headache most
likely from the cleaning products used, we have now finally moved back
in to the apartment again! After more glue and the leak should be
fixed! Today, even my body is hurting! But, it's clean and it smells
like lemon (and chemicals! I used a lot!)!

The apartment is very Spartan furnished (not by choise as it was
furnished when we moved in) but in my rant yesterday I moved furniture
around and it actually became more "cozy", in my opinion (well, it is
my blog after all!). Then, some fabrics here and there and it's okej
to live, for now (that wrap shop might come in handy after all!).
Since my moves are usually to the extream I have never moved with
furniture. The furniture I have is still in dad's garage, collecting
dust after 7 years and also spread out over the US! But next time we
might need a container as all the "other" things start to exceed the 2
bags and the allowed weight on the airplane! And it's getting so damn
hard to get rid of things...

The neighbouring house is interesting... Today I beleive the CD player
got stuck on the same song. It was playing over and over on high
volume. At least the song is good, but I'm not sure how long I will
like it if it continues! They have plenty kids and dogs too. The dogs
keep barking and the kids are running like mainiacs, with there hands
above their heads, the hair crazy, tanned little bodies and just
screaming, jumping off the dock into the water. Can you picture them
infront of you? I have to say though, it must be amazing to grow up in
a place like this... Until school age that is!

Well, another day in my world...!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla
Sent from my iTouch

It's not bad living in paradise!

I had a great weekend here in Bora Bora. On Saturday I went for my first swim off my bungalow (I know, I'm ashamed to say it, but that is the truth) and on in the evening we went to Bora Bora Yacht Club for dinner and drinks. Great location, with the tables right on the deck where I watch the sunset while sipping on Margaritas! I had a great time despite the nice but awful service and the food in my taste was just okej...  After dinner we joined another table and had a few local beers, and while some people rocked around on the "dance floor" to everything from Cotton Eye Joe to Latin music, I was just soaking it all in! Last call was at 12am (!!! may I remind you this was on a Saturday night!!). So at midnight it was time to get home. Usually at this point most of us are looking for a car to take us back home... Well, we hooked it up with a captain at another resort, who took us back home. Very odd but very fun! I love all these boat rides! Now I just need my own!

Can't you just see me in one of these, when I go to work??!! 

On Sunday I actually slept in a little and caught the boat by 11am to Vaitape to continue to Matira Beach. By the time we reached there it was lunch time. Matira Beach is just amazing. I am sorry to rub it in for all of you living with rain/snow/cold weather etc. right now, but this beach has white sand, crystal clear water, and you can walk 1 km out before it gets deep (no, I did not walk all the way out there!) . The water is like the water you fill up your bath tub with. It's unreal!

Matira Beach

After a good lunch, an enormous amount of sun screen and still turning red, we decided to head back to the bungalow to do some snorkeling. Amazing as always to see the fish in all different kinds of colors in front of you. After snorkeling and lounging on the deck, watching the sun set, we just chilled in front of the TV for the rest of the night!

Another day in my world, in Bora Bora!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

Laundry Detergent

Living in paradise does not mean paradise living all the time... You still have to do the normal "house" things. But also, what is paradise living anyway??

Today started out with my morning workout (remember that hill and all the steps!) as I had to walk back to the apartment. The view is absolutley fantastic at the top and as soon as I get my computer going I will post some pictures here. To make the workout a bit more challenging today, I brought a really heavy bottle of laundry detergent in my bag! Ugh... Well, I will have some nice muscles both here and there when I'm done with this!

The laundry detergent was of course for my day's activity... Laundry! So, here I was, sorting laundry and about to get the first load going. To my dissapointment I realized that someone had sabotaged the place you put the fabric softer in (it could also be stupidity, but I didn't want to say that, really!). This resulted in that I had to run back and forth to catch the machine on it's last rinse in order to get the softer in. Well, this is how it went: Load 1, totally missd it. Load 2, right on time. Load 3, missed it again. Load 4, not too sure, but at this point, who cares?!

It all came out clean with no visible damage at first sight!

This afternoon I was watching my fish in the "aquarium" (reed ocean) underneth the bungalow, as they were feeding off the corals. As you can see in the pictures in my last post, all bungalows has a terrace that leads to a small dock underneth the house. That's where I was sitting! Small, beautiful, my kind of fish was right there! Black and white, yellow, and other colours. Time to whip out that snorkling gear (or buy one) and the under water camera and get going... By the way.. Do they have a photo-develop-place here on this island??? Good question... I will have to investigate that!

Anyway, that's another day in my kind of paradise living!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla

Tomorrow!

Coming from Sweden and move to the US was big in many ways, but one thing I love about the US is that you can get anything at anytime. Sure, Sweden is not far behind... But moving from the US to a Caribbean island made me realize how "spoiled" one can be and had to adjust to what was there. Sometimes you would go to the grocery store and it was almost empty... Well, the boat just didn't make it, but check tomorrow!

Bora Bora is even smaller... The closest to a clothing store I can get is a shop who sells pareos (wraps) and although the grocery store has most basic products needed I can not find things like onion (you guys who really knows me know how much I love onions!). I am not worried and I am sure I will adjust to this too, as I'm not too "needy" (although I do love shopping!). I am glad I lived in St. Martin before I came here though. Otherwise it would have been too much of a chock I beleive.

This takes me to the maintenance issues I am currently experiencing. We moved in to a temporary apartment on property and right away I realized there was a leak in the bathroom. It was reported and someone was supposed to come and look at it. On Sunday a big guy without any kind of tools (!) (poor guy, he had to walk that zig zag road up, and all the stairs) came to evalute the problem. I showed him, and he stared at it for a moment, with his headset blasting with music, and then turned to me and said "tomorrow". Great! No problem, I understand it's Sunday (I have lived on a French island before after all!) Of course no one came on Monday and after phone calls on Tuesday someone showed up. Again, looking at the leak and concluding, someone would be back "tomorrow"! I'm glad I'm patient!

Finally they did show up on Wednesday, and after gluing (!!!) the dripping pipe they said they had to finnish it the following day. Well, guess what... The glue did not fix the problem and no one showed up today! Not until another phone call was made I found out they would not make it. Thank you for letting me know as I have been waiting all morning. Not to worry though! I'm back in an over water bungalow with an amazing bed!

Loaded up some pic's (as requested!) but unfortunately my damn computer decided not to recognize my card anymore, so there are just a few, for now!

Enjoy the pictures!

Cheers my friends!

Me in Sweden before I left

Flying in over Bora Bora

Over water bungalows                                                         

Ahhh.... That heavenly bed!

You can not beat a vew like this from the apartment

The Backpack and I

Yesterday I was working on my computer, sitting on my terrace facing
an incredible view of the lagoone and the main island of Bora Bora. I
love sitting out there, sipping on my coffee (trying to forget that
I'm actually drinking instant coffee!). In the evening you can hear an
ukulele play on another island, probably at another resort. Very
peaceful....

The weather is about 31 degrees and right now I'm sitting on the dock
in Vaitape waiting for the boat back to my place. There is a nice
breeze here in the shadow. I have ventured out once again as I needed
more grocery. Oh yea... New flip flopps on! And This time I followed
Lina's tip... I brought a backpack!!!

I'm now back home and was that backpack idea great or what!! I looked
like a little school girl with a too big bag, just so I can grow in to
it! LOL! I can't believe I'm about to say this but, who cares!! As
long as it's practical!

Time to snack on some BBQ chips while I finnish the movie on the TV.

Cheers my friends!

Camilla
Sent from my iPod

Workout for the day

So, yesterday we moved from this nice, over water bungalow with the
most comfy bed I have ever slept in to the apartment where we will
stay until we find our own place in paradise.

It's on property, and to get there from the resort you have to walk up
this zig zag little road to the top of the hill and then walk down the
stairs, which contains of about 87 steps ( this according to our
neighbor, and I beleive him!). As our luggage weight over 100 kg
total, we decided not to do that trip. Insted we had a guy come and
pick us up with his boat as the apartments has a dock right outside.
Odd, but fun!

Then I needed to get to the grocery store to get a few things, like
food and cleaning stuff. Oboy, oboy! I hiked up the stairs (remember,
87 steps!) and walked down to the reception dock to catch the boat to
the main island. I was dropped off and walked to the store. So far so
good! I knew I had to think about what I could buy as I had to carry
it all by myself. I got 2 bags of grocery and started the hike back to
the dock in Vaitape (the "town"). My hands were already hurting from
the bags...

The boat came and all was good until they dropped me back off. Now I
had to do the walk up the hill... Ugh... Just after I reached the
hill, my flip flop broke down! After some cursing and attempts to fix
the broken flip flop I decided to take them off and continue my walk.
So here I am, walking up the hill barefoot with 2 grocery bags and my
hand bag. In the last turn an employee came in a golf cart and picked
me up and dropped me at the top of the hill. Not a long rude but was I
thankful or what?! Then I started my journey down hill on the steps.
Did i tell you that it's hot here too? I finally made it to the
apartment and could breath out!

So, another day in my world! It' not easy living in paradise, let me
tell you!!

Cheers my friends!

Camilla
Sent from my iPod

Bora Bora, here I am!

I have finally made it to Bora Bora! The trip was long (Paris to LA toTahiti to Bora Bora) and took about 24 hours. But I'm here now, and I have slept like a rock in the best bed ever!

Right now we are staying in an over water bungalow and it's just amazing... Well, at least I can imagin it beeing amazing... Since yeaterday afternoon the wind has been blowing so much that I get slightly sea sick in my bungalow, which is rocking in the wind. I sit on my beautiful terrace because I have one, but I can't stand it more than 5 minutes at a time. I'm about to blow away! But I have to try it all before tomorrow, as we are moving out of this place to an apartment. I'm going to miss that bed though... Fluffy, comfy, down.... Ahhh... It's the best bed I have slept in for years! And I'm a little nervous about the apartment. Don't think the same bed will be there... But tomorrow I will know!

Yesterday we took the hotel boat to the main island of Bora Bora and then the car around the island to see whats here. Beautiful views around here. But there is next to nothing here... You have a few tourist shops where you can find paeros and t-shirts for 20 euros (!). Oh yea, did I tell you that it's expensive over here? Plenty of pearls too... And I went in to a grocery store just to see... They defenitely have the base products you need but the wallet will feel it. I have a feeling I will not be eating things like cheese for a long time... And a bottle of (70 ml) Absolute was about 25 euros. In St. Martin they sell a liter Absoulte for what, 12 dollars? Cheaper than water over there! It will be a different lifestyle here.

Looking for a place to live as well... Not in a rush though (have only ben here for 2 days!) so I hope we find something nice. We did see (from the outside) these bungalows (not on the water) which looked nice, but we will see. I know people who used to live here, so I'm waiting for them to send me all the good tips!

So, I was thinking of going to the gym, but my mind has almost managed to convince myself, once more, not to go. Funny how that is! Motivation, motivation... I can do it... But the gym is so incredible boring... Maybe I take one of my books instead and read... Reading is good too! What ever I do, I have to do something!

Cheers my friends!