I love traveling and I love getting to know places as they really are, try to look behind the curtain, the first impressions. People that visit other countries with organized tours often miss it all.
As some people prefer going with tours as its an easier choice for some, there is now good news for for those people. My good friends from AIESEC days just started an eco-tourism company and provide authentic experiences. Check them out: Reisid Vabadusse
It's my 4th day in Mexico. Yesterday I went to see Chitzen Itza, once a powerful Mayan city of 50,000. It was impressive. I've put together a video of my experince there (its 18 min total, just to let you know):
I started my month-long trip from Cancun, Mexico. Arrival went smoothly. The immigration lines were huge, the advertising on the airport walls had spelling errors. After I had bought my bus ticket to town, I noticed that it said "Niños" (children) and the ticket price mentioned was 2x less than what I paid. So that's how they're making some extra pocket money. The bus driver let me on board with it, so he was in on it too. I didn't mind. We're all in this together.
As I hardly have any agenda and deadlines, I am not in a hurry to do anything. So I decided to walk from the bus station to my hotel. Even though I had looked it up on the map before, I still managed to get lost and it took me 2 hours to get to the hotel. But again - as I am not in a hurry, it was a good way to get to know the city. I discovered that people are friendly and helpful, everyone I asked for the way responded kindly.
The city reminds me a lot of Panama City, the older parts (not historical, but older), so I felt right at home. I was anticipating to have at least some problems of integration, but none. Speaking Spanish sure helps.
Today I spent the day on the beach. The beach area, known as the hotel zone, is of a different league. It's kind of a mix between Dubai and LA - expensive, off-limits to poor people who actually live there, and very American (every American chain you can imagine is there). Of course, its full of Americans too. The two second largest groups that I noticed where Japanese (there was even a dedicated Japanse hotel with Japanse staff and all) and Russian.
While the law says the beaches are public and for everyone, the hotels don't think so. Every hotel on the beach has tried to make the access to the their beach impossible for non-guests. Since mine isn't on the beach (I wanted to stay near the bus station for easy travel), that was frustrating. The first one I tried to enter was all inclusive, so naturally they didn't want me on their beach (even though I tried to walk in like a guest).
Second hotel - no problemo. Being a blond white dude I just walked in and to the beach, picked my beach chair and enjoyed. Peace lasted until I ordered some drinks. They kept on insisting that I reveal my room number. While contemplating taking a shot, I chose a safer route and said I'm here with a friend, don't remember the room number, but the name is Cassidy Williams. That was sufficient. Got my drinks, paid in cash and all was good.
I watched the new movies about Che Guevara (both part 1 and 2). What a great story, what a great movie. I must say Benicio del Toro does an amazing job.
Movies have power. Some make you want to drink wine (Sideways), some white russian (Big Lebowski) - so this movie makes you want to smoke cigars. And to join a revolution.
Anyways, I recommend you see this movie.
Vatican has recently announced that they agree Darwin was right and that the threory of evolution is a story of what actually happened, man did evolve from ape.
The Vatican also dealt the final blow to speculation that Pope Benedict XVI might be prepared to endorse the theory of Intelligent Design, whose advocates credit a “higher power” for the complexities of life (naturally they still say god created the evolution, they did not render themselves obsolete, yet).
This leads me to some questions.
- Will some Christian schools continue to teach "intelligent design" even though Vatican itself said Adam and Eve is a fairytale?
- Will the Republican Party in the US ackowlegde this and change their position? (During the last elections when the Republicans were still choosing their candidate, a question was asked from the candidates whether they believe every word that Bible says, and most said "yes")
- If Adam and Eve were not created by god, then doesn't that mean a whole bunch of stories in the bible (Cain, Abel etc) were now officially declared... well, just stories - no more real than Red Ridinghood?
On a side note - Estonia was just declared the least religious country in the world, followed by Sweden, Denmark, Norway. Finland is also among the top. These Nordic countries care and provide the most for their citizens. Nowhere else in the world the social system is so good. Nowhere else the living standard is so good. Education is free (including higher education). Healthcare is free. People of Denmark are also the happiest in the world. Yet what is missing is religion. The values of helping each other out, caring for the poor and the sick and the less fortunate is the centerpiece of these societies. Yet religion is not on the picture. On the other hand, the most religious countries in the world are also among the poorest. Or care the least about their citizens (each man for himself).
Could it be that when you rely on god to take care of things, nothing much happens... but when you start relying on yourself to get things done, all good things come to be?
I'm now finally going on the trip I've been thinking about in the past couple of months. The theme of my trip is "In the search of the Mayas". I have my one-way ticket to Cancun, Mexico, hang out there for a few days and then continue my trip south.
I plan to visit the main Mayan sites in the area, see the local life and culture as much as you can in such a short period of time. After seeing the Yucatan part of Mexico, I'll head to Belize and then Guatemala. Depending on how fast I travel, I might also go to El Salvador and Honduras.
All in all I plan to be in that region for a month.
Now the important question: does anyone have good contacts in that part of the world? Send me an email if you do. Cheers.
So I was here (in the US) for the Superbowl. Not too much is known about it outside the US, but here its BIG. "People go crazy!", I was told. But as with everything in life, not everybody cares that much about the same things.
The event I attended had a decent amount of people, but only like 2 people in the crowd knew American football well, but even they didn't care that much. Of course the Texan team (Dallas Cowboys) was not playing, so that contributed to the people not caring that much. It was mostly about food, beer and being together.
(Isn't that like always the case with any event? Christmas? Eid? Jaanipäev? Birthdays? There is something magical about food, drink and being together).
One of the best things about the Superbowl is supposedly the commercials they play during the breaks. Companies pay millions for them. And often they create special commercials just for the Superbowl. This year - I wasn't impressed. Some were funny, a lot were confusing, but all in all I think that was a huge waste of money. People watch the commercials for entertainment and hardly pay any attention to the brands. The one I liked the best was only 1 second long for a beer called High Life. In the commercial a guy shouted "High Life!".
The funny thing for me was that they called the winning team the champion of the world. I can invent a sport, play it in my kitchen and be the champion of the world too! I understand that the US is the only country playing it, but still. If you're using the fact that nobody else plays, why stop with the world? Be intergalactical champion! Champion of the universe!
Maybe next time I'll try to go with a diehard group, just to see if its any different from lets say (real) football final, (the real) World Cup. Yes, I'm biased.
Exercise is good. Since I started my new healthy lifestyle on October 1st, I've lost 9 kg of excess weight and gained in strength and general fitness level. Feels food.
In the next coming days I will be launching also the first product in a series of online fitness programs that I am developing along with Dr. Bomben. If you want to get a firm butt, then look no further.
When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bike. Then I realised that The Lord doesn't work that way, so I stole one and asked him to forgive me.
"To find out what you love to do demands a great deal of intelligence; because, if you are afraid of not being able to earn a livelyhood, or not fitting into this rotten society, then you will never find out. But, if you are not frightened, if you refuse to be pushed into the groove of tradition by your parents, by your teachers, by the superficial demands of society, then there is a possiblity of discovering what it is your really love to do. So to discover, there must be no fear of not surviving."
Krishnamurti, 'Think On These Things'.
Like many of you, I have made a habit to myself to watch TED videos every now and then. While I knew of Eve Ensler and her work before, this video was breathtaking. Once again it made me realize how each one of us has a choice in this life. The choice between playing small (have a job, go to the grocery, buy bread, watch tv) and playing big (change the world). The amazing thing is that the people who do change the world are not that much different from the rest by their intellectual capabilities, wealth, power or other factors. The main difference is that those people have decided to do something, to create positive change.
I've spent 3 Christmas's in the last 4 years abroad - away from home. And not a single one of them felt like "real Christmas" (especially when its like +25 outside!). All the elements were there - food, presents, Christmas tree, music, good people. But still. So I guess nothing can be an equally good substitute to a Christmas that you grew up with. We have this emotional stamp in the brain, formed in the childhood when Christmas was so very exciting.
So next year Im going to spend Christmas at home again to experience that sweet emotion that I consider Christmas feeling.
Am I playing too small, I asked myself? After giving it some thought, I decided that I will change the world. After all, its possible. And I have a vision I want to realize. I'll tell you all about it later.
If I haven't changed the world by the time I'm forty, I'll become a painter.
What has kept me from writing into this blog more often is the fact that I put more focus right now into my business blog on internet marketing. So sometimes even when I have had something to say, I haven't as it seems difficult to find the time.
So Im changing the format - mostly for my own fun. Im gonna try twitter-style postings (a bit longer still) that capture the essence of what I am thinking right now and what I want to say to the world (yes, that includes you).
It's Friday night and I feel I've been working too much recently. So I decided to stop. For the night, at least (and watch "Pay It Forward" which I haven't still for some reason).
Look at this scene:
The other day here in Hawaii we were looking for a restaurant to get some food, and we stumbled upon a really great one which happened to be packed. What the hell, we wondered. Then we realized: it was lunch time (on Monday). When you live your life as you please then you start to forget about these things - that people follow a certain routine.
They wake up with an alarm clock to go to work. They have a set lunch hour. And then they get to go home. This reality seems so far from me now. I have forgotten what it was like to have a job like I have forgotten what it was like to wear glasses. I am so much used to my current reality.
I was talking to Sarah yesterday and we acknowledged how lucky we are. Some of our age people are still making the transition into the world of jobs (from the world of studying), we have already transitioned out of it.
I love my life and I love what I do. Like the saying goes: if you love what you do you, you won't work for a single minute in your life. It's all a fun adventure.
Hawaii is a kind of a paradise. It has what you would expect from a postcard beautiful tropical place - white sands, teal color water and lots of palm trees. But it's so much more diverse. We're on a Big Island (Hawaii) right now and its amazing. It has mountains, live volcanos (heading to see flowing lava soon), arid deserts, forests, jungle, green hills. Also it has several seasons at the same time. Its hot and sunny on the beaches on one side of the island, raining on the other side and cool and chilly up in the mountains (even snowy).
The local beer is amazing. The local coffee is great - I'm learning a lot about the world famous Kona coffee (and drinking a lot too). We went to a coffee festival today and I got to observe the judges comparing different coffees in a competition. I was told there are more than 200 different fragrances and tastes to coffee that the pros can tell. Coffee world is a lot like the wine world.
Hawaii is amazing for snorkeling and diving. Ive seen a lot of colorful sea world representatives and amazing sights. Today I saw an eal eating an octopus - not more than 1 meter away from me.
Hawaii is definitely a place where one could live. Even though the cost of living is relatively high (the transporation of good to Hawaii increases the price of everything), I and everybody Ive met is truly happy here. The quality of life is just so much higher when you live in a beautiful place.
Being back in the tropics (after being away for 6 months) made me realize how much Ive fallen in love with it. I feel so light and happy in the midst of the lush greenery and beauty like nowhere else. I am more determined than ever to buy my tropical paradise of my own - just need to visit now all the possible locations to decide on one:)
Some random videos:
I spent the of the election day among Americans. The whole day felt like Christmas. It was a cool experience for me to witness the atmosphere of the night and the sincere joy when Obama won. He has instilled hope like no other. People feel this is the beginning of a new era.
I've been in Austin now for over a month. Life has slowly taken a "normal" route. Highlights of the past 30 days:
Three and a half months I spent in Estonia went by quickly. There is always something magical about being home - and it is easy to get used to it. Even though I have been away for most of the time for the past 3 years, its always great to come back and find that all the people close to you are still close. And some even closer now.
