It looks like a dangerous place!

It is my very first time in Latin America. Before I left I thought that Costa Rica and Panama would maybe be a bit like Spain. But apart from the language, everything seems to be very different.
My first stop was San Josè in Costa Rica. I took a flight from Frankfurt, Germany to San Josè because this international airport is closer to Boquete (where the hotel is located) than the airport in Panama City. However, Condor did not want to let me fly with them because I did not have a return flight from Costa Rica or a visa for it. Well, I knew in advance that you need some kidn of return flight when you go to Costa Rica and Panama without a visa, so the hotel had already acquiered a fake one for me (it was from Panama City to Frankfurt). But when I wanted to check in at the Condor counter and they asked me for a return ticket and I told them that I have one from Panama City they said that this is not enough because that wouldn't prove that I'll be leaving Costa Rica. I was a bit confused because when it says that I'm flying back to Germany, it also proves that I'm leaving Costa Rica, doesn't it? Well, I told her that I'll be leaving Costa Rica in two days to go to Panama and that my friend has already bought a bus ticket, but that I did not print it out because I thought that it's not necessary. So, although the lady said that a bus ticket would be sufficient, she sent me to some counter for last minute flights and he offered me to book a flight from San Jose to David in Panama and cancel it right away and that I would only have to pay the cancellation fees of 150€. (By the way, I know that the price for the flight itself is only 100€, so the cancellation fees are totally ridiculous!!!) But I told him that I just need a place to print out my bus ticket because it's still in my e-mail-account. Luckily, the guy was nice enough to go into my mail-account and print out the picture if the bus ticket my friend had sent me. I went back to the Condor check-in, but to a different counter. That guy said that he had to check with his boss, if the picture of a bus ticket is enough prove that I'm leaving the country. After having been at the counter for a while, he came back and said that it won't work although the bus ticket had my name and passport number on it. I couldn't believe it and complained and when he wanted to send me to the last minute counter again, I again mentioned that I already have a return flight from Panama City. Suddenly, he brightened up and wanted to see it. He again went to his boss and when he came back, that this is totally fine and that I can now check-in. I was soooo relieved, but still did not understand why the first lady told me that this ticket is not sufficient.
After 10 hours in an airplane with very tiny space for your legs, we stopped in Santo Domingo to refuel and drop off / pick up a few people. We had to wait at the terminal for 2 hours, but it turned out to be not boring because some people started playing Latin American music.
Two more hours in the plane and we landed in San Josè. The airport was as chaotic as the city itself. Fortunately, my Costa Rican friend Sergio picked me up and drove me through the morning rush hour to his house. Although I was totally jetlagged, I wanted to see the nice parts of Costa Rica So we went to the Volcano Irazu which is just 40 km away from San Josè. Up there (3400 m high) it was much colder and windier than in the city, but it was very beautiful! And it was so high up that we were above the clouds of the rainy season.

Sergio went crazy with his camera while we were up there. So, here are a few of his pictures:

On our way back down we had a very good meal for very little money in a good restaurant!

However, then I got so tired that I had to take a nap in Sergio’s bed. After that I felt a bit better and we went to a shopping centre of that colorful city. There I was amazed by the cheap prices. But unfortunately, I can’t really do much shopping because I will continue travelling and I have enough stuff to carry around already. We also went to a grocery store and when Sergio parked his car in front of it, I saw a police woman walking around. She was there to prevent people breaking into the cars. All in all, San José made a pretty dangerous impression to me. I would not have liked to walk around there by myself all day. The city is not very pretty or very clean. All the houses have big bars in front of them and some even barbed wire on top.

And when I asked if San Josè also has those slums where people live in little huts made out of scraps of wood and metal without running water and electricity, he answered with: “Of course. Do you want to see it? Because I’m not taking you there. Most of the time the police or ambulance doesn’t go there because it’s too dangerous.”
For the night we were planning to go out for a drink or two. But while watching a movie, we actually both fell asleep and I was so tired that I did not feel like going anywhere. So I tried to get a few hours of sleep before I had to get up early to catch my bus to David in Panama.
I will go to San Josè, the latest when after my 6 months in Panama are up and I have to catch my flight to the US. And next time I'll hopefully be less tired and can enjoy the Costa Rican nightlife!

Goodbye Finland!

It's my last day in Finland and tomorrow morning I'll sit in an airplane to Germany.
I definitely had a nice summer here although the weather wasn't always very summerly. Sari and Tommi became like friends to me and I'm sure we'll stay in contact. And I will miss the cuddly Arttu and the alcohol I was having every night! :-P Here I have seen the prettiest sunsets, became fascinated by taking pictures of nature, and used every chance to go swimming in one of the 187 888 lakes of Finland.
I just think it's a pity that I could never really communicate with the boys because they only speak little English and I don't speak Finnish (and language courses don't take place during the summer)! However, I think I did a good job as the first au pair in this house anyway...so good that my host parents will get a new au pair in September! :-P
But there is one thing I definitely will not miss: picking up dead, squashed, but still warm mice from the kitchen floor which were brought in by Klaara, the cat!!!

Medieval Times

Lots of Finns regularly go to Tallinn (Estonia) because the boat cruises are fairly cheap. However, Finnish people don't to go there for sightseeing, but for alcohol shopping. But I heard that the old town of Tallinn is very pretty and that's why I wanted to visit it (and my friend Päivi gladly came with me).
The day started out with rain (as so often in Finland). During the 3-hour ship voyage, it continued to rain and even got worse. The entertainment on board wasn't much better than the weather: the dance bar turned out to be a place for people aged 50 and above who like dancing waltz and the singer with this giutar sang mostly boring songs. So we continously were fighting not to fall asleep.

When we arrived in Tallinn, it was raining cats and dogs and it was super windy at the harbour. My host parents' storm-proof umbrella got partly damaged and our moods were a bit cloudy because it looked like it would never stop. However, we fought our way through the rain to the information to get a proper map and when we stepped outside, the rain had stopped and the clouds began to move away. And without an umbrella one could see so much more of the beautiful town.
Since I have never really heard anything about Tallinn or Estonia, I didn't know what to expect. But I had never imagined such a beautiful, medieval town!!! Most of the buildings from the eleven and twelve hundreds are still there and were kept in a good shape, you can hear medieval music at lots of places, and you can see lots of small alleys. So, in the 6 hours we had in Tallinn we saw: the 600-year old town hall, the Viru Gates, St. Nicholas' Church, the Olde Hansa: a medieval restaurant (Unfortunately, Päivi didn't want to eat there.), St. Olaf's Church, parts of the town wall, the Dome Church, the Stout Margaret Tower, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, and the Toompea Castle (a modern one though) with its tower.

Supposedly, you can have very good meals for small money in Tallinn. Well, not in the tourist-filled old town though! It took us quite a while to find a restaurant with half-way reasonable prices. (And since we only had 6 hours, we didn't want to walt to the new part town and back just for some food.)
The time went by way too soon and back on the ship, the music was just as bad as on the way to Estonia. However, it did get exciting again. The ship needed 3 hours to Tallinn, but 3,5 hours back to Helsinki. And that only left me half an hour to get from the harbour to the bus station. However, the buses don't leave from the harbour every 5 minutes, but have quite big gaps in between. So, when we got off the boat, we ran to the bus. But after we got on, another 50 people wanted to take this bus as well and it was getting later and later. The bus left 10 minutes late and my time to reach the bus station had shrunken to 20 minutes. The bus was supposed to take about 10 minutes to reach the train station and from there it's another 10 to get to the bus station. But luckily the bus took a different route which was much closer to the bus station and after squeezing out of the bus and a fast walk down to the buses, I had just made it in time!