Travel story - Machu Piccu

A short notice on what to keep in mind during a 4 days walk in the peruvian wilderness.

A girl once told me about her trip to Machu Piccu.
Before the 4 day walk she was told to get a carrier for her bag. She said "no no. Don't you think I can carry my own bag?" After a few hours they reached a village, and she was exhausted. Her guide found her a carrier and happily she gave him her bag.

As they arrived in the camp the same evening the carrier was sitting by the fire and her bag was safely in her tent. The next day the sun was shining as the carrier went off for the next campsite. As the company continued their walk everything was fine, but after a few hours some raindrops fell down the sky.
A short while later the rain was pouring as it does in the peruvian wilderness, and her rainwear was in the bag. She asked her guide if the carriers was far ahead of them, maybe she could run to get her rainwear.
"They are probably already at the campsite" he said.
"And how long before we're there?"
"About four hours."

As they arrived at the campsite her bag was in the tent, dry and safe. She was pouring wet and it took the rest of the journey for her shoes to dry.

Moral of the story:
Always keep your rainwear close to you.

Couch Surfing

Last night I attended a couch surfing party in Sundsvall. We were only four people there, although there are 104 couch surfers rgistered in the city. Still, we had a great time sharing our experiences. I became a couch surfer member in april 2010, and I still haven't had the oppotunity to sleep in someone's couch, and this summer a few people asked me to show them around Sundsvall, but I wasn't in town during summer. So this was actually my first meeting with other surfers.

For you who does not know what couch surfing is:
It's a global network of people sharing their couch. Some give you breakfast too, and the guys from yesterday told me one man once gave them both breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's free to join and easy to come in contact with people. It's also a great way to meet new people in the city you live in.

My original plan was to find surfers in the Gambia who was willing to let me sleep on their couch, but my plans changed and the trip went to Morocco instead. I didn't find any surfers in Asilah or Imlil, so I never got the chance to try.

One of the guys from yesterday is a jester and on his last tour he had been couch surfing every night.
Right now, I can't wait until I have the opportunity to travel again and try this kind of experimental way of living and travelling.