Baltic Adventure part 1: Helsinki and Espoo

This week I made my way to Altoo University (thanks to a grant from Grønt UiO) in Espoo Finland to participate in a two day seminar hosted by the Nordic Sustainable Campus Network. The seminar brought together representatives from several Nordic universities concerned with promoting green issues on and off campus. While efforts such as setting up on-campus recycling programs and making it easier for students to bike to class are positive in of themselves, the most important role these kind of university organizations fulfill is that of providing an example to the rest of society. Needless to say the seminars where very interesting and I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to attend and meet so many wonderful people. Anyway after the conference was done I decided to poke around Helsinki a bit and then head over to Tallinn for a couple days (which I will cover in tomorrows post). Finland was really quite beautiful... though it was incredibly cold; when I arrived the thermostat marked a chilly -22 Celsius. It was however really pleasant and I really enjoyed trekking around the campus snapping photos and then making my way in to those world famous Finish saunas. I have to confess that I thought the whole sauna thing was just a stereotype... well it turns out its not, saunas are everywhere... in most apartments, in student housing dorms, in hotels, community centres, you name it! Being Yucateco the idea of making yourself that hot on purpose (upwards of 80c.) seemed rather counter intuitive... but I have to admit that I came to really enjoy it! Anyway I hope you enjoy the pictures and that you come back tomorrow for the Estonia pics!

Beer run to Denmark

Last week I took an over night cruise to the northern Danish city of Frederikshavn to pick up some groceries and beer in what seems to be turning in to a yearly tradition for me. Though prices are quite a bit lower in Denmark than they are here in Norway, the shopping was really just an excuse to take advantage of the free trip the cruise lines offer during the winter... presumably because they realize it is way to cold for any sensible person to want to travel. The cruise company makes back the revenue by selling over priced food and trinkets in the on-board shops. Yes the food is mediocre, yes its over priced... and yes the selection is not that great, but the prices (and much of the selection) are still better than in Norway so once those shop doors open people just flood through. The the town of Frederikshavn itself is small but fairly nice... however cruise passengers don't really get to see to much of it since only a couple of hours are afforded to exploration and off the boat shopping before the ship is Norway bound once again.In any case here are the pics!

Strugling with winter blues...

Having grown up in the Yucatan I have an odd relationship with "real" winter. On one hand I always thought of it as being fairly neat and exotic, while on the other I really never had any patience for snow or icy roads. What ever sense of wonder or appreciation I may once of had has certainly been exhausted as the low temperatures and dark days characteristic of Scandinavian winter continue to drone on and on... and on and on and on and on. Ok, maybe i am being a tad over dramatic... yes its miserable but at least its starting to get a little better. In any case the only thing to do is get outside and try to make the best of the situation. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Christmas in Moss!

Well after a week and a wonderful Christmas in Moss with Jeanette's family we are back in Oslo! Though of course not what I am used to... Norwegian Christmases are really quite lovely with tons of wonderful food, pastries, cakes and the like. I even enjoyed the weather despite the fact that I despise winter... I even made a snowman, but I guess I did not do that good  a job since everyone kept saying it looked like my snowman had a stroke! Anyway since we had quite a bit of free time I had plenty opportunities to go outside and take some photos... here are the results! Happy new year!

Happy 14th Baktun everyone!

Well its the 12/21/2012 and we are all still here! This entire "Mayan apocalypse thing" has been crazy annoying but at least through all this silliness more people than ever have been made aware of this great civilization. This being said, its important to keep in mind that the Maya are not gone. There are literally MILLIONS of Maya spread out through Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador. The five past five centuries have not been particularly kind to the Maya but Mayan cultures are still thriving (yes plural, there are several) and the Mayan language in the form of its 30 (approximately) contemporary dialects comprise the second most spoken indigenous language in the Americas.

Exploring archaeological sites in Meso-America has for as long as I can remember been one of my very favourite things. Some of my earliest memories are of travelling with my father to sites such as Coba and Uxmal. I have been fortunate enough to visit approximately 100 different sites in Meso-America... the great majority of which being in the Maya Area.

Anyway, I have here posted my photos of 70 different Maya Archaeological sites (four of each). I Hope you enjoy the photos and that maybe they will peek your interest in learning about Mayan archaeology past Chichen Itza

* For some reason the meta-data on the photos seems to have gotten messed up, but if you have any question about any of the sites give me a shout @carlosrosado

Winter...

Well I am back from Mexico and the winter has not hesitated to receive me. The temperatures have indeed been quite cold this year; even by Nordic standards and especially when you consider how mild our last winter was. Alas, it is winter and no amount of complaining will change that. As I am incredibly uncoordinated skiing is not exactly an option for me during this most dreary of seasons, but this is not to say that winter is not without any perks. It is of-course fun to go out and snap photos of the wintery wonderland... however I find the lack of birds and wildlife characteristic of the season as a bit unnerving. In any case Sognsvann (which I have posted photos of many many times on this blog) is indeed quite pleasant this time of year, as it always tends to be. Here are a few photos! Now... I will get back to troll the web for cheap flights to Turkey, Croatia or Spain =)