Category: Celebrating Life

Caroline BachLeave a comment

A taste of the Belize City nightlife

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Saturday night was fun by the way.

We went to Club Elite at the Princess hotel where DJ Private Ryan from Trinidad was playing Soca music and commercial house tunes. The crowd was very young, the place was filled way over its capacity, and the dj was changing the beats a bit too often – but I had a really great night with my new friends from the Danza and Saturday’s bootcamp. We danced and danced and danced. Fun and happy girls!

The selection of nightclubs here in Belize City isn’t the greatest. Apart from the two clubs that are next to each other (Elite and Thirsty Thursdays) and both play the same type of music and host the same young crowd that doesn’t start to dance before it has had enough alcohol by 2am – I haven’t yet found many options.

Apparently there are other places, and I have driven past them a couple of times, but they are referred to as the “ghetto clubs” where somebody gets hurt every weekend and nobody wants to go there. Actually, every single person I have asked says: “We don’t party in Belize City. To have real fun you need to get out – jump over to the islands or take a trip to Chetumal in Mexico!”

That’s not really what I had in mind.. I really like the part of the night when you come home, exhausted and happy, kick the shoes off, take a nice shower, and open the fridge to have some dark chocolate. And a proper breakfast the next day. No checkouts.

I have still not given up, and in the bootcamp I met a Nicaraguan friend who promised that there is a Latino club somewhere. Where people dance bachata. A safe ghetto club.

Caroline BachLeave a comment

Morning after danza!

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Good morning world!

Energy levels still on top, and I’m in my favourite kind of pain!

So I have officially found something that I want to call a routine here in Belize City – if you only knew the immense value of that in an unpredictable reality like mine. So much love for the moves and the beats!

Thanks to Danzarevelation and the super charismatic instructor and booty-popping queen Cricel Castillo. See you next week. :)

Caroline Bach1 Comment

Dinosound

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“Argghh, are we moving somewhere AGAIN?? Ooh.. ooh.. oooh.. wait, never mind, I LOVE the sound of whatever it is you’re playing on this thing right now – let’s go, girl!”

T-Red is apparently ready. He just jumped into my bag along with my new mindblowingly awesome mini speaker.

Audiophile much? Me? Moi? Oui! Yay!


SOHN – Lights
Tremors (2014)

And hey, in case you didn’t notice – the sun is out!

Caroline Bach1 Comment

Stockholm wrap-up

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Met up with Avina and friends yesterday afternoon for after work and then a nice Thursday night in her company and new apartment. It was a short meet up, but great fun – and now I’m on the train back to Malmö.

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Hanging out with Maja, Ava and Zacka for two days was also wonderful. I got to read bedtime stories, I got to be a mouse/elephant/dinosaur, I got a beautiful session of exchange of ideas and feedback on thoughts – and an enormous feeling of warmth, trust and love. And fun.

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I’m happy that I managed to find time for some of the people who matter most to me, and despite it being a very short Stockholm visit, it was a very rewarding and necessary one.

In 10 days I’m travelling to Belize for my new UNICEF contract.

Before leaving, Ava asked whether I would come soon again, or whether she could come visit me in Belize. I explained that I would be travelling 36 hours to get there, (that’s a day and a half!) to which Ava responded that she unfortunately won’t visit me. “That’s just too far and too many hours in airplanes, Caroline.”

I understand Ava’s difficulties with travelling to the Caribbean to visit her big sister, and we promised to Skype – but I do expect some of you darlings to come visit.

There will be palm trees.

Caroline Bach2 Comments

Marseille, Sun and Vertical Fun

So, as you already know, I went to Marseille last week to spend another seven days with Luc. We were combining work with pleasure, trying to get things done while spending enough time in the sun. The wonderful thing about Marseille is that it lies in a beautiful area surrounded by national parks, white rocks and the sea – while being an artsy restaurant, bar and music packed city where strangers happily talk to each other by night. So we had drinks with friends, played wii, watched movies, had dinners and went out dancing after sunset. And by day, when not working, we took little walks and day-trips to the sea. On my last day in Marseille we had a picnic by the beach, and it felt like a perfect summer day.. and then Luc introduced me to his world of rock climbing.

I’ve never climbed before, and I’m a bit afraid of heights – but it was seriously so much fun I can’t wait to go again.

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Bliss and sunny photos

I will share the photos from Marseille tomorrow, dears. It’s been a lousy day that not even an entire bar of dark chocolate was able to fix. But I’ve had a really beautiful evening with hours of rampue remixes and photos – and now it’s time for me to finally get a proper night’s sleep. Can’t wait. Bliss. Good night!

Caroline Bach3 Comments

Birthday messages

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So today is my birthday, I’m in Vietnam, and I just received a letter from myself in 1999.

In the tightly sealed envelope I found a description of what my life looked like at that time, apart from going to school daily from 8am to 2pm.

So I had a nanny who “talks a lot” as my mother was working hard every day from 1pm to 1am, and to fill my afternoons I played tennis on Mondays, piano on Wednesdays followed by religion class, Polish on Thursdays.. and then I was “free” on Fridays and weekends. My father lived in Poland and my poodle and best friend Lucky was three at the time.

Then there was a second note, about what I think (and wish) my life will look like when reading the letter 15 years later. Let’s just say that I’m a beautiful house (with high ceilings), a (kind, caring and funny) husband, two (well mannered but not too nerdy) kids and a bunch of dogs short of making 13 year old Caroline happy.

So my concept of being an adult 15 years ago was obviously very different from what it turned out to be. From tangible things such as a house, wedding, stability and a safe job, being an adult suddenly became the amount of self awareness, balanced rationality and life experience people possess. And just as I at age 16 thought I was so damn old, wise and experienced, I feel much younger and more lost today than ever, without any idea about what will happen next week or where I will be living next month.

Carpe diem and living your dreams and all of that is pretty damn beautiful and teaches you a million things about life, yourself and the world, and I’m forever thankful to myself for the choices I have made and the happiness, people and experiences they have granted me throughout the years – both personally and professionally – but I must agree with 13-year-old Caroline that a home with high ceilings indeed would have been wounderful by now. Being an adult apparently does mean suddenly being attracted to stability.

And then, just as I was finishing this blogpost, there was a knock on the hotel room door. And I got a birthday message not from 15 years ago but from far away. And it seriously couldn’t have made 28 year old Caroline happier. “More happier” even.

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Caroline Bach5 Comments

Venezuela! It’s all about Reggaeton and Guapi.

At some point on the beach in Taganga, while talking about going either east or west, we decided that we probably had enough time to somehow make it all the way to Trinidad and Tobago, passing through Barquisimeto in Venezuela where my old Barcelona roomie Daneff lives. So we did! And Daneff and I instantly reconnected in our talks, and danced to reggaeton, and filled the tank of her car with 40 litres of gasoline for 0,04€. We all went to her apartment on the beach where we cooked and had a proper talk and hangout session, and the next day we went to the beautiful beaches in the Morrocoy National Park and enjoyed the crystal clear water. Daneff also helped us get very cheap flight tickets by paying with Venezuelan currency which has reached an extreme low, so Luc and I passed through the island of Margarita on our way to Trinidad and Tobago, and spent two days there, doing pretty much nothing. “Si no le contestoo!”

Caroline BachLeave a comment

Taganga – another wonderful Hippie Hideout

So here we go again, continuing the photo-series from the one month Colombia, Venezuela and Trinidad & Tobago trip.

We took a minibus from Cartagena that took us all the way to Taganga, and found ourselves in a genuine hippie hideout. I love those places.. self proclaimed hippies can sometimes be a pain to have deep conversations with as they often turn to lizards, crystals and evil mind reading iPhones – but they are utterly friendly, calm and creative. So we stayed a couple of days, danced on the beach, ate fried fish and made sure I got a tan. We made friends with a couple of people in the little town, amongst them a street artist who calls himself “Papa Frita” and balances things on top of his head. Things don’t have to be much more complicated than that, right?

Caroline BachLeave a comment

An Embarrassing Tribute to Richie

So as the Rich-face refuses to answer his phone today, despite it being his birthday – I will take the opportunity to showcast some of our shared memories from back in the days until today. It’s a rather embarrassing moment for me (and possibly for other people as well – haha, sorry!) – but well worth it. Richie is one of my favourite people in the world, and this story goes back all the way to 2004.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RICHIE!!