Into the mountains and through the waves

Journal

This blog turned out be slightly different then the others since I started writing some of my thoughts and struggles down. I wasn’t planning to originally, but why not? I’m enjoying this way of writing so have fun getting into my head, amigos.

10 days out of the 20 left in Sri Lanka and I decided to go inland. Into the mountains and then I would wing it for there(go with the flow). 5 days of mountains and 5 days of surfing turned out to be the perfect balance!

The first 10 days of my trip were an amazing start. I almost ended up in court. In Sri Lanka. Interesting. I headed back to Colombo after 10 bang on days with Bo to drop Thor (our tuk tuk) off *crying eyes out*. I then took the train to Kandy which is a city in the middle of the island, just before going high into the mountains.

The trains in Sri Lanka are awesome. It’s definitely one of the things you would go to Sri Lanka for. Hanging out of the open doors of the old trains, people walking on the railway, everyone’s waving at you and the views are super scenic. It’s an experience everyone would enjoy.

I arrived in Kandy. I was sick. Sick of big cities and chaos. So for me Kandy wasn’t a good option. I took the famous and amazing train ride from Kandy to Ella (a small village in the mountains) early the next morning. Top speed: 30 km/h. It takes about 6 hours going through tea plantations, mountains, tunnels and over winding roads. It sounds wicked. I can tell you, it is!

Isn’t everyday just as beautiful as the other on the road?

Well, a lot of them are. But we’re not escaping life when we’re away from our home country. I want to write about the bad days just as much as about the good. Because, why am I writing in the first place? I’m not writing for anyone but for my own enjoyment and for you who’s reading this and – apparently – wants to know what I’m doing and going through. Thanks for that! So, I could write that everyday was sunshine and I could ignore the bad days and not write that shit down. But then, who am I writing for… and what would be the purpose of the blog and of my posts? My blog would be a lie. To me, and so to you. So fuck it, I’m just going to write that shit down.

So, going on.

When you check Facebook everything looks ideal when we are on holiday or when traveling. Which is good, because who wants to see a depressive FB feed. Right? And honestly travelling is absolutely amazing, but also when traveling, the sun isn’t shining every day. And some days are just cloudy as hell. Or those days when you want to go the the beach in your board short/bikini, but it’s -10 C, the sea is frozen and 50 knots of wind are screwing up your game plan (it’s a metaphor, okay… it wouldn’t happen). And as I said before, by traveling you don’t escape life’s toilet. Even though it could help. With that said, this was my introduction to the part where I’m going to tell you something less ideal. Or something real (just wrote this down because it rhymes).

The beach wasn’t frozen and there was no way that I ever could be cold with this temperature, neither it was windy. But life dumped a smelly shit. That smell effected some people, including me. So, it was on me to clean the air and to make sure I’d find my happiness again. But thoughts got me trapped. I don’t think it’s a problem to have bad thoughts sometimes. But it is a problem if you can’t accept and put those thoughts away or stop them. So in this case, I had a problem.

I turned my phone off and searched for a hostel for the night. The hostel was empty so that was a really early night for Renzo. The second night was worse. No people, just myself and my bullshit thoughts. I dragged myself out to the town to write something and to read or what not to enjoy myself and I stumbled upon a group of friends from England that I had met in Kandy. They were gonna rent some scooters to cruise around the area. I decided to rent one too and join the adventure. This, later on, turned out to be the best decision that was completely going to flush my thoughts down the toilet.

A dream place called Tomorrow land

We drove around while I got hit by a migraine attack. I drugged myself with painkillers and moved on. We went to see waterfalls, chilled out in lakes and cruised over roads with awesome views. Somewhere along the journey we stumbled upon Kiko, a dude that had spent enough time in Ella to know the unbeaten track. He took us to his accommodation/hostel high in the mountains. And this, my friend, is the most amazing accommodation I’ve slept so far! Imagine: 15-minute driving on an uphill, winding road with scenic, fucking amazing, beautiful views over the valleys. The road takes us along the famous Little Adam’s Peak. 5 minutes higher/further and we arrived at a small, steep path that leads to Tomorrow Land.

1 big shed, full of dream catchers, awesome wall paintings and people playing alternative games on the floor. No WIFI in this place. The shed had some mattrasses on the floor and it’s surrounded by many hammocks and (tree-) tents functioning as the ‘rooms’. We were all amazed by the beautiful 360 degrees view. It would be my new accommodation for the first couple nights. Just before leaving I met this weirdo from Chile (Marianne, I hope you’re reading this). And this was the reason why renting a scooter with England was such a great decision.

We went to a waterfall that we climbed all the way to the top. Here, unfortunately, I lost England. Kiko still with me. Marianne still with me. That night: sleeping underneath the stars in a hammock and waking up with a rising sun on our face. Those days were spent chasing for the best local food, getting pissed on Arrack (the cheapest local whiskey), hiking to Alla Rock (a few hours hiking to heaven of nature) and the last but not least… walking over a railway while the sun was setting, being fairly late to see the beautiful 9 arch bridge and walking back through darkness while surrounded by hundreds of fireflies, stars and getting attacked by trains. Wi-cked!

“Don’t go south, it’s monsoon.” they said

Which makes it a great reason to go down south. Cheaper accommodations, cheaper food, less tourists, less traffic, less people in the surf and more fun. Not much to say besides that I had an incredibly amount of fun, weirdness and laughter these days. I can’t thank my Chilean weirdo enough for the laughter, surf, night dives, fishing with locals *ahum* (actually we were late, no surprise I guess), railway walks, hikes, wandering, sunset beach soccer and the list goes on and on… Gracias wéon, la aventura estuvo muy bacán (oh you’d be so proud reading this).

Oh, almost forgot. Safari’s in Sri Lanka… AWE-SOME! Elephants, land turtles, crocodiles, bizons and much more!

You live and you learn

Even though I had amazing surroundings, I mean, I was in a paradise. But even there… sitting/waiting around for things to get better is waiting for trouble. Trouble that your mind gets you trapped in bullshit thoughts. It’s like when you start planning your new adventure, daydreaming away while you’re still in another one. Completely bullshit. I absolutely don’t think that’s positive.
So, fuck visualising your perfect life. And fuck ‘finding’ yourself. Instead, create yourself and the rest will follow. The journey is such a sick adventure. We’re a constant changing creature and we can’t ‘find’ who we are. Because we constantly change. Yep. And so is the world around us. Yep. We get some shit along the way that we don’t know how to deal with and we make mistakes trying to deal with that. Which happens and that’s fine. But, we feel miserable because we’re digging into our bad thoughts and try to figure out why we’re not happy. Then we get into this loop of thoughts analysing where these thoughts come from and that’s only going to make shit worse. Then we end up like this: not appreciating the beauty of ‘life’. And that’s no fun. Nope. So… enjoy the journey and seek for acceptance in the bad, instead of the bad in the good.

Hey Renzo, why do you write this shit down? A little self reflection I guess. Or just to remind myself and you that we have to accept the things we can’t control and to get as much out of this life as possible – and I found out, there’s so much to get out of it. BUT, also… one day we will die. Our life will be over. Which is kinda obvious. But here’s just a little reminder in case you (or I) had forgotten.

And if you ever want to come a little closer to nature’s heaven and add adventure to that? Go to Sri Lanka and drive around in Thor’s brother (a tuk tuk). You won’t regret a minute of it. I know my mom’s amazing Veronique can confirm who recently came back from this amazing adventure.

Next stop: Maldives! (finally!)

Thank you for reading! Share your thoughts if you want, it’d be cool and much appreciated. Love! 🙂

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What I share and write about only goes as far as I’ve expended my own mind, body and soul. You need to think about what is right and holds true for ya’self. I’m merely sharing what I’m seeing and experiencing through the lens of my eyes, shaped by my lessons, studies and experiences, along with the research and studies of professionals in the particular field. I’m here to share but have no means of taking others’ credit or claiming to provide you with ‘the truth’.

Oh, and there will be some grammatical slips here and there. So here’s my apologies in advantage (that was a joke), but as long as I’m getting the point across I’m pretty stoked.

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*This article is written for entertaining, educational and informational purposes only and not for medical advice. Always check in with your doctor for medical advice. You know the deal. And don’t forget to do your own research and stay critical!