When we were studying Spanish in Cuenca,Ecuador, we met Regina, a woman from Sweden who was also studying Spanish. Last New Year’s Eve we met up with Regina and several friends. One of the friends, Natasha, was from Finland. When we went to the beach several days later, Natasha shared a car with us. Eating lunch in Montanita, Regina happened to walk by. We saw both again, including a trip to the Mital del Mundo (Middle of the World) with Regina in Quito.
We decided to have a reunion in Stockholm. Natasha ferried from Helsinki with her 11 (almost 12) year-old son. We all met at Skansen, the first open-air museum and zoo in Sweden. It is located on the island Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden. It was founded in 1891 to show the way of life in the different parts of Sweden before the industrial era. There are historical reenactors. We were also able to speak with a Sami (Lapp) woman to have a very interesting discussion of life for the indigenous people of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. Unfortunately, there are many parallels to treatment of the native peoples of North America and Australia.
We had lunch again at the Blue Portal and walked around. Natasha needed to get back to her ferry. We kept walking with Regina and saw quite a bit of old Stockholm. The city is built on 14 islands and there is quite a bit of water and many bridges.
It was great fun to see people that we had met in South America, particularly in a whole different context.
Click on any picture for slideshow mode –
