4th of August, 2022.
Hitchhiking in Finland.
Back at the gas station (now full, but mostly elderly men in a kind of meeting or something), I keep asking everyone I know if they can drop me off in Rovaniemi. It starts to rain again and I keep going around the building too, because there is an entrance to the pharmacy in the other site. But I am unlucky today. I do have my breakfast with hot water! My now delicious muesli with powder milk and sugar, I have it with hot water! Yummy!
One of the elderly men from the group, a tall and all dressed up in a suit, comes and starts talking with me. He is speaking very loudly and is inconveniently way to close to me. He is saying something about going to Rovaniemi in two hours. At least that is what I think he was saying because I couldn’t understand much and also, I was paying attention in a car which just arrived to the gas station. You see, it seems like something was calling me to that car. I excuse myself with the elderly man and go talk with the people in the car. There is only one man and he tells me to be going to Rovaniemi. He can take me! Yay! I go back inside the shop and quickly grab my packs. All the elderly man say goodbye and something else. Laugh. That’s cute!
Eron looks like a very kind man. He likes fishing and will enter a fishing competition near Rovaniemi with a friend. They will spend two or three days fishing, sleeping in cabins or camping. I have never heard of something like that before. He is also very surprised with my travels and interested on my blog. He drops me off in a parking lot inside the Santa Claus Village, where the Arctic Circle is located. Uhul!
I believe that 95% of Santa Claus Village is about Santa Claus and the rest about the Arctic Circle. Funny considering that, even both things are imaginary, one of them help us with coordination and the location of people around the globe, while the other… brings presents even to the bad kids.
I go inside “the” Santa Claus House, and follow the sets which say “Santa”. I have no idea what I will find (or whom) but I keep going. Arriving to a door, there is a family waiting. Parents and a young girl. At the door, there is a sign saying “no photographs”. So just because you don’t need to pay to see Santa, you cannot take a photograph either. Either you pay for a photo or you will have to keep that moment only in your memory. I am not that curious or cannot put up with that much crap so I leave.
I go to explore the area and leave The Hulk by the outside door. I ask a man with his sun if he could take a photograph of me “jumping over” the arctic circle. He is a cool guy and manage to take a good shot! Thank you! Then I start looking around for restaurants, where I could go and ask for coming back later for leftovers. That’s when I realize how much money (crap) they are making about this Santa Claus guy. Many souvenir shops and other stuff and they are all packed with tourists. Oh, give me a break!
The first restaurant I ask for leftovers is a really cool place, with cool food and the guy by the counter looks cool. But when the lady from the kitchen with whom I talk go and ask him about my request, he doesn’t seem so cool anymore. But he tells her to give me a sandwich. I say, thank you and I leave. Everybody in the queue kept staring at me. Why people are so rude?
The next restaurant is connected to this one, so nope! The next cafe the lady act as I was asking her for some caviar and not leftovers, so nope! The last place, also a cafe, there are two elderly ladies working on it, and they tell me I can come back around 5.30 p.m. to check with them if there is anything I can take. Yay!
I decide to go across the street and spend my next few hours in the coffee shop of the gas station, where I can check my emails and watch a film! The chosen one is Die Hard 2.
When I come back by the cafe, the lady is just finishing packing two sandwiches for me and she shows me also some cheesecake. I think she will give one piece or two, what is it my surprise when she gives me all the 6 pieces! I get, for leftover food, six pieces of a very fancy and delicious pistachio cheesecake! Can you believe that? Plus, two sandwiches! I am so happy!
I am so happy that I decide trying to get a bit further on my way to Urhu Kekkonen National Park, instead of just camping nearby. I have time, is still day light and it is not raining.
I ask a few people around and even though everybody is nice, no one of them is going on that way.
Then I notice a lady, who I had seen inside the shop before, with a lovely rainbow color t-shirt. I ran after them (she is with a man) and ask them if they are going North, towards Urhu Kekkonen. But they don’t know where is that. Luckily, I have just checked my physical map and I remember the name of one town, Sodankylä, and that is enough for them to know where they are going and tell me it is OK, I can come. Yay!
Vibeke and Morten are from Norway, on vacation here in Finland but going back home now. Well, they live really up Northern Norway, in a remote and isolated village, so they will not go all the way home today, but they will pass by Urhu Kekkonen, so they offer to drop me off there! Wow! Unbelievable! And they are such lovely people too! Vibeke tells me everything about their 3 sons, shows me photographs of them, all three handsome guys. She shows me also photographs of hers and Morten fishing business. They both have small boats and go fishing up to 3 tons, time to time, and then sell their fish to companies. They also fish giant crabs, which are mostly exported to Asia. She is a very cool woman, brave and strong but also very sensible. She also has a motorbike and go for her travels from time to time. That is so cool! They drop me off right in front of the visitor centre. Yay!
I know it is closed but I check what time they will be open tomorrow. Then I sit down and have my delicious dinner: one sandwich and 2 pieces of cheesecake. Yummy!
I know the area a little bit from the Google Earth, so I decide go checking a place for camping. This time I decide not to worry too much about finding a place. And also, not getting too far from the visitor centre. But I do not want to be seeing either, so…
Berries, berries, berries and I finally find a place which is OK, but nothing fancy.
There is a beautiful rainbow!
There is a bit of rain during the night, but nothing fancy.
Next morning, when I come out of my tent, there is an albino reindeer right outside. It is so gorgeous! I cannot take a good photograph because there are lots of bushes in between us, and also, I don’t want to disturb the poor animal by getting to close.
10 Years Around the World 