30th of August, 2022.
Hitchhiking in Sweden.
Just nearby the parking lot there is an accommodation kind of place, so I decide to go check in there for some info about the area. I can hear the water flowing down the creek from here, but I just want to know where is the best place for a view, a hike and where is the wooden church.
The place is called STF Kvikkjokk Fjällstation and it is a kind of visitor centre with simple accommodation, a restaurant and a small shop. I can see now, through the maps and info on the walls, that there is a lot of hiking around here, and I could, most likely, have done one of them. Damn it! There are also some trails on which you can catch a boat.
I can see by a quick look around that there are trails going down to the creek from here, so I don’t need to ask inside but I will ask if I can come to get some leftovers from the breakfast later.
There are lots of backpacks outside the restaurant. Then I notice that by the door there is a sign asking for you to leave your pack outside. And inside there is a sign asking for you to leave your shoes by the entrance. That one I didn’t see in time.
I talk with a young lady and even though she is polite, she tells me that they use the leftovers from breakfast to make some sandwiches. Even the porridge? I didn’t ask that but I should have. I use the toilet to wash my face and my socks and then I go for a short walk alongside the creek.
It is gorgeous here! I am assuming that there is nobody else because they all have seen it yesterday. Laugh. But it is truly beautiful! Exact the view I came here for it: the creek, the trees and the mountains on the back. I sit there for a while, admiring, and then decide to go a bit further, trying to reach other nice views. But when you get down to the corner, to the river, it gets more like a normal view, still beautiful though, but I decide to go back. There are a few houses around here and I wonder how nice it might be to leave close to this little paradise.
I ask the young lady about the church now, and she shows me on the map where is it. It is right in the middle of the village, by the bus stop. You cannot miss it! The gate is open so you can go around but the church itself is closed. Shame!
Kvikkjokk is the last village in this area, meaning there is nothing before here, or no place from where people can come from it. The only people who can pass by and give me a lift, even though if just to the main road, are the ones coming from the hiking area or the village. I saw a group of hikers, by the way, they were just outside the restaurant, getting ready to carry on, listening to the instructions of the guide.
Because of that, I decide to ask for some food in a house. I had only an apple with me, which I already ate, and if it takes longer for someone to pick me up, I will starve. Plus, I decide I will keep walking instead of just seat in my butts here.
The first house I ask (there are only a few and mostly are summer houses, so I go for the ones with a car parked in front), a lovely elderly lady comes to talk with me. She is very kind but say she has just arrived so she has nothing she can give to me. I believe her!
I see no car but some smoke coming out of another house. When I come around, I finally see the car and a lovely dog, all happy to come and play with me. When a lady comes outside, with some painting in her hands, I explain everything to her and she go take a look in what she has. She comes back with a bag, on it there are some carrots, half cabbage, two onions, one paprika, some cheese and one instant soup. I guess she assumed I had a camping stove with me or a pot. But at least now I have carrots and a paprika I can eat. Yay!
I sit by the road and start eating my carrots. An old blue van is coming and I stand up with my thumb up. He stops. Yay!
Jeffrey is a Belgium man, who loves Swedish nature and comes often here to hike in the wilderness areas with his lovely dog, an Alaskan Malamute. They were hiking here for the last week and now are going to Jokkmokk. Jeffrey also tells me that he and some other friends just bought a house nearby here, so he can come more often and have his own place. He also like to take photographs of the nature.
On our way, we stop in a small restaurant where Jeffrey says there is the only proper espresso around here. But their machine is not really working.
We stop by the same gas station me and Byörn had a coffee yesterday, and Jeffrey has his espresso, but not from an espresso machine, just a normal coffee machine, so he says it is not the same. He offers me a coffee too, but because the filter coffee is finished, I decide not to get one from the machine. It is almost double price.
Before leaving, Jeffrey gives me lots of food, his leftovers from the trail. There are many packages of some delicious crackers, four instant soups, and believe it or not, one of my favourite cheeses, a not so common one: grana padano. Uhul!
I sit outside and have some crackers with the sliced cheese the lady gave it to me, plus the paprika.
Hitchhiking outside the town, a motorhome stops. A motorhome! Unbelievable! Yasin, a young man from Norway but with Moroccan roots, is driving all the way South to Oslo. Yay! He is very smiley and friendly and I love that!
We get to chat a lot and about so many things. He is just as nice as all the Moroccans I have met before. He has just bought this motorhome because he wants to travel around with it. His home and family are in Oslo but he is current, kind of, living in Dublin, for work, computer work, so he actually can work remotely. He has travelled quite a lot too, even drove all the way from Norway to Morocco, was in Finland recently and now Sweden.
We have lunch in his motorhome: some delicious pasta and tomato soup, by a nice river and a cute pic-nic area. Yummy! We keep driving, passing through some small towns, talking a lot; he calls a friend and tell him about what a crazy journey I am having. We check out this “ciber shop”, or something, where you can just walk in and buy stuff without somebody being there. But by the time we get in there, there is a lady replacing some items, and we get to talk to her about it. She is lovely! Then, by the outside door, there are some bananas, which are a bit over ripped, so you can take then for free. Yay! I take tree!
When we stop in Arvidsjaur, which by the way, has a beautiful lake in the middle of the town, with a peaceful park and walks around it, we make kind of a plan of what to do. Yasin is to decide for how long more he will keep driving, and me for how long I will keep going with him. We decide to have some dinner together, and he will keep driving until he feels tired.
For dinner we decide to have vegan meatball and sausages, with boiled potatoes and salad. When we are ready to cook though, Yasin notices we don’t have oil, and we need for the meatballs and sausages. We drive a bit further, get the oil, and park somewhere to cook. What a delicious meal! Oh, dear Loki! I can barely believe I am having such nice, warm meals today. Amazing!
It is getting late, around 10 p.m., and Yasin keeps driving, to keep up with his schedule. I decide to camp somewhere by the road and carry on tomorrow morning.
We stop nearby Storuman, in Sami area and cafe, which now is closed. After saying goodbye to my new friend, I camp behind one of the buildings, just to not be so visible if a car comes by, or for the people who are leaving a few hundred metres from here.
10 Years Around the World 