Christmas 2015 at my sister's house

 My niece and nephew had a lot of christmassy energy going on

 Even though my sister had limited their number of presents this year

 Andreas, two and a half years old, will be a famous portrait photographer

 Or a famous paparazzi?

 Andreas, me and Dina waiting for the opening of presents. 

Andreas was wearing a shirt, but it disappeared.

 Some indoors skiing, trying on his sister's new ski boots and skis

 Sister helping out, documenting her brother's skills with an ipad

 "I'll film you first, then you can film me afterwards"

 Trading of skis and ipads

Andreas with his paternal grandfather (i.e. not my dad), enjoying his new books

Christmas with my sister, brother in law, and niece and nephew (respectively five and two years old) was a rollercoaster of an experience, as it is when you throw expectations, sweets, sugar, presents and late bed hours into the mix. It was so good seeing them again, and realising how much they've grown in the past two months. Also being with children at Christmas is beautiful - the past two Christmases I've spent in Colombia and Spain with all grown-ups. Being with children I get to show more of my childish side and go back to my own childhood Christmases, which is nostalgia heaven. 

Summer throwback

 To my family holiday in Tossa de Mar, Spain, in September. (Not my family on the photo).

 Where my cousin Mats was happy to be photographed at any given moment.

 My aunt Mette tried to find a hat that didn't make her children laugh.

 The mannequins were brilliant.

 I found Atlantis!

 And there were other tourists about.

 You could buy all the bathing equipment you could imagine.

And my cousin Elisa was also happy to have her photographer cousin around.

Stay tuned for more! As I'm writing, it's dark outside my window in Tromsø, the snow is whirling about, and I'm preparing to go visit my sister for Christmas. So why not look back at summer and sunshine? *Pretends it's not because she left blogging off for four months* *Coughs*.

The final, green photos of green things being green in the Amazon

 "Sunni, this is completely harmless. Are you sure you don't want to hold it?" I'm fine, thank you. "It's just a centipede." That's all right, I don't need to. "It won't hurt you, it's not poisonous and it can't bite, are you sure?" I'm fine, thank you please thank you I'm fine let me just take a photo.

 There were trees. They were big.

 My guide, Reinaldo, an indigenous ticuna man who spoke Spanish as his second tongue, and way better than my Spanish (as my third tongue).

 OH MY WORD A TARANTULA but it kept itself safe inside it's den and wouldn't come out. 

I was fine with that.

Me, in my canoe, on the small river that left off the big Amazon, being allowed to paddle along at my own speed, listening to the roaring noise of the toads, the cicadas, the birds and the insects on my last day before returning to the roaring noise of the cars, the music and the people in Cali.

That's it from the Amazon, babes.

Dolphins and swimming in the Amazon

 Don't focus on the boat. Focus on the grey spots ahead of the boat.

 Look, there are dolphins! 

I didn't see the pink ones, but the "regular" grey ones were brilliant and playful.

 "Do you want to swim in the river?" Of course I do. Are there things that can bite me? "No, there's nothing dangerous." But are there no things that can eat me? "No, Sunni, it's safe." But are you saying that it's completely safe? "Yes, Sunni." Okay. SPLASH. Nothing ate me.

 I just have too many photos of this because it was too beautiful.

And the sun set and my heart was breaking with the sheer awesomeness and amazingness of it all.

Creeping things (look away, mum)

 No, just kidding, further down for that. This is me, learning how to make bracelets.

 From a brilliant Ticuna woman who told me that they got this material from a tree, 

and the colours were all natural as well.

 Then I went on a night walk. This is not a spider. Nor is it a scorpion. And it's harmless. "Will you hold it, Sunniva?" - No, thanks. "But it's harmless, Sunni." I'm fine, thank you, Reinaldo.

 Another day, we crossed the river and waved at Peru. 

As you can see, it's a completely different country.

 Then we went to the second largest city in the area, Puerto Nariño.

 A big, big city.

 Amazon! Peru! Excitement!

And every other tourist in the Colombian part of the Amazon.

I was staying at the Yoi Ecolodge, which was expensive, but everything was included, from picking me up at the airport, the boat to the lodge, all the activities and travelling on the river I did while there, as well as all the yummy meals I got. And after all, I was paying to stay somewhere far into the jungle, far away from the towns and cities and people, and the only time I saw this amount of people (see photo above) was in Puerto Nariño and in Leticia, where I didn't stay long. I am absolutely recommending it for anyone thinking about visiting the Colombian Amazon, because it is definitely worth the experience.

Then there were monkeys

 We went to a monkey sanctuary, 

which is incredibly important for the preservation of different species

 Like this babe, after someone shot his mum to provide food for their family, 

and they realized she had a baby and brought him to the sanctuary

 He just wanted to cuddle on everyone's head like he used to with his mum (here with guide Salome)

 And then there was this lady who was not in the best of moods

Maybe foreseeing the change of weather that was coming on in the afternoon that day.

This is a typical issue in many countries - there are new restrictions on how many animals and what kind of animals you can hunt for food purposes, but people live far away from the capital, and they need food, and it's difficult to get them to change the habits of generations in a short time. At least this type of sanctuary is working with people, telling them what species are close to extinction, and making sure to take care of babies like the one above, or others, when they come to the sanctuary. The adult primates live freely in the middle of the jungle, and decide whether they want to come to the sanctuary for food and check-ups, or sleep in a tree close by.

The last photos from Cartagena

 Everything colonial and romantic

 Within the old city walls everything is too beautiful to be true (and outside it is the opposite)

 But we were living in a fairy tale and drinking tea in luxurious patios in posh hotels

 With all the flora you could imagine, all more verdant than you could capture in a photo

And with all the other tourists from all over the world

Better late than never, eh? And now, almost two months later, I'm on my way on a new holiday. The main reason I do not post here is that I try to keep my work related stuff on the youth delegate blog, and to be honest I don't take that many photos outside of work. Let's see if I manage to get some on this holiday.

The Palace of the Inquisition which also happens to be the Local History Museum

 Where it was slightly absurd to see replica of torture instruments used more than two hundred years ago, and knowing that the instruments were used on all sorts of heretics, including witches and protestants.

 And then walk outside in the peaceful garden, stepping on to the gallows (here you can see the trap-door)

 In the garden, there was also a modern art exhibition

 and views of the peaceful-looking Palace of the Inquisition.

 In the courtyard, there was a long text in Spanish about the history of the house and of the Inquisition.

There was also a dad on the second floor.

Cartagena is one of the well-preserved colonial cities in Colombia, and was one of the most important ports in the country for a long time (actually, it still is). There were, of course, indigenous people living here before the Spanish came, and they were, of course, robbed not only of their gold, but also of their culture and land. Then the conquerers threw in some good old Inquisitioning on top, to bother even their own citizens. I think it's good to remember these things, especially when walking around in a beautiful colonial city - remember just what "colonial" means.