In my sleeping bag now, with a torch on my head. I believe the tight elastics around my head will make the headache go away. I can’t sleep. And two symptoms for altitude sickness are; headache and sleeplessness. I’m in the Himalayas. To make time fly I write here again: The 9 highlights, in no particular order, of my life for the past months.
The expansion of the hotel-chain Anilana on the east-coast is the main reason why we were visiting Sri Lanka (ref previous post Destinies).
“So are you gonna return and take on this job Martine?” they asked me. Sri Lanka is magical. But can I work in a country so different?
The first ever kitesurf-event in Sri Lanka, Red Bull Island hopping, was on. It was a race through open water, shallow water, chop, windshadows, lagoons and fishermen. The two of us joined in to meet the kitesurfing community on the island and to quickly get a notion of the conditions. It was great, although I got caught in a fishing net. It was pretty freaky, but luckily I made my way out of it eventually after a serious fight with the threads…
The tree of destinies begins with Henning, a guy I met in the Dominican republic. Through Norwegian Henning I came in touch with Sri Lankan Mr. Asanga; a former sportsman now businessman. Mr. Asanga is building hotels on the former war zone, now developing east-coast. I am here to look at possibilities for making a sports-division at the hotels. Alf Martin is a kiter, a marketing-guy and a nice guy too. He came along after a Facebook-chat when he asked about my summer plans, out of the blue. And maybe he’ll stay too.
There are so many destinies, and maybe this one is ours.
1. Going on a roadtrip with family members from the age of 16-80. Two cars; 9 people, rotation, quiz (me as a self-proclaimed quizmaster with creative points-giving), singing, laughing, plenty of storytelling, bonding and feeling the blood between us thickening a little more for every day.
Oh YES, he did make it to the arrival. Through rain, storm, lightening, darkness, coldness, swollen ancles and many other obstacles. He did make it from Denmark, through Italy and all the way to the finish-line in Milan. 42 of the 198
professional cyclists gave up along the way, but not Keith. I am empty for words but full of memories, inspiration and awe… How incredibly exciting it could be to take some risks in life. One should keep saying YES #25.)…
Who will reach the Stelvio peak? Who have legs and will strong enough? Appointment with fate has been set up on Saturday May 26th…
But before we keep on climbing the highest, sickest mountaintop of them all, let’s take a breather and try to understand this sport that millions and millions of people watch for hours on the telly, or drive miles to get a glimpse of for a fraction of a second.
Keith’s bicycle is rolling rock steady every day, every stage – thank God! He impresses me more and more. My mum, who arrived a few days ago, seems to be rolling along with the flow, and the Giro-organization seems to be keeping the wheels spinning in a professional and extremely friendly way. They even give their precious time to try to help us. We’re now officially a part of the Giro d’Italia 2012!
Why pink? The race was founded by an Italian newspaper 95 years ago, at a time when the color of the newsprints were… Pink! Hence the official color of the Giro. Just like yellow is the official color of Tour de France.
I don’t know anything about cycling. Nothing at all. And up until that day I hitchhiked with Keith in March, I knew nothing about Giro d’Italia. I did not know that they call it “the toughest race out there”, in the next biggest sport in the world (second after that rubber-ball they kick around). And in a way it is unfair that I am here in the midst of the biggest event for a sport that the whole world seems to care about, but that I have no idea about.
