Let the music begin (Tylösand)

Well, I did make it to Tango Camp in time. It was not the easiest couple of days of my life, as most if not all of the imaginable hardships presented themselves at the same time. Or what do you think of this: the constant, strong headwind that seemed to turn as my course did, the incredibly moody weather (really, the only thing I have not had during the past couple of days is snow or hail), the surpisingly hilly terrain (then again, I had learned the hard way on previous year's trip that Southern Swedern is far from flat)...and finally, the flu that turned into more than a casual cold. As a matter of fact, for the best part of these two days I think I have had so much fever that my memories are a bit of a blur. If it hadn't been for the wonderful Finnrexin flu medicin I had had the foresight to bring along, I don't know where I would be now. Probably somewhere in a ditch, having simply given up.

To top it all up, and I know you are going to laugh at this, I got so saddle-sore that sitting in the saddle was almost too painful to bear. As a result, I ended up standing on the pedals for long stretches, which actually takes quite a lot of energy, especially when your bones are aching from high fever and your nose is so full of mucus you almost suffocate the moment you take a sip of water... And as the icing on the cake, last night's campsite somewhere deep in the forest (a place called Jälluntofta that I chose mostly because I thought that the name sounded nice) was so infested with mosquitoes and mites (those tiny little things that go by the name 'mäkäräinen' in Finnish) that standing still was a no-no. They seemed to prefer the are around eyes, as a result of which my eyes are now puffed up as if I had taken one botox injection too many. Then again, the fever might have something to do with it too. Luckily, they also had a quickly-heated-up sauna that I spent a wonderful hour in, soaking away all the tension and ache.

Ready to escape the mites in Jälluntofta.

There were times when I was asking myself why I was doing this. Many times. You may have wondered about it too, as the tone of my entries has taken such a dramatic turn from the first days. The truth is, I did not feel I had a choice. There was tango to be had, and it would start on Thursday night, in Tylösand. Besides, staying in the middle of that forest was out of the question, the mites were far too many and the lonely stretches of road too long.

I rode into Halmstad at 4 pm this afternoon, and miraculously, immediately felt better. Perhaps it was the fact that the sun was now shining, really shining, for the first time since two weeks ago when we had that heat wave back home, or perhaps just the realisation that the forest and the mites were now behind me. All I know is that for the first time, I felt like I was abroad. The sea I could now see was not the familiar Baltic sea, and along with new waters had come a more continental culture. Had a piece of lovely cake in a street café, chatting to an older Swedish gentleman who proceeded into telling me about his travels and experiences after the war (I assume he meant the WW II) when he had been confined into a hospital ward, along with some Finnish children (at that time, many had been sent to Sweden to be safe from harm's way).

In Halmstad, chatting to Björn about his travels.

As a final preparation for Tango Camp, I made some purchases at a second-hand shop. Will later post a picture of my 'film star' outfit, as tomorrow's milonga has this theme. The shopping done, it was time to ride the remaining 9 km to Tylösand, a windy seaside holiday village strangely reminiscent of Swakopmund in Namibia. At the reception I met up with Kaija, a tango friend from Helsinki, who we had booked a room with at a hostel nearby.

As I write this, comfortable in our room, sipping a welcome drink from the cuter-than-the-law-allows guy at the hostel reception, I still feel a little incredulous that there indeed will be some tango here. Although I saw the posters at the Tango Camp reception, deep down I think I am still prepared for a disappointment. The funny thing is, all the milongas here start only at 11 p, and according to Kaija it is no use showing up before midnight. Which obviously means that days will be spent sleeping, which, as you know, won't be hard at all ;-). But considering the fact that dancing can go on until 7 in the morning, that still leaves plenty of time for tango. Hmmm, in my current state, we will see how that goes. In any case, will now have a few days' rest from the cycling.

P.S. Have now added pic's to the previous posts, as could not do that with the mobile phone that I use for updates when I am on the road.