Lapland Trip by the ESN with Timetravels. PART 2.

So here I will continue talking about the Lapland trip we did two weeks ago. In the last post I told you how perfect our cottages were and how good we slept the first night. Well.. we needed to rest because the next day would be exhausting for all us.

DAY 3. Tuesday.

On Tuesday I had my first activity at 9:45. So I rested but not as much as I wanted. It was the Husky Safari :) I took this activity because is one of the most typical activities that the people do when they are in Lapland; and is something that you can't do in other part of the world. The exursion was good, it lasted around 5 kilometres and 30 minuts. They splitted us in two groups; so while the first group was riding the huskies the second group was drinking a hot juice inside a tent; and vice versa. It was the same hot juice we tried in the Ice Castle the second day, it must be some typical drink in Lapland to keep warm the people bodies x). The huskies trip it wasn't too long, but it was enough to enjoy the landscape. I also think that is not good for the huskies if they are carrying two people more than 30 minuts, but this is just my opinion.

At the beginning our huskies were a bit tired and lazy to start running, but finally they drew strength and began to run. At the half of the trip, it was possible to change the positions, so the person who drived the car first had to sit and the person who was sitting could to drive the car.

You need to be careful to stop the car when the car in front of you stops, because if not you can have an unpleasant accident. This is what happened to me. We were very happy enjoying our conversation and the landscapes and we didn't realize we had to stop the car, so we didn't do it and we collided with the car in front of us. Right away our huskies and the huskies of the other car started fighting and the woman who was guiding the excursion had to come to us to fix the situation. What was even worse because in the moment she let the car the huskies started running without her. So finally the poor woman had to go in other car with another two people. The situation was a bit embarasing but also funny, at least is a good history to tell to the people and laugh in the future.

We finished the excursion at 14:00 more or less and then we had some time free till 20:00, when we had our second excursion: The Snowmobile Safari. So we decided to take a rest and visit the surroundings of our cottage. We went walking from our cottage to the center of the village, which was 15 minuts walking.

Lapland is an amazing and beautiful place, is difficult to describe because is not possible to say how it really was just with words or with pictures... Everything, but totally everything was covered by snow, miles and miles of flat earth full of white pines. Even the sky is different, is not fog, but is clear and white. The sun is also white, it was the first time in my life I could watch the sun without feeling any pain in my eyes. I could try to describe the place... but anything is enough comparing with what you see in person. It's like if you were in a different dimension, really.

So we went for a walk around the village. There were rather restaurants and social place if we consider that Saariselkä is a village with only 300 habitants. After watch some souvenirs shops we decided to go into a burguer restaurant to try the reindeer meat. The name of the place was Moussi Grilli and I think it was one of the cheapest places to eat. The reindeer hamburger was 9€ per person and a coke was 3€ more or less, so it was expensive but it was not too bad. I want to say that at the beginning I wasn't sure of trying the reindeer meat, because after watch too many reindeer I was feeling bad on doing it, but after have tried it, I have to say that is really delicious!

At 19:00 we came back to the cottage to have time to be prepared for the Snowmobile Safari. This excursion was the most expensive of all the excursions that Timetravels offers, but it was also the longest (except the Artic Ocean Tour).

An important information is that when we were there ready to start the snowmobile tour, they told us that we needed the driving license and we needed also confirm that we had 900€ in our bank account to pay in case we broke our snowmobiles. Ok, the second part they had mentioned before, but they didn't say anything about we needed the driving license, so that some people were a bit surprised and one girl decided not to do the activity because she didn't have it. Of course, you can lie them and just do it, they didn't check if it was real that we had the driving license or not, but if you break something, it will be under your responsability and you will have to pay. (if you have the driving license you will have to pay as well, so doesn't matter really).

I think that the control of the snowmobile was quite easy. I don't use to drive motorbikes and I don't have any, however, I could drive the snowmobile without any problem. You just have to squeeze one handlebar to accelerate the snowmobile and release it to slow down.

The tour lasted two and half hours more or less. They gave us all the equipment: special warm trouser, warm gloves, warm boots, warm hat and a helmet. We were so warm that I couldn't even move easily my body. The tour was in the night so it was colder than during the day, and with the speed and the wind, you feel more the cold and you need to be really prepared for that.

It was obligatory to be two people for each snowmobile. The trip structure was like the huskies safari, we would drive and at the half of the way we could change our places.

We had two guides and before start they were teaching us how to use the snowmobiles and so on... then we start our way into the dark forests. You could think at the beginning that it wasn't going to be very funny because all the snowmobiles were in straight line and you couldn't go faster than 50km/h, but I think that then is enough because we were into very narrow ways and we didn't have any light, so faster have would been a bit dangerous. It was also because we were a lot of people and the guide needed to see all us all the time to know if anything bad happened. The first part of the trip I was the co-pilot so I didn't have to do anything. But I had a bad experience after some minuts, my hands started being freeze and I couldn't feel them. It was very bad because I was feeling a strong pain in my hands and I was a bit scared.

After 45 minuts we stopped in a place to change our places and to see the northen lights. I tried to take some pictures with my camera removing my gloves and it was the worst decision I made. All of a sudden the pain in my hands started increasing and it was just horrible. I was trying to put on my gloves and I couldn't do it properly because I couldn't move my fingers... finally I got put them on but I couldn't enjoy so much the northern lights. Anyway, the northern lights were quite strong and the place was very peaceful and beautiful. With the help of the guide we could take some pictures of us, and with a profesional camera we took really beautiful photos of the northern lights. We were there around 10/15 minuts and then we started our tour again.

The way back was pretty much better because I drove and the snowmobile had heated handlebars, so my hands kept much warm and I felt better. I think that in general the snowmobile excursion was pretty good, I really liked it. The problem that I had with my hands it wasn't something very normal because the rest of the people were okey. It was just -12º so the temperature was not really low. Don't be scared! The cold in the hands depends on the person so maybe you won't live this situation.

This night we were very tired again, as you can imagine. But the Erasmus life is hard so... we arrive to the cottage at 23:00 and quickly we started drinking... a nice party were waiting for us in the cottage next to us, so we had a lot of night ahead :)

DAY 4. Wednesday.

It was really hard to wake up on wednesday morning. We were very hangovered and we had our third excursion at 11:00 in the morning. The excursion was Country ski. The country ski I think is one of the most popular sports in Finland apart of the ice hokey.

It was the first time in my life I used the skis and if you take in account this and that my physical situation after a party night was not really good... It was really hard at the beginning. For all those who doesn't know what country ski is... Is a variant of the normal ski but using narrow skis and in flat land. It's like if you were walking but with the skis. That can seem easy but it's not, is really hard and tired, specially for the beginners like me. We were practising a bit first and after 20 minuts we went to a special route to do country ski. It's also posible to practice this sport by your own without aplying the excursion with time travel and I think is quite cheaper. We paid in total around 40 € and if you decide to book the excursion directly in Saariselkä is only 15 € the same duration.

We were aproximtely 1 hour and a half doing the country ski and in our way we stopped in one place to drink something and take a rest. It was a very cozy bar where they were breeding huskies, so you could see and be in contact with them as well. I fell like 20 times doing the country ski and is hard, because once you fall, it's difficult to get up because the ground is a slippery slope... So finally you fall again. It was funny to see how all the elderly people were going faster than me x)

After the country ski we went to a restaurant to eat a hot soup and some cheese with bread, which was included in the excursion. I think that we paid the difference between the 40 and 15 € just for the soup. But anyway, it was nice to eat something warm after being in the snow doing excercise.

On wednesday we had the rest of the afternoon free to do what we wanted. So we decided to use our Sauna and combine it going out and laying down in the cold snow. It was funny but also painful, some people say that is good for the blood circulation... I can not confirm that but for sure you can have a heart attack x)

This night we didn't go out because om Thursday we will have the Artic Ocean Tour, a tired day for sure and we needed to be ready.

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