Tieske's Adventures

If you could pick any place on earth to work remote, where would you go? To me, it would be a place where I'd be working, while looking at white sandy beaches filled with palm trees and where crystal-clear ocean water is shining in the bright rays of the sun. This January I opened my laptop on three Caribbean islands.  St. Maarten/St. Martin - The Friendly Island About ten years ago my cousin Bas moved to St. Maarten, met his wife Orianda and bought a house. I hadn't seen him for years and had never even met Orianda. They had prepared a guestroom and welcomed me into their home. During the day we were all working (I didn't mind their porch overlooking the ocean at all!), and during the evening we had a chance to have dinner together, catch up and get to know each other better. How well do you know people, if you haven't seen or talked to them for many years? Bas let me borrow his car, so I could tour the island after I completed my work for the day. I co...

We end our trip where we entered the country two weeks ago. We are in Bogotá, Colombia’s capital city with a population of 8 million people. We didn’t spend much time here as we were more interested in other parts of the country. Yet, we still had enough time to wander around, try restaurants, do some bar-hopping and take a little train high up the mountain to visit Cerro de Monserrate, which offers a great view of Bogotá at a height of 3126 meters.  Lars, Wim and I enjoyed each other’s company during a trip to Thailand last year and decided to book another trip this year to a different continent. Wim suggested Colombia and after doing some research we decided to book our flights. Shortly thereafter Koen wanted to join and our group was complete.  Colombia was never on top of my list with travel destinations, but I’ve had a great time! The country has a great variety of things to do, as well as beautiful places and nature to see. We tried to get a ...

The sun is high in the sky and there is no cloud to be found. A pleasant breeze is keeping us cool, Latin-American music is playing through the speakers and two sweet ladies are preparing lunch for us. Another staff member just pulled the Christmas decorations from the attic to start decorating the place. The parrot, who is sitting on top of his cage, doesn’t seem to care much. Wim is reading a book, Lars and Koen just jumped in the pool and I’m writing this story. Huge green mountains are to my left, the Caribbean Sea to my right. The hotel is built against the side of a mountain, which creates a surprisingly cozy atmosphere and a great view of the shore line. Two dogs and two cats are chilling out and the guy at the reception is browsing the internet. We are the only guests in this hotel. There are six staff members to keep the four of us happy. There is nothing we have to do, nothing we have to see.  We are staying in the Bunsizanisi hotel in Gaira,...

The next stop on our journey is Colombia’s second-largest city: Medellín. As a result of an urban war set off by the drug cartels led by Pablo Escobar in the 80’s and 90’s, this city was once known as the most dangerous place in the world. That is exactly the image the people of Medellín are trying to change, according to our tour-guide Juan. During a four-hour walking tour, Juan tells us about the history of the city and explains the Colombian conflict: the war between Colombian governments, right-wing paramilitary groups, left-wing guerrillas and drugs cartels. Recently the Colombians had to make a difficult choice: a peace-agreement between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) was drafted to end this conflict. With a referendum the Colombian’s had to vote in favor or against the agreement. For many it was the impossible choice between peace or justice. After 50.2% voted “No”, the agreement was adjusted and sent straight to congress, in...