Here in Japan people really love festivals, and you can find them all over the country in all variations. It is therefor not unusual that I get asked about festivals celebrated in my home country, and every time my answer is the same. If there is one festival you should not miss, it is the National Day on the 17th of May. On this day the streets gets filled with people; there are parades and food, people dressed up in their national costumes (bunad) and music in the streets.

In Norway the 17th of May is a national holiday, but as this isn't the case abroad the celebration of this day is usually moved to one of the closest weekend. For this year, the day was set to be on the 13th.
I had taken the decision on going to Tokyo to participate in the celebration at the Norwegian embassy, like I did last year as well, and had therefor booked tickets with the night bus about a month ago. Personally it was also a great chance to meet up with Yuma, who moved to Tokyo to work for Hitachi about a month ago. So in addition to the event at the embassy I also got the chance of enjoying his company for a couple of days! And then we're talking nice dinners, shopping and partying in Roppongi..
On Sunday it was time for the celebration at the embassy, and after I had dressed up in my bunad we left the hotel heading for Hiroo, the area where the embassy is located. On the way to the embassy Yuma made a funny comment about me looking very Norwegian in my dress. We spent some time on the train practicing self-introductions; I have been teaching him a little bit of Norwegian too, so we hoped he would get the chance to practice a bit. Learning Norwegian can be hard when there is nobody around who speaks it..

Time for speeches at the embassy

Further, living in a foreign country, especially when you come from a small country with few citizens, there aren't too many opportunities to interact with others in your own language. Arriving at the embassy it felt quite strange seeing so many people with blond hair gathered at one place (yeah, it's quite a stereotype, but being used to seeing "only" Asian people every day made all the Norwegians look blonde.. ><), not to mention hearing the Norwegian language everywhere around me. With that said, it was still quite an international environment with people from a lot of different backgrounds both idiomatic and culturally.
But although there were a lot of Japanese ladies present, it turned out the Yuma was the only Japanese man attending the celebration. Too bad, he had looked forward to see if there were any Japanese guys in the same situation as him; being in a relationship with a Norwegian girl. I guess we might be rather a rare couple.. However, we did meet a lot of nice people, both new friends and some I met at the embassy last year. I was almost overwhelmed to see the number of people attending: the number had at least doubled since last year. But considering the situation in Japan last year it really isn't that strange after all..

Delicious food... Yummy..

Besides meeting new people we also got the chance to eat a lot of delicious food! But not until after all the official speeches were done. There were of course two things that particularly were in focus: Last year's earthquake in Tohoku, and not to mention the terror attack on Utøya and all the Norwegian people. As the trial in Norway against the terrorist Breivik still is ongoing, and continues to affect people's daily life in Norway, it was a natural part of this year's speeches. Still, it felt quite strange to be situated on the other side of the globe with so many people affected by the attacks, especially since it has been almost two years since I left the country and lately rarely see any fellow countrymen at all.

17th of May parade in Tokyo

The rest of the day mostly included a small 17th of May-parade around the block (last year we didn't have any parade at all, because of the situation in Japan), some dessert and a small lottery. It is quite far to travel all the way from Kyoto to participate in the celebration, but it was worth the trip (perhaps mostly because I had the chance to be with Yuma too, haha xD). Next year around this time I just might be in Korea instead of Japan, so we'll see if I have the chance to participate or not.. Anyway, I survived the night bus back to Kyoto, so hopefully there will be more possibilities to go back to Tokyo in the near future on other occasions.

And to all other Norwegians out there, I'll start off a bit early with a hurra for søttende mai!

In front of a picture of the Norwegian King and Queen.

• All blogposts from Tokyo
• All blogposts about Norwegian stuff abroad
• Yokohama : Norwegian Skolebolle in World Porters
• Norway Food Festival in Tokyo!
• Tokyo Cafes: Cafe Fuglen - Norwegian style Coffee & Vintage Furniture
• Norwegian 17. May Celebration in Tokyo 2014 - 東京でのノルウェー憲法記念日
• Norway Yumenet Presentation in Tokyo (Norsk Salong)
• Japan Hardanger Club (日本ハルダンゲルクラブ) Performance at the Norwegian Embassy
• Norway in Japan: Arne & Carlos Knitting Event
• Celebrating Norway's National Day at the Embassy in Tokyo!

On Friday me and Raquel had decided to travel to Copacabana and stay there for a day, and then reunite with four of our friends on the island Isla del Sol on Saturday.
Getting to Copacabana from La Paz is pretty easy; first you have to get to the cemetery, and right by the cemetery there is a stop for the buses going there. The bus costs 15 Bolivianos, and the standard is alright.
On the way to Copacabana there is a part where you have to cross Titicaca, and here everybody has to pay 1,50 Bolivianos to cross over by a small boat and wait for the bus on the other side (the place where you have to wait is called San Pedro de Tiquina).

After a more or less 3 1/2 hour long drive we arrived in Copacabana, which is a small town by the shore of the lake Lago Titicaca.

A golden statue in the front, and the basilica de la Virgen de la Candelaria in the background

Lady selling things outside the walls of the cathedral

Details from the cathedrals door.

We arrived in Copacabana right next to the big cathedral, so it was easy for us to stop by and take a closer look at it before starting the exploration of the city. And after a quick stop in the cathedral it was time to ensure that we had a place to stay for the night.
It was easy to find a hostel, since there are many hostels but few tourists at this time of the year. We payed 25 Bolivianos each for our room, an set out to explore the area.

The hostel we stayed at was nice enough, at least for 25 Bolivianos. There are a lot of hostels, so it is easy to find a place to stay.

Some details from one of the streets we passed by. The writing says "Workers Union Copacabana"

We went a short trip down to the beach, were we mostly saw empty swan-boats, but also a couple of cute kids:)

The first thing we did, after a short trip down to the beach area, was to climb up one of the mountains surrounding the city.
This place is called Cerro Calvario, or the Calvary Hills, and on the top you can enjoy a nice view of the lake and the city in addition to some Catholic crosses that dates back to the 1950s.

Crosses on top on the Cerro Calvario

Ladies selling their goods on the top of the hill

View from the Calvary Hill

Copacabana seen from the Cerro Calvario

Cholita lady and her friend on their way down

But we weren't finished exploring the city yet, cause we had also planned to climb the other greater mountain there as well, where we had heard  there were supposed to be some stone formations left after the indians living in the area previously. Just belove the summit there is a place called Horca del Inca, which was actually used by the Chiripas some thousand years before the Incas, and apparently the stone formation was used to predict the harvest of the coming year as well as other astronomical purposes.

Raquel relaxing underneath the The Horca del Inca

View towards Copacabana from the hill with the Horca del Inca

 Luckily we just got to check out this place before it became dark, and we even had time to go down to the beach and watch the sunset there. We spent a nice evening in Copacabana visiting some of the local bars, and we did meet some interesting people too. Since we were going to get up early the following day to go to Isla del Sol we didn't stay up too long though..

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Local woman walking down the street in the Witches' Market

At the Witches' Market (mercado de hechisería/bruja) you can find typical Bolivian products, as well as locals ladies sitting on the sidewalk selling their products, or just knitting or sleeping while waiting for customers.

A nice way to spice up your guitar, or..?

A shop selling alpaca yarn

One of the things they sell a lot of in La Paz is yarn or products made of wool, more specifically yarn from the alpaca. You can make some good deals here, I bought a sweater for 90 BOB, but I doubt that this one is made of 100% alpaca wool though.. Still, its going to be handy with another warm sweater here, cause it is really cold in the evenings.

Dead lama babies apparently brings luck if you burry them under the foundation of your new house..

It is no wonder it is called the Witches' Market when you look at some of the stuff they sell here. According to Camilla this varies a bit with the season, but for some reason this seems to be the season for dried Llama-babies and fetuses.. Yuk!

Here you can see the San Francisco square, which got its name from the San Francisco basilica to the right.

After passing by the San Francisco square we stopped by a cozy cafè/restaurant called Pan de Oro (which means Metal leaf) for lunch. Though the architect and the atmosphere is really nice, the prices are a bit high compared to restaurants aimed at the locals. But still I have to add that it is quite cheap for me, since the prices I am used to from both Norway and Japan are much higher. And.. The menu also comes in English btw.!

The entrance to Pan de Oro

I decided that I wanted to try out something new, and ended up eating a llama-steak to the neat price of 55 Bolivianos (which is about 8 dollars/600 yen/43 kroner). And the taste was good, specially the sauce.! Haha.. The llama was.. Alright. :p

Lama steak!

(The address of Pan de Oro is Genaro Sanjines 451, 591 - 2 La Paz, Bolivia)

We didn't come across any parades today, but by the Plaza Murillo we did however see some signs of the celebration. For example, as you can see on the pictures below, some of the buildings were draped in the colors of the Bolivian flag.

The cathedral at Plaza Marillo. Doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary, but..

In front of the cathedral there were some flower arrangements placed there in honor of the national day. Actually there were quite a lot of them, but of course you can't really tell by this photo..

And then there was the Palacio de Gobierno, which was draped in flags and with symbolic pictures.

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