Catch up

I'm overdue with my updates, and it's partly because my mouse has died. Poor mouse. It had been playing up in recent days. Now it simply doesn't work. I hate all that finger twirling some people use to navigate around a laptop computer, so I'll have to go and buy a new mouse. It's always sad when a pet passes away :-(

Well, I'm in South America now ! You'll read more about that in other postings. First, I wanted to write more about Denmark. A big thank you to Kirsten for being my wonderful host in Copenhagen. Also for putting up with a house guest who was suffering from a cold. That's almost cleared up now, thank goodness.

Evidence remains of my time in Denmark, in the form of some red bumps. Flying insect bites, received when Kirsten and I drove to the middle of nowhere to meet our fellow former trans-Africa traveller, Louis. He had arranged a treasure hunt, and we walked through fields and crossed over electrified wire fences to find the hidden treasure boxes with the help of hand-held GPS devices. They were only accurate to within a few metres, so it took a bit of searching. I also lagged behind sometimes because I was wearing a pair of Kirsten's walking boots and watching my step so as not to fall over !

After the excitement of the treasure hunt (there is a whole community involved in devising and organising the hunts) we went to Louis and Britta's house for a lovely dinner. In another first, I attempted to play a car racing game on Nintendo Wii -- always losing of course to 8 year old Jacob.

Did you know about Bob Dylan, the artist ? The musical artist yes, but also the painter ? He has an exhibition of works on display in Copenhagen at the moment. The Brazil Series, created in 2009 and 2010 and on show in Denmark for the first time anywhere. The pictures have received a mixed response from critics, but I liked them well enough.

Finally, only hours after I'd left the country, Denmark hit the headlines with a possible terrorist mystery. Not far from Kirsten's apartment there was an explosion at a hotel and a suspect was detained in a huge security operation. Denmark, of course, became the focus of attention with the publication of certain cartoons that upset Islam.