Giving and Helping are Keys to Happiness

The year 2007 was our second year of the trip. While many people are living by a 8-to-5 formula (starting the job at 8am and finishing at 5pm), we noticed that our life started to follow a 7-plus-5 pattern: 7 months of travelling, and 5 months of living in one place. In 2006 we stayed 5 months in Copper Bank (Belize); this year for the last 5 months we enjoyed Cuenca, the cultural city in Ecuador.

One year ago we wished all of your dreams to come true. Meanwhile we were following our dreams which were and are realized step by step. Some steps were accomplished with the help of other people we meet during our trip. We would like to thank all of them for their kindness, understanding, support, and help. A special thanks should go to following friends:

• Stuart – our first captain ever, who realized our dream of sailing to the Caribbean Islands;
• Ivonne – who helped us during our stay in Cuba;
• Robert – who made our three weeks surprise visit to Europe possible;
• Luis from Costa Rica – who hosted us in his house for three weeks after the attack;
• Elena and Rimas from Venezuela (post-war Lithuanian immigrants) – for taking care about us in Caracas;
• Aracelly from Nicaragua – who gave us a lift and invited into her house in Granada, right on the Nicaragua lake;
• Rolando – Costa Rican truck driver and his son – who helped us out of the place where we were attacked by a drug addict;
• Francisco – who was offering his house in Cuba to us for the time after his death and for sharing his secrets with us;
• The police station in Ibarra, Ecuador – which invited us to stay one night in their lectures room;
• Our lovely driver and host Armando and his family in Colombia – who became close friends;
• The Duran family in the hot La Fria (fria=cold) town in Venezuela – for their hospitality and interest in magic tricks;
• Sylvie and Dominic from Canada – who drove us all the way from Costa Rica to El Salvador;
• Juan Duran – who was excited to meet two Europeans in the country side of El Salvador;
• Dentist Paula from Cuenca, Ecuador – for being a great dentist and a wonderful friend that truly cares;
• Jean-Jacques and Cathy from France – who saved us from bankrupcy in Cuba by taking us on their boat out of the expensive paradise to Panama;
• Mike from Russia, who inspired and supported us during our two fasting periods;
• Scott from the US – helping us to accomplish our missions by playing the postman in Belize;
• …

And many more. It is really difficult to list here all of those that accompanied, helped, and hosted us during the year 2007. If mentioned or not, all were and are part of our journey, a big dream itself coming true through many of them.

For us it is important to help each other without expecting anything in return. We give or help, because this is what makes others and ourselves the most happy. Especially when receiving so much goodness on our way we feel responsible to pass their help on. If we have the opportunity, we support other people, hoping to make them get closer to their own dreams. Our initial contributions during this already two years lasting trip are following completed or still running mini-projects:

• A puppet for Ercilia (Belize);
• A garden for Fernando’s family (Belize);
• Finding a family (El Salvador);
• Helping the most beautiful Colombian dog Bethoven to become an equal part in his family;
• Searching publishers for all 10 books of a Venezuelan writer called Arquimedes;
• Trying to find support for a small Evangelical community in a small town in El Salvador.

our self-made Christmas table

Finally, let the year 2008 bring you more miracles than ever before, and do not forget that the Keys to Happiness lay in Giving and Helping each other unconditionally.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Augustas & Katja