Tag 132 - Mora, Sweden (22.05.2020)

Roadtrip Part 2 - From Luleå over the Arctic Circle to Mora

After our time in Luleå, we continued further north. After a two-hour drive, we crossed the Arctic Circle for the first time. Our destination was the small town of Kuouka.

Here we met our host Marcos. From the first moment, we were completely fascinated by the place and by him.

Marcos originally comes from Spain. However, 8 years ago he decided to leave his old life behind and set off for the north of Lapland to work on various husky farms with his dog Helga. Two years ago, he bought a piece of land and an old house with two small cottages in the wilderness. Today, he lives there with a total of 30 huskies. In winter, he offers guided sled dog tours, and since last year he has been renting out his house to Airbnb guests. Currently, he is converting the two cottages into holiday homes to offer a total of 3 houses for rent. He himself wants to live in his caravan right next to the huskies.

Marcos does not want to commercialize his animals and accommodations for tourism, so he limits the number of tours he offers and rents out his accommodations below average prices. His goal is to offer a great experience to people with a lower travel budget and to earn enough for himself and his animals to live on.

As soon as we got out of our rental car, Marcos proudly showed us his 7 puppies that were born just a week ago.

We also met Maike from Offenburg, a friend of Marcos. They met while working on a husky farm. She had been working in the north during the winter and was now on her way south to Germany with her two huskies, Nando and Hazel, and had made a stopover at Marcos' place.

We hit it off with her right away and exchanged travel stories while walking the dogs.

In the following days, we spent a lot of time with the animals, without internet and mobile phones. We fed them, cleaned the cages, and went for walks.

However, we soon realized that sled dogs can't be compared to regular pet dogs when it comes to "going for a walk". Their incredible strength, endurance, and unwavering desire to run made it challenging for us to walk them on a leash.

The time with Marcos was definitely another experience that will always be a highlight of our trip.

To escape the snow and cold at the Arctic Circle, we decided to head south again. During the long drives through the inland, we once again saw plenty of lakes, forests, reindeer, and snowstorms.

The time during our stops in the cities of Storuman and Östersund was relatively uneventful as we did some shopping, did laundry, and worked on our further travel plans.

After another night in the town of Mora, our next stop is the city of Karlstad.

See you soon!

Bianca & Michael