About Chiva
Hi, I'm Chiva.
I'm from Mauritania — and a few years ago, I left home and moved to Europe to chase the life I secretly dreamed about, while still somehow keeping the corporate job along the way.
I'm not a digital nomad. I don't work from beaches in Bali, and I definitely do not have my life perfectly figured out. I'm just a normal person with too many emails and an unreasonable tendency to romanticize departure halls.
Fun fact: I also spend a considerable amount of my life explaining that Mauritania is not Mauritius. Different country. Different continent. Different ocean. Entirely different everything. I have made peace with this. Mostly.
I started this blog for myself first — to remember places, moments, people, conversations, and the strange feeling of becoming a different version of yourself every time you leave home. But I also write it for you. Especially for women who grew up surrounded by invisible rules about what they could or could not do. Women who think adventure belongs to someone else — someone braver, freer, more independent. I know that feeling very well.
Growing up in Mauritania, many things felt distant from my world: travelling alone, hiking, riding a bike, discovering mountains, getting lost in foreign cities, or simply deciding to leave and build a life somewhere completely different. And yet, years later, life somehow brought me to the German-speaking part of Switzerland — without speaking a single word of German. Not one. I showed up with confidence and a dictionary app, and I want you to know that neither of those things was sufficient.
Since then, I've spent years navigating the very wide gap between where I came from and where I ended up. And honestly? I'm still processing some of it.
This blog is where all those reflections end up: the places I visit, the cultural shocks that keep surprising me, the thoughts I overanalyze at 2am, the people I meet, the things I learn, and the moments that quietly change me. Because I don't just like discovering places. I like understanding them.
You'll find stories here about travel, Mauritanian culture and society, identity, freedom, womanhood, Europe through African eyes, fear, courage, and the very real experience of trying new things long after people think you should already know how.
I should also warn you: this is not a perfectly optimized travel guide. I do this for fun. For myself. For the love of writing and remembering. Sometimes my travel advice will simply be: "Take that road. Trust me." And honestly? Those usually become the best memories.
So if you're looking for polished perfection, you may not always find it here. But if you're looking for honest stories, real experiences, beautiful places, and proof that ordinary people can still live extraordinary moments — welcome. You're in the right place.
Read my full story →
