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Monday
Coiba Island
This morning’s destination is Coiba Island. One of the biggest islands in the pacific side of the American Continent. It became a National Park in 1991. Since 1919 it has been a presidio where the prisoners work in agricultural labors.
Coiba Island has many beaches and little neighbor islands known for outstanding diving and snorkeling, pristine waters, abundant marine life and over 15 species of corals to make this area the best for quality diving in Panama.
This is how Mondays should be. Wake up at 6:30, eat breakfast and have someone cute pour you vast amounts of café con leche, wake up the teenager and crawl into a zodiac and transport to a tiny private island in the midst of an arpeggio with not another soul around except the small amount of ship mates and crew.
We didn’t get full sun, but enough to illuminate the fish, the golden sand, the turquoise water, the palm trees that were just growing from the coconuts washed ashore.
We jumped into the bathtub warm water and floated with snorkels and masks, all the way around the little island ( I took a picture) and viewed all sorts of colorful fish, which I’m sure weren’t terribly unusual, but I didn’t know enough not to be impressed. I liked the fettuccini fish, the school of yellow on top, blue on the bottom fish. Golden fish, yellow and blue puffer fish. Marvelous. The whole family snorkeled together. We then sat on the beach for a minute or two, then Andrew took off in a single kayak and I followed as soon as a kayak became available and we kayaked to the opposite shore, which is another little island, although we couldn’t see around it like we could ours. We kayaked to three different beaches. All deserted and all ours.
Thomas kayaked over to join us and we explored one of the beaches together. Again, how fantastic to just be with Andrew and Thomas on a deserted beach in the tropics. I was quite happy. We all were shipped back to the boat and ate lunch, then I kayaked back to the island again with Mom. I snorkeled all by myself and then kayaked around the island all by myself. Then I snorkeled with the kids and Andrew. Then I sat on the gold sand and let the warm turquoise water wash over me and get soft sand on my brown legs just like the models do in Vogue magazine. Although I looked nothing like the brown 19 year olds who were hanging out on the prefect white sand as well. But I looked okay for myself.
Michael and I built sandcastles in the surf for a while, just for fun. I stayed in the water for so long my fingers wrinkled. Which is marvelous, I was just like a kid. And isn’t that the point of a vacation?
Mom loved the hermit crabs on the little island. The island was covered with little hermit crabs. There were so many that they clicked together making sounds like rain falling on palm fronds. They didn’t crawl up on your feet so much; in fact they tickled your toes then retreated. We thought they were very funny and took pictures. Especially for Uncle Dan.
When jellyfish sting you they make a pattern on your skin, almost in the shape of three or four tentacles down the arm or chest or side. If you’re like me and just washed your arm through a bunch of random jellyfish cells that are free floating but still effective, you just get a red rash. We poured meat tenderizer and vinegar on the sting and washed it in the ocean and pretty soon it didn’t hurt so much, but the next day the stings had faded and we couldn’t feel them anymore. But there’s a price for viewing beautiful fish.
So far I am enchanted. Now granted, I was pre-disposed to like the country because Andrew did, but I love it even more after spending time on the pristine beaches and blue water.
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Andrew and I put mom and the boys back on the ship, and we walked around Juneau at about 4:00 when many of the cruise crowds were returning to their ships. Locals stood on the sidewalks in front of the filled bars and yelled to each other and called between side walk groups and cars cruised by with people hanging out the windows yelling greetings to their friends. It was, after all, the Fourth of July. The sidewalk was clear and we could walk in and out of stores unmolested. The retail culture here must be frantic, a season of only four months, make it pay, work all days (everything was open for the Fourth, with only the local stores, like copy centers, hair cut, general merchandise were closed) and work hard because once winter comes, all activities are over.
We spent time with the boys off shore, but they weren’t exactly doing their favorite activities, but that’s almost impossible when you’re combining the grandparent and the child. But there were activities on the ship; the boys just chose not to participate. And since that was their choice, I didn’t get too wound up about it. Thomas slept.
In Ketchikan we docked practically into the downtown again and sent Thomas off on a fishing trip. He came back with three salmon so we’ll need to have a salmon bake and invite his fishing buddies.
Ketchikan was, like the neighbors, adorable. We liked Creek Street because it’s built on piers overlooking the river, that in the right season, is chocked with salmon. We took Mom on a longer walk to the Heritage center because, yes, there were totems to be seen. Michael now has a lot to say about long carved poles, especially when his mother became very excited over the almost rotting, just barely preserved carved poles. But he was a good sport.
We did most of our shopping in Ketchikan. We bought a sprit box for $80 that reflects the style of carving I most admire, it’s of the raven stealing the sun. We couldn’t afford a mask or a wall hanging. Simple masks were being sold (or tagged) starting at $400 and up. Totems were priced at $4,500 and up. The carving was native to be sure, but for the artistry displayed, I couldn’t, deep in my black little marketing heart, justify the price. The native mask we bought in Costa Rica, painted over by a local artist was much better and cost less. And was available only in a rather remote place. So what we saw did not satisfy us.
I did buy a pewter bracelet, the artist who designed it attended the Emily Carr School of art, so I had to have it. It depicts the raven, my personal favorite because he’s very Miss Behaved.
We did not kayak, it was too cold and I knew I’d spend the entire (and expensive) expedition, complaining about how cold I was. (If I complain about a breeze through the Russian River valley, this would not work for me) So in the interest of marital harmony, I passed on the water adventures.
You know what? The best gift store was in the Vancouver airport it had all the Haida art work, the boxes the masks the wall hangings, even a selection of the bracelets that I bought in Ketchikan (and for a few dollars less, there’s that shipping cost again), and a book on Emily Carr’s artwork depicting the totems in the area
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Date: Jul. 13, 2007
Tags: Haiku
Haiku First Thing in the Morning
History of the Opal mines
in great detail please
Not before the coffee
E-mail Haiku from a good friend
cold rain here
It has rained for 7 days straight
it is hot here at the beach
Haiku for the Demise of the Cork
wine with screw tops
reduce the ceremony of the cork
the shiraz is fine
Haiku – Port Douglas
Rain pours down
a fire hose splashing into the street
we huddle in a bar
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Our cruise out to the Reef took about an hour, I thought the reef was closer to shore because I’m accustomed to Hawaii where you wade out in the surf to your knees and put your face in the water, and voila, fish, reef and lava. So this was a revelation, but that’s why we travel.
Mom paid extra for a bell jar kind of extension. The staff brings people down to a platform just under the water, Mom wore a bell jar that resembled an old fashion dive helmet, but allowed her to keep her hair dry and wear her glasses. There was one staff person per tourists on this project so I could leave her to the professionals and go back out snorkeling on the reef. The staff fed the fish right in front of the guests, brought sea creatures (like that nice tour guide when we took that kayak tour way back when in Hawaii). And the like. Mom had a great time and bought the video of herself having a great time, so she could prove it.
It’s always good to take those pictures and buy those videos to prove to others that you are, indeed, having a wonderful time.
The Reef is huge, vast and looks like the pictures. We were snorkeling in the Coral Sea; I mention that because I swallowed so much of it. The tour is anchored at the Agincourt Reed. The tour is set up so there are a number of things people can do, and some apparently just liked to eat lunch and nap on the air-conditioned boat. The restrooms were located on the boat, and the staff gathered up everything with them – food scraps and the like so there is little trace of man – it’s an excellent attempt at any rate.
You are asked not to pee in the water. Unlike Costa Rica where that was the only place a person could pee, was in the ocean. Younger country, younger ocean.
When the staff on a large tour boat says, “there may still be box jelly fish this far out, you may want to rent these Lycra suits” and you say “really?” “and they nod seriously and say “really” and then you notice that the staff members who need to get into the water for whatever reason, are also wearing lycra suits – albeit nicer than the rentals- you say, okay we’re renting the suits. And Michael says it was the best five dollars we ever spent because he was comfortable knowing that at least on this trip he wouldn’t be lacerated with jellyfish stingers. Not only that, I didn’t worry about extra sun block and excessive sun exposure. I also think that this is a way of covering your tourists so that anything on their skin or in their swimsuits (like detergent, sun block, perfumes, lotions) are kept to a minimum, and the way to GET the tourist to wear such an unattractive item is to frighten them with the jelly fish story. No matter. There is only one photo, I look terrible. Michael looks like a blue Popsicle because on him, a completely blue stretch suit is quite slimming.
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Monday, our first full day on our Alaskan cruise, we were awakened at 6:00 by announcements over the loudspeaker that we were in College Fjord and it’s lovely so everyone go outside in the cold and look at it damn it. I put it off as long as possible then dragged my sorry body (groggy from too many days with no exercise save carrying heavy luggage, who brought all those books anyway?) up to the window, because we have a window, and looked outside at the glaciers. They were big and interesting and I could see them from my window and didn’t feel in the least compelled to dress or otherwise move from the bed and stand outside in the cold to see more ice. I knew it was cold because of the ice chips floating in the gray colored sea.
Andrew and I worked out at the crowded gym – Oh that felt so much better! I’m not good at just sitting around on bus tours.
The hair dryers on the ship look like vacuum hoses and carry 18 watts of pure styling power so we’ve given up on hair.
I dressed up and dressed up the boys on Monday night for the first formal night and captain’s cocktail party. Now when I think of cocktail party, I think standing up and wandering around and if you’re very fortunate, and it’s my party and I’m in a good mood, I will generously place tables around the perimeter of the room so people can briefly set down their wine glasses and write another check to Untied Way. Here, however. We took a photo with the captain who was being a good sport (mom says he’s the nicest captain she’s sailed with, and she should know) and then we all, yes, sat down again. A few canapés were offered, drinks were ordered and we were introduced to the crew and welcomed aboard, that kind of thing.
The boys looked wonderful in their jackets and slacks. Mom even cried when she saw how grown up Michael looked. Thomas looked elegant except for the toothpick in his mouth, which is his new chewing toy if he can’t find gum.
The food on the cruise is good, not gourmet which is what we can find anywhere and which we had two dinners of in Portland. What I like best is seafood on a virtually unlimited basis for breakfast and lunch and there is always seafood on the menu at dinner. The dinners are controlled rather than a huge massive free for all, which actually suits us just fine. Portions are tiny so we can order the appetizer (I’ve ordered mussels and four big shrimp, salmon) Soup (French onion, salmon) salad (salmon) and the entrée (salmon), then dessert (not salmon, please, I crave a little variety). But it’s about seven to eight forkfuls of salad, a tiny cup of soup and a small bit of entrée, so we’re not about to stuff ourselves and that’s good. Now for breakfast and lunch we can eat ourselves into a coma if we so choose and at the full breakfast on Tues I ate French toast, a plateful of smoked salmon and just to balance the deal, bran cereal.
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Friday December 24 Christmas Eve
Tour of the Blue Mountains
Oh must we? Yes, apparently we must
We loaded up into a mini-van of sorts, me clutching a latte just in case the breakfast part of the trip was a long time coming.
Michael commented that the last time we were on such a bus it was to tour Monte Verde – Green Mountain, and now we’re back and going to the BLUE mountains. He just wanted to point that out.
We were joined by just another couple, from Huntington Beach. Her name was Ronnie and she was planning to walk the bridge, something we passed on. And they were traveling to Cairns on Boxing Day just like us. I thought I may see them, but we didn’t. They were nice and didn’t hold up the tour – always my fear, but on these smaller tours, which is all we took, we represent the critical mass at five people.
Drove and drove up to the Blue Mountains. Our first stop was to have breakfast with the kangaroos. Now we know the family reputation when it comes to viewing “guaranteed wildlife”
No moose in Denali
No quetzal in Costa Rica
No whales on the bay
No buffalo at Custer
So when we were driven into this little park to “see the kangaroos” well, sure we are. But because this tour left so early (on purpose, to beat the other tour busses) we actually alighted the bus and here was a gang (they call family groups of Kangaroos gangs) just hanging out on the lawn. We were able to walk right up close to the kangaroos and say hello. I am so thrilled. Breakfast with the flies, horrible, but also with the roos and the cockatoos.
Our breakfast consisted of wonderful fresh bread covered with Nutella, plus fresh mango and other fruits, but I ate mostly the Nutella and the mango. Also drank tea, thank goodness for the pre-emptive coffee.
The boys and mom tried the vegemite, wonderful expressions of distaste and disgust; almost as colorful as the time Thomas accidentally drank coffee!
Andrew and Thomas then fed the bold sulfur crested cockatoos. The birds ate out of their hands. So it really was a wildlife experience out in the “wild” of a national park.
We drove then through little towns up to the ridges of the Blue Mountains. The famous Three Sisters are easily viewed off a large overlook, with a gift store etc. I loved the overlook and imagining the early settlers looking out at this endless rough terrain. We did see the blue mist, from the eucalyptus oil over the trees.
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Sitka is Russian.
The Russians were the first to colonize the coast of Alaska, BC and down through California (Fort Ross was as far south as they came). According to Michner, the Russians did a very bad job of colonizing, the worst in history as a matter of fact, so there are many spots where this Indian rising and this slaughter occurred. But now it’s been all covered up with gift stores.
We walked through the town, shopped a bit on the way; the Russian cathedral is in the center of town. We walked along the street past park and skirting the bay. We walked to the park and through the park to see totems and the rain forest. Mom liked the walk. We came back for lunch and everyone but me wanted to stay on the ship, so I took the boat back and puttered around Sitka all by myself.
On the Fourth of July we docked in Juneau next to the Crystal Seas, which looked like one of those new huge ships I’ve been reading about. It was twice the size of our ship with twice the decks of balconies. In the center was a four-story window and I could see the shadow of people moving about behind the glass. Now this could be a ship with a climbing wall and other amenities and far more dining areas and specialty options (that cost extra of course) but there is a limit, I suppose and as I pointed out to Thomas, the odds are that our next cruise will be smaller, not larger because we’d want to get in further to where ever we are.
In the mean time, Juneau is just lovely. It rained and it was cold, but I loved the fact that the ship docked right across the street from the downtown, or at least a line up of tourist shops, ice creams parlors and bars. We stood in the rain for some time on Franklin Street and watched a terribly slow parade march down. Instead of squirting kids with water hose, the fire trucks and men threw taffy at the parade audience. Locals toughed out the weather, lining up an hour before the parade in the rain, to wait for the festivities. We stood for a time, but then made our way back to the ship for lunch because Michael must feed every hour or so. Even though the rain was dismal and cold, the little town, crushed up against the mountains, still white patches of snow and long trails of waterfalls thin through the green hills and mountain faces thick with trees and growth. That much was apparent even in between the drizzle and cold.
We shopped excessively but I haven’t found the totem or mask that I love. The masks are very expensive, seems to be asking more than the carving and work would merit.
We celebrated Mom’s birthday in the evening. Cocktails at 7:00, I like Cosmopolitans and two before dinner is quite relaxing. Then we had the champagne for dinner and wine and a birthday cake and the waiters all sang to her. So all is good and we promised mom a bird feeder because we were not going to schlep it on the trip.
Will we do a large ship again? Would I travel on one of the even larger ships being built? Probably not because it’s not about the room service or the dinners or the dressing up, it’s being able to get to places you can’t get to by road or rail. Like Juneau which is only accessible by boat or plane (the guide book says that Juneau has 100 miles of roads but they don’t lead anywhere) And I like traveling to small places, places that are authentic as it can be with less people than what we’ve experienced on this trip. I’m not a fan of crowds or doing what everyone else is doing, and here we were, docking in these tiny towns and bringing the crowd with us. There was no avoiding it. We are. So I think spending the money on smaller would be more interesting.
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Our boat in Costa Rica is small, 100 passengers when it's full. And it's not full.The contrast between the air-conditioned rooms and the open hallways creates a great deal of moisture and everything is quickly damp. Even my glasses fogged between the cold room and the warm hall, but it cleared quickly enough. Most people hung their cameras and binoculars out in the hallway so they wouldn’t get too much condensation. There are no keys for our rooms, I suppose even if you did steal something, where would you go? There were no problems of that nature but it took us all a couple of days to get use to the fact the rooms were always open. After our second walk, that wasn’t terribly hot, I jumped into the warm ocean and let the motion of the waves carry me up and down. Andrew and Michael bodysurfed. I love soaking in the warm ocean water with the late afternoon sun illuminating the palms lining golden beach. It was perfect. The locals have a saying, vida pura which literally means pure life, but I think it’s a South American version of “moment of being.” And on Sunday evening, when normally we’re getting ready for the week and finishing homework, and rushing around and lamenting the end of the weekend. I was floating in the ocean with nothing more on my mind than what drink to order at the bar that evening. Oh, this is the way to have a vacation!During happy hour Thomas entertained us by trying to hit his nose with a toothpick clenched between his $4,000 teeth.I like the bar on the boat very much and here’s why – it’s open to the air so the breeze blows through, and after experiencing the sticky, close heat of the jungle, the warm ocean breeze feels wonderful and refreshing, but not too cool. I like the bar because the drinks are included in the price of the trip (there isn’t a whole lot of alcohol, but then again, we don’t drink for the effects so it doesn’t matter to us) and I can sit and order pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris for a long into the evening as I like. The boys order virgin drinks and enjoy the milk shake or juice aspect of the drinks. Not only that, to start your lovely evening, there is an un-ending supply of Dramamine at the bar as well, which we’ve all taken as precautions at one point or another. And I can sit barefoot at the bar. And I can go to dinner bar foot from the bar.
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Gold panning in Alaska
In the morning we took a tour of a Gold Dredge (because we had no choice, it was on the way to the airport and our connection back to Anchorage.) Anyway we took a tour of the Gold Dredge where they too washed away tons of mountainsides with hydraulic nozzles to get at the gold. We did “pan” for gold, the tour gives you a bag of dirt seeded with tiny gold flakes. I was all for immediate gratification so we cheerfully panned. Michael was the best at it and gathered up all our gold flakes so we now own a total of $24.00 in solid gold, which is currently worth more that our Zap stock.
The tours we took on this part (and we assume for the rest of the trip) are geared for people who don’t walk or move at all. At the Dredge “tour” we walked about three yards from the bus to the film room. Then another forty yards of careful walking through the actual dredge, then, whew! Many people had to sit again. Fortunately, benches were placed strategically around the park for resting before tackling the arduous hike up a ramp to the dining room. Part of this tour’s appeal was the “real” miners dinner. We ate a noon, which is fortunate since I used up so many calories riding on the bus between breakfast and lunch.
Anyway. We were unceremoniously herded into a long dining hall and served “family style” (eating family style in my family means every man roots around in the refrigerator for something to eat – winner eats all) here it meant you sat where you were told and food was plopped onto the table and you served yourself. We slid down on benches and cast iron pots of meat stew (no it wasn’t moose, a helpful black board told us so) were placed between every four people. Biscuits and ice tea were also served. The glasses for the ice tea was served in mason jars (for that authentic touch) the water here is obviously filled with minerals because the glasses were cloudy, I didn’t doubt for a second they were clean, the groups trouping through here, not only cannot walk, but I’m sure have delicate constitutions and everything would need to be perfectly clean or the buses would no longer stop.
But I ended up sitting across from a prissy older woman who pursed her lips with great distaste at the glass and shook her little head and declared, “This glass is dirty!” It was also never going to be more than half empty, but I didn’t point that out. What I couldn’t resist saying though was “Then don’t drink out of it.” She replied that she certainly wouldn’t and drank her water (the same water used to wash the dishes and make that streaky stuff on the glasses but far be it from me to point that out) out of her thick pottery coffee mug. I drank from my glass just to be Miss Behaved. I’m still alive.
The stew was remarkably good, I can’t speak for the vegetables as I picked them all out, but I liked the meat. And the biscuits were fantastic, light, fluffy, probably made with lard. What the hell, we’re on vacation. We didn’t speak to the couple any more than the conversation with the glass. They didn’t seem to be having a very good time. I was kind of enjoying myself, but I couldn’t come up with anything more to say that would annoy the woman. I tried though.
We also visited the pipeline, not as awful as we think when we read about it in the “lower 48” as we’re called. It’s a pipe. The natives are favorably inclined towards the project for the very good reason that the building of this thing created fantastic wealth for the state and the residents. So they’re happy with it. No leaks or disasters were mentioned on our sanctioned tour. Thomas sat on the bus and listened to his music. We left him there, which is why he’s not in a picture in front of a big pipe. I don’t understand why he wasn’t fascinated.
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Port Douglas is marvelous and perfect and of course, expensive. We walked down town from the beach and while mom rested in the nice new apartment. We fed the boys pizza at a down town restaurant bar. The pizza was “different” and we ordered a Caesar salad that sported a very creamy dressing and poached egg on top and big heavy bits of bacon. The pizza had a walnuts and pumpkins topping.
The pizzas we order are small and thin crust. And the people here are thinner crust so to speak; there may be a correlation. Then again, we aren’t traveling in the K-mart section of the cities or the country. Port Douglas is clearly for the wealthy; there are many families here on the off-season, so this must be the time when they can afford to come here.
There are no fat people in Australia.
There are nothing but bars and restaurants downtown. My kind of place!
I found a great shop with Aboriginal art. In fact, tomorrow I will take mom to this shop and it will be raining so hard it pulls you to the doorways to see the pouring sheets of water. And it will pound on the tin roofs in this town, just like the pouring rain on the tin roof of Toad Hollow in Costa Rica. And the shop is filled with interesting things, and the rain is interesting. Andrew buys cookies at the local grocery store and shares them with us under the overhang.
Anyway we found the shop we liked and Andrew liked this small vase but I said, my it’s $145 and Andrew said, well I just spent $90 on lunch, so really. . .” And we purchased it and I’m not sorry now that it’s on the mantel at home.
The owner of the Aboriginal gift shop, Bilby said that she was delighted to see American’s in Pt. Douglas again. Ever since 9/11 the tourists had fallen off severely I didn’t mention that our economy tanked as well, if she wants to attribute our absence to that single event, then that’s fine. But the point was – no Americans for the last 3 years equals terrible business for their own town. She said she loved Americans, we spend of course, we are a high consumer society and we bring that sensibility wherever we go, but she also said that she loved our enthusiasm and curiosity. The US customers ask questions and are interested in what’s going on. So she was happy to see us, happy to see our Visa.
All her artists received money from their work, either commission or royalties. Hers is one of the few stores (there are a handful in the country) that carries an accreditation from a program bent on rewarding the artists directly for their efforts. Like the store in San Jose we found. It’s good to shop at such places, and frankly, it had the nicest things I ever saw. I ended up not shopping much in Adelaide and that was the end of that. So it was good to do shopping here.
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Corcovado National Park
From the Temptress (small cruise ship off the Pacific side) hand out:
Our exploration today will include two areas of Corcovado National Park: San Pedrillo and Caletas. Sue to its remoteness, Corcavado National Park is one of the least visited areas in Costa Rica’s vast National Park System. Located just 75 miles north of the Panamanian border, this region is known for its old growth forest and outstanding biodiversity.
In the afternoon we visit Corcovado Conservation Area (Caletas beach).
For the most part, according to the Frommers book we brought, you simply can’t get to Corcovado from anywhere, so we are very privileged to be here at all.
I feel like this is the first morning that we’re “on vacation” the last two days have been more traveling.
The sun is rising over the Rain forest, or the jungle to be more poetic. The classic view off a coast, the beach, the waves smashing against rough lava rocks the palms lining the beach. The wind here at 6:00 is warm, the season is green although we were told that there isn’t really a rainy and dry season, there is a rainy season and a less rainy season. So now I don’t feel so silly for taking the family down here for the wet season.
For his first day of vacation, Thomas is going deep-sea fishing. It cost $200 but I know it cost more at other resorts. So we’re sending him to fish with another gentleman who lives in the East bay and has a fishing boat in Sausalito. When I said to Tom (the older gentleman, that my son wanted to go fishing, he looked a little concerned. When Thomas appeared, Tom broke into a big smile and said, “Oh, I thought your son was 8 and I’d have to bait his hook, this kid is great!” For fishing, Thomas wakes up early and on time. Andrew took a picture of the boat, but we didn’t get any pictures of the fish. Thomas had a wonderful morning on the water. He caught two Wahoos and two Dorados. He had a wonderful time fishing and went on the second hike with us, that by comparison, was pretty boring, but he was patient.
We took a zodiac to the coast and landed barefoot, then hopped over the green “grass” and carefully wiped our feet with a blue towel mom was clever enough to bring with her. After wiping our feet, we donned clean socks and hiking boots. Then we proceeded to spend the whole hike stepping into creeks, wading across the river, step into the river and finished the hike with socks squishing, squishing down the rugged trail. Squish, squish, squish. It’s not a happy sound.
The first hike did, however, feature swimming into the warm river we had been following, (about 75 degrees) and we sat under the waterfalls. Andrew said “hey honey, weren’t standing under a waterfall in the tropics in Costa Rica” and we’re doing all right.
The energy of the forest – healing, milk from the Bano tree that will cure ulcers, needles from the palm tress that natives used. They treaded the needles with cobwebs to suture injuries. Margaret said that some natives hug trees to absorb the tree energy because the tree is so high, the highest thing in the rain forest, it’s closer to heaven.
On the hike we saw:
Monkey ladder vine – all twisted like ribbon candy up trees or from tree to tree, Michael liked it the best.
Garlic tree because the flowers smell like garlic
Jesus Christ lizard, but I missed seeing it walk on water.
Strangler Fig; Spider monkeys, mom and baby, in the trees
Leaf cutting ants; heard a toucan calling.
The blue feather of a Motmot, the bird grooms the tail feathers so they look like little pendulums.
A cream filled anole (lizards, small ones are now called anoles, which to us, sounds like a dessert)
Black vulture hopping on the ground; Balsa trees
The sure footed silver headed Duck Doo (my mother)
Yellow spotted ants that will sting so don’t put your hand on just any old tree.
Fish tail palm
The back of a coati Mundi which is a raccoon and the back of a little rabbit creature with no tail.
During lunch we saw Howler monkeys.
I wanted to see marshmallow bats but I never did.
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Cannibal Paul
Our Intrepid Tour Guide
Leads us Into the Jungle
and
Usually has a more Interesting Day
Today he toted Three Tourists from
Toulouse, two from Toledo
One awning salesman from Melbourne
To Tell them Don’t Lift the Rocks
Poisonous Snakes
Don’t swim in the Ocean
Deadly Jelly Fish
Don’t Breath close to Those Plants
The spores will make you sick
And The Usual – the Rainforest-is-a-Fragile-Thing
Lecture
Cannibal Paul
Usually leads Groups of Dedicated Doctors
into those Remote Spots that we see
in films or Crocodile Episodes
And he Alone can Tell these Important Doctors
What to Do
Because Cannibal Paul
Knows everything – Look at That Iguana
That Flying Fox
Strangler Vine
Flesh Eating Plant – his favorite
Cannibal Paul knew the names
Of the crew who worked on the film
Welcome to Woop Woop
We did not make that up
Cannibal Paul remembers when Port Douglas
Now the Carmel of Queensland
But with more Rain on the Off-Season
was no more than a Bar and Bait shop
Randomly placed at the edge
Of the Bay
He does not live in town
Cannibal Paul earns his money
by searching for Exceptional Dive spots in New Guinea
Using little more than a Machete and a bag of Beetle nuts
and a handful of Cannibal Vowels
He negotiates the access through
the Village, Land and People with
suspicious diets
The best way
he explains
To negotiate with Cannibals
Bring a bag of beetle nuts to share
eat some yourself (nasty things)
and sit and chat endlessly
about everything except the business at hand
He always secured his contract
One can’t help but wonder what a Bad Day
Is like in the Cannibal Jungle.
He did not say
Here
We pull up to a stretch of flat green tucked
Against the thick Density of the Forest
This is the Most Unusual Best Ice Cream
for only $4.00 for three scoops
Cannibal Paul has never married.
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After the main event - the Blue Mountains, we traveled a bit down the hill to lunch
For lunch the guide let us out in Leura Garden Village. We walked a bit, but it was pretty warm, so we found a little café, the Wayzgoose café. I ordered their specialty, flowerpot scones. My they were good – I just ordered one, so worth it because it was fun and different. The tiny café has a web site so we’re not all that isolated: www.wayzgoose.com.au. The weather began to break as we ate our lunch – Michael had spaghetti, which he slurped down with alacrity. The thunder started to rumble overhead as we ate. But we didn’t think much of it. Oh, the scone came with whipped butter, marvelous!
As we drove from Leura the thunder increased, breaking the heat and expanding into a full-blown storm – pouring, torrential rain. From here we were scheduled to visit a wildlife park – pet the koala and all that. Did a little rain stop us? Did a whole lot of torrential – fire hose spraying you down kind of rain stop us? It did not. The guide loaned us umbrellas and we marched right into a petting zoo of sorts, with wallabies and Kangaroos and emus jumping around free and easy. The wombats weren’t out, and the Tasmanian devil was behind bars. We petted the kangaroos and I saw a mother and baby in her pouch close up, I was thrilled! And I admit that petting the patient koala was very fun. We have a picture. I don’t look good. I never looked good on this trip – not once, but what the hell, I didn’t know anyone, so it didn’t matter.
We then, in the pouring torrential rain, toured the Olympic park; we didn’t even get out of the bus it was raining so hard. I discovered the boy’s electronic yahtzee game and glanced up at the facilities while playing my threes. I lost a lot of games.
The challenge with this huge stadium at the park is that it’s so big, what do you put into it? The money lost on a daily basis is staggering. So that’s a lesson for all us event planners. Although I don’t know what the lesson is.
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I think Cannibal Paul deserves more
than just a note in my journal
Because no one reads the travel journals
of another person
I don’t read my own.
They exist to be filed
Travel journals are just like photo albums
Except a journal prevents
that inevitable question
That stops the smooth flow of narrative:
who was that
to the left of mother
was he someone we knew?
or was that the waiter?
Who took this picture?
Did we get the camera back?
But in a travel journal when
you write
the landscape was so beautiful
or stunning
or sensational
or whatever inadequate adjective
your fumbling mind came up with
at the time
in the face of something foreign
There is no corresponding picture
to add verisimilitude to your
claim
of breathtaking
But I dream that someday
The journal
the story about Cannibal Paul
will keep me warm at night
when I’ve forgotten everything
Short Term -
Overwhelmed by Daily Life.
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Marriott Hotel, San Jose Costa Rica
So here is a Miss Behaved travel tip: Spend your first night at the Big-American hotel. Big American Hotels have shuttles from the airport, the staff speaks English and the rooms and amenities are very comfortable. Plan on spending the most you will spend the whole trip on the first meal of the trip because you don’t know any better. Get over it and hand over the charge card.
Lush is a very good word to describe my initial impression of Costa Rica. The damp air is welcome after the dryness of the airplane I love this kind of moisture. The Marriott is adjacent to a golf course, as I enjoy the view and the mountain that resemble our own Mayacam Range, I see that a small community of homes are being built within sight of the Marriott. I love the style of course, but I imagine these homes are no different than Fountaingrove at home. We watched three weddings during our stay at the Marriott, the evening wedding was attended by elegant people including a stunning young woman in a strapless orange long dress, form fitting to her perfect form, she had dark eyes and long dark hair, after Andrew recovered and decided not to abandon his family so early in the trip, he commented that he already loved this country.
Michael loved the Marriott. I’ve trained Michael to love four star hotels as I do myself.
We didn’t really have time to do a project between 11:00, when we finally finished breakfast and 2:00 (about the time the bus was to arrive to take us to the dock where the Temptress was anchored) so we just hung out by the hotel pool and felt the warmth and admired all the tropical plants. Thomas slept on a chaise lounge, we have photos. Michael, Andrew and I lined up chaise lounges and read.
The gift shop was quite expensive so we didn’t by anything, which is fine; we’ll purchase coffee and stuff and junk in San Jose when we don’t have to cart it around.
It rained at 2:00 pouring straight down like the water pouring out of a showerhead that’s wide open because there aren’t drought warnings yet. No one cared or worried about the rain, or even remarked on it. I like tropical rain because it is straight down, no blowing wind and it’s not cold.
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Chrismas, summer. And it’s overcast and somewhat cool – 20 to 21. I’m comfortable at 25.
Which is too bad, a day in the surf was something I was looking forward to doing. I was going to surf – I practiced so I would stand up right away. But the water was too chilly! The wide yellow corn meal Bondi beach was fabulous. We were going to take a trip to Manly beach, but Andrew pointed out that I’d been talking about Bondi for months and I thought I’d better do it so I’d be happy. I have a picture of me on Bondi in my sweatshirt. At least I was on a beach in December, even if I was wearing a sweatshirt.
We walked a paved trail that led around craggy rocks to Bronte beach, a recommendation in all the tour books and brochures. And it was a good recommendation. The walkway between Bondi and Bronte was a great walk, beautiful sights all along the way, and interesting sandstone rock formations. Mom was a trooper and walked along with us.
There were surfers at Bondi and Bronte both. I like Bronte beach, it’s a smaller beach with one street of cafes overlooking the traffic and eventually, the water. There is a deep park attached to the beach, and it is here that the families were playing cricket and playing on children’s equipment.
We ate on the sidewalk in Bronte at Brio Café a trendy and marvelous little place. It’s an open-air café right on the street overlooking the ocean. The street is fringed by palms. The girl down at the café down the street is sitting outside and separating basil so the scent floats up to us on the breeze. I bought a sweatshirt at Bondi because it’s not hot on the beach.
I ordered octopus and prawns. It was excellent. We also drank a glass of wine. What a great vacation lunch!
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Haiku by Julie Bramkamp – Bondi Beach
I am so sandy
And I am so very cold
Help me up
Haiku by Andrew – Tour Bus
I am still and smooth
Unemotional response to crisis
I have no wrinkles
Haiku by Michael - The Rocks
Views - harbor-bridge-opera house
Expensive restaurant/ uneatable chicken
Where is Pizza Hut?
Haiku by Thomas – Blue Mountains
The koala eats
Then sleeps 20 hours/day to digest
Well yes says the teen
Haiku by Catharine – New Year’s Eve
The Southern Cross
Two old friends point it out
Arguing – overhead or south?
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Date: May. 15, 2007
Tags: None
On the first day in a large city, I like to walk. Where I like to walk, is towards the largest department store in town. So we walked towards the queen Victoria building which is lovely! It’s on the same WOW level as Harrods and it is appropriate that I begin our time in a big city with a trip to the better shopping center. Loved the Victoria building, bought a postcard. The surrounding malls, the galleries Victoria and the Pitt mall and the mall at Martin place.Of course is a few days before Christmas and there is a lot of action in and around the streets but it wasn’t’ crowded in the Victoria building, at least not with shoppers. One young man was on the phone and said “where are you?” pause “it’s a huge building you idiot”The streets were filled with purposeful people. We are staying in the financial District, the CBD or Central Business District, so it stands to reason we are with the workers and yuppies. Women dress in skirts and high heels, the men in ties and shirts – no jackets on the men and no pantyhose on the women, it’s summer after all. Everyone is on the phone.Most women in the Financial District wear black: black skirt, black top, all in stretch fabric and ubiquitous tiny, high-heeled shoes. They all look very focused. Women and men carry wrapped gifts, maybe one or two, not the huge pile of gift American wrestle into the back of already overflowing SUVs.People buy flowers here. The Christmas trees are fake, but decorated and live music from street musicians but no piped in music in the stores. Of course I don’t feel frantic about Christmas its essentially over for me. Which is marvelous. This is a great way to spend Christmas.
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Date: May. 12, 2007
Tags: None
We’ve all been on trains. First class, student class, in between the cars when we had no class at all. This was quite different. Both Princess and Holland America own train cars for their tours. So we boarded the specific Holland America cars (seven) and behind us were the Princess cars. On the way back there was another elegant car attached. You don’t leave your car. The seats were comfortable, we sat across each other and had a table to play on. We could see everything and a nice guide named Josh told us the history and natural wonders that we passed. We ate breakfast and lunch on the car, the dinning room was directly under us so we could still look out while we ate. The food was limited, but nice and I’ve never sat in a lovely rail car with white table cloths and silver and heavy plates (not china plates to be sure). The experience was very pleasant; it was a nice way to pass the time on the train.
We did see Mt. McKinley (now called Denali which was it’s name in the first place and the locals never stopped calling the mountain Denali because really, who is up here to stop them? But it’s all better now, we’re being very politically correct and referring to all landmarks by their original – and in the case of national parks in Hawaii, unprouncable - names), thrust up and white against a blue sky, a wisp of clouds shredded against the sharp edges of black showing through the white snow. It glows in the sunlight. We viewed it twice, once across a meadow, light green with spring growth and through bright green trees. It was magnificent and I’m glad, after Arenal that it wasn’t covered in clouds, which apparently is often the case.
We traveled through tiny towns, some only of two people with the husband acting as mayor, his blue house painted with “City Hall” viewed from the train. We passed the town that the Iditarod begins from and heard that story – an inspiring one to the determination and focus of men up here. (Okay, if you’ve rented Balto for the kids, that’s enough information and fairly accurate according to the locals).
We traveled over deep gorges and rivers.
I walked down to between the cars and felt the warm “real” air instead of the air conditioning of the rail car. Between the cars you can lean out at take pictures, but more importantly, I can lean out and feel the wind in my face and feel the weight of the air and smell the forest we are moving past. I can lean out and see the cars curve ahead of us around another bend in the track and look behind us at the Princess cars following the curves. Loved that, love being in the whole moment, not just protected by an observation car with piped in Muzak, the worst kind, the piano version of “Tomorrow” and “What I did for Love” (am I the only person annoyed by this?) No, I wanted to hear the sound of the train clicking over the tracks and look between the cars at the rails below. Then I came in and wanted the bar tender to wait on me and fetch me more water.
We saw an eagle nest, but no eagle and no moose.
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This year for vacation we traveled to the top of the world, or at least the most “top” I’ll probably ever get as I realized that dog sledding through the Artic Circle was never going to appear on my top twenty list for must-have experiences. Fairbanks Alaska then, would be the most north we will ever travel. About a hundred miles shy of the official Artic Circle. Still, that was enough to give us summer light well into the night. At midnight, it was indeed, still light, and Thomas, who is our intrepid wake up dude, says that the sky dimmed down to twilight during the hours of 1:30am to 4:00am and then the sun came right up again.
When the natives talk about the summer, they always mention the solstice and how much light they were able to enjoy. They make passing comments like “yes, on that day we had 22 hours, 45 minutes and 5 seconds of light.” Or, “we are now losing light at the rate of 9 minutes per day.” I’m sure that just as there are probably many words for snow, there is a corresponding consciousness of how much light is available on an hourly basis. If you are plunged into days of darkness during the winter, I’m not surprise that the light takes on enormous significance.
The light was wonderful in volume but not necessary quality. The sunlight is while, thinner than the thick golden light we enjoy in California, or the heavy, moisture filled light of the mid-west. And the light made me restless, I felt I shouldn’t waste perfectly good 11:30 pm light and should go for a walk. But I didn’t I dutifully and regretfully closed the curtains of our hotel room and went to sleep.
The new Centennial license plates here in Anchorage (more cars, Anchorage is the biggest city) depict a long line of men, black silhouettes marching up Chilkoot Trail to the Yukon to discover gold. I just saw that very photograph on Wednesday for my class because Jack London traveled up to the Yukon for gold, but Jack only stayed a few months and mostly in the bar at that.
Our room at the Anchorage Marriott overlooks the bay and the mud flats that will suck a person down into the mud like quicksand and then the tide, which is the highest in the world, reaching 40 feet back and forth under the moon, comes in at a terrible speed and the mud trapped person will drown. We were fascinated by this, and had we been on a Catharine Bramkamp tour, part of the tour highlights would be to race right down to those mud flats and throw large rocks into this mud to watch what happens. But we spent the first part of our trip on a Holland American tour (three days before we boarded the ship) and we had no control over our lives for that amount of time.
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