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AM: Ah, well…we’ve officially begun. So much has happened in this past week that I can’t think of where to begin. I’m sitting here at Gerald and Nicole’s place, playing with the kids and hanging with Beryl. We arrived here last night. We finally left
PM: Well, the beginning of the minimizing has begun. We’ve taken a long hard look at what we have and how we threw it in to the truck…and we are making headway. Beryl was a huge help in this process. Gerald and Nicole have fed us and treated us to a relaxing evening movie, which they say is a treat in their very busy world. The kids are delicious. Emma is talking up a storm and it’s hard to believe that she is only two years old. She’s got a divine inflection in her voice, and she speaks in perfect sentences. She ate the day away, went for a walk with her Nana, hung out in the garden with us. Joshua is a perfect little 3 month old babe, very cute and looks a lot like Emma. She is so cute with him – such a great big sister.
We are going to have to do our best tomorrow to convince the mechanics that it is to their benefit that they assist us as much as possible. JP spent from 6am to 5pm in Townsend
Spoke with Patty tonight and she says that Mia is doing well. She cried a few times on the first night, but she has been sleeping on their bed and tonight is the fourth night, and all seems good (for those who are unaware – Mia is our cat whom we had to leave behind – she’s just not a fan of driving).
Anyway – that’s enough for the moment – I’m just getting a feel for this Dougie Howser stuff. I learned today that too many personal effects makes for a messy, heavy truck…ah, were you expecting some profound insights already???? Not tonight Josephine…
Good night – N and JP
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How does it happen? Being on holidays, one would expect that you have more time to sit and ponder and write…I plan on making the journal somewhat more fluid, but since this is all new to me, I’ll have to learn as I go. I did not realise how much time has actually passed until I remembered the day that we left. Hard to believe that we have already been out of Rhode Island for 11 days…much has happened since that day with the truck and with our locations, so I will attempt to fill you in as best as I can, with retrospect.
The truck story took an interesting turn when on Wednesday we found out that we could get the truck fixed on Tuesday of the next week…the manufacturer sent prototype suspension springs to a mechanic nearby Gerald’s place, so we had to make the decision to go to Long Beach over the weekend, and then return to Gerald’s place. It was not the most efficient way to travel, but it was the best considering the time we have. JP and I spent the better part of Wednesday and Thursday organizing and reorganizing every nook and cranny in the truck. Gerald and Nicole’s driveway and garage were full of our stuff. It was helpful to have the time to do this, and then leave most of our things there while we went to
Before we left, Gerald and Nicole took us to the nearby Carnival. It was small, but had all the requirements for a successful fair…by that I mean food, rides, games and carnie folk. We had a hilarious time getting dizzy on the Orbiter and some other ride and eating greasy, delicious food. JP and I got serious with the first game, which was a water squirting game to win a prize – and were ambushed with a surprise attack from Nic and Gerald who soaked us. I won a little toy. Next was the dart game, where JP showed everyone how it’s done by popping four balloons with his 4 darts. Ah, my hero! Lastly was some ridiculous cork gun game that required skill and tenacity – Gerald was shooting without success while we each played a game, JP two, won some toys and had the Carnie guy shock us by farting in the middle of it all and then spraying deoderiser to cover the smell. It was laugh after laugh really.
I drove most of the way to
On Saturday while Anthony and Briana had soccer games, Victoria stayed with us at the house and helped us to wash the truck…she made some precious comments about enjoying the time with us just relaxing and lay back in her seat and said “Ah, this is so romantic”. What a cutie. It was priceless.
We’re at Sandra and Eddie’s place now – we’ve been to
Today is Mother’s Day. We were all going to have lunch together, but stuff happened. I won’t get into it. Nevertheless, we had a lovely day. It’s been nice to see the kids. Gabriela is growing up – speaks a lot now. It was also nice to spend time with Christian before he goes to school tomorrow. I think we’ll be staying a few more days, and then head to Mike’s place.
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At Mike’s in Moneta, Virginia…been here since Wednesday…my last entry was cut short, so I have to go back and finish it off…I’m sure to get a rhythm with this journal! It is 9am, and I am busting for the toilet and I have to wait for someone to get out the bathroom…we’ve been sleeping in the tent every night since Wednesday. We tried it one night without the egg-crate padding on top layer, and despite the fact that I was drunk, I had a terrible night sleep, and last night we were back to feeling like I was sleeping in a room in my own bed. Ahhh! Just what I wanted to feel. The only annoying part of the tent is that when we want the windows open without losing our privacy, it’s difficult…so I have devised a curtain plan that should take care of it…just another addition – but it should work well.
Since being here, we have had much more relaxation time than the rest of the trip. I love children, we all know that, but it’s nice and quiet here. We went down to the
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This is hard. Two nights alone and we have been tested to, well I wouldn’t say the limit, but close. Night one – we slept off the highway at a campground after JP and Mike spent grueling hours working on changing the power steering pump. We were tired and grumpy, we had a sandwich a shower and went to bed. I feel that we made good headway with the driving yesterday, making it across
To back track a little: Mike spent three nights with us camping along the
We’re on the road again after a slow start – and some miscommunication about how fast we were going to take the morning…something in me wants to move and once we are on the road I feel safe and good. When we stop I have some anxiety. I am desperate to get to Mexico and at the same time, I feel that there are so many things still left to do – I remind myself whenever I can that the road is the place to learn – but then again, I want to stop and sit still for a while also. It’s hard. JP and I are such different souls when it comes to this – I have much more of a care-free attitude and he is task driven and requires perfection. Somehow, all my fear just melts away when we’re on the road. We become the communicative and caring souls to each other again. Somehow when we’re stressed, we take it out on each other and then our heads go to “What the fuck are we doing? We can’t do this. We’re fucking crazy.” I know that our bond is strong enough to withstand this, but in those moments, I feel like a puddle on the floor, practically incapable of moving on…ready to throw the towel in and concede.
Not today though. We are heading through
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We made it through
I have been noticing lots of things on our drive. I have noticed that I judge the town by what I see when we drive through the main strip…I however do not do that in the town that I live in. Like, in
We got a fairly early start this morning, JP is driving right now, and I will have a turn when we fill up next. These long days of driving require us to fill up about two times a day, which ends up being around $100. JP has been keeping tabs of what we spend, so we don’t run out of money before we get to
As for just now, we’re heading out of
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So, I am getting to know much more of the country map…50 states is overwhelming, but when you go through them, they become more familiar. We stayed in the canyons of
By nightfall, the stars came out, we were satiated from a good quick meal of leftovers. I washed the clothes we had from the last two days, and we pottered about trying to make it all work. The camp next to us was inhabited by rowdy kids (did I really say that?) and so many of the desert sounds we could have assumed were there, were lost by giggling girls and loud brutish boys. Needless to say, this canyon was divine and the sky was full of plenty of places to get lost in. The moon, only a quarter full, cast our shadows on the ground. We sat and talked in the dark, mostly me, about life and how easy it is to get lost in the doing, that it’s easy to forget the being. It was pertinent, given I know we both can learn so much more about ourselves and each other by merely being aware. The final hoorah for the night was watching the light show that the earth created. Way off in the distance was an electrical storm, magnificently illuminating the sky and creating a place for us to see the cloud formations. It was so pretty that JP helped me up on to the hood of the truck so we could get a better view. It’s moments like those, two bodies standing on the roof of a truck, waiting to see flashes and surges, that somehow reminded me it’s all in the small things. However fleeting, I won’t be forgetting it.
We had a leisurely morning in the camp site. JP reorganized the truck again and head out. We are taking a route down through
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I’m sitting here in the truck in the heat, while the power steering pump and reservoir leaks its stuff…we were heading to a camp site called
Well, we arrived. It’s nice, but the air is thick with more trepidation. Challenges like this make it hard to be optimistic about the future plans. Momentarily I remind myself that perhaps we need to go through all this to really appreciate the journey ahead. But then, I ask myself, why does everything we do need to be done twice. That really has happened to us so often. I think that there is a limit to the introspection that must be done when expectation leads to disappointment.
Thursday night, we arrived in
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Well, we’ve arrived in
Monday we ran around doing last minute tasks. We also realized that like the saying goes “a woman’s work is never done” – I include JP in this statement, despite his lack of membership. There is no way that we can ever have everything done – this is a process, and we will continue to work and fix and change things, ourselves included. We found haven from the now 110 degree heat at a nearby mall and JP created a CD of pictures to send to family and I wrote more postcards. I found out, in the nick of time, that if I am out of the US for more than a year, it puts my residency in jeopardy and since we’ve spent thousands of dollars (or rather paid the Government thousands of dollars) for me to stay, we figured a last hoohaa of $170 to request a “leave of absence” of sorts wouldn’t be a bad idea. It of course, was more of a challenge than we anticipated (you would have thought that we would have learned by now). But, we finally found a place that would make copies, a place whose camera was working and AAA helped us out by rectifying a mistake on the Immigration forms. Once that was sent, we were ready to go for dinner and a drink. We were melting in the car, so we turned on the air-conditioning, and blew a fuse. Hahahaha. We found a place that brewed their own beer, had free wireless internet and was showing the Yankee/Boston game on TV. JP was in heaven. We showered in the seclusion of the back of the restaurant once we had finished. My hair dried in record time in the heat – luckily such a nice dry heat.
Tuesday we had set a schedule of “be at the border by 11am or not today”…we washed some clothes at a motel, JP fixed the A/C by switching a fuse (of course, our A/C takes some dinky other fuse that we didn’t have extras of) – and we crossed the border into
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It’s been difficult to be motivated to write when we have been seeing so many beautiful things…we take video footage at times, mostly pics with the digital camera and by the end of the day, we need to eat and sleep…artificial light just isn’t the same as sitting in pure sunlight
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I’m sitting by
I guess I need to backtrack. I have said little of our travels in this land…where I left off was our initial drive into
It really was quite beautiful. The museum that sits next to the ruins of the community, was modeled in it’s likeness. I liked that. We headed into the museum first, out of the heat and into a very nicely designed and informative area. We learned about the area that we are in, the changes in the environment (of weather and whiteman) and the adaptations of the people to arid lands. Incredible systems of aqueducts and irrigation, areas for play and for worship, evidence of bartering with other peoples (given the shell jewelry) and manipulation of various other types of rocks and minerals. We were unable to get into the ruins, just walk around and peek in – we took a load of pictures showing the curves in the walls and the extent of the community and watched a storm roll in.
By the late afternoon, we decided to see what camping facilities were available on what we considered our “real” first night in
Next morning, we had yogurt and bananas and a cup of tea for breaky. Delish! We had seen signs for the Cuerva de la Olla – caves of some sort of the beaten track. How about a day trip? We turned into the road where the bright blue sign pointed and began our ascent. We watched more storms roll in, more lightning hit the top of the mountains. Yep, we’re crazy, we thought. Ahead we pushed. Around and down, switchback roads, bumps and rocks, dangerously close to the edge. We passed cacti and budding flowers, stopped to take pictures of the landscape, the looming rock formations that we couldn’t quite get on our camera. Are those the caves, we pondered. But on we went. More signs, the terrain becoming more and more wild – following this dirt track, up rocks, down and around. Hours passed. We must have passed these caves. They must not exist. We openly suggested that these caves must be still in the excavation stages, went through the small
We passed another ghost village and up a hill when we bumped into two men working on their truck in the middle of the track. We got out seeing if we could help. The town we were now searching for was only about half an hour away, where this man lived.
Next morning, we had breakfast with them and Franscisco went with JP to get the tyre fixed and to buy more petrol. JP described the “gas station” as a large tank and the means in which to fill was through a jerry can. All this made us think a lot about our comforts and the different ways people live. We showered in their yard and left after lunch. They would not take any money. Francisco said something about trying to be good man and a good dad and that he was happy we helped him and that he could help us. We got directions to La Nortena, but arrived somewhere else instead – what a surprise with these crazy roads – and finally made it to a town, to find our shocks. Actually, we stayed one night just outside of the town at Penitas Dam. The town was
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So, I am sitting at Villa Mexicana now. JP and I have spent the last 2 days working on our website…today more successful than yesterday. We decided to hang out here until we got something going with the website. It seemed the more time we let it go, the more anxious we were about how much we were going to have to do later. So, why put off til tomorrow something we can do today? Huh, not us (anymore). I have to backtrack and tell you more about Mesa de Tres Rios, but JP is hucking me (not sure how that is spelled – this word means to annoy) to get off. What a pain! Haha. Anyway – I reckon I have a few more days to catch up on, but I will pass the computer over and will make sure I write again soon. I believe I am getting the hang of this…
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Oh holy moly…life takes some interesting turns. These past couple of days I have been pressing myself to remember that we are not on holiday – like yeh let’s take a month off and see some pretty things…this is hard core!!! Life comes at you fast here. Every moment has a million perspectives and lessons – it all comes out the way it can. I don’t even know if I am up to telling you all what’s been going on – I don’t know if I have the stamina or simply the words…and I want to be able to identify the dilemmas and the gut wrenching sadness and the joy in a way that speaks to you (whoever may be reading) and to satisfy the circle of queries and questions in my own head…and after the longest day in history, I agree with myself (haha) to allow this moment to pass and find it again another time.
Goodnight
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So – I have come to the conclusion that both John Paul and I will not choose willingly to live in
The other night, we ventured down to a spot outside of Creel to the Thermal Waters – Recowata. We were warned of the steep descent into the valley and were told because it was the off-season, trucks are allowed to go down. Only in a 4WD. It’s a natural forming spring, with some heat, not very hot. They have enclosed the then rock formations to cut down on the moss, I guess, into 5 or so pools – complete with concrete and blue paint. The one we chose to swim in, had the water running down rocks into the pool. It was fairly refreshing, especially when we got out and had the wind blowing. We dried off in what sun was left. We were the only visitors and two young children playing around in the garbage and with the rocks. They seemed intrigued with us and the truck. I was ashamed to think that I needed to keep an eye on our stuff. Time went by, they continued to play, swim and enjoy their freedom. They were not going to their home. We started to search for wood for our fire. They watched us, watched JP break our axe. We fed them some pineapple. We took some pictures. In asking them where their home was, Francisco told me that his home was “arriba” (up) and he told JP that he had no parents. His sister Josephina Carmela Santiago was uncertain of her age. Francisco said he was eight. As JP built the fire, I sat with them and drew with the coloured pencils I had brought along. What they found endless fascination with was our book of
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Well, Creel was great. We spent 4 nights there (including Recowata) and then we went to the look-out at El Divisadero over the
What do you think? Both of us coming from beach towns – here we are in the lovely western City of
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We are going to leave here tomorrow to head into
I find that writing this helps. I don’t edit myself as much as I thought I would given I know that there are lots of different people reading this. This is good. Although, I do know that in the background, I don’t want to have people worried that I am miserable (not the case). I am using this as a sort of sounding board also, I know that I can often get stuck on the small things and perseverate, but I have never been so “public” before. So this is me. Raw. Just me. Perhaps the beginnings to some wild novel. Perhaps not.
PM: Just returned from a wonderful walk up the beach, took an illegal swim in a neighbouring pool and walked “home” to watch a spectacular sunset. The waves were too big for us to venture into the sea tonight. We took our chairs out onto the beach and watched it as it went to bed, also watching the birds migrate to an island across the way. Watching the waves come in and get sucked out on this steep part of a 20km beach, watching the surfers enjoy last light…again this is all it takes. It’s raining now for the first time since we got to
JP met a kid today while he was working on the truck. 16 years, he came over to JP to see if there was anything he could do to help with the truck (given the hood was up, he thought there was a problem). The story goes that he was in the
Mum wrote us and said our boxes will be arriving in the next few days to the port in
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I guess it’s certain places that allow me space to write…you’ll know what I mean when you see the area…we are overlooking Lake Patzcuaro outside the little town of Quiroga. This lake has about 5 other islands in it…we found a hotel that has allowed us to park the truck for 90 pesos (just less than $9us) and use their bathrooms…Dulce Maria has allowed us to stay in between some of the cabanas – it is truly exquisite. Ahhhh.
So, how did we find ourselves here? We seem to follow the water. We left
After that debacle, we stopped over in the city of
We were heading to
I have taken a walk around this place, overlooking the
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When we started this journey, I had somewhat thought we might be able to be guides for others wishing to do the same or similar…but I am no Lonely Planet. We find things by chance or by will sometimes or out of sheer necessity. I couldn’t tell you that if you wanted to travel to the pyramids of
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Yep, you guessed it, I’m near water…JP and I, as usual, have had a strange few days. We’ve visited some incredible places and had more mishaps. We’re now camping at some fishing pond somewhere between
We visited the pyramids of
Up and at ‘em, bright and early, we were on our way to
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I sit here in the heat and humidity in Valle Nacional to document the death of our clutch. We had made it a few hours from our camping spot, through the jungle and the rainforest…superb views of lush vegetation and I’m sure prowling cats…into a town full on Sunday with people selling their wares. We stopped to buy some freshly made tortillas and some delish looking banana chips and I found an open wireless network to check email – JP turned the truck around and we remained there…JP said the clutch was sticking at first and then he was not able to get it into first. He looked around as I attempted to write an email to Stew about our boxes waiting in
Yesterday, we walked around
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Well, luck has it that the clutch was fixed and we began to head over to Elso’s house (the guy with the motorcycle) and restaurant to grab something to eat and maybe swim quickly in the river…we did both and it became obvious that we should stay there for the night, instead of driving maybe another hour and not having anywhere to stay. During linner, Elso and JP had a discussion about politics and
In the humid of the afternoon, we swam in their river. It was running rapids just up from where we got in…I watched people fishing, people washing clothes, washing bodies and playing in the river. Water. The essence of life. After a refreshing swim, we sat with Ofelia who was watching the events of the Election – will they know the result, should they say who is in the lead without definitive answers, will we know at 11pm?? The TV ranted on and on with such meaningless questions to fill time. By 10:30pm it was clear that there would be no answer, with one side requesting an extension till at least Wednesday to assist in the correct counting of votes in remote areas – this seemed like an appropriate request given the distances we had seen ourselves.
The feeling I am left with is gratefulness - in finding people along our travels who have little to give and give so much. Who open their hearts and homes to us. Who trust us as we trust them. It is this that we search for. It is for these moments that we keep traveling and pushing on. Spreading our own joy and finding it in the lives of others.
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I was going to write sooner, but, hey I guess I didn’t. Of course, as I sit here, I ponder over what seems like weeks since I last wrote and realise it’s only 6 days. Days are long. I’ve been thinking a lot about work and the kids that I left behind – that’s the frame of mind I have been seeing it for the last week. I have not heard word about how they are, but I have one in mind that I worry about. One in mind that when I think about her, my heart pangs and I get that “hard to swallow” feeling.
Since I last wrote, our location has changed a fair amount. We left
Next morning JP and I had our first big fight of the trip over a cup of coffee (I know I know) and we attempted to get ourselves most rapidly to
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OK – I know, it’s been 2 weeks since I last wrote…so much has happened, but not much has happened to our location. I have been thinking about when to write and what to write. It’s been a strange and different couple of weeks than the other part of our travels. Of course, 6 days of relative luxury with Mum, John, Brett and Ben in Playa del Carmen and also another week after that of relative sickness. Much has been going on in my head and for the first time, I have difficulty sharing it. Some of it just private and none of anybody else’s business, some of it other peoples business and some of it a journey that I must take alone, in my own mind. Nevertheless, back on the 9th I was getting to news of my family…and this is where I shall begin.
We drove the 4 or so hours by highway from Merida to Playa…paying the most outrageous tolls so far - $30 all up once we were done. Highway robbery lives. We realized that we had forgotten the camera back in
Our room was really cool, with rustic tiles of the sun and the moon, a thatched roof and air-conditioning…ah, so nice. We set up the hammocks in the front of the room and transferred the fridge from the truck into the room. The “secured” parking they were supposed to have, was on the street, but we were ok with that as Ola was parked just outside the lobby. The beach was divine and water was clear and refreshing. Actually, the sea was more refreshing than the pools. The pools were quite a lot smaller than we had all expected, but it was a lovely place right on the beach. Mum and John’s room was near a construction site, much rebuilding after the hurricane had hit last year, so they moved rooms closer to the beach after a few days.
Despite arranging a “hangout” day the next day, we ended up heading to the archaeological site of Tulum in the afternoon. This site is the only Mayan one found that is situated on the water. It’s a great spot. It was the first site that JP and I had been to that was very touristy and had a different feel to it than the other ones we visited. I can’t put my finger on what it was, but the mystical feeling was greatly diminished for both of us. John, Ben and Mum all took a swim in the sea at the foot of the cliffs…it was just a beautiful view. On our way back to the resort, Brett took us to a snorkeling spot by a small reef. We thought it was getting too dark to snorkel, but Brett, John and Ben took kayaks out and enjoyed a very long journey out to a buoy in the reef to snorkel. They totally enjoyed it and Ben was hooked. By the end of the day, Mum was feeling well and truly unwell from the long travels and not having been able to recuperate effectively, as she was sick since before leaving
Next day we left Mum at the resort to rest more while we went in search of the Cenotes – a system of underground natural wells and caves, the largest in the world. We found Cenote Azul. It was just divine. Crystal clear water, lots of cool fish, cat fish. Brett, JP and John swam through a cave and all the “kids” jumped off a high cliff into the water. As I enjoyed this, I felt bad, knowing that Mum would just have loved this. We fed the fish and they just swarmed around Brett while he snorkeled. Brett in his excitement stubbed his toe before we had even gotten wet and it was the kind of injury that made my own toe hurt just looking at it. Later in the evening, Mum stepped on it by accident and he had 5 of the tequila slammers on offer at the entrance to dinner that night. We had a great night; a Mexican buffet, mariachi band and saw the local raccoon eat our left-overs. We had a young French kid join us for dinner, whose luggage had also been misplaced. Nice, softly spoken 17 year old kid who looked like he’d like reggae or something, but was a def metal drummer in a band.
Next morning, Mum was feeling better and we all went over to the
Next day we all took a break and rested on the beach and around the pool, except for Brett, who went in search of the whale sharks. He spent the entire day from 4am traveling to not get to do anything and returned tired and little disappointed. We all ate dinner together that night for our last night together along side some more music and fun times.
Last day for Brett and Ben, we went to find something cool to do. Brett and John arranged a tour of some underground cenotes, some brilliant cave systems with clear water, complete with stalagmites and stalactites. The ride in the back of the rickety old truck was an adventure in itself, our guide telling us to look out for snakes. We had butterflies fly along with us and mosquitoes have a feast. So different from the first cenote we saw the other day. We went back into town and had lunch before we said our goodbyes to Brett and Ben. A short but sweet visit. We had a lovely dinner that night, with a bottle of wine and Mum and John stayed until the next morning, and then there were more goodbyes. We took them on a short tour of our home, and I felt sad that I had not done the same for Brett and Ben. Mum was most impressed (as are most people) with the comfort and size of our bed, and the relative safety. I think she’ll feel better from now on knowing what our home consists of and how prepared we really are.
It was a nice visit being around my family after such a long time. It also had its difficulties. 6 people, 6 opinions. Actually, 5 opinions, coz Mum mostly did whatever suited everyone else. After traveling and choosing our destinations, it was a change of pace to follow. It was nice having Brett and Ben hang out in our room at night after dinner and it made me think of how nice it will be to return home and be able to have Ben stay over our place every now and again and have family visit.
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Well, we have left
On the way, on route to
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I learned that the Rolling Stones did not create the song “Satisfaction”. I am ashamed that I never knew its’ Otis Redding’s roots. Why doesn’t anyone say that they did a cover? Relevance? Plenty. JP and I discover that the more we travel, the more we see a pillaged culture and massacred natives. We are in search of the truth and the history here, but we are saddened at what we uncover. More realization of the so-called civilized world imposing its beliefs upon people they never understood. At night, we have been reading to each other about the Spaniards and their search for gold. The way they sailed into lands, took gold as their own without a thought of its meaning or significance and sacrilegiously melted down centuries of knowledge and beauty. It sucks. Words fail me as I try to convey my disgust. It reminds me of the history I know of so many cultures, who have been rampaged and ruined in the name of religion and colonialism. Everywhere, in almost every country, there is a story of sadness. Perhaps I am most saddened by humankind, the seemingly never ending need to impose beliefs rather than to accept and marvel at our differences. Again, why is it that we can’t all just get along? Why are we still fighting over borders, lines in the sand, instead of working out how to live harmoniously? Why are we still so primitive in our nature when we have come to know so much about the world? Perhaps we have all been learning the wrong lessons and we will continue to be lost without the truth and humility and never know true harmony until we let go of all this “needing”.
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I have awoken from my first good night sleep in some days. The humidity held up over night and I slept soundly. I heard the howler monkeys last night when I woke in the middle of the night, shocked that I was slightly cold. They sound like humungous gorillas, but I am told they are not. We toured
On Tuesday, we went to see the ruin site of
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On route towards
We woke and got up and I was grumpy. We had driven an hour to the site and found 3 other cars parked in the lot. So much for that solitude – even at 6am. I was feeling the pressure to get to the top of that pyramid to find that joy, but forgot the mosquito lotion and got grumpier. Man were we bit up. We walked at a rapid pace to structure II, on the way hearing the growls of the howler monkey. I know that they are small monkeys, but at 6am they sound fierce. I held on to JP, ah my protector and power-walked into the main area. We walked up huge steps of the pyramid and were met with all the people who owned the cars out in the parking lot. It was a subdued bunch, all quiet even with the masses of flying ants bumping into us and landing everywhere. It was cloudy. We watched the sky around us grow increasingly lighter without seeing a spectacular sunrise. We listened to the conversations of the various groups of monkeys, I tried to get the sounds on video. We saw another pyramid that we thought we could have climbed and seen the sunrise from a secluded area, so we walked up that one too and a little more around the site. We then headed back to the camp spot for a bit of breaky before heading out to the border. JP was desperate for a shower, but I was eager to keep moving, thinking only that we were just going to get hot and sticky immediately after a shower anyway.
Arriving at the Mexican/Belizean border was another experience. We got out of the truck, had our passports stamped at a booth and went to return our truck certificate (ensuring we had not sold or left our truck in
Arriving in Corozal, you would assume from the travel book that it would be more touristy. We had difficulty finding non-Chinese restaurants in the main area which was a strange feeling. We were almost immediately approached to buy pot from some guy carrying an empty bucket. We settled to find a place to go eat, but the bar we went to did not serve food. So we sat and had a few drinks asking about a good restaurant and a cheap hotel. While we were there, a guy came by selling his wooden sculptures. I told him that we couldn’t buy anything, pointing to Ola. He told me that he had started his presentation and would complete it. We got to talking and he was also a medicine man, making tonics for malaria and other maladies. I asked him if there was anywhere we could camp. He told us that he owned a piece of land that was by the beach and that if we wanted to park the truck there, he would pick us up (him on a bicycle) and take us 3 miles up the road. And so, we met Steve Johnson.
So, we saw two “camps” of Steve Johnson’s life on an unmanaged 20 acres of land, his 3 dogs and the new litter born recently. By a drive up a dirt road, we could reach the edge of the bay to water and a breeze. We sat there for the next few hours, Steve comfortable in one of our chairs, until after the sun went down chatting about life and general “stuff”. I made him a cup of freshly brewed coffee and we agreed to meet by morning for breakfast. We lent Steve one of our headlamps for the night so he could ride to his camp. I apologized to JP for not getting a hotel for the night, but this seemed like a cool experience, and I think I told him “experience over hygiene” – he agreed. We woke up and made coffee and waited for Steve. No sign. We made breakfast and extra for him. No sign. We began to have doubts about whether our friend had absconded somewhere. We were sticky with sea salt and decided to hook up the shower for an outdoor experience…and by the
Next day we began in search of the Mayan site across the Bay…I couldn’t find the turn-off and got all down about how I can’t navigate and that general “let’s pack it all in” kind of remark, when we found the town of “Orange Walk”. While I was investigating prices of a hotel, the smog pump in the truck broke and we gained assistance from a hotel security guard and Pastor G with a push into a car spot. Since there are no camping spots here, a room with air-con at $32 a night was ok for us. Next day, JP spent hours working on the truck in the heat, while I attempted to be a good assistant and when I was not needed, I sat there with him reading my Spanish lesson book. JP fixed Ola well enough to start and run, but he took out the emissions component legally needed in the
Yesterday we took our first expensive touristy thing – Jungle river tour to the Mayan site of Lamanai…it was cool…1.5 hour ride up stream in search of crocs and wildlife…saw the splash of a croc going underwater but that was it. The ride was beautiful…the river before us so still it seemed like a mirror and at times played with my eyes where I couldn’t see where the trees stopped and the river began. When the boat disturbed the water, it looked viscous as if it weren’t water at all. Unfortunately, this was the first day we had forgotten to recharge the camera batteries and thus have no pictures of this day. Our group of 7 arrived at the site and had a wholesome lunch of rice (made with coconut milk), beans, marinated chicken and potato salad…yum. Plenty to feed the system and give us energy. Our guide, Wilberto, was very knowledgeable and passionate. Lamanai is situated in the jungle and therefore the tracks and paths to each area were through the mud and overhang of huge jungle flora. Among them, of course, were mosquitoes. Wilberto talked of how there was no sign of the mosquito until the Spanish came – can you imagine trekking through the jungle without them? It would have been divine. Lamanai was one site that went undiscovered for a long time and it was still flourishing well into the Spanish invasion, so it has artifacts from BC until after the invasion. Many of the beautiful and expensive artifacts found have been taken for safe keeping at other places due to the poor cash flow of the area unable to make a secure home away from the looters. We had a wonderful tour and a relaxing ride back to Orange Walk. Along the way we saw a group of black howler monkeys, which were so cute. And that was our last day in Orange Walk. We stayed a total of 4 nights and set off today southward.
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We spent a day and a night in the town of
In Bermudian Landing, there are 420 inhabitants. 21 years ago, Mr. Young was approached by a British man interested in the black howler monkey population and created research on the local population. They created proposals to gain some funding and requested local land owners to follow some simple tenants to keep the area safe for the multitude of wildlife. Tenants such as leaving 50ft of wildlife on the border around each lot to create 100ft of remaining jungle. Soon, he was able to have 7 other neighboring villages to do the same. Locals have places to stay for tourists or rent canoes or do tours, so the village people are those that gain the benefit. Camille, a local guy, found us and said that he went shopping for us at the local store…he handed us a small bottle of cashew wine for a small price. That night we set up our new mosquito net (intended for a bed) and read to each other outside, until a little army of ants penetrated our fort and we retreated upstairs to the comfort and heat of our bed. We talked at length about humankind and reasons for existence. In the morning, we rented a canoe and paddled upstream for as long as it took to get tired (not as long as I thought). We tied the canoe to a log and drifted for a break and spotted a lone monkey in the tree. So sweet and so tired, he took a nap and let his little arm drape out of the canopy leaves.
Then, we arrived here, in Placencia, after a few hours drive south on some dirt roads. Placencia, the caye (pron: key) that you can drive to. There are many cayes along the Barrier Reef, but the port to go from is
Last night we experienced a tropical storm, or the local name, bayama. It was more rain and lightning and thunder than I have ever heard. In my semi-lucid state, maybe in my occasional dreams throughout the night, I pictured the cabana being surrounded by water. The horrendously bright flashes of lightning and cracks of thunder where on top of our heads and it seemed that maybe it was never going to stop. It rained and rained and rained, and then we lost power at about 2am. It is 12pm now and the power has not yet come on, but JP and I had hot coffee this morning (thanks to our gadgets) and found a place to have eggs for breakfast. Upon venturing out, much of the village has areas of flooding. Our truck sits in a big pond and JP waded in about 6 inches of water to get some things from it. The rain cooled the temperature off and so here we are sitting on the patio of our cabana, enjoying an overcast day (finally it stopped raining) and blobbing.
This place has the kind of laid back atmosphere that can make you stuck – stuck in the sense that you stay for longer than you expect to. We were thinking maybe two nights at first, and now it’s three maybe four. We have a total of 3 weeks and 1 day to spend here in
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Ah. Placencia. Say the name a few times and feel its peacefulness…Placencia. It has been a joyous and wondrous time here…time, hey what’s that? We were wondering about those villages and towns where you say hello to everyone in the street and the longer you stay, the more people you know and the more friends you have. This place is the quintessential laid-back town full of characters ready and willing to sit and chat, “even tho’ ya not be fom hea”. The power outage lasted 24 hours, more time than even the locals had expected. I had suspected that no one had told anyone to fix it and that everyone thought someone else did…but the fan began it’s wild rotation again at 2am, I said a quick cheer for the movement of the air, and then placidly resumed sleeping. That previous evening, JP and I had a delightfully calm night with candles burning, sitting out on the patio enjoying the breeze. The moon was just over half-full and it shone light over a darkened town (ah, all except that 5-star resort that Francis Ford Copola owns that had a generator for the $1500 rooms and it mocked us from across the Bay with its’ twinkly lights – ah who needs electricity when you have a breeze and a moon and gently crashing waves on a shore? Not us!!) With this in mind we had decided that if the electricity remained off the next day, we would head on…the girls we had met didn’t open the bar along with many other places and we were getting a little hungry. Thankfully, we did not have to pack up and leave…because we had the most fabulous Sunday. And here we are, still here on Tuesday.
We spent 3 nights in that little cabana at “Julia and
At night though, we are being bitten by a new demon – sand flies. Tiny tiny little things find their way through the mesh and nibble. They leave little red dots on our skin and they pinch. JP has been counting the number of bites he has, I am just content knowing that we have too numerous to want to know. We are back at Brice’s, and though the wind be blowin, I’m hot. JP is being a good boy and doing work on the truck and my energy to do anything has diminished to almost nothing. I don’t know if this feeling is the feeling of restlessness or wanting a home. The feeling comes and goes. There are days I just want an air-conditioner, and then I feel bad for wanting something that the rich people have here. So it gets me thinking, where can we go that’s a little cooler in temperature? And then remind myself that we are not here for the creature comforts, we are here for something else…ay ay ay. We asked around today for prices to get certified in scuba diving…we found a place for $275. I’m thinking about it. The lady also gave us a name of a place to go in
Last night we went to the “French Connection” – the only posh restaurant here in Placencia. It was nice sitting in the very minimalist setting and having sumptuous treats – we used to go out to dinner a lot when we were in
OK, JP needs help – I’m gonna let go of this feeling and go assist him…later.
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Well, things have taken a turn, or perhaps you can’t really call it a “turn” because we have not gone anywhere…we remain here in pleasant, peaceful Placencia, and will do so for another 2 weeks as we have rented an apartment. After a very quick breakfast with Brice and Japs, JP and I took a swim in the ocean and while we were floating and enjoying, we began to discuss plans. We had thought that we might head out this morning en route to the rest of Belize…then we talked about whether we needed to rush out…and how living in the truck in the one place for too much longer with those sand flies was what was really gonna get to us…and so we went in search of an apartment. We walked up one way from the Barefoot and couldn’t find much to suit our meager needs…and so we returned to the Barefoot for a drink. While we were there and chatting about finding a place, a lady who was sitting there mentioned she had some places to rent. We discussed our maximum price and she suggested we take a walk to her place and have a look…it’s just divine. A small place with everything we need. Clean and with a breeze, Claudia is now our “landlord” for the next 2 weeks. We are a short walk from the beach, we can see it from our patio and we have a small kitchen and living room. We are hoping to cook Brice and Cassie a meal to thank them for all they have done for us. Before that occurs however, we need to go to
A couple of nights ago we went back to the “French Connection” for that cheese plate. OMG! A glass of port and a cheese plate from heaven – some stilton cut with a chedder-like cheese, slices of parmesan and blue cheese with some pear. We were moaning and groaning with every bite we took, enough to order a second plate. And the port was a perfect combination…I have to stop talking about it now, because I am making myself want to go there again. So, it’s 9am now, and we are just finishing our cup of coffee and then we’ll get ready to go to
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Good morning…
Thursday night we went down to the Barefoot a little before it closed, after the short storm, had a few drinks with people. JP fixed some issue with the cash register at the Barefoot and we all started talking about how he could be the local fix-it guy. Got to talking with Vance, Brice’s boyfriend, who has been drooling over the truck. Last week he offered us a price, then an even swap for his little Jeep and then that night he offered us 5 years in his apartment. He seems to be getting more inventive with his offers. We keep telling him that he can pick it up from
The afternoon was nice – I was looking forward to getting the kitchen into some working order and so I began making rice and beans and frying up some onions while JP went to do some things on the computer. I was taking a break, listening to some of Brett’s music, when I got a knock on my door. I was greeted with the smiling faces of Japs and Doyle, who said “you are being summoned”…to where? I asked…to Aline’s BBQ for 5pm. We chatted about finding JP and sending him home and organised that we would convoy to Aline’s place. After closing the door, I thought for some time about how nice it was to be found at our little house and be summoned. JP returned not long after and said he had been found and invited and sent home. It turned out to be such a nice evening, talking and laughing and occasionally missing the rapid conversations, often half in English and half in Creole. Doyle stood cooking for the better part of the evening while we chatted, played with the kids and heard stories of the village new and old. Brice took the night off from the Barefoot to leave Maria in charge, Cassie came with her 4 year old son Logan (who’s totally into dinosaurs and very cute), Salva and his wife Jill and their sweet little son were there (he owns the Tispy Tuna and leases the Barefoot to the girls) and Agata (a friend of Aline’s). Others came and went. It was such a relaxed and comfortable evening…we went home full – our stomachs and our souls.
This morning, Percy came to mend the fridge in our apartment and Claudia came around with her daughter Amy. She had some things to do for the other apartments, so we minded Amy for a little while. We had a nice conversation with Percy about patience and peacefulness. It seems that this permeates in so many people who live here – a general relaxed notion of life and openness to communicate about life and what works. I made a yummy breakfast and we have spent the morning chilling. JP has been practicing the G and D chords on the guitar while I write. It’s getting hot now, so we might walk to the beach and cool off. Ah, what can we do but relax and enjoy?
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JP finally got to play “horseshoes” but we had gotten there too late, and he was only able to play two rounds. Next Saturday we’ll go earlier and perhaps get some prize. We bumped into Vance there and he bought a round of beers and we were on-lookers to a funny conversation between him and some girl – the topic is unnecessary to recount, but he did say a wise statement that I found insightful – “If you are standing on concrete and someone tells you are standing on wood, you can feel secure and tell them that they are wrong and you know you are standing on concrete, you can feel doubt and look down to check or you can allow them to influence you into thinking you really are standing on wood when you know that you are not. Why allow someone to tell you that you are standing on wood when you know you stand on concrete” – or something like that – add to that the melodic tone of his accent and the passion behind the words. After that we got a ride with Vance to the Barefoot to hear this guy Jes Karper play the acoustic guitar for a small crowd. We spent the rest of the evening listening to some cool words and watching people get bolder with their drumming abilities. I met Dave and Jenn, both from NY, here on holiday…it was nice to be able to introduce them to people and talk about our experiences in Placencia. We also met Mr Henry Young, the original family here in Placencia last night, who used to be the Minister for tourism and something else and who happens also to be Vance’s god-father. It is so nice to get to meet the original base of families from this place; it somehow allows us to feel closer to it all.
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We’ve had a lovely few days…are you shocked? This might get boring for some – gee are they still in that paradise having daily fun? Sheesh! Sunday began rainy and overcast…but it always clears itself up. I was a little wiped out from good living and all that, so I had a nap and JP went to the Barefoot. He left me with the walkie-talkie, which worked so well. He met Camilo, who is a Dominican-born Colombian. They had an instant connection and drank and talked for the entire afternoon. By 5pm I got myself ready for the live band (remember I told you every Sunday the Barefoot has live music?) – “Inner Vibrations” – local musicians who have become very popular. Anyway, we met up with “usual suspects” and of course, met a load more. Somehow there was an argument (witness of our first one) about who was our friend after a misunderstanding of words and blah blah blah…I walked away and hung with the girls, while they sorted it out with words. Silly men! We were invited to Salvar and Jillian’s place for a BBQ, which is this evening…I am going to cook something yummy to bring.
Yesterday, Monday, the quiet day for locals. I’ve been cooking up a storm and am looking forward to the time when we have guests. We did some household chores yesterday, washing clothes, tidy the house…we went to check the internet and on our way to find some shrimp from the market we bumped into Dave and Jenn who were all packed up ready to take a bus to San Ignacio headed for
Last night, JP and I went for a walk down to the Tipsy Tuna to check out the Yankee score (we watched them win of course!) and then played a couple of hopeless rounds of pool. 1-1. As we were leaving, we bumped into that guy Jes, and he offered to come back to our place and work with JP on Vance’s computer. Ah, good people giving just because they can. They spent some hours on it, I made some food for them (which was, if I may say, quite yummy) and by the time Jes headed out, Vance’s computer turned on and began behaving…but later on while JP was trying to make it work more efficiently, it went back to being on strike. JP is still working on it right now. This morning, we’ve had a yummy breakfast with a close iguana friend in the tree beside us and I am thinking of what needs to be made for the BBQ this afternoon. Hey, it’s a busy time – I’ll survive it somehow!!
We’ve been talking a lot about the wind. My whole life I have heard people talk about “being the wind”, but I realized that I never really understood what that meant. “Be the wind”. I used to imagine myself blowing about, but little about the affect the wind has and what it touches, how it moves. A little while ago after arriving here, JP told me about an amazing dream that he had about actually being the wind. He talked me through how he first started playing with a leaf on the ground, making it move and roll. Then he slowly began to grow larger and touch other things, rustling more leaves on the ground and as he did so, he could feel himself touching and wrapping himself around each object and moving further forward and getting more aware of getting larger and touching, feeling, sensing, smelling more and more things. He didn’t bump into things, he surrounded things, feeling how each objects energy changed with his movement. Tree trunks would stand firm and their branches and leaves would dance with his movement. He told me that his awareness was so complete that all senses were open to the experience and he felt them all. It made me start thinking about the wind and how it moves and touches and renews. If we were here in Placencia without the wind off the beach, we would never have stayed so long. It is the freshness of the wind that brings new air, coolness, makes the mosquitoes bite less, rules those clouds up above and those storms at night. Like nothing else, the wind has the ability to touch so much. It takes something different to notice an invisible entity and see it as a form. We talk about this trip being like a wave, gaining momentum, spreading, forming…but I think that from my experience so far, the way I reach out to people, it’s like the wind. Strong at times, soft at times and a plethora of different ways of being…like the wind.
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I have a new sense of enthusiasm with my writing that comes by way of Camilo. Last night he came back to Placencia and told us that he spent his day reading my journal and recounted events that he liked, statements that he laughed at and experiences that made him want to do a trip such as this. In merely spending the time to read and telling me about it, it has made me realise that if I do not keep up the journal in a regular fashion, details are lost and some of the passion is not transmitted in my writing. And so in tribute to our new friend, my effort is renewed.
In preparation for the BBQ at Salvar and Jillian’s place, JP and I cooked the garlic/ sweet chill shrimp (prawns) pasta dish…I became self conscious, overly hoping that people would enjoy my dish. Their place is more beautiful than I could have imagined…paintings of the ocean and below along the walls…up two more flights to a delicious open area where I found Aline and her family (recently arrived to holiday for the week and return home with Aline) and Doyle, Brice, Penny (Brice and Cassie’s Mum), Agata, Vance, Cassie with Logan…later Cassie and Brice’s sister Ellie with her boyfriend and 2 kids. We were fed a royal buffet and I enjoyed every finger licking moment…you just can’t get to that lobster tail meat unless you dive in and catch it. Mmm.
I have been remiss in telling you the time when Brice stacked it on her bike, and as the story has re-circulated, Brice as the story teller, I guess I should pay it homage (the story and Brice) – but as I attempt to, I am taken back to last night when Brice had a larger audience (and a week to recover from her wounds) and the expressive and detailed reenactment of “falling off my bike with my Chihuahua in my hands in front of a bunch of construction workers from town” and her statements like “we’re going down Phoebe” that I can’t and won’t perfect. So, you will have to be satisfied that I think it’s a funny story, but better when she tells it.
Anyway, again surrounded by a group people that make JP and I feel a joyful familiarity, we rolled home with that blissful sensation and reaffirmed the appreciation we feel for each and every encounter.
It is Claudia’s Birthday today and we went to the Barefoot to join her in a drink. Her daughter Amy took her first swim in the ocean and I took pictures. I hope that there are some that she can use. We also witnessed the making of a new drink – Tropical Storm – by a guy called Storm…1 shot of rum, ¾ shot of peach schnapps, ¾ shot of strawberry liquor, orange juice and sweet and sour mix, blend with ice and add some blue curacao for the “storm”…it actually tasted quite nice. The afternoon has once again come upon us, quite unexpectedly. It feels like a nap kind of afternoon…ah, yes indeed.
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We’ve been contemplating change, in its many forms. We know that it is constant and yet there are times when it is indiscernible and unobvious. Change occurs within a breath, within a blink, within a thought. Contemplating change that occurs within us can be more difficult than observing simple change from outside of us – such as the rising and setting of the sun, a butterfly fluttering from one flower to another, a cloudy day turning into a clear one. Change that occurs within takes its many forms – my thoughts, my actions, my reactions, my connections with others and my solitary space away from all. Despite them both being “change”, the change from moment to moment can be different to an overall one – like who I was 4 months ago and who I am today. And when I say change, I don’t mean overriding ways of being or “being better”, I mean growth. How does my experience influence my understanding of myself? Say, pack yourself up in a truck with as much as you think you might need, take one reliable companion and go. How does experiencing the harshness of the hot Northern Mexican climate change me as a person? How do the faces of children along the way change me? Does a stretch of 4 hours on a dirt road change me to understand more and about what and how will I use it? And how does this differ from what I learn whilst swimming in the clear blue ocean? An hour alone and an hour in deep conversation. Will I communicate more effectively? Will I have patience for other things? Will people see me even more-so as the soul that I am? And when I experience change, how is it then conveyed? Is it part of me or part of my experience? How does it represent itself in all its’ glory? Is it simply knowledge that I have access to use and discard as I please? Or does it radiate from my very self, from my eyes, my smile? Is it how I formulate my sentences or how I cook my breakfast? John Paul and I were contemplating change…do we look different to each other? Can we discern that very change or have we been growing so much together that it is too subtle to see? Questions and plenty of time to ponder and consider and notice. And it’s not really that I want to know these answers, because they serve little purpose. What is important to me is that I am being who I am and open to take pleasure in whatever is created from all of this and take time to reflect upon the joy I see in each moment. Perhaps it’s not in the moments of change, but in the breaths that I take in more deeply, the times I refocus my eyes to see something in the foreground or the background and the thoughts that I create into words that have the chance to dance in the ears and minds of others, to create a change of their own…is it the wind or a wave?
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Many many greetings…I know that I had a renewed sense of commitment to this journal…it seems that even though we are staying in the same place, so much happens and I’ve actually been “too busy” to write…we have just returned home from an incredible experience ready for a shower and another night of live music at the Barefoot. I have days worth of updates and feelings to share…to give it justice, I will write tomorrow when I am myself a little more “renewed” – it’s been a full 4 days.
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Good afternoon. I’ve been contemplating where to start, and I am still undecided…I was hoping for some divine intervention to assist me in transforming my memories into the right words to create images for others to see – I might be placing a little too much pressure on myself. Haha. It’s just that I have really begun to “settle in” here and therefore the way I see my experiences seems to me to be somewhat deeper and more personal. I don’t want to get back to the times where I am merely reporting what my days were filled with. To do just that will almost certainly not enable me to convey the deep feelings of gratefulness and humbleness at our experiences here in this place.
I guess I’ll start at the easiest place, where I left off. On Thursday I started to contemplate our next moves. Japs’ girlfriend and 2 kids are returning from the
Next day, I began feeling like I needed to do some other things with my time, more of the artistic stuff – I only brought a few things with me and I wanted to paint, so we went to find something to satisfy my cravings. Once we found some reasonably priced watercolors (things here aren’t exactly too cheap!) I suggested we head down to the Barefoot for a little lunch and play a game of Rummy Tiles (a great game to play in the wind, as nothing blows away). JP and I continued our 1-1 winning streak and packed up. While I painted in the afternoon, he practiced his strumming on the guitar. I feel that I can hear the difference in the notes, they are sounding much better after his daily practice. I was finally feeling better for changing the routine and adding something, but something was bugging JP. He was feeling stuck…I guess he worked out that he is still looking for that perfect thing (vocationally) that will suit him completely. We’ve had many conversations, as I said before, about change but also about direction. Direction in a life sense, not as in an actual place. And tied to that are some faint expectations that something needed within us might be finally found and fostered along this trip. So, it was up in air about whether or not we were going to stay or leave to continue the trip we began. And it needed some thought. That night we went to the Tipsy to see the Yankees game but couldn’t find it, while we were at the Barefoot we organised with Brice to do yoga on the roof of the place she is staying at for the next morning, 7:30am. From there we went down to J-Birds to say good-bye to Aline, but she was nowhere to be found. Being the small town, we found out that Doyle wasn’t feeling well and so they did not go out. We found Japs along the way and invited him over to our place…I went to bed early, but JP and Japs were up talking for a few hours after that. Japs always has some cool statement to make. That night was no exception…we were talking about learning another language and he said that learning Spanish is a transformation of personality…and I had been thinking about that same concept previously and agree. It also reminded me that although we are doing exactly what it is that we want right now, I am not learning Spanish.
Yoga, although not on the roof because of the heat of the sun already at that time, was great. The occasional boat would ride by and I knew Brice would be wondering if locals had seen three people on her back porch doing some strange things. After we were done, we invited Brice over for breakfast at our place. She got a phone call querying if today would be a good day to go out on Vance’s boat, and within a small period of time we were organizing ourselves for a day out at the cayes nearby and some fishing. It was during all the excitement that a migraine came on. Standing at the sink, I started to see the visual disturbances and knew I was in for a migraine. I had about ½ hour to deal with that and see if I could go on a boat. I lay down and closed my eyes, willing it all to ease away kindly. After that ½ hour I could see better and the headache was beginning. Not wanting to miss out, we got to Vance’s place, loaded the boat with Cassie and Logan, Chris with Adamas and Janelle, Brice, Vance and ourselves, and began a day on the boat. Heading first to some cayes for some swimming. We had a wonderful time floating over some clear water on noodles in the middle of a beautiful ocean. I was feeling pretty awful, but kept my sunglasses on and managed to have a wonderful time. Vance was in his element spear-fishing and he helped JP catch his first fish that way. Vance caught several more fish that way, which got everyone into the fishing mood, so he found us a spot to fish overboard. Chris was by far the most successful fisherperson on the boat, gliding the fishing line through her fingers, pulling up fish after fish using the same bait – conch. Brice, Janelle and I found some success with catching small fish along the way. It was a lovely day hanging out with good people and we once again looked at what fun we’ve been having with such great people in a wonderful part of the world. We also met Cassie’s boyfriend Richard - “Charo” – who came out on his boat to meet up with everyone. We fished until the early evening, catching and keeping a whole bunch of fish…we returned to our own places to have showers and found ourselves back at Vance’s for a fried fish bonanza. Upon docking the boat, we spotted a crocodile along the shore – no joke! Brice had made a comment to the kids earlier about being careful of the crocodiles, but I thought she’d been joking. Hard to imagine, but it was here in Placencia that we get our croc sighting – blimey!! Ha. Vance had gutted and cleaned every fish and Doyle was in charge of the frying. Brice made great plantain and banana chips and Chris made conch fritters which we ate with a sauce that Jillian made…it was all sooooo good. I was exhausted from the migraine and a day out, but thoroughly enjoyed the feast we had and the good company. Salva got a fish bone stuck in the back throat but that was the only incident. After dinner, we sat around talking and enjoying the breeze, when Doyle asked us if we wanted to come out with us on his tour to the mountains. He had mentioned to me that he loves this trip and would love us to see what he does – and so we were invited and accepted for the next day…it was time to bid our farewells for the night so I could rest up and meet Doyle for 8am.
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We got an early start to meet Doyle at the office and then we were on our way by boat. We were pleasantly surprised to see Vance there as our friendly Captain. It was a small group of 6. Two other couples and us. Then we drove to the Jaguar Reserve and started an awesome tour, most professionally guided by our very knowledgeable friend. We learned about how the Reserve became one and how eco-tourism has benefited the area and the wildlife. We set off and almost immediately, we were learning about the various plant life that has so many varied uses. Doyle said that most of the uses for the plants or trees or sap are linked with what it does itself – so for example, the tree that has constantly peeling bark is called the Tourist Tree (can’t remember the real name) because this is what tourists do after they bake in the sun and get burnt, and the sap of this tree assists with sunburn. He gave us leaves to smell, to touch, flowers to eat, asked us questions to keep us on our toes, and answered our questions. I’d say most of his jokes were not that corny (haha) and he made me pretty fascinated about the stuff in the jungle. He told us about the leaf-cutter ants and stirred up some other larger ants that had big pinchers that could hold onto a stick. We got rained on, but the canopy kept us pretty dry. We heard the familiar sounds of the black howler monkeys and he pointed out various birds (even a toucan!!), a
Well, as the saying goes; no rest for the wicked…hey, it was Sunday night, and despite arriving back in Placencia by 5ish, we went straight to our house for a shower before the band. After I had my shower, the power unexpectedly went out and our water pump stopped. No shower for JP. Instead of waiting for something to happen, we got ourselves together and walked down to the Barefoot to see what was happening. Along our walk, it was so nice to feel calm and peaceful, despite the blackout. People were not worried or concerned…”it’ll come back on soon”. And so were we…not worried about the electricity, just patiently waiting for when it returned. Candlelight shone from the Barefoot and we heard the familiar sounds of people milling about. We ambled through to the bar, where Cassie and Brice were attempting to work under very dim light and managed to find friends all about us. Japs had been talking us up to some Australian girl traveling with an Argentinean girl. Camilo made it out from the Shrimp farm with Raphael, and was raving about how he was jamming with the band before the lights went out and how he wanted to continue. JP was hoping to see the Yankees game too. We met up with Doyle and finally met his mentor. Turns out that I have met his daughter and his wife before…it all comes together here somehow. Earlier Doyle had mentioned how his little group of friends really feels like his family, and that evening, he incorporated us into the mix. I felt much honor in having him tell me that, especially when I feel the same. The lights teased us with a quick flash, but Doyle said that meant that it was soon to come back on for real. Too true, they did and roars and cheers came from all. The music began and the area resembled a Sunday night at the Barefoot once again with lots of people, food, dancing and drinks. JP was going in and out of the Tipsy for score updates. We danced together and while we were, the lights went back off. The roars from the crowd this time went into the night sky, filled with millions of stars. My head looked upwards and my arms were outstretched, it didn’t last but a moment and we were back in light. No storm to recount to blame on the outage. Just one of those things. Another joyful Sunday night with lots of chatting and stories and laughing. The Yankees won and Camilo lost his 2 beer bet. Somehow we started talking about some medical issue and I piped up with an answer. I was asked “how would you know that?” and I instantly responded “well, I’m a Doctor’s daughter” to which Bubba swiftly replied “what, are you Jewish or something?” – I was rolling with laughter at how it all unfolded and being called on such a funny statement. I am sure I could accredit a lot of my medical knowledge from an old pharmacy job, various hospital and other health related vocations I have pursued, but somehow none of that came to mind.
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Monday we truly took it easy. I had warned JP that after the migraine and the 2 awesome, but relatively non-stop days, I was in for bumming about, sleeping in and taking naps. Luckily it’s so easy to do here. I had pretty large bites from the jungle that were swollen and sore, so it’s was the perfect excuse to do nada…somehow the day flies by when we do nothing. Just talking about taking naps is making sleepy…pretty lame huh?
Yesterday wasn’t much more busy, but I left the house. We meandered down in the heat of the day to see Cassie at the bar, who was sporting a dashing new hair cut and color. We met David’s brother, Sonny (Doyle’s mentor) who is with a
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I am coming to realise that there is a difference between how my day goes and some of the deeper things that happen. I seem to need at least a couple of days to process things. How I feel about it one day, morphs and changes into another type of understanding later on. That’s why I also have difficulty finding the right place to start when I have had that time. Ah, are these the dilemmas of a person with way too much time on her hands? Ha. I think so!! Say like today, JP and I got to Brice’s place for 8:30am yoga session, then we all went out to breakfast, then I took a nap and then went for a snack and a juice at the Barefoot, helped Claudia out with something and am home at it’s 7pm. Tough huh?? Anyway – time allows me to reconfigure things…and I find myself with a load of these things all of a sudden. I find myself wanting to start by saying “we’ve had a great couple of days” – but I believe I have said that once or twice already right??
We’ve been keeping up with war and peace issues, and there are a few things that have been on my mind. Firstly, those incredible people in
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Life in Placencia took us on a wonderful ride of bliss and happiness. We truly feel that we have made family there, and it was bitter sweet to leave. It seems inevitable that when I get myself settled into a place that I focus more on the present and less on the writing. Both of our mothers were a little worried at our lack of contact. Ah, what can go wrong in Placencia? Haha. You will have to excuse the lack of poetic writing in the following accounts….
We spent the final 10 days or so having more fun than I can convey. We had Jes Karper and Japs over for dinner at our apartment. Jes gave us a heap of his music and we gave him some of ours that night. Japs’ girlfriend Lee came back from the
Brice, JP and I did yoga quite a few more times before we left…I had made plans to do some pilates with her, but it just did not happen. It was a nice time in the mornings, waking up and waking the mind and then going to eat breaky…there was one morning that just Brice and I did yoga and we attempted the strength session, and almost killed ourselves. It was still fun. Saturday night we kept having fun and laughter, finding our way to Macovy Blues after the Barefoot closed. And then, Sunday came around again…the 4th one. It was a strange time, what with the new moon and all…Placencia had another power outage which started it all off and people were acting a little weird, our friend needed a little intervention which sealed the night for me, and made me worry about him. It wasn’t too necessary to worry, but it really was the first time that I saw any unrest. Japs told us that some guy had a fight with the owner of the Macovy Blues the night before – so I put it all down to the full moon. The funny part of the night was when Louis (Jap’s brother) had some dance-off with a tourist – everyone was clapping and laughing at their breakdance moves.
I can’t remember what day it was that Amy came, but I was told of her imminent arrival. Amy had been in Placencia a year prior conducting research on
Next night was Poker Night…but not for me. JP and Camilo found the secret place for the game and I stayed at the Barefoot. It was this night that Greg offered for us to have our Anniversary party at his house…such a generous offer and we of course accepted. We were not sure what we were going to do, only that we wanted to have people that we have met to share in our joy…what better option that to have it at Greg’s place, a home. Anyway, JP with walkie-talkie in hand went to play poker. I spent the night flitting between people down at the Barefoot…various groups of people that I knew were there, but sitting separately. I shared a nasty drink with the two Kevin’s and Greg – a drink with aniseed and spearmint…not for me. But the company was good and I felt at ease and comfortable with whomever I sat with. There was a silly bet about whether Camilo’s boss Rafael had hair on his chest or not, and since I knew him, I was asked to find out…it ended up turning into a week-long joke too detailed to go into. Needless to say, I will look back on that night, along with Anna-Marie and Dave’s funny antics, with a smile on my face. The walkie-talkie made it’s way around to various people trying to psych JP out, but he ended up losing around $4 while Camilo raked it all in.
I believe it was Wednesday night that we finally had Brice, Vance, Cassie, Charo and Logan over for dinner – Moroccan Chicken with cous cous – we found this little store closer to all the resorts that had a great selection of “gourmet” (also expensive) items to make dinner. The only item we had difficulty finding was fresh mint – but Japs’ mum had some in her garden and he came through with a huge bunch for us. I thought it was a really nice night, sitting and relaxing and chatting. Although it was a little tight getting everyone into our little place, it felt good to have more visitors and treat them a little.
The next day was preparation for our party on Friday night, and a quick duck down to the Barefoot for Christine’s Birthday. For Friday, our anniversary, I did not want people to go out of their way and so I was madly creating dishes that would feed a group of about 20. I was not as frantic as I could have gotten…I realized that I write lists of things much like my Mum, but it saved me forgetting anything and there seemed to be a lot to do. Everyone was amazing – people helped out so much, with booze, ice, cakes and muffins, a good sized fish and general helping hands. During the day, Bee-bee (Mark) came over and helped cart things over to Greg’s place and then prepared the fish for the feast. We would have been a little lost without his help. Greg seemed to be enjoying the prospect of having a party at his house, which is a totally cool place. Agata came early and helped me out, even with a swollen foot, and gave us a sweet little present which we will have to frame when we have a house. We all had a blast. People say the food was good and there seemed to be enough for everyone, and even enough for snacks later and lunch the next day. Mostly all the people we had wanted to see and share the night with was there. What more can I say but we ate, drank and were merry thanks to all the wonderful people that we met over our short stay. We both felt that we wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Our last few days in Placencia were just as perfect. Saturday night was Amy’s last night, so we waited for the Barefoot to close and headed over to Swings for a little karaoke…I finally joined in to sing “What a feeling” (flashdance) with Amy, Lucilla and Brice. It was fun and I did not feel that I made too much of an ass of myself, as can be done easily with karaoke. We made it over to Sugar Reef and everyone went a little crazy – the national dance of Punta was in full force all over the place…a grinding, rolling action with one’s butt and hips – a little like dirty dancing but with Belizean flare. I managed, in the middle of it all, to remember to call Dad for Father’s day but he wasn’t home, so I ended up reversing the charges to Nana, which I knew would go over splendidly. I had been rather lazy with all my communication, so it was nice to speak with Nana. We had more fun than we should have, since the last Sunday night was upon us and we had some goodbyes to do…as usual, Sunday night at the Barefoot was brilliant. The difference that night was the rain. We danced in it. It was so refreshing and exciting…I felt like a little kid. Monday was supposed to be spent getting our shit into gear and we did a little of it, but not quite enough. We went over to Vance’s place for a delicious dinner and hung out with Brice and Vance for our last night. It was hard to begin saying our good-byes, but it was time to move on…but the universe had other plans for us…Monday morning we packed up, had breakfast with Cassie and Brice and said farewell, but Ola didn’t want to leave. We had a leak that needed mending and the right tubing was nowhere to be found…Keith helped us out so much and the mend job was good enough for the time being, (believe it or not but the steel tubing that was made into an L shape sprung a leak and Keith got some PVC tubing and configured some crazy contraption) but it was already too late to leave (oh well) and so Monday night became our last night. JP went back to the guy who made the steel tube and he welded brass over the leak and we took that tubing for backup. We had a little impromptu farewell at the Pickled Parrot with Greg, Anna-Marie, Dave, Brice, Vance, Keith and Kathy…and stayed at Vance’s place for the night. I can’t say all the right words to make anyone fully understand our feelings about Placencia. I know that staying there for one month might be a good indication…
For all of those who made our stay what is was…Brice, Cassie, Vance, Greg, Doyle, Be-Be, Boney, Japs, Charo, Logan, Rafael, Antonio, Kevin, Miss Penny, Camilo, Lewis, Anna-Marie and Dave, Doyan, Amy, the other Kevin, Agata, Aline, Claudia, baby Amy, Ray-ray, Albert, Ellie, Tessa, Christine, Jonelle, Adamas, Salva, Gillian, Vic, Maria, Lee, Joelle, Jenna, Keith, Kathy, George, Denise, David and Ciara, Saide and Isabelle…thank-you, thank-you…
We headed towards the
Our last day in Belize was the 8th September in San Ignacio…our visa was valid until the 9th but we decided that we wouldn’t leave it til the last day, just incase we encountered some problems. We enjoyed a relaxed evening and found Javiers place. After a simple dinner we returned to the camping place and watched the huge full moon begin its travels up into the sky – impossible to take pictures of, we sat and enjoyed the bright light and the colours. It reminded me of home and my Mum, as whenever there was a big, beautiful moon in
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Tonight is our 5th night in
Upon entering
We slept soundly and roused ourselves for our early start. Walking through the dark in the jungle once again. There were many more people on this tour than the night before. After half an hour of walking, we clambered up to the top of a structure and sat in silence, awaiting the animals and the sun. What ruined it a little was a truck traveling through the Park, not such a natural sound. I’m struggling to find more adjectives to express how beautiful it was and the way the sky constantly changed with the light. We felt quite blessed having had the opportunity to see the sunset, moonrise and now sunrise and felt we packed in a fair amount into our 12 hours. We were then given a small tour around the site and were told various stories about reconstruction, money issues and general other information about the site. By 9am we were famished. Luis left us in the main plaza and we sat watching the area and how the now blue sky created the perfect backdrop for such dramatic structures. We had decided that we would return after breakfast, but as we were heading out, hoards of people were arriving…like more than I have ever seen in an archaeological site. They had said there was a marathon that was ending inside the Plaza and that friends and family were arriving to get seats for the end of the event. That kind of turned us off going back after breakfast…I guess we had been spoiled by such peacefulness and didn’t want it ruined by hundreds of people. Upon returning to the restaurant/camping area, JP attempted to warm up Ola’s engine, and we found that because of the intense heat, the fridge drained both batteries and we were in need of a jump. Bugger. At least it was easy feat, just annoying, since we have 2 batteries. We had met a guy named Jacobo, originally from the
We decided to head to
By morning, we were heading towards the recommended natural pools of Semuc Champey, through the quaint town of
By morning, we scrapped our caving expedition given the 6 hour drive ahead of us. We were surprised by another swishing sound about ¾ of the way along our travels, and had to change another tyre. For each flat, we have had such different terrains…this time a rocky, slightly hilly road. This created a challenge that needed all of our creative expertise (well, JP’s) and we ended up using the “balloon” (that is filled by exhaust fumes) that lifted up the rear axle and fixed the slope problem. It’s probably just easier to check out the pictures than to imagine it. Once we were done, we kept heading eastwards towards Lago de Izabal, to a ranch called Finca el Paraiso. One never knows what we are going to find and how much the rates change depending upon where we stay. But after 6 hours of driving, it’s tiring to begin searching for alternate accommodations. This ranch boasted a hot waterfall. The strangely described “unpaved highway” is a worry – for the constant traffic, and the huge bumps and holes and mud, it makes general travel for local people tricky. Arriving at the Finca, tired and a little hungry, we were charged more than we expected to camp and the facilities were pretty nasty. Nevertheless, the location was beautiful which made up for it. I slaved over a hot stove to make rice and beans, but by the time it was done, neither of us were terribly hungry – go figure! I spoke to Jorge (whom I had met 11 years ago in
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Today we are headed towards
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Well, I meant it. We are safe…Ola on the other hand is a little banged up – car crash number two. We drove successfully to
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I am sitting on the roof terrace of the divine hotel that Stefan has put us up in – El Meson de Maria. It’s a gorgeously decorated place and we have been enjoying this quaint town of
On Saturday night at the beach house, there was a large storm that had the whole family band together….it was a few weeks ago that an even larger storm occurred and lightening hit several palm trees in their backyard and sent some shocks through the earth, breaking up some of the ground…Stefan’s mother was rightfully concerned and we all put rubber-soled shoes on and went upstairs to their bedroom to watch the “light show” – it was truly spectacular. It came and went and we lost power for about a minute and that was it. Next day we were given the royal tour of the canals and the beach by Stafan’s father Mario…he took Gal (a friend of Stafan’s brother Jonathon) and us. We got to hear old stories of the area and saw how an area had been reclaimed by the
By early afternoon it was time to leave to catch our organised tour with a friend of Stefan’s up Volcan Pacaya and meet Stefan’s sister Ariela. Slightly unprepared (since leaving most our things in the truck) we were given some jackets from Chicky (our guide) and enjoyed the hour-long drive to the volcano. Chicky reports that it is one of the most accessible active volcanoes and is beginning to be more active, with daily changes to its surface. Somehow, it is not monitored like one would assume by volcanologists (anyone reading this who knows a volcanologist, get the word out!). We met up with Ariela and her two travel companions Gail and Tom, and another guy. We began the steep climb up and up…I was again reminded of my poor fitness, but we all pushed on. Following the path, we were lead to various look outs mostly obscured by fog and came across newly formed volcanic rock over the walking path. Ariela said she was there recently and it was all new. We were astounded at the amount of volcanic rock and saw the steam rising from it. It was at this point, when the sun was no longer any help because it had done its’ job for the day, that Gail was thinking of turning around. She decided to push on, and so we all did. Various groups making their descent spoke of a lava flow. It was pretty dark by this time and Chicky found the “path” (a large, steep hill of pulvarised volcanic rock). We trudged on up…sliding and slipping, huffing and puffing, we were guided by the red glow in the sky and then we saw, in the distance above us, red glowing lava. Another 10 minutes climbing and we reached a slow flowing river of lava. It still seems strange for me to say it. Close enough to poke it with a stick and warm ourselves, we sat to have a nutritious sandwich and admire the various flows. We probably stayed up there for half an hour, not looking forward to the option of going down what we had just climbed over the past hour and a half. It was well worth the effort and it was a phenomenal experience. We returned to the hotel by 11pm ready for a good nights sleep.
Yesterday, JP and I had a nice relaxing day walking about
JP just called from the City saying that the truck looked pretty good (the door needs a little tweaking) and that the mechanics are going to do a wheel alignment and he’ll be returning with Ola. It’s a good thing, since we both miss her. I know it’s a strange thing to say, since we don’t really need her in this town, but she’s our home. I did my best to speak Spanish and find us a place to park her and it seems I was understood. This only makes me more excited to undertake a course and finally become more confident to speak.
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JP and I enjoyed our last night at El Meson de Maria and began to look for another place to stay. JP made it back to
We’ve just heard that the three month visa given to us by the Guatemalan authorities, covers us also for
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Good morning and Happy New Year to family. Yesterday was an easy day of eating and relaxing. I felt more comfortable and relaxed than the night before. JP sat at the edge of the mountain and practiced his strumming and also went up to the truck to fix the stereo speaker that was a little broken after the guys fixed the door. I watched “Narnia”. Dinner last night was a vege burger with some basil mayonnaise that was pretty tasty. We had Scott organise a room for us back in
This morning I was awoken by a call from family…I was pretty groggy in the first few conversations, as the phone got passed around, but became more alert as the conversations went on. It was a strange experience sitting in the warmth of our tent, knowing I was in the middle of the mountain talking on a cell phone. Ola looks foreign enough to people from the outside, without an English speaking voice coming from within. It was nice to speak to everyone, despite the lag in the line. We were able to go back to sleep only to be woken by two inquisitive kids. We gave them a couple of toy koalas to keep them from being too much more inquisitive and they seemed to really love them.
This weekend we will probably walk around
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Well, we made it to Café No Se (translation: Café I don’t know), and more synchronicity occurred. We had gone there for a little lunch while we were working on the Website (which is now updated) and had stopped this guy Mike, asking about Internet access. We told him that we had come to Café No Se because of the publication we had read, which got us to talking a little…come to find out that they have a little Tequila Bar attached to their Café, opened in the evenings. Mike said he was working there that night and we said we’d be there. Anyway, we caught up with Sarah and Scott for a drink at the bar next door to the hotel, and then headed over to the Tequila Bar. We met a few people and began chatting with this guy Alvaro. We were talking politics (a common theme in this bar), our experiences going through various countries so far and that kind of thing. We told the story about how the bus had crashed into us and how Stefan and his family had helped us out. One thing led to another and we find out that Alvaro knows Stefan’s family, and that their father’s grew up together. It was so crazy, I was quite speechless. Anyway, JP downed quite a few shots that night and we hung out til about 1am. Alvaro, although he lives in
JP was feeling a little under the weather on Saturday after the tequila shots the night before, and we just worked on the website and took it easy. Yesterday, I called Alvaro and we organised to meet, and he would take us up to the cabin. JP and I ended up walking down to the market and then went to a supermarket and stocked up on fresh things and rode a tuk-tuk back to the hotel. We went to grab something little to eat at a place showing movies and ended up having the craziest chicken nachos we’ve ever eaten and watched the movie “Click” starring Adam Sandler. It was a cool movie and nice evening. We headed over to Café No Se to meet up with Alvaro and while we were waiting, we sat to listen to the guy singing on the guitar. He was singing and playing beautifully and we snuggled up and enjoyed the tunes. It’s been a habit of JP’s to ask open-mic musicians if they can play “Working Class Hero” by John Lennon, and so far no one has known it. Quietly I asked him if he was going to ask the guy and he whispered “it doesn’t look like he’s taking requests”. No sooner than JP had completed that answer, the first strum of “Working Class Hero” came from the guitar and we froze in anticipation and awe…without a word, here was this song, as if it had been telepathically requested. Pretty cool huh? The rest of the night was pretty laid back and we headed out towards the cabin after 1am and got to bed around 3am. The cabin is without electricity, but it is really sweet, overlooking the volcanoes. Last night, the stars were twinkling without the moon and the crisp air made it a perfect temperature to sleep. It’s been perfect for us so far…all we really need is running water, as it makes things so much easier. Despite being offered a bed in the cabin, we were very pleased to get back into our bed and slept soundly. We’ve showered, had coffee and a little snack and are enjoying the quiet solitude of this new area.
We received a concerned email from Cassie the other day, wondering if we were OK. It came in perfect time, since I was missing everyone so much. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to stop traveling or I was just missing the comfort and the feeling of belonging that I know we both felt. When I mentioned it to John Paul, he too said that he was missing the people and was missing it too. But, I sat with that feeling for a few days and since we have begun meeting more people who are open and just so nice, it has enabled me to move on from it and enjoy what is in front of me. Sometimes that is hard to do, but I know that it is worth being in the present and I know that we experience so much more when we stay present. Today we are going to stay around here in the mountain. Alvaro has left to
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Happy Birthday Briana!
Well, dinner’s off…boo hoo. Turns out that Alvaro could not get the ingredients that he needed. We’ve just had leftovers from last night – fried rice with avocado. It’s good to use leftovers. JP had a difficult day today; the truck‘s batteries are complaining and he can’t find the problem and his guitar string broke today, with no replacement as it’s the same one that broke last time. We pottered around at the cabin today, washed some clothes, played a game of caluki (a card game that I used to play with my girls) and took in the scenery. We are heading out to Lago de Atitlan tomorrow, meet up with Alexandro’s (Stefan’s cousin) brother and find a place to do a language course. Sadly, I have not heard back from Jorge, which is a shame. He called last week and said he’d call to meet up with us for dinner or something. Oh well. We were thinking about going out tonight, but the cabin is in this private property that you need a key at night for…we’re not up for staying out til all hours because of the trip tomorrow, so we’ve decided to stay here. I am hoping that we’ll fall into a rhythm again – I know that I said that I am staying in the present, but right at this moment the concept of moving more and more seems to me to be a bit tiring. When I think of returning to
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JP and I have been reading another book to each other, about the earth called “Gaia: the human journey from chaos to cosmos” (and I just found out today that the word “heart” and the word “earth” use the very same letters) and it has come at a good time. More on that later.
We had an early night and a restful sleep (even though both of us had strange nightmares) and awoke to the prospect of heading to Lago de Atitlan, for an eventual Spanish course. We had a more than expected lazy morning, hanging with Alvaro (who made us a delish breakfast) and watched Volcan Fuego shoot out loads of smoke. It was a divinely clear day and it felt like we could almost touch the volcanoes. We took a 3 hour drive to Panajachel (pron: Pana-ha-chel) hoping to meet up with Alexandro’s brother Ricardo…after several failed attempts at locating the exact hotel (as it was without a sign and we were sent up and down the street by locals) we were optimistic at hanging with another “friend of a friend”. Not to be. A lady knocked at his door, saying people were there sent by his brother, and from within the room came “no estoy” – effectively “I’m not here” basically…we walked out a little disappointed and decided to find ourselves a place to stay. Panajachel is an overcrowded city on the shores of a beautiful lake. We were warned. My “lonely planet” guide suggested a camping spot about 1km out of the city, but we seemed to have trouble crossing the river. The bridge that was supposed to be there, was not. We ended up finding the place and its interesting owner Miguel, and here we are. Come to find out that a hurricane did some damage to the river upstream and the gush of water took out the bridge. Upon arriving, we were warmly welcomed and Miguel guessed both of our ages within a year – he says “so you’re 28 and 32 then”…the best guess we’ve had so far, guessing our age gap correctly anyway. He’s the one he told us that “earth” and “heart” use the same letters. Anyway, we were talking about our trip, and he referred to it as “a wave”…something intuitive about this guy. We told him that’s the name of the truck and that we feel that is the type of trip we are on. In his life past he’s been a social worker but is now interested in astrology.
I’ve come to understand that I sometimes see our trip as a whole. It’s not. There are many parts and many smaller parts to it. When I don’t see it like that, I get overwhelmed and connect all our little experiences into the big one. What that means is that I don’t always see that a few days here spending time on a mountain as distinct from the 4 hour drive as distinct from the few days in a hotel. They all have their merit in different ways and they all amount to our greater experience, but when I view it in smaller parts, I find that my expectations diminish, and I am able to see each in its own right. This helps. This makes what I said last night fade into the distance, off into to some far away volcano. I am grateful that we get to meet the people we do. It’s not everyday that we get to meet people that make us think or that we are super happy and communicative. But it is the days that we do, that make it all the worthwhile.
It was just at that point that I finished that sentence that Miguel, the owner of this camping place Campaña, came over to chat. We all ended up having a couple of hours conversation about the Earth, where it’s headed, where we fit into it all, how he sees various periods of history and the terror and excitement of today’s world. We talked about destiny and understanding, illusions and hypocricy. He told us how lucky we are to be on this journey and we agreed. Actually, he had come over to find out our perspective on it all – are we optimistic, pessimistic, do we have any feelings about what’s to come? The fact that we had had a trying day and ended up here in his company was again reassuring that we are right where we need to be right now.
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Good morning. After a couple of days in the lakeside town of
Being able to drive through towns, we find that we tend to see its many faces and San Pedro is no exception. Its many one way streets without identifiable signs and much poor living, made me wonder about the living areas and tourist areas and the difference we might find. We had difficulty finding the area with the language schools and restaurants that first day, and we were tired and hungry and found the river side, a cheap place to eat and stayed at the hotel we had parked outside of, figuring we’d work it all out the next day, which we did. We walked to find other hotel options and came across the “tourist street” and went in to have a drink. We met a couple of people, one of them, Paul, is driving his motorbike from NY to here so far. It’s nice to bump into people who are attempting similar (if not even more challenging) journeys. I was feeling unwell and wanted to leave the bar, but JP wanted to stay, so after a disagreement, we went our separate ways and worked it all out the next day. We found a place with parking, private bathroom and shared kitchen on the lake for under $40 for the week. Seems like a good deal to us. Then we went for a walk to find a language school. It’s a tough decision – how does one know for certain that it is the right place? You don’t – I’m booked at a place starting Monday, 4 hours per day for 5 days for $56us. 9-1. I’m excited to get going and see what I really do know and how long it takes me to get back into the swing of understanding sentence structure and all that jazz. I have 2 days now before “school” starts, so I think I will just kick back and enjoy the relaxing feeling. Perhaps it’s time to get some breakfast going…JP went to the bakery and we have some hot and fresh rolls and some fresh eggs, couple that with some of that Oaxacan cheese we bought, should be a yummy breakfast.
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Las Clases de Espanol son buenas. Yo espero el dia cuando yo puedo hablar con mi suegra en Español. That’s enough of that. Suffice to say, that I am happy with the way my classes are going and I get homework everyday. My teachers name is Selvin. He’s a sweet 25 year old guy. Each morning, I wake up, make coffee (not as often, eat breakfast) and walk to school for 9am. It’s a 10-15 minute stroll which I like. He had set the plan for the week with me on Monday after sitting and chatting for some time to evaluate my spoken word. He is quite easy to understand and we have been having some very interesting conversations, and somehow I am able to convey how I feel and what I think. We’ve needed to do a lot of revision of my verbs, which I forgot how to conjugate. And it’s been very rewarding and satisfying. I am not as enamored with San Pedro, but it serves its purpose, for me. The town is very separated between the tourist area and the rest of the town. I find that difficult as I really like to feel a part of the place that I am staying. It again takes me back to the feeling of Placencia and how we were able to hang with locals and tourists alike, together. This weekend, I want to go to the market and get some studying done for my Monday class. JP is dreading pieces of paper with verbs stuck up everywhere…I think he was more thinking that because we live in a truck and how will I study when we are back on the road? I figure that I will make use of the space that I have now and work it out later. I intend that my Spanish will be better and I will be more motivated to study a little each day, like JP strums the guitar. My school has an excursion tomorrow to a place called Chichicastenango and I think that I will try to find out about it, as it supposed to be a great market with lots of cool and colorful wares.
Our week has been very relaxing otherwise. We were hanging out with Paul, the guy driving his motorcycle across the world, but he has needed to “pop” back home for 10 days or so to the
San Pedro is on the other side of the lake from Pana. This means that the volcanoes we could see from Pana are over our heads here. There is a 2 hour trail leading to the top (called ‘the nose”) that people take at 3:30am to see the sunrise. I heard it’s a pretty strenuous climb but I think that before we leave this place, we’ll have to do it. The other thing I thought that we might do is go to San Marcos or the other town that I can’t remember the name of right now, which I am told are way more chilled and quiet…not as much drinking and partying as here. At times, I feel a little old hanging out with people in their early 20’s. Other times, it’s so much fun. The restaurants here in this area are all pretty cool and laid back, and we have been frequenting a place called The Buddha…some good food, a pool table, darts and the coolest chill-out area with really comfortable lounge areas. Most of the establishments are pretty cool but mostly run by foreigners or people residing here for a few years. Lots of the restaurants have night-time movie sessions, and we went to see V for Vendetta. Any people who have not yet seen it, you should. Very powerful flick and various levels of thought-provoking material. We had seen it in the cinemas, but like any movie, found more things second time around.
The other thing that has been a big and important issue is the “PLAYOFFS” – yes, the Yankees. JP has been his resourceful self and found some access to a television, which we watch on our little porch outside. If it is not playing on a certain channel, then we head into a bar that has it playing. It seems to make JP feel happy since we have not been watching television, despite the last two games being woefully lost. At least the fight isn’t with the Red Sox. I would like to now take this opportunity to send my regrets to all my friends who are Boston Red Sox fans and I would go on and on, but I don’t want my gloating to have any adverse affects of the current situation. I will be sure to get off my butt and write to you all individually to send my consolations. Especially Mary – we shared a healthy relationship of competition at work, which lightened the mood when it was needed.
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And as it happens, the Yankees endured a painful end themselves, and it was a good thing I held my tongue. It’s raining today and I am watching it fall while sitting on our porch since JP is having a nap. When I went to school today, he went to do yoga up the road. I left a little early from school coz I just wanted to and found JP before he came to find me. The restaurant we planned to have lunch is closed on Mondays anyway. JP and I had a nice relaxing lunch together somewhere else and then read a lot more of the Gaian book to each other before the rain herded us indoors. Since it is the rainy season, one must expect rain – and we do. Mostly at the moment, it is sunny and hot in the mornings and then it becomes overcast in the early afternoon and maybe a shower closer to sunset and the temperature drops so you often need socks and a jacket (along with your other clothes!! Ha). It is certainly a nice change from the oppressive heat we endured in
The rest of the weekend was pretty nice, despite the loss of the Yankees, and that’s the last time I’m mentioning it. Sunday morning we went to check out Alex’s place “Luna Azul” as we had heard they had good, cheap food. We had a leisurely breakfast with other tourists and talked about life “at home” and “on the road”. A couple from
There are a few things that I’d like to do around here before we head out of
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I have been so slack and I can’t even recall any really amazing experiences that you would all love to hear…this journal is becoming a bit boring I think. I believe I have been suffering from an overload of new experiences and new people that I have shut off recently from it all. There’s a certain amount I can take until I seem to just switch off – it’s like, I love to meet new people, but when you travel for months, you end up meeting a thousand new people and there are times it get tiring, for me at least. I have a little cough right now, and although I vowed to go to Chichi, I slept in yesterday and rested the entire day, and feel and sound a little better today. So, I missed Chichi. I did not climb a volcano since being here in San Pedro, but we are thinking about heading over to
We had another lovely home-style meal that Natalie (the Kiwi) cooked with help from others (bar myself) over at Luna Azul (Blue Moon), so basically we’ve been taking it easy, eating and sleeping. Tough life. I’ve been enjoying watching the many kites take flight in the air during the day by kids and seeing the games they play in the streets. We worked on the truck a little yesterday – it still has problems. I’d say that it will always have problems, so we’re just gonna drive her until she can’t drive any further and then deal with what to do after. My family better not pray for her to break – I know you want me to come home, but you just have to wait a little more!!
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We’ve made it to the Pacific coast again, in a place called
Since I had enjoyed the delightful part of freeing the babies, I decided to help out with excavating the nests to count hatched and unhatched eggs. They have a system of recording what happens to each batch. You have to dig down to where the eggs were, take out and count all the eggs and open any unhatched ones to discern why they didn’t make it. That’s the gory and smelly part. My luck was finding 2 little guys who had hatched and not yet made it out with the rest of their brothers and sisters…I had the pleasure of digging them out and saying hello, and the other volunteers let them go in the ocean. It’s a good thing they’re doing here and with the volunteers, it must make the arduous daily tasks easier. I pity them tonight though, because it’s absolutely pissing down with rain right now and soon they will start to do their walk on the beach in search of mama turtles. I am content to wait for the rice to be cooked and have a warm dinner, do some reading with JP, maybe work on the website as we know we have some updating to do and go to bed. I think we’ll hang here for tomorrow and then head out on Sunday or Monday towards
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Good morning. For those of you living vicariously, welcome to
By Saturday, all of the volunteers left and another 2 from
We took it easy the next day, but I helped release a few batches of turtles at 7am on my own, so they could start their walk to the funeral. It was a powerful experience, standing in the pouring rain with hatchlings only an hour old or so and taking care that they made it safely into the water…the rest is up to them to swim as far and as fast as they can to safety, grow up to maturity and return to the beach where I let them go to make new babies. I had hoped to get some pictures, but it was raining too hard. I enjoyed paying all my attention to their progress anyway. Then I returned to bed with a full heart and heavy eyes. We spent the day lazing in the hammocks and allowed the new volunteers to excavate the nests, feeling a little guilty that I did not help. It rained on and off that day, so I found a book and started reading…”Five quarters of an orange” by that woman who wrote “Chocolat” – I’m a little mad that I didn’t get to finish, since I was over half way done by the time we left. I’ll have to find it somewhere and finish it. I accidentally left the flap open on the tent and the bed sheet got wet that day, but I managed to change the sheets and we were able to sleep in the tent that night with no trouble – happy that the mattress was not soaked.
Mosquitoes in that area were intense, especially after days and nights of pretty heavy rain, so it became quite the task to get into the tent without having the mosquitoes follow us in. By morning time, my screen window on the tent was full of dead mosquitoes that I had killed. They sit on the screen on the outside (knowing full well that there’s a warm blooded body inside) and poke their stingers through the netting and bite us if any body part happens to be close enough for them. OUCH!!! At dusk they attacked relentlessly. JP is totally covered in bites, and I have managed to sustain some really good ones (like on fingers and toes) but nothing like the mess JP is in. After a time, all the itching makes you crazy especially since we try hard not to scratch – they don’t last as long that way.
Monday morning at 6am both JP and I helped count and release roughly 250 hatchlings. We got some great pictures and another high to watch these little guys scramble instinctively down to the waters edge. Once every single one was in the water, without our assistance, we packed up and bid fond farewells to our new friends, thanked them for a cool experience, and headed to
Was it that easy? I hear you ask – by now you must realise that no road trip for us is without adventure of some kind…and we were in for a treat!! We made it on to the lancha that took us 5 miles upstream no problem…we even made calls from our cell phone whilst floating. We reached the turn off, had something to eat and reached a road block…the rain had cause the road to “float away” – but “you could do it in that truck” says the Policeman. There was a small muddy path that we had to take, not before someone asked JP if we could tow them out to the other side. Sure, why not? Well, as we crossed the muddy river, slowly towing this truck behind, we didn’t have any momentum, and we couldn’t make it up the muddy slope. We had to untie ourselves from the truck and focus on ourselves…and our now leaking radiator from all the strain on the engine. Many people were assisting us which was so nice and we had to use the winch for the first time to save us – what a success. I have a little video that I am sure will go on the website to show our difficulties. Once up the hill it was the next job to fix the overheated engine. Luck has it that we were assisted by a mechanic who also sells bread around the area. We made it out to the main road and he even went to find us a spare hose (just incase for later) and gave it to us. Despite being hours after our intended departure from Guatemala, we were dirty, safe and full of that knowing feeling that there are nice people everywhere in the world able and willing to assist a stranger in need. Again, if there is anything that you get from our experiences, please let it be this. And perhaps it might help you stop for a stranger along the road, instead of driving on thinking that strangers are always dangerous or that someone else will help them or that you have somewhere to be.
The border-crossing was strange. It took longer than expected also. Given the new laws with visas, the only pain in the bum was the extension of the truck – a little boy eager to assist, rode with us to the customs place and was displeased with the $5 JP gave him for his help. Customs had to estimate the worth of our belongings - not sure why, but she underestimated it all and we did not get charged taxes. It was close to 5pm by the time we got going again and we had another 2 hours to get to the beach. Despite our rule not to drive at night time, we knew where we were headed and there didn’t seem to be any other option. We were slightly bummed that we missed the view of the ocean overlooking steep cliffs but were happy that we made it safe and sound. We are now at a place called “La casa del Frida” and after dinner here, we were allowed to stay in their parking lot for the night. Morning time is now here, and I’m enjoying listening to and watching the crashing of the waves – again we are, it always seems, by the water.
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We’ve spent a relaxing few days here in El Zonte, by the beach. We arrived here thinking we’d stay a day or so, but for some reason, the people here have allowed us to park and sleep in the truck, regardless that they rent rooms here and each night they say that it is no problem to do it again. So, we’ve been here 3 nights. The caretakers of the place have been so great to us – they have two divine children whom I have been playing with and talking to and they have become less and less shy as the days go on. By 7:30am it is too hot in the tent to keep sleeping, so we rouse ourselves and have a typical breakfast – here consisting of scrambled eggs with veggies, bean soup, a fried banana, cheese and bread. It’s pretty yummy, but the coffee here is terrible. Something about how the people here have to export all their good stuff, leaving nothing of much worth here for the people…but more on that later.
We have done the important task of updating the website, which I know a lot of people have been hassling us about (Cassie!!) and drove into La Libertad, a town about 20 minutes away to upload the site at an internet place. We were able to get our washing done in town too, although, it’s getting tiring to have other people do it – we’d really rather that we do it ourselves. It’s not the cheapest way to clean our clothes, but when we don’t know when we are moving on or are around lots of people, it can get difficult to set up a line. We have been staying in areas that are pretty populated, even if they aren’t cities. There have not been many places like trailer parks to camp, so our traveling has been different. We’re coming up to our 6 months of traveling and not having a permanent base is starting to have its’ affect on me. I am thinking a lot about the future and our plans. We got word that Patty thinks that Mia will not be a permanent part of their family, which worries me greatly. I know that some of you think of her as “just a cat” but she is our baby and if she is not settling in, it makes me feel that we should go and get her. I have come to appreciate the comfort of having a home-base and I truly miss having some job to do – not that I am without jobs when it comes to this trip, but it’s different. And although this trip has never been about seeing all the sights, I am certainly in a place where I think “well, I don’t care to see any more volcanoes”. So now what? I don’t know for certain!
In speaking to Jacobo, he was unable to take off any days this week because there was some flooding and he needed to assist with a bridge or something. I was thinking to call him and offer our assistance, but we ran out of minutes for the phone, so JP just went to get a recharge card and hopefully call him.
Our small sample population has told us so far that the dollarization of the currency has been very bad for them. They note that staple foods used to be cheaper and now they struggle to make ends meet. A day’s work will earn them about $4.50, but a bus to the city costs $2.50. It seems like a ridiculous change for the worse for the majority of the population – no doubt it benefits larger businesses and the rich. We met a lovely guy Enrique, who through determination paid his way through University to become a dentist and now helps the local population through a Government grant. He says that out of the 6 million people in
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Living it up in
Next day we headed out to the coast after off-loading as much gear at Jacobo’s place in order to take both Jacobo and his friend Laura, oh and the dog too. This was when we got our flat…I knew it was coming!! It was a slow leak from a patch job and although we tried to fix it and were able to drive it to where we were staying for the night, we ended up needing to change it. We stayed on a peninsula not far from El Canoa, the community that Jacobo helps at an inlet – we hung out, let Pakun (Jacobo’s dog) play and frolic with other dogs and watched a storm circle the area. By nightfall we were herded into our room because of the mosquitoes and enjoyed chatting and drinking for the remainder of the evening. Next day we took it pretty slow, having a quick look around El Canoa. He told us that the people in this area had suffered a lot from the war and many were combatants, both men and women. He showed us where the Lempa river is breaking banks and told us a little about his work with flooded towns and assisting with those types of issues. We finished our tour with a necessary stop at the famous “pupuseria” area – these are tortillas filled with cheese and beans, piping hot and delicious. I had experienced the joy of the pupusa in
I feel that I need help with explaining some of the history of this area, for those of you who are unfamiliar with it. There are dates and people and events that I would like mentioned to assist you in understanding the complexity and sadness of this history and how these people have carried on. I have asked JP to assist me with this, so maybe he’ll make his first appearance in this journal that way! We’ll see.
It’s been great to see how some grassroots organizations here work, hear about so many collectives in communities and much community organization. It’s so great to see and such popular activity makes me think of things we might be able to do. In response to my own queries, Jacobo has talked to me about being able to volunteer in the child care in the community we visited or assisting building a tree house, but as yet, we have not made any real plans.
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In following the happenings of
Today JP and I went to look at the mall they have here called MetroCenter. It’s huge and it felt strange to be around US stores again. We ended up going to see a movie for $2.50 and despite its silly content it was fun. We took a bus back to Jacobo’s place and are here chilling in his backyard. In the office, a group of community organizers are finalizing the preparations for a community activity and forum weekend to educate about the affects of privatization of water and the poor water conditions and right to have clean and healthy water. We have met many people who have witnessed and been part of the civil war, and although I want to hear about their experiences, once again the language barrier makes it virtually impossible to do it on my own.
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We are bathing in the morning light after our 6am wake-up with the sunrise over the distant volcanoes. We’ve been sleeping in the truck since 2 Fridays ago outside the headquarters of a local community action group, Coda, in a safe and secluded dead end street and we are getting ready to go to El Canoa to assist with some webpage production.
Our time here has been relaxed and very interesting. I’ve come to see great community cooperation in action, and today, a blocking of the highway will occur to demand safe and healthy housing and water for the people. Not a bad reason to demonstrate. Our gracious host has introduced us to more good people and we have in turn had a wonderful experience. I try hard to understand what is being said, but so often it is full of slang – of which I am picking up fairly fast. Haha.
The forum over the weekend went well – Laura was pretty stressed about the finer details, but it seemed to flow as well as any organised function with over 100 players. JP and I went to the forum for the first day, listened to a few speakers educate us on the connection between foreign policy, pushes of foreign investments and the quality of water for the people. We found out about the mineral deposit band which foreign investors are desperate to get their hands on – it was the Spaniards during the conquest and now others in search of that gold. We learned about how destructive gold production is and with such a small area, El Salvador can not afford to have any more land ruined for the sake of some jewels. And the fact that foreign investors are thinking of building massive resort style hotels along the beautiful beach coast to block public access is another travesty. It brings me back to what I learned from Amy in Placencia and the need for eco-tourism, not just tourism for tourism-sake. It makes me feel more compelled to do plenty of research on any place I choose to holiday, because I don’t want to stay in any place that has restricted or shut-out the local community, and I am beginning to learn that it is such a wide spread issue.
We’ve also felt the affects of two earthquakes – which has been cool. No damage. They seem to get a lot of tremors, being on a fault line. Last night, in the still night air, we could also hear the Shakira concert. Didn’t shake the earth like the earthquakes, but it was pretty cool. Haha.
We’ve had great internet access, and with that, up-to-date news, the way we like it, from the world. More US soldiers die in Iraq while military objection rises, Hussein’s crazy trial comes to an end and he is sentenced to death without a single secret of the former relationship with the US being allowed to be investigated, Oaxaca gets raided but not taken over after a US reporter gets shot and dies by the death squad, South African ex-President under apartheid dies without ever being charged, Nicaragua has their elections, Guatemala and Venezuela are bullied out of their UN security counsel seat and the US is again in the midst of shady elections as electronic voting systems change peoples preferences from democratic to republican in a so-called “glitch”. Being informed is difficult, but it is an obligation.
I guess the sweetest encounter has been the neighbours. Some days ago, 10 year old Pamela came over to give us some keychains from
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We have arrived at El Canoa. We finally left the comfort of our street home outside of “Coda” and drove the couple of hours to the coast. We are now sitting at the office of ACUDESBAL and are attempting to get something started with the webpage. Despite being discouraged once again with my poor Spanish, I have started writing some outlines that might be included in the process. Despite wanting to help out in a capacity that I know I am good at, we are here doing Web design, something JP is better at.
We are staying at Mario and Berta’s place – with their children Sandra, Mayra, Josselin and Jason. We had a quiet evening with the family and slept in the truck next to the house. JP set up the shower this morning and because they bathe using buckets, we left it up and they seemed excited to have a shower. Mario has a long and interesting history from the war and wounds to prove it. He and his wife and his family are such sweet and open people – Mario speaks a lot about how it was in those days and they spent time watching a movie on the subject last night, seeing people they knew, people part of the resistance. His speaks openly to his children about those days and they have come to understand a great deal about the struggle, from yesterday and today. Mario and Berta’s experience as resistance fighters were separate but not too different. Mario was in Special Forces by the age of about 13. Berta was in the infantry as a teenager. As you can imagine at these young ages, both did not have proper education. Mario learned to read in about a month while recuperating from gunshot wounds. Now, he is President of ACUDESBAL and dedicated his life to helping these surrounding communities. They acquired the land they now have (that is the area around the Bajo Lempa) through the Peace Accords. And now through his organizations’ efforts and other NGO’s, such as Jacobo’s “Voices on the Border”, they have managed to begin building real homes off the dirt ground and other infrastructure projects such as roads, water and gardens. The difficult thing about all this is that those who are now managing the area are the children who grew up in war, and missed out on the important lessons of successful agricultural living. They seem to have found the same strength with this as they needed in the war and despite lack of Governmental support, they are slowly advancing and providing for their people. However, their mistrust and resentment of the Government continues to be fed as their basic needs are constantly ignored.
They live a simple life, but certainly not an undemanding one. Berta is up at the crack of dawn preparing for the day. This morning she killed, plucked and cooked a chicken for our breakfast soup. I am once again reminded of the great disparity between the rich and poor, given the unreliability and expense of electricity, having no storage system for food (ie: like our “necessary fridges”) and an outside shower next to the sink and laundry. Thankfully, they have an improved system for drinking water and much community support endeavoring to undertake more projects such as this.
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This is as fast as we have traveled – and for good reasons. Despite the fleeting pang of doubt and slight disappointment, we have driven through
On Wednesday we witnessed a load of communities coming together to arrange for and vote on ACUDESBAL (the collective organization of many cooperatives and villages in the area) to become legal. This means that they should be able to access their rights as a collective with more success. It was a cool experience to watch people give their opinions about the matter, be involved in a true democratic process and vote. That night was another English lesson for Berta and Josselin. I discovered just how difficult the English language is to teach.
The next night there was a national protest against the electricity company – and we plunged ourselves into darkness from 6-8pm. We set up our table in the backyard under the lime tree, next to the chicken coop, bought some rum and began enjoying the evening. First round drinks were with fresh coconut water, and then we switched to cola. It was a blast joking around and chatting with Mario, Berta, Sandra and Josselin. Jason was asleep and Mayra was too much of an adolescent to enjoy our company that night. I had remembered that my Mum had given me some glowsticks (yes, yes, I know for emergencies!) and this seemed liked the perfect time to use them…Josselin and I raced to the truck to get one. On our return, was a long conversation about the type of energy that it is and how it works. It was nice to see them enjoy something new for them. It got late for everyone and soon it was just the three of us again; JP, Jacobo and me. We didn’t realise it was our last night, but we celebrated like it was. It was a little difficult saying goodbye to Jacobo and to this family. We will always be grateful that they welcomed us into their home. And with a quick pack-up session, Ola was ready, so were we and off we went.
It was that afternoon when we stopped in Usulután that we found we needed new tyres. We thought this would be an easy issue, but they do not sell the 35 inch tyres that we have and so we had to make the difficult decision to buy 31’ used tyres and look for larger ones as we travel. It was either $122 or $1000. I think it was a good decision after all – just crossing my fingers that we don’t run into trouble with a flat.
We are now in
So, two border crossings in two days!! I know that making it to
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With so much driving happening, it would be a crime not to write…welcome to
We drove through the rest of
The border crossings that we have traversed are haphazard, complicated and slightly stupid. We have not once been searched to any real extent, which has initiated many hypotheticals about smuggling. We laugh after the “search” - we open the back of the truck and start showing them “this is the kitchen, our stove, the workshop…” and they, if they ask us to open the truck at all, don’t open a thing and send us on our way. The most difficult part of it all is working out which building to go to, what copies are required and which scrap of paper needs to be signed and stamped. Spanish is a must!!!!!!
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Who could have thought that I might be having difficultly with my words? I am trying to get my head around a feeling that encompasses both a sense of amazement but also a deep sense of knowing. Our time these past 6 months has been full of meeting, encountering, bumping into, meeting up with, being helped or helping people whom we find to be so kind, open and generous. The sense of knowing that I talk about is my understanding of humankind, as I always have, trusting in the true nature of the most basic relationship principles, whether one is from the same culture, gender, speaks the same language, shares the same interests…or not. The joy I feel is that our trip is truly about these people and the affect they have on us and the effect we have on them. This brings me to
We arrived in
We also spoke briefly with Mama Stella, who had a Birthday on Tuesday. She will be joining us for Christmas in
Anyway, JP had been in email contact with this guy Steve, who had gone with his wife 4 years ago on a trip like ours, but they stopped in Costa Rica, now living in Tamarindo Beach. We had attempted to contact them to let them know we were on our way, when we read their last journal entry, which read that Steve had Dengue Fever. Not good. We decided to head out there anyway, and if we got to see them, that would be cool, and if not, we’d move on. (Dengue is acquired by a mean mosquito – I hear it’s better than getting malaria though).
We arrived on Wednesday and to our dismay, were unable to camp in comfort, so we found a cheap hotel. Thursday was spent working on the website, since it was raining, which meant “beach bumming it” was not in the cards. We went out for dinner to a place with Internet access to upload the site, which is when we got word from Steve. We had planned to leave early next morning, but figured we should stay, call him in the morning and at least do lunch or something. How great to be able to sit and talk with a couple who had done the same trip.
Friday morning we got ready to leave the hotel and called Steve, who invited us over. Despite his 12 day Dengue nightmare, he welcomed us to their home. We spent the entire day shooting the shit, talking about our various experiences and JP and Steve even fixed the driver’s side window with the help of Steve’s spare parts. He offered to swap some mechanism for the window of their old truck that they took on their journey in 2000. His wife Jocelyn was working all day, but she returned in the evening, and we went out for some delish pizza. We told each other stories, good and bad, and laughed at so many of the similar issues we’ve had. It has been a lovely 2 days, and we stayed in their spare bedroom last night. Like Steve said, when you do this kind of trip, in a Toyota Landcruiser, you enter some Club, some family. It’s so nice to have two people trust us as if we were friends for years.
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Well, thanks to our new friends, we are now camping at
Saturday morning in Tamarindo, we all went out for a beachside breakfast which was pretty damn good – I had the breaky burrito with avo, eggs and sour cream – another to mentally note for the non-existent restaurant we talk about. It was a nice Saturday and despite the fact that we were supposed to head out, my stomach was acting up, so we stayed the extra night. Steve and Jocelyn had a benefit dinner that they invited us to Saturday night, but they also offered us the house for the evening. I had thought it would have been fun, something different again, but my stomach assured me that a night of fine dining was not of the cards, and I stuck to dry crackers to ease the pain. We enjoyed a relaxed evening, and I fell asleep on the couch. Ah, there’s something I do miss…falling asleep on a couch – I know it sounds absurd, and it was something JP hated back home (worse was trying to wake me up). I can’t precisely say it’s hereditary, but my father, for as long as I can remember, does the same thing.
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Good morning. Despite my early rise and making coffee and getting ready, JP is lagging behind and making the morning rather somber. We had wanted an early start to get to
So, today, we are going to take the ocean road down to the highway and attempt to make it to
Ah, he’s out of the shower now, so I will pack up so we can leave. It will be an early start afterall.
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Just when I think this world is too large to navigate, we bump into the Argentinean couple we met at the Nicaraguan border. We made it in good time (sorry for my bitching earlier) to
At the border, we had a sweet man help us with our papers. His birth name is Miguel, but everyone calls him Charlie Bronson – and he looks the part. It was helpful having him there, as there is always some little extra thing to do at the border – this time it was purchasing visas for
We headed into the second largest city in
This morning, we ate breakfast with Claudio and Cecilia, and stayed chatting at the table until lunchtime. As JP said, it is nice to have a couple who is doing the same thing, so we can share our information…especially in regards to shipping the truck. JP and I went up to our room, and ordered room service for lunch for 50cents.
That’s an up to date account of life on the road. I was thinking that perhaps I am getting boring with my stories. Or maybe they are not as poetic as I had hoped…but what I write is what I think – it will have to do.
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So, I stopped at “thinking points” and couldn’t bring myself to keep writing…after all of our traveling and adventures, and high-tailing it to
We left David to get to the City to navigate shipping opportunities and leave us plenty of time to get some issues on the truck fixed. It was a long drive. JP had found out the home town of
We arrived in Panama City on a Friday morning, and through a contact of Steve’s, we were able to get a mechanic to meet us in the City and take us back to his shop to work on the truck. Unfortunately, we were having our first technical issue with the truck and the transmission sounded funky. Because of the height of Ola, we couldn’t drive into Emilio’s shop, so he took us to a friends shop, who had the space. We were impressed with whole thing and they began removing the transmission for its check-up. By Friday night, the transmission was on the shop floor and we had the fortunate luck of getting picked up by Camilo’s contact and friend, Andrew. It was nice to get out, have a few beers and meet some his friends. We stayed at Andrew and his brother Alan’s place for a night. I went to bed early that night, but JP stayed up to party. We were even invited to stay at Kevin’s place (buddy of Andrews) in exchange for a little “rent” – so that’s been our hub for the last few weeks. It seemed like a fortunate start to our next chapter.
Next morning, we headed to the shop to see the magic happen. No Emilio. No call. He apparently had an emergency. This was the first of many disappointments and no calls and no work over a 10 day period. I am less bitter now, but it has been a process. I went through not wanting to keep going anymore, given the waiting and the slowly and now obviously depleting funds. The first six months we were feeling like it was not as obvious as this part – the shipping alone, although calculated from the beginning, is a big chunk of cash.
We decided that is has been our style to need things done twice, and this is no exception. This made us feel a little better and we found another contact to take a look at Ola. We went out on Wednesday to another shop and they seemed knowledgeable and helpful. We returned yesterday to begin the whole job over again. The mechanic Jaime, took us to a shop where they has a fully rebuilt transmission that would cost us $350 alone. A group of mechanics stood around talking about how it was impossible for the former mechanic to have changed 5 bearings in the transmission at the price he quoted us and they reminded us that “this is
Other than that, we’ve spent 2 days in Panamanian Government buildings in order to get papers for the shipping part. The topsy-turvy world of bureaucracy works less here than it has done in any other country. The first day we arrived at lunchtime – lasting one and a half hours and then waited 2 hours for one mans signature. The second, JP couldn’t complete the customs part of the process because he arrived in shorts. That left me to do it. All that’s left to do is take that paperwork to the shipping office and then the truck to the port. For people wanting to know the process of shipping from
That’s it in a nutshell really – and the reasons for my absence of writing. The waiting game with the truck has made it impossible to explore
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Despite on-going excitement, we have managed to get Ola into a container at a Port in Colón, ready to take the boat ride to
Continued bureaucratic and individual incompetence made for a long few days leading up to physically sealing the container. Not that our previous experience here didn’t give us a heads up, but I attempted to maintain some form of hope that every activity would not cause major breakdowns. The final product, although successful, leads us to the statement “same shit, different day”. We even had a woman with the audacity to suggest we hand over Ola’s keys, and she would drive it into the container the next day. Yeh right, like I said above, we’re not that crazy (or stupid!). That suggestion came after 4 hours of being sent from one office to another, one time for an hour for what turned out to be no reason at all, leaving it supposedly too late to pack Ola up that day. Again, we are lucky that we underestimate the system so much that we planned two days for an operation that should have taken no more than 2 hours. Since we couldn’t ship Ola that day, we found ourselves the only hotel in the area. We went down to the restaurant to get drunk (something had to calm our nerves), but they didn’t serve hard liquor. We were again advised not to walk anywhere – “it’s too dangerous, take a taxi” – so we took their advice, went to the supermarket, bought a bottle of rum and some coke, and drank our frustrations away, ready for another day. Since most of the paperwork had been completed the day before, a drug-check was done by a dog, and then the truck was secured into the container, ready for shipping. Happily, though drenched from the heavy rain of the day, we made our way to the bus terminal and shivered all the way back to
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Somethings need to be experienced before one can truly appreciate and make certain choices about what to do. This morning, although I did not witness the killing of the pig, I witnessed other stages. I debated internally about what to do, do I watch, do I not, will I eat it later? Here we are in the delightful town of
With luck on our side, we arrived in
Samana is like those wonderful villages we’ve driven through, full of culture and joy. Perhaps it is the Christmas spirit, perhaps it is just small town happiness. People in the streets drinking and laughing, music the fills the ears of all up and down. We arrived here last night after 4 hours of traveling in the mini-bus and then the five of us (JP, Stella, JP’s Aunt Esperanza and cousin Paula) piling into German’s truck, another cousin. We were warmly welcomed by this cousins father Haido and mother Ogdulia and the rest of the family. First impressions of Samana were wild and happy. Trucks, buses, horses, people filling each street and ours is the one with the loudest music and most animated people. Hours of drinking and chatting and listening to the rapid decline of intelligent conversation, we all laughed and smiled until it hurt. Shots of aguardiente, a strong, clear liquor, were flowing more than any of us could handle, but never did we deny the offer. Plenty of time to practice my Spanish and attempt to understand the rapid words spewing out of everyone’s mouths. I danced in the street with a man who asked and saw the village square alive with people and lights.
I have been reading Tony D’Souza’s book “Whiteman” and there are certain aspects of his time in
I am sitting in the living room of my new family after eating the first course, sancocho, a soup that I have had many times made by Stella. People from all over the village had come to eat the soup while we ate on the sidewalk. The living room filled with people and jokes and fun – I’m going to join it and write more later.
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I don’t think it matters where you start to understand humankind and who you begin with. A lesson has its points. All along one’s life, you come to understand other peoples lives and make sense of the world through your view. You can only carry what you know of them from who told you and what you understand of that. The more stories you hear, the more sorrow and joy and family, the more you understand humankind. Starting with ones own family or others, it doesn’t matter. Through my time as a social worker, I have come to know hundreds of families, each with their own stories. Whether I have known them for a week or years, the stories I know come with me, perhaps not all their details, but some history etched in me, that makes me more, me. My Mother with her cousin went to an incredible extent to find out the names of our past families and proudly has a family tree on a scroll and stories to go with them. Tonight, we sat with Tio Alberto and later with Stella, and began the long journey of coming to know names of family. It doesn’t matter to me that so many of these people have long passed and I will never have the chance to know them, but the mere sitting for the past few hours, absorbing a small sense of new people, new family, more humankind, was enough for me. Stories here and there were scattered with spots of laughter at forgotten names and forgotten children. Realisation of who is whose cousin and whose children are whose. Who have I met when we last came to
Christmas in Samana was a great experience. Nothing about presents, lots about eating and drinking, but it really just comes down to being together. We were taken about, here and there, met a million people whose names I might never remember. We took endless pictures of happy moments. I ended up trying most parts of the pig and stayed clear of a few. We rode horses, motorbikes, minibuses and chivas. The latter, an open wooden bus painted with ornate details and blaring music, we boarded for a drunken Christmas Eve tour around the village. Beeping, screaming, cheering and drinking. The cheering was partly vocal “whoops” and “yahoos” and partly Spanish words, which I could only pick up 2 of, being in rather quick succession – the second causing much humorous attention for me, being a swear. Both JP and I had sore faces from smiling and laughing; always a good sign. The motorcycle ride was a meander through the village on the back of Alex’s bike (yes, another cousin). After our chiva ride, we returned to Heido and Ogdulia’s place where we ate and drank more, stepping in and out of the road depending on when it was raining. We danced. I danced with an old single man of the town, known affectionately now as my “novio”, who seemed to thoroughly enjoy the touch of the dance and the smiles and the laughter surrounding him…so much so that he wouldn’t let me go once the first song finished.
Christmas eve is really the main Christmas festivity, so come Christmas day we packed ourselves into a minibus; family, girlfriends, friends, and headed down to where Rio de Miel meet Rio Tasajo. We spent the whole day there swimming in the cold crystal clear water with a few other families there to enjoy the heat, refreshing water and the beauty. “Do you have places like this in
We were sadly farewelled in Samana and happily greeted in Villa Maria. Since Stella has only 2 weeks over this Christmas and New Year period, we’re jetting to all places to visit family. Esperanza has stayed with us and will accompany Stella back to
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There was a lot to write last entry, and upon re-reading it, I found it was a lot of experiences and new people in a small amount of time…better now that I can write a little more about our time in Villa Maria, since we are now in
Villa Maria, with JP’s Tio Alberto and his wife Nancy, and kids Carlos and Samael was as relaxed this time as it was two years ago. The boys are getting big, now 16 and 12. The town is close to the city of
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hen we arrived in
I feel that there is a definite closeness between all the adults, the very young ones and the older ones. There doesn’t seem, as much perhaps as in the
As I write, people are getting ready for the New Years celebrations. I decided to go across the road and get my hair straightened for $3. JP and I don’t really have the clothes for the way people here get dressed up for tonight, so I am trying to find some more appropriate things. It’s hard when we are traveling…we really don’t have much in the way of “nice clothes” let alone “more on the dressy side”. Oh well. We do what we can.
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Happy New Year!! I’m about to go to sleep in order to wake up to leave for
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We left
Anyway, off we went for about twenty minutes before the stereo speaker broke. We stopped and glued it back together at a gas station and continued. Not long after that was when Ola started moving as if she was vomiting. JP suspected that perhaps for the first time outside of the
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My Birthday was a relaxed day spent with JP in the much quieter town of
So now, as I watch the clouds rolling in and JP struggling to blow the gas lines clear, I am reminded that no matter what bullshit we have endured, we have experienced life in its purest essence and I am forever grateful for all my many teachers and students along this bumpy road. I know now that returning to Australia, will be just another adventure, finding our feet and friends and a lifestyle that fits who we are, but for me, in a familiar place. And when this particular adventure stops, I know that my life’s adventure continues and I have a daily opportunity, wherever I am, to appreciate the beauty in it all, even in the things that seem ugly and sad.
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I know, I know, I have waited some entries to begin to tell you about the first few days of the new year, but it has taken this long to get some distance from it myself. Despite the fact that I know heated and emotional prose can be powerful, I wasn’t going to be nice, and JP says it doesn’t suit me when I do that and to leave that to him. Haha.
Anyway, as I said earlier, New Years was great. In Colombian tradition, the kids and the adults spend the evening together. We went to JP’s 1st cousins place, Hector-Fabio and his family. Tia Lilia is Hector-Fabio’s mother. There were 15 to 20 of us. Even Tia Lilia’s ex-husband came to visit. I got a picture of Tia Lilia sitting with her “friend” and her ex…quite cute. We drank and sang and danced the night away and it seemed shocking that the morning light came upon us so quickly and by 6am or so, it was time to grab a taxi and head back for a New Year’s Day sleep.
I think we were up by 12 or so and had breakfast by 2pm. Esperanza made a dish for the hangover called Changua. If you were to tell me the ingredients without tasting it, I would have had trouble imagining its’ tastiness. Fry some green onions in butter, add milk, cook eggs within the milk and water (poaching), add cilantro. Serve a dish and add large chunks of bread inside. It did the trick of allowing us to become more alive and enjoy the 1st day of 2007, but also to say our sad farewells to Stella, who was taking a night bus with Esperanza back to
So, with Alcides (who is part of the Colombian SWAT, thinking we might be able to use his pull), his mother Elba and daughter Natalie, we set out at 5:30am towards
After hours of driving from one location to another, with still more people telling us of more paperwork that needed to completed, JP and I decided not to open the container and send it as is to Australia, and deal with it there. We had a late lunch with Alcides,
So, Day 2. Still feeling optimistic, we went to the customs agents, DIAN, first thing in the morning and went through the process of having them allow us to bring a vehicle into the country. Strange processes of having us write a letter to them and sign it for their copies ensued, but we got that leg done…ready for the next. We went to the Sociedad to have more copies made, and try to get the next stage going. Another letter was required for us to give to them to be stamped. They gave us an example letter that we were to rewrite and then return to them for stamping. We still needed to figure out how we were going to get the container out of the yard Zelza, but after the inspection which we needed to organize. By mid-afternoon, we went to another office and found a helpful person. He agreed that it was unnecessary to have a SIA do all the work for us and said he would help organize us and how to get the truck. Finally, someone to help us. He let us type and print out the letter we needed in his office and said that if we didn’t get it all done that day, he was in the office by 6am the next. So, we got the necessary stamps on the paperwork, going back and forth from location to location by foot, in the heat and then the rain. Mind you, the port people take lunch between 12-2pm, which made getting anything done, extremely slow. In these times, we hardly ate ourselves, attempting to finalize anything we could. Our next excitement was having a $315 bill from the Port. We decided to seek the help of a manager, and explain our situation about the 5 day/ 15 day issue, and requested his assistance with any discount. He condescendingly began to draw a sketch of all the days we had exceeded, in a diagram reminiscent of my primary school days. Then, he drew a diagram of the container that was the cause of all our issues. You can imagine he did not help us with any discount. I think that was the second time I cried, but there’s no counting during these three days: out of shock, exhaustion and pure sadness, the tears flowed freely.
By the end of the second day, we were sure that we would be able to leave, with Ola, by lunchtime the next day. We had a 6:30am date to meet with our “inside friend” and couldn’t think of much more that could be asked of us. That night, our old SIA had the guts to call us and ask what it took to import a
By 6:30am, we found out that we had to wait til 8am for an inspector. By 8am, we needed to wait another half an hour. When we met her finally, she did little than look up and then sighed at the distance she would have to travel to the yard Zelsa…we would need to take a taxi. Our friend reported that the container would be ready for inspection by the time we got there. Our inspector was less than excited to have to wait the full 5 minutes for it to be hauled into the right area. With a smash of the seal and unlocking our lock, we opened the door…Ola fit snuggly inside. So as to not get dirty and already annoyed, the inspector had JP read out the VIN from inside the truck and she peered overwhelmed-like into the back windows of the truck. And that was the inspection. Off she went to complete other necessary paperwork. Could we roll Ola out then? NO! We locked her up again, because now we needed specific permission to unload the cargo from the container. What unfolded for the following many hours, was a large preoccupation with what was to be done with the not yet empty container and how we were going to transport the empty container next door to where “Global Shipping/ Evergreen” keeps their empty containers. We found out that they would not allow us to unload it because the neighboring yard wouldn’t receive the empty container until after 2pm and they wouldn’t allow it to sit there empty for any amount of time. You getting tired yet?? We were sent to the first port window we went to the first day, waited an hour for the guy to give us a “visiting” paper and not an “unload” paper, which seemed to cause more excitement and hold-ups. At this time, our friend seemed to be failing us, and we were told that we wouldn’t be allowed to unload Ola in this yard anymore. We were told to walk into the Port and find a guy to help us. Yes, we asked: why can’t you just call the guy to come over? Hmm, no! Anyway, we waited another unmentionable amount of time and finally had the correct paperwork. Upon arriving to open the container, we were offered no help. At the
Bright and early the following day, feeling bruised and saddened, we were determined not to hate people and hightailed it out of
We met Hector-Fabio and his brother-in-law just outside of the City, who took us to various places, looking for a mechanic to fix the transmission and quotes on new tyres. We ended up opting for a new set of breaks, which left us time to say our goodbyes to Tia Lilia and her grandchildren Gisela and Brian and head to Alcides’ place for a safe nights sleep for us and Ola. My Birthday was fast approaching and we needed a fun and romantic place to celebrate. And that’s how we ended up in
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If I keep my head right, I can see the humour in it all. And despite the other choices, perhaps not readily known by me, I much preferred to spend the night in the mechanics shop in our tent than search for a hotel. If I remind myself of all the times we’ve needed to stop and deal with mechanical issues, I will remember that we have had issues from Day 1, and these past few days are no different, and so, I’m rolling with it. Driving through the divine environment that is Ecuador, going past the equator, Ola decided that the southern hemisphere isn’t that much better than the north for her, and our new brakes started to smell and our batteries were discharging. Perhaps in the nick of time, we rolled into a “volcanizadora” (tyre fixer) who whistled to the mechanic across the road. JP and Nelson spent the day resealing the gasket and removing the alternator which was lovingly renamed “a piece of shit”. Finding a new alternator exactly the same as the one we had proved impossible, so our illegal taxi driver took us to some electricians who rebuilt it by hand. They opened it up in a jiffy, to reveal ball bearings crushed to oblivion and a total mess within. Their promise to us was to have it done by 4pm the following day and when we returned at 9am, after a night at the only hotel in the village of Calderon and a dinner consisting of chips, cake and chocolate milk, they had worked into the night and it was done and working. Grateful and happy that we could begin the reinstallation and then bleed the brakes before the day ended, our friendly electrician
I guess we drove another hour or so, when Ola yelped and crunched and we were so worried about our transmission (you know, the one that got screwed in
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I have been remiss in telling you about our entry into
It’s nice to be here in
I left off from my previous entry, sitting at the mechanics shop, feeling hopeful that our mechanic Fausto was indeed going to send us happily on our way, and by 3:30pm, he’d rebuilt the differential, had JP assist him to do it (as his brother never made it up) and the noise was gone with the final test. We’ve been driving for about 5 days without the crunching sound. It was a surreal few hours after leaving the mechanics, both of us listening out for some “wrong” sound somewhere, shaking our heads in disbelief that $140 later, we had a nice sounding truck. It took JP a few days to commit to the fact that it had REALLY been fixed.
So, happily driving down the Ecuadorian highway, we were ready to get to the Peruvian border, when a BANG! POP! occurred. I thought a car had had an accident behind us. Turns out, our tyre exploded. JP almost had a heart attack. If it weren’t for the searing heat or the fact that we were on a busy and crazy Ecuadorian highway it might have been ok. Well, if it weren’t for the fact that our yellow exhaust jack-bag burst while inflating it (luckily JP was not underneath) and the other jack we had couldn’t lift the truck up higher, it would have been fine. Well, not having anyone stop for us either was a little tricky too. It was a little later that we stopped a guy on a bicycle and then a guy in a car, who borrowed a hydraulic jack from the mechanic up the road, that things started looking up. But by this time, it was getting late and we needed to head to a town to sleep. With three 31 inch tyres and one 35 inch tyre we slowly made it to
Entering
JP makes me laugh. Sometimes he thinks up crazy things that might never happen and tells me about them. Like, maybe someone will donate $50,000 to us and tell us that they want us to finish this trip like we had planned. Or that while we sleep our truck will magically be fixed, by aliens, better than it ever was, with crazy cool mechanic stuff. Or, we’ll get picked for some TV show and they’ll help us with the truck. I love his crazy ideas, and although I am skeptical that we’ll meet someone who wants to give us $50,000 to continue traveling, I think it’s a sweet and noble quality that makes me smile.
Anyway, here we are by the beach once again, in
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It doesn’t seem to take much for me to remember exactly what a good breathe in is really like. All it takes is a sunset here and there…well, perhaps tonight was not just any old sunset. It truly was different to all the other ones I’ve ever seen. On top of a mountain tonight, overlooking valleys and other mountains, all the way out to the ocean. The clouds were doing a funky thing with the light and the horizon, and after dinner we were drawn over to a most superb farewell of the sun for the day. Sometimes it feels like it was created just for us to see. With the light shining onto the water making a strong orange colour, we clambered upwards on to some rocks for a better view when the bottom part of the round sun poked through the clouds and made its’ steady and graceful descent into the ocean. We imagined it being seen on the other side of the world in a new day. Soon we were able to see the entire sun, and with what power it had left, it brightened up the leaves and branches and mountains around us. Breathing there, listening to the chirps of new birds and the hum of the hummingbird (pica flor) and the rustling and crackling of old leaves, up there, watching the passing of another day on this most beautiful journey, I was present to that moment and the joy it brought.
Back at the truck now, the final light is quickly removing itself and the silhouettes of the trees dancing in the soft breeze is all I can see. I like it up here. Off in the distance, lights are starting to show in homes faraway. We’re pretty much in the desert here, in a national reserve actually, so perhaps the clouds might pass soon enough and show us some of those stars we were gazing at last night. I hear that the only reason there are trees and flowers up here is because of the nutrients the fog brings. Pretty cool huh?
We’re about 105kms from
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More joy on this trip…a little while ago we contacted Steve in Costa Rica and other Latin American travellers to find out what contacts they might have to find out about selling versus shipping Ola once we finish the trip. In true sweet Steve style, he immediately put up a posting on a Land Cruiser site (IH8MUD) and Peter wrote us from
We arrived at the beach last night and enjoyed a relaxed dinner of hamburgers over drinks and good conversation. JP and I have been pretty much alone with ourselves since leaving family in
This morning we had a slow start, made a nice Colombian breakfast for our new friends and went to enjoy the beach before lunch. Shallow but with strong waves, we jumped and splashed about and watched the surfers further out do their thing. The coast is full of beautiful beach houses, one of whom is the Presidents, but we didn’t meet him. On the horizon was a bunch of rocks, one huge one that looked like a whale and other smaller ones trailing it. Alonso was beginning to tell me that the locals call those rocks a sea serpent, when I said I thought it looked like whale shit. He laughed and decided that that deciphered it better. There’s no accounting for an Aussie girls perceptions!! The day was tiring enough for a siesta in the afternoon and later meeting more friends and showing pictures of various points of the trip. But, tomorrow we head out again, to continue. We seem to have plenty of options to stop at beaches and shores along the way, given the highway runs the length of
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We bid our farewells to our new friends yesterday morning and head out after a quick coffee and breakfast. The lady who cares for the house enjoyed some real coffee, instead of her normal Nescafe, which is all they have here in
We passed through the “oasis” as it was more of a town surrounded by huge sand dunes, with lots of people. We kept heading north until we hit Nasca, and with the fading light, we clambered up a metal structure to reveal two of the creatures etched in the bedrock. We found, by using the coordinates of another tour group, a hotel that had camping, so we were able to have a table and chairs for a sweet wine, cheese and cracker dinner and a shower and bathroom to use. We passed on the offer for a 35 minute plane ride, as it was out of our budget. Given the many questions surrounding the happenings of the Nasca lines, we were satisfied by having seen two of them and
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Well, those people reading this might have been wondering what happened to the end of my last sentence. Well, the feeling that I wanted to write could not be completed after having exhausted the batteries for the computer overnight. We’d had such a peaceful morning that I thought it was the right time, but I guess it had to wait until now.
I was writing from a mirador in the town of
We had one last stop in the city of
Anyway, so, we’re in
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When we were in
I must say that the next morning after a quiet night at the beach in Camarones (our first night in Chile) we had a leisurely start with the obligatory coffee and while we sat and watched the birds fly about and dive head first to catch a fish, we kept seeing some black thing popping out and back into the water. Was it a piece of wood or an animal? My call was that it was a seal, and I was right. We walked closer to the shore line and watched it pop its head up and down for quite some time, taking vague photos much like the ones we took when we were in
Next stop was for a night in the port town of
So, today we are going to head out to some cool rock in the water, I guess I should say more about it after I have seen it. Not sure if we will stay for much longer here, but we have some decisions to make about where we are headed and on what route. Heading down to
Many thanks to my Dad who called me while we were staying at Mustafa and Luisa’s house and I told him to say “buenas noches, Natalie por favor” and he did so…they were very impressed!!
PM: We’ve had a lovely time relaxing for the last 2 days and have many a good conversation…I do believe my Spanish is not TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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It doesn’t seem to matter how long we may have known the people we stay with or exactly what relation they are, it often seems a little sad to say goodbye. Mercedes would have run along with the truck I think if she had the added energy. She praised us, kissed us and called us heroes for the journey we had undertaken.
We think we have a visitor in the truck who ate our bread. We found this a few days ago but due to not having a place to empty out the truck, we have yet to find our little friend. We don’t normally keep food out, and any food we do have is normally not accessible…but it looked like the workings of a mouse…is that even possible??? Do we have a mouse in our house?? JP suggested large cockroaches or crazy ants, but we have no proof. Since this discovery, I open the truck and say hello and hope that it leaves if it still there. If it is still there it must be mighty hungry, so at this stop at the beach, I suggested it pop out and find some fish or something. Haha. We’ll see.
Anyway, I have some things to do with the maps from the last few days driving and need to do that before we run out of power on the laptop. A short and sweet one from the shores of
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I’ve been thinking I needed to write, but we have been doing a lot of driving and then are pooped by the time we get to the place we are going to sleep, that the creative juices just have not been present. The coast of
One funny thing is that JP downloaded some recently aired “
En route to
Anyway, that being said, we spent much of our remaining days in
So, I guess what I need to tell you is that we are in search of glaciers. Alonso made JP more eager to see things we were not yet aware existed, and now we are like adventure hunters in search for blue ice glaciers, that as we know because of the global climate changes, are melting. The tip of
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It seems crazy that we have traversed to
With JP eager to catch the Super Bowl, we headed to our first hotel in some time and stayed two nights in the tourist town of San Pedro de Bariloche. We finally think we found the tourist season, with shops open and things buzzing until 12am or so. The first night we were relaxing in the room watching a movie on TV and JP went to turn on the bed side lamp, touched the lamp and the whole rooms electricity popped out. I laughed more than he did, as he sat wandering what is that makes things he touches break? The owner came upstairs, switched the fuse and we had power again. Just to show her that we had done nothing, JP switched on the lamp, as a demonstration or something, and managed to turn out all the lights on our floor. Now they needed an electrician. Still laughing in disbelief, we decided to get out of there and had a late dinner. We had Italian, which was delish. We had a nice waiter who seemed to think I was wonderful – I guess it all stemmed from me going inside to ask for some butter for JP – he thought that was lovely. We chatted a little about the trip and once we had done and were full, JP commented on how well he’d sleep that night after such a yummy dinner, and he responded with a comment like; well, you’d sleep well anyway sleeping next to someone like your wife. Of course, we all agreed – haha. We returned to a room with electricity which we turned off anyway, given the time.
Bariloche did not have a Sports Bar as hoped, but JP caught the game on cable in our room, and he seemed to be satisfied that he was able to have some beers and cheer on a team that he doesn’t go for. It’s a sign of things to come in
I have been remiss in telling you about our broken gas meter since our tyre explosion in
I have also been thinking about a website of a couple of English guys made some years ago while on their trip in Central and South America…they had various counters for mishaps: accidents, diseases, things like that. I am happy to say, our greatest physical afflictions have been mosquito bites (none of malaria at this count), constipation and diarrhea. It’s a pleasing count to tell you the truth! We’ve also been thinking about the things not yet posted on our website since we’ve been preoccupied enough with just posting the pictures, journal and the maps. Back in
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I know that I learned so many important things on this journey, but perhaps most profoundly, I have greater convictions in some very basic premises that I believed in many years before even beginning this trip. In each moment, where ever you are, you have a chance to enhance or be enhanced. If it’s the person who is ringing up your sale, a person in need of help in the street or just someone in line behind you, you have many things in common without even knowing them. What is most basic is that you are both human and that you need the very same basic things to live. Broader than that, you both happen to be in the same place at the same moment, and whether you decide to act on it or not, you have an opportunity to follow your human instincts and connect. It might be for a small favor, a smile even, a passing sentence that makes an impact on either of you years later or it may even develop into a friendship. You don’t do it because “you should” or “what would people think if I didn’t”, but perhaps because there might be something to it, for you, but more importantly, for them. To know more of humankind, and to remember that you have no idea what will really impact another. Sure there are times when you feel too busy, too tired or whatever the excuse, and in that moment, that is your choice to not have that connection. Life throws so many things at us, and often we throw things at ourselves and others that we forget that the simple human connection can maintain one’s hope – in whatever it is that we hope for – and reduce our self centred acts. It’s talking to the kid in the car next to you in the gas station who seems annoyed that’s he’s left in the car to wait, it’s towing someone when you really want to be elsewhere, it’s saying hello to people when you’re passing or sitting at the next table. It can come in so many forms that it’s endless, boundless and unimaginable until the moment is there. As another quote from my brother’s lyrics go: “there is only one letter between ‘alone’ and ‘all one’”. With the world as it is, so big and so small, I urge you, to throw caution to the wind, as they say, step out of your ordinary or safe world and connect. Think that each person who surrounds you is there for a reason, major or minor, and enjoy the wave that you have the ability to spread. I won’t give up the idea that change in this world is imminent and that it is up to each and every one of us to create magic with what beauty we have and my personal duty (I don’t know why it is, but something’s there for me about that) to trigger, if at all possible, something in any one of you, to nurture each others souls because we have the pure ability to do so. Nothing more.
1 hour later: What prompted me to write in the first place was a conversation about the clouds and the sky with John Paul while we were driving. This was after having been able to find a beach full of sea lions from some directions that our “neighours” at the camp site told us about (pass the town and take the dirt road towards the ocean after two different signs for camping). This was another one of our most incredible experiences, sitting on the beach not 15 metres away from the growling and squirming of about a hundred sea lions, enjoying the sun, surf and each other, out in the open. I could have stayed there for hours. Anyway after that, talking about the sky, it seemed closer to the ground and it seemed the eye could see further than normal. We’ve reached and passed the same latitude number south, 42, as we had started in the north. An accomplishment that JP thinks is neat. We wandered if the further south we travel, the more different the world will look. It must have been a good half an hour of silence during which I was feeling lighter and full of optimism all of a sudden. It was this feeling, after having towed some people 12 kms to a gas station that I felt the need to write and for the first time I grabbed the computer to type while JP was driving. Not long after that we stopped to get some gas, but they didn’t have the kind we wanted, but we parked there because we picked up an internet signal. Being able to connect but not load any pages, JP asked the boss, who invited us into his office. No wireless network, but we could use his computer – thanks so much. “Where are you from and where are you headed” kinds of questions ensued and an off the cuff, “we’re looking to ship the truck from Argentina to Australia” sentence from John Paul, and Luis was on the phone citing his lawyers name to get various names and cell phone numbers of the people “in the know”. We left having spoken to one Don Carlos, who’s basically just waiting for our call and go ahead, another lead and a present of an image on a rock of the boat at Puerto San Julian “Nao
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Ah, we’ve stopped here for a few days in the town of
Yesterday, although nobody else would be able to see the work we did, JP and I took every single item out of Ola, cleaned and scrubbed the interior and then each item (dusty and dirty), didn’t find a mouse in the house, and took inventory of everything we have and where it goes. We spent the entire day doing it. Today, I am sore from the various contortions I made with my body cleaning spaces full of dirt. It’s a good hurt though. We had a delicious dinner and some beer, and although the sunset wasn’t as spectacular as the night before, it was a clear night and the sky a most deep blue with emerging twinkles.
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Good morning. Well, while JP went to get some wine to accompany our bread and cheese in San Julian, he passed a French couple in a van and a Colombian guy, Angelo. When he came back with the wine, he told me they were camping outside of the campsite due a water shortage situation which I won’t go into, and that we should go visit them later. We did and had a nice evening discussing traveling, fulfilling dreams, the world and the state of it. We talked pretty much only in Spanish. The couple had bought their self-equipped van in
And yesterday we were fauna discoverers. We left in search of penguins. The issue was that we didn’t want to take a tour or pay a guide, so we hoped that we would find a place where we could enjoy the natural setting, as we had done with the sea lions. The
After lunch (and recharging the camera batteries that decided to become “exhausted”) we headed towards the beginning of our walk, and were pleasantly surprised to see all the cars that were there before lunch, had since moved on. We walked the 45 minutes or so, unsure of what to expect. My only real view of penguins were from TV with them skidding and sliding on icebergs, of which there are none here. Sightings of what we think were ‘partridges’, we walked a basically open area with a feint trail to guide us and the occasional sign. Our first sighting was of dead penguins and a dead armadillo, which made me worry; later reminding myself that any place of birth, is also a place of death. Then we encountered hundreds of penguins nesting in the comfort of their dirt nests under the shade of small bushes. Many babies and adults hanging around the high peak away from the beach, squawking and waddling…adults with their brilliant black and white lines around their face and their obligatory tuxedo. On the beaches to each side, thousands of penguins lined the shores and were also nesting further back from the shoreline under the many bushes. Falcons and seagulls swooped around menacingly, reminding me of the cycle of life once again. Swimming, waddling, lying on their bellies or gathering food for their young were the local activities of the area. While JP sat on the park bench overlooking the beach, I went in search of closer penguins to photograph. I guess the coolest part was when I walked towards a nest of penguins…the “body guard” one waddled over to check me out for danger while the other young were lazing about or yelling for food. Fluffy and grey, some standing up sleeping while others found their nest to nestle into, I had the privilege of seeing the way the baby penguins receive their food – with a sense of real urgency, the adult penguins regurgitating pieces of food for this large screaming baby. It was precious. We spent a little more time up there enjoying our proximity to these beings and made our way back to the truck, passing a few live, a very fast moving, armadillos. Despite their strange and kind of ugly appearance, they’re also kind of cute.
Just amazed at our luck and our day, we decided to drive to the camping here in Monte
We read more of our Gaia book which talked about the way humans find and lose information, mainly due to the ignorance and fear created by the unknown. We seem to have an unquenchable fascination at destroying what others find if it is not yet part of the accepted paradigm. It makes me sad to again remember that our history on this divine living Earth has been riddled with such hatred and skepticism and need to be in such a search for “the perfect life” when we have it constantly at our feet. Technology has not only advanced us to be able to measure the Earth but has removed us from enjoying what is here in its’ perfect chaos. To understand things, we want to take them apart to see what makes it work - but the waves and the wind can only be really understood as a whole and not in their parts. By 6am, we were up to view the sunrise over the ocean in an alcove that last night was empty and this morning, filled with water. After another beautiful sunrise, we went back to bed.
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Welcome to windy Rio Gallegos! We’ve spent 5 nights in El Calafate where the access to the best view of one of the worlds advancing glaciers lives. Arriving on Sunday afternoon, we found a camping spot and stayed put for three days. We worked on the website, cooked a lot, relaxed and walked around the town. If you're camping and cooking in El Calafate, it’s not too expensive. Although it’s the tourist season right now, with the streets full of travelers, it wasn’t too overwhelming. We had the pleasure of meeting up again, for the third time, with Claudio and Cecilia (the Argentinean couple who live in
Despite missing the parade in the town for the holiday, we were all intrigued as to what view we could get from the available spots the National Park provides. We were not disappointed, even when foreigners needed to pay three times as much as Argentineans to enter. Driving the windy road, we were allowed glimpses of white and stopped on one occasion as the view was breathtaking. We assumed we were going to be able to see closer, but we took photos like it was our last chance. Parking and making a sandwich good enough for royalty complete with a side of chips and hot chocolate, we were satiated and ready to go. The minibus took us up the road and we began our short walk along wooden boards to the first platform. A huge sheet of white snow, some 50 metres high greeted us…like a frozen river careening down the mountains, it stopped short of the split in the actual lake. Some call it the tip of the tongue og the glacier. Huge jutting pieces of ice and snow and, glacier. I know it’s hard to imagine, but its’ beauty is almost indescribable. The sun shining, a slight wind blowing and we could only stand and stare. Advancing at a certain slow pace, the push from behind makes it crack and pieces fall into the lake below, creating a huge crash…the acoustics were fabulous. What seemed like small pieces of ice sounded like huge ones. We stayed for a long time at the second balcony and in listening to the cracks from a certain area, we were sure of the next spectacular fall and splash and beauty. With our camera at the ready, everyone listened and watched with anticipation. And then…after some major cracking sounds, that sound almost like explosions, kind of like thunder except coming from the ground, a whole side of the glacier came crumbling down. Not just a little piece, but the height of the whole thing crumbled into the lake. It was at this time that the camera froze and refused to take the video we were truly prepared to record. Thankfully, Claudio who was on another level at the time, did catch it on his video camera, and we stole it from him, promising to give full credit on the website. We stood there for hours waiting for the next piece to fall, but it wasn’t meant to be. There were lots more smaller pieces that fell, crashing into the water below, and you could hear the oohs and aahs of all the people, fascinated at this marvelous sight. I could go on and on about it, but I think it would do it simple justice if you just took a look at the video and pictures of the day. It truly was such a highlight and joy to see such incredible nature at work. Unfathomable in size and indescribable in its beauty and majesty.
We headed back to El Calafate that evening and because of the free Argentinean rock concert on that night with a fair, the camping grounds were teeming with families. This made it extremely difficult to find the solitude we had enjoyed for days. Cecilia and Claudio, despite an honest effort to find anything more comfortable and not too expensive, were also out of luck. After our camping spot was encroached by a family of what seemed like eight of more people, we agreed to head out of town. We went to quickly fill the gas tanks before heading out and Claudio asked the attendant of any quiet places we might be able to find – sure he said, at the rodeo place…we drove there to check it out, and despite there being a fancy restaurant, we parked our cars on the grass and hoped that no one would kick us out. Not wanting to spend the $60pesos ($20us) per plate at the fancy place, we headed into town to see what was going on. At the fair, there were children and families and stalls and food and a rock concert almost starting. A much better price for dinner was some “choripan” (chorizo and bread) which was delicious and some Argentinean empanadas, that although could never compare to the Colombian Posada ones, were pretty delish. The concert was due to start at 11pm, and by the time we were ready to leave, 2 children had lost their parents and the famous rock singer, Fito Paez, began. We stayed a little while and then walked the two blocks back to our spot, where the acoustics off the lake seemed to carry the concert inside our tent…for hours longer, we were serenaded by singing and the thousands of people in the area. I actually slept very well that night, and next morning we made a quick get-a-way to the local gas station for some free wireless internet and a fairly reasonable cup of coffee. Claudio and Cecilia gave us some “facturas” which in Spanish means “invoice” but in
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Well, we were up early this morning to head further south. Our camping spot in Rio Gallegos was expensive and ugly, and with the winds in that area, we were pretty cold. We only got some coffee in before the rain discouraged me from making more. Last night though, we had a nourishing dinner of rice and beans. The story of making the rice is most interesting…I guess I have to begin with explaining that our second battery is not longer keeping its’ charge and so we charge necessary items (the computer, batteries) while we drive. We have missed eating rice recently and so decided to create a way to cook the rice in the rice cooker while driving. JP strapped it down and plugged it in and after 30 minutes, the rice was done! Anyway, it made dinner much easier to organize and given the wind, we ate in the truck. Upon arriving into Rio Gallegos, Cecilia knocked on my window at the gas station and scared me a little. They were looking for any available hotel room, and we said more goodbyes as we headed to find the camping.
Anyway, we left Rio Gallegos on route to Ushuaia. The most ridiculous thing about heading down to the Argentinean south is that you have to enter
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Well, after 4 hours of waiting for the weather to be safe enough for us to cross the
By morning, we filled our tyres back up with air (since the Argentinean road was paved and not “ripio” (dirt) as on the Chilean side), filled up with petrol and headed towards
In the car I was trying to come up with some concept to shade us from the wind and now the rain that was falling…we have an awning that I have described earlier as a $200 tarp that is our only real option, but we kind of hate it and end up upset with each other at the end of it. Needless to say, I thought I had a plan to shelter us from the wind and rain, which turned out not to be very helpful and we stood there in the freezing cold and wind talking various strategies through. In the end, we decided not to set it up against the truck and created some sort of diagonal structure that not only stopped a lot of the wind, caught the rain and stayed up overnight. So, we had some shelter and began with the fire and sat as the sun went down, by this lake, after some warm soup until the final coals went out. Being Summer here, it sure is cold, but the sun is shining today and the wind is calm, which makes for an easier camping experience. JP made another fire this morning, I made coffee and breakfast, and while I type, he’s doing the dishes. He finally got to use his waders, and he waddled passed the shallow waters of the lake to get water for us and didn’t get his legs wet. I guess they work! I know it’s a personal struggle to ensure we use everything we have brought at least once, and then he’ll know it wasn’t a waste to bring it thousands of miles for nothing. I understand the sentiment.
Anyway, it’s of course divine here, seeing the odd inquisitive fox (smaller and fluffier than the ones we saw in Monte
On the drive here we were talking about life in Australia, jobs, when we’ll be visiting the US and the people we love there and how we’ll be furthering our cause for harmony in this old world. More news about greedy people taking from the poor, called “vulture funds”, creates more disgust in me and a greater sense of urgency to help people wake up. You see, these people find “investment opportunities” in poor countries’ debt. The old debt relief funds have been captured by greedy, self-serving assholes who buy up a countries debt, currently
PM: We had, as I said, a lovely morning and headed out late towards Ushuaia. The dirt road we were expecting was now paved, which made an easy drive through gorgeous scenery, snow capped mountains and lakes. JP was complaining of an irritated eye all day, thinking it was an allergy or something. We decided to find a place to camp and call it a day. We were sitting in the car when he asked me to look in his eye, and I found that he had a black spot stuck in his left eye. We washed it with eye solution and he tried to get it out with his finger, until I convinced him it was time to head to the hospital. We stopped at his request to call my Dr Dad first, but we were unable to get hold of him. We parked outside of the hospital, and with our travel insurance policy in hand, I was giggling a little at how this was going to be the first time we used our policy, and it was JP, not me, who needed it. Needless to say, we paid our $4 pesos for a consultation (a little more than $1us) and JP was lying in Room 1 in the Emergency room. The Doctor was able to scrape it out of his eye, then put anti-biotic drops in it and covered it with gauze and tape. He’s not allowed to open in overnight. I drove us to find a hotel, which is lucky, because it’s now raining. With his eye and all, we figured a hotel was a good thing. We have to return to the hospital tomorrow so they can take a closer look and make sure everything is OK. I took a picture of the thing in his eye, which we think might be coal or something from making the fire this morning, and then one with him looking like a pirate. He’s less than impressed and in a bit of pain, but he’s dozing off now.
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Well, they got everything from his eye last night and we went to the “oftalmologist” this morning who took off the bandage and checked to see how things were going. He’s got some drops for today and tomorrow, but he’s glad the patch is off and despite blurry vision and a terrible night sleep, he’s gonna be fine. I’d say it might take a few days to be all better. We decided to stay in this hotel another night, and look for camping close to town during the day…think we’ll go to do some clothes washing now and I have to figure out a way to reach my Dad, so he doesn’t worry. That’s really pretty much it, with the weather being rainy and cold…feels like one of those days to just take it easy, eat and nap…
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We finally also got the evasive obligatory insurance we required. We had received news that Mia gave the other cat she is living with 3 stitches and they are ready to get rid of her…which makes us sad and gives us a little more work for us. Of course, we are now looking into the shipping companies for animals, and hope that the long trip, whenever she makes it, won’t be bad for her. It was after this news and we were still waiting on news from the Australian Government on shipping Ola to Australia (they wrote asking us for proof of purchase of Ola) – once we have a yes or no from them, it’s easy to know what next step to take; ship or sell; we packed up, sad and worried, and left this little town for some peace and quiet…no internet, no tarmac roads, no nothing. Since JP’s eye repaired and he no was longer worrying about his perfect eye sight, we skipped out of town to drive that road to take us as far south as we can drive.
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It was a beautiful drive to the real end of the world…and after 130kms, we were a little surprised that a sign did not greet us and say “hello, you are as far south as you can drive”…instead, the road ended at a Naval base and that was it. We backtracked a little way and found a spot to camp for the night. We even put up that awning for the rain and wind without a single disagreement! I made some popcorn and pasta, we drank a beer, JP gave up on the fire idea when it started to rain with real purpose and we just enjoyed the knowledge of being at the end of the world. JP suggested we wear our thermal underwear – boy was that a good idea!!! We agreed to finish our “Gaian” book at the end of the world, but JP kept falling asleep, something about being up until 2:30am the previous night playing on the computer with an almost happy eye.
We slept well, despite the wind and rain, and by morning, the tent had dried from all the wind, and the sun was starting to show. I made the customary coffee using the last of our water supply and we sat on our chairs to enjoy the ocean, the hot drink, the final pages of the book, and of course, in true Gaian style, a dolphin at the end of the world to greet us. It couldn’t have been more perfect. I guess we could have stayed out there in many places along our road back, but we’re getting anxious to hear about what the Australian Government is going to say, and so we headed back to civilization to check email, but received nothing.
Feeling a little lost, we were walking the streets aimlessly, thinking we were going to stay here in Ushuaia forever, waiting for certain things, when we bumped into Angelo, the Colombian guy we met in San Julian. Good timing I think. Instead of more aimless walking, we went for some more beers (JP and I had already had 2) and some good conversation. I really enjoyed the evening and we arranged a “text message” date for 3ish the next day…and to meet up.
By 10pm we got to Camping Andina and were told that Claudio and Cecilia had also been looking for us. Although we had been in text message contact, Claudio was unwell with stomach issues and we thought they were staying put for the night. We went right to bed anyway, cozy and warm.
And so here we are…we are going to stay here for the weekend and do more chilling and walking around. Not much other plans…Ushuaia set in a beautiful area, surrounded by snow capped mountains. It’s pretty cold here though, and when the sun chooses not to shine or the wind gets going, it’s pretty chilly and requires us to head indoors. This coffee is warming me up, I’ll go take a shower after it and then I think JP and I will head into town to check one last time for news from
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After a long weekend of waiting, some attached expectations later, we heard nothing from the Australian Government, marking 26 days of waiting for a document they say should take 17. I am doing my best to stay in good spirits, reminding myself of my health, love around me and the general luck I have in my life…mostly this works. I can’t say that I am not bummed out though. We were awoken this morning to quite the storm, which blew away our awning, which we had truly been becoming to like. The wind and the rain really did a number on it and bent one of the two poles…so it’s back to being a bit of a piece of shit. It sure is cold here at the end of the world! Surrounding mountains are now more sprinkled with snow. The rain, although it has calmed down since this morning, continues.
We bunkered down last night to watch a movie, and slept with hopeful wishes that we would soon move forward. Hopeful emails from my family arrive with the countdown of us returning May 1st. I do hope that our hopes of returning sooner to surprise them will not be dashed by 2 months of waiting and that the coming week will bring us much work to do to accomplish this, and not simply more waiting. We have to find out if JP can purchase a one-way ticket to
We did get a visit on Friday night from Angelo and we finished that bottle of rum we bought; I finished the night off by puking from the tent, which perhaps wasn’t one of my most graceful moments. But that night was fun and we had a fire, I made some pasta and we sat and talked. Saturday, we both paid for the reckless drinking from the night before, but figured it fine since we had nothing better to do than rest.
I do feel like beginning the process of writing “that book”, but my heavy spirits make me feel like I wouldn’t do it all justice. I could meditate, I could read, I could do many things; but somehow watching the clock tick to an undetermined hour, despite its’ unfulfilling nature, seems like the only thing I want to do. And rereading that sentence makes me crazy; full knowledge and choice of changing my head space, but no drive or will to. Right now though, we are upstairs in the refuge they provide at this camping site, with beautiful streaming from the guitar of the Italian guy we just met. Music has such a presence, and is, despite my resistance, allowing me to calm and chill and be. Thanks man!
PM: Well, it got cold enough today to snow…just our luck really. Not cold enough to stick to anything around here, what with all the rain also. I ended up finding a book to read from the one’s they lend out, and spent the better part of my afternoon reading it. It’s interesting enough. It took my mind from the cold and all the waiting. We are heading to bed after some pasta and some wine, a little chat with Angelo, who is now staying at this camping place. I am not really sure why I brought the computer up to bed, since all I want to do now is get warm and go to sleep…so I guess this little paragraph will have to suffice. Sending good wishes out to the Australian Government department of vehicle importation and a little plea to please send word while we sleep. I’d really like that, so if you could just tell us “yes”, we’ll be on our way to making that a reality. Thanks.
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Well, if pleading was my ploy, then it worked!! We had a slow morning, intent on not rushing to the internet too early, coffee, breakfast…walked to three internet places, and by the third we received one line – “your application has been granted and mailed out yesterday”. I cried for joy. And with trepidation, we headed to the shipping company, to be greeted with the shipping world. I don’t know if all shipping companies and their ancillaries are all a little deceptive, or we just have the luck, but I am trying to focus on getting this truck in a container and taking a flight from Ushuaia to
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In true style, our day was a long one, filled with the normal ups and downs of dealing with this shipping world. We arrived early to the aduana, who were wonderfully helpful in telling us that what a service would charge $200, for what we could do ourselves. Here entails what they WOULD have done for us: make photocopies of our documents, write a letter on our behalf stating that we allow the shipping company to embark our truck and take it a few blocks down to the aduana for a stamp. Even though we did go to the office as requested to find out about these services, no one answered. So we did it ourselves. This seemed to cause a lot of ruckus back at the shipping company and it took the better part of 2 hours, with phone calls and closed doors, to ensure that we got what we needed. What doesn’t help at the moment is that the person whom we had been in email contact with, the owner of the company, is away, and they can’t tell us when he’ll be returning. He never answered any of our direct calls but he picks up his business calls; they call him every other minute to check on details. So, once that was squared away, they changed the date of the boat departure from the 7th to the 9th, which would have compromised our plane ride…but then it changed back to the 7th. The Port allows 2 free days for containers to sit there, and after that, they charge for each day, including the first 2 free ones. So, our plan was to enter it on the 5th, take a flight on the 6th and the boat would leave on the 7th. In order to get the container into the Port, we must pay another company to take it from their lot with Ola inside, then unload and have it inspected as usual and then reload and secure down. That costs another $250, surprisingly not part of the quote. Strangely though, this second company is in the very same office as the shipping company. After that, we pay the Port $10 to load the container onto the boat…and from there, we pay $3100 to ship Ola from
So, we had a choice to make: drive back to
We went down to the Port and met with the guy in the Aduana there, and told him what we were doing…he thought all things were in order and expects us Monday morning with Ola. We’ve also finally heard from the shipping company this evening that they booked us a spot on the boat, which seems at this point, the only thing that they have assisted us with. It’s difficult to deal with people who seem hell bent on screwing with you, knowing you don’t have many other choices. I start thinking all sorts of mean things, and with my lack of Spanish, it makes it hard for me to be my usual upfront self. What I wanted to say today was “It looks like there’s some kind of problem. What’s going on? If there is a problem, I am the customer, please discuss it with me directly.” But, we attempted the lamer “kill with kindness” approach, which is easier in body language; smiles and such; which assisted me in not jumping over the table and screaming “porque?”.
Upon arriving at our camping spot this evening, we found 2 humungous buses dangerously close to our camping haven, and loud singing. Our area is now being overrun with 40 Swedes, who by account of the managers here set off a fire extinguisher last year and broke a toilet. Needless to say, after JP saw one guy pissing out in the open, we moved from our beloved spot quite rapidly, but it’s not the same. Hey, I know the world can be one’s toilet, but during the day one can use the amenities provided here. It wasn’t the helpful end to a long day. Still, if I can remember the words of my friendly nurse from my job at NRI, Dee, she says the day isn’t fully over until your head hits the pillow, and now seems the appropriate time to heed these words. I’ve got dinner planned and as soon as I finish this, I will attempt to nourish our souls with food. I hope that my account doesn’t sound like too much of a moan, as I hear I can do that well, and that this process of writing allows me to follow all my own and others good advice. And at that, I bid you goodnight.
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We were going to go out this morning and find out about the car washing situation, wash some clothes and check internet, oh, and buy those reserved plane tickets, but it started to snow…so, we are waiting it out a little and verbally organizing ourselves. Over coffee (made by the camping place this morning, not me) we started to talk about the realities of leaving and arriving in
So, the plan is this; call my Nana on Sunday or Monday and gently tell her that we are returning on Thursday. I don’t know yet if Brett is going to be in
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We have said our farewells to our camping Andino family…after 10 days of being there, it became very comfortable. However, we have ourselves a nice hotel to stay at for the next two days. We will be spending a little over in two days what we paid for 10 nights, but it will be nice have to not have to put clothes and shoes on just to go to the toilet in the night and also to have a shower privately. Since it is raining a lot right now, we are putting off the washing of Ola until later or even perhaps tomorrow morning. If that is so, we will have quite the busy day, as the Argentinean Airlines did not give JP an Aussie visa and I feel we have to go there in the morning to complete that part.
We spent yesterday uploading lots of videos of our recent experiences and also cleaning inside the truck and deciding what we will take on the plane and what we leave in Ola. I made a dinner with a whole lot of things that we had left over, and even though I was worried about the taste of pasta and beans, it was surprisingly good. We left Angelo his portion at his tent door, as he was out late. This morning, we had a leisurely time, hoping the rain would go away…we sat to talk with a German traveler and invited him for breakfast, as a couple of others. I made huevos pedicos with fried ham and salami and toast and juice. It was quite a feast. When Angelo finally surfaced, I made him fried eggs instead. We had a great morning just talking about the world and traveling and meeting people, understanding different cultures and realizing the lies that the media tells all over the world. It’s sad, and I have been thinking about this for the better part of the last 2 days about the lack of one single country that I could consider noble in their acts and who care about their people. I read an article about the changes in Australia and its’ increasing connection with the US, some expose about an up and coming arms test in Australian waters in June, that was passed without Parliament, but by the help of one Johnny Howard. In addition to that, a
So, here we are, in a clean hotel, enjoying some lazing about and TV watching, preparing mind and soul and stuff for the adventure ahead. Besos…xoox
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So, yesterday was packed full of lots of stuff, but the big news you’re all waiting for is: did Ola get into a container? Yes she did! After prayers for no rain for Monday, after an entire day of it on Sunday, it snowed on and off the entire of Monday. I guess we should have prayed for sun instead. Needless to say, we had ourselves a last hot chocolate from our gadgets and packed Ola up en route for a wash. The guy cleaned the motor and power washed her with precision. We were so happy to see the sun peer out from behind the clouds and the snow stop. We bounced down the road to the Shipping Company and while we were in their office, it started to snow like never before. By the time we got down to Ola, she was covered in snow and the wind was blowing us away. We drove to the Aduana (customs) and of course, they asked us for a piece of paper that we didn’t yet have. JP walked in the snow to the shipping company and had a discussion and an argument with the guy over the phone, in the end, hiring them for $100 more to give us a piece of paper, as I still can’t see what else they really did to assist us. There was some big stupidity with the list of items we handed in, as it was in English. One person requested we wait for the inspection and if they had any questions we could translate and the other told us to translate the whole thing. In the end, they didn’t need the translation as we showed them everything bit by bit. I guess the cold worked in our favour as the inspector became faster and faster with her checking as the wind blew. As always, that wasn’t a problem. No drug dogs this time either.
By the time that was done, the shipping company sent the wrong container to the Port and we had to wait for the right one to come. Once that happened, the sun left us again and the snow began. So, we had immigration and customs complete and loaded Ola into the container amidst the wind and snow and said goodbye to her. There were some other small and annoying parts to the adventure, but for the most part, we just took it in our stride, coaxing each other on that we just needed to get this done and not get ourselves worked up about anything. By 6pm, we had paid what was necessary and headed to the nearest phone to call Brett and Nana. I did not get through to Brett, but giving Nana the news was a fabulous experience, with screams, shouts and cackles of laughter at the news and the surprise. After that we headed to a bar to celebrate. All that was left was the flight.
It snowed the rest of the day and we had Angelo come and visit us (he also gave me a present) and we packed up our meager belongings, ready for today. Check-out at the hotel was 10am and our flight was scheduled for 2:30pm. We figured we’d just go straight to the airport and wait it out there. When we got there, we found out they have delayed the flight another 3+ hours. This is fine, since we had a 6 hour wait in
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