Wow so much to write and so little computer access.....
confusing my host father's work thinking he was an avacado farmer when he was a lawyer in fact he was a judge for 35 years prosecuting hard criminals and 1/2 my size
meeting Gabby, a Rotary exchange student who spent last year in CAMDEN MAINE and she loves the COLD and MAINE of course
visiting a mercado libre, a local public market with fish, meat, vegetables, fruit, spices, cheese, clothes and empanadas. I took a photo of a tray of cow eyeballs for sale that you cook for a soup........yikes!
visiting Hacienda Sainta Theresa, famous for its RUM. Oh my goodness! We had a tour of this grand estate and then they gave us enormous mugs of rum. I bought 3 bottles for home, an orange cognac, a white rum for mohitos and an amber rum for sippinig
National Park of Morrocoy in the boat with 13 others visiting small cayos (bays) and lots of beaches
eating ceviche (fish cured in lime with onions, cilantro and tomato) from a boat
eating raw oysters off the back of the boat all brought to you by young men in motor boats
snorkelling and seeing OODLES of fish and watching a small spotted moray eel make its way across the bottom of the coral reef for about 15 minutes
the motor boat AIRBORN literally completely OUT of the water engines, propellers and all on our way too and from the dock
seeing a caiman (alligator) in port
staying with Rotarians in La Victoria that have a sweeping view of their sweet city. Their daughter Claudia has the sex appeal of Drew Barrymore (as does her mama). The floors are all marble with grand entrances, a room with a bar and seating that feels like a night club and FUN are they ever Fun. Antonio is the retired VP from Fiat Venezuela
meeting their fellow Rotary friends, Belgians that moved to Venezuela 6 years ago because they preferred a life with more leisure. Their job is importing and exporting wild animals around the world.
Ok....................take care and one of these days I will add photos to all of this text. Ciao, Georgie
Hola! Well, Puerto Ordaz, thhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeee gateway to Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world, over 1 km high would have been a cool experience however our presentation was postponed for a day so we were not able to get away.
Our GSE team however did an excellent job with our presentation to probably 200 Rotarians from all over Venezuela. Our leader, Carmen, was not well so Gisia gave the introduction and bio information about Carmen. Joe a Rotarian from Puerta la Cruz introduced all of us and told a lost in translation story about me trying to learn the word for this great seafood/pasta dish called fedegua but she thought I meant fosferera which is seafood and an aphrodisiac. Anyway the audience got a real kick out of it.
We took a tour of Parque La Llovizna, on the Rio Caroni and saw the spectacular llovisna cascada (waterfall). Lots of mist and spray and people enjoying the park and views. I believe there are 7 lakes and dams that were build over 30 years ago that produce electricity for ALL yes ALL of Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, parts of Brazil and Columbia. We toured the Macagua dam and an "eco" museum the government created to show the number of species they saved during the dredging and enormous flooding of this region to create these series of dams. I cried through the film. What they do not show is the resettling of the people and all the animals that drowned when all of this took place and the enormous devestation of the environment but...we all need ELECTRICITY.
I visited a dam project in Belize with biologists who were studying the impact the creation of the dam would have on all the species there. Very very very very sad stuff.
Anyway, the waterfalls and the dams of this region of Venezuela are IMMENSE absolutely enormous projects. Many waterfalls including the famous Angel Falls are natural and spectacular sites to see.
The conference was held at Hotel Intercontinental Guyana built in the 1970s it is quite grand with a lovely gym and pool that overlook two waterfalls. We ate well at the hotel and at the country clubs hosted by the Rotarians of Puerto Ordaz. The final evening of the conference was an enormous buffet with Lau lau fish, a local catfish, lots of salads and fancy tortes. Dinner started at 9pm. Music started at 10pm with a calapsyo band and this incredible dancer.
Then there was a dance competition for the women and the men. Luc, one of our team members, competed in the men's competition and won by a huge majority because he ripped off his blazer AND his tie and threw them into the audience. I also was forced, yes pushed onto the stage to dance with Luc. Pretty funny actually and we won prizes of a key chain and Luc received a CD of Venezuelan music. The band was still playing after 4am......when we all went to bed becuase we had to be up and in the bus back to Caracas at 730am!
Hola! Wow yesterday was a fantastic day. They took us by boat into Parque Nacional Machimo a series of islands off the north coast of Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea. The Rotarians including Monica, Gisella, Jose Gregori, Fina took us to the wee fishing/touristy town of Machimo where we caught a small motor boat to a beach called Las Maritas where we swam, snorkeled, drank beer, and ate FISH lots and lots of delicious fish. We had plates of catalana (white fish), pargo (white snapper), and calamar (calamari). Fresh fresh fresh and then fried with a cole slaw with cilantro which was delicious and tostones (fried plaintain). Wow. As an appetizer Josee, Jose and I had 2 dozen raw oysters, $3.00/dozen. YUM!
Jose first took Josee and me out snorkeling for an hour. I got too much sun eventhough I was lathered in sunscreen. Another tough balance for me. I love to snorkel and scuba dive but I always need to wear sunscreen to protect my skin but of course the sunscreen is harmful to the water and the fish. Jose showed us two spotted moray eels and a puffer fish. The coral is all half dead but the water was still teaming with fish. Huge schools of minnows and I saw a 2 foot barracuda as well. So though I did not get to go scuba diving I got a good fix of enjoying the marine flora and fauna and critters. Jose also took a mesh bag and picked up oysters and conch to take home. (Keep in mind we are in a national park...........yay......) Sadly he was stepping on the precious coral as we made our way snorkeling along the beach. I gently asked in my poor spanish if he would not do that. Jose is a doctor and for years has been the administrator at a local hospital and has done well to manage it. However...the current government has put him on a long vacation and will probably bring him back with a desk job. Definitely more to this story but not the place for it.
We had a wonderful lunch and enjoyed the beach with LOTS of Venezuelans sunning and eating and playing with their plastic floaty toys and zooming around on a raft pulled by a boat. Not exactly what I expected at a beach in a national park but this is the trend for folks here. We headed back about 2pm and stopped to check out the little handmade dolls in all sizes and wooden boats for sale. I bought a few small ones that can be decorations or Christmas tree ornaments. All hand made for a few dollars each. We then made our way back to our host families.
On the way back Fina treated me to an aphrodisiac (sp?) rompa colchon (mattress breaker) or rompa lycra (panty ripper) for 20B (divide everything by 5 and it will be $4.00US). I know I know Dani ...too many prices... so just a few. Since the Rotarians pay for everything I hardly know what things cost so when I do know I will gently insert that. The rompa colchon is famous in this area, a mixture of fresh raw and cooked seafood including shrimp, conch, oysters, octopus, squid, salsa, a vinegar mix with spices, worchestire sauce, and lots of lime. Wow! What a punch. It is like a delicious shot of ceviche made to your liking.
So by the time I got home, showered and readied for our next engagement I had a headache and stayed home for the night. Too much sun and seafood............Yikes! My colleagues enjoyed an evening of wine, octopus salad, homemade Italian pasta, homemade tiramisu and LIVE Venezuelan music and opera by the host. Damn!
Today we headed into the mountains to La Guanota in Parque Nacional Caripe to visit a vacation home of one of the Rotarians. We visited Hacienda Las Acacias, a coffee factory where they collect the coffee beans from local farmers and wash, dry, sort the coffee and then sell it to others to roast. I believe that 275 kilos turns into only 36 kilos by the end of the processing which takes place in our fall months. The coffee takes 7 months to grow, 1 month to pick and 4 months to process. Unfortunately it was Sunday (Domingo) so we were not able to find a store open to buy any of this delicious coffee but we did get to have a cup. Monica is going to try to bring us some.
Then we enjoyed a HUGE paella made with tuna, peppers, onions, cumin, salt, rice, olive oil, garbanzo beans that Gisella made and a key lime pie and apple cake for dessert. We all needed a nap but instead went for a walk down to the river to watch a bunch of boys flip into the water and see the GORGEOUS fields of celery, lettuces, and leeks. Really amazing!
I havent figured out how to upload my photos yet but when I do I will certainly add them to this blog. Take care everyone. Besos mi amors, Georgie
Atun Euskal - Caribe! Wow what a spot. A small tuna processing business owned by a Spanish couple RIGHT did I say RIGHT on the beach. Well, you cross the little street from their very clean, neat and efficient tuna processing business to their casa (home) with a veranda right on the beach with hammocks and lounge chairs. We toured Atun Euskal-Caribe with our white hats and masks and learned about how they process the yellow fin tuna, cook it, and bottle it in extra virgin olive oil, canola and vegetable oil and then a third type with red peppers. We saw the ten workers scraping the tuna and then cutting it into pieces for packaging and saw the whole tuna stored in a refrigeration facility and the processing stainless steel drums. Really very neat facility. Of course you have to be comfortable with the aroma of very very strong FISH (pescado) that is for sure.
We had the most incredible spread of atun (tuna). Tuna sandwiches with lettuce and tomato. Yuca bread. Tuna mousse with red peppers. Two types of tuna one in olive oil and one in vegetable oil with onions that you could eat with bread (pan). Croquettes with tuna, cheese, parsley and onion. Tuna EVERYTHING and it was absolutely delicious. Regional cervesa and vino from Caracas.
Here the tuna are caught individually with a line. The owner talked about QUALITY of tuna and...when tuna are caught with a large net they are more stressed out because they are trying to escape as the net closes in on them. They often have a heart attack. When they have a heart attack from stress their blood travels throughout their bodies. The blood changes the taste of the tuna AND is also extra work for the tuna workers to clean all of the blackened blood out of the flesh for packaging. So it is better for the fish to be line caught and killed quickly, better tasting AND economically better if the tuna is line caught. This is a small business that uses local fishermen to catch their fish AND they prefer the oldfashioned way of catch.
Another great group of Rotarians here in Cumana. Tomorrow we will be going to Parque Nacional Machima, islands off the coast of Venezuela and MAYBE just MAYBE I can get uno or 2 dives in manana (tomorrow). We will see!
Our group of five are so open to EVERYTHING it is wonderful. We love to eat, drink, and experience all that the Rotarians offer us. Great great group of people! Last night at the Puerto La Cruz Rotary meeting, I met a woman named Arlene who went to highschool in WATERVILLE, MAINE. Anyway long story she is a Norwegian who married a Venezuelan and has lived here all of her married life. I asked her what we had to experience while we were in Cumana and she said there is a mixture of oysters with vinegar and lemon and other seafood that they call the mattress breaker. You can buy it in a jar OR you can drink a shot of it. So today I asked Fina, a retired english school teacher and a hoot to boot if we could get some. She said NO then..........she said ok........I have never tried it but I will try it with you tomorrow in solidarity. If one of us gets sick we all get sick.
Hola my friends! Wow! What a whirl of activity and travel. My group of 5 consist of Josee (physiotherapist), Gisia (pharmacist), Carmen(our team leader, a retired civil servant with Canadian government interested in international language schools), and Luc (marketing director for manufacturing firms in Moncton). We are on a GSE Group Study Exchange with Rotary International sponsored by District 7810 of eastern Maine and New Brunswick for young professionals ages 25 -40. I JUST made the cut off, phew.
I brought my laptop but so far little time or availability for internet. We had an overnight in Caracas, great city with 20 percent of Venezuela´s population set in a valley at the foot of the Avila Mountains that separate Caracas from the Caribbean sea........incredible setting surrounded by lush rainforest.
Next day off we went for the weekend to Isla de Margarita to be hosted by Maneiro Rotary Group. Wow. This group of Rotarians are all BEST friends so each weekend they socialize together at each other´s houses. They took us to Laguna la Restinga where OYSTERS galore grow on the mangroves, Museo Marino, a marine museum rich with story of the over harvest of pearls by the Spaniards, and many many examples of corals, crustaceans and other marine wildlife, flora and fauna.
We visited Playa El Yaque, a beach famous for WINDSURFING. Peter Hilyard would be in his glory. Oysters for sale everywhere on the beaches for 8 B or Bolivares to 15 Bolivares.
The "official" or bank rate by the government for Bolivares is $1.00 = 2 B, the "unofficial" exchange is currently approximately $1.00 = 5.5 B so...IF you use your credit card you get the official rate and if you use cash and you decide to exchange your money on the black market which is in fact illegal by the current government then you pay at a rate of 1:5+
Last night we had fosforera (Venezuelan paella) with linguine with mussels, scallops, clams, calamari, shrimp, tomatos, parsley, scallions, and spices. OH MY GOD! Talk about absolutely positively the best food EVER. I was in heaven.
We also watched the most incredible sunset from Playa Caribe with a grasshopper the size of a hotdog that landed on my back. We ate mango jelly for a snack while we watched the sky transform then we had soncocho (stew) made again with SEAFOOD right on the beach and right next to a road. Wild experience.
Cultured pearls are EVERYWHERE in pink, white and blue and are relatively inexpensive so...my shopping spree has began.
Sorry so all over the place. We are having fun. Meeting wonderfully generous people and Luc is taking incredible photos. Take care and lots of love, Georgie
Wow, just days back from the sunny Caribbean and I was off on another great adventure at home in Maine. Up at 5:30 am and met at 6:30 am at Winterberry Cottage on Rte. #9, my friend Jeff Lyons and I were off to visit a mother bear and bear cubs hibernating in a den. We were invited by Randy Cross, the guru of black bears, who has been studying bears for 27 years in Maine with Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife following our adventure this past spring checking snares for bears to tag and collar for tracking. This past May we visited 29 snares which biologists and volunteers check every 12 hours and didnt see even one bear. We wrote a few articles that were published in our local papers so Randy invited us again this winter assuring us we would see a bear or two or three this winter!
We met Vicki, president of Safari International, Maine Chapter, Randy and his staff and volunteers at the Airline Snack Bar had our coffee and off we went in Vicki's spiffy Subaru. Probably 12 miles on a dirt road off Rte. 9 toward Station Road then another 12 miles north on Station road heading east. We arrived geared up the sleds (snow mobiles) and off we went for a few miles into the woods. Then everyone put on their snowshoes and the team held the antennae to track the radio signal from the female bear's collar. (They tag male and female bears' ears and then collar the females with a radio transmitter but not the males)
Vicki, Jeff and I stayed back so that there wouldn't be too many people startling the bears. They headed in with a pole and a tranquilizing dart to hone in on the female and then put her to sleep. We headed in after them about 30 minutes later through the brush but really just a few hundred feet from where we parked the sleds. The bears have been hibernating now for about 5 months and the females that are old enough have cubs. Bears usually have their first litter at 5 or 6 years old OR actually when their body weight is enough that they are ready. (I forget the term in est...)
We arrived and the female bear, a 124lb female, 6 years old, 2nd litter of cubs was fast asleep on a tarp just outside the den which was a small hole under a fallen tree covered in snow. Randy passed us two beautiful baby bear cubs. They were about 4.5 lbs each and only 9 weeks old! Absolutely THE most adorable little bundles of fur you have ever seen. We each got to hold them and have our photos taken with them while the team weighed mama bear, baby bears, tagged baby bear ears, checked collar on mama bear and overall health of bears and then measured mama bear. They measured her four ways, chest, neck, back length and zoological length which is the length from her nose to her tail if she were standing outstretched. They also put a tattoo in mama bear's mouth inside her upper lip incase her ear tags or collar go missing.
The team has checked 81 out of 91 dens since early January. Some females are solo young females not given birth yet and they check their dens first then they check the older females with cubs. We got to visit the 81st den! The team put mama bear back in her den with her newly tagged bear cubs and covered the den with bows and off we went.
Why study bears? Well wildlife management is important for many reasons, to know the bears, track the health and development of bears, impact of bears/humans and for hunting purposes. The more we know about bears and other wildlife the more we can protect and manage wildlife. This program is underfunded. Randy has VOLUNTEERS and is not able to pay people for their work which is too bad. It is amazing through this study what the researchers are learning about bears ---what they eat, how they survive and how humans and bears can coexist sustainably.
Dear All, Well we are safely back in PR and Mom and I have a rental car. Yay. I have been travelling by gua gua and small buses for a month now so I am tickled to be driving a car again! Mom was in Puerto Rico in the early 1960s. She did her Peace Corps training here in the mountains. We are trying to track down one of her very good friends that she served with in Ecuador who is from here in Puerto Rico.
While we were in Santa Domingo we stayed with Jan and Felipe again. they have wonderful kids, Dally (pronounced Dajee) and Louis Felipe and two dogs. Chiquita and Trouble. We spent two days trying to buy our return ferrt ticket for Mom. It cost me $189.00 for two ways with a chair seat and it cost Mom $140 for a one way ticket. It was so hard to find out WHERE to buy the ticket. The office at the port doesnt sell them on two different days that I went there. Entering DR was an absolute nightmare with about 20 checkpoints. Returning to PR was much much easier. Amazing!
Mom and I bought 3 seat covers used in gua guas or for car seats. Used tough plastic burlap type of bags (similar material used for a tarp) and then fabric is woven through it in patterns or solid colors, like a shag rug basically. Very cool and $4.50 right next to the road heading from Bonao to Santa Domingo. We (I) bought cigars, Brugal rum, guava dulce (sweets) and jam, coffee chocolate, guabanana juice mix, oregano, and some larimar (blue stone only mined in Dominican Republic). Quite a shopping extravaganza and now my pack is loaded. I was so hoping to get my fingernails painted again all fancy on my way out but that didnt happen. I did however find the fingernail polish with a long thin brush so I could paint designs on them myself. We will see how that goes. I will start practicing now so I can paint the girls fingernails in Tess's adventure rec class.
Take care and ............7 days left on my vacation. I am ready for HOME, SNOW, and to see EVERYONE! xx, Georgie
Finally, yesterday, I went to a REAL cock fight in Bonao where Jan grew up in the middle of the country. What an experience. Mom and Jan stayed and talked with good friends of Jan´s in Bonao. Lenny, Jan´s brother in law took me. It was his first time to attend as well. He is 36 and has never been interested in attending but accompanied me on this experiential journey. Also three young ladies, daughter of Jan´s friend, Ariella and her two friends, Annie and Kayla joined us too. We could watch from outside the caged area for 20 pesos or 75 cents but...I splurged and bought ringside seats for 1250.00 pesos or $40USD for the 5 of us. I am sure I paid more because I was a gringa and no one knew the real prices but this happens every day to me in different situations.
The little arena with cages are next to the road. There were many motorconchos (small motorcycles) and lots of fancy SUVs there. This type of sport is illegal in the US and for years the USA has tried to ban it from Puerto Rico but it is still much alive in Puerto Rico as well. We arrived early so we had seats just two rows back from the inner circle. Picture a boxing ring on the ground with a padded mat around the perimeter that the cocks cannot really jump over easily to run away. The birds are plucked from the waist down and their crown is clipped as well. The birds are weighed in burlap bags on a scale hanging over the ring. An announcer and a few helpers put spurs on the feet of the birds, sharp .75 inch sharp little knives actually. The betting is insane and lots of money, 1000 and 2000 or $30 and $60 bills are rolled up and tossed to this one and that one. There is alot of hype naming the birds by color, rosa (red), blanco (white), negro (black) and asking for bets very loudly screaming shouting yelling from everywhere. The first fight we saw the birds were not really interested in each other but the second one was intense. Well as intense as two birds pecking at each other can be. Kicking each other madly and flapping their wings.
As close as we were to the ring it was hard to see the injuries each bird was causing the other. My understanding is that they fight for 15 minutes maximum or until one cock falls down or until the death. I am not exactly sure how it works but it was clear during the second fight that the blanco one was going to win and the fight continued becuase the black cock did not fall down. Once the black cock did fall it was practically dead and while the owner groomed it before it was handed over to be put in the ring, he picked it up like a dead fish and hauled it out of the ring. Not sure if the cocks are immediately killed after that much brutal suffering or if it is just tossed aside to die on it´s own before becoming someone´s dinner.
The girls were more interested in being seen in the inner circle than in the fight. Fair enough. We watched three of them. The men cheer and snort and count the number of times each cock pecks or pulls feathers or meat off the other cock. And they count the number of times each cock kicks each other. It can be quite a fight. Sadly the eyes are also often pecked out of the other bird. It is disturbing to witness.
Do I support this as a sport? No. Was I curious? Absolutely. Lenny translated for me to tell the girls that this was illegal in our country. He translated that I do not support the torture of animals, that my boyfriend is a veterinarian and would probably be a little upset with me that I attended such an event. I did tell them I felt badly for the cocks but I wanted to attend because it is an aincredibly strong tradition and custom of the DR men and so I did.
Honestly I understand the power of testosterone with sports events and competition but watching two cocks fight just doesnt seem to have the same effect as a wrestling match or a boxing match between two men. I rather see two grown men who can make their own decisions and have a mind fight than two animals trained to hurt each other. So it was good for me to witness to help me understand betting, competition, and witness the desensitization of humans for animals.
I am desensitized when I walk by starving yes STARVING dogs and cats or maybe sick from mange or fleas or worms who knows. I wish Bill were with me and he could easily euthanize (sp?) each one so it would peacefully slip away. I wish I had the nerve to kill them quickly myself but I do not. I know that traveling to developing countries on a yearly basis has contributed to my desensitization. It doesnt mean that I dont feel bad for them I do. I used to cry and get sick and now I feel badly but I dont get as emotional about it as I used to. Same when walking by people who cannot stand and beg for money or people with disfigured facial features that would be whisked into plastic surgery in the USA.
This is an expensive and extensive sport for men of this country. Many own lots of cocks and have trainers and take them all over the island to fight. Fights are different days in different towns and usually start at 2pm DR time so...245pm until like 7pm. You can buy beer and soda and snacks and I believe out of a few hundred people there were 4 women in our party and I saw only one other woman.
Ok.........oh......I didnt take any photos and havent for many weeks because my camera broke frozen open.
Well, we finally left Pederneles and on the way out our bus was stopped probably a dozen times at checkpoints. Sometimes we had to all get off and sometimes police would get on and sniff around. They were looking for Haitians and drugs. At the first check a police showed his power over of course by asking for my passport in front of everyone. Stupid me had it tucked away in my bra with all my other goods so... then the people on the bus warned me, "They are watching you". So lesson learned to keep passport separate and accessible..........but that was the only time.
After several checks a man neatly dressed with a backpack who had shown his passport numerous times was escorted off the bus. He looked Haitian. His bus money was returned to him. Who knows what happened to him. The unemployment rate in DR is 45%. The unemployment rate in Haiti is 75% or higher. So....DR is better if you can make it here, right?
Mom met a very nice two couples on the way out of Bahia de Las Aguilas. We stopped to see them in El Arroyo. What a beautiful beautiful spot. Oh my goodness. Robert and Heiki and their friends were such fun and we communicated somehow in Spanish, English and German and laughed and chatted. I smoked a huge DR vanilla flavored cigar that cost me 45 cents on their lovely deck. Wow what bliss with a big cold beer like I did on a porch with Mom in Cuba. Great food, lots of beer. Mom had sancocho (a stew with vegetables, yucca, potato, onion many meats, YUM) cooked by their cook. We did a washing in a semi automatic washer. You have to move the wash, then rinse, then move to the spinner. quite a process but much easier than by hand on a washboard when I was in South Africa. The view was spectacular. We were right near the Larimar mine so I got a good deal (or so I think) on two pieces of Larimar rock (only mined here). Then from Barahona we took a bus to Santa Domingo then a bus to La Romana and then a guagua to Bayahibe to go out for the BEST fish supper and an overnite with Mom there.
Ok more.........not sure when? Miss you and as much as I love to travel and see the world I love even more returning home to my family, friends, farm. I really really do. I hope that I can keep my home safe and healthy for as long as I am alive because I visit so many places that are sadly getting riddled with garbage, people and destroyed slowly but surely from PEOPLE.
Please do your best to NOT use styrofoam. Please. It does NOT biodegrade. EVER. EVER. x, G
Wow, what a trip Mom and I are having. We are now in Bonao which is NOT in Lonely Planet and staying at www.ranchowendy.com which is a gem. I have several entries for a blog that I may never get to but here are some ideas. The Pig and the Palm tree in Boca de Yuma Mauro, best Italian cook in the DR and he taught me his special pasta sauce recipe OMG! Viscape, virtual blog travel to promote folks to purchase realestate abroad, hmm...not sure how I feel about this Cruise ships PLOGGING Samana Bay........ Pets in Pain. One could go around DR euthanizing very miserable dogs and cats Exploitation of nature, resources, people. Haitians fleeing from Haiti DRUG TRAFFICKING
the list goes on.......... We met up with Jan and Lenny, my DR buddies from Santa Domingo yesterday. Mom and I were in Las Galeras on the eastern tip of the Samana Peninsula for three nights. We soaked up lots of sun on some very sweet beaches. At one point on the beach there were men fishing with small nets in their underwear catching sardines, a man also in his underwear washing down his horse in the water and many people frolicking as well. What a combination of tourists and locals all enjoying the beach. This beach had little sandbars with eel grass. I thought of my friend Kate when we travelled to Tulum Mexico years ago before the tourists arrived. We went skinny dipping together there and poor Kate was totally spooked by the seaweed that was floating in clusters. She would have freaked out at this beach but it was beautiful. The sun set behind layers of mountains perfectly stacked behind each other with giant coconut palms hanging out over the sandy beach in silouette with the setting sun. Is my camera broken? yes but we met a few folks from Israel and CA and hopefully they will send us a photo of this gorgeous beach simply called Playita (little beach). The day before we went North Atlantic Humpback whale watching in Samana Bay with a Canandian woman who has been here for 20 years. Wow probably one of the best tours Ive been on in years. Very thorough, eco conscious, people friendly and worth it. We stayed a very safe distance from the whales and a young male breeched (leaped fully out of the water) a dozen times. It was amazing. There are an estimated 10-12,000 and they come down from Oh Canada and our lovely Bay of Fundy and off Boston to flirt, frolick and mate and nurse their young in Samana Bay. They do not eat for I think it is 4 months while they are there. Just play.
In 2004 they started bringing cruise ships so now 2-3000 people get off a boat in Samana two times a week during WHALE season..... can you believe this. The cruise ships do not anchor but hover using gps and running their engines for 3-5 months 2x a week, 4-6 ships per week. What a strain on the envt and everything else AND once they are here you will never get rid of them.
I can honestly say I do not like the cruise ship industry at all. I think it is an insane idea for Eastport. Be careful what you wish for.......luckily our sweet Downeast Maine has a SHORT season. Now I am beginning to question ecotourism.........Im so conflicted. Basically humans do so much wrong even though we think we are doing good but whatever we do do is generally wrong. Eeeish...as we say in South Africa. I am ready to come home. Mom and I are travelling really well together. We went thourgh our rough patches and settled into healthy traveling. My fingernails are as long as they have ever been. For 80 pesos or $2.00 I can get my fingernails and toenails painted in lovely matching colors and it looks awesome. No photos though except the first one I put up.
Dear All, Wow! We are now in the south east after about a week in the southwest. We hired a car and a guide ( his friend came too) to go to Bahia de las Aguillas, an 8km white sand beach which was spectacular. I went snorkelling and saw ENORMOUS starfish and lots of little colorful fish. Sadly there was lots of bits of plastic floating as well. This is part of a national park and people are supposed to carry out what they carry in but in stead most throw out what they carry in which is lots of styrofoam and plastic bags. THe road in was rough and Mom and I walked the 6kms in through harsh cacti forest but it was gorgeous!!!
She did catch a ride out with a 4x4 of two German couples, made friends with them so left a note with the guard that she got a ride with them back to our hotel in Pedernales and then we were invited to stop in and visit them when we headed back to Santa Domingo which we did with quite a bit more walking and asking questions. On the way out of Pedernarles there are LOTS of checkpoints. One nicely dressed young man with a backpack who looked Haitian after the 3rd check was asked to step off with all of his belongings, DR passport in hand and his $DR100 returned to him....I wonder what happened. NO border crossing in Pedernarles but many Haitians there selling clothes etc.
The German family has an INCREDIBLE house up a long ass and I mean long ass hill. I walked up it with my backpack while Mom waited at the base. They have a 180 degree view of the ocean with the village of El Oyorro below. They bought a piece of property from a farmer 15 years ago and live 7 months out of the year there with cows, chickens, ducks, 2 dogs Gustov and Lissia, 5 cats, 8 parakeets and lots of wild birds, snakes, and lizards. What a gem and what a relaxing and fun stop. We drank beer from 3pm until 10pm and talked with english, spanish and german with only Robert really understanding all three languages very well. We had songcocho which is like a meat and vegetable stew with rice. Delish! And slept in these great beds with a lovely outside deck. Their friends are here for 3 weeks. All great people!
From the bus on the way back some things you could by from out the windows at each road bump, check point... cashews jelly sandwiches tropical fruit, papaya, pineapple, guanabanas, grapes fire starter kits honey tires phone cards
Hope you are all well. We are heading to Samana and it is CARNIVAL week so....lots of partying and people in wild costumes. I am hoping we make it to see the humpback whales in Bahia de Samana a world famous site to watch the humpbacks frolic and raise their young.
Mom and I got on the wrong bus in Barahona so we were supposed to drive right past little Paradisio (Paradise of course) but the driver took us straight to our hotel instead because two Italian women staying in Los Patos were dead set on him dropping us off in the right place so he did.
The Hotel Paradisio for $21 per night was big and this is where we met Ron from California. Mom immediately hit it off with the staff and spent much of one evening drawing the front desk young woman who is stunning.
We walked down the beach through a grove of almond trees which were dropping and EVERYONE was cracking them open with rocks and eating them. We learned that you can buy raw ones at home and soak them over night. Dump the water and soak them again and they will taste just like home said a flight attendant we met visiting her cousins for the first time in 22 years. She lived in Cincinnati, Ohio.
So we watched guys body surfing for a long time while the women and naked little boys played in the rio (river) which had a pool just at the base divided from the incredibly dangerous ocean just a few meters away. These guys were excellent body surfers. We learned later that you really cannot swim on any of these beaches because of the undertow so we all swam in the rivers and put our feet into the ocean. Lots of hidden whirlpools that are known for pulling people INTO them and drowning them.
The next day we went to Los Patos by motorconcho which cost us $DR25 each or 75 cents per person one way. Just a few kms away was another tranquillo spot with a river running into a GORGEOUS beach much safer to swim. I swam in the rio and we had this fantastic meal of rice and beans and fried chicken and salad and juice which is half sugar.
We decided to stop by an Italian restaurant and hotel we read about and were walking north of Los Patos when we bumped into two farmer men and one of their wives riding a donkey. They warned us and made us turn around and walk with them back to Los Patos. Apparently not long ago a tourist was killed walking in that area. YIKES! We took the next bus back to Paradisio and of course were over charged due to our fears I am sure.
Paradise is beautiful but dangerous in this area...HIGH DRUG dropping area from South America so we are sticking to walking only in town and taking public transportation and sticking with tour guides. Sad, scary but the reality of this area. Extremely poor, extremely poor but the prices of medicine, body lotion, snacks and basic necessities to us are outrageously expensive.
Take care more tomorrow night about the remote beach and national park! Buenos noches (good night), Georgie
Today Mom and I took a 100km or 60 km ride which took 4 hours to Pederneles on the frontier of Haiti but...not connecting road or border crossing. It is on the edge of the largest national park in DR called Parque Nacional Jaragua. We are taking a private transportation and then walking a few miles into the reserve to visit a beach that is 10 km long of white protected sandy beach with NO PALMS. It is supposed to be spectacular snorkeling and diving so am taking my snorkeling gear. I do not have scuba diving gear to lug plus you need a private guide so...I do have my own snorkeling gear with me always so that will be fun.
Today we drove on the edge of paradise. Honest to God I have never seen so many shades of blue in a body of water from sea foam green on WHITE pebble beaches to a deep blue that puts you to sleep it is so mesmerizing. The views at times were so breathtaking that my eyes filled with tears. We are in such a remote area of the coast it is unbelievable. Today our tire had to be fixed on our gua gua a small bus so we waited for an hour or so and while we waited we got the most delicious little chocolates and a plate of rice and peas cooked with coconut milk and stewed beef for $DR 50 pesos best meal deal yet in a little town called Oviedoadjacent to Laguna Oviedo with birds galore and giant iguanas. MY CAMERA BROKE in Bayahibe on the last day of my dives and...I do not have a camera.
Two days ago we met a nice retiree named Ron from Northern California who is taking care of his arthritis soaking up the sun here in DR. He let me borrow his camera this morning to take some photos which was very nice of him. I bought a vanilla cigar today for ...40 cents which I cannot wait to smoke.
Today´s highlights
=naked children playing in the road covered in dust =paying 75 cents to take a mororconcho a motorcycle with all our gear to our hotel which turned out to be only a few hundred meters away =eating best peas and rice dish EVER with the nicest mother, her daughter and son =playing with a baby goat =noting how desensitized i have become to dog and cat ridden with worms and covered in open sores =having the best seat in the gua gua while my Mom chatted with the driver about new words in English and Spanish =our quaint little hotel for $18.00 a night
Dear All, Wow what a fun few days I have had. My ankle is still sprained but better. I just returned from my 6th of 6 dives in 4 days (one day off for my ankle). St. George is a commercial cargo ship that was decommissioned and sank off the coast of Dominicus near Bayahibe. We spent about 28 minutes at a maximum depth of 120 feet. pretty deep so you cannot spend quite as much time at the bottom. We swam around the wreck and also swam through the catwalks, down inside the cargo hold, inside the ship rooms, and up a narrow staircase into a school of yellow striped wrasses (fish about 6 inches long). Great great dive. Ive never really maneuvered myself through a wreck so that in itself was a real thrill. I have manauvered myself through some caves while diving off the Similan Islands in Thailand also very cool but just never have done a wreck dive. We did see 3 HUGE spotted moray eels peeking out at us through some coral and several rays and skates and oodles of fish and a strange worm about 8 inches long like a centipede milipede cross. That was fun on the second dive. Im so proud of myself and my diving skills. My dive buddy was William from Tulsa OK, a wealthy philanthropist whose family runs NGOs in West Africa to help the poor and he helps manage the projects. He also has projects here in DR as well. He ran out of air so Melki our Dive Master had a spare tank just in case at our second of 2 5 minute safety stops. My first buddy was Stephan a nice young father who was on holiday with his wife Sophie and 3 year old daughter Leah from Montreal Quebec. Fortunately the two guys from Czech Republic did not come with us. Thank goodness. For lunch today I had camerones (shrimp) cooked in a lovely onion, tomato sauce served whole. Here in the DR you chew the top body part minus the legs and spiney front piece and suck the juices out and then spit out the remainder of the hard pieces on your plate. YUM. Last night I met 2 middle aged Italians (lots of Italians here) and joined them for dinner with chef Fidel. We had WHOLE fish on our plates perfectly grilled. (minus the eyes). Just delicious with tostadas, flattened and grilled plaintain, rice, salad, lots and lots of lime.........beer and mamawana which is an apertif or a brandy, rum etc soaked in barks and mixed with honey. I think I already spoke about this, all for $9.00. Not a bad price and..the gentlemen offered to treat me but I decided to treat myself. The best treat of the night is that they couldnt believe I was 40 years old. They thought I was 25! I know I know you are laughing because they were flattering me and guess what, I could tell by the look on one of their faces that both of them were totally sincere in his shock. Nice touch eh. Europeans get one month holiday. Guess what they do for work? Drive a train and sell train tickets....humans need time to play, visit with friends, explore and BE. US doesnt allow such pleasures. We all work to pay debt and then hope to retire to play only to be too old too poor and too tired to do anything so...play NOW fit it in. Do what you have always wanted to do. Life doesnt get less expensive and we never get more time! So just do it! Europeans have figured it out so why havent we? Well I have but....Im different. :)
Mom comes tomorrow so I am off to meet Jan and Filipe in Santa Domingo to fetch her. Yay! Not sure of our plan for the next few weeks but will let you know when I can and have access to email. Besos, xx, G
Greetings! Well last night I twisted my ankle off a curb. No link to the cervasas however. I heard it POP so...iced it last night and this am and...went diving anyway. The diving didnt hurt it since you barely move under water but in and out of the boat, etc´did. Now my ankle is the size of a LIME, yikes. So Im taking tomorrow off and then going to Isla Saona Thursday and doing a wreck dive on Friday so a 6 dive package plus excursions for $368.00US. Terrible visibility with our first dive but did see some cool critters, trumpetfish, a balloon fish or porcupine puffer, green moray eel, spotted scorpion fish, and many little wassies(fish) on a wall at 78 feet UNDER THE WATER for you land critters. Second dive MUCH better visibility only 29 feet but you could see for MILES underwater. We saw an inshore lzard fish, a smooth trunkfish which is only an inch long, lots of parrot fish, and squirrel fish and larger trumpet fish.
Sadly two eastern Europeans with ALL the gear were diving with us and oh my goodness one of them took his knife and cut a LIVE sponge off. Wasn´t I pissed. I said something to him, owner of dive company, and dive master so...hopefully he will not do it again. People can be so disrespectful of that which they love so much in the first place. Another example of ignorance, stupidity and arrogance.
Met a nice couple from Chicago. Jeannie is an interior designer for hotels. Neat job.She is quite a diver. My dive buddy, Stephan was diving for his FIRST time in the ocean after learning in a lake near Montreal. His wife and 3 year old daughter enjoyed the boat and the beach. Great little girl! Lots of people in large catamarans, fancy luxury yachts. We stopped in a marina in Casa de Campo and had a few famous folks homes pointed out to us, Julio Iglesias (sp?) and Saquira (sp?). Also several HUGE absolutely HUGE cruise ships. Yikes. That will kill the coral reefs pretty quickly. Anyone who thinks a cruise ship is a good idea for economy forgets about the ENVIRONMENT! Hello! Sad but on the up and up. Folks like to travel easy, all inclusive packages etc. Lots of resorts around here too. All foreign owned of course paying DR folks minimum wage which is...3000DR pesos or....$90.00. Yikes eh. That is PER MONTH working usually 6 days per week for 8 to 12 hour shifts.
It keeps RAINING in this tropical paradise but somehow Im getting a wee Georgie tan which is the equivelant of everyone elses base color.
Ok Im off to have a cervesa and write in my paper journal from Missy. Thanks Missy! Georgie
Hola! Wow! Got up at 6am and took two buses to La Romana in the east RD 150 or $4.00 and then took a gua gua (dangerous koombie in South Africa) to Bayahibe for RD50. It would have cost me RD50 more if I put my bag in the back but I kept it on my lap! Scrooge eh! Arrived here at 10:30 am and met Franklin the front desk guy at Hotel Bayahibe. What a sweetie. He couldn´t be nicer. Every time I came back to see if my room was ready he nicely said No it is another 30 minutes. So I checked in at 12:30 to a room with 3 double beds, two walls of windows and a view of a Swiss owned Dive Site and THE PLAYA (beach). Great little touristy town. Lil expensive for a backpackers budget but somehow I will survive the week. I booked 6 dives at an American owned biz, Fun Diving including two day excursions to local islands, a wreck dive, wall dive, several aquarium type area dives and snorkelling galore. Im here for 5 days at $35.00 per nite. For two it would be about $24 each. Not bad for Caribbean but VERY expensive for Central or South American or Asian or African accommodation.
It is POURING POURING POURING rain today so...Monday afternoon hanging out with Franklin and the staff and having a few El Presidente Lights, mangos and bananas and sitting on my balcony overlooking the beach and dive shop and people watching. Quite nice actually!
Hope your Monday has been as eventful and warm as mine. Bad news....I sat in CHEWING GUM and it is all over my pants. What to do? I will freeze it tonite in my freezer and scrape off in the am.
Oh...no more problems with my tummy so I am ok! Filipe and Jan are WONDERFUL new friends here in DR. Together we are fetching my mother at the airport in Santa Domingo on Saturday.
Dear All, Well yikes. What a crappy day yesterday was. Not sure what was going on. Im TOTally paranoid about amoebas now. My mom had them while in Peace Corps and got very sick and my cousin just said he has had them three times so...I guess no matter what I will make it. This am I am feeling much better. Yesterday the family I am staying with fed me guavas, a campho phenique type concoction, and then mangoo (pronounced like the ue in glue) which is platana (plaintain or large green bananas boiled and mashed and full of raw garlic). Well folks here say the garlic kills the amoebas and Mom said the Ecuadorians said it puts them to sleep.....so maybe they are asleep and maybe they are dead. Dally (pronounced Dagee) Jan and Filipe´s daughter´s friend Erica was sick for 3 weeks and in hospital for 2 of those weeks with amoebas......yikes! Today I feel super duper and walked for 1.5 hours in the park. Soon we are off to swim in a POOL and then a BBQ for dinner. Tomorrow to a friend´s party at the beach east of the city.
My MOM is flying into Santa Domingo on Valentine´s Day and spending the remainder of my trip with me which is very exciting. No plans at this point. 32 days until I return to the USA. Today is 80 degrees and breezy very nice actually.
Ok thanks for all the neat comments on Facebook! So many caring friends and family! Besos, xxx, Georgie
Dear Friends, I am embarrassed to admit that I just figured out HOW to read comments on my blog. Thank you so much. Today I am homebound at Jan´s because I cannot stop going to the bathroom and I cannot stop sneezing. Apprently DR is windy mid Jan through mid March so here we are. Yesterday I ate WAY TOO much papaya and I know better. It makes you go to the bathroom. Something about traveling is that you end up talking about bowel movements more than ever. When we were in Peace Corps that was always the topic of conversation. Going too much or not going at all. I have stomach cramps today. Huge ones. Though Ive never had a child Im imagining that they are like contractions early on. Ouch!
Jan´s son, Louis Filipe invited me to go swimming with him later today at .......a pool! Imagine living on an island that you can cross in 5 hours and going to a pool. These city folks are funny.
It is true. We never appreciate what is RIGHT in front of us. So...tonight think about all the wonderful things in your life, where you live and GO SEE THEM AND DO THOSE THINGS. I met several individuals who had never gone to see the bioluminescent bays and there are 3 of them in Puerto Rico out of 10 in the whole world. Imagine! I cannot.
I am happy I go to Grand Manan every summer and take time to smell the lilacs at my house and sit on my deck and drink beer. I do live in Perrydise that is for sure.
So yesterday we went to a HUGE supermarket called a supermarcardo and it even has an escalator to go to the rest of a huge department store....well there were cockroaches crawling all over the packaging on the bread. When I lived in S. Africa I got so skinny for such a long time because the cockroaches were crawling over everything even in our fridge! I ate tinned meat and that was it. I couldnt handle it. I think yesterday I realized again about THE TROPICS. Creepy crawlies everywhere. They wont hurt us really but .........it can be a bit overwhelming at times.
Take care and .......in a few days I will be off to Bayahibe on the southeast coast to do some diving. Supposedly the best in the country with clear and very warm waters, may only need to wear a shortie which would be terrific. My mom comes Feb. 14 and will be with me the rest of the trip through Mar. 11. Very exciting indeed. The Caribbean Isles are MUCH more expensive to travel than Mexico, central and south Americas so....better with2 people.
As far as I know you do NOT need to dial the 011 you can just dial 1 plus the number which is... 829 686 8452 OR send me a TEXT MESSAGE. I cannot figure out if you can send emails but I cannot receive photos. I love text messages and they are very inexpensive for me to text you back. Just let me know your name when you do so. If I do not answer your call...you will hear a woman speaking Spanish then you will hear hello Georgie Kendall (in my voice) so you leave a message after the beep!
Dear All,
I am enjoying this family I am staying with. Last night I stayed up late with Jan´s husband, Filipe and we watched this film called Zeitgeist. Follow the link below and you can watch it and/or download it. It is better than the film Corporation. I believe much of it and know that because of such issues in our society my head and heart are often in turmoil.
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/
I would love to go to this event on March 15 in NYC and may do so since I am in Boston on March 11 but we will see.
Let´s see updates in a nutshell
...did laundry for the first time in 3 weeks. (I have 3 pairs of underwear and wash them out but the rest was really really dirty.
...helped Jan wash two dogs and managed not to get bitten.
...went to a little stand near the grocery store and bought guarapo which is sugar cane juice.
Mom and I first had it in Cuba. It is THE most deliciously refreshing drink Ive ever had. I love it with limon (lime) over ice or...of course with a little rum
...visited Filipe´s 3 star hotel, Hotel Caribeño, in DOWNTOWN Santa Domingo. Wow, you walk out the store and you are in THE middle of the trade center of Santa Domingo. Fruit, clothes, shoes shoes SHOES. I bought 2 piñas (pineapples) for 20 pesos OR 70 cents, small ones.
...went to see the fort and the cathedral in Santa Domingo and bought limons and a few souveniers for home.
...tonight or tomorrow I hope to upload some photos to this for ya´ll to enjoy!
Take care, Georgie
My frizbee is my life when I am traveling. I think Duncan thought it strange some of the things I travel with but a frizbee has many purposes. It is fun to play while waiting for anything. The language of game and laughter is international so grownups and children have fun with it. It can be used as a plate, cutting board, bowl, shade provider, stick against dogs or other annoyances. While I was in the country with Magale´s family I played frizbee with this sweet and very sad 14 year old girl who was 8 months pregnant. I told her mother I was going to send her a frizbee when I got home. I also played it with Duncan, and our friends from Puerto Rico on the beach and with Magale´s grandchildren, Nichole and Pedro. Sadly we got home a day later very late and everyone brought everything in. However Robert threw the garbage in the trash and also tossed my frizbee. The next day when heading to the beach I asked Magale and others about it and they said We think Robert threw it in the trash. His comment was that he didnt know it belonged to me. And that was it. My frizbee is gone. If I had known it would disappear so soon I would have given it to the sweet pregnant unhappy and overwhelmed little Amber. So now my cool $20.00 USD frizbee that glows in the dark is GONE. I am sooo bummed. I love that thing. I had my website on it too! Ok enjoy the day.
Wow we really toured around the beaches. The beach and area of the Peninsula de Samana are quite spectacular actually and I was told by a sailor that I met that it is THE best area of DR. We will see. Northwest coast of DR is quite busy with French and other European tourists. Too many tourists period for me but interesting to visit for sure.
How about some highlights from the past few days which often are surprises and differences for us westerners. Probably the most important thing is to realize how fortunate and free we are and the importance of hygiene, running water, open spaces, family...
Recent observations include:
...a motorcycle pulling a donkey ...4 women on ONE little motorcycle ...pulling over on the side of the road for a 2 year old to go caca on a brick walkway with a casino on the other side piles of cabages, plaintain (large banana that is fried or boiled or made into mafongo )plaintain, oil or butter, garlic and often some pork) on backs of small trucks being hauled to Santo Domingo, the capital ...visiting Sosua, prostitution capital of DR....lots LOTS yes lots of old white men (and one white woman) with the most attractive beautiful young DR people. Very disturbing to see this. I definitely saw more of it in Thailand but it is painful to see it at all anywhere. Men mauling women in public and you can see the looks on their faces like why does this have to be me ...just purchased my $9.00 cell phone and right outside the building is a begger with legs bent and on his knees with tattered kneepads... ...every dog is super skinny ...no one is overweight period ...children eat what their parents put in front of them if it is fish soup for breakfast then so be it. ...cock fighting IS a major attraction everywhere ...beautiful BEAUTIFUL handmade furniture made with wicker and hardwood handmade cloth rugs and saddles for horses ...DR produces EVERYTHING....tropical fruit trees, rice fields, pork, cows, chicken, seafood, yucca, plaintain, papas (potatos)...extremely self sufficient pools made in small villages from the cascade of water that falls from the mountains ...gorgeous gorgeous homes with a guard on the corner with an AK 47 (i think) or some sort of automatic machine gun
Ok more manana (tomorrow). Thank you Muchos Gracias to my friends for the phone calls and text messages. I so love getting calls. I thnk I may be getting more communication with friends than I did at home.
Lots of love and besos (kisses), Georgie Dormir bien (sleep well)
Hi all! I was able to purchase a cell phone in the DR! I can accept phone calls and text messages as well (text messages are cheaper than a call). My number is: 011-1-829-686-8452. So I'll be in touch or you can be in touch with me! Georgie
Greetings! I am back in San Francisco after a few days on the road with Magale and Nelly and Robert and Nichole and Eva and Doreles and Janelee and Pedro! We visited Magale{s mother and brother and family in a little rural town not even on my Lonely Planet MAP. We stayed in their lovely house. They have a huge farm with guavas, cattle, bananas, plantain, papayas, peppers... of course Magale{s mother had a HUGE feast ready for us. Her beans are the best Ive ever eaten. I just love rice and beans. We picked up a bunch of pork enroute. Same number of people in the car just add STUFF for 10 people. So many mosquitos they would not stop bitingme even even in the middle of the day. so i was coated in OFF the most toxic type i could find.
Probably the highlight of the trip was going to a cock fight training. They train and groom the cocks ¨roosters every day. Yes every day. Magale{s brother has 7 of them at about 5,000 DR dollars or pesos each. divide by 34 so about 150.00 each EACH. they toy with the cocks with another cock and if the trainee gets pecked it gets coated in orange juice . they even give the cocks a type of steroid....amazing. i have photos of all of it. i do plan to go to a cock fight. banned in the USA for good reason. the spurrs are clipped off the cocks and fake ones make of hard plastic or metal are put on about 1 inch long so the birds fight....close to the death. fights are REGULAR occurances every day in fact in the evening and big money is spent on each fight.
I also met a neighbor and her family. her daughter is pregnant, 8 months pregnant at 14 years old. she had a 25 year old boyfriend who promised her...the world and it worked. now she is going to have a baby with no support financially or with a father for the baby and no rules either so no punishment for the man. i visited their basically mud shack next to the river which spilled over within this year and flooded their place. the water was up to their waists. i am going to send Amber a frizbee. we played outside for a longtime and i will try to send her baby girl a present too.
sadly they live in SUCH a rural location that there is NO MAIL. Wow! So I will send it to family in Yonkers, NY to bring when they come.
FinallyI have decided NOT to go to Haiti for a number of reasons but mostly because I am afraid. Usually I do not let fear stop me but I think if and when I do go to Haiti I will go with someone from there OR with an organized trip. Im not keen on organized anything but I dont feel like traveling in fear and the US Govt warning is VERY VERY harsh at the moment and I figured it aint worth it. I thought there would be more families in DR with Haitian workers but much to my dismay there are not.
My friend Duncan from Franklin, MA met me for 10 days and he offered to rent us a car which is basically a requirement to see any of Puerto Rico. We took full advantage of it as well. The first night he arrived and met me in San Juan. We stayed at Casa del Caribe in Condado, the touristy section of San Juan.
Nice beach, lots of sushirestaurants and just a skip to Old San Juan. We were there during the Celebration of San Sabastian so the streets were filled with over 300,000 people with musicians and lots of young people and lots of partying and wonderful street food.
We toured Old San Juan, El Morro, The Fort.
We visited the Bacardi Factory which was an interesting story about the symbol of the Bat being their logo.
The owner's wife noticed bats in the ceiling of the storage facility in Cuba and decided
to give it a fruit bat because i
t symbolized health, happiness and family. Lots of free rum samples and the mojito (ru
m, club soda, mint, and sugar and lime) s probably my favorite.
We then picked up our rental car last minute. I totally forgot they closed at 5:30 pm
and we barely made it. Pheww just in time for this brand
new 4 door white Toyota Yaris with 1500 miles on it. We drove to Rio Grande to stay at this Wyndam Resort package I picked up for 4 days/3 nites. It was SPECTACULAR and normally 3-400.00 per night. so a nice splash right off
the bat.
I must admit the beds we slept in were THE MOST comfortable beds we have ever slept in. We had a room facing the El Yunque National Forest mountains but.....were upgraded to a grand ocean
view overlooking to pool and palms and lovely surf.
We met a nice family fromNY, went to town to get food, mostly mangos and there was this great line of PR local food stalls on Loquillo Beach just east of our resort hotel. We ate there frequently, crab, rice and eans, pina colada, and tacos filled with (camarones) shrimp or juelo(crab) . great great place.
Unfortunately, Duncan really hurt his food on a Jacuzzi so was a bit immobilized at first but it worked out since we were at this ritzy hotel.
Then we headed to Fajardo. We stayed at the Anchor Inn, run by a French woman.
Black/red decor nothing to write home about but we went on this Bioluminescent Bay tour. It is in Las Cabezas de San Juan nature Reserve. These are microorganisms that glow like little fireflies MILLIONS AND TRILLIONS OF THEM. The best time to see them is when it is darkest so just before new moon so we timed it PERFECTLY. There are only 10 of these places around the world and 3 of them are in
Puerto Rico. They have now banned swimming in the lagoons that have these microorganisms but....we
kayaked through them and swished our hands in the water and ........watched FISH and skates swimming, and flying fish jumping out of the water illuminated by all of these little sparkles. It was absolutely
amazing. It was in a lagoon surrounded by mangroves and with a 3-4 km waterway entrance/exit so no manatees or boats allowed. Amazing just amazing. $47.00 pp.
South coast of PR
We would have liked to go to Culebra or Vieques Islands but since we had the rental car we decided to stick with the off
beaten trek and travel around the island. So we drove through El Yunque National Forest
and along the eastern coast. We bought mangos LOTS OF MANGOS. Delicious and $2.00 each same is in Maine
but.....quite ripened. Bill gave me a Swiss Army knife as a going away present and can I just say that that has been
soooooo handy so far this trip. I use it to cut fruit and use my Frisbee as a plate. Fantastic. I think Duncan thought I was
crazy initially when he saw how little I packed and what I brought but I am quite sure he has grown to appreciate my
backpackers sense.
Anyway we made it along Rte.3 heading west mostly eating
food from street vendors which is cheapest and most delicious. I saw 5 star fruit for $1.00 on the side of the road and we
stopped to buy them. The woman had on a Maine State prison t-shirt. Go figure. She and her husband moved to
PR 20 years ago from the US and never left. they make and repair sails. Anyway she told us of a cheap hotel west of Santa Isabel for $28.00/nite. Turned out to be for US military to visit with acquaintances shall we say.
We found a place and it was $28.00/6hrs. We decided to
look around the area and came across Motel Marebella which was $32.00 for 12 hours
Monday-Wednesday so we got a deal. The way this motel works is you pull into the
parking garage and close the door. And then pay through the little window with your credit
card. Very private and very regulated time wise. Lots of mirrors so it was quite a hoot for Duncan and I to experience and we wondered how this type of business would do on the continental US?
For dinner that night we had fruitos naturales frappes. I had a coconut/pineapple one and he had a strawberry coconut one. DELICOUS indeedy!
We spent the AM in Ponce, with lots of historical buildings, a castle and a famous baseball
team. We took a trolley tour of the city which was a nice way to see it AND had crescents at a little pastry shop in the morning.
La Playuela Beach
Unfortunately things did
n’t work out as I had hoped to stay with David Fishman, a
high school classmate from Gould. He and his partner have a guesthouse in Guanica and
not only were full but their house was too. And I had also hoped perhaps to stay with Nan Bradshaw and her sister in S
an German but...that didn’t work out either so.....Duncan and I carried on on our own. We took all of the off beaten
little roads, jikka jikka (south African term for driving around) to spots that looked interesting. So we decided to visit the southwest corner of PR Cabo Roho and las salinas (salt flats) and a lighthouse with an adjacent beach called La Playuela or some call it Playa (beach) Sucia.
The water was PERFECT temperature and clear as
glass and the brightest most beautiful turquoise blue you ever have seen. We swam an
d played Frisbee for a few hours and this nice PR family gave us each a beer. Best beer we had on the whole trip. Many people we met like this beach better than those on Culebra so I do hope one day to make a comparison.
Eugene and Jimmy
We continued driving along the west coast and visited many more beaches and fishing/beach communities including Combate Beach, Boqueron and Joyuda. We ended up staying in Boqueron in Panador Boqueron. We shared a Caribbean langusta (lobster) 1.5 lbs PLUS fixings for $36.00 gulp!!!! at Galloways a cool pub/restaurant right on the water.
Then we settled into our hotel room, made some rum and guava juice drinks and walked the beach and down town little area. I was wearing my PERRY MAINE shirt and we ended up talking to a bunch of Americans (semi retired) sailors. Eugene from VT who spends 6 mos in the Carib on his 54 foot power boat gave me the contact phone number of a good friend of his in DR so that was great. And one of the guys has been living on the beach doing carpentry work and fixing boats for 20 years. He is from Machias, Maine and named Jimmy. Didnt catch his last name.
The beach here was beautiful. Just beautiful. Lots of retired Americans walking the beach and settling down reading books and drinking their .25 cent coffees. Nice atmosphere. Puerto Ricans are VERY friendly and FUN people we found.
Ferry and Rincon
We headed north through Mayaguez and since we went right by the ferry terminal we decided to stop. Great idea. I bought my ticket to and from DR for $198.00 return NO CHANGE DATE or $100 to change gulp. You must by two way ticket to DR or have flight out of DR for customs. And $10 cash to get into DR (Dominican Republic) and $20.00 cash to get back TO PR. Yikes! The ferry leaves at 8pm on Monday Jan 26 and I will return on Tuesday mar 3. I thought Grace was planning to meet me in PR on Mar 4 so I went ahead and booked return for Mar 3. Unfortunately she is not able to get away from work but I think this will work out nicely. I hope to visit with Bart, maybe see David and these new friends in San Juan before I head home.
Well then we spent an afternoon in Rincon visiting different beaches in search of surfers. It was soooooo cool to watch them surf. I have never really watched it. When we were in Rio del Mar we had really really nice waves for body surfing but the waves off of Rincon are HUGE. We did find a beach to swim at and I caught a little crab on the beach. The men and women who surf have PERFECT yes PERFECT physiques and no wonder. What an amazing sport. I am too afraid to ever try it but I must admit I enjoyed watching them "catch the best waves" and admire the bods.
Central PR
Duncan was not keen at first to go inland but I convinced him that maybe a few hours driving through the rain forest would be a nice change from all the beaches and swimming. PR is so amazingly diverse in just a few hours drive it is incredible for an island of 3 million people and about 100 miles long by 40 miles wide. The roads and stop lights however make it MUCH longer....
so in a down pour we headed inland. lush rain forest. bamboo everywhere, lots of fruit trees, oranges (chinas), mangos, grapefruit, bananas......amazing. And the roads.......well Duncan hates heights so he really did well driving through these windy windy did i say windy roads. We ended up at a little place $40 on top of a pizza place in Utuado. Nothing fancy but a good price. we ended up visiting a wonderful Patricia's Hacienda a coffee plantation owned by a man in Ponce and in 2007 was recognized as THE best coffee in PR. Louis the care tender made us fresh coffee and then his buddy Bart arrived and used to work in Connecticut so we had a nice visit. He is 72. Same age as my father. he couldn’t have been more friendly and hospitable. Louis gave us a grand tour of the coffee plantation/factory and Bart interpreted. Bart has several horses, farms, dances, drinks homemade rum and is just a really nice man. He said on my way back from DR I could stay with him. I cannot wait! I plan to do so.
So Duncan and I bought FRESHLY ground coffee at $12.00/lb to bring home as prezzies to share with our coffee drinking friends. I may drink this though. Yummy and no preservatives or additives. All handpicked and processed. The view from the factory was spectacular looking through he rainforest and out to the ocean. absolutely amazing. It was so amazing that it took my breath away and brought huge tears to my eyes.
I hope to return mar 3 and go dancing with Bart! He said he'd fetch me in Mayaguez.
So we make our way through winding roads along the Ruta Panamoramica which goes the entire length of PR. We traveled about 1/3 of it which took several hours, nerves of steel, a good car and good luck but .......back to the beach we headed. Duncan really liked La Playuela Beach so for his last farewell we went back but prepared with pork and rice and fried banana for food, a dozen Medalla light cervazas (beers), good sun block, Frisbee and back to our tree. And....there were our friends the Blancos and all their kids, grandkids and friends with coolers and coldest beers ever. We greeted them, drank beer with them visited, compared the NY Yankees to the Red Sox and had a grand time. We played lots of Frisbee in the Caribbean sea which was delightful.
So then I hear this voice and turn around and behind a few bushes are Nan and Dean Bradshaw and her sister Kathy and husband. This is THEIR favorite beach. Go figure. We had a nice little visit and I hope to catch up with them for a beach day on Monday before I head to DR. We will see if that works out or not!
We then watched teh sunset over the Caribbean Sea and headed east to sleep, repack and have Duncan headed out on time and in the right direction in am. He left me in Ponce to carry on...........not sure when I can add a blog again. But thanks for reading.
