Traveling the World: 2012

Mid November 2012

Musings in Kerala, India

*In this whole town, I’ve just seen 2 dogs, no cats, and only 1 person smoking a cigarette.

*Some men’s wear: To me, it looks like they just finished drying the dishes and then put the towel around their waist. Are you really going to walk around like that? They give me a similar look when I wear shorts that show my knees. They can show their knees but I can’t. Hmmm….

*Women’s wear: They wear gauzy, colorful, silky, flowing, color-coordinated, flyaway fabric draped around themselves. They look like beautiful, graceful angels.

*Playing with your food and eating with your fingers is permitted and encouraged. The spoon in my purse is such a valuable thing to me. Eating with my right hand fingers just feels so yukky! (Indians don’t use silverware.) Napkins are valuable too. Often there are none on the table when I so desperately need them as a result of the spicy food which causes my nose to run.

*It feels a little claustrophobic when you can dress in a tank top and shorts in your room but I must cover up to go out. And it’s s nice and warm out that it’s a drag to put on pants and a long sleeve shirt. An Indian friend visited me in my room and as he left, he closed my door in case someone would see me in short and a tank top. My fitted sport tee-shirts also get stares because you can see the shape of my body.

*Using the bathroom with no toilet paper takes some getting used to. I think I’m going to look that technique up on the internet because I don’t think I have the hang of it yet.

*The author Salman Rushdie noted that Americans are often looking for 'frontiers', while in India, they are often looking for 'truth'in the mountains of forms to b filled out. That sounds about right to me.

Mid November 2012
India - The 'Advance Travel' country

I didn't know that I had planned an advanced level travel trip. I didn't even know that there were leves. But now that I think of it, yes, India is for advanced travelers for sure.

I left for the South West state of Kerala India, India going through Seoul and Bangkok. In Bangkok I got a room near the airport to wait for my evening flight through Sri Lanka to india. It was a long series of flights. I did that so that I could fly into the South of India and leave from the North possibly 6 months later. I started my trip here because I would start out volunteering for a program called Wellbeing. Wellbeing matches volunteer ayurvedic doctors with lower income patients for appointments once a month. India is a very ayurvedic country with ayurvedic products (healthy, natural), treatments, I even bought ayurvedic shampoo. It’s wonderful! When I arrived, the organization was preparing for a private audience with His Holiness the Dali Lama (HHDL) along with another organization The Friends of Tibet. It was a thank you to the doctors and patients who had participated in the Wellbeing Program.

The Catholic Retreat Center, Ashirbhaven

Since this is winter and the monsoons have stopped, the weather is still humid and the temperatures are in the low 90's. The state of Kerala is not like othera areas in India. The Southern part of India is green, tropical and peaceful compared to the dryer more hectic parts of the rest of India. If this was peaceful, I’m glad I started in Kerala. I found it crazy with motor vehicles everywhere in gridlock, honking horns, drivers coming within millimeters of motor scooters with a family of 4 on it (including infants), drivers on the left side of the road making it more difficult to cross streets, cars never stopping for pedestrians even in cross walks, hot weather, not being able to find anything, people all over, it was exhausting.

I'm glad I don't do dishes here. All this for one meal.

Notice how they have me 4 spoons. They aren't sure how I'm going to

use them as they don't use silverware.

I love their saris and shalwar kamiz.

My only retreat from all of this was actually the Retreat Center where I was staying. In the early 1500's, the Portuguese ships came here for trading, spices and proseyltizing. Eventually the area became know for exporting peacocks and spices to it's Northwest neighbors. As a result, this is the only predominantly Catholic area in of all of India. Wellbeing arranged for me to stay at this Catholic Retreat center in the middle of a large block. It has palm trees, birds, it’s quiet aside from the morning singing masses which are pleasant. It's so peaceful, green and wonderful! The minute I left the center, it was crazy sidewalks to scale, honking cars all over, people all over, hot heat and once again overwhelming; two very opposite experiences, like night and day.

Outside my window. Entertaining myself over the seven days.

Since I had time to explore, I went for a walk to get something to eat. The food is wonderful. I love the rice pancakes and the sampam sauce in the morning. The tea and milk or coffee isn’t bad either. The vegetarian food is fantastic! Much better than the chicken or rice that you can also get. The sidewalks are horrendous. They make Mexico’s sidewalks look orderly. While I was walking, I looked forward to make sure this unusual piece of sidewalk was flat while I looked at a poster on my right. What I didn’t see what that there was a 3-4” drop and I fell into it. Over I went. Some passerbys helped me up. I wasn’t far from the Retreat Center so I gingerly walked back. The more I walked, the more my foot and hand hurt. Another person from Wellbeing was also staying in the Center and he asked me how I was doing and I said not to good. I told him what happened. So off to the Special Hospital we went for broken bones not far away and they took X-rays. Nothing was broken or fractured thank God. Many people also asked me if I hit my head. Apparently many people die falling on the sidewalks and hit their heads. They put a half cast on my foot, a wrist brace and crutches. They fixed me up so that at least I didn’t need a wheel chair.

My 1 1/2 pound mosquito net tent. A life saver!
The poles on each side are for hanging a mosquito net over but no net is provided.

I was feeling a little clumsy until I saw a nun where I was staying in a wheel chair. She told me she also fell and had three fractures. It could have been a lot worse. It’s been about a week in healing sitting around in my room, catching up on possible routes and things to see in India. Whatever I had before the accident was all that I had for a week. I managed to get some shampoo and laundry soap before the fall but no 3G stick for internet. It’s been very strange not being able to talk to anyone. Only one time someone lent me their connection and I was able to send some email.

I made it. My crutches are on the side of my chair.

The coming of HHDL was a very big event here. Equivalent to a presidential arrival. The streets were cordoned off, traffic was jammed, and he had a set of body guards. I couldn't understand the excitement considering this was a Catholic area. It was explained to me that that all of India has a history of Buddhism and he is very highly respected throughout the country...like royalty.

So I am almost to the point of being able to travel again. It has been a good stay. I am thankful for so many things. First of all, a tranquil place to stay that gives me food. Also, I was able to participate at the audience with the Dali Llama. And the many things I had along with me to entertain myself for a week including my computer, my ipod, my book to read, and my travel books to catch up on. My gadgets and supplies came in handy too like my mosquito net tent (there are no nets here but plenty of mosquitoes at night), my mosquito spray, my water bottles….ahhhh, life is good.

The Dali Lama laughing at his own joke.

He's a funny guy.

November 14, 2012

Catching Up

I can't believe how much time has passed since my last post. I always try to catch up on my blog before my next adventure. Like usual, I tell my adventures in photos. So here are some of the wonderful and eventful things that happened this summer.

My Dad passed away this summer at 85 years old. He lived 5 years longer than my mother.

The people at assisted living and the nursing home all loved him so much.

He had a good, long life. We got to know him in a different way, as a patient and positive person.

The Fam. Four brothers, one sister and their families.

Seattle Center.

Sometimes it's nice to see our everyday sights through a tourist's eyes.

Seattle is a beautiful city.

The Children's Wading pool.

The Space Needle.

Across from Seattle is Port Madison. Always so beautiful and tranquil

and just a short distance from home.

4th of July on Lake Union.

I believe this was the best seat 'on' the house for viewing fireworks.

Pirates landing.

Summer Solstice Parade with the notorious nude bicycle riders opening up the day.

A ferry ride to San Juan Island was the start of a week long sail on 'Severance'

to the West Coast of Van Vancouver Island and Barkley Sound.

I never tire of the ferries.

We started the journey by sailing to Victoria, BC, Canada.

The Victoria Marina has such a beautiful waterfront and the marina is right downtown.

Coming in to Bamfield on the West Coast of Vancouver Island.

This was the warmest time of the year in August and it was cold!

A beautiful board walk to stretch your legs.

Beach walking.

Not many boats or people around. Just mostly nature.

There were mostly working fishing boats at the marina mixed in with a few pleasure boaters.

No many sail boats pass by here because of the open ocean waters.

Neighboring boaters preparing dinner from the day's work.

The Pacific Northwest is such a beautiful area to sail. But now I departed to sail with a friend in San Francisco. To get there, I took a 6 hour bus to Victoria, then a ferry ride, a bus ride home and then I drove with the skipper to San Francisco and his chartered boat.

It was definitely cold weather to hot weather. A nice change!

Sailing with Dan on the San Francisco Bay. The weather gave us two possible conditions,

either no wind and blazing hot, or howling like crazy with rain gear.

You can see which type this one was. We purchased an umbrella to use as a bimini.

Dan was enjoying the California wines on a sidewalk restaurant in Benecia, California.

His mother used to be a model and I think he carried that trait.

He was always happy to pose for a photograph.

Driving back to Seattle from San Francisco, I took my time driving up the coast.

This is Lime Kiln State Park.

The water was so peaceful.

Going up or down this was the view.

After hiking a short mile, this was the reward.

Aaahhhhhhh.......

The Oyster Run where almost everyone donned their Harley Davidson duds on their motorcycles. We ate oysters and drank beer throughout the day starting for breakfast and ending up returning home after dark.

I'm not much of a motorcycle person but it was fun!

I like the crocheted telephone pole art. The term people use for this is called either

'Yarn Bombing' or 'Knit-fitti'.

I spent the weekend with a wonderful boating couple from Portland.

We visited their house on Mt. Hood and magically, it snowed about 1 foot that night.

This has been my only snow in the last 2 years. It was wonderful!

Next stop, India!

Mid March, 2012

Visiting the Leeward Caribbean Islands

A got an invitation to sail on a 38' catamaran with skipper Peter and crew Marcy. We started in St. Maartin stopping along the way at Saba (snorkel only), Nevis (anchor ony), and then exploring the islands of the French speaking Guadaloupe & The Saints, Dominica, French speaking Martinique, St. Lucia and finally Bequia. We did all this in a month's time. Definitely worth a trip back...or two.

This is what I saw:

Montserrat, English speaking
We passed on this island with the ashes of this active volcano spewing grey ash all over the boat. I had to go inside because I couldn't breath The skipper did it because he had never had his boat covered with volcano dust before!