FELIZ COMPLEANOS LUZ ELAINA

While our trip to Chillan hadn't been planned to coincide with Luz Eliana's birthday, our timing could not have been any better. A week after our arrival we found ourselves trotting out to Luz's childhood home in San Nicholas to celebrate her ___ birthday. Family (lots of it since Luz has 4 sisters and 3 brothers) and friends gathered for the festivities.

What transpired over the next 7 hours is hard to describe. We felt like we were in a movie of Chile in days gone by. Vegetables were growing in the yard, grapes were hanging from their vines up above and chickens were roaming everywhere. We met so many people, it was hard to keep track of names or relationships. Almost no one spoke English and we know little Spanish but that didn't stop anyone from talking to us.

We helped Luz prepare a less than traditional pizza for dinner, which was cooked in a very traditional outdoor wood fired oven. Other foods served were more traditional. We cooked, we ate, we drank, we ate, we drank, we ate! Just when you thought the eating and drinking part was over, more people would show up and more food and wine would be served. Birthday cake topped off a great meal.





But the end of the meal didn't signify the end of the party! First there was a pinata to break open which Luz's mom succeeded in doing with her one and only blow. Candy spilled out everywhere and the kids (and Luz's mom) scampered around to quickly collect it. Next the dancing. Luz's cousin Joel began a traditional Chilean "courting" dance (the "Cucea") while everyone stood around and clapped out the beat. Almost everyone took a turn dancing - even us gringos, some doing better than others.





It was a wonderful evening filled with flavor; we all had such a great time! As we travelled the world over the past 9 1/2 months, we have had the opportunity to see so many amazing sights. But we never had the opportunity to share in someone's culture so intimately as we did on this night. Luz's Chilean birthday party will be something that we will remember for the rest of our lives and will certainly be one of the highlights of our year around the world.


Feliz compleanos Luz y muchos gracia!

CHILLAN, CHILE - A GREAT CITY!!!

How many cities in American desire a vibrant and energetic feeling? How many feel like they have had their energies sucked out by people moving to the bedroom communities surrounding them or by Big Box stores taking the trade to the edge versus the center of the community? A lot. I was in Portland, Oregon a few years ago and admired how the downtown area was vibrant with cool old architecture, their neighborhoods abuzz at night and how well their great transportation system worked (light rail).

Well, in my humble and uneducated opinion, Portland has nothing on Chillan, Chile. We have been here for ten days visiting friends from home (see earlier blog on the Gutmann/Fuentes family) and have discovered what energy really is in a city. Chillan has about 175,000 people so it's not huge but not so small either. The downtown is filled with people all day. People get into downtown by taking either buses, taxis or “collectivos”. We tried to take the collectivos most of the time. They run on a specific route that doesn't vary. We take the #15 from Paseo de Aragon to downtown (or Central). The cost is afordable for everyone to ride this way. A small sedan, usually Hyundai or Toyota, will handle four, three in the back and one up front. The charge is 350 pesos. The collectivo drivers hustle and try not to leave seats unfilled. Dave, mi amigo por Clifton, says they make a good living. If you don't take a collectivo, take a bus for 300 pesos. These also fill up throughout the day. By the way, one US dollar equals 600 Chilean pesos. You do the math. So Chillan has a good transport system without having to resort to tax levies for light rail or the like. And you get to sit next to your neighbor or fellow Chilean. Nobody seems to mind.




They have modified their highway system for special needs: MOTE!!! On one street, they have constructed wooden street stalls where "mote" (a national Chilean favorite of boiled water with wheatberries and peaches) is sold streetside. Female hawkers come out to encourage you to drive by for a drink. Very tasty and the hawkers ain't bad either.

Once downtown, you have a six block square area that has businesses, from banks and newspaper offices (three now, since they have ADDED newspapers) to mini markets and big department stores. Their mall is downtown in the center. Amazing concept, huh!!! In addition to the supermarkets that are filled with people, they have a central “mercado” which sells meats (about thirty different “butchers” selling their wares similar to Findlay Market at home), fruits and vegetables. Restaurants surround the meat stands and serve their comida del dia for 3000-4000 pesos. They are filled with Chillan people, not visitors, because Chillan is really not a “tourist” city. Just outside the market are the kiosks that sell everything from shoes to band-aids. And people aren't ignoring them either. People are actively buying socks from the sock guy and beautiful strawberries from the corner kiosk lady. Vibrancy. Energy. Vital. NORMAL FOR HERE.




The parks are filled with people. Young people walk hand in hand. Street performers do their performing. The place is clean. Dogs run around free like in Rapa Nui. The Art Institute where Amy and Andrea take their violin lessons is filled with cool art. And it had the required guy outside selling you something (if you want) as you enter and exit. Schools are downtown so you see uniformed school kids strolling through the streets.




And this is just taken for granted here. They do have their big box stores. Luz and lisa are at “JUMBO” right now looking for a baking dish that we really couldn't find in town. So what!! Our first night we shopped for groceries in a pretty large supermarket called “LEIDER”. Dave told me that, guess who, is buying them out. You guessed it, Walmart! Oh Oh. Hope they really don't screw up this really cool place.

Back to School - Chillan Style

The day that we came to Chillan, Amy said to us, "Sometime this week you guys can come to school with us for the day!." Well, a couple days after that, those words came true.

Amy and Andrea go to Martin Rucker Catholic School. It starts at kindergarden and goes up to 8th grade. Their playground is a blacktop like at North Avondale but is smaller. The kids are very loud on the playground and in the classrooms too. We didn't go to school for the full day. We just went for Amy's gym class and her arts class.



Wow! Chillan kids seem like they've never seen American kids before! Almost everybody in Amy's class followed us around the entire school, the entire day. They also kept trying to tell us things in Spanish. The first class we went to was gym. First we did some exercises before we did relay races. After relay races, we played dodgeball. I didn't have a very good time playing dodgeball because nobody wanted to hit us with the ball and I never got to throw the ball! We also split up into pairs and tossed balls back and forth.



After gym, Amy told us some things about the school and showed us their school Chapel. After every two classes, they have a short recess. For lunch they have an hour during which you can go out of the school but you have to come back in.



In art class, we got to make either Easter Bunnies or Easter Chocolate Baskets! It was really fun!!

HIKING IN THE ANDES

I've just got this thing about mountains. Snow capped mountains. It could be caused by “Growing up in the Heartland” (from the song Jack and Diane...1982...John Mellenkamp) also known as flatlands. We have incorporated mountains into the trip....the Tatras in Poland, Julian Alps in Slovenia, Apuene Alps in Italy, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, The near Himalayas in India, The Southern Alps in New Zealand and now....the ANDES.

Because this trip is weather planned...eternal spring...we haven't seen a lot of snow on the tops of mountains. A hint as we sat on our deck at the Annex Hotel in McLeodganj in Northern India and Kilimanjaro also showed us a peak when we could see her. But nothing big. Until now. The peaks around Termas de Chillan, even though only topping out at around 7300 feet, still have snow on them. It's early fall here in the Southern Hemisphere and the snow from last winter hasn't totally melted. Cool!!!

We (Our family plus the Gutmann/Fuentes household) hiked up to around 5500 feet keeping in mind that there were four youngsters involved. Our elevation rise was not only steep but the path was filled with loose soil; unusual, almost like dust because it is so dry. The dust was also kicked up by the people walking ahead so you get a nose, mouth and body full. My shoes at the end had never been so dirty. So we went up and up and up. Our arrival at “our” peak was stunning. A whole valley with jagged peaks on the sides. Amy, Avocet, Andrea and Siena sat atop a large boulder, not anticipating the hike back. But you know what they say, “one hour up, half and hour back”.




Wrong!!! The loose soil and small rocks mentioned before (called “scree” in mountaineering parlance) were so loose that you couldn't keep your “grip” on the ground..you would slide and lose your balance. Kinda like walking tentatively on ice. It was easier to go off trail and walk in what little grass there was. But that alternative was usually steeper and filled with different issues. It took us just as long to get down as it did to go up. The kids did great but they didn't seem to mind falling. All except Andrea had sore butts. Luz did great. Dave did great. Lisa and I didn't kill ourselves.....but carried the rear.


This was our toughest “hike” of the trip. I thought at one time in my life of climbing Pike's Peak, maybe Denali, etc, etc. On second thought, maybe a movie at the Omnimax will suffice!!!

THE GUTMANN / FUENTES' FAMILY

Back in December we went to Nong Khai, Thailand just to go to a specific guest house (See Mut Mee Guesthouse blog). Nong Khai was not the attraction, Mut Mee was. Well, here we are in Chillan, Chile and once again the city is not the reason we are here. If you check the travel guidebooks, you will note that there is a Cathedral here worth a visit and a nice artisan market, but other than that, there is no real reason for tourists to come to this Chilean city. But our friends from Cincinnati, Dave and Luz and their family are here and for us, that is a good enough reason to be here.

Our expectations for this visit were...well, we really didn't have any expectations; it was a social call. What ever happened here happened. We knew that Dave worked long hours at the University of Conception and that the girls were back in school after their summer break. We had arranged prior to arriving to have Luz be our spanish teacher for the week and we are having 2 hour lessons each morning. Other than that, we have allowed ourselves to be incorporated into whatever it is that is going on in their lives.


We have been to that "famous" Cathedral and the Artisan Market and at the moment, there is also an International Market on the Plaza de Armas that we have gone to. We all took a day trip to Thermas de Chillan in the Andes Mountains where we hiked to the top of a mountain (a small one) and then swam in the hot spring pools in the area. But the highlight of being here in Chillan is the social time that we have had with our friends and their family. It is also about being in a "regular" Chilean town and just living life here.


Since this isn't a well touristed town, short term apartment rentals are not really available. Dave and Luz's next door neighbors, Tatiana and Leonardo and their family, have vacated their house and moved in with Leonardo's mother so that we could use their house for the 10 days that we are here. Now that's what you call great neighbors! Thank you Tatiana and Leonardo for your generosity. We have a wonderful house to live in and best of all, we now have the most awesome visinos (neighbors) in all of Chillan!

AMY AND ANDREA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Way way back in 2007 when we were planning our trip itinerary, two of our best friends had decided to move to Chile for two years. Their mom is Chilean and she wanted them to grow up with some sense of Chilean Culture. We were planning our itinerary. Why not fit them into it? Chillan, Chile is a nice town, right?

When they left in '07, Siena and I would occasionaly say to each other "I can't wait to see Amy and Andrea." But it was too far away to think much of it. As we made our way east and east and finaly south, the suspense continued to build. In Easter Island we would constantly say, "How many more days 'till we see Amy and Andrea?" In Santiago, we couldn't even pay attention to the sites! Not that they weren't nice, but every few seconds we would squeal or say "I wish we were in Chillan right now!" The 5 hour train ride seemed to last for 10 million hours, but then we finally pulled into the station. Amy and Andrea were jumping up and down holding an orange and brown banner welcoming us to Chillan. We were sooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited to see them!!! We arrived on a Friday so we had that afternoon, Saturday and Sunday to play with them. No time was wasted, we started playing immediatley. We played non stop unless dragged somewhere against our own free will. Okay, okay, we did some things that we did like. Like yesterday, we had a day at school with Amy, gym and art. She also showed us the chapel at her school, it was actually quite nice!!!




We are having a great time here, so if we decide to stay for their next four months, don't be suprised!!!

Welcome to Llama Land

Here we are - mainland Chile, also known as Llama land. I call it Llama Land because they have a lot of llamas in the north. Right now we are in the central part of Chile, in Chillan. Before we came here, we were in Santiago for one day.

The first thing we did in Santiago was get on the subway to historic Santiago. Once we got there we walked around the government buildings and plazas. Here in Chile, there is usually a main plaza and a lot of smaller ones.


After that, we took the subway down to the fish market where we had lunch. Avocet thought it smelled bad! Soon, we headed down to one of the smaller peaks in the Andes Mountain Range. The Andes Mountains surround most of Chile and border Argentina. We took a funicular up to the statue of the Virgin Mary at the top.


There is also a zoo there but we heard it was really wild!! The next day we took the 5 hour train headed to Chillan to see our friends, Amy, Andrea, Dave, and Luz.

(The following paragraphs of Chile were taken from my friend Andrea's school books and translated from the original Spanish)


Chile announced their independence from Spain officially on February 12, 1818. Chileans celebrate their independence day on September 18th. It's like our 4th of July. Just like America, Chile had to fight for independence, and there were two main sides - the royalists (who were faithful to the Spainards) and the patriots (who wanted independence). The Chileans got their idea for independence mainly from the United States and their victory from Britain and also for the same reasons as the colonists in the United States: political, social, and economic.

Chile is called a tri-continental country. This is because Chile owns land in three different continents: South America, Oceania, and Antartica. The land in Oceania are islands like Rapa Nui (or Easter Island) and Sala Y Gomez, and they are more then 3,000 kilometres apart from the mainland. Chile has a big share of Antartica along with many other countries. They have 4 basecamps, the third largest amount.

Chile is host to the driest desert on Earth called The Desert of Atacama. Chile has a mountainous terrain that stretches out from the north of Chile and lessens towards the south. These are the Andes Mountains. Not only do they border Argentina, but also Bolivia, Ecquador, and Peru. In the Summer they are very dusty, but in the Winter, some places get very snowy and make for good skiing!

THE VOLCANOES OF RAPA NUI

This will be one of the easiest blog posts to write. No phrases will be written such as “it's the most beautiful place in the world” or the man/child thing of “ever since 1965 I've wanted to see a volcano”. No, none of that! Lucky for you!! In New Zealand we did see volcanoes but they were more like conical shaped hills. Here, on Rapa Nui, were ones with a crater rim you had to climb to and an interior flat surface. Both of these were filled with rainwater over the millennium and became crater lakes.

A quick geography lesson. Rapa Nui was formed thousands, maybe millions of years ago (I don't know, I took a really nice nap inside the Museo de Archeologico) by the eruption of three volcanoes. Take a look at a map of Rapa Nui – Google it - you will see it is in the shape of a triangle. These eventually settled together into the current landscape of this beautiful island.

Enjoy the pics


Rano Kau


Ranu Kau volcanic outcrop


Ranu Kau caldera wall - worn away by the Pacific Ocean's waves


Wild grasses atop crater rim - looks somewhat like Scotland


Lake formed at bottom of Rano Raraku


Entering Rano Raraku - possibly iron in soil


Lake at bottom of Ranu Raraku - rained later that day


Rano Raraku - Moai manufacturing facility

MORE ON MOAI

I know I mentioned these Moai dudes on my last blog on Rapa Nui but I feel I must give them a little more attention than what they received in my last missive. If you have had your archaeological fill, just skip this blog, but be prepared for the photo albums which will feature Moai ad nauseum.

The Moai were not created by slave labor but by a master carver and his apprentices. When someone wanted a Moai, they went to the carver and bartered for his services. The Moai was then fabricated from the volcanic rock in the Rano Raraku quarry on the south side of the island. That was probably the easy part! The Moai then had to be moved to the desired location. As I mentioned in my Rapa Nui blog, it is still not conclusive how this was done. Speculations are that they were moved on logs either lying down or in an upright fashion. No matter how you look at it, this was an incredible accomplishment.

Once the Moai made it to the desired location (which was not always accomplished give the number of “dead Moai” covering the landscape), this 20 ton statue had to be erected on top of an Ahu, a stone alter. Again no one conclusively knowns how this was done but it is believed that they used ropes, wooden poles and stones. A crane sounds a whole lot easier to me. It is only after the Moai was erected onto the Ahu (or shortly before) that the eye sockets were carved; Moai in the quarry do not have eye sockets, only the ones moved to other destinations have them. Once the eye sockets are carved it is then that the Rapa Nui belived that the “statue” embodied the spirt of their ancestors that were buried in that particular Ahu. Only one “actual” eye has been found made of coral and obsidian so it has not been determined whether at one time all erect Moai had “eyes” or if only some Moai had “eyes” and the rest had only eye sockets.

Great cylindrical topknots (Pukao) were carved from red scoria and added to the heads of some, but not all Moai. These may have signified hats, hair tied up into a knot, or a feathered headdress worn by warriors and had some connection with status and power. The red scoria from which the Pukao were carved came from a different quarry, Puna Pau, which, of course, is on the other end of the island – who was in charge of the manufacturing organization of this society? Given that these Pukao were round, it is assumed that they were rolled to their destination. But a 20 ton Moai doesn't just need a small hat, it needs a BIG one! The Pukao alone could weigh up to 12 tons so even rolling it couldn't be easy. Also, how do you lift a 12 ton Pukao to put on top of a 9 meter statue? Little research has been done on this but some archeologists have suggested that the Pukao were lashed to the stautes and raised together as a unit.

There are almost as many Moai in the quarry as there are on the rest of the island. For whatever reason, these Moai were carved but never transported. The entire quarry, both on the inside and on the outside, are dotted with Moai in various stages of “life”; many still attached to the rocks from which they were carved, others free standing and upright. The largest Moai ever carved is still attached to the rock in the quarry, possibly because the carvers realized that it would have been impossible to move.


The largest Ahu, Ahu Tongariki, holds 15 Moai while smaller Ahu may hold only 5 or 7 and many stand alone. By the time that Rapa Nui was discovered by the Western World, all the Moai had been toppled due to tribal warfare, all face down, and all clearly positioned with their backs to the ocean. Only Ahu Akivi, with 7 Moai, face the sea. It was believed that the Moai faced inward toward the island to protect it's inhabitants. Only about four dozen Moai have been restored to their upright position while the majority of the Moai lie where they were last left by The Ancient Rapa Nui or buried for some future archaeologist to discover.

PAINGA ETE RAPA NUI

As we walk the streets of Hanga Roa, the only village on Easter Island, we are approached by beautiful creatures. No, not pretty Polynesian women in their sarongs, but DOGS!!! - the "Painga ete Rapa Nui" or streetdogs of Easter Island. Dogs are everywhere here. No leashes, no collars. They are all by themselves. WILD!!! They are mostly brown or black, or a combination and appear to be of some Shepherd heritage. We thought they were all friendly and “man's best friend” until the night lisa went to the market. She walked back to our guesthouse with both raw chicken and pork sausage in a plastic bag. Now doggie wants dinner. He (bad dogs are always “boys”) snapped at the bag and bit her shoe. She picked up a rock and he left her alone. lisa escaped with the groceries and arrived home safely. Whew!!! (The chicken was good...just a hint of German Shepherd)


When you approach an area, lets say, a portion of a sidewalk, they will amble up to you, maybe sniff, then follow you to the end of their territory. Pretty soon another will join you at the beginning of their turf and drop you off at their boundary's end. They huddle in doorways of shops but won't enter. They allow you to pet them. Sharon, the owner of Te'ora, our guest house, says they will stay with a tourist because they depend on us for food. They don't look hungry or emaciated so they must get their food from somewhere. I wonder how our leashed friends back home would fare here? Probably not very well since they bark and whine in English not in Rapa Nui.

While at Te'Ora, our stay was enhanced greatly by the presence of a former streetdog named "Michigan". He kept us company at Te'Ora by staying close... even laying half his body on our doorstep. You see he wasn't allowed in the room. He walked with us in town (five hours one day), always keeping us in sight as he socialized with his friends and picked fights with others. He wouldn't let anything harm us. GREAT DOG, MICHIGAN!!!!!

RAPA NUI

I can still remember the cover of the National Geographic issue. Huge statues on some remote island photographed in the sunset. “Someday I would like to see those statues” I thought. But the location of “those” statues, Rapa Nui, Isla de Pascua or Easter Island, was about as remote of a place as you could go and not somewhere on the beaten tourist track.

Fast forward to 2006 when I was working on our Round the World itinerary and exploring South Pacific Islands. I was trying to find an island for us to visit on our way from New Zealand to South America. We would be hitting that area in the rainy season which, for some locations, meant up to 17” of rain per month – not sounding like a lot of fun to me. I came across Tahiti which not only had less rain fall that time of year than other islands, but had something even more enticing, a flight to Rapa Nui – the place with those “huge statues.” This for me was a no brainer.

Rapa Nui, as it is called by the indigenous peoples, is considered the most remote place in the world. There are no inhabited islands for thousands of kilometers. Like the Maori of New Zealand, the people came here from other islands in the South Pacific, by canoe, looking for a new home. While Rapa Nui means “large land”, this island is anything but large. If a road were to go around the perimeter of this triangular island (which it doesn't) it would run for about 65 km. - not even 40 miles. Looking down on it from a plane, it looks like a speck in the ocean.

There is only one town on this island, Hanga Roa, with only one bank, one gas station... you get my drift. There are 4500 residents and the two handfuls of tourists who make their way here, travel from either Papeete, Tahiti, or Santiago, Chile, the only two airports that service the island. Lan Chile is the only airline that flies here. They have electricity, but it is not uncommon for it to go out for hours at a time for no apparent reason and the island has no sewage system. It's remoteness is truly felt every time you walk into the grocery store which may have empty shelves if a new shipment of food has not yet arrived.

Much of the island is considered a National Park and most of the island is considered a UNESCO World Heritage site. You need only walk down the street in town to see one of those “huge statues” called Moai which date from 800 AD to about 1500 AD. The Moai are located all over the island but were quarried from only one source, the volcanic hill of Rano Raraku.. Carving these Moai with rudimentary tools is one thing, but moving them and erecting them without today's technology is another. There are all types of speculation of how this was done and many of these have been tested for validity, but the reality is, with no written history, no one will ever truly know how this feat was accomplished.

I am in awe of these Moai and I can't pass one without stopping and taking a look. They are remarkable statues which embody the spirits of the Rapa Nui ancestors and who give their energy to this island even to this day. This is an amazing place to be and I can't believe that I am lucky enough to be here.

MISCELLANEOUS DITTY ABOUT TAHITI

The place is really pretty, but no more or less than other mountainous islands in the Pacific or Caribbean. No more so than St. Thomas, or Guadalupe. It has a natural forest that extends from the mountaintops downs to the shore. It really doesn't have beaches, but instead, rock shelves that extend out from the shore. So you don't go to Tahiti if you're looking for a beach vacation..


It is also very expensive. Our first glance at a French Cafe in a strip center outside of Papeete, the capital, showed entrees priced at 2900 xfp (about $30.50 US) with food that Av and Si could eat being 1500 xfp (about $15.00 US). Too rich for the tight Greenwell – Shusterman household (for lunch). In fact, we have talked to several people in the “hospitality” industry who say that tourists just don't come to Tahiti because it is so expensive. I can belive it....the big hotels seem deserted.



The language spoken here is French....duh, “French Polynesia”. Less people understand us here, it seems, than in Thailand. I have gone back to using hand signals to order my food and am still not sure what I will get until the food arrives at our table. lisa had French in high school and it has helped but only so far. If that isn't challenging enough, most of the “places” here use their Tahitian names such as the area our pension was located: Punaauia. They seem to use an incredible amount of vowels here. “Can I buy a vowel please....”. Some words begin with a consonant followed by seven vowels. With my dwindling memory it's hard just to remember English words so it's tough.




We have only been here for three days and it's enough. Not really a fair shake at the place. If we were here longer we would take a ferry to an outlying island and be true vacationers. But our year was never intended to be a vacation. This place has served its purpose...to be a layover between Auckland and Easter Island.

NEW ZEALAND'S TOP TEN (PLUS TWO)

We surveyed the four participants of the One World One Trip Team for their Top Ten, (Plus Two)of New Zealand and the results are in:

12. City of Auckland
11. Livingspace - Christchurch Accommodation
10. Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools & Spa
9. Agrodome
8. Kaikoura and The Whale Watch
7. City of Christchurch
6. Akaroa and Swimming with the Dolphins
5. Xtreme Adventure Day
4. Antarctic Center
3. Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Park
2. The White House - Rotorua Accommodation

AND THE NUMBER ONE FAVORITE OF NEW ZEALAND IS:

1. Mitai Maori Experience

A special mention goes to our evening with the Hookings which gave us a warm family experience that we truly enjoyed.

Another special mention goes to Robyn and Jeremy who opened their home and their hearts to us. This was a long awaited meeting and worth every moment we waited! We love you both.

PLANES, BOATS AND AUTOMOBILES

Occasionally, well maybe more than occasionally, there are things that I have wanted to do but lisa and the girls have no interest. Most of these activities are what I will call “boy things”. In the cases that follow, they also relate to “planes, boats and automobiles.” So I have ventured out on my own (and didn't even get lost, hurt or robbed –amazing huh) without the ladies' involvement. One by One:

Planes: I have been a big fan of vintage airplanes since I was a little boy. I remember checking out the World Book “A” so my brother and I could check out the planes. More than twenty years ago I happened upon the DC-3, a plane that has remained somewhat in service for over sixty years. Sixty years in the air is like a cat living to be forty. It just doesn't happen. I think the DC-3's lines are beautiful. I can even recognize the distinctive sound of its engines as they approach overhead. Well, I flew in one today!!!!!! Beautiful cosmetically and mechanically even though built in 1944. She creaked when her engines were started and shuttered somewhat as it taxied onto the runway. We left the tarmac going slow, much slower than today's turbo-props. Smooth, except when it hit the thermal pockets over Auckland. I met Jessica Cooper, who I must mention. She was so nice on the phone prior to booking and even offered to have someone swing by to pick me up from downtown because I had no transportation to Ardmore Airfield. Thanks Jessica. There are few DC-3s left. The US Government has banned them from passenger service because they couldn't be secured against terrorism (boo!!!). One day we will see these only in air shows and air museums. I'm glad I had my day with her while I could. And I loved it.




Boats: I could sit up all night staring at pictures of older ships, especially ones built around 1900. I tried to get the family to join me to visit the Sydney, Hobart and Auckland Maritime Museums, with NO success. Here in Auckland, I alone witnessed large sailing ships, an exhibit on the history of whaling, another on how large fishing vessels operate, a nautical migration of the Maori from Tahiti, and finally these great wooden models built by craftsmen. Totally cool. While there I felt ten years old again.



Lastly Autos: I visited Fazzaz, an antique sports car dealership almost next door to our apartment in Christchurch. To see old Jaguar MK-2s, Mercedes 280Cs from the late 1960s (I WANT ONE!!!), and vintage red Ferraris and other great super conditioned vehicles was just too cool. I thought I was over my desire to again own an old car, but..... I would give my left _______ ( you supply the body part) to be associated with a vehicle with the quality of these. Ahh, that leather smell, it's intoxicating.

NINE MONTH STATE OF THE UNION

Today is nine months out. Even though this was all planned, it's still hard to believe that we have been gone from “our lives” for this length of time and that we are ¾ through a year long odyssey. We will be home in less than three months and all of us have found ourselves thinking more about coming home than ever before. The girls are planning on how they are going to redecorate their room and have already coordinated with friends regarding sleepovers for when they return. Marty and I talk about how we are going to deal with this depressed economy and our need for employment. Thoughts of playing a more active role in taking care of my mother, who became ill during our journey, are perpetually present.

Our overall state of mind is somewhat that of boredom. Yes, you read that correctly, boredom. How, you might ask, can you be bored on such an exciting adventure. Well, it just happens. First of all, we have been in Australia and New Zealand for two months now and it is in many ways not that much different from vacationing in the US; just not that different enough to be exciting! We also suffer from the been there, done that syndrome that comes from long term travel. We are hoping that our last quarter in South America shakes things up. We will once again be in countries with a different culture and a different language. We have friends that we will be visiting for 10 days in Chile which we are very excited about. And we will be studying a foreign language, Spanish, which is something we have yet to do.

I still don't miss much about home other than relationships – that has been pretty consistent throughout. I think we are all tired of moving around and will look forward to being in one place when we get home and not having to pack a suitcase for a long time. We have all managed to live for 9 months with pretty much what we brought from home, and with the exception of Marty, everyone seems to be surviving quite well. Marty, after his “I Hate My Clothes” blog post, bought 3 new t-shirts which seems to have quieted him down for the moment.

We arrive home on June 3rd and while I know we will have some culture shock, I believe we will all be ready to be home.

FRIENDS IN FAR AWAY PLACES

Back in the days when the world was a lot bigger, people actually wrote something called letters as a way of communicating with people in distant lands. And in an attempt to make the world seem a little bit smaller, fourth grade teachers encouraged students to get pen pals from other English speaking countries to communicate with. My pen pal Lee, from Australia and I wrote for about two years and that was that; but my sister Donna and her pen pal Robyn from New Zealand have been writing, emailing, Skyping and meeting/visiting each other for 42 years now. While Robyn has been to the US, Donna has not yet made it here to New Zealand - but here I am!

Robyn has been a part of our family's life for a long time; not often in the foreground but never not in the background. When she came to the US 26 years ago, she lived with Donna for about 3 months and was most definitely a part of the family. About 11-12 years ago my parents had the opportunity to be in Auckland as part of an Australia and New Zealand tour and had a day with Robyn and by that time, her son Jeremy.


We met Robyn and Jeremy at Little Italy, a downtown restaurant, for dinner one night. A short evening, but that was OK, there was more to come. Saturday morning found the 6 of us wandering the streets of the Otara Polynesian Market. After several hours, we split up; Jeremy to hook up with some of his Friends, Marty and the girls to a museum, and Robyn and I to have a ladies' afternoon. What we did really wasn't important, it was just great to have 5 hours together to share our lives with each other.


On Sunday evening, we all went out to Robyn and Jeremy's house to have a BBQ where they shared their home, their hospitality and even some of their friends. It was a fun and enjoyable Kiwi night and certainly one of our New Zealand highlights.

THE HOOKINGS

We met five months ago or so in Bagamoyo, a beach town on the Indian Ocean in Tanzania. They were on a short holiday from their positions as principal/teacher and teacher/maintenance director of a school in Dodoma, the small central "capital" of Tanzania. The Hookings had something that other couples we have met did not...KIDS...Emma, age nine, Matthew, age six and Jonathan, age three. Alistair and Vicki are the parents. In October, we exchanged contacts and said we would try to get together when they went "home" to Auckland.

Our initial plans were to meet at St. Hellier's Beach, one they had frequented when they used to live here. The weather interfered, as it has so often here in NZ. The decision was then made to go to their house in the late afternoon. Good move, weather, because it is so nice to see people in their own place. As far as I am concerned, meeting in some one's home makes me feel relaxed. We took the train out of the CBD of Auckland and Alistair picked us up at the Panmure train station. Upon arrival, the girls reacquainted as did we. Conversations ranged from our travels, past, present and future to their holiday here in Auckland. Jonathan, the youngest, practiced his bow and arrow skills on Alistair and Vicki's bellies. Having six year old and three year old boys in our presence reminded both lisa and I of the attention needed when Av and Si were younger. Av and Si still require attention, but no where near what we experienced.


Our conversations drifted to the school and Dodoma and how different their lives are there. They will be gone from friends and family for another two or three years. Vicki and I talked in the kitchen about the different foods and how cooking was much different. They had a bottled gas stove because the electricity could be out for days at a time. She also talked of the "progress" of the city: A pizza parlor, olive oil now available, and the like. They are leading the adventurous life. We all shared a meal of lasagna, vegetable casserole and salad, all delicious. The treat was just sitting down to a good meal, sharing conversation and enjoying ourselves. Vicki had to speak that evening about the school so our evening came to a close. It was nice.



Thanks to the Hookings for a very nice time.

CITY OF VOLCANOES

Auckland is the largest city in the country of New Zealand. Of course, we were in villages in China that had larger populations than this; but New Zealand is not a country of huge populations. It's also the fourth largest city in Australasia; also not a region of huge populations. And it's a city that is "pock marked" with volcanoes everywhere! Being on the Pacific Rim of Fire, a highly volcanic area, Auckland's "rocky" past is evidenced everywhere by extinct volcanic hills around the city.

Geographically, the city is chopped up by inlets, bays and waterways everywhere - but this is Auckland and this is what people around here have come to know as home. They have bridges, causeways and ferries that compensate for it's strange boundaries. It is also one of the things that makes this city unique.

But Auckland has the distinct disadvantage of being visited during our fourth week in New Zealand, and our eighth week in Australasia. So much of what Auckland has to offer, we have already seen, done or experienced in the past seven weeks. It's challenging to find something unique or different for us to do. In many ways we feel that Auckland is getting short changed but that is one of the effects of long term travel.

No worries, Mate, we have managed to find some interesting things here to past our time. We went to the top of the Sky Tower and watched people Sky Jump from the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere. We visited Devonport, the first English Settlement in the area, via ferry and visited the island of Waiheke, an area of Auckland accessible only by ferry. We even went to an "ice bar," Minus 5, a cocktail lounge made entirely of ice, including the glasses you drink out of! And of course there is the Auckland Museum, one of the finest museums around and currently being visited by our very own Tyrannosaurus Rex, Sue, from The Field Museum in Chicago.

MAORI

They came from Hawaiki (present day Hawaii) and other East Polynesian islands. In their Wakas (canoes or larger sailing vessels) they traveled over thousands of miles on the South Pacific Ocean. Many did not survive the trip; those who did made their new home on the islands they named Aotearoa. Today it is better know as New Zealand.

Maori is the collective name used for all the peoples native to Aotearoa prior to the arrival of the British. But like many indigenous people, they are made up of a multitude of tribes, each with their own dialect and customs. Today, the Maori are integrated into New Zealand's western culture. Other than skin that is slightly darker and hair that is slightly wavier, there's a good chance that you wouldn't recognize a person with Maori heritage on the street. In addition, with hundreds of years of western/Maori marriages, there are few true blooded Maoris left today.

In Rotorua, an area heavily settled by the Maori, there are numerous opportunities to partake in a Maori cultural experience. Ours was at Mitai, a village that has been set up on Maori land to recreate a piece of their past. Our first event was to witness the cooking of our dinner – a traditional Hangi. This is where your food has been cooked in a huge hole in the ground by heated rocks over a three hour period – no opportunity for rare meat here!


After a view of the feast to come, we proceeded down to the sacred Fairy Springs where the men rowed upstream in a Waka in traditional dress with the face tattoos that the Maori are known for. Their rowing to ritualized chanting was very eerie, impressive and fearsome. They were a very war like culture and it is evident in their Waka Ceremony.


After the warriors arrived, we traveled to the auditorium for the cultural performance. For about an hour, we watched Maori Warriors and Maori women in traditional dress perform their songs, dances and greetings. We were introduced to their array of weapons and their uses and shown their pre-battle preparations We learned about their facial tattoos, why they were done and what they mean. Much of what the Maori did was for the purpose of putting fear into their enemy and toward winning their battles.




After our Hangi dinner, we went on a bush walk through the Maori land. Our guide pointed out various plants and trees and what medicinal use they served for the Maori. Down by Fairy Spring we saw the Maori's sacred water source bubble up from the earth and for a special treat, we got to see New Zealand's very own glow worms. The banks of the spring glowed with little blue lights as the hungry glow worms gave us a light show.

The night after our Maori experience, we rented the movie Whale Rider which Marty and I had seen but the girls had never watched. If we had any doubt as to whether we learned anything the night before, it was quickly resolved in watching the movie. Everything in the movie was so much more meaningful when you know more about the Maori culture. Great movie if you've never seen it. Great evening at Mitai.

STICK TO THE ORIGINAL PLAN

When we first started seriously planning the Round The World adventure, I said that I didn't want to stay in any city/town/village for less than 3 weeks. People would often say things like “Krakow is a lovely city but you don't need more than a week there.” Or “Christchurch is great, just a few days will do.” But in my heart I just knew that moving around any more often than every 3 weeks would be hard on us and since we were looking at a full year of being on the road, we needed to make things as “easy” as possible. Besides, how could you get a “real feel” for a place if you just flew in and flew out? We planned almost all of Europe on the “3 week plan” but then we started coming across places that we wanted to go but feared that 3 weeks would just be too much. We deviated from the plan, one week here, one week there...

One week works out great – in cities like Nong Khai, Thailand where there is almost nothing to do! But if there are places to go, things to see, people to talk to, one week is a nightmare! You pull into town and the pressure is on – go here, go there, do this, do that, until you wake up one morning and you're just too tired to do anything else. A rest day is thrust upon you whether you like it or not. A one week stop is like you are on vacation, you know, the kind you need a vacation from when you return back home. Three weeks is more like a short term stay where you have ample time to see and do things, but also, plenty of “down time”. There is time for domestic activities (food shopping, cooking, laundry) and time for work (blogs, editing pictures, emails, journaling, travel research).

Writing this blog on one of those “forced” rest days in the middle of one of those one week stays, I recall that initial planning thought of required 3 week stays and am reminded that sometimes, it's a good idea to listen to your gut feelings.

Extreme Day

NZ is famous for its extreme sports, bungee, zorb ball, skydiving, just to name a few. Rotorua is the practically the extreme capital of the north island, while Queenstown is the adventure capital of the south. We had seen zorb and bungee on a travel video by lonely planet but that does NOT prepare you for all the other opportunities you see; swoop, luge, agrojet, sky swing, freefall xtreme, shweeb, and then the skydiving, bungee and zorb. Since each adventure only lasts less than three minutes and they cost at least $35 NZ each, we, (Siena and I) were limited to three adventures each. Swoop and bungee were out of the picture quickly as Mom and Dad were scared to death of these two adventures. Zorb was a definite and so was the luge and freefall xtreme was nearly approved. The day after the three adventure pact was made, we headed out to Agro Adventures (Rotorua's home of bungee, agrojet, swoop, freefall xtreme and shweeb), to see which ones interested us. We were too light for bungee, to short for shweeb, but just perfect for all the others. We decided to do freefall xtreme.

Freefall xtreme = body flying. We went up onto a bouncy trampoline/platform with a humongous fan that would easily blow you away. And that's exactly what you want to do. We got into suits that allow much air to blow in and plastic goggles to protect our eyes. I had to crawl out onto the net covering the fan on my hands and knees. The fan started to pick up speed. Then one of the flight masters grabbed my feet and the other grabbed my hands and I started to go up to the net above. When I got there, they let go and I was flying!!! However, read the top paragraph again, specifically the three minute cost a lot for a little part. After 1.5 minutes, gravity had to take over.




Zorb = inflatable ball, just add yourself. There are two versions of Zorb, Zorbit and Zydro. In Zorbit you are strapped into the ball and sent head over heels down the hill. In Zydro, there is water inside the ball and you just get in, not strapped, to have a sloshy ride. Siena and I chose to go together down the straight hill, Zydro. We weren't tall enough to do Zorbit anyway. We started to go down facing the downside of the hill but that quickly changed. We must have hit a small bump because all of a sudden, we were jostled around and Siena's head was on my stomach. Not to mention that our backs were now facing downhill. Another quick (expensive) adrenalin rush was over, with soaking wet clothes.


Luge = alpine slide, just missing the track. For our last adventure, we headed up the closest mountainside on a gondola. No, not the 80 Euro ones in Venice but a SKY gondola, like the thing we took at Ocean Park in HK. Plus it's kinda hard to row up a mountainside. The Luge is an alpine slide type thing, like we did in Zakopane and Lake Bled. This one still had little carts that you control the speed, but in addition you also steer this one. Going down the mountain, you don't have a track but a road where you just try not to run into anybody. You have to do the scenic track first, to prove that you are a responsible driver. The scenic track is a 2k track running through a forest. It was very scenic!!! We rode the chairlift back up again and this time, Siena and Daddy went tandem on the scenic track, Mom went alone on the scenic track, and I went alone on the intermediate track. The intermediate track is shorter so I should have gotten down first, but when a fork in the road occurred and I made a decision that lead to a steep track with a drop, I had the trouble of getting to the other side of the fork were I felt more comfortable. When I finally arrived down, we rode the lift up once more to get the gondola to go down the mountainside to get to our car to go home.