Out of Time---Out of Here

As usual, I always put too much on my to do list than I can get done before a trip.  I think somehow I can do all those things which I haven't found time to do in months.  Still I love the adventure of travel and am excited to see what there is to discover in Eastern Europe.  I hope to get to some posts, but I tend to be an intense traveler, not wanting to miss a moment of the experience.  So, you will have to wait till later to find out what wild things I encountered last year in the rain forests of Panama and Costa Rica and our surprising connection to Cartegena, Colombia, and what I am doing now.

I tried to post a map in an email, but it didn't go through.  So here's where I'm headed.  I'll write more, if the  vampires of Transylvania don't get me!

0.2 Leagues Under the Sea

April 2009

As part of my spring break escape in 2009, I took a Princess Cruise to the Panama Canal via Aruba and Columbia (see prior post).  Having let my swimming skills lapse and not being a snorkeler, I chose to make my descent to the ocean floor in a submarine.  In the 1980s, someone took the technology of submersibles used in checking off- shore oil rigs (maybe they needed more of those in the Gulf Coast...) and applied it to creating commercial mini submarines to take tourists to the bottom of the sea.  These U.S. Coast Guard- approved Atlantis submarines hold about 50 passengers arranged so that everyone has a porthole to see out of--very nice.  They have them in several Caribbean Islands, Hawaii, and a few other places now.

A transfer boat took us out to the submarine off the southeast coast of Aruba where we "walked the (short) plank" in open waters onto the submarine, climbed down the hole, and claimed a porthole.  I had a momentary pause when I wondered what I had gotten myself into as the door closed and was secured.  However, the descent was smooth and exciting as we neared our depth of  130 feet and moved among the coral reefs and sponge gardens of the Barcadera Reefs.  We saw the most fish and a couple of eels among the remains of two sunken boats, but nothing really big and scary.  They had bright lights on the sub to illuminate the sea life, and although we could see them in color, the way the light was refracted through the water and the glass gave the photos a bluish hue.

My hour of scanning the sea floor passed quickly, and soon we were bubbling our way to the surface.  After planking our way back  to the waiting vessel, we stayed and watched the next group disappear beneath the surface.  At the end, I was awarded a Dive Certificate stating that I "completed a voyage beneath the sparkling waters of the Caribbean and is hereby bestowed the tile:  Atlantis Submariner."  It's not on my list for framing, but it was fascinating to see the hidden world under the sea.
Click here for slideshow:
Under the Sea
Music:  Under the Sea, The Little Mermaid.

Aruba and Cuba

April 2009
Just hearing the word "Aruba" gets me singing Beach Boy songs (see slideshow).  In the dead of winter 08-09, I was entranced by a cruise to the Panama Canal which fit perfectly into my Spring Break.  It also included such exotic places as Aruba, Colombia (Cartagena), Costa Rica, and Jamaica. So, impulsive me signed up to go south.  I had somehow been thinking that Aruba was clustered with the usual Caribbean Islands, but soon learned that it  is only 17 miles off the coast of Venezuela and is part of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea.  It is one of 3 countries  that forms the Kingdom of the Netherlands (I didn't know that either).

It's only 21 miles long with an area of about 47 miles, so if you're someone who gets island fever, this may not be the place for you.  However, if you love water activities, buying Dutch imported diamonds and gems (shops are everywhere with "discounts"), or enjoying languid days in the sun, it's worth the trip.  Aruba is outside the hurricane belt, so it's more dry and arid than the tropical islands.  Not a lot of "historical" events.  My favorite is that it was a US protectorate in WWII (as Germany invaded Holland), and a German sub tried to (unsuccessfully) blow up the oil refineries.  However, US pilots managed to destroy the sub while the German crew was sunbathing!  (Sounds like a good movie plot) The beauty of the island gets to everybody.

More "important facts":  they mine gold; greatest exporter of Aloe; and invented their own language--Papiamento--a combination of Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, English, African and Indian--but everybody knows English.


Getting there, we spent the better part of the day along the Cuban coast (in international waters).  I hadn't realized the coast was so mountainous.  Sadly, much of the coast was clouded by air polluting factories.  I saw a few small boats at sea and hoped they were fishermen and not Cuban secret agents on the look out for curious, picture-snapping tourists.  It was quite a contrast to colorful, joyful Aruba.

So many activities, it was hard to choose what to do in our half day there.  I spent a little time wandering the colorful streets of the capital, Oranjestad, enjoying the markets and admiring diamonds, and then headed  to the bottom of the sea to see what I could see in a small commercial submarine.  See next post.  Great time.
Click link for slideshow:
Aruba and Cuba

Music:  Kocomo, Best of the Beach Boys

Moving On

  This was intended to be a simple announcement:  I HAVE A NEW TRAVELING COMPANION.  I traded in my almost 9-year old fire-engine red  Forester for a new "go green" Forester which meets the higher "partial zero emissions standard."   I don't know how something is partially zero, but it's supposed to be good for us.  End of post...Almost.

It doesn't seem all that long ago that I bought my "fire engine,"  but, as I reflected, much has happened.  It was October 2001, barely a month after that infamous 9-11-2001.   I was an assistant principal at an elementary school and in the principal's office after bus duty on that beautiful morning when the news announced that there had been some terrible accident of a plane colliding into one of the Twin Towers in NYC.  In disbelief, we watched as the second tower was hit, the buildings crumbled, and it became apparent we were under attack.  Not long after came news of the Pentagon being hit and rumors that other planes, including one in the air space above us, were headed to Washington.

As with other elementary schools, the children were not told what had happened, although they wondered why there was no recess and classes in the portables were relocated.  We informed the staff privately and individually, worrying with those who had spouses working in the Pentagon. Parents started pulling children from school. Teachers crowded into lounges to catch the news during breaks, but none left their posts.  Cafeteria duty became a special privilege that day as I looked into the faces of our future and realized I was guardian of America's most precious resource.  I did not worry about my parents, for I knew they were safe on their trip to western Pennsylvania, only to find out later, they were near the field where United Flight 93 crashed.  I had been called as a counselor in the Stake Relief Society Presidency for our church on 9-9-01.  We held our first presidency meeting with great solemnity on the evening of 9-11.  It was our Pearl Harbor.  The world had changed, and we wondered what lay ahead.

The skies were closed, and the world stood still.  Even when bans were lifted, few people traveled; airline ticket and car sales plummeted.  And so, out of patriotic duty (and need), I went and bought my patriotic red fire engine car .  My friend Pat and I ventured out of town on Columbus Day weekend through the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee to Asheville, North Carolina.  We toured the Vanderbilt's "American Castle" on the  Biltmore Estate (largest private home in America) and enjoyed their Michelmas celebration with St. George and the Dragon, et.al.

We visited a Cherokee settlement and museum and heard the sad tale of the Trail of Tears, when the tribe was forced out of their beautiful woodland home to a dusty reservation in Oklahoma.  We drove back through fall-colored Blue Ridge mountains where the horrors of the prior month seemed so far away.  While the car did most of the climbing, we did walk about 3 minutes to the peak of Mt. Mitchell, the tallest peak east of the Mississippi. We were jarred back to the present, as we heard of the invasion of Afghanistan during our return drive.

In those days, everything seemed more meaningful.  At school, the kindergarten children made a flag out of their handprints to take on the traditional trip to the fire station.  For Veterans Day, we created a Wall of Honor where children could write the names of relatives who had or were serving their country and held a patriotic assembly to honor the many military families in our community.  It was a time of unusual unity for this nation. My parents were still healthy then; Kari had recently married; my younger sister would still live several months before her passing;  the Salt Lake Winter Olympics would bring moments of joy and beauty; and I would soon visit my niece and her family who were living in Ankara, Turkey, for that notable year.

I was still using a film camera with limited zoom. The school had the new digital camera that took pictures of less than a megapixel on 3.5" floppy disks.  Few folks had the ability to scan or burn images at home.   Indeed, technology has changed for the better.  I hope you can look past the imperfections in the photos to the time of my new red car.

Perhaps when my new "green machine" has reached its prime, I will remember back to the recession and gulf oil spill. Perhaps.


Click link for slideshow:
Red Car Days (9-11)
Music: Alan Jackson, Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?, The Very Best of Alan Jackson