Tag Archives: travel

Aug11

#uno in the oro league! at least for ‘deux minutes.’

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a couple of weeks ago

i decided to finally learn italian

something i’ve wanted to do for a long time

half of my family hertiage is italian

though few of us know more than a minimum of words

 i find it to be such a poetic language

musical and pleasant to the senses.

one day i hope to visit italia

and even use some of what i’ve learned.

so here i am

at the top of my game

for a couple of short minutes

in my online duo lingo class

not the most thorough or intense course

often like a game show format

but non-judgmental

a good beginning

and i’m learning some things.

i am now at the point where

if anyone would like to order

a croissant, a coffee, even with cream.

in italian

i am ready and happy to help.

even though i’ve begun italian

i still carry

some crumbs of french from way back:

‘je suis fatigue.’

(i am tired) – use as needed

21 years of pre-k spanish:

‘hola! hay una pinata?’

(hi, is there a pinata?) –  also as needed

a lifetime of english, still in process:

(‘what the heck is going on?’) – again as needed, and used often

i will soon be heading to portugal

where none of these languages are spoken

but

the more i learn, the more i know, and the more i know, the more i can,

just kind of mash them all together

use my hands a lot

smile

 try to do my best to communicate.

all while hopefully

not offending anyone,

getting engaged,

eating any weird meat products,

or adopting a child who i would have to clear through customs.

‘sliante!’ – (cheers!) to all of you-

 because the other side of my family are irish

and this may well be the only word any of us knows of it.

—

‘learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things,

but learning another way to think about things.’

– flora lewis

 

—

.When thinking in another language, it really changes the way you think,

partly due to the way the language works and partly grasping the culture.

Jul21

unscathed.

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on the morning of the onset of the recent global outages

my sister was scheduled to fly in for a visit

as soon as i heard about it

i warned her that her flights might get complicated

but somehow she managed to get on two scheduled flights

fly across the country and land within 15 minutes of her original arrival time

 

 we found her suitcase in a baggage claim area that was mostly shut down

with luggage on a carousel but no people from the corresponding flights to claim them

 a line that grew longer with each incoming flight filing lost luggage claims

 surrounded by people left and right with cancelled flights

she somehow managed to get through the eye of the needle unscathed

how lucky is that?

—

‘we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.’

-albert einstein

May28

tchau.

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it’s official

before the summer is over

i’ll be traveling

on my first trip as a retired person

 to visit portugal, the oldest nation-state in europe.

tchau.

—

‘if there is one portion of europe which was made by the sea more than another,

portugal is that slice, that portion, that belt. portugal was made by the atlantic.”

– hilaire belloc, french/english historian and writer.

 

 

—

*And the award for oldest nation-state in Europe goes to… Portugal. In 1139, Portugal appointed King Afonso Henriques as its king. Lisbon is said to be four centuries older than Rome. Due to its excellent trading location, the Phoenicians settled in Lisbon around 1200 BC.

 

—

 

photo credit: planetware, the perched village of azenhas do mar at sunset, sintra, portugal

Mar19

off to the nunnery.

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so off i go today

to the convent

where i’ll stay and meet up with

my sister and my aunt who is a sister

relax, talk, walk, meditate, share meals, laugh, cry, remember, tell stories

see her sacred and important places

shared spaces

if i was a nun

i imagine myself

singing and running through the hills

like sister maria in the alps

but i think this spring break

slow and easy

may be exactly perfect

a time of rest and renewal.

—

“get thee to a nunnery, go.”

– hamlet to ophelia (written by william shakespeare)

 

 

—

photo credit: 20th century-fox studios, the sound of music, 1965

Sep21

az.

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(the ever-elusive arizona road runner)

arriving in arizona

last night, phoenix

today, on to sedona.

—

“then the wind blew cool through the pinyons on the rim. there was a sweet tang of cedar and sage on the air and that indefinable fragrance peculiar to the canyon country of arizona.” – zane grey

 

 

 

 

—

image credit: looney tunes, the roadrunner

Aug3

the beginning and the end of my journey-a story of magnificence, as told in pictures..

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my morning view from my hotel in san jose, costa rica at the beginning

a magnificent welcome

my morning view from my hotel-ish in the jfk airport area, new york, usa, at the end

even the boy scouts need help finding their way from time to time at jfk airport

2.5 hours in tsa security

dogs alerted to hiking shoes worn in the rain forest

they took my shoes for a while

 later dropped them into a random plastic bin for me to retrieve with no explanation

planning in my head to work out an alternate flight

miracle flight delay at last minute

ran for ages and somehow made it on just in time

i’m not known for my running skills

but i was motivated

right on time

bus transfer to ann arbor

with the kindest, most positive, happiest driver i’ve ever encountered

helped an older blind woman board bus one step at a time

moved her personal things so that should could sit in a front seat

helped a very elderly man who did not speak english to secure a ticket and hook up to wi-fi

yelled out, “i’m not tryin’ to not listen to your conversation here,

but i’m overheatin’ and need to turn on the air so i may not hear you!”

apologized for now planning to be 5 minutes late to arrive in ann arbor

did not blame the delay on the people she stopped to help

got on her radio and gave us updates like an airline pilot

told us she was passing trucks, so she could go a couple of miles faster,

as per company policy, to make up the time

as we approached ann arbor

she shared that she makes it a point not to go over curbs

even with all of the city’s myriad construction detours

told us the she really is a hippie at heart and loves ann arbor

reminded me so much of the comedian, melissa mcarthy

a blond version

with her big hair clip, gloves, vest, reflector sunglasses

and best of all

an incredibly big heart and enthusiastic demeanor

born to do this job or any job with people

upon arrival in ann arbor

she told us not to worry

she would get all of our luggage our from the underbelly of the bus

did so with a smile, got right in there to grab our things, and wished us well before she headed off

a magnificent ending.

—

many thanks to all who followed me on this journey

—

“remember that happiness is a way of travel – not a destination.”

roy m. goodman

Jul25

quietly floating through the cloud forest.

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crossing the continental divide

 into the pacific region

for a visit to canto del rio and a hike into the cloud forest

one of the most unique environments in the world

surviving on costa rica’s mountaintops

incredibly quiet and powerful

the cloud forests are formed by a combination of wind and geography.

—

“in the cloud forest the fog is taken into the plants, thus ever clearing the air and feeding the streams. these forests are sacred, for they both bring flowing water to the ecosystem and hold the earth in place during the rains.”

-angela abraham

Jul23

up in the canopy and so lucky.

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it was a very lucky day

to wake up and look out my window

to see the high clouds had cleared

revealing the top of the volcano at last

then a hike up and into the tree canopy of the arenal rainforest

 amidst many highly specialized flora and fauna that very rarely live in other places.

 it’s estimated that no less than 1/3 of all tropical species are found in a rainforest canopy.

it was such a lovely way to end the day

to see these skies when returning in the early evening

after a day spent up high in the canopy

a very lucky day indeed.

“the forest is for me a temple-

a cathedral of tree canopies and dancing light.”

-dr. jane goodall

Jul21

going through.

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a welcoming walk through the rainforest

in the sarapiqui region


beauty everywhere

bravery on the hanging bridge

over the roiling river

finding a lock of love

magnifico.

“the clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness.”

-john muir

Jul19

pura vida.

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my home away from home

in the rainforest on the caribbean side

water, more water, water from the sky

crocs, orchids, trees, coconuts, mangoes, sloths, monkeys, birds

rice, beans, fish, bananas, coffee, veggies, guava, papaya,

calm

pura vida

—

The term “Pura Vida” is an expression of happiness, optimism, and living life to the fullest.  It is impossible to visit Costa Rica without hearing this phrase continuously.

As a question, it is equivalent to “how are you?” As a response, it means “very well.”

Curiously, the person does not necessarily have to be very well — the greeting arises automatically because, deep down, its meaning is: “I’m glad to see you and that makes me happy”.

it is also used to say goodbye:

it is the equivalent to saying “yes” to any question and used to say “you’re welcome” or “it’s nothing”.

regardless of the context, Pura Vida is always expressed with enthusiasm, sympathy, gratitude and motivation, because it emerges from the soul.

Pura Vida is an expression so embedded in the culture of Costa Ricans that no one would suspect that it may have arisen from a 1956 Mexican movie with the same name.  The phrase is used by the protagonist throughout the film to refer to good people and beautiful things or situations.

Ticos (people native to Costa Rica) adopted the term, morphing it to a distinct meaning yet with varied manifestations. It is now so ingrained that it is used by different generations and is part of Costa Rican mainstream culture and identity. More than just a term, it’s a lifestyle.