Land Downunder

Gooday, mate, welcome to the land down under.  Now that I have that out of my system, on to our two, wonderful days in Australia.  Our approach into Cairns (pronounced Cans for some reason that we did not get an explanation for) revealed a wonderful view of the Great Barrier Reef from the air.  It’s easy to believe that you can actually see this coral landmark from outer space.

We’re actually staying in Port Douglas, a cute resort area on the northeast coast of Australia in Queensland.  We were told to expect a ‘special guest’ at our wine tasting before dinner, one we definitely would want our cameras to record.  Well, there was quite a buzz on the plane with speculation ranging from Crocodile Dundee to Gregg Norman.  We’d have a couple of hours wait (and a quick washing of clothes in our fabulous condos) to find our guest wasn’t a person at all but a very adorable koala.  We all got a chance to pet the soft, cuddly symbol of the Aussies.   He was very gentle and tolerant of all of our attention. But, alas, he had to return with his zoo keeper to his home down the road while we went off to eat the other symbol of Australia, the kangaroo.  Quite tasty if I do say so!

While most of the travelers chose to visit the Great Barrier Reef, we took the road less traveled, so to speak, into the rainforest.  Our first stop was the Daintree Rainforest with a walk in the woods with an Aborigine guide.  Talking about the ultimate survivors, the Aborigines used every part of the land to survive in the rainforest.  There are leaves that turn into soap when rubbed, nuts that can serve as mini torches when lit, glowing mushrooms used to fish at night, natural pigments used to decorate their bodies, you get the idea.  Richard Hatch (for you Survivor fans) wouldn’t stand a chance in a contest with an aborigine!

Next we visited a 20 acre Garden of Eden appropriately named the Botanical Ark.  An upstate New Yorker decided as a child that he was really an Aussie at heart and found his way to this part of the world as soon as he could.  He and his wife bought a former sugar cane plot and turned it into a zoo of rainforest fauna and flora from around the world.  They were determined to raise their daughters in healthier fashion by more or less living off the land.  They raise plants that produce fruit that keeps you from getting body odor (originally reserved for royalty), treat skin disorders, treat cancer, produce harmless dyes, and just plain taste good.  They’ve introduced plants into Australia that are now grown commercially.  They even had a hand at introducing rainforest flowers into florist shops around the world.  What a fantastic legacy.

Following our tour we were treated to a lunch featuring some of the food they grow in their ‘garden’.  Green papaya salad, sweet potato salad, local caught fish, and most surprising, a mélange of ginger flowers, each with a slightly different taste ranging from cumber to a slightly sweet, crunchy bud graced our plates.  It was equally pleasing to the eye unlike many of the beige foods that we often eat at home.   After dessert, we tried a variety of tropical fruits that most have not had the opportunity to sample.  The grand finale, a miracle seed that when allowed to coat your mouth turns a sour lemon into a sweet orange, capped off an eye opening afternoon of living off the land.

A word about our accommodations.  Our rooms were actually two bedroom condos with full kitchens and, most importantly, the afore mentioned washers and dryers.  Our home also had a rooftop deck complete with our own private hot tub.  Others could walk straight into the bucolic saltwater pool that formed the interior courtyard.  It had a wow factor with were sad to leave behind.

Samoa - friendliest place on earth

I can now say I’ve been in Tahiti.  Well, that’s not totally accurate.  The plane I was riding in stopped to refuel in Tahiti but we couldn’t disembark.  Let me just say, the views from the plane made Tahiti look pretty spectacular – volcanic mountains surrounded by shallow turquoise waters.  I’ll be back and this time I’m getting off.

David has now been laid twice, or should I say he’s had two leis from lovely native women placed around his neck, while on the trip.  I’ve asked him if he could manage to greet me at least once a week with a fresh flower lei when I walk in from work.  I can’t really tell you his response but suffice it to say I’m going to have to teach the cats a new trick if I expect a flower necklace when I walk in the door.

Samoa is a lush tropical island with the friendliest people on earth.  As we drove to Robert Louis Stevenson’s home we got a real flavor of the island.  All the natives happily waved as our little bus drove by their brightly painted homes with community gathering areas in the front.  These areas are open air roofed structures with cement floors.  Oh, and did I mention they bury their dead in the front yard?  Yep, almost every yard has a raised crypt like structure right in the middle of the yard where their dearly departed are laid to rest.  I guess that’s one way to keep an eye on the family once you’re gone.

Robert Louis Stevenson of Treasure Island fame spent his final years living on Samoa.  His home has been turned into a lovely little tour and gift buying opportunity for tourists.  The grounds are splendid with native plants surrounding the property.  Upon arrival, we were entertained by a group of school girls wanting to thank us for our donation to their school (the tour company makes a donation at each of our stops to local charities) by singing a couple of songs for us.  Next we had a Kava ceremony which is a way to mark special occasions.  Natives in the local garb (a cloth wrap called a lava) recite the sacred words while dipping a bundle of dried plant stems in dirty looking water, squeezing it out, tossing it behind their back, then they offer you a drink.  I think my one bout with an upset stomach  is enough for one trip!

Aggie Grey’s Lagoon is exactly what you’d expect to find in this tropical paradise.  Fresh flowers were scattered throughout our room.  Our balcony overlooks the ocean complete with fishermen in boats heading home from a day’s work.  A slight upgrade from our last stop.  One thing I didn't expect was the humidity.  One step outside the room meant a 15 minute wait for the fog to clear from the camera lense.  Houston, take that!

Another buffet dinner was followed by another exhibition of native dance and also a demonstration of fire dancing, which I think would be a delightful addtion to Dancing with the Stars.  My vote still goes for the hard bodies on Easter Island.  The bugs came out and we went in.

While Easter Island used the standard rooster for alarm clocks, our resort on Samoa employed skinny little cats that would stand outside your door meowing at the top of their lungs to get your attention.  They did allow us our first full nights sleep in several days.  The breakfast buffet offered one very unusual addition - spagheti with tomato sauce.  Oh, and the sauges had a slightly Vienna Sausage feel.  Fresh cooked eggs offered a more 'normal' alternative.

Before departing the island, we visited a Women's Committee meeting.  Think quilting bee except they weave mats for their floors and sleeping and you've got the picture.  It was clear the Samoan women, while maybe not officially in charge are a feisty group that manage to get their way.  There was singing and dancing and a makeshift market where several in our group bought silkscreen cloths for gifts back home.

Next stop, Australia.

The Remotest Place on Earth

Have you ever circled an island at 1500 feet not once but twice in a 757?  Well, we did.  Because there’s not a lot of air traffic around Easter Island, one of our travel experts asked our pilot if he could get clearance to circle the island twice, once for the right side of the plane and once for the left side of the plane.  We could see inside the crater of a dormant volcano, we could see statutes on the beach, you name it we could see it.  What an experience!

For those of you that have or have had teenagers (especially boys), you’ll relate to our welcome to Easter Island.  Before we were allowed off the plane a very nice person boarded and walked down our aisles spraying disinfectant.   I guess like teenagers, they weren’t sure where we’d been and what we might be have gotten into, but a little Lysol seemed like a good way to make us a little more socially acceptable.

Rapanui, better known as Easter Island, is one of the most remote places on earth located in the Southern Hemisphere between Chile and the Polynesian islands.  We probably would have no interest in it except for the very large stone sculptures known as moai left in various locations around the island from an ancient culture.  I’m sure you’ve seen photos, large heads attached to legless bodies with very long arms, much like the people they seem to interview after a tornado hits a trailer park in the Midwest.  They come in all sizes, but like most things, we are much more fascinated by the really big ones.  And big they are.

First, a note about our accommodations.  Think about a 1950’s era motor lodge and you’ll have a pretty good idea what awaited us.  It was clean, had a comfortable bed, but far from luxurious.  What they lacked in luxury they more than made up for in scenery.  The sunset was stunning, with gentle waves lapping at the rocky coastline. a gentle breeze at our back.  Picture postcard perfect.

The morning we headed out to view various moai locations around the island, it was a little overcast with a threat of rain on the horizon.  Our first stop was a location with statutes in various states of repair at a rocky beach location.  As the visit progressed, the skies darkened and precipitation began to fall.  We hurried to the bus, on to the most historically significant location on the island.  By this time it was really raining and those gently breezes weren’t quite so gentle.  We waited a few minutes for it to blow over (which apparently it always does) but to no avail.  We zipped on our rain coats and headed out.  If you have every watched that movie classic, Caddy Shack, think about the scene where the priest is having the game of his life in hurricane like conditions and you’ll have a good idea of our touring conditions.  We soldiered on because this might be our only shot at visiting the quarry where the moai were carved in place.  To say we were soaked is an understatement.  My phone got so wet that it no longer functions and it was inside my purse!

A quick change of plans (no beachside lunch) found us back at the motel changing into dry clothes and waiting out the rain.  After lunch, it did clear to a point a few stalwart travelers were ready to try again.  We visited a site where our guide, Claudio, and his archeological team restored an alter to its original splendor thanks to the gift of a Japanese crane donated to assist in their work.  It took five years, surviving a labor shortage due to a really bad Kevin Costner movie that briefly made all the natives “actors”, to complete the movie and reassembling the seven moai back to their rightful location.  Barring a major earthquake or tsunami, they should be there for years to come.

Our evening’s entertainment was a local dance troupe that won a dance competition among the Polynesian islands.  I’ve never been fascinated by Chippendale dancers, but let me say these guys were really something to watch!  Talk about abs of steel.  I’m sure if David was writing this post he could add a description of the female dancers, but frankly I was too fixated on the shimmering tanned natives gyrating a few feet in front on me, pounding their (shaved) chests and flexing their muscles all to native inspired music to even notice anyone else on stage.  Enough said.

Machu Picchu here we come

Yesterday was our first major destination on the trip, Machu Picchu.  Before boarding the Hiram Bingham train (Indiana Jones was based on Bingham, a Yale prof with a wealthy wife that he really didn't mind being away from for very long expeditions to Peru), we stopped at a native village to tour the town and get a feel for how the people in the country live.  It's a very agrarian culture with corn and potatoes being two of their major crops.  They still farm on a very small scale basis since the sloping (think of a tall slide at a water park and you have the general slope of the land) isn't very conducive to farming with machinery.  This is the beginning of their growing season so everything was very green and lush.

The village itself was very small and obviously used to some tourist visits as they had the standard mother and daughter that would pose in their native garb for a few cents (or sols) and the children hawking jewelry and woven goods as we stepped off the bus.  We got a glimpse into a standard one room home home complete with chickens, ducks, dogs and cuy (see previous post for a full explanation of cuy.

Continuing on we took the afore mentioned Hiram Bingham train to Macchu Picchu.  More food, more drink.  At our destination we all boarded buses for the twisty ride up the mountain.  The views were spectacular.  At the top we were divided into small groups to take the tour.  And what a tour it was.

Machu Picchu was an Incan village of massive proportions.  I had read books and looked at pictures but it really didn't prepare me for the real thing.  First, let me say, the weather was perfect for our visit - no rain and clouds mixed with blue sky.  The site is filled with stairs, stairs and more stairs.  The Incans were small people with short legs which meant each stair had to be a big challenge.  If you're interested in learning more about it, I'm certain Wikipedia has a great article. 

We did the whole climb, which was a little challenging but nothing we couldn't handle.  We took the postcard/Christmas card photo at the top then started back down for, you guessed it, more food before boarding the bus back down the mountain.  We were on the same train back to Cusco, but this time the bar car hosted a band and dancing and some impromptu singing by fellow passengers.  Liquor flowed freely which made walking in the narrow gauge rail cars quite a challenge.  More food, more drink, then back to one more bus and our hotel.  A fantastic day that did not disappoint.

One person's pet is another person's dinner

Peru has several food specialities, some of which are familiar to us while others might seem a little out of the ordinary.  The potato is actually native to Peru with over 3000 varieties having been catalogued.  I don't think I've had a meal without at least one potato item and sometimes two.  They even serve a sweet potato slice with one of their other specialities, ceviche.

One of their more pleasurable specialities is a drink called a Pisco Sour.  Pisco is a brandy liquor made with first press grape juice.  To this you add lime juice, simple syrup and whipped egg whites.  I have to say it's a very pleasant way to start a meal, end a meal, or just skip the meal altogether.  Our friends on the trip took the opportunity on our train ride today (that's another post) to coax the recipe for the perfect Pisco Sour from the bartender. 

Now for the slightly unusual food specialty - cuy.  First let me say that cuy is so important in the Peruvian culture that there's a painting of The Last Supper hanging in a cathedral in Cusco with a cuy proudly displayed on the table ready for consumption.  And what you might ask is a cuy?  Well, it's one of our furry little childhood pets, the guinea pig.  We actually visited a village today where they were raising them on a dirt floored room.  My understating, although I didn't have a chance to confirm this, is that they bake them with their skin on which becomes crispy.  It's acceptable to eat the cuy with your hands because they are so bony.  Yummy!

The last food item I did try was alpaca.  I actually had it in carpacio form (that's raw and sliced very thin) for an appetizer last night.  That might explain my bathroom visit(s) in the wee hours of the morning where the only thing I could think of was that I had come all this way to visit Machu Picchu and by God I wasn't going to let a  little food poisoning get in my way!  After clearing my system of any remains of dinner (I tried to say that as delicately as I could, but text me and I can give you all the gory details) I was good as new a ready for the climb of my life.

It's only day 2 and I'm exhausted!

Last night we had our "welcome" dinner to meet our fellow passengers and our tour leaders.  There was the usual "so where are you from" along with the general sizing up of who you thought you could possible spend this much time traveling with around the world.  There are all types of people on the trip including a guy who's writing a young adult sci-fi novel set in the Grand Canyon.  A group of kids discover a colony of intelligent amphibians hidden in the canyon.  Well, you know, who thought vampires would be so popular...

We definitely fall on the younger side of the age spectrum although there may be little to no correlation with how well we hold up on the trip.  We seem to have "bonded" with several couples already although dance partners will probably change several times along the road. No one seems to be trying to impress anyone which is good since I discovered my pants have paint stains from a previous trip involving guns and targets.

This morning we were whisked off to the Sanford airport that seems to be reserved for charter operations and a flight school.  Security is a whole lot easier when you're the only flight departing for the next few hours.  Awaiting us on the plane was an array of entertainment/comfort goodies for our perusal.  Each of us has an iPad loaded with guide books, educational shows, lecture notes, and for those not quite so into the educational side of the trip, Angry Birds.  We were also issued Bose headphones, personal transmitters which will be used by local guides at each stop, a personal comfort bag ( tooth brush, ear plugs, etc.), and a bag to store our swag.  Talking about spoiled, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to step onto a Southwest flight again.

Along our route we heard from our traveling experts about Latin American political issues, the earth's climate and the sights of Peru.  We also were served our first of many multi-course meals complete with cheese course and matching wine.  Any delusions I might have had about this being a trip where I could shape up and drop a few pounds where burst with my first bight of caviar.

Upon arrival in Peru, we visited the Larco Herrera Museum, home of one of the largest collections of Pre-Colombian art.  Oh, and did I mention, they also are the home to the largest collection of sexually themed pottery in the world.  I've never seen so many exposed penises in one room, nor realized that if you call it art you really don't feel all that bad taking what amounts to pornographic photos to show Aunt Carol at the end of the trip.

Awaiting us in our hotel room were gifts of silver picture frames.  I think they may be taking care of my Christmas shopping for me if this pattern holds up.  The room is gorgeous, the dinner fabulous and the bed quite welcoming.  Time for bed.  We have an early wake-up call  to catch our flight to Cusco.

Ready, set......

It's almost here!  We leave in less than 4 days for our big adventure.  There's so many last minute items to take care of: call the credit card companies, make a list for the house/cat sitter, order a turkey for Thanksgiving, pay bills, finish immunizations, get cash,  have gallbladder removed.  Gallbladder removed???? Yep, it had a fear of going to foreign locals so my doctor and I decided it was better to leave it at home.  So long, old friend.

This weekend we have all the last minute packing to finish.  We also want to see as many people before we depart just to tell them how much we appreciate them and would miss them if we end up in a foreign jail with no one to post bail (please, please, look sufficiently distraught if CNN asks you if we're worth risking an international incident to get us safely back to the US of A).  We even made last minute trips to see both of the boys. 

I also have had to concede that I will not receive a degree in ancient civilizations before our departure.  I've read several tombs regarding our destinations, but will have to rely on the experts to refresh my memory at each stop.  At least I tried.

Next post: On the Road