Domestic vs. International Travel

When I travel, it’s almost always internationally. I love getting stamps in my passport, changing money and being someplace where people don’t speak English. So what am I doing here in Seattle? After dragging my boyfriend Ricardo to Costa Rica in February, this time he got to pick somewhere that he wanted to go. His brother and sister-in-law, Eddy and Paola, live here so we decided to come out and visit them. And I am always happy to explore a place that I have never been to before.

In another country, the simplest activities can be adventures. I remember trying to buy tickets for the subway in Barcelona, buying the wrong kind, and some very nice locals helping us to straighten it out. Learning to take the subways and buses in Mexico City and Buenos Aires was fun. Just waiting on line in a bank to change money can be a cultural experience. And one of my favorite destinations in a foreign country is the supermarket. I love seeing all of the different products and unfamiliar brands. It’s also a great place to buy gifts and souvenirs. Generally, when I am in a city in the United States, I miss out on all of these intercultural opportunities. Luckily, however, I love markets. And boy, does Seattle have a market!

When I told people I was going to Seattle and asked for suggestions of things to do here, everybody told me to go to the Pike Place Market. So I did. What a great place! First of all, it’s massive. We walked around there yesterday and are going back later. We saw the famous fish sellers who throw the fish and the original Starbucks. But even more fun was just seeing the beautiful fruits, flowers and homemade treats. Lots of venders give out samples. I tried cherries, chocolate covered cherries, honey, jams, and nuts yesterday. Everything is locally grown or produced and the vendors take great pride in their products. There is also a sizeable area of crafts and jewelery with really beautiful merchandise. I’m going to try to show some willpower!

The other thing that is different on this trip from how I usually travel is that we are staying with Ricardo’s family and not in a hotel. Luckily, Eddy and Paola are wonderful hosts and seem really happy to have us here. It makes it personal and homey and they are making our time here more fun. And they’re all speaking Spanish to each other so I can kind of pretend I’m in another country!

Travels with Carolina

Since I had such a good time writing about Allison a few days ago, I decided to try another profile.  I met Carolina in Costa Rica in 2002 when she was my Spanish teacher for 7 weeks.  Even though Carolina is 12 years younger than me, we hit it off immediately and quickly became good friends.  In the past 7 years we have travelled together quite a few times, both within Costa Rica (Jacó and Puerto Viejo beaches) and to other destinations (Panama and Guatemala).  She also visited me twice in New York, most recently in 2008, on her way to study journalism in China (more on that later).  We have had many adventures together, and I thought I would recount some of them here.

In 2005, Carolina and I decided to spend Semana Santa (Easter week) together in Panama.  I was already in Costa Rica studying Spanish, so we set off by bus from San Jose.  Our ultimate destination was Bocas del Toro, an island archipelago on the Caribbean coast of Panama near the Costa Rican border.  Before going to Bocas, however, we decided to spend 2 nights in an eco-lodge type place called Wekso in the Panamanian jungle where we would experience the culture of the Naso, an indigenous group.  (http://changuinola.bocas.com/odesen/changuinola-odesen.htm) The journey consisted of a 6 hour bus ride to the town of Guabito on the Costa Rican side of the Costa Rica-Panama border, where we were met by a representative from Proyecto Odessen, the non-profit organization that helped us arrange this 2 day eco-tourism adventure.   First we went through immigration on the Costa Rican side, then we had to walk across a very rickety bridge to Panama, where we then went through Panamanian immigration.  Once we crossed the bridge, we were in the Panamanian town of Changuinola.   The representative from Odessen first took us to an office in town, where we paid for our trip.  We were then driven to another town called El Silencio, where we embarked on the next mode of transportation–a canoe with an outboard motor.  The boat took us to Wekso in the Parque Nacional La Amistad, where we found ourselves to be the only guests in the lodge with the company of a Naso guide and a cook.  I distinctly remember Carolina saying that this place needed better marketing.  I could see her point; after all, we were the only guests during what is a pretty busy time to travel in Latin America.  However, I responded that what they really needed was electricity and running water.  That’s right, 2 days with no running water (there was an outdoor toilet, you just had to throw water down it) or electricity.  The cabin was made of wood, and as we melted the bottom of our candles (provided by the lodge) so they would stick to our wooded bedframes, I remember thinking that we were definitely going to burn the place down.  We also shared the cabin with a vast assortment of critters, including bats (luckily it was too dark to see anything at night, but we heard them).  Kind of scary for this city girl!  For 2 days we ate what the indians eat (lots of bananas in all forms), hiked, and were able to visit their village.  Their culture is interesting, and unique in that it is ruled by a king.  The website linked above has some information about both the lodge as well as the Naso peoples.   The was a very special and unforgettable experience and probably something that I would never have done with most of my other less-adventurous friends.   The rest of the vacation in Bocas del Toro was fun and definitely not as rustic.  I don’t think I was ever so happy to take a shower as when we arrived at the hotel in Bocas!

In 2007 I went back to Costa Rica for a quick visit and Carolina and I decided to go to the beach town of Puerto Viejo for a weekend.  We had already boarded the bus and were ready to leave for the approximately 4 hour ride when Carolina decided that she had to go to the bathroom.  As she got off the bus, she asked someone who she assumed was the driver if she had enough time, and was assured that she did.  But then the bus started to leave without Carolina!  In my best New York style, I pushed my way to the front of the bus, past passengers who were still getting themselves settled, and frantically started screaming to the driver (in Spanish, no less) that my friend went to the bathroom and we had to wait for her to get back.  After all, he had told her that she had time to go.  He responded he didn’t tell her that (I think it was  actually a dispatcher), that the bus had to leave, it was time to leave, etc.  Maybe he took pity on me but did stop the bus for a minute, at which point I saw Carolina coming across the terminal.  I screamed out the front door of the bus “corre, Carolina”  (“Run, Carolina. ” All I could think of was “run, Forrest, run”).  That was a close call. 

When we got to Puerto Viejo we went to the offices of ATEC (http://www.ateccr.org/) which is a non-profit eco-tourism organization to book a hike in the rainforest.  (Are you sensing a theme here?)  The tour we chose visited the KekoLdi indian reserve, where the BriBri indians live, a waterfall, and a lookout point at a raptor migration project.  Our guide, Alex, was absolutely amazing, and we saw sloths, cacao trees, and what I think was a poisonous snake (Why do I think it was poisonous?  It was curled up, and when I stopped to take a picture, Alex told me not to use flash.)   The natural beauty there is absolutely breathtaking, and the hiking was very treacherous.  It had rained the night before (it is a rainforest, don’t forget) so the ground was very slippery.  I only had sneakers with me, which made the hiking even more difficult.  (I have since learned to bring hiking boots when I travel with Carolina!)   I had numerous visions of tumbling down the side of a mountain, never to be heard from again.  Luckily our wonderful guide saved me on a few occasions and we finished the hike with no major injuries.  One of the highlights of the day was a traditional lunch at the home of Alex’s mother.  They do not have electricity in the reserve, so everything was cooked on a wood burning stove.  The food was served wrapped in a banana leaf and we also had hot chocolate which was all natural, just cacao and sugar. By the way, Alex told us the reason that they don’t have electricity there is because the monkeys tend to electrocute themselves on the wires.  I kid you not.   All in all, another memorable trip with Carolina.

My adventurous friend has now embarked on a new endeavor that makes what I just described look like a walk in the park.  Since September 2008, Carolina has been living in Nanjing, China, where she is studying Mandarin.  She won a scholarship from the Chinese government to study Chinese and then get a Master’s degree in journalism.   From what I understand, Carolina took an exam (kind of the Chinese equivalent of the TOEFL) last month, and if she passes the exam, she will move to Shanghai to begin her journalism studies.  I can’t really wrap my head around the challenge mastering the Chinese language to the extent of obtaining a Master’s degree in a field that is all writing!  Never mind my other big question of how does one study journalism in a country that doesn’t have a free press?  But this girl is determined, and if anyone can pull this off, she can.

Carolina is on vacation right now, travelling throughout western China and has been sending email updates of her current adventures.  First, she and her 3 friends were able to visit the town of Xiahe, which is normally off limits to foreigners.  This is a very important town for Tibetans in China, and due to tensions between the Chinese government and the Tibetan population,access to this town is very limited.  But Carolina and her friends met a monk, who knew a policeman who was an ex-monk, and somehow they managed to get permission to go there.  Carolina’s most recent email described their (unsuccessful) attempts ride bicycles in the Gobi desert.  The excursion ended up with some misunderstanding with 2 taxi drivers and a fight (in Chinese) with the manager of the store where they rented the bicycles.  I might be a bit off on the details but that’s the general idea.

I hope to visit Carolina in Shanghai next year and travel with her somewhere in Asia.  We haven’t finalized any plans yet but I have no doubt that whatever we do, it will be exciting, interesting, and fun.

Allison

When I travel, besides seeing beautiful and historic places, or relaxing on a beach, one of the things I enjoy the most is encountering interesting people along the way.  Sometimes they become lasting friends, such as my Spanish teachers and host family from Costa Rica, and more often they are passing acquaintances.  Regardless, they all add to my life and enrich the experience.

By volunteering for the New York International Ballet Competition, I enjoyed a close up, behind the scenes look at the world of ballet.  I also got to meet wonderful people from all over the world right here in New York.  I want to talk a bit about Allison, who was one of the dancers that was assigned to me in my role as a dance family.

Allison is 18 years old and lives in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.  She started dancing at the age of 3 and currently studies at the Ballet Clasico Alina Abreu (www.balletalinaabreu.com/). She has performed in the Dominican Republic and Colombia.  She also teaches ballet 3 days a week and attends college where she is studying industrial engineering.  Allison would like to defer her studies and concentrate on ballet but she explained to me that as long as she is in the Dominican Republic her father insists that she go to college. 

When I first met Allison, my initial impression was that she was shy.  Now I interpret was I thought was shyness as a quiet internal focus.  At moments I saw her act like a typical teenager but overall she demonstrated a maturity that I have not observed in many 18 year olds.

Unfortunately, Allison was eliminated from the competition after the first round.   However, her partner was selected to go on to the second (and eventually the third) round.  When I saw the results of the first round I immediately wanted to call Allison to see how she was, but at the same time I was nervous about doing so.  After all, she needed to continue dancing with her partner, even though she was officially out of the competition.  To me that sounds like an extraordinarily difficult task. Would she be devastated and distraught?  I didn’t know what to expect.  When I spoke to Allison, she told me that she was just happy that she could continue dancing.  What a great attitude!  In fact, throughout the competition she maintained an upbeat and positive attitude.  Every time I asked her how her classes and rehearsals were going, she responded either “bien” or “superbien.”  This is what Allison posted on her Facebook page in response to a question about whether she won the competition:  “ademas toy demasiado satisfecha d todo lo k hice alla…y d como baile cada dia…mejor k nunca…. ”  Those of you who speak Spanish should be able to figure out the slang and abbreviations (“toy” is “estoy”, “k” is “que”, etc.)  Translated into English it reads: “furthermore I am more than satisfied with everything I did there…and how I danced each day…better than ever.”  

I have no idea if I will stay in touch with Allison.  We are friends on Facebook, which means that it is easy enough to keep up with what she is doing.  I would love to see her dance again, and since the DR is one of my favorite destinations, maybe I could arrange a vacation there (to the beach, of course!) to coincide with one of her performances.  We’ll see!