Ending 2009 with upgrades...

(This image is the view from the highest point on the 15 acres of Corasoma, looking down at the "city" of Barichara on the right, and the northern end of the Andes mountains known as the Santa Fe range, swinging around to the left.)

Our past couple of weeks have been primitive, to say the least. With limited water delivery from the city of Barichara - there is a serious lack of water here - and with the only toilet unable to function, we have been truly “camping out.”

But the new bathrooms have been completed, with the potential to deliver a slightly more upscale experience than we’ve had so far. But the reality here is that for many of the other residents of this area upscale is not an option. One of the workers saw me heading off to "fill a post hole" and he just smiled and waved. Daily bodily functions are not considered anything to be ashamed of and young children, especially boys, are taught early on that when one has to “do your duty,” one simply finds a place on the side of the road, or behind a bush, and relief is that close.

As a matter of fact, most Colombian “public” bathrooms in the rural areas are places where in the U.S. or in other more developed countries one would be resistant to even entering. No toilet paper or hand towels are offered. In some cases, there are not even any toilet “seats,” just cold porcelain and a dubious level of cleanliness, but at least one is not visible to the public’s eye. I’m a quick learned when it comes to remembering to have tissue in my pocket...

Hot water for a shower is rare. That’s less of a problem in our area because the average daily temperature hovers around 75 degrees, dropping slightly when the sun sets and getting slightly warmer during mid-day. But trying to wash and then condition one’s hair with only a trickle of water is more problematic. Jey-hu says I’m making too much of that issue, but he’s not faced with that challenge!

I haven’t talked much about the limitations of this lifestyle, in part because I haven’t had time to think of how to deliver the information with a somewhat delicate slant. And there is so much here that is truly lovely, exquisite and charming that it seemed almost ungrateful, or complaining, to mention them.

But we are about a month away from returning to the U.S. and there are lots of comments from our hosts about “you won’t miss.....(fill in the blank)” and in fact, I think I will miss many things - not the least of which is our growing participation in the community activities - we went to our first art show this week where the local doctor was displaying her excellent pen and ink drawings.

Because of my gardening expertise, I will probably return before Jey-hu does to stay on top of some of the projects I have committed to completing before we open to the guests. So it is likely I won’t have time to re-acclimate myself to the U.S. lifestyle and will be focused on getting as many of the seeds and other materials we have identified as being useful for our permaculture life here. I haven't had a whole lot to do with the garden shown here except to keep up with the weeding. It was started in October before we arrived, but doesn't it look luscious?

I can’t think of a time in my life when I have been so pre-occupied with what I use and what the end result of my using it is... everything here is either composted, reused or recycled. And it’s a lot of work. I can see why the more developed countries do not put more emphasis on recycling... the return on investment is hardly worth it when you are talking about the cost of ‘man’ hours, but in the rural locations like Santander has, the cost is likely less than 5000 pesos... or $2.50 in U.S. dollars - PER HOUR!

Last night some of us went to a “tobacco ceremony,” to celebrate the Full Moon and to gather for a group intention to bring more water to Barichara this new year and since Jey-hu has a distributorship for “Living Water,” a copper tube that regenerates oxygen into water, we are hopeful this intention is realized - more water, more tubes to run it through.

More on this water business in 2010, and of course more of our adventures as they unfold. May this year bring you good health, because nothing else matters if you don’t have that - the rest will unfold.

Feliz Año!

Feliz Navidad!

After nights and nights of fireworks and loud music coming from 2 kilometers away in Barichara, last night it was surprisingly quiet. Perhaps everyone else was doing what we were doing - having a feast and then putting the presents under our Poinsettia tree, festooned with white lights, only to open them by flashlight... such fun!

Geared toward the two smallest children in our community, O and S, the adults only exchanged a few small token items and we watched in delight as the girls yelped with joy at their surprises. It was an orderly distribution and not, as you can see from the picture, a mass accumulation of toys and a demonstration of wealth. It was a pleasure to see such appreciation for what might be considered "minimal" expenditure in the U.S. And it was a reminder that the giving of gifts is not about how much was spent, but how one spent what one had.

(Due to the limitations of the modem we use to post these messages, we are not able to put up more pictures just now. Look for more after the holidays when fewer people are on line and using up the bandwidth we need to get the pictures loaded.)

Jey-hu and I agreed it was one of the more delightful holiday events either of us had been to... our gifts to each other were just being here - a place where we are growing ourselves as well as things around us. We wish all our readers a rebirthing of love and light for this next year!!

4.6 in Malaga is two hours from the campo

An earthquake was registered on the USGS website as being in Malaga (Bucaramanga) Colombia, but it was east of San Gil, and thus is more than two hours from us, and we are more than two hours from Bucaramanga. Although it was 4.6 on the Richter Scale, we did not feel it. And, the director says this is rather jiggly country, so no one pays much attention unless there is considerable shaking going on.

We are much more concerned about the lack of water, since we were told by the city water folks in Barichara on Friday that we would have 24 hours of water on Saturday at noon, but when we went to turn it on, there was only an ominous "drip, drip, drip," from the few drops left in the line and nothing more. Of course no one is around on the weekends, so we were out of luck. Our little pond, where the Tilapia are trying to grow, is down two inches since last week - we may have to see if the neighbor will let us take some water from his well. In this part of the world, there is an unspoken law that water that comes from the earth is available to anyone who needs it and if it is on your land, you cannot deny someone who is asking to have some.

The goat, featured above, is Alicia, and I was using the excuse that I was "mowing the grass" around the pond as to why I couldn't wash the dishes tonight. We have it on fairly good authority that Alicia's date with the macho goat from the next town over was successful and she is likely to have a kid in April, or even two, as he has a history of throwing doubles. We shall see.

Progress is slow in the campo

(Christmas lights in Bogota - hope you can see this.)

But not because of the energy and efforts of all the team: the directors, the support staff and all the workers. Partly it is due to a water shortage, some of it is due to materials not being available, and some of it can be laid at the feet of a certain holiday season. A lot of stores are closed by 5 p.m. where they were open longer in November. This is because many people go to church every night now, preparing for Christmas.

It is quite delightful to hear the excitement in the workers' voices after a night in Barichara attending the 'Novena' party at the Cathedral and every night we have been able to either hear or see fireworks from the town center as everyone gets very excited about the birthday of Baby Jesus because in Colombia there is more focus on the religious aspect of this time and considerably less attention to the more material items - not to say that isn't going on, but it is not as intense as in the U.S. And frankly, out here in the 'campo' (countryside) most of the peasants don't have the resources to buy all that much. But stores run out of some of the essentials more readily now, too, so we have to wait for other deliveries.

Today we gave one of our neighbors a ride when we found him walking back from the 'pueblo' (town). He was grateful to have a ride after working hard all day. Guess what he does? He works in the slaughterhouse, killing animals - cattle, sheep, goats, chickens - to be transported to market. He stank to high heaven and his clothes were full of holes, his straw hat was battered and misshapen and he sat in the car as if he was taking up too much space, pressing himself against the door. But this same fellow brought us two huge bunches of bananas, three enormous papayas and several mangos from his 'finca' (farm) a couple of days ago, to make up for his young son's behavior. (The boy was riding his bicycle through our property on Sunday several times after he had been asked to please ride on the road so we could have some quiet time. We surmised that he must have said something to his father or mother about it and they were disturbed that he wouldn't respect the boundary.)

What impresses me over and over again is how highly valued being respectful of others is taken here - no matter the type of work one does. And it is enjoyable to be living in a place where being honorable isn't based on how much one is earning.

The rain finally came - after almost a month

We experienced our first rainfall since we've arrived here. (Couldn't believe it's been almost a month!) I could smell it coming and we sat in the hammocks and watched the clouds build to head towards us from over the mountains - quite a lovely sight! At first it was just a little light drizzle and then it came pouring down for about three hours. What is interesting about this area is that once the ground gets really wet, it also gets very slippery.

So, due to the remote and steep hills on the road to the finca, generally no one attempts to travel the drive until after the rain. Unfortunately, our campo director and his partner had to return from Barichari just as the rain started and had a challenging time getting back. "G" said she was never going to drive to town if it looked like rain again. We all laughed because when she left it wasn't that cloudy, so who knew?

The next morning the skies were clear and the air felt especially fresh, although it seems quite fresh all the time anyhow, so that wasn't really so different. But the plants were happy to have three weeks of dust washed away and all the birds were very vocal. I saw this little yellow and green 'sparrow-like' bird hopping around the garden and I have a personal objective to try and identify the many birds we have here. When we were in Bogota, I found a great book, "Birds of Colombia," which will be a big help.

The little casita for Senor C., father of our director's wife, is nearly done. It has been an interesting study of how a rammed earth house is constructed. I've been taking pictures and will share that progress in my next blog. If we can get some of the paperwork processed to stay here, we would like to build one, too. After the first of the year we will go to Bucaramanga to the visa office to get some questions answered and get our first extension.

On our return from Bogota, we saw several very large fires with lots of smoke. It looked a little disturbing until we realized it is time to burn the cane to harvest it for making into sugar. And alongside the road we saw loads of coffee plants - my future latte! I couldn't take pictures of everything I saw, but imagine seeing a horse and cart on the freeway! It's very common here. Driving through the little towns between Barichari and Bogota we often saw goats, cows, and horses grazing right next to the road, and even saw horses tied up to a hitching post while the riders went inside for a cerveza, a meal or to pick up groceries. There is still a lot of remote and harsh back country which is best accessed by a mule or horse and although the roads here are improving, according to our host, there are still lots more dirt roads than paved. This final shot is looking back toward the central part of the state of Santander, up the Rio Suarez valley. Pretty, huh?

Trying to communicate

Challenges in communication extend beyond the obvious - having a modem or a way to Wi-Fi or a phone - and we have none of these options at our demand. We also have a language to learn and while I am making progress on a daily basis (Today I was able to go a little cafe, order a meal and beverage and pay for it, all without having to resort to an interpreter!), the more commercial activities of sending a FAX, receiving one, or getting a message by FED-EX to the U.S. is quite a big effort.

Now that we are in the big city of Bogota, we discovered that we still don't have the same kinds of commercial services and access as is found in the U.S., even in the smaller burgs. But they may makeup for those limitations with some of the most fantastic light displays for the holidays that I have ever seen. Above is the Parque International at night where we walked on the Night of the Virgin, which precedes a national holiday (yesterday) and which is also an occasion for excessive partying - until at least 4 a.m. all across the city and beyond, I feel certain. I was able to hear party sounds all around the apartment where we are staying until at least that time.

The Cathedral at Barichara

Today we attended our first "city" social event, a graduation of the niece of our host's partner from elementary school to high school. This "Promotion de 2009" took place in the cathedral because all the schools are under the aegis of the Catholic Church in this country and because this is also the largest building in the 'pueblo' where all the families can gather. The first part of the event was a mass with communion, which was not the organized process found in the U.S. People simply got up as they felt like it and walked to the front of the church, received communion and ambled back, talking to family and friends as they worked their way back to their seats in the rugged benches called "pews" in English, but I don't know the word in Spanish.

The roof of the church is built exactly the same way the roof on a rammed earth house is built, with cane and horse manure. Very insulating factor... see if you can see the cane on the photo looking up the aisle to the entrance which includes a large portion of the roof from the inside.

Then, after the mass, four flags were brought and placed below the alter. Finally, after we listened to four recorded songs (one was the national anthem for Colombia, one was the song for the State of Santander, one for the town of Barichara and one for the school) only after that could the actual graduation ceremony begin. (I admit I looked at my watch and we were already over an hour sitting on those hard benches.)

But we still had to listen to the welcoming address by the school's principal, the valedictorian address, the awards to teachers who had been ten years or more in the school, and then awards to outstanding students. One young lady was recognized for being the highest scorer on the Colombian version of SAT's in the entire country - and she is from this small town. Great amount of applause for that. Due to my limited Spanish, I was needing translation to understand what all the excitement was about.

What surprises me is that as simply as these folks live - many do NOT have running water OR electricity, they do have cell phones and their clothes are crisp, clean and sparkling white. If you saw some of the living conditions, you might be as amazed as I am at this observation. Our dinner conversation last night focused on the fact that in the U.S. being in poverty (without these essentials of water and electricity) is considered shameful and there is a sense that because, for whatever the reason, those individuals are 'less than' those who have more. This is definitely not the case here. There is no shame for poverty - perhaps because for many, living on the land, that is all they have known. Also, there is no expectation that the State or the Government will be bailing them out. They live by their wits and creativity and are proud. It is an important lesson that is lost on those who live on welfare in the U.S. and elsewhere.

We often have a young fellow from another 'finca' coming to charge up his cell phone because we have electricity. Usually we have running water, but the pressure is often debatable. Sometimes, because it has been terribly dry here, they ration the water and we have to go without it for a day or two. Challenging!

The container arrives...

The long-awaited phone call signaled “action,” which in campo-style means rounding up a few more hands and the dust on the roadway indicated the truck was heading our way. One of the regular workers called out to me to show me the dust cloud and within a few minutes the truck was in sight.



It was around 2 o’clock and after taking over a week to fill the container, we were both a little anxious as to how long it might take to unpack it. You see, they don’t have a 40-ton tow truck to lift 27,000 pounds of cargo, so we had to get back to basics - lifting just the container itself which weighs about 4,500 pounds - empty. But the “many hands make light work” ditty certainly was true in this case. Nine men and a little boy (a second-grader who is the son of the full-time gardener/handyman) emptied the entire 8 x 8.5 x 20 foot cargo space in one hour and a half and 30 bottles of beer!

Jey-hu was the “inside” director and I was the “outside” director. He guided them on which items to take off and cautioned them in sign language (his Spanish lacks the full capabilities for detailed instructions) as to weight and fragility. I guided them to the ‘kenai,’ an outside, covered building with sides but no windows or doors, and showed them where to place the items based on use - books in one corner, kitchen supplies in another, tools and garden implements over here and personal gear over there. My Spanish was barely up to saying ‘a qui,' and “gracias” over and over due to incredible fatigue from sleeping on an air mattress for 10 days that simply could not stay inflated.

One of the most exciting parts of this adventure has been living without refrigeration for these past two weeks. Getting our refrigerator here and carried down the hill to the dining hall was more than exciting... it was a total pleasure to have a drink of cold water today!!!

One of the worker’s wife and his children came to watch the excitement, and there were other family members who were not involved in the moving watching with interest everything that came out of the box. The antique oxen yoke caused great hilarity, the exercise system brought puzzled looks, and all the boxes of books caused great shaking of heads as to why anyone would have that much to do with those things.

Two “cerveca” (beer) breaks helped smooth the way and the next step was getting the container placed on the site where it is going to stay.

We were fortunate that our host’s wife’s father knew someone in San Gil who could tackle the problem. But when he showed up with a 1960’s version of a two-tonner truck, we were not sure what the outcome might be. Still, you can see from the pictures here, just how accomplished the two drivers were and how successful the whole operation was.

It was Jey-hu who said later, “If I’ve learned anything today, it’s to get out of the way of these Colombians when you set them to do a task. They may not do it the way we would in the U.S., but they find a way and with their particular tools, and they get it done safely and quickly.”

And today, when we gave them a bonus for their efforts, they were grateful and pleased over what amounted to $20,000 pesos each... or approximately $11 per man. That will get them at least 10 beers or two or three meals, their choice. Below you can see the group of workers watching all the action.

By 5 p.m. all the excitement was over - probably one of the more interesting things to watch in Barichara recently - and both trucks were headed back down the hill, one to San Gil and the other to Bogota, six hours away. You can see our community all stopped work on this little casita in order to watch events unfold. This house is a "rammed earth house" a common sort of construction here. The walls are almost 2 feet thick keeping the house cool during the day and temperate in the evening. More on this in another blog.

As everyone headed home, we were left with boxes and boxes to re-organize, unpack and find places for things. And we were also left with a curious sense of family because it was due to all the families involved that we were able to realize the dream of having the container arrive here, get set down here and have all the pieces fall into place safely - for everyone.

We are thankful...

For many things... including the arrival - tomorrow - of our container. And for our friends, new and old, and for the incredible opportunity this adventure is providing to grow in many ways. And - to be in the country and the state where the award-winning Santander chocolate is made!

This photo of a woodpecker was taken by Jey-hu with his fabulous zoom lens. He is enjoying having time to take walks and find these lovely little birds perched on the cactus. While the area where we are is really green, it is also limited in the amount of rain it gets, so we have a curious mixture of greenery from a more lush area and what is normally found in some desert climates as well.

Here is my shot of a recent sunset. The clouds over the mountains are constantly changing, making each day a photographer's dream. And there are so many beautiful views to be found as we negotiate various villages and cities in our search for plumbing materials.

This is what the road to Bucaramanga looks like as we descended along the Rio Chicamocha canyon, heading toward the city. There are about one million people in population and thousands of them ride "motos" everywhere. It's not uncommon even to find three people riding on one motorcycle!

If you want to buy groceries in Barichara, it is like going into the front parlor of someone's house where they have shelves and shelves of canned goods, flour, sugar, beverages, etc. and a few fresh items stacked up and then behind the counter is the door to where they live, usually quite modestly. The lady who sells ice is just across the street and she puts water in plastic tubes, freezes them and you can get four tubes of ice for about 1500 pesos (75 cents).

So you want to be a millionaire? Come to Colombia and go to the cash machine. Take out $500 U.S. dollars and you'll have one million pesos, depending on the exchange rate... then you can go to dinner at the most expensive restaurant in Barichara and your meal will be about $6 USD with plenty of great food to eat. What's not to like?

It's worth a second look

Colombia -- the name brings up all kinds of anxious comments from friends and family about drug lords and guerillas and conflict. But the Colombia we are seeing is serene, beautiful, charming and welcoming. But stay away because we don't want it to change... This is the village of San Gil, not far from where our 'campo' is located.

But there are challenges... it isn't easy to find plumbing fittings, there are frogs, ants, and large flying beetles in the only bathroom that is operational this week, the kitchen hasn't been completed yet so we are still cooking meals for all on a two-burner gas stove, fruits bats fly by your head on the way to the banyo (bathroom) and there are almost exactly 12 hours of daylight - year round.

You can see the path we walk to get to the dining area and the bathroom. It was cloudy when I took this, but we've had some wonderful sunshine. Except for our drive into town, we walk all day, all around the 'campo' doing various tasks - weeding the garden - collecting fallen mangos, limes and lemons - watching the hummingbirds - moving things, although the container has not arrived as of yet.

The road to the right is the driveway up to the finca (farm) and it's about 2 kilometers, some of which is cobblestones and some is dirt, unless it rains and then we're told it's slicker than ... well, it's messy. Directions in case you want to get here from town: Drive until you reach the sharp turn and start up the 45-degree incline, and there are no other houses or farms after that, then make a sharp left to nowhere, followed by a quick turn to right to 'where-the-blank-are-we?' and just when you think you can't go any farther, you'll see the little casita (above) on the right. There is literally a cow path at the end of the road. See ya!

A First Look at -- Colombia!

As I write this, I am sitting outside looking across a deep valley at cloud-covered mountains and the workers at our finca (farm) are busy putting cane on the roof of a little casita to the music from their native radio station. At 4:30 this morning I couldn't sleep and took a short walk to the banos to the accompaniment of roosters crowing from several counties.

I thought about the day before and our arrival in Colombia...

The hotel where we stayed overnight was as expensive as any in the U.S. or Panama, but the accomodations were considerably less lavish. But the breakfast was better than average.

Our drive from Bucaramanga to San Gil took longer than usual since we stopped to overlook the Chickamocha Canyon and the newly opened national park with a gondola ride over the gorge carved by the River Fonce seen above.

The drivers all fight to pass as if they are on the racetrack, the problem is they are on a mountain pass and in some cases, a mistake will mean a fall down thousands of feet... but they still pass on the curves.

And our driver, our host, gives no quarter whether it's a bus or car - only to large trucks. Jey-hu sat in front and I tried to keep my gasping and sudden intakes of breath to a minimum in the back.

Then we were in San Gil, a really sweet little town where we found some truly amazing ice cream, except they were out of coffee flavor because it was a holiday country-wide. What I loved about it is that I didn't have any kind of lactose-negative response to it.

The population of 18th century San Gil is growing due to its increasing popularity as the "extreme adventure" sports capital of Colombia. If white water rafting or bungee jumping or thrills of similar nature appeal to you, make the trip here.

Very similar in feeling to the central plaza in St. Augustine, Florida, the Parque La Libertad in San Gil across from this cathedral is a reminder of the influence of the Spanish Conquistadors and the Catholic Church's conversion of the natives. In fact, some of the buildings are so much like those in St. Augustine that I felt curiously "at home" here.

We headed on to Barichara and after a quick stop we were at the campo/finca.... more on that another day. This is the countryside where I am now situated... more pictures and stories to come. And that includes a few horse shots for Jey-hu's daughter to prove they have them here!

A Partial Transit of the Panama Canal

Although the sun was shining at 8 a.m., by the time we arrived at our "put-in" spot on the Canal, it was mixed clouds and sun, but still warm - in the low 80's. This first picture is a view looking westward, the direction we were headed for a partial transit of the Panama Canal. The vessel we were on is called Pacific Queen and they regularly offer a "three-lock" journey from the portion of the Canal that is nearest the Pacific Ocean.

Jey-hu got this great shot of a huge tanker which shared the lock with us. We were told that the ship had only 24 inches on either side of the hull. The electric 'mules' are on rails on either side and attach to the vessel by steel cables to guide it into the lock, then those operators follow the pilot's instructions as the ship either is raised or lowered in the lock chamber. Once the vessel is at the level required, the 'mules' release it and the pilot continues to the next lock.

Every vessel, large or small, must have a pilot on board to transit the Canal. The two sailboats, shown below, each had a pilot and at least two line handlers. This is the only

time a captain is required to release his command of the vessel. Once the ship has cleared the Canal controlled areas, the pilot gets off and the captain takes back the command. Even the ship we were on had a pilot and we watched him leave once we entered the Pacific Ocean.

Our transit took almost six hours, and we were only on the western third of the Canal. The average time is 15 hours to go through all the locks and some of that time is spent waiting for one's turn to get into a lock. Once in, the lock can be drained or filled in about 15 minutes. We watched the water levels drop 32 feet in 10 minutes! The gates in the locks are the original gates... built 95 years ago and still working well today.

Shown above are the San Miguel locks, which is followed by the Miraflores, just one mile further along. The 48-mile long Canal was completed in 1914, but the idea for it began to percolate as early as 1819! The French tried to make the project go first, but they were unsuccessful. You can read more about it here. The jungle is still very evident and while the water in the Canal is mostly fresh water from a man-made lake, it is not advisable to swim anywhere because of the caymans (nasty creature from the crocodile family),

and although we heard about a fellow who did swim the entire length of the Canal, no permission like this will ever be granted again.

During the 1960's there were a lot of conflicts in connection with the Canal, but in 1977, a treaty was established to make it a neutral international waterway, with a guarantee of passage for any vessel even during war. The treaty also was the beginning of the hand-over of 'ownership' from the U.S. to Panama which was completed on December 31, 1999.

Friday the 13th in Panama

It does not appear that Panamanians have any concerns about Friday the 13th other than getting out and enjoying the mall. There is a very large mall close by our hotel so we had a chance to walk around, have lunch and observe. The picture to the right is the view from the Eighth floor where our room is. Jey-hu had, from his previous travels, earned a couple of free nights in this hotel chain, so that's how we're affording to stay here.

The mall activities are just like those in the U.S. the weeks before Christmas. The photo to the left is in the "Food Court" of the mall, not far from where the movie theatres are. We decided to go and watch "2012" and fortunately, since our Spanish is still limited, it was in English with subtitles. It was very much like "Deep Impact," the end-of-the-world story about a comet hitting the earth - interesting that both had 'Presidents" with dark skin and "arks" for saving certain people and pairs of animals. And both had a last moment turn of positive events.

But disaster movies tend to leave one feeling sort of disempowered, which is why I generally don't elect to see them. And "2012," even with the hopeful ending, was definitely a canned storyline. Although the special effects were interesting, especially seeing Mt. Everest as beach-front property, the message, and the delivery of it, was not unique.

You can see the half-decorated tree inside the mall. Even with temperatures in the mid-80's, the commercial trappings of Christmas are being installed in preparation for holiday spending. What we noticed is that most of the women in Panama City seem to wear their hair below shoulder length. If they want to have a sleeker or cooler look, they tie it up, put it in a bun or ponytail. I am definitely in the minority with my blonde, shoulder-length hair. And Jey-hu noticed that men do NOT wear shorts in the mall, or anywhere else that we went.

Another observation is that furniture and accessories have a much brighter color trend here. This red plastic table and translucent chairs would be very appealing in an all-white kitchen. Some of the other displays were equally as intense, modern and bright; quite different from what is normally seen in U.S. stores.

This is the winter season in this part of the world until May, when summer starts. There are really only those two seasons here. This is also the rainy season, so it often rains after noon. The temperature and humidity are pleasantly balanced so that even when it rains, it is not as oppressive as I have found it in Florida. Lots of locals carry umbrellas, which I found surprising since even as rainy as it got in Florida, I seldom saw people using umbrellas for protection.

Spanish is the dominant language, but the residents are friendly and patient as I struggle with my Spanish. It's been a great day decompressing from the stress of trying to get here and on to the retreat in Colombia. In this picture from our hotel room you can see the Caribbean. which we tried to walk to see, but it was an impossible task with all the freeways.

We have plans tomorrow to go and see the Panama Canal. More pictures!!!

Last Day in Seattle - for awhile

As I've been running around and going past this tree on a regular basis, I've been watching it change colors for several weeks. I never seemed to have my camera with me, until on this day, but I have to give credit to my passenger for taking it. He took several and this was the best one. It is hard to leave this area with its rich seasonal tones for the unknown, but the Northwest tugged at my heartstrings with one last look at its glorious sunny and mixed clouds, a mild day as a send-off.

A few more hours

In a few more hours, we will be getting on the plane and heading east to Atlanta, GA, then south to Panama City, Panama and then east again to Bucaramanga, Colombia to begin our journey. (If you click on this link, you can see some fabulous pictures of Chicamonga Canyon, Colombia's "grand" canyon.) Hard to believe that only a couple of weeks ago we were at the tip of the Baja and now we're about to head even further south.

When we first started researching the country, I was surprised to learn that, first of all, it is in the Eastern Time Zone. And, joy of joys, they do NOT honor Daylight Savings Time. In fact, the country is so close to the Equator that the difference between summer light and winter light is about 20 minutes. Our "campo" director was telling us that when it gets dark, it gets very dark as there is little ambient light contamination from the surrounding area, and they simply pack it up and go to bed, because morning light starts about 5ish... when the birds in the region wake them up.

CURRENT MOON PHASE

past and future moon phases

I am looking forward to seeing the night sky down there... we hear you can see millions of stars, something I used to see a little of when I lived in Arizona and traveled up to the mountains and before that, when cruising in the Bahamas we could truly navigate by the stars. I will try and get some pictures to show here.

It's been exhausting to try and pack suitcases, get last-minute jobs completed, spend time with Jey-hu's family (His father's birthday and his fell within a few days of each other and it was decided to make it a joint event - sorry: no picture of Jey-hu blowing out the 'recycled' candles from his father's cake.) see a few friends - and to John and Tiffany: thanks for the dinner invitation which Jey-hu discovered a couple of days ago when he finally got around to listening to his messages. Please, please do not take it personally that we never responded!! Enjoy Elksnout and plan to come and see us in S.A.!!

Perceptions of Colombia tend to be based on the drug cartel activities of years ago. Things have been cleaned up considerably, and where we will be is not a hotbed of illicit activities in any event. Still, we are smart enough to be cautious and to follow guidelines to avoid risky situations.

Oliver!

We had the delightful experience of meeting some people at our garage sale on Saturday who are involved with the Historic Everett Theatre and we were invited to attend the closing night of "Oliver!" put on by Northwest Savoyards, a community theatre group. What a charming delivery this group provided of this Broadway musical! I snagged a picture from their website showing the old theatre because this is how it looked tonight. This is a short post because we have been moving stuff all day and I'm weary. Having the social time of a musical and dinner afterwards was a great relief from being a drudge and a workhorse... I truly hate garage sales for the nickel and diming that we have to do, but I loved this one because we met some fascinating folks and caught up with a couple we have been meaning to see... hopefully they will come and see us in South America!

One Step Closer

With the departure of the container to the Port of Seattle, we are one step closer to leaving for our next adventure in South America.

Passports are ready, suitcases - yes, two each - are nearly packed, the house sitter is being briefed, the cars that run are being spread out around the county for care-taking (or is that car-taking?) and the ones that don't operate the way they should are going to be worked on by the house sitter (yea!!), utilities are being suspended, and last-minute details for being away for several months are being slowly checked off.

The shipper sent two (!!) cranes to pick up the container. Jey-hu asked the driver of the first one if I had called him and ordered both of them because I had been giving him such grief about how much stuff he was putting inside. I want to compliment both McKinney, the place where we purchased our container, and their crane contact, Skyway Towing from Renton, WA, for having a professional crew that got everything done quickly and safely.

I took a lot of pictures, like the one above, and Jey-hu was taking some as well like this one to the right, of the way that they lifted and lowered the container onto the truck for its travel to the Port. My youngest grandson loves trucks and I wished he could have been with me, but since he was not, I am going to give him a little booklet with lots of the photos we took and compose a little story for him to enjoy.

In the midst of packing, doing garage sales, errands, etc., the leaves are turning and the squirrels are grabbing up all the pits of the cherries to store away for the winter. Today it was quite mild, but by mid-afternoon (fortunately it was after the container lifting!) the wind was blowing heavily and rain was on the horizon. I think I may not miss the days of rain and greyness.

We had a lovely conversation with our Campo "director" this evening and got to see the inside of his "rammed earth home" which was very like the little structure shown below. It is not in green, nor is it quite as small, but the idea is to build with materials that are present in the area. If you go to www.rammedearth.blogspot.com, you will see this little shed made of rammed earth which is only one of several examples of the great diversity in design and capabilities of rammed earth structures.

The process of making a choice to go down one road or another is always more complicated than it initially appears, and once the decision has been made, the upheavals and ramifications of the choice sometimes give one a momentary doubt about the planned direction. But life presents barriers of all kinds, day by day, and part of the challenge seems to be just getting up and over them, or finding a way to work your way around it.

Making choices about what to take for three months to a remote village in South America has been challenging. Jey-hu wants to have many of his "creature comforts" and our worst disagreements have been about his perspective vs. mine... I want to have problem-solving materials and my cameras. But it's all over now, and our choices will arrive in about a month and we will see who is better served by his or her selections.