Not So Fun Times in Albania - Part II

Where we left off ... was where ... we were left off ... the bus 

If you missed the first installment of this adventure, we had crossed the remote mountains from Greece to the border of Albania here. 
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The big problem was that our bus took off without us, and we were stranded in the middle of nowhere without our luggage or anything. On the positive side, we did have our passports!

We walked out of the passport office and looked around.  All you could see were hills surrounding us, and a few worn taxis with dangerous looking drivers waiting for victims.   No one spoke English.  We were sixty miles from civilization. 

Fiona and I looked at each other, "what are we going to do?"  We decided to just sit and wait.  At some point, we would figure out what to do.  It was still early, before six in the morning.  We went back inside to talk to the passport officer.  We told him our bus left us behind, and he didn't seem surprised and didn't seem to care.  
"Welcome to Albania ..."

Without any options, we continued to wait.  "I'm not getting in one of those taxis", Fiona said, and I agreed.  We waited.  Lo and behold, after quite a while, another bus came along.  Maybe this is our chance!

We explained to the bus driver in sign language (nobody spoke much English in those parts) about our predicament, and he motioned "no problem, just get on my bus, only you'll have to stand ..." and he continued "maybe I can catch the bastard."

So we stood.  The bus was full people and kids and chickens and goats, but hey, we're moving.  The driver was really moving too, careening over the sometimes steep hills on bad roads and we had to hang on or we would fall over. 



 
 Eventually to our surprise, we caught up with the other bus!  Our guy starts honking and gets our original bus to pull over.  The driver comes back and sees us and says (I'm paraphrasing here) "Hey, what happened to you guys?"  
"You left us behind - you turkey!" 
And the driver replies "Turkey?"  
He looks around puzzled "Theese not Turkey, theese Albania!"
If we weren't so upset, this would have been quite funny.

So he invites us back to our first bus, but we're still ticked off.  We'll  just get our bags and ride our rescue bus.  We reached Korce, Albania, sometime mid morning.  

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On the way during the bus ride, we kept seeing these bunker like concrete structures built into the slopes alongside the road.  It seemed like they were everywhere.  They looked like rounded concrete defensive structures where soldiers could be inside with slits for the guns to shoot out - which is exactly what they were.  

There seemed to be hundreds, even thousands of them.  They were everywhere.  In fact, according to some sources, there are over 700,000 of them!

I asked the bus driver about them, and he was able to explain in broken English (along with help from another passenger), that the former communist government was very paranoid.  They thought  that America and the West were going to invade Albania at any moment, so they built these fortifications all over the country, designed to be manned with armed soldiers.

I almost laughed.  They couldn't be serious!  Why would America - or anybody else for that matter - every invade this small, impoverished, third rate, isolated, dysfunctional country for any reason? Most people couldn't even find this place on a map if they had to.  

At this point, they assured me, there are no soldiers anymore.  The former president was overthrown and died and "Now we have anarchy!"  

This is why you travel, to learn things like this that defy common sense, and even reality. 

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We finally reach Korce after driving through some fairly primitive countryside. 

Not knowing how long we'd be there, we had to find accommodations.  Some guy points us around the corner up the street and says "hotel".  We walk there and look up at this big, old, ominous Soviet bloc building.  We pause, and then walk inside.  

The clerk says they have rooms available, for cheap, and gives us a key and instructions upstairs.  We get to the room, and take one look, and know immediately we're not staying there.  We open the solid metal door, and it's like a concrete cell, with cots for beds and bars on the windows.  It's very cold and there is no heat.  For all we knew, it used to be a prison.  No thanks.

 
We walk downstairs and hand back the key, he doesn't seem too surprised.  We ask if there is anything else with a little better quality in town, and he just stares at us.  Customer service is non-existent in this country.  He shakes his head.  
We start to wander out and he says there might be a "luxury" hotel up the road a ways off, but it's very expensive!

We'll take our chances there.  We find it, but it's not what any traveler would call luxury.  Actually it was not too bad, even had a working TV.  It was only about fifty bucks a night - expensive?

So we need to get some local currency.  I have a some American dollars and ask the clerk at the front desk if there is a bank nearby. 

Clerk:  Bank?  Oh no, we don't have banks, this is Albania.
Me:  Hmmm, I need to change some money, how do I do that?
Clerk:  Oh no problem, you can do that.
Me:  Where do I go?
Clerk:  Just walk down the road here and take a left and go to the plaza, there's a money changer there.
Me:  Like an office?
Clerk:  No, no office, just a big mean looking guy.
Me:  How will I know who it is?
Clerk:  Oh!  Ha! Don't worry. When you see him ... You will know!  

This sounds funny and again, under different circumstances, it would have been.  But I was nervous walking around.  Albania was rather notorious for violence and such.   But I come to the plaza and look around and sure enough there is a huge mean looking guy with a big black coat standing on the corner.  

I walk up and hold out a bunch of dollars and the guy looks at me and grunts. He reaches inside his coat and pulls out a wad of money as big as a roll of toilet paper, and peals off a few notes and hands them to me. I look down and try to count them and we waves me off, like get outta here - now. 

 

When I get back to the hotel, Fiona asks me if I got a good exchange rate!  I replied, "I have no idea, HA! and I wasn't gonna negotiate with that gnarly looking thug.  You take what you get and move on!"

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The next step was to find our contact, and all we had was a name we had written down on a piece of paper.  It was a missionary who could point us in the direction of the refugee camps for the Kosovars.  Keep in mind, this is a long time ago and there is no phone book or other resource to find someone or contact them, especially in Albania. 

We ponder the situation; how are we going to find our contact?  We asked the clerk how to find this person and he looked at us as though we had just dropped out of a space ship.  No help. We were on our own.  

I hatched an idea - why don't we just start walking down the street and see if we can find him?  Fiona looked at me like I was an idiot (which sometimes I am).  She thought sounded like a ridiculous idea.   But okay, this town is big but not that big, and we can just ask around and keep wandering and see if we discover something, and ... do you have a better idea?

So that's what we did.  We walked around with a curious look on our face.  Eventually we found a guy who looked like a person from the West.  You know, you can usually tell when someone is not local.  For one thing, he had a decent haircut.  

Excuse me, do you speak English?  I asked him.  He turned to me and looked shocked.  "Yes, ... yes, I do!"  It's just that he had not encountered anyone, especially on the street, that spoke English to him.  We talked for a minute and ducked inside a coffee shop to discuss things over a cup of seriously strong Albanian coffee.  Geez, do they put Vodka in their coffee?

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Turns out this guy was from Canada and he was working there with a foreign aid program.  He had been there about a year, and didn't have a lot of good things to say about the country or the people. We explained our goal on the trip and he was amazed we would come there on our own and attempt something like this. 

He did have a good idea though, and led us to a building with a big metal gate, and banged on the door.  This country is really concerned about security, it's kind of a lawless place.  They let us in once they realized who he was and he mentioned the name of the manager, who turned out to be a lady.  

She was also intrigued by our quest, and she had some contacts who might know this person or how to find him.  We thanked our newly made friend and set off to a place the lady sent us.  It was another upstairs office across town where we got some more clues, and this went on for a while, until we got an address.  This whole thing took all day.  

We walked to this address and banged on the door.  It was around dinner time by then, and when the man opened the door he was astonished.  How did you find me?!?!  How did you get here?!?!
He was dumbfounded, and once he overcame his shock, he invited us in.  He had a family with a wife and a couple kids.  

We explained our goal to work with the refugees from Kosovo, and were trying to make contact with agencies who could point us in the right direction.  We explained that we took the midnight bus from Thessalonika, and his jaw dropped.  

"You took the midnight bus? And lived to tell about it?"  He was astounded. "Even the local people don't do that!"   I think he figured we were out of our minds for this whole adventure, but we just figured, well you gotta do what you gotta do. 

So we talked for a while into the evening shared ideas and plans and agreed to meet again the next day.  At one point a colleague of his came to the house and joined the conversation.  We started to leave and he asked how we were going to get back to the hotel.  We said we were going to walk and he said - "No, you don't want to walk here at night!  It's not safe!  My friend will take you back to the hotel.  And keep the doors locked in the car!"

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We got back to the hotel and felt right asleep, exhausted.  When we awoke in the morning, we turned on the funky TV which surprisingly actually had the CNN international broadcast.  The headline came on when they showed Kosovo and Albania.  There were tanks and soldiers and people climbing fences and running.  What was going on?

 
Well, the Russians had beaten the Americans to the punch (pardon the pun) and invaded Kosovo with tanks and foot soldiers to stop the bloodshed of Serbians killing Kosovars.  Just like that, the war was effectively over.  

The people climbing the fences were Kosovo refugees leaving Albania to return home.  By the looks of it, they couldn't wait to get out of Albania.  Within days the refugee camps were empty.  Our trip was all for naught.  There would be no refugees to help.  

Well, we gave it our level best, and I don't think the effort was wasted - we had a terrific adventure.  To follow up, we were able to reach our local contact and we agreed there was no point in pursuing a humanitarian aid as all the "displaced persons" had gone home. Although the future was still uncertain (isn't it always?), there was no place for us here in Albania.  

We left the next day.  This time we took a daytime bus.  I'm not sure I would recommend Albania as a place for tourists.  

Let's Go Way Back, to 1999 for a story from the past

Ever been stranded way far away from ... anything?

In the interest of keeping this blog interesting ... I've decided to relive a moment in the past that was extremely ... interesting.

 

Over the years, Fiona and I have led a lot of trips for providing aid or assistance through humanitarian efforts, church efforts, or eventually through the Andando Foundation for many people in many countries.  

Way back in 1999, this effort took us to Albania - a little known (almost unknown) country with a rather mixed history of violence and hostility - so we found ourselves on our way to that destination on a trip to Europe seventeen years ago.  

 

We were actually in the process of a trip to Venice and other nice destinations, but since we were so close, we decided to take a sojourn to Albania (because of the political situation at that time) with the purpose of setting up a near term aid and assistance effort for refugees in a crisis.

  

The source of the crisis was Kosovo, where a war had broken out spilling over from the conflict in Bosnia and Serbia.  Note: This area has been a source of conflict and war since ... the beginning of time. Ironically, the Kosovars were fleeing ethnic violence to ... Albania.  

 

To give readers a perspective on this choice, it would be like jumping off the top of a ten story building to escape a fire.  In other words, either option is really bad.  For the Kosovars caught in the crossfire of a war, it was almost like they could choose to die in Kosovo or suffer a terrible fate in ... Albania. 

The biggest problem for us in this endeavor to provide help is that Albania is not an easy place to get to. In fact, it's an extraordinarily difficult place to get to - something we found out in person.  As we plotted our journey, it contained no options but to travel overland from Greece.  

We made our way to the best jumping off point - Thessalonika, in Greece.  This is a rather enchanting coastal city that may be familiar to many as the target of the Biblical book of Thessalonians. 

At any rate, we found ourselves there in Thessalonika with the challenge of getting to Albania.  You might stop and question this rather unusual scenario where Fiona and I are putting ourselves in harm's way to help people we've never met in a place we've never been to.  We eventually adopted that frame of mind through a curious turn of events. 

So the only way to get to Albania from Greece is by bus, over the mountains from Thessalonika to Korce (pronounced core-cha), where we hoped to make contact with a name we had on a scrap of paper.  Hey, this was a while back, in the days before the internet - or common sense, for that matter. 

Turns out the bus leaves at midnight.  This became quickly apparent as the worst possible time to begin a bus trip.  Why?  Because the unruly passengers chose to pass the time before the bus left by drinking vast amounts of alcohol.  As they began to board the bus, everyone began to push and shove and ... this led to drunken men throwing punches and it got very rowdy.  

However, we had tickets!  So we pushed and shoved our way to the front of the line and (because we look like affluent foreigners) we were allowed to board.  Others were not so fortunate, and things got very rough, as it became obvious that everyone would not fit on the bus.  There was a lot of shouting and obscenities in foreign languages, and more punches thrown.  Worst boarding procedure I have ever seen.  It was dang near a riot.  

So, off we go, with a very uncertain feeling about the whole thing. It is very unsettling to begin a trip to God knows where with a brawl and no one speaks English and we don't even know what we're going to do when we get there.

The bus trip starts off okay, but quickly descends into chaos.  We climb a mountain range over treacherous roads in the dark until we reach the top of a hill and stop.  All the men get out and go to the right side of the bus to pee.  All the women get off the bus and go to the left side to vomit.  

And we've got a long way to go!  We're just getting started.  So we sort of pile and stagger back on to the bus and the driver decides to check for tickets.  Keep in mind that the driver at this stage ... well, he is the Law.  He is a big gnarly dude and he is going down the aisle and checking for tickets.  I'm thinking "how did people get on the bus without tickets?"

 

He found out some lady had no tickets and he slapped her hard!  Geez!  This is getting weird.  Then he found some "stowaway" guy who had no ticket and he became furious and began to thrash the hell out of the guy, beating the crap out of him!  And the driver dragged this guy to the front of the bus and grabbed him by the collar and back of his pants and hurled him off the bus!  The passenger tumbled off over the side of the hill!

Fiona and I shrunk down in our seats.  We waved our tickets in the air so the driver wouldn't beat us up, and he smiled and said we were fine.  Whew!  Dodged a bullet there, or at least a beating.  

So we continue on into the night over hill and dale into one of the more remote parts of the world.  At this point it was hard to sleep, we were very nervous and began to second guess our decision to make this trip. 

As the night wore on, we made progress over the mountain range separating Greece from Albania.   As the early morning light began to appear, we came to a remote passport control post, the border between the two countries.  It was SO not close to anywhere.  All we could see was mountains and hills and guys with guns.  

So the driver announces, "Everyone off the bus! Go to the office!"

Of course, no one spoke English, but we could get the picture, so we just followed the rest of the bus crowd into the office.  It was a fairly crude operation with antiquated buildings.  All the Albanians went in one line, and the few Greeks went in another line, and we (the only Americans, or any kind of foreigners) went in a third line. 

This whole process took forever.  You think American bureaucracy is a hassle? ... try the stuff overseas.  And right on cue, when the Albanian border guard realizes we're American, the price goes up. "You need to pay more money!" he says.  

"Why?" I ask.  

"Because!"  he answers. 

So we play the game and wait while he stamps the numerous papers.  It takes a long time.  We notice that the other lines are moving faster, and most of the people are back on the bus.  Pretty soon, EVERYONE is back on the bus - but us.  What is taking this border guy so long? 

The bus begins to move.  It starts rolling forward.  I say to Fiona "surely, he is going to stop ..."  But the bus keeps rolling and picking up speed.  I ask the border guy to hurry up - he has no idea what we're saying and doesn't really care. 

 

I again state (for my own reassurance) "This bus guy is going to stop isn't he?" and the bus keeps rolling.  Our border guard couldn't care less and is oblivious to the situation.  Fiona and I stop and stare with our mouths wide open and realize - the bus driver is not going to stop.  And the bus drives off!

Are you kidding me?  Our bags are on the bus - we are in the middle of nowhere - it's about 4:30 in the morning, we're not far from a war zone, nobody speaks English, and we have been abandoned by the only connection to the outside world.  Hey man, this really sucks!  I have rarely felt so alone or isolate in my life. 

What the hell are we going to do now????  

I hate to do this, but the story gets even more complicated. 

To be continued ... 

  

All's Well That Ends Well, June 4th is a special day for me

So today was full of activities with a few twists ...

This interesting day started out when we woke up at the coast in Newport, Oregon.  I went for a jog, which is something I've done every morning for the last 43 years, more or less.  I am generally pretty faithful about keeping fit, and running is how I do it.  

I'm not as fast as I used to be.  In fact, I was never really fast, but pretty steady.  These days I am a bit hobbled with a badly mangled toe, something I managed to do on a recent trip to Central America. 

Actually, when we first awoke and looked out the window with our coffee in hand, there was a Marathon going on; probably a couple thousand runners.  

Newport was where I ran my first Marathon in 1999.  I finished ... in well, not too bad a time ... under four hours.  I went on to run another seven marathons, in three different states and three foreign countries.  My times did not improve much as the years rolled on, but I was always able to finish under four hours. 

Not long after that, Fiona and I went for a walk to have breakfast. We love to walk.  It was a beautiful morning - sunny, clear, and warm.  It reached 80 degrees at the coast - no way! - yes way!  

After breakfast, we went back to our apartment to ... clean the windows. Woo-hoo! Everyone's idea of fun!  It was a little hairy hanging out over the second story (heights are not my thing) but it was a successful effort. 

Then we went to the Yaquina Head lighthouse, which is always a spectacular setting.  For some reason, I have acquired a liking for watching waves crashing on rocks.  Not sure why, but I can watch waves crashing on rocks for hours, when I get the rare chance.  It helps me keep things in perspective. 

Mid-afternoon, we headed back to Corvallis for a party.  There were lots of family members there and grandkids, and general mayhem ensued.  When we get together as a family, there is a lot of energy and mischief. The weather today was really hot here in the Willamette Valley, so naturally we had a water fight.  I lost (and got soaked in the process), which was not entirely unpleasant. 

Things take a turn for the worse ...

In the middle of the party, I got a cell phone call from my neighbor at home.  Our power went out - on a day when the temperature in our car said 102 degrees - great timing!  I guess the whole area in South Salem and Jefferson lost power.  And "oh, by the way," my neighbor said, "I think someone stole your mail".   Jolly good news in the middle of a party. 

Did I mention that this party was for me?  Today is my birthday, and I'm older than most people reading this let's just say I continue to reach new levels of maturity, Ha!

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This has been a good week, with my son Lewis and his wife Ruby blessed with the birth of their first child, a son.  So we packed up the party and were going to head over to Lewis' house (not far away) for some cousin pictures.  Only, as we set out in two different rigs, we had left the pizza on top of the car.  

My daughter Alison was honking the horn but the occupants of the other car couldn't understand why she was shouting, until a passing motorist yelled "HEY! You've got a pizza on top of your car!"  The pizza was rescued, whew!

We got to Lewis and Ruby's and apologized in advance for the disruption that was coming, and sure enough, it got a little rowdy, and ended with the boys jumping off the front porch, but we got a picture of the five cousin grandkids, with little Sullivan only four days old.

We wanted to leave before somebody got hurt, so we bundled back up in the two cars and set off.  When we got back to Beka's, Fiona flew into a minor (major?) panic when she realized she had left her cell phone on top of the car (really? seriously? twice in one afternoon? driving around with items on top of a car?) only this time, the phone was gone!  

So we called Lewis who went walking down the street as Fiona raced back over, and remarkably, Lewis found the iPhone in the road about a quarter mile away.  It worked, but it was badly smashed. 

We finished up the party, with everyone (meaning the kids) too hot and too full of sugar and birthday cake, and getting too edgy and falling apart and ... oookaaay, ....  it's time to leave! 

We made it home just in time for a beautiful sunset.  We even went for a walk around our hill.  Hey fitness buffs, I reached 19,000 steps for the day, dude!   

I love days that are packed with activity, with little unexpected twists.  Oh, and our power came back on just before we got home. And turns out our mail did not get stolen.  Life is full of blessings.  

Hard to Believe, But It Happened Again! Trouble on an Airplane

Airplane Mayhem, but first - another episode of the Nicaraguan trip ... be sure to read on

We really enjoyed the area where we finished our trip around Nicaragua.  It was a "Crater Lake" in the middle of a big volcano that caved in - (how's that for a geologic definition?).  On our last morning there, I went for a long walk, more like a hike, along the ridge overlooking the lake.  

I normally go jogging every morning, but I banged up my foot (toe) pretty bad and it's still sore and trying to heal.  Anyway, the hike was exceedingly pleasant with terrific views.  

I snapped the photo below, which was a painting someone had done on a rock.  I hate to call it graffiti, because it was so well done.  It was about four feet high, and I swear it was like a panther looking back at you.  Did I mention they have panthers and jaguars around this neck of the woods?

The trail went on for several kilometers.  I think it goes all the way around the lake.  I didn't have the kind of time available for an all day hike, but it would have been great.  The weather was perfect.  

We eventually made our way down to the water's edge, which was not easy because the rim / hillside was so steep (again, think Crater Lake).  Another difference is that unlike Oregon, this place is tropical, so there were palm trees and lush jungle right down to the lake shore.  

 

My streak is intact, I seem to have airplane disruptions on a regular basis!

So we left late, late on Saturday night from Nicaragua, and caught the red-eye from Managua to Los Angeles, arriving at 6:00 in the morning. Not a bad flight - only 5 1/2 hours - compared to our recent 16 hour marathon flight from Johannesburg South Africa to New York. 

Anyway, it's not a bad flight, in fact we slept pretty good.   Only a two hour flight to Portland and we're home.  But hold on, there's more to the story  ...

So the flight is uneventful and we land in LA without any issues and taxi to the gate.  Everybody stands up to get their bags and pull stuff out of the overhead compartment and squeeze into the aisle. We are toward the front and we can see the jetway ramp pull up to the plane.  

We wait, and there seems to be some delay.  Does the jetway not fit?  What's up?  Eventually the flight attendant comes on the intercom to ask everyone to sit ... back ... down ... what? why?

"Please put your bags back and sit down and clear the aisle."  This is the only thing we hear, and rather confusing.  It's kind of a hassle to do this and people moan and groan and don't really show much enthusiasm.  So the flight attendance becomes a little more direct:  "Ladies and Gentlemen, I need your cooperation, please sit back in your seat or any seat available and clear the aisle!"

This is more difficult than it sounds.  You know the drill, everyone pushes forward with their bags to get off the plane, throwing elbows to gain a an extra few inches advantage (hey, I've done it).  What exactly is going on anyway?  Why do they need us to sit down?  I can't remember this every happening before ...

And then the flight attendant becomes very strident; "SIT DOWN!" and "PLEASE - CLEAR THE AISLE!"  He is nearly shouting.  Geez!

Another issue with this kind of thing ... is why don't they tell you what's going on?  Ever notice how stuff goes on with the airlines or flight delays and they never explain?  So we do our best to settle back into seats with bags.

In a short time, the airplane door opens and three of LA's finest come onto the plane.  They are armed officers with a serious look and they make their way down the aisle to the back of the plane.  

Yikes!  It's hard to tell what's going on, and passengers sorta of stand up try to see, they are reminded to keep their seats.  

They quickly without much delay, handcuff some guy and escort him to the front of the plane.  He is a weird looking dude with an old t-shirt and shorts and flip-flops.  He is not offering any resistance.  He is ushered off the plane and taken into custody.  Fiona said she remembered seeing him in the airport in Managua, sitting and waiting for the plane with a blank look and staring into space.  

Was he on drugs?  Was he carrying drugs?  Was he a "stowaway"? Fleeing the country?  Some kind of criminal?  He looked rough, with tattoos and a bad haircut.  At any rate, there is no explanation, and we are eventually allowed to deplane and ... "we hope you enjoy the rest of your trip, thank you for flying Delta Airlines!"   
Ha Ha Ha - yeah, right ...

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If you follow this blog, you might recall several recent flight and airplane issues similar to this.  Check these links: 

•  This guy won't move!    
•  Stop and throw him off the plane! (very much the same as above, only they "removed" the guy before the plane took off), 
• or on our recent arrival in Managua No lights or power at the airport? 

When you fly often, you will occasionally encounter issues, but this is kind of a bad streak.  I guess you could say it makes travel "interesting", but a normal flight would be nice once in a while. 

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So we are home now for a stretch, with a new grandchild coming in the next three weeks or so.  Of course we can always find some travel experiences worth sharing.  We really enjoyed Nicaragua, with all the volcanoes and amazing landscape.  

It's also nice to be back in Oregon, with neon green fields and so many trees.  Travel is indeed very interesting, but ... there's no place like home!   

Nicaragua = Crater Lake, Voodoo Donuts, wait, where are we anyway?

We're nearing the end of our time here in Nicaragua, but there is no end to the interesting things around here

We've spent a couple weeks now touring around Nicaragua, visiting many areas and engaging in many activities.  Without knowing what to expect upon our arrival, it's been a real eye-opener, with such a variety of things that we never expected. 

Our son TK and his wife Jenny live in a rather isolated small farm community near the village of San Juan del Sur.   Before arriving there earlier this week, we spent most of our time exploring the rest of Nicaragua.  

Once we finally hit San Juan, we were able to experience how TK and Jenny live, and it ain't easy.  They live in a "homestead" where they are working to establish themselves, but it needs a lot of work.  The neighbors are happy to have them there, as their place was abandoned and neglected for many years.  

When one of the neighbors heard that that TK and Jenny are staying there, they exclaimed, "Oh, they live in the Pizza Hut house!"  You might understand what they mean when you see what it looks like:

It's totally off the grid, miles from a paved road, with solar power and a well.  In the picture above, you can see the water tank up behind the house, with solar panels on top.  But it's a challenging way to live.  The climate is hot, humid, primitive, and frankly ... brutal.  

TK and Jenny want to create a life for themselves in this kind of place, with sustainable organic permaculture farming.  It will take a real commitment. 

Fiona and I have been around to a lot of places - and this place is one of the more difficult to get used to.  For instance, there's an astounding amount of critters ... and bugs - scorpions are quite common - along with a serious mosquito problem.  It's not a terribly clean place (I don't want to be unkind, but many visitors would consider it filthy and gross). I managed to severely damage my foot on this trip and it's been very hard to heal in this climate.   

But amongst all this hardship, and a history of political upheaval, what is one word that describes the people of Nicaragua?  That word would be - happy - these people are always smiling and pleasant and surprisingly content. 

How Do People End Up Here?

This place is really far from anywhere, and in addition to the locals, has attracted a mixture of oddballs and misfits from around the world.  If you want to get off the beaten path, this is the place to do it - see story below.  The nearby town of San Juan has some interesting features and characters. 

The Cathedral in the town plaza is simple but elegant, built a couple centuries ago by catholic missionaries who came to the new world to carve out a place.   

A Story ------------------

So we were having coffee by the small bay where the Pacific meets the shore in San Juan.  We were having donuts from a place with a local cult following, much like Voodoo Donuts in Portland. (on a much smaller scale).

And we're sitting at this coffee house by the beach munching on donuts and enjoying our mocha, and this very unusual lady walks by with at least six dogs on a leash (one of them only had three legs), and a large white bird on her arm.  It was very curious, quite weird actually.  This kind of thing attracts a lot of attention, and there was another dog barking at them.    

So this lady, who appeared to be quite elderly, was dragging all the dogs along the beach while trying to chase off the other dog, who seemed to consider the whole thing to be a game.  She had a stick and kept waving it at the other dog to chase it off.  

While we watched this bizarre situation unfold, my companions suggested that I should get a picture for the blog, so naturally I set out with camera in hand (my trusty iPhone).  Surprisingly it was hard to keep up with the unfolding drama.  

Eventually I had to snap a picture from afar.  I couldn't get close enough to get a better picture.  The local citizens were quite amused with her, as I was.  It was strange.  I'm not sure how common this was, maybe she does this every day?  But it was certainly unique to me and my travel companions. 

Oregon is not the only place with a Crater Lake

We arrived at our destination this afternoon, at a place called Laguna de Apoyo, which is a large collapsed volcano, filled in with a really big lake.  Oregonians will be familiar with this concept, as we have a National Park in our state named ... Crater Lake. 

This place was notably similar.   We had our late afternoon dinner by the side of the lake, and these scenes will look like something many people from Oregon would recognize, maybe with some different flora and fauna.

It was the end of a sultry day, and eventually big thunderstorms developed and dumped a huge amount of rain out of the sky, along with thunder and lightening.  All in all, it was quite a display of mother nature.  

Did Che Guevara actually have a Ferry Boat? ... the Volcano Island

Today we took a ferry ride across the huge Lake Nicaragua to a Volcanic island

Like almost everything else here, this ferry boat crossing was not easy.  For the last three days, we had been staying near the ocean at the site where our son TK and his wife Jenny live.   We got up early this morning, had breakfast, packed up, and left the site to drive for an hour to to catch the 9:00 ferry.  Our destination was Ometepe Island. 

Only it didn't leave at 9:00, it left at 9:30, and of course, there wasn't enough room so we had to wait until the next ferry at 10:30. This whole process took a long time, with a lot of negotiation.  I mean ... really? ... it's just a ferry boat for crying out loud.  They do this all day long, every day.  

And of course, we had to "show our appreciation" with a small token of gratitude and ... you would have thought we were negotiating an international peace treaty.   Geez.

One slight benefit was that TK and Jenny were hoping to see a friend of theirs who was coming over on the earlier ferry, and since everything was delayed, we were able to have breakfast with her. 

So you have to back your vehicle onto the ferry from the dock.  It's not easy for the big trucks to do this, but this makes it easier to drive off when you get to the other end.  They pack the darn things down to the inch. 
We had to drive our little rental car - excuse me, we had to BACK our little rental car - onto a boat like this.  They squeezed us in ...

  
Once you get under way, the quality of the boat does not inspire confidence.  It was in very rough condition.  The interior was very "rustic"!  It was not exactly a death trap, but you know how you hear all those stories about ferry boats sinking and ... I'm just sayin'.

You kinda get a feel for the place when you look over at the out-of-commission ferry next to ours.  It was called the Che Guevara ferry. Ha! Ha!

Only this kind of thing is not exactly funny here.  Nicaragua has a troubled history over the last 50 years with brutal dictators and revolution, and then with Cold War political powers supporting both sides and the eventual triumph of the Sandinistas. 

I won't go into a detailed history of this country, but all of this turmoil led to a very unstable economy and years of struggle that are just now beginning to ease.  I try to keep politics out of this blog, so I won't go into the sordid involvement of ... okay, I said I wouldn't.

Luckily, we made the crossing without incident, and made our way to the other side of the island and our hotel.  TK and Jenny know this island well, they worked here for a couple months.    The weather improved from the recent rains and it was a pleasant afternoon.  I was able to capture a sunset picture as the clouds parted over the Volcano. 

Hey man, you wanna have a drink? No thanks, we're on our way to see Jesus

We finally made it out to see TK and Jenny's site, near San Juan del Sur

So we've been here in Nicaragua for a week now, and we've been all over the country, but at long last we made it to the south of the country and visited TK's home site near San Juan del Sur.  

The nearby town of San Juan is an off-beat tourist town for surfers and those who like to be "off the grid" and far away from anything.  There are fantastic beaches and cool breezes and the temperature is nice and easy.  It's a fun place to relax and get away from it all ... 

And of course, there is the big statue of Jesus up on a hill over the town, kind of like the one in Rio de Janiero.  This is the kind of place where there are several "watering holes" and some guy approached us about coming into his bar to have a drink.  My answer was "No thanks, we're heading up to see Jesus."  

He knew exactly what I meant!

Jesus is high on a hill with a dramatic pose and a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean.  There was a large cruise ship there (I had no idea they stopped in a remote place like this), and it left as the sun was going down to sail off the the next destination.  

Those of us on the West Coast of the USA share this same coast line.  Central America has some amazing vistas and if you live on the West Coast, well, you get used to the sun going down over the ocean.  

We have really enjoyed Nicaragua, it's one of those unsung, out-of-the-way locations - with a lot of little known attractions.  We're not leaving yet, we have some time left here and we will be exploring a few more locations before we leave.  

If you want to get off the beaten path, this country might interest you.  This is somewhere you might want to explore.  We admire our son TK and his wife Jenny for their pioneering spirit to come to a place like this and try to carve our a life of their own.  Not sure if I would want to do it.

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It's not all fun and games ...

But Fiona and I sure like to visit and experience these locations.  It can be exhilarating and an adrenaline rush, and also ... disconcerting? 

As an example of something that is outside my comfort zone, I include the rather ... ahem, graphic picture below.  I was working on TK's homestead ... when a hammer fell eight feet and landed smack dab on my barefoot toe on a concrete floor.  Yeowww!  It was extraordinarily painful and I probably said a few bad words as I hopped around in pain.  I'm sure the toe is broken. 


And of course, this place is dirty and full of bugs and germs and the toe is not getting a whole lot better as I limp around and try to deal with it.  It turned black and blue and looks really gnarly.  There is not a lot of medicine out here in this remote village, what are you going to do?  Just press on ... and trust Jesus ...

Oh really, you thought you were going to sleep tonight? Well, we've got a wedding to celebrate ...

 

Here is a day in pictures: I will elaborate as we go along ...

 

The main reason we came to Nicaragua is to visit our son TK and his wife Jenny - and of course we love any excuse to travel and see a new place.  This is our first time to Nicaragua, and we have really enjoyed it here. 

For those of you who know Jenny, she has always had long hair, often pulled back in a pony tail.  Well, she got her hair cut right when they left America, and she looks great with the new short hair cut, shown below in a hammock at their site near San Juan del Sur. 

She's a lovely girl.  

 

 

This is where they live now, and we visited the beach nearby on the Pacific Ocean.  It is pretty much always hot and sunny here.  A good time to head to the beach.  TK and Jenny shown below. 

 

And where they live is - off the grid.  There is a solar electric system that provides all the power they need.  Here they are shown changing a lamp shade on their bedroom light. 

 

*** Hey, wake up America, Solar is a very viable way to get the sustainable power you need to run your lights, fridge, well pump, and kitchen blender.  The rest of the world is adopting this method (often because they have to) but it works - and the Sun is a very sustainable power source. ***

Other highlights of the trip 

We stayed in a small historic colonial city called Granada, on the shores of the huge Lake Nicaragua.  It's a great town to visit. Really had a great vibe.  

 

We had rooms in a fantastic old hotel, restored in all it's glory.  These are the times when travel can be really fun, and a tad bit ... luxurious? For eighty bucks a night?  Really!

 

It was across the street from a historic cathedral church, where there was a wedding going on.  We could hear the ceremony, the music, the wedding march, and the whole thing.  And when they finished, they walked across the street and had the reception at our hotel.  Things got a little noisy for a while ... 

Latin America tends to celebrate late into the night.  Since we had enjoyed a long day, we thought we would have a peaceful night's sleep ... but no, these guys can party all night long (or so it seemed).

When we checked into the hotel, we were wondering why there were so many decorations, and a sound system and what not.  We got our answer ...

 

There are a surprising number of things to do in Nicaragua

The town of Granada is right on the shore of the lake, and you can take a tour of the town by horse and buggy, which we did.  This stuff does not cost much, like $30 for four people for an hour and a half.  It was very enjoyable. 

 

The horse and buggy tour takes you down to the lake shore.  There are a lot of palm trees here - hey, nothing says "vacation" like palm trees on the promenade by the lake ... 

  

And you can also tour the lake, by boat.  Also very relaxing and peaceful, with awesome views of small islands and volcanoes in the background.   These are the times that make travel special. 

 

 

 

And last but not least - just so you don't forget that you're in a foreign country in the tropics - there is a gecko in the lamp fan over your bed at night.  Okay, got it.  Actually, geckos are pretty mellow and don't bother people, they mostly eat bugs. 

 

I'm sorry officer, but I've done nothing wrong ...

Here is the story about getting stopped by the police in Nicaragua - this is a new story but not untypical ... of any developing country

We were driving across Nicaragua yesterday, in the north part of the country.  It's not a big country so we were not that far away from the bigger cities in the south. 

It is not unusual to see several police checkpoints along the highway.  They usually stop trucks that are overloaded - or other obvious infractions from taxi drivers or donkey carts. etc. 

In general, when we come to these stops, we are waved through and given the "drive by" and are on our way.  It is obvious we are not local.  We are driving a fairly new rental car and - let's face it, we are gringos and everybody know it. 

 

But this particular place we came to, there were two traffic cones set up right in the middle of our lane, with no apparent way to get around them.  Our lane was blocked, and there was no one around to explain what to do.  This was kind of a major intersection, so I pulled over to figure out it out.

I pull to the right side of the road and wait.  "What is going on? And what kind of traffic stop is this?"  The small truck behind me pulls around to the left of the cones, into the opposing lane, and drives ahead.  There are two cops about 100 yards ahead and they pull him over. 

I follow around the right side and proceed.  They pull me over too. The cop comes up to the window with a bad look on his face.  I'm wondering, what have I done wrong?  What are the rules on this kind of thing?  It is intentionally confusing - and it's a trap.  Their attitude is: "If you don't know what to do (and nobody does), then we're going to give you a ticket." 

So I have no option but to stop.  In other words, they have the road blocked, and they point to the side and say (in Spanish) pull over and stop.  Again, what have we done wrong? 

This kind of thing is not unusual in foreign countries.  It has happened in many places we've been, only most of the time we're not driving.  It's happened with severe consequences in Paraguay, and also in Senegal - more than once. 

So we play the game - the cop comes over to the car with a grumpy look on his face and asks for your "documents".  I play dumb and pretend not to understand his Spanish.  He becomes a little more belligerent and raises his voice.  Okay, okay, so I give him the rental car papers and show him my license. 

He walks off, taking the documents, muttering that we have violated some sacred traffic laws in Nicaragua, and there will be major implications.  "Like what?" I ask him.  I am tired of this kind of blatant police harassment. "I have done nothing wrong, and you intentionally set up a confusing traffic arrangement for the purpose of issuing citations no matter what drivers do." 

He eventually returns to the car saying that my license is invalid and that I will not be able to drive in Nicaragua for a month because it will be suspended, and I drove the wrong way around the traffic cones and this will result in tremendous penalties.  

I'm thinking, what a bunch of bullsh--!  I just sit there and I stare at him.  He gets more abusive and threatening, and again wanders off, he still has our vehicle documents and my license.  He apparently wants a bribe or something.  

I hate this stuff.  Until developing countries can eliminate this kind of corruption they will never join the ranks of first world countries.  

The standoff goes on for a while.  TK and his wife Jenny wake up from the back seat where they had been sleeping on the long car journey.  Jenny can speak fluent Spanish and tries to reason with the police officer.  He is not having it. 

The police guy gets increasing threatening:  "Do you live here?" No, "Who owns this car?"  It's a rental car?  "Your insurance is not valid"  I'm thinking, but I don't say ... Bull Hockey.  

The cop and his partner have pulled over a few other people by this time, because nobody knows how to react to the traffic cones stopping traffic.  Keep in mind, this is the PanAmerican highway. the north south route between the Americas.  

By this time we have burned twenty minutes.  I'm not about to cave to this horse manure nonsense.  At some point, you eventually just get fed up with this crap and refuse to go along with it. 

So the cop realizes that he is not going to get any money out of us, and looks at the license plate and other potential infractions.  There are none.  He has nowhere to go with this charade. 

He sort of reluctantly hands back my license.  He keeps stalling, not knowing how to get out of this situation. TK says from the back seat, "c'mon, just give us back our stuff!"  Finally, he gives us back the car registration, and eventually the insurance.  What a load of garbage.  He mumbles that we can go. 

Like I said, this kind of thing has happened more than once.  You get tired of paying a bribe just to get out of it.  It is really irritating. Travel can be really fun and exhilarating, but it can also be a complete pain in the ... neck.  

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Fiona and I love to travel.  There is an element of adventure with wonderful, new, and interesting things involved, but it can also make you a bit cynical about your fellow mankind.  Fortunately, we can find the balance of the two, and press on.  But I had to tell the story.  All in all, it was actually a fun day .... !