Are we there yet?

A Blowhole, a Lighthouse Trail, and an Awesome Beach: Road Trip in Hawaii

2012-01-08T14:59:00.000-08:00

We had an amazing day on Wednesday, driving around the tip of Oahu. We woke up to clouds and light drizzle in Honolulu, with rain forecasted across the island. We decided to try our luck by driving southeast towards Hanauma Bay.

Our road trip for the day

As soon as we got on the road it began to drizzle. Hoping things would get better, we kept on, along this route. We drove past Hanauma Bay, without stopping, as we have been there before and it was still raining. Our first stop was the Halona Blowhole, which overlooks Sandy Beach. We parked there and looked around. The scenery was nice, but not particularly impressive.

We kept driving to our next destination, the Makapuu Lighthouse Trail. We spotted a trail to our right, with no signs, but drove in anyway, figuring it must be the trail. The marker read “Ka’Iwi Scenic Shoreline,” but we suspected it was the right place. As we were walking up this trail (which is 1.5 miles round trip), the rain began to clear and the sun shone down on us. By the time we got to the top, we were hot.

Near the top, there were several people whale-watching. We saw a few splashes, but didn’t make out any actual whales. Then, we noticed that some people were walking down the cliff. When we walked to the edge to see what there was at the bottom, we saw amazing, clear tide pools and a blowhole that spewed out sea water every few minutes. The kids asked if we could go down. At first, we were hesitant, as we were unprepared for a hike. All of us had on some version of flip-flops – not ideal hiking shoes. We decided to give it a try.

View from cliffs down to blowhole

I walked down very slowly. I was wearing Naturalizer slip-on sandals, which are great for walking, but not good for climbing down cliffs. When we finally made it to the bottom, we were treated to an amazing place. The tide pools are crystal clear and the waves crash up on them on one side, and the blowhole spews water on the other. The kids loved it! We stayed down there for at least an hour, cooling off and enjoying the sound of the waves.

Waves crashing onto the tide pools

The way up the cliff was actually easier than the way down. We made it out, and drove just a bit down the road to a small beach where we had lunch. Then, we hopped back in the car and drove to Waimanapolo beach. When I first walked onto this beach, I couldn’t believe how picture-perfect it was. The sand is powdery and white. The sea is light turquoise with crashing waves, and the water is clear. To top it off, a green hill sits on one side of the beach; there is a small island just off shore, and the rest of the beach is lined with greenery. Even better, we were the only people on the beach. This beach was an amazing find.

Waimanapolo Beach - beautiful and isolated

We arrived there at 4pm and managed to drag the kids away at 6:30, just after the sun set. The kids had a fantastic time playing in the waves and did not want to leave. I didn’t want to leave either. Waimanapolo beach is so beautiful I didn’t want to close my eyes, for fear I might lose a second of admiring its beauty. To top it off, the beach is practically isolated. Don’t ask me why.

Kids having fun in the waves

Here is Raymi, my eight-year-old daughter’s rendition of the day:

Yesterday we walked up the mountains and then we saw the blow hole. I don’t have any idea what the blow hole is so I’m just going to make things up. We were looking for the magic sea star until dante farted. His fart was big. It was stinky. Then we kept looking for the magic sea star. Than dante saw a gold fish and named it rubber ducky. I said “What kind of person names a gold fish rubber ducky?”. Then we kept looking for the magic sea star. And finally we found it in the middle of the ocean. It was worth it to go to the middle of the ocean to get the magic sea star even though we had to swim a lot. People could still smell Dante’s fart. THE END.

Notes from Paradise: Enjoying Kahala Beach, Hawaii, Alone and with the Kids

2012-01-01T10:14:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning, in Honolulu. It is awesome to wake up in Honolulu every day. Today, like most days, I woke up and opened my eyes to an amazing view of the turquoise Pacific Ocean, bordered by palm trees. Today, I woke up just in time to catch a glimpse of the pink tones of the sunrise.

I had coffee with almond milk, a handful of almonds, and Greek yogurt for breakfast before heading out for a morning walk around 8am. A long walk on the beach is one of my favorite ways of starting my day. Today, the sun was shining, the breeze was light, and the sky was clear, making it an ideal morning for a walk along the beach. From where I am staying near Kahala Mall to the beach is about a 15-minute walk. The walk is alongside a golf course, which you can’t really see. Along the way, however, there are plenty of trees and birds, even though it is a somewhat busy street.

There are three trees I always look at as I pass by on my walks to the beach. The first is a gigantic mango tree. One of the first days we walked by this tree, a mango had just fallen off. Nando picked it up, and found it to be in good shape. When we enjoyed it later on, it was delicious. I always hope to have such luck again, but haven’t so far. Today, I noticed the owners had taken all of the mangoes off of the tree, dashing our hopes of that happening again. The next tree I often look at is another mango tree. It has no fruit. I wonder if it is because they have already harvested the fruit or if because it did not bear fruit this year. The third tree is a tangerine tree that has abundant fruit. Each time I pass this tree, it is clear that no one is tending the tree or taking off any of the enticing fruit. I suppose my fascination with these trees is a fantasy of having a fruit-bearing tree in my own backyard. I have five chickens now in my yard and it is amazing to me that they produce eggs we can eat. Being able to get breakfast from my backyard is simply fabulous.

A full rainbow from a cloudy day

Walking along this route, I also often see rainbows. Today, however, was a clear day, and there was not a rainbow in sight. To see a rainbow, it usually has to be at least a bit cloudy.

When I made it to the beach at Wai’Alae Park, I was pleased to see that the sky and the water were perfectly clear. I took off my sandals and walked to the end, wading through the cool water whenever I got hot. As I walked, I thought how wonderful it would be to start each morning of my life this way, with a walk on the beach. I let my thoughts drift where they wanted, thinking of my dear friend who has let us stay at her house, of projects I have taken on, of my children (especially my 10-year old daughter who has gotten a bit rebellious lately), and of my mother, who also loves the beach.

Kahala Beach: Empty and Beautiful

Walking on the beach is a meditative act for me. It is a beautiful place to be. I don’t have to watch out for cars or look down for rocks. I can just walk, and turn my attention to the Ocean or to the palm trees, or to the sand, as I please. Walking on the beach relaxes me and allows me to live in the moment and to enjoy doing so immensely.

The end of my morning walk on Kahala Beach

After my morning walk, I came home and prepared a lunch for myself, my husband, and my children of rice, black beans, baked salmon and fish sticks. (You can guess who had fish sticks and who had salmon.) After cleaning up and eating, it was mid-day, and Nando and I took the kids back to the same beach I had walked to this morning. It was such a perfect day for that beach that I insisted we return today.

On the way to the beach, we passed the tangerine tree again. This time, I picked off four tangerines and gave them to the kids to eat. They enjoyed them and loved the idea of being able to pick fruit on our walk to the beach.

When we got to Wai’Alae Park, we turned right and walked west, towards the Diamond Head Crater. As we walked along, I asked the kids to choose a place for us to set up. We stopped at the first place we saw clear water. However, the kids found the water too shallow, so we kept on. We found another place a few hundred feet down, but Tatiana and Soraya still found the water too shallow. Raymi liked the place, but agreed to keep looking. We all settled on a place about half a mile from the park. This place had lots of sand to sit on, as well as plenty of sand beneath the clear waters. Tatiana and Dante put on goggles and swam straight out. I had to call them and ask them to wait for me, as they were going too far.

A clear day at Kahala Beach

I put on a pair of goggles and swam out with Tatiana and Dante. It was amazing to swim in such clear waters. I saw a couple of fish, but mostly enjoyed being able to cool off and enjoy the clear, cool water. After a while, Soraya let us know that she wanted to swim as well. Tatiana, Dante and I swam back, and Soraya went with Nando to check out the underwater world.

Tatiana, Dante, and I ventured further down the beach, to where there is a huge pipe that goes straight out to sea. We saw people walking along this pipe to get to the reef. We thought it was odd to walk on the pipe, but decided to do so anyway. The first part of the pipe was a bit slimy, then got less slick as we walked. Towards the end of the pipe (which must have been about 300 meters), there were more things growing on the pipe, some of which hurt our feet. Despite this, we decided to try and make it to the end. We did, and found a pool of clear water at the end of the pipe. We jumped in and it was great to cool off.

We wanted to swim back, but had not brought our goggles. It is hard to swim in this part of the ocean without goggles, because some parts are very shallow and have lots of coral and sharp rocks. So, we got back on the pipe and made the trek back.

After all of that, we had been on the beach for nearly three hours, and it was time for everyone to get out of the sun. We packed up and walked back to where we are staying. I was glad the kids got in three miles of walking today. I got in six miles, as I made two round trips.

When we returned, the kids wanted to watch iCarly. I was happy to let them, so that I could relax, reflect, and process an amazing day of walking on the beach, both alone and with my family.

Diamond Head Beach: Rustic, Clean, and Peaceful

2011-12-31T13:23:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite beaches here in Honolulu is Diamond Head Beach. Waikiki is too filled with people and buildings for my taste. I also like Hanauma Bay, but it is small and a bit crowded. Diamond Head Beach, however, is long, empty, rustic, and full of amazing views.

A few days before Christmas 2011, we walked from where we are staying in Kahala to a staircase that leads down to Diamond Head Beach. It is a two and a half mile walk from Kahala Mall.

Of course the kids complained on the way, but, by telling them stories and encouraging them to look at the birds, flowers, and trees along the way, we made it. I am always trying to get my children to walk places, so it was quite a victory for me that they walked all the way there without too much complaining. Once we got there, we were hot and ready to jump in.

Diamond Head Beach, seen from above

We set ourselves up just to the right of the staircase that leads from the street down to the beach. There was quite a breeze, which blew sand at us from time to time. You could avoid that, however, by walking in the wet sand. I walked with the kids over to the right-hand end of Diamond Head Beach, where there are a few tide pools suitable for swimming. The kids put on snorkels, and swam out. We hung out there for a while, and I decided to walk back down the beach, back towards Kahala.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Diamond Head Beach is actually quite long – perhaps a mile from end to end. And, towards the eastern end, the beaches are even nicer. There are very few people on the beach. You can’t swim everywhere, because there is a lot of coral. However, there are quite a few nice spots for swimming.

I walked back to where we had left our backpacks and towels, and told everyone that we could walk along the beach to the other end, where there was an exit back out to the street, as well as nice places to swim. The kids ran ahead, eager to see the rest of the beach.

Once we came to the swimming holes, the kids and I jumped in to cool off again. We left through the eastern exit that leads right back to Kahala Road. This exit, which we didn’t know about, is only about 2 miles from Kahala Mall. It turns out that, even though the map doesn't show it, you can almost walk from Wai'Alae Beach Park to Diamond Head. There are secluded beaches all along the way. The end that juts out, however, is rocky, so you have to go out to the street to pick up where you left off.

One of these days I will walk from Kahala Mall to Wai'Alae Beach, all along the beach, and then over to Diamond Head.

The end of Wai'Alae Beach, with Diamond Head beach just around the corner

Soraya is the only one who wrote a blog about this little adventure. Here is her take on it.

Yesterday we went Diamond Head Beach. Monk seals lived there. I didn’t see any though. We walked 2 and half miles to get there. We parked ourselves somewhere on the beach. Then we went to the tide pool. On our way to the tide pool, the wind got very strong, so the sand hit us on the body. It hurt a lot. First my mom screamed, then Tatiana screamed, and then I screamed. Then every kid got in front of mom. When it was over, I had the shivers. Then we moved along. While we were going, mom told us that we were walking on dry lava. I thought that was cool. When we got there, Tatiana got the snorkel first. Dante got the other one. I didn’t care though. Because the one Dante was wearing didn’t even fit me. After five minutes was over, I told Tatiana it was my turn. Tatiana said that she just wanted to show Dante something. It took one minute for Tatiana to show Dante the big worm or seal poop. Then I got my turn. I tried to find the big worm or poop. Then I found it. It looked a lot like poop.

Crater Climbing, a Seven Mile Walk, and a Sunset: Diamond Head with Five Kids

2011-12-24T10:10:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, we ventured out after lunch to climb Diamond Head Crater. Several websites and guidebooks warned that the climb would be strenuous, so we wore our tennis shoes, comfortable gear, and packed water and snacks. It is great we went prepared, as we walked a lot throughout the day.

We hopped on the Number 23 Bus, which let us off right at the foot of the Crater. We had to walk about 15 minutes to get to the entrance. I asked my brother, Ian, to turn on his Runkeeper App to see how many miles we would clock during the day.

We paid the admission fee of $1 each and began our trek up the crater. The trail is 0.8 miles up and another 0.8 down. The kids (aged 8 to 10) had no trouble going up, although we did stop at least once to catch our breath. The 99 stairs at the top was the most strenuous part, but overall, I’d say the warnings about this being a very difficult trail were overblown.

The view to Waikiki from Diamond Head Crater

The views from the top were amazing. You can see all of Waikiki Beach, most of the city of Honolulu, and way out to the Koko Crater that borders Hanauma Bay. The top also had a lovely, refreshing breeze.

A bit breezy at the top!

The trek up and down, with plenty of rest, took us about two hours. I really wanted to go to the beach afterwards, but the kids wanted to go home. I decided to play a little trick on them and tell them that we had to walk to the bus stop. My nephew, Dante, who is quite clever, pointed to the bus stop, and said “The 23 stops here,” as he knew the 23 goes to Kahala. I told him we were going to take a different bus. The kids complained, but kept walking.

One of my tricks for when the kids begin to complain about walking is to tell them stories. I told Dante and Raymi funny stories about stuff I had seen riding buses, and Dante had a few stories of his own. The walk to Kapiolani Beach Park was a bit farther than I had anticipated. It turned out to be two miles from Diamond Head. However, the kids made it. We just kept telling them at each turn that it was “just down the road.”

When we finally made it to Kapiolani Beach Park, and the bus stop I had been talking about all along, the kids spotted a few ducks waddling around a small lake, and asked if they could play with the ducks. We let them, and then coaxed the kids across the street to a huge banyan tree. Once they saw the beach, they asked if they could go for a swim. Of course, I knew that once they saw the ocean they would want to get in. Mission accomplished: I got the kids to walk to the beach, and could watch the amazing Pacific sunset.

Waikiki Sunset

Watching the sun drop like a flaming ball into the Pacific Ocean is one of my favorite sights.

Sunset swimming

Once the sun set, I looked up a restaurant on Yelp! and found this place: Gyoza No Ohsho, which was just five blocks away. The food there was awesome! The kids loved the gyozas and the ramen, and it was a great deal. The ramen soups are about $9.00 and the gyozas are $4.50 for six.

Once we finished eating, we walked another five blocks back to the Number 14 bus stop, and took it all the way to Kahala Mall. Before getting on the bus, I asked my brother how long we had walked. He told me 7 miles. The kids were excited to hear they had broken their previous record of 5 miles. I was happy to have convinced them to walk that much.

On Friday morning, I asked Tatiana, Soraya, and Raymi to each write 100 words about their day. Here are their reports:

Raymi

I walked 70 blocks yesterday up on the mountains. I whined some of the time. It was so not worth it when I got to the top. We ate crackers and cuties (mandarin oranges) at the top. Going down was way shorter. At the bottom, we ate shaved ice. It was good. My cousin Assata and I got lemon-lime and strawberry. Soraya and Tatiana shared watermelon and strawberry. Ian and Dante shared lemon-lime and watermelon. After eating, we walked to the bus stop. Man, that bus stop took long. We got on bus number 14. We got off the bus and saw a dog and I did cartwheels.

Soraya

Yesterday we went to the mountains. Before we went up, I drank some water, used the bathroom, and drank some more water to get ready. Then we started walking up the mountain. On the way up, Raymi started to hang onto my dad’s arm. So Raymi and dad got way far behind. The rest of us kept on going. We saw some stairs. Then we found benches and rested for a while. Next to the benches were other stairs. We thought that those stairs went the wrong way. So when we were done resting, we went up the long stairs. After those stairs, there were some other stairs that went around in circles that led to the top. At the top, we were able to see the big crater – Diamond Head Crater. When I saw the crater, I saw a big circle that kind of looked like a sting ray with a tail. It was cool.

Tatiana

Yesterday we went to the mountain. We walked. I don’t like walking sometimes. We walked to the top of the mountain. And ran down. Dante got ahead of us but we caught up with him. After that we walked to the bus stop. It was like 70 blocks overall. We stopped for a while because we saw some ducks. There was a baby duckling. It was so cute! After that we went to the beach that was across the street. We stayed there until the sun went down. Then we went to a Japanese restaurant. I ate soup. It was delicious. Then we went home on the bus.

An Amazing View and a Hawaiian Monk Seal: Diamond Head Beach Park

2011-12-23T09:31:00.000-08:00

My brother, his son, Dante, and I walked a 4-mile city hike from Kahala to Waikiki. The highlight was Diamond Head Beach Park, where we saw a Hawaiian Monk Seal and lots of surfers.

We first walked through Kahala, passing all of the mansions, guarded behind high walls and fences. Most of them have trees and flowers, providing shade and a bit of greenery. As we approached the Diamond Head crater, we walked along a path that overlooks the sea. Looking down, we saw surfers, and wondered how they got down onto what seemed to be an amazing beach, with abundant greenery and golden sand. There were a couple of paths that led down, but we weren’t sure if they were passable.

Diamond Head Beach Park, seen from above

We sat and watched the surfers catch waves for a while. Then, we kept walking. A couple hundred feet later, we came upon the entrance to the park. There, we saw that you can walk down along a path to the Diamond Head Park Beach. After descending the path, we came to the beach.

One of the first things we saw on the beach was a huge monk seal. The seal was surrounded by signs that let you know that it was sleeping, and we shouldn’t disturb it. The seal moved ever so slightly, confirming it was indeed taking a nap.

Hawaiian Monk Seal Taking a Nap

Diamond Head Beach itself is quite scenic. The beach is flanked by high cliffs and the sand is golden and soft. It is not a great beach for swimming, though, as the shore is rocky and the surf is rough. It is primarily a surfing beach. However, after walking about three miles to get there, we were hot and in need of refreshment. We found a spot with clear, shallow water, and dove in. It felt awesome.

From Diamond Head, we kept on walking and made it to Waikiki. This was my first time in Waikiki, as I have avoided it. Waikiki is a stretch of beach with huge hotels, restaurants, and throngs of tourists. We stopped for ice cream at Coldstone Creamery, and hopped on a bus back to Kahala.

Amazing Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay

2011-12-21T09:42:00.000-08:00

On Monday, the family went to Hanauma Bay, which is just a twenty-minute bus ride from where we are staying in Kahala. Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve is a protected beach, with amazing views of turquoise water and green hills. It provides some of the best snorkeling with turtles and tropical fish in Hawai'i. In short, it is an awesome experience.

We took the Beach Bus, number 22, to Hanauma Bay, which lets you off right at the entrance. You have to watch a short video about protecting the bay and marine life before going in. To get to the beach, you walk down a large hill. The views along this hillside are breathtaking.

We set ourselves up at the far end of the beach, where there was plenty of shade from a large tree. We also soon learned that the far end of the beach is where the sea turtles like to hang out. It was amazing to watch these awesome creatures swimming around in the clear waters.

We rented snorkel equipment and ventured out into the reef. The reef is just feet away from the shore meaning anyone old enough to put on a mask can snorkel here. There are plenty of fish to see as you swim throughout the reef. Many of the fish are quite large – I saw several over a couple of feet long. Most of the fish are colorful, with intricate patterns.

Each of the kids had their turn at snorkeling. Soraya went out with Ian for the longest time. She came back and reported she had seen a fish that was about two feet long.

It was very breezy on Monday, and the water was a bit choppy. We still were able to snorkel, but it did get a bit chilly once we were out of the water. Once we had finished all of our snacks and everyone had snorkeled, we decided to get back on the bus and come back to the apartment to relax.

I was able to get both Soraya and Tatiana to write stories about Hanauma Bay.

Here is Soraya's overview of the day:

We went to Hanauma bay. I saw a sea turtle. It was so cute! It kept on sticking its head out. And sometimes he stuck out his butt. It was funny. Then I went snorkeling with my Uncle Ian. We saw lots of fish. We even saw a fish that was 2 feet long! When it was time to go home, Dante needed to use the bathroom. They took a long time, so he and Uncle Ian missed the bus. They had to take the next bus. But we made it. Then we stayed home for a while. Then my mom wanted to go to the mall. So I took a shower, brushed my teeth, and my mom brushed my hair. I got ice cream at the mall.

Tatiana's was more fiction than fact:

Today we went to Hanauma Bay, a natural reserve in Honolulu, Hawaii.

But that’s all the boring stuff, now let’s get to the good stuff!

We were at the beach snorkeling, looking for the magic starfish. Me, Soraya, Assata, Raymi, and Dante. No one ever found it because it was so rare. If anyone in the world found it they would become rich and famous. As we were searching we saw a puffer fish. Since Dante was so stupid, he stupidly touched it and it puffed up and poked Dante. Silly Dante (again). We continued and saw a goldfish. What was a goldfish doing in the middle of the ocean? I thought. When Dante saw the goldfish he yelled Kaka! “Kaka?” I said. “Who’s Kaka?” I asked. “That goldfish right there,” he said. “Who names their goldfish Kaka?” I asked. “I do!” he said. He caught the goldfish and put it in his peeing cup. I thought it was gross.

Raymi sat in front of the computer for nearly an hour and all she had to say was:

Hi Grandma: are you coming to Hawaii? I like Hawaii. I am happy here, but I still miss Kansas and all my friends, and my teacher, Mrs. Tuell. I don't know what else to say so "bye, bye."

We will have to work with Raymi a bit more....

Manoa Falls Hike: Muddy and Wet, but Worth It

2011-12-20T09:58:00.000-08:00

Manoa Falls is a 150-foot waterfall within easy reach of Honolulu via public transportation. To get to the actual waterfall, you must walk along a 1 ½ mile trail through a gorgeous bamboo forest, along the base of the Ko’oaus Mountains. It is somewhat strenuous of a hike, but we saw people of all ages along the trail. The most important thing is to go prepared with waterproof, non-slip shoes and long pants for mosquitoes.

We went to Manoa Falls with five children, as my niece and nephew are also in Hawaii. My kids are very happy to be spending their vacation with their cousins, as they are all very close in age: all of the kids are between the ages of 8 and 10! The kids had no trouble making it up the trail.

The bus ride there was an adventure in itself. Riding around Honolulu on buses with five children has been quite an undertaking. Perhaps because of the heavy Asian influence in Honolulu, talking loudly on the bus is frowned upon. This means that when the kids are up to their usual antics of laughing and talking, they get dirty looks from strangers. One elderly lady even told them to be quiet. We will have to work on trying to fit in and being a bit more quiet on the buses.

Anyway, back to the trip to Manoa Falls. To get to Manoa Falls, we took the Number Five bus to and got off at the last stop. The bus let us off about two blocks from the base of the trail. We walked straight in and found ourselves in an amazingly verdant forest, with hundreds of green bamboo stalks. There were also plenty of cool exotic tree like the banyan, which has vines that grow from the branches to form new roots. These vines are great for swinging on, although we didn’t swing on the vines on this trail, in part because you are not supposed to leave the trail.

Ian, Dante, Soraya, Tatiana, Raymi, Assata, and Nando (in back) with banyan tree

The trail is an uphill climb. It is not too strenuous, but it was muddy, and hence slippery, when we went. I was glad we thought ahead and wore sneakers. I saw a woman struggling with flip flops on and it did not look pleasant at all.

It took about 45 minutes to walk up to the falls. The kids ran ahead of me for most of the time. As usual, they were fearless. When we made it to the top, we were rewarded with a view of the 150-foot waterfall. It is not the most spectacular waterfall I have ever seen, but was pretty cool. We stayed there admiring it for a while until the mosquitoes began to bite us. They didn’t bother us too much as we walked up, but decided to feast upon us once we stopped at the top. I had on jeans, so was okay, but the kids were wearing shorts, and began to complain about the bites. Thus, we turned back and the kids ran back down the trail while I carefully made my way back down to the base of the trail.

Manoa Falls

I have been trying to get the kids to write about our vacation in Hawaii. They are missing a couple of weeks of school and I want them to do something academic. It has been a struggle to get them to write, but we continue to set time aside each day.

Tatiana, one of my ten-year old twins, has decided that she would rather write fiction. Here is her story about Manoa Falls:

We were in the forest searching for the magic waterfall. Me, Soraya, Raymi, Assata and Dante. The waterfall gives three wishes per person. There were a lot of traps. Dante got in most of them. Silly Dante (again). As we were searching we saw a baby monkey. It was so cute! Dante pet it. And when he did the mommy monkey came and started attacking Dante! We didn’t do anything though. Instead, Assata pulled out popcorn from her bag and shared it with everyone. We watched the monkey attack Dante. Then he pushed the monkey off and it ran away with its baby monkey. We continued searching. 2 hours later we found the water fall. Everyone got 3 wishes. Dante wished for peeing longer. I thought it was disgusting. Who wishes for peeing longer? I thought. After that we went home. And when we got home, Dante rushed to the bathroom and when he started peeing he yelled Woohoo!

A Royal Palace, a Tower, and Chinatown: Downtown Honolulu with Kids

2011-12-19T11:20:00.000-08:00

We spent Saturday walking around downtown Honolulu. One of the best things about being in Hawaii for five weeks is that we can take it easy, and see the sights slowly.

The kids went to the pool in the morning, and I took a sunrise walk along the beach. We didn’t feel the urge to spend the whole day at the beach, and decided to check out the downtown area in the afternoon.

We took the Number 1 Bus that takes us straight downtown. We got off the bus just a couple of blocks from Iolani Palace, the last official residence of Hawaii’s monarchy. The opulent palace was built in 1882 by King Kalākaua. His sister and successor, Queen Lili‘uokalani, lived there while she reigned.

My children, however, were not particularly interested in seeing the palace, or learning much about the history. Thus, we decided to not pay the admission fee, and simply to enjoy the palace grounds. The kids were delighted to find that there were scores of pigeons as well as other birds and began to feed the birds. One of the great things about traveling is that you often can find the same things to do around the world. For my children, feeding pigeons is one of their favorite universal pastimes. They also like catching pigeons. I know this is not the most sanitary of habits, but we figure so long as they wash their hands thoroughly afterwards they should be okay.

After pigeon-catching at the palace, we made our way to Aloha Tower, which has the oldest elevator in Hawai’i. The views from the Tower were fairly interesting, but not incredibly breathtaking. We did spot a gigantic rainbow, which was pretty awesome.

After Aloha Tower, we decided to go to Chinatown for lunch. By that point, the kids were very hungry. I looked up a restaurant on Yelp and was pleased to find a restaurant with five stars and 80 reviews. However, when we got there, it was out of business. We found another restaurant nearby and looked all over for it. There was no sign of it either. Lesson learned: Yelp is not a reliable method for finding restaurants in Chinatown in Honolulu. By that point, the kids were whining loudly, so we went into the first restaurant we could find.

The food was decent, but nothing spectacular. The Kung Pao Chicken was actually pretty good. The lo mein was a bit weird. The garlic pepper chicken and beef broccoli were nothing special. If we didn’t have the kids with us, we might have gotten the seafood special – a four-person meal for $52, but decided against it. That might have been better than what we got.

After all of that walking around and eating, we were pretty tired. We walked back over to the Number 1 bus stop and rode back to Kahala.

I took one last walk down to the beach to watch the sunset. Then, I came home and slept deeply. It felt great to be physically, but not mentally exhausted. Another fantastic day in Honolulu.

Wai’Alae Beach Park: Picturesque from Sunrise to Sunset

2011-12-17T12:06:00.000-08:00

In Honolulu, we are staying in Kahala, and in walking distance of Wai’Alae Beach Park. The beach park does not look particularly exceptional as you approach it, yet has some of the best scenery on the island if you look closely. To give you an idea, Wai’Alae Park is a favored destination for wedding photos because of the amazing backdrop. The two times we have been there at mid-day, there have been newlyweds doing photo shoots.

Yesterday morning, I woke up early and walked to the left along the shore. I went back today to watch the sun rise again off of the pier. That is an invigorating way to start the day.

Sunrise at Wai'Alae

Yesterday afternoon, I walked off to the right from the canal that leads into Wai’Alae Beach Park. There I found my favorite kind of beach: an empty, rustic beach with an amazing view of Diamondhead as a backdrop to the sea. In addition, there are plenty of trees and greenery lining the shore. This beach is primarily residential, meaning that some lucky people live in the houses overlooking the beach. This view is much preferable to that of huge hotels, which you will find in Waikiki.

Just me and the beach!

I walked along this scenic shore for about twenty minutes, where the shore comes to an end. You might be able to continue if you were to walk into the water. The sand, however, ends at the foot of Diamond Head. There were a few other beach walkers along the way, but the beach was pretty much deserted.

In the daytime, there is no shade along this part of the beach. However, as the sun sets, the shrubs along the shore provide a bit of shade. I think it is pretty amazing to find an isolated beach in Honolulu!

You also can snorkel at Wai’Alae Beach Park, although it is not as amazing as other places. It does have a reef with quite a few fish, especially if you swim out towards the small island just off the shore.

Overall, we are incredibly lucky to be staying near such a picturesque beach park, and I likely will take a sunrise walk there most mornings.

Waking up in Honolulu

2011-12-16T19:53:00.000-08:00

It has been an amazing year, meritorious of a fantastic vacation. Our chosen destination this winter is Hawaii! We will stay here for just over a month and I will chronicle the travels of myself, my husband, Nando, and our three children on this blog over the next month.

We chose Hawaii for a couple of specific reasons. First of all, my kids have been wanting to go to Hawaii ever since they read Junie B. Jones Aloha-ha-ha book. Secondly, and more importantly, my dear friend invited us to stay at her place. With a place to stay, we could not turn down the opportunity to travel to Hawaii.

Our friend lives in Honolulu, so that was our destination. She lives in Kahala, a nice residential neighborhood near the beach. I was ecstatic to hear that one can walk from her house to the beach. I have to say, one of my dreams is to one day live within walking distance of a lovely beach. As that is not the case yet, I make do with spending as much time as possible in places near the beach.

Here in Honolulu, Wai’Alae Beach Park is a fifteen-minute walk from where we are staying. This morning, I woke up at 5:15 am (jet lag…), had a cup of coffee, wrote a blog entry, and then, around 6:40am, walked to Wai’Alae Beach Park. When I got to the park, I made a left turn and walked along the beach, past Wai’Alae Country Club to a small pier that jets out into the Ocean. Just as I got to the end of the pier, the sun fully emerged from the Pacific Ocean. It was amazing to witness that huge ball reach into the sky. I stayed there watching, taking it all in.

That was the perfect way to start my morning!

How To Pack Lightly for a Family Vacation

2011-12-16T08:08:00.000-08:00

This family of five just completed a sixteen-hour trip from Kansas City to Honolulu. One of the best decisions we made was to go with only carry-on luggage. Not having to pay fees was a huge incentive, but traveling lightly has tons of other advantages.

Traveling lightly meant each person in the family could be in charge of their own luggage; thus, it was easy to keep track of our things. Each person had one backpack and one small wheeled suitcase. My daughters range in age from 8 to 10 years old, and are old enough to be responsible for this amount of luggage.

Four carry-on suitcases. Four backpacks.

Traveling lightly also meant it was easier to find a car that could transport all of us and our things. In previous years, we have had to make sure we had the largest taxi or the friend with the biggest car take us. This time, that was not an issue.

Now that we have arrived in Honolulu, traveling lightly means that we do not have too much clutter and can move around, pack and unpack fairly easily.

How did we do it?

How to pack lightly.

To get the children to fit their stuff into one backpack and one carry-on suitcase, I asked each of them to fill their backpacks with the toys and books they wanted to carry. I made sure to remind them that they would be carrying their backpacks around, and reminded them not to stuff them too tightly. Then, I selected eight summer outfits for each of them and put the summer outfits in an Easy-Pack Bag. That allowed the clothes to fit easily into half of a carry-on suitcase. I put underclothes for a week and two bathing suits into a ziplock bag, sandals in another, and then there was a bit of space left over for more toys.

Easy-Pack Bag. Shown with Kindle to see size.

For myself, I picked out eight summer outfits and put them in another Easy-Pack Bag. I put my underclothes and swimsuit into another small bag, and then arranged those items in my suitcase along with two pairs of sandals (one simple, one dressy) and my toiletries. These fit easily into my carry-on suitcase. I used my backpack to carry my laptop, kindle, and a writing tablet.

In a nutshell, that is how we were able to travel to Hawaii for five weeks with carry-on luggage only!

Welcoming New Bloggers

2011-12-05T06:52:00.000-08:00

"Are We There Yet" has been a bit inactive lately, not because I haven't been traveling, but because I have been traveling alone, and mostly for work. Not quite as exciting.

But, the family is gearing up for a five-week trip to .... Hawaii!!

In addition, I will have my three daughters blogging about the trip. They will be missing a bit of school and may as well learn to blog and create photo essays. Taking a page from the global education book of Soul Travelers, we will incorporate a bit of learning into our fun times in Hawaii.

So, stay tuned for new blog entries from me, Tatiana (age 10), Soraya (age 10), and Raymi (age 8).

Coming soon .... Updates on our ability to go to Hawaii for five weeks with carry-on luggage only!

Best,
Tanya

I can't wait to go to Hawaii

2011-12-04T08:14:00.000-08:00

I am very excited to go to Hawaii! I can’t wait to visit my cousins and my friend Diza. I hope I see lots of creatures like this sea turtle! (PS) the sea turtles are huge! I know that because I’ve seen one before when we went snorkeling in Mexico. That time we went snorkeling in Mexico, we found a baby squid with ink in it. It squirted ink! That was in Puerto Morelos. We were with other people on a boat that went out to sea so we could snorkel. I saw some really big fish. The biggest one was about five feet long!

I heard that sting rays have poison spikes on their backs. So I’ll try to be extra careful. They also hide under the sand, so they could be anywhere!

When we were in Jamaica, we saw sting rays at Dolphin Cove. They had removed their spikes so that we could hold them. We also got to pet dolphins there, and we went snorkeling. That was at Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Another time, when we were in Negril, Jamaica, we saw a baby octopus.

I am so excited to go to Hawaii because I will see my friend Diza and my cousins, who are also coming to Hawaii. I haven't seen them for a very long time.

Diza lives in Hawaii, and my cousins will come to visit.

Searching for peace in a sea of traffic: Walking around Lima, Peru

2011-09-06T21:25:00.000-07:00

Today, I walked the streets of Lima, Peru. I have been in Lima many times, and even lived here for a while. But, it had been four years since I had been back and I was curious to see how the city had changed since I had been here last.

I am staying at the Clifford Hotel in Santa Beatriz, Lima, in the 300 block of the Avenida Arequipa. The hotel is close to the city center, and about three miles from the residential districts of Miraflores and San Isidro. I thought it would be a good idea to walk those three miles down Avenida Arequipa towards Miraflores, with the goal of arriving at the coastline to catch a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean, and to stroll along the Malecón which overlooks the Pacific Ocean.

I walked down Avenida Arequipa for about two miles, listening to all of the cars, buses, vans, and taxis honk at each other and make their way down the busy street. Eventually, however, I decided to veer off to the right and find a more peaceful street to walk along. Luckily, I quickly found a large park, complete with fountains, a footpath, grass and trees. It was great to enjoy the quiet for a while as I walked through the park and watched the crows fly over my head. Once the park ended, I kept walking and ended up at the Ovalo, where I made a quick dash into Wong to buy an adapter for my laptop.

From there, I kept walking along slightly quieter streets until I made it to the Malecón. It was a great relief to see the Pacific Ocean and the green grass and cliffs that border the Malecón. The coastline in Lima is far from the most beautiful in the world, but I always find it magical to be near one of the great bodies of water in this world. I walked along the Malecón for about a mile, when it ended.

I hoped the Malecón would continue, but it stopped because of a big municipal stadium. So, I walked along the street, back in traffic, until I got to Avenida Salaverry, where I completed my Limeño experience by taking a combi back up to Avenida 28 de Julio and walked back to my hotel.

It was great to figure out that I still can walk around Lima, even though I have not been here in four years. I was concerned I might not feel safe because of the economic crisis and the concomitant rise in street crime. However, Lima felt fairly relaxed and very walkable.

Family Vacation in Saint Cyprien, France

2011-06-30T01:51:00.000-07:00

We arrived on Saturday in Saint Cyprien, which is in the Roussillon region of southern France.

We are staying at the Hotel du Port, which has a great view of the … you guessed it: the port!

We love French food!!

First of all, it is great to be in southern France, where the food is fantastic. I haven’t been able to stop eating the delicious baguettes, pains de campagne, peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries, cheeses, and pains au chocolat. I also have had my fill of champagne and red and white wine in the few days since we have been here. So far, my favorite cheeses are Raclette and Pyrenees and I really enjoyed the bottle of Faugères red wine my husband picked up. I even tried some of the saucisson, and it was delicious!

The beach at Saint Cyprien Plage!

Saint Cyprien is a beach town, and in the summertime, fills up with beachgoers. It does have a lovely beach, with cool, clean, clear Mediterranean waters. The beach in Saint Cyprien is nice, but nothing super amazing. I personally prefer beaches with greenery, and the beach here is pure sand. I do like the view of the mountains in the background: you can see the Pyrenees in the distance. I also appreciate the fact that the beach is completely calm on some days and has waves on other, more windy days. I also like the length of the beach. It is about 1.5 miles long, and, late in the evening, it is possible to have a nice, relaxing walk along the beach.

Because of the lack of shade on the beach, I tend not to spend more than a couple of hours there each day. My kids often get bored going to the beach every day, so I decided to splurge a bit and buy them an inflatable boat, complete with rows! That was a wise choice, as it is much easier to extract them from the house with the promise of a boat ride! Otherwise, my ten-year old twins and seven-year old would be content staying at home all day playing on their iPods and laptops.

While we are here, we are trying to find a good balance between relaxing and getting around to see the rest of the region. There are more natural and beautiful beaches in neighboring towns that we plan to explore. And, the Pyrenees mountains are absolutely amazing. We are thinking of ways to spend more time there during our stay here.

From Barcelona to St. Cyprien, with a Pit Stop in Girona

2011-06-26T04:13:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, we left Barcelona to go to St. Cyprien, France. We thought we would stop in Girona on the way, as I have heard it is one of the most beautiful cities in Spain. I am very glad we decided to stop.

The train ride from Barcelona to Girona was packed, standing room only. We boarded at Clot, meaning we did not get seats. Next time we travel to Girona on a Saturday, we will make sure to leave from Sants and get there early!

With a little persistence, however, I managed to get a seat! I spotted a man on the train with his luggage in the seat next to him. Not wanting to stand for the 90 minute ride, I asked him if the seat was occupied. He said it was, with his luggage. I pointed out that he could put his luggage in the aisle where I was standing and I could sit down. He agreed, and I sat down, with Raymi on my lap. Two seats for people, and one less for luggage!

The train ride went well. It was short, and the scenery was quite nice along the way. My ten year old twins were thoroughly entertained with their iPod touches, and I read stories on my Kindle to my seven year old. Thank goodness for electronic devices!

Once we arrived in Girona, we ventured out towards the historic center in search of a “menu” – an inexpensive prix-fixe lunch menu. The train station is about five blocks from the historic center. We made it to the famous Pont Pedra, and turned right towards the Plaza Catalunya. Close to there, we found a restaurant with a decent menu at a reasonable price – 13 euros. As a bonus, they had pizza!

The restaurant was Catalonian, the bartender Chinese, and the server Cuban – quite the multi-ethnic place. Nando ordered a plate of butifarra with kiwi as an appetizer, and I had a tortilla with salmon and garlic. Mine was quite a bit more interesting. We both had merluza or lluç – a white fish- for the main course. It was grilled to perfection and quite tasty. For dessert, we ordered chocolate cake and tira misu, which the girls devoured.

In Spain, a lunch menu comes with wine, so the waiter put two bottles of wine on the table. Nando and I made it through a bottle and a half of wine, meaning we were in quite a good mood after lunch. A nice long walk was just what we needed to walk off the wine. Girona is the perfect town to walk around in.

Girona was built hundreds of years ago, with narrow streets. One thing I have learned by spending the summer in Catalonia is that narrow streets are much cooler than wide ones. Tall buildings on narrow streets provide ample shade and a cool breeze. This made walking up the many stairs around the historic center much more pleasant.

I walked with my daughters through the old town and up to the Cathedral. The Cathedral is an impressive structure, with a few flights of white stone stairs leading up to it. Short on time, we didn’t go inside. A couple of hours in Girona was just enough time to walk around the narrow streets, up and down the old staircases, and through the narrow arches. As a treat, I took the girls to a “2 euro” store, which is kind of like a dollar store, but where everything costs 2 euros – about 3 dollars.

At the 2 euro store, Soraya got a straw hat, Tatiana a keychain flashlight, and Raymi a small toy keychain. I even got a new wallet, as I lost mine in Sitges a few weeks ago.

Soon, it was time to go back to the train station. Four hours in Girona was pretty short, especially because of our long lunch. But, it was definitely a great way to break up the trip from Barcelona to France.

The train took us to Cerbere, and from there we took another train to Elne. In Elne, my sister in law picked us up to take us to St. Cyprien, where she lives. The ride along the northernmost coast of Spain was very scenic. We made it to St. Cyprien, a lovely seaside town, by 7pm, where my sister-in-law had prepared a delicious seafood stew for us.

The quest for the perfect Catalan meal

2011-06-18T00:24:00.000-07:00

You’d think it would be easy to find a good meal in Spain. For some reason, I have not had the best of luck with eating out during my time in Spain. The places I’ve been, the pintxos have been soggy, the patatas bravas greasy and the fideua salty. On Friday, however, I finally lucked out! I had a fantastic lunch at Hotel Amrey Sant Pau across from the beautiful Hospital de la Santa Creu i de Sant Pau.

Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau

Here’s how it went down. After a lovely visit to La Sagrada Familia temple, I decided to walk over to the Hospital to check it out, and look for a restaurant along the way. As I walked along Avinguda Gaudi, I passed by each of the restaurants there, thinking they were most likely tourist traps. For me, this was evidenced by two things: 1) the abundance of people sitting at tables looking at maps of Barcelona as they waited for their meals and 2) the colorful signs indicating they indeed had paella – one of the most well-known Spanish meals.

I walked along Avinguda Gaudi, admiring the lampposts and architecture until I reached the turnoff point. Still no restaurant. I then walked alongside the Hospital where I could see the colorful roof of the hospital. There, I only found places that looked a bit too greasy spoon to be good. The thing is, once I start investing in looking for a good place, I become obsessed with it being perfect. That makes the search even harder. Finally, I reached the end of the block of Carrer de Sant Antoni where the hospital ends, and turned left on Carrer de Sant Quinti. There, I saw the Hotel Amrey, which had a nice menu printed on see-through, waxy paper outside.

The menu looked promising, with carpaccio de bacalao and escalivada catalana with melted goat cheese for appetizers, and grilled salmon and fideau negra for the main courses. It was a hotel, however, so I paused, as hotels often do not have good restaurants. I peeked inside and it was tastefully decorated, with wallpaper made to look as if there were bookshelves along the wall. However, I overheard American college students inside, and decided it might just be a tourist trap as well. I kept walking, but then told myself that those students might just have been lucky enough to find a good place. Plus, I was tired and hungry, so I relented. I am glad I did.

Escalivada Catalana

The menu – the fixed price lunch – included an appetizer, a main course, a dessert, bread, and a beverage, all for 11 euros. I chose the escalivada catalana with melted goat cheese for an appetizer. Escalivada is fire-roasted red peppers and eggplants drenched in olive oil. It was delicious.

For the main course, I decided on the fideau negra – thin noodles cooked with a mixture of spices, drenched in squid ink, and served with shrimp and calamari. This plate is typically served with aioli – garlic mayonnaise – on the side. Scrumptious. I accompanied my meal with two glasses of the tasty house red wine.

Fideau Negra

For dessert, I almost went for the chocolate mousse, as I am a chocolate lover. But, I decided I should continue the theme of having a typical Catalan lunch, and went for the pastel de crema catlana. This is a pie with a cake-like crust, filled with Catalan vanilla custard, and topped with dark chocolate flakes and cinnamon. Divine. I had to finish the meal with a café cortadito – an espresso with a dash of foam.

cafe cortadito and pastel de crema catalana

After the meal, I relaxed on one of the comfortable armchairs at the front of the restaurant where I finished my coffee and made plans for the rest of my afternoon.

Tatiana, Soraya, and Raymi's photo journals: June 15, 2011, Barcelona

2011-06-15T03:58:00.000-07:00

I thought a neat way of getting my daughters to record some of their experiences in Barcelona would be through photo journals. Thus, this first installment when I was able to squeeze a couple of sentences out of them about our trip to Barcelona.

Tatiana’s photo journal: June 15, 2011

This is a picture of me, Soraya and Raymi when we were at the pigeon place looking at big bubbles and popping them. I was happy because I was having fun.

Soraya’s photo journal: June 15, 2011

Barcelona has a pigeon place where I caught pigeons with my bare hands and seeds. I had fun. The seagulls killed and ate the pigeons. We tried to stop them because we did not want them to kill the pigeons.

Raymi’s photo journal: June 15, 2011

This is my cousin Alice. I like Alice because she is nice. Alice came to visit us in Barcelona with her mother, Linda, and her sister, Michelle. She went back before my other cousin Michelle went back because she had to go to school. I think she looks like Hannah Montana.

Making Lemonade out of Lemons: An unexpected trip to Vallvidrera, Spain

2011-06-13T03:28:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, we ended up in a small town in the hills just outside Barcelona called Vallvidrera. We were on our way to Tibidabo, but got on the wrong train and decided to make the best of it. I am glad we did. Here’s what happened.

On Sunday morning, I left our apartment in Sitges with two of my three daughters – Tatiana, aged 10, and Raymi, aged 7. My other daughter, Soraya, stayed with my husband, Nando, in Barcelona at his brother’s house. The plan was that we would meet up on Sunday afternoon and spend the day together in Barcelona. Just as we were leaving Sitges, however, my husband called to let me know we should come to his brother’s house instead.

The idea of hanging out at in my brother-in-law’s living room on a beautiful Sunday did not sound appealing, so we decided I would spend the day in Barcelona with Tatiana and Raymi and meet up with Nando and Soraya at Barceloneta Beach in the afternoon. That meant Raymi, Tatiana and I had to decide where we would spend our day. On the 30-minute RENFE train ride from Sitges to Barcelona, I studied my guidebook and decided we would go somewhere in Gracia, starting with Tibidabo. I didn’t actually want to go to the amusement park itself, but thought it would be fun to ride the tram and the funicular with the girls.

So, we got off the RENFE train at Passeig de Gracia and tried to get on the FGC train to Tibidabo. That was not as easy as it looks on the map. You see, Barcelona has three separate rail lines: The Metro, the RENFE, and the FGC. The RENFE goes long distances, mostly south and north and the FGC is a regional train that mostly goes east, away from the sea and up into the mountains. And, the Metro is the underground that goes around Barcelona. We finally figured out that we had to go to a different train station to get the FGC.

Funicular that goes up to Vallvidrera

Thus, we took the Metro to the FGC Station. Right when we got to the FGC station, the train was there, waiting for us. We hopped on the train that said “Line 7” on the front and were pleased we didn’t have to wait long for a train. A few stops later, I noticed that we were not on Line 7, but on Line 6, and had made it all the way to Las Tres Torres. Oops! We jumped off the train and I thought of going back to get the train to Tibidabo. But, by that time we had been on different trains for well over an hour and wanted to get to our destination.

I looked at the FGC map and saw a station called “Peu de Funicular.” I thought to myself that that station might have a funicular as well and might even lead somewhere nice. On a whim, I decided we would go there. Luckily, the “Peu de Funicular” stop did have a funicular and, as I expected, my daughters thought the funicular was very cool! They even compared it to a roller coaster. We took the Funicular up to Vallvidrera Superior, and found a nice little town set in gorgeous mountain scenery.

The town of Vallvidrera is very hilly, and has lots of stairs. It also has amazing views of Barcelona below as well as the mountains above and below. We walked around a bit, but not much, as the girls were not too keen on the stairs. We found a nice homestyle restaurant and went inside for lunch.

Tatiana and Raymi in Vallvidrera

The lunch was decent. I ordered three plates: roasted chicken with fries, pasta, and a salad. The pasta was a big hit with the girls, and we ate most of the other two plates. I was particularly pleased to see that when I asked for a glass of house wine, I got a carafe and it was only 85 cents! After lunch, we looked around a bit more and made our way back to the funicular, and then back onto the FGC train. Later, I looked online and saw there is a small hostel in Vallvidrera. I will keep that in mind as a possible place to stay in Barcelona, as it looks clean and inexpensive, and I really did like the town.

On the way back, we had a lot more luck with transportation. The FGC train took us all the way to Plaza Catalunya. From there, we took the 59 bus straight to Barceloneta. I was impressed with my navigation skills on the way back from Vallvidrera. There was lots of room for improvement, anyway. At any rate, despite the long train rides, my daughters seemed to enjoy our outing today. They were even happier to get to the beach at Barceloneta!

Barceloneta was also nicer than I expected, full of vibrant Sunday afternoon activity and the beckoning Mediterranean Sea. It turned out to be a perfect day: a lovely lunch in a mountain village followed by a dip in the cool sea. The fact that it doesn’t get dark until 9pm in Barcelona in June certainly helped us to make the most of a long day.

Raymi in Barceloneta

Barceloneta

Parc de la Ciutadella with the family: Boat rides, parrots, a fountain and a fabulous picnic

2011-06-11T06:16:00.001-07:00

When I showed my 10-year old daughter, Soraya, the picture of the fountain in Parc de la Ciutadella, she exclaimed: “I want to go there!” Thus we set out on Thursday afternoon for the Park to see the amazing fountain.

Parc de la Ciutadella Fountain

We took the RENFE train straight from Sitges to Estaçao de França, which is less than a block away from the entrance to the Parc de la Ciutadella. On the train ride, of course, the girls wanted to hear a story. I have been reading Uncle Tom’s Cabin, as it was free to download onto my Kindle. So, I told them the story of how and why Eliza, George, and Harry escaped from slavery and made their way to Ohio on the Underground Railroad. Remarkably, they found the story fascinating and had all sorts of questions to ask.

I finished the story just as our 45-minute train ride was coming to an end. We got off the train and walked into the park. When we walked through the grand entrance, the girls immediately noticed that the leafy trees were full of small green parrots. We walked along a tree-lined path and looked to see what other birds we could find before we got to our picnic spot.

We had come prepared, and had a delicious picnic. We brought baguettes, longaniza, arugula, and goat cheese for sandwiches. We also had my favorite kind of potato chips – olive oil chips, and flan and chocolate cake for dessert. Nando and I drank red wine and we had water and juice for the girls. Now, that’s what I call a picnic!

After stuffing our faces, the girls ran around the small playground while Nando and I relaxed and finished off the wine.

We then walked around a bit more and the girls saw a lake with paddle boats. They begged to get on the boats, and promised to be good for the rest of the day if we would pay the 10 euros for 30 minutes on a boat. We relented and Nando and the girls got on a paddle boat while I wandered off to explore the rest of the park on my own.

Tatiana, Raymi, Nando and Soraya on the rowboat

Walking around, I found the Catalonian Parliament and the famous fountain Gaudi designed. The entrance to the Parliament was blocked off, and there were protestors gathering together to express their disapproval of the current government. Once the 30 minute boat ride was over, I took the girls to see the fountain. Tatiana, Raymi, and I walked up the stairs to the top of the fountain, while Nando and Soraya stayed at the bottom and relaxed at the park café.

Parliament Building, Parc de la Ciutadella

We left the park through the Arc de Triomphe exit. From the Arc de Triomphe, it is about a 15-minute walk over to Plaza Catalunya. Of course, the girls wanted to go back there to feed the pigeons, as that is their favorite thing to do in Barcelona. So, we made our way past buildings, cafes, and shops to Plaza Catalunya, where we stayed until dusk.

Staying until dusk meant that we got back to Sitges too late to take the bus up the hill to our house. So, we had to walk up the hill home. To make the walk a bit more bearable, I bought the girls a snack and a bottle of water at a store on the way. And, I told them a bit more of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This time, I told them the story of how Tom got sold into slavery at St. Clare’s plantation and how his and his wife’s opinion of how slaves should be treated differed. I made the story stretch out just long enough for us to get home without too many protestations from the kids.

Once home, we were thoroughly tired and went straight to sleep.

Las Ramblas and Plaza Catalunya with Three Kids: The endless joy of feeding pigeons

2011-06-09T01:17:00.000-07:00

On Monday, our family got on the train and went to check out the famous Plaza Catalunya and Las Ramblas.

As usual, my ten-year-old twins insisted they did not want to leave our apartment in Sitges and go into Barcelona. I reminded them that they often tell me they don’t want to do things, but end up having fun anyway. Finally, we were able to drag them out of the house and down the hill to the train station.

Our new tradition has become that, if the girls have to walk somewhere, they don’t mind so long as I tell them a story. In order to be able to tell the girls stories, I have to make sure I am reading books. I recently read Jodi Picoult’s Handle with Care, as it was lying around our rented apartment. So, I recounted to the girls the story of how a severely disabled girl’s mother had to make a decision as to whether or not she should sue her best friend, an obstetrician, for wrongful birth. Not exactly a children’s story, but they seemed to like it anyway.

I continued the story as we rode the train into Barcelona. We got off at Sants and transferred trains to take the train directly to Plaza Catalunya. When we finally got to the plaza, the girls were more than pleased to see that the Plaza is full of pigeons. Now, I know pigeons are dirty little creatures, but my kids absolutely love feeding them, and especially, feeding them from their hands if they can. So, I let them do it, but insist they wash their hands thoroughly afterwards.

Plaza Catalunya

After an hour or so of feeding pigeons, we made our way down Las Ramblas. The kids did not want to leave the pigeons, but I promised them there would be human statues on Las Ramblas, so they consented. On Las Ramblas, there were several human statues, as well as little stands that sell pets. That should have been more than enough entertainment for the kids, but they really wanted to go back and see the pigeons. After eating gofres (waffles), ice cream and granizado (frozen lemonade), we decided that my husband, Nando, would take the kids back to the pigeons, while I explored a bit of Las Ramblas myself.

Quatre Gats: Placa Reial

They made their way back, and I went down Las Ramblas, stopping off at Placa Reial to have a look at one of Gaudi’s creations: the Quatre Gats, and then making my way down to the old port. As I walked around by myself, I was taken back to my early twenties, when I used to travel around alone and explore European cities. I strolled along the streets of Barri Gotic, and it was just like old times, except for that I took note of where all the playgrounds were, with the intention of bringing the kids back to them later.

When I got back to the Plaza Catalunya, the girls continued to be fully entertained by the pigeons. Nando had found some musician friends, and they were playing songs together on one of the benches. I stood by Nando to listen to the music, while keeping an eye on the girls. Listening to Nando and his newfound friends play “Moliendo Café” took me back to all the times we have hung out in Latin America and gotten together to play music. I don’t play any instruments myself, but love those moments of spontaneous music and dance.

Old Port

While we were singing and dancing, there was something else going on in Plaza Catalunya. This happens to be the place where the youth protestors have taken over. At 7pm, the protestors announced that they would get together in small groups and come up with proposals. I sat near a group that was discussing the external debt. The conversation was in Catalan, but I understood enough to learn that there was an argument going on between the majority who thought Spain should default on the debt and take care of its people, and one older person who insisted that was an unrealistic proposal.

The youth protestors have really set themselves up in the Plaza Catalunya, with a variety of stands focusing on different issues, a kitchen, and an information booth. I found most impressive the way they have laid boards on trees to sleep in. They also have strung a huge net between trees where several people can sleep.

In addition to the protestors, the musicians, and the vendors, there are also homeless people who live in the Plaza. I wondered to myself how the takeover of the Plaza by the youth has affected the homeless people who used to stake out the Plaza as their own. To me, it seemed as if the homeless people and the protestors seemed to keep apart. There didn’t seem to be much interaction between them. The sociologist in me became very curious about what happens to people when they find themselves in the streets all day every day, and what new social relations and divisions occur. I didn’t stay long enough to figure it all out, just long enough to realize that it would be interesting to explore.

Eventually, we all got hungry and I wanted to try one of the small restaurants with a terrace in Barri Gotic. We found one that looked reasonable. Nando and I ordered a fideau with seafood and got a pizza for the kids. The food was decent, but unremarkable. I did enjoy my glass of cava and Nando his glass of red wine. Now, we were fully tired and it was time to take the train back home to Sitges.

It was a long ride, made longer by the fact that we took the metro instead of the train back to Sants, missed the fast train, and got back too late to take a bus up the hill. We made it up the hill back to our house with a story. I had told the children all the stories I had read, so had to make up a story to get us back up the hill. I had no idea what I would say, but got to talking and was able to weave a tale that kept them from complaining about walking 2 kilometers up a hill at 11pm.

Once home, we all easily fell asleep until the next morning.

Raymi and the Pigeons

Rain, Long Walks, Immigrants, and Expatriates: Another Day in Sitges

2011-06-03T03:51:00.001-07:00

Tuesday was a rainy day in Sitges. That put a damper on my plans to spend the afternoon walking along the beach. I like to take long walks along the beach, as these walks allow me to process all that is going through my mind. I find long strolls to be therapeutic. When I can put one foot in front of the other and not have to think about where I am going or what time I have to be there, my thoughts flow freely. If I am having trouble making a decision or figuring out a problem, a long walk usually does the trick.

On Tuesday, the rain came in stops and starts, which at least permitted me to take the 15-minute walk down the hill from Vallpineda, where we are staying, to the historic center of Sitges.

Just as I made it down the hill to the center of town, the rain began to come down again. Just three blocks from the beach, I had to seek refuge under an umbrella at L’Aixeta Café. When I sat down, I watched people hurry along under umbrellas. Others stood under awnings, waiting for the rain to pass. Still others braved the downpour, with or without rain jackets or ponchos.

Unable to walk without getting soaked, I decided to use another strategy to process the myriad thoughts running through my mind. I pulled out a pen and began to write down my thoughts. As the rain cleared and my thoughts flowed onto paper, I felt a sense of relief. Perhaps I would be able to walk along the beach. If not, I could write and reflect on life and write about it.

As I paused to take in the scene, I noticed how many foreigners, and how many languages, there are in Sitges. There were four Chinese men chatting and smoking in the entrance to the café. Two women walked by talking in Quechua. A variety of German, French, and British tourists strolled by. The couple at the table next to me conversed in Catalan, and two older women hurried by chatting in Spanish.

Sitges is in Catalunya, meaning that many people’s native language is Catalan. People from other parts of Spain also reside here, and speak Spain. Sitges, like the rest of Barcelona, is also home to many Latin American immigrants, who come here primarily to work in low-wage jobs. Some of these immigrants speak Spanish, and others are indigenous and have Quechua as their native tongue. Sitges is also home to a large number of expatriates – Europeans and Americans who have made their homes here.

Wait, why are Latin Americans in Sitges called immigrants, and Europeans expatriates? Technically, an immigrant is a person who intends to settle in a country other than his or her birth, whereas an expatriate is simply someone who lives in another country. However, many Latin American immigrants fully intend to return to their countries of birth, and many European expatriates marry locals and purchase retirement homes in their adopted countries. The connotations of the terms certainly are distinct. At any rate, this could be a topic worth exploring further!

Monday Afternoon in Parc Guell

2011-05-31T12:26:00.000-07:00

On Monday, we ventured out from Sitges to Barcelona to visit Parc Guell – home to many of Gaudi’s fabulous sculptures and beautiful gardens.

On the 45-minute train ride there, my daughters wanted to hear a story again. I just finished reading The Coldest Winter Ever, by Sister Souljah, so I recounted Winter’s story to them. At the end, Tatiana asked why my stories don’t have happy endings. Good point. Perhaps I need to populate my reading list with some happier stories. There are some books in the apartment we are renting, so I will have a look at those.

Getting to Parc Guell was pretty easy. We took the train to Passeig de Gracia. I wanted to see just a bit of this famous street, renowned for its expensive shops. In the two blocks that we walked from the train station to the bus stop, we passed a Gucci shop, a Chanel shop and a Bulgari store. Clearly, the street lived up to its reputation. I also thought to myself that Winter Santiaga, the main character in The Coldest Winter Ever would have liked that street. I wanted to walk a bit more, but the girls had begun to complain, so we hopped on the #24 bus, which takes you all the way to Parc Guell.

You can also get to Parc Guell via the metro, but the bus has two advantages: 1) You can see all sorts of cool things outside the windows and 2) The bus takes you to the top of the park, and you walk down to see everything, whereas the metro takes you to the bottom of the hill and you have to walk up.

Parc Guell is a large green expanse, with amazing architectural and design highlights. I enjoyed admiring the mosaics and gardens. It was a bit crowded, however, which took away some of the charm. If I go again, I would arrive earlier in the morning, when, presumably, there are fewer people.

These are a few of my favorite things (to eat and drink) in Sitges

2011-05-31T01:47:00.000-07:00

I have to say that I love going food shopping in Spain. The cheese, wine, olives, chocolates and cavas are my favorites thus far. Of course, you can get most of these items in the United States. In Spain, however, they are ubiquitous and a bargain!

My favorite cheese so far is the goat cheese, not the chevre like the French eat, but an aged goat cheese that is firm, flavorful, and creamy. In Spanish it’s called queso de cabra semi-curado. I got 120 grams for 2 euros and enjoyed every bit of it.

Spanish red wines are fully of flavor and body. I personally like the Grenache. It is a bit spicy, full of fruit flavors and full-bodied. My husband prefers the Rioja, which is smoother and has more tannin. One Grenache I like quite a bit is the Etim. For Rioja, the Paulus is a good bargain wine. Marqués de Cáceres is another good one if you want to spend a bit more. I will have to continue to try more wines and see if I can find my favorite!

As for olives, the best thing to do is to buy a jar of the plain green olives with pits and season them yourself. I bought a large jar of very large green olives for 2 euros. Then, I broke open a few garlic cloves and put them in a large bowl. I covered the olives with olive oil and sprinkled basil in the bowl. I put in a couple of dried cayenne peppers for a bit of a kick. I muddled the garlic and peppers a bit before putting in the olives. Then, I mixed them up and let them marinate for a while. Yum!

I have to say that I love chocolate! And, here in Barcelona, delicious Swiss chocolate is widely available and fairly inexpensive. Yesterday, I stocked up on Toblerone, Lindt, and Milka, so that I can enjoy a square or so when I crave some chocolate.

Cava is Spanish sparkling wine. When chilled, it is delicious. I have tried a couple so far, and they both have been crisp and dry. Like the wines, I will have to continue to try different kinds until I find my favorite. Not a bad job, I’d say!

I foresee many an evening here in Sitges where I will snack on cheese and olives and red wine instead of eating dinner. Life is good.

Ups and Downs of Life in Sitges, Barcelona: Beautiful City, Bad Food, and a Lost Wallet

2011-05-28T03:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday started out just lovely. After getting my morning writing tasks done and having a delicious lunch, I headed down to Sitges with my daughter, Soraya.

We are living in Urbanizacion Vallpineda, a residential area about 2 kilometers from Sitges, and an easy walk downhill. Soraya was the only one who wanted to walk with me today, so my husband stayed at home with Raymi and Tatiana. My daughters are very pleased that our apartment complex has a swimming pool and several children who also live here. Although yesterday was Friday, the neighbor kids did not have school for some reason or another. So, Tatiana and Raymi stayed to play with them while Soraya and I headed out around 4pm towards Sitges.

Sitges has a large pedestrian-only area of the city full of shops, cafes, restaurants, and vendors. Soraya and I walked around looking at the shops and admiring the old stone streets and architecture. This maze of streets leads straight to the beach, and we walked along the beach right to the end. I was impressed with how long Soraya walked with me without complaining.

The beach at Sitges is quite nice, with a mild current and decent sand. It’s not the Caribbean with powder white sand and clear waters, but certainly nice enough. The beach does have stone jetties and you can see a large Cathedral at one end of the beach. Soraya and I had fun walking out onto the jetties and feeling the cool breeze.

After our long walk, Soraya and I headed back through the old city, looking for a place with good tapas. You’d be surprised, but our search for delicious tapas in Sitges has thus far been quite a disaster. I suppose it is time to pull out the guidebook. Yesterday, we tried a place that had a wide variety of small open-face sandwiches, each less impressive than the last. We also tried their fried calamari, which was mediocre. The one decent thing there was the wine at 1 euro 35 cents a glass, a decent Rioja called Paulus. The people at the next table had a plate of shrimp that looked good, but our food was okay at best.

Today, we bypassed a couple of places in the center because they were completely full. I thought it might be a good idea to try a place near the train station, thinking the food might be cheaper as it was not in the center. The food was quite unremarkable. Well, the patatas bravas were decent, but the bacalao en salsa was not. I actually can’t remember the name of either of these places. At any rate, I will be sure to check online reviews before venturing out again, as there must be plenty of good places to eat in Sitges. Our random selection of convenient restaurants does not seem to be the best way to find them. Based on TripAdvisor, La Salseta and El Fresco look promising.

As Soraya and I were eating, I saw the bus pull up. The bus only comes every 30 minutes, so I paid the bill and asked for a take away box. We rushed out of the restaurant and onto the bus. Somehow, between paying for the bus and getting off the bus, I lost my wallet. I am not sure how it happened. Soraya and I sat down in the front seats. I had a plastic bag with chocolates in my purse and took it out for us to try the Toblerone. I imagine that when I did that, my wallet fell out of my bag and onto the seat or the floor. All I know is that when I got home, I looked into my bag and my wallet wasn’t there. It is actually a small clutch which contained my iPhone and my wallet with my driver’s license, both debit cards and a credit card. I freaked out when I realized it was gone. I told my husband, and then ran out of the house back to the bus stop. Of course the bus was long gone.

The next bus that came along was the last bus. I told the driver what happened, and he suggested we ride back downtown to the end of the line to find the other bus. It seems there are only two buses on this line. We made it downtown and the other bus and driver were there. He let me look on the bus, but, no wallet. I guess some lucky passenger found it and chose not to turn it in.

I walked back up the hill home and began the very long process of finding all of the international numbers to call and cancel my cards. It took three hours! But, at the end of it, Citibank and Bank of America agreed to send me new debit cards. Thus, if we are lucky and the people who work at the bank are able to understand the address, which is in Catalan, we will have new cards next week! Capital One said they don’t send credit cards overseas. That is unfortunate, because they are the only credit card company that does not charge a 3 percent surcharge on international purchases.

I am really kicking myself right now for going outside with both of my debit cards when I needed neither of them. I usually am good about leaving those at home! I did need both of them on Wednesday when I had to take lots of euros out of the bank to pay for the apartment. But, I really should have put them away.

I am also disappointed because I lost my driver’s license. My husband seems to have forgotten his at home, so that puts a big damper on our plans to rent a car.

I have sent several Skype messages to my iPhone in the hopes that the person who found it will connect to the Internet and see them. Aside from the unlikely event that tactic will work, I am trying to let bygones be bygones and forget about it. It is bad enough to have lost 80 euros in cash, my iPhone, my cards, and my driver’s license. I don’t have to also lose out on the joy of life! So, I am trying really hard to forget about it and keep moving forward.

Adelante!

P.S.: Sorry this post has no photos. I took some cool pictures with my iPhone before I lost it….

We finally made it to Sitges … and are celebrating with Cava!

2011-05-25T13:27:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday morning, Nando, our three daughters, and I took a train from Sant Adria de Besos to Sitges. Actually, two trains. Fortunately, Junior and I had taken our two large suitcases the previous day to Sitges, meaning that, with a little help from the girls, we did not have very much to carry. Still, Tatiana, Soraya and Raymi made sure to complain at least a few times during the six-block walk from the center of Sant Adria de Besos until the train station.

Once we got to the train station, and everyone calmed down, I began to tell the girls a story, which they love for me to do. I recently read the novel, The Help, and decided I would recount the story from that novel where a maid put her feces into her employer’s mother’s chocolate pie. I thought the girls would get a kick out of the gross factor there. They did. And, once we got on the train, I recounted them every other bit of the story I could remember. By the time we got to the Sants station, where we needed to transfer, I had told them most of the memorable parts of the book.

At Sants, we transferred to another train that would take us straight to Sitges. On the way there, they forced a few more pieces of the story out of me, and I told them the part about where Celia Foote went to the Society Benefit in her hoochie-mama dress. One more reason to read more novels: It gives me material to recount to my daughters during long train rides.

When we finally arrived at our apartment, the girls couldn’t have been happier with it. It really is a nice place, with hardwood floors, and is tastefully decorated. It also has a lovely wooden porch that looks out onto the garden and swimming pool. I am sitting there now, with a baguette, some cava, and Spanish cheese, as I write this blog entry.

I was pleased the girls were so happy with the apartment, as that should make everything easier. It is not exactly in Sitges, but in a sort of suburb on the outskirts of the city. It is a 2km walk downhill to Sitges, and definitely a 2km bus ride back up the steep hill. Luckily, there is a bus that takes us straight into town. Also, just in case, there is a small store a few minutes walk away where I was able to get my cava, cheese and baguette.

One thing I love about Spain so far is that Spanish products that are practically considered gourmet are so cheap here! Obvious, I know, but still! I got a nice bottle of high quality olive oil for about $3.50, a great bottle of cava for $7.00, and some decent olives for $1.00. And, that was at the corner store. Can’t wait until I go to the real store!

And, of course, I can’t wait until I get to explore Sitges tomorrow. Today, I decided to stay in and get everything packed away and set up.

The joys of being plugged in....

2011-05-24T14:12:00.000-07:00

I finally found an adapter! My laptop had completely run out of battery, as had my iphone. Without these two devices, I felt quite out of touch. Thus, an adapter was high on my priority list today.

My nephew was sure I could find one at the variety store across the street owned by Chinese immigrants. I looked and looked, but there were none. The storeowner had no idea what I was talking about nor where I could find one, so I asked another customer. She told me I needed to go to a real hardware store, and that there was one just a few blocks away. I ventured down the block and made it to the hardware store. The person who attended told me that he only had adapters for when you when want to go from Spain to another country, but not vice versa. He recommended I try El Campo - a large Target-like store just across the street.

El Campo, it turns out, has a little bit of everything, from groceries, to furniture, to power adapters. In El Campo, I looked up and down the wide aisles before I finally found a universal power adapter, a pretty neat gadget that lives up to its name - universal. You can use it to change U.S.-style plugs to European or UK style-plugs and vice-versa.

The only worker in the store who actually was able to help me find an adapter turned out to be an African immigrant, who took an adapter with him to London when he traveled there. The adapter cost 11 euros, and he told me I probably could get a simpler one elsewhere for cheaper. I considered it an 11 euros well-spent.

With my adapter, I just needed one more thing: a cell phone. I bought a vodaphone for 19 euros, that came with 12 euros worth of pre-paid time. Not a bad deal.

With an adapter and a cell phone, I am plugged in!

Getting settled in Sant Adria de Besos: Our First Day in Barcelona

2011-05-24T01:48:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Barcelona on Monday night, and my husband´s family came to pick us up from the airport. Of course, a full carload of relatives came. When we deplaned, my niece, two of my nephews, my sister-in-law, and my brother-in-law were waiting for us in the lobby.

Even though we are traveling relatively lightly, there was no way that all five us of plus all five of them plus our luggage was going to fit into my nephew´s car. So, we split up and I rode home with my niece and nephew and the luggage, and the rest of the family took the train back to my sister-in-law´s place in Sant Adria de Besos, a northern suburb of Barcelona.

Upon arriving in Barcelona, there were two things I needed: cash and an adaptor. I tried getting cash at the airport ATM to no avail. I have two debit cards: Citibank and Bank of America. I wanted to use my Citibank card because my BofA account charges $5 for non-BofA ATMs. With no luck with the Citibank card at the airport, I decided to try and get cash near my nephew´s house. I tried a few banks, but, apparently the ATMs couldn´t access my Citibank savings account, and I ended up having to use my BofA card. There are no charges with that card at Deutsche Bank, but the Deustche Banks are all in the center of Barcelona. The good news is that I finally got my hands on some euros. It was too late to get the adaptor, so we went back home after getting the cash.

The rest of our family ended up taking about two hours to get home from the airport, meaning that they weren´t home until 10pm. This, of course, is a normal time for supper in Spain, so we got some pizza and red wine and ate and chat together before we all crashed around midnight.

I woke up right at 9am this morning, so hopefully this time zone change will be no problem. When I woke up, my sister-in-law and niece had already left for the day, leaving just me and my three daughters in her house. My husband went to sleep at his brother´s house so they could hang out until later and catch up. It´s been ten years since they saw one another. We saw my husband´s sister and her children in Peru in 2007, but his brother was already living in Spain at that time.

My sister-in-law left me a note with the keys, so I ventured outside in search of some breakfast items and the adaptor. I need an adaptor to plug in my computer, as the outlets here are completely different and the plug simply does not fit. In Spain, like in many parts of Europe and Latin America, instead of having Walmarts and Targets that have everything, there are small specialty stores. In search of an adaptor, I went to a bookstore, a paint store, a drugstore, a toystore, and a supermarket. No luck. I then went to an outdoor market and asked in one of the stands, but they only sold hardware for computers. I guess I will have to wait to get an adaptor.

As I was trying to obtain an adaptor, I realized I don´t exactly know how to say: "Do you have an adaptor that allows me to plug in a three-pronged plug into a two-pronged outlet". I think the word I am missing here is "pronged." So, I said: "Do you have an adaptor that allows me to plug a thing with three thingys into an outlet with two thingys?" Some people understood me better than others. This reminded me of many previous trips abroad looking for various household items. It´s not until you get to the hardware store that you realize you have no idea how to say "faucet" or "stopper" or "nuts and bolts." Anyway, no adaptor means I am typing this on my nephew´s computer.

I did have good luck with getting breakfast items though. The first thing I needed was a coffee. I found a corner cafe run by Chinese immigrants. I wasn´t too sure about getting a coffee from a Chinese coffee shop, but I decided to see how it was. I ordered a cafe con leche, and it was delicious. From there, I made it to a small supermarket and got yogurt, fresh cheese, baguettes, and a pint of strawberries for breakfast.

Sant Adria de Besos is an immigrant neighborhood, full of immigrants from Pakistan, South America, Africa, and China. For this reason, the coffee shop was owned by Chinese immigrants, and it is next to a kebab restaurant and a market with Pakistanis selling shoes and clothes. I have yet to explore it much, but I am sure I will have the opportunity.

This afternoon, however, hopefully, we will be moving into our apartment in Sitges. I have reserved a place, and if all turns out well, we will move in this afternoon!

How to Travel Abroad for a Long Trip with the Family: Seven Steps to Be Ready

2011-05-20T08:15:00.000-07:00

The idea of traveling abroad for over a month with your entire family can be overwhelming. However, if you have a large family and are going to spend a significant amount of cash on airline tickets, it often can be well worth the time and money to stay abroad for longer than a month.

I have packed up myself, my husband, and my three kids for extended trips abroad on at least a half a dozen occasions. In this post, I explain how we do it.

My daughters at the park during our trip to Guatemala

At the moment, we are about to embark on a 7-week stay in Barcelona. Thus, it’s a good time for me to provide some tips on how one goes about this.

Step 1: Passport and visa check.

At least three months before you leave, pull out everyone’s passports and make sure they are not about to expire. Do some online searching to make sure no one needs a visa. This simple step could potentially save you a lot of trouble and frustration later.

Step 2: Buy the airline tickets.

Because I have to purchase five tickets for my family, I always want to ensure I get the best deal possible. At the same time, I know that I can easily spend hours and hours online trying to get a good deal. To strike a balance, I keep an eye on the price of the tickets for about a month. That allows me to have an idea as to how much I should spend and what a good deal would be. Then, I dedicate one afternoon to researching all of the online options and purchasing the tickets. Two tips for getting cheaper tickets: 1) If you don’t live in a major city, it can often be cheaper to purchase one ticket to a major city and another from that city to your overseas destination. If you do this, it is advisable to have a very long layover or to purchase your overseas tickets for the next day. This year, we are flying to Washington, DC on Friday, and out to Barcelona on Sunday. 2) The more flexible you are with the dates, the better chance you have of getting a bargain.

Step 3: Look for housing.

If you are traveling abroad and plan to stay in one place for more than a week, you often can find furnished apartments to rent. Furnished apartments usually cost the same or less than hotels, and have the dual advantages of being larger than a hotel room and the possibility for doing your own food preparation. A little online searching – via craigslist.com – for example, can often lead to many possibilities. With Google maps and forums such as the Lonely Planet thorntree and tripadvisor.com, you can get a pretty good idea about the area before you choose a place to stay.

Step 4: Pack lightly.

For our family of five, we can fit all we need into two large suitcases and three smaller carry-on rollies. Packing lightly makes traveling much easier. If you arrive in a city with six or ten suitcases, you need all kinds of special transportation just to get you and your bags where you need to go. If you travel with just a few suitcases, getting around and getting settled is much easier.

Here is what we pack:

One suitcase full of my and my husband’s clothes and shoes: For myself, I pack no more than 30 items of clothing – including dresses, slacks, shorts, and shirts. That is more than enough to have plenty of variety at least for one season. My husband fills the remainder of the suitcase with his clothes. I usually pack a couple of towels and maybe a sheet, depending on where we are going.
One suitcase full of the kids’ clothes. For the kids, I pack seven to ten outfits each. That will last them at least a week before it’s time to do laundry. We minimalize the number of toiletries we pack, as you usually can get what you need wherever you go, and split the toiletries between our and the kids’ suitcases.
One carry-on rollie with my books and computer. This is my work suitcase, and I fit in there whatever I need to get work done: my laptop, kindle, digital recorder, books, papers, flash drives, and writing utensils.
One carry-on rollie with the kids’ toys and electronic distractors. I finally relented and let the kids get Nintendo DS’s when I realized that they are a great, compact way to keep the children entertained while we are traveling. My 10-year olds also got iPod touches for Christmas, and these are also great and compact for traveling. We also pack a portable DVD player, blank papers, crayons, markers, and books to keep the kids entertained.
One carry-on rollie with my husband’s jewelry-making supplies and books. My husband is a musician and a jeweler, so he packs up his rollie with whatever he needs to keep himself occupied while we are abroad.
Then, each of us gets one backpack into which we put whatever we want. I pack reading materials for the plane. My kids pack their favorite toys. My husband packs snacks and his instruments.

Step 5: Get everything ready well in advance.

It alleviates a lot of last-minute stress if you can be packed and ready to go the night before you leave, or several hours before you go. After you pack, you can relax and have lunch or dinner out. Leaving everything to the last minute is guaranteed to produce lots of stress.

Step 6: Gather the troops and head to the airport.

Double check that you have the passports, tickets, cash and credit cards. With those things in order, everything else will be fine.

Step 7: Bon Voyage.

You are ready, and have what you need. Enjoy the great time with your family.

A Globetrotter in …. Cancun?

2011-04-28T10:04:00.000-07:00

This spring, I had $300 vouchers for a Frontier Airlines flight. And, Frontier has direct flights to Cancun. This made the idea of traveling to Cancun for Spring break with my husband and three children very attractive. In just under four hours, we could leave behind a gloomy Kansas spring, and be on the pristine beaches of Cancun.

The only problem was I did not want to go to Cancun – famed for its high-rise hotels and Spring Breakers who get drunk and party ‘til they drop. Not my idea of an ideal vacation. As a former backpacker who has traveled the world with (and without) three kids in tow, Cancun seemed a bit too touristy for my tastes.

Of course, I knew that there are many small towns on the Mayan Riviera where one can stay. You can fly to Cancun and travel to Tulum or Puerto Morelos or another smaller town. These towns don’t have the party vibes and built-up atmosphere of Cancun.

Thus I began my search for an isolated palapa in Tulum where I could be alone basking in the Caribbean sun. After an extensive online search, however, I realized that Tulum is not the same as it was when I last visited in 1999. It has turned into an expensive eco-resort destination where beach hotels are $150 a night and up. And (gasp) many of them don’t accept children!

I thus looked into Akumal, where I found a decent condo for $80 a night. However, some online searching revealed that Akumal has a busy, small, crowded beach.

After spending hours online, I decided that I could not waste any more time trying to find a place from afar. We’d just fly to Cancun and figure it out from there. One thing I know about traveling is that, outside the United States, the best deals often are not online.

At the Westin, where Iguanas roam free

Feeling just a bit nervous about taking my husband and three kids to Cancun without any hotel lined up, I went on priceline.com. Actually, first I went on betterbidding.com to figure out what the going rate for a hotel in Cancun was. I couldn’t believe it! We could get a 5-star or resort hotel in Cancun for $55 a night. I placed my bid for $55 a night and we got the Westin, a very nice hotel at the more secluded end of Cancun. When they gave me the option to extend my stay one more night, I decided, “why not?” That’s how we spent our first two nights in Cancun.

And, I have to admit it was nice. My kids are partial to fancy hotels. I found out that the hotel has free parking. Since the taxi was going to be at least $30, we decided to rent a car for the same price. We got a decent car from Easy Way and thus were able to travel to the city of Cancun for dinner. In the city, the food is much better and cheaper than on the beach.

Tatiana at the Hilton Swimming Pool

We decided to rent a car for the week. That enabled us to leave our lovely resort hotel early in the morning after our second night and travel to Tulum to find a hotel. I’ll describe that trip and the hotel in another post. For now, I want to focus on one key point. We went back to Cancun after three nights in Tulum because I booked our last two nights at the Hilton in Cancun.

Our hotel in Tulum was $40 a night, and it was a two-star at best. The girls complained that the television didn’t work and it didn’t have a swimming pool. The hotel was far from the beach, and the room was small. For just a few dollars more, we could be at the Hilton. So, we went back and had a lovely, relaxing time our last two days in Cancun.

There you have it. That’s how a globetrotting backpacker ended up at the Hilton and Westin in … Cancun!

Relax and Have a Beer at Norman Manley Beach Park in Negril

2011-01-16T12:52:00.000-08:00

Negril's famous Seven-Mile Beach is chock full of restaurants, hotels, and bars. One of my favorite places to have a drink there is also one of the cheapest.

At the very end of the Seven-Mile Beach, just before you cross over the bridge into central Negril is Norman Manley Beach Park. This public park has a wooden structure that operates as a bar every day from around 11am to 8pm, and until midnight on Sundays. The bar itself has no name. I usually refer to it as Sanchez's, as the current owner is called Sanchez.

The bar is almost never crowded, except on Sunday nights, when it is packed full of locals jamming to dancehall on a huge sound system.

Most days, you'll find a couple of people playing dominoes at one of the tables, and a tourist or a local having a drink at the bar.

Jamaicans often order a flask of J.B. rum with a Coke, a Ting or a Red Bull. That order will get you as many cups of ice as you need. If your not into hard liquor, you can order the classic Red Stripe, or my favorite, Dragon Stout. No alcohol, no problem: you can order a Wata or a juice.

Many days, after a long walk on the beach, I'd sit in Sanchez's bar and alternately gaze at the amazing Caribbean Sea and listen to the Jamaicans at the bar talking in patois about their next business venture. Sitting there, I'd reflect on how lucky I was to have this amazing view, to feel the cool breeze, and just being able to completely chill out.

Unlike many of the other bars on the beach, you see very few vendors at Sanchez's. Although Negril is full of tourists, there are also relatively few tourists at this bar.

Definitely worth checking out while you are in Negril. If you go, tell Sanchez that Tanya sent you....

Two Weeks Alone in Negril

2011-01-15T05:59:00.000-08:00

I spent two weeks traveling alone in Negril, Jamaica.

When you travel alone in Jamaica, however, you really are alone only as long as you want to be. As soon as you are ready to engage with the outside world, there are plenty of people willing to talk.

I spent my first few days here enjoying my solitude. When people called to me on the street, I ignored them. When people tried to start conversations on the beach, I cut them off. I wanted to be alone. I particularly didn't want to be bothered with inane conversations: "What's your name? Where are you from? First time in Jamaica?" Yeah, those can be pretty annoying. I know it sounds rude, but I find that, if I am not going to talk to a person, it is better to completely ignore them than to respond to their shouts and try to explain to them that you don't want to have a conversation. People usually assume you didn't hear them.

After a few days, however, I felt as though I had regained my grounding, and began to talk to people more. I started talking to people I know from the last time I was here. I am here in Negril doing ethnography, but my first few days were purely observational. After a few days, however, I had some questions about what I was seeing, so it was a suitable time to begin to engage in conversation.

The first person I spoke with for an extended period of time was a Jamaican who lived abroad for many years, but has now settled back in Jamaica. We chatted for a bit about how you can tell the difference between a Jamaican from Kingston and one who has lived abroad. The differences are often subtle, as urban working class Jamaicans and urban working class New Yorkers often dress quite similarly. As I began to have more questions and ideas about my work on Jamaican return migration, I engaged in more and more conversations.

I met up with a friend who was deported two years ago, and we talked about how he has learned to survive here in Negril. He explained to me that he works with the guys who change money. He hangs around and is available to run errands for them whenever they need it. They have grown to trust him, and give him tips whenever he runs an errand. With that money, plus the money his mother sends from the US, he is able to get by.

My last four days here in Jamaica, I completely emerged from my shell. I realized I only had a few days left, and had to get as much ethnography in as possible. After being here for ten days, I had a good idea as to who I could talk to and who I shouldn't. I started having conversations with strangers. This turned out to be remarkably enjoyable and informative.

On Friday, as I walked along the beach, an older rasta began to chat with me.We walked for about two miles along the beach, and he recounted to me how he had traveled to the US and been deported, and then gone to Europe and had been deported as well. Now, he makes a living working at a local bar. He is a deportee, but I doubt anyone would know it without talking to him for quite some time.

On Wednesday, I went out to a bar and chatted with several people about my work. These conversations helped me get a better understanding of why some deportees are able to get by and others aren't. Basically, in Jamaica, you have to figure out how things work and find a place for yourself within that framework. For some, starting a small business is the only way they will be successful. Others are willing to accept the status hierarchies and submissiveness that go along with working for someone else and can do that to survive. Still others figure out a hustle on the streets that works for them and do that to get by.

The first few days I was alone in Negril, it had been so long since I had long periods of time to myself that I really had to embrace my solitude and get comfortable with myself again. Soon enough, however, I had to start engaging with people. And, I am glad I did.

When you are traveling alone, you have the choice as to whether or not you want to talk to people. It was nice to have that choice for a while.

Unanticipated Benefits: A Story, a Hat, and a Long Walk

2011-01-09T19:09:00.000-08:00

One of the great things about traveling to new places is that you get to meet people you never would have encountered had you stayed home.

For the two weeks I will be here in Negril, I decided that I will walk six miles a day. From my cottage - Silver Star Outback - in the center of Negril, it is three miles to the Lighthouse along the cliffs, and three miles to the end of the beach. Thus, I set out in either direction each afternoon and come back in the evening after having taken a long walk.

Today, I set out towards the cliffs. About ten minutes after leaving the cottage, I saw Miss Pamela across the road. Miss Pamela crochets hats and bags and sells them by the road for a living. She called me across the street and I went to greet her. I wished her a happy new year, and asked her how she had passed the holiday season. She started to say that it was good, but then interrupted herself to tell me that it was also sad, as her daughter had passed away.

Miss Pamela’s daughter, aged 38, had died of ovarian cancer in November. She hadn’t told her mother or anyone else of her diagnosis, and suffered in silence until she died. For her mother, her death was completely unexpected, and, possibly avoidable. She began to shed tears as she told me that her daughter tried to protect her by not telling her, but that she would have moved mountains to save her had she been given the chance. I told Miss Pamela that it was okay to cry. Only a person without a heart wouldn’t cry in the face of such great loss.

Miss Pamela’s daughter left two boys that she now cares for. One is ten, and thus is still in school and Miss Pamela has to find the money each day for school fees, uniforms, and lunch. She shook her head in disbelief that she has been able to provide for the boy. “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away,” she told me.

As a mother, it is unfathomable to me to imagine that my children would leave this earth before I do. As a woman, I was reminded that I need to make an appointment to get my pap smear and mammogram so that I can be sure I am healthy.

Our conversation turned lighter as Miss Pamela asked me about my children and told me stories of how she used to live close to a mutual friend of ours brother many years ago when her children were young. Today, Miss Pamela has 14 grandchildren and three granddaughters. She lamented the relative lack of little girls among her grandchildren. When she asked about my twins, she told me one of her sisters had five sets of twins!

Before leaving her stand, I bought a crocheted hat from Miss Pamela. I wanted to do something to alleviate her stress and depression. I got a green, gold, red, and black striped crocheted skull cap that I put on as I left.

As I walked up the road towards the lighthouse, I thought about our conversation and how ephemeral life is. I don’t like to think about that too much, so I quickly began to muse about other things as I appreciated the great blue sea to my right.

When I came back down the hill, I reflected on the fact that today, unlike most days, all of the Jamaican men who called out to me during my walk were respectful. Instead of hissing or shouting “hey baby” or “do you need a man?,” people greeted me with a smile and a “good afternoon.” A couple of young men did flirt, but their flirtations were polite and not too insistent.

Perhaps it was just a fluke. Perhaps it was the cap. I will have to wear it again tomorrow to find out.

Funny, though. I purchased the cap to help Miss Pamela out, to remember her, and to remind myself to make an OB/GYN appointment when I get back to the United States. Sometimes you do something that has unanticipated positive consequences.

One of the great things about traveling is the people you encounter and the conversations you have. The trip will be over soon, but the memories will linger.

Walking in Negril: No Problem, Mon

2011-01-09T08:05:00.000-08:00

Seven Mile Beach, Negril

There are many ways to get around Negril: private taxis, route taxis, hotel buses, bicycles, and on foot. Few visitors to Negril are aware that you can actually walk from one end of town to another. If you walk at a leisurely pace, you can get from the Lighthouse on the West End all the way to Beaches on the far end of the beach in about 3 hours.

From Beaches, you can continue along a 100 meter path and come out on the other side to another public beach. From there, there is another Beaches, and then Hedonism. The Seven Mile Beach ends there. If you walk it, you might realize that the beach is not actually seven miles, despite the name. It is about four miles from Norman Manley Public Beach to the end of Hedonism. From point to point, all of Negril is about 7 miles long: Four miles of beach; One mile from the beach to the edge of downtown; and Three miles up to the Lighthouse.

One nice walk in Negril is from the Canoe Bar at the beginning of the West End up to the Lighthouse at the far end of the West End. This would take about 90 minutes if you didn’t stop along the way. But, stops along the way are the best part. You can have a delicious lunch at the Canoe Bar or Easy Rock Café before heading on your journey, and will have plenty of time to get to Rick’s Café to see the sunset.

View from the Lighthouse

If you walk during the summer months, it is best to wait until about 4pm to start your journey as it can be too hot otherwise. In the winter, however, you can do this walk almost any time of the day.

One excellent place to stop along the way is Xtabi, a restaurant and hotel with an amazing view of the cliffs. If you are feeling brave, you can jump off of Xtabi’s cliffs or swim out to one of their caves. If you want to keep your hiking gear dry, you can explore the caves without getting into the water. If you eat here, the conch burger is quite tasty! Xtabi is a great place to stop and cool off, as the rest of the walk is mostly shaded, especially after the sun begins to go behind the trees (about 3pm).

Just next to Xtabi is Three Dives, which also has an amazing view of the cliffs, and delicious jerk conch and chicken if you are hungry. If not, you can relax with a Red Stripe or my favorite, Dragon Stout, on their benches that overlook the sea.

From Three Dives, it is about a 30 minute walk up to Rick’s Café, where you can walk in and watch all of the cliff jumpers and take in the beautiful view. You also can swim here in the transparent water to cool off before heading up to the Lighthouse, which does not have swimming.

The Lighthouse is about a twenty minute walk from Rick’s Café. This is my favorite part of the walk. Once you get past Rick’s Café, there are very few vendors, lots of vegetation, and many different views of the sea. It is also cooler as there is plenty of shade and often a nice sea breeze.

The view at the Lighthouse is spectacular, and there usually is a cool breeze blowing. The snorkeling at the Lighthouse is fantastic as well. You just have to have the guts to walk down the steep wooden ladder, across the rocks and into the sea. You can stay at the Lighthouse to watch the sunset, or go back to any of the many bars and restaurants you saw along the way to relax and witness the sun dropping into the sea.

If you are up for it, you can walk back…. downhill. Or, you can catch a ride in the many route taxis that run up and down One Love Drive.

One caveat: There is no sidewalk along One Love Drive. For this reason, it is best to do this walk during the day. At night, it can be quite alarming, with cars speeding past you.

Traveling Solo: Not scared to be alone

2011-01-06T08:51:00.000-08:00

I am traveling alone in Jamaica, and reflecting on what it means for a mother and a wife to be alone.

When I met my husband, Fernando, in 1999 in Rio de Janeiro, I was traveling alone. I wanted to go to South America and could find no one to accompany me. My brother had promised to come, but backed out at the last minute. So, I called my friend Fabio in Rio and told him I was coming to Brazil.

In 1999, I was 25 years old and ready for an adventure. I got what I was looking for when I met Fernando and became a traveling hippie selling beaded necklaces on the side of the road throughout Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru.

I have not traveled alone since. At least, I have not traveled for more than a day or two as I make my way somewhere to meet someone.

In late 2010, I found myself in a situation similar to 1999. I wanted to travel and no one wanted to or could come with me. My children couldn’t come because they have school. My husband would have to stay to look after them. My friends and siblings had too much work or not enough money. I decided that this would not stop me. I wanted to go to Jamaica in early 2011, and I would make my plans regardless of whether or not anyone would come with me.

On January 1, 2011, I woke up in Miami with the realization that the day had come. I was getting ready to board a plane to Negril, Jamaica. By myself. I admit that I briefly considered not going. I am not sure what I was scared of.

Was I scared to be alone? When I was younger, I hated having time to sit around and think because, inevitably, those times would bring back memories of frightful moments or realizations that people I cared for deeply had been harmed. So, I kept going, going, and going so I would not have to think about those things.

My mother says you can’t just push back your fears and feelings: you have to deal with them. I am not sure if I processed all of those memories, or if they really have receded, but I now can sit alone and remember a few horrible moments in my life without breaking down in tears. So, I don’t think I was scared of being alone.

I may have been scared of coming alone to Jamaica, of being put in harm’s way. Of course, I know that Negril is much safer than many urban areas in the United States where I have lived. Nevertheless, as a woman who walks alone, I also know that I can be in danger anywhere. Now that I am here, I feel safe nearly all of the time except for the 20 steps I have to take each evening through a dark path between the hardware store and my cottage.

I once had a boyfriend who practiced martial arts. He told me that I should run if I ever had to walk down a dark street alone at night as I would be less likely to be attacked. At the time, I lived behind Prince George’s Mall outside of Washington, DC, and had to walk through a badly lit apartment complex each evening when I came home from work. I always ran.

Here in Negril, the first night I had to walk through that badly lit driveway, I ran. In my second step, I tripped on a huge stone and cut my hand open. I have not deigned to run down that path since.

Back to being alone. I sit here in my cottage, listening to schoolchildren play during the day and dogs bark at night. As I spend nearly all of my time alone, I don’t get to smile and laugh with friends or make jokes and play with my children. I don’t get to share a meal or an embrace with my husband. However, I know my solitude is temporary and have resolved to make the most of it.

Being alone, I can be completely relaxed all of the time. I can be calm and reflective. I can get up when I please. My mind is clear. I have only to worry about my needs. I am at peace.
Today is January 6, my fifth day alone. I have nine more days to myself. When these two weeks are over, I can go back to being part of the family and community I love and cherish. For now, I will focus on me.

Focusing on me means eating whatever and whenever I please. For now, I have decided to be vegetarian and to abstain from alcohol. Focusing on me means taking very long walks on the beach without worrying I have been gone too long. And focusing on me means spending my mornings writing without worrying about distractions.

My solitude feels good. I am not scared to be alone.

How to Stop Time?

2010-12-16T11:14:00.000-08:00

When I was on leave last year from my university position, the days passed by slowly, allowing me to enjoy each of them as they came and went. Now that I have been back at work for four months, I miss those times.

On the last day of my 14-month leave in early August 2010, I wrote this…

I am sitting in my rented cottage in Negril, waiting for the driver, Leroy, to come pick me and my suitcase up. From where I am sitting, I can see abundant greenery – palm trees, ackee trees, and lots of small green bushes. The sky is clear, with just a few clouds floating overhead. It is a beautiful, calm morning in Negril. Negril is a truly fabulous piece of Mother Earth, and I have been very fortunate to spend these past two and a half months here.

It is hard to believe this year is over, just as it was hard to believe that I actually was going to do this – take my family to live in four different countries over a period of 14 months. When I applied for the funding, I thought I would never actually get it. When I heard I had been awarded the Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad Award, I still was not sure how I would pull it off. But, I did. We did – my husband and my three children survived all of our escapades. Survived, and even thrived.

As I am apprehensive about returning, I have to remind myself that I was apprehensive about leaving. Life is like that – things always seem different when they are actually happening. When faced with new situations, we adapt. Once we adapt, we just start living, day to day. Once life starts happening, we just get into the rhythm.

Looking back on this, I fear I allowed myself to get into the rhythm perhaps a bit too much. How can we enjoy life when it seems to fly by so quickly? Time, of course, cannot be stopped, but, surely there is a way to enjoy life more, to take pause each day and enjoy each passing moment.

The semester is over for me, and it has flown by all too quickly. I am now packing my bags to leave Lawrence for four weeks. During this time that I am on the road – in Washington, DC with my family, in Miami with friends, and in Negril, alone – I will reflect on how quickly life is passing me by and do my best to enjoy each passing moment.

Perhaps I will even feel inspired to post a blog entry about it….

Until then,
Tanya

Children's Museum in Kansas City: Wonderscope

2010-12-03T09:01:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, I took the kids to Wonderscope in Shawnee, Kansas. They had a fabulous time!

We had been members before, when my twins were six and my younger daughter was four. So, I wasn't sure if it would still be fun for my twins who are now nine. But, it definitely still was appealing to them. We arrived at Wonderscope at 1:30pm, and they still were not ready to leave when it was time to go at 5pm!

Raymi had a blast in the building section. There are these huge blue building blocks, made of a soft, light material that kids can use to construct whatever they want to. Raymi and I made a fortress, and she is pictured here guarding it.

Tatiana and Soraya spent quite a bit of time in the "Garden to Farm" room. In this room, you can pretend to plant vegetables, and then take them to market to sell. Tatiana is pictured above on the left choosing which veggies to buy. There also is a chicken coop and a barn. Soraya is pictured above on the right with the barn owl. There were about a half-dozen other kids in the room with them, and that made it fun for the kids, as they had someone else to play with.

The art room was very cool. There are tons of recycled art supplies that you can use to make whatever you want. The girls spent at least 30 minutes in that room, making pictures and gluing things on them. I even tried my hand at it, trying to re-connect with my creative side.

To top it all off, we got to see a beautiful sunset on the 40-minute drive back to Lawrence, Kansas.

A few of my favorite things about Lawrence, Kansas

2010-12-01T14:00:00.000-08:00

View of KU from Fraser Hall

I first moved to Lawrence, Kansas in August 2005. I have lived here off and on since then, with over two full years away from Lawrence. In August 2010, I returned to Lawrence after having been away for over a year. I was not very excited about moving back. However, I have been surprised at how much I like living here again.

Here are a few of my favorite things about Lawrence, Kansas.

1) The campus.
I work at the University of Kansas. Admittedly, the view from the 7th floor of Fraser Hall, one of the highest points in Kansas, is quite majestic. The campus has large limestone buildings and plenty of green spaces. It also has some pretty cool public art.

Public Art in South Park

2) Public Art.

The picture on the left is one example of the public art on the KU campus in Lawrence. I am not sure how to describe it, but it is basically a bunch of twigs wrapped together around a huge tree. Pretty interesting, eh?

Campus is not the only place that has public art made with dead trees. The picture on the right is the spiky entrance to South Park.

Castle Tea House

3) Cool buildings.
There are also cool buildings that are not on campus. The picture on the right is the Castle Tea House. I think it is pretty cool to live a couple of blocks from a castle!

4) No big-city hassle. A big advantage to living in a small town like Lawrence is that you do not have many of the hassles of a big city. Grocery stores are never unbearably crowded. There is almost never anyone at the Department of Motor Vehicles. And, you hardly ever need a reservation to get a nice meal. In addition, the restaurants are remarkably affordable.

Pictured right are my and my husband's $10 lunches we had at the Eldridge hotel!

Lawrence, Kansas is not so bad after all.

Traveling without Writing: My first post in 90 days

2010-11-14T14:10:00.000-08:00

I have been back in Kansas for nearly three months, and have not posted a single travel blog entry since my return.

It is not that I have not traveled - I conferenced in Toronto for a few days and went caving in Missouri not too long ago. Nevertheless, I have not had a word to write on this blog.

I thought about writing about the wonderful food and vibrant diversity in Toronto. I was particularly proud of myself for maneuvering public transportation to and from the airport, and thought of a whole blog post about that. But, I never wrote it.

I had a fabulous view from my hotel window in Toronto. I took a picture of the night-time view and shared it on Facebook, but I never wrote about all the delicious restaurants nearby or the amazing fresh fruit and vegetable stands in Chinatown.

I also never wrote about the camping trip I took with my family to Blue Springs Ranch in Missouri. I wanted to write about how nice the owner was and how friendly the horses were with the children.

Caving in Missouri was fabulous. I do have photos to prove it. We also went horseback riding and camping, and have plenty of wonderful memories of our short trip there. But, I never did post about it.

It's not that I haven't been writing. I have been writing - a lot! But, my writing has been academic or political. Nothing just for fun.

I did get an iphone since I returned to the US, and have been posting captioned photos to Facebook that provide quick snapshots into my life in Kansas. I keep thinking that I will go back to those photos and write up blog entries. But, alas, I have not.

Until now. Here it is: my first blog entry in 90 days.

Countdown: Four more days before I am back in the United States

2010-08-08T11:35:00.000-07:00

My summer in Negril, Jamaica is nearly over. More importantly, my 14 and a half months outside of the United States will end in just four days.

This year has been fabulous. Changing countries every three months has its challenges, but it is also has been amazing experience. Three months in each country has been just enough time for me to get used to a place, to figure out how things work, and to gain insight into the local culture. To see and learn so much in three months and then to uproot myself and my family to an entirely different place is an eye-opening experience. At its base, it is an incredible sensory adventure: each place smells, feels, tastes, sounds, and looks different from the last.

When we first arrive in a place, we have had to figure things out quickly: school for the kids, public transportation, where to live, where the grocery store is, and how to get my research set up. In Brazil, research, school, and a house seemed like an unattainable trinity, but it eventually worked out. Once all that is done, we settle into our new life and try and make sure we take advantage of the best each locale has to offer. Living like this, life is full of surprises, of new experiences, of adventures, and challenges. Admittedly, fourteen months is probably enough of living on the edge.

A few days ago, my husband and three kids went back to Kansas. I stayed behind in Negril to finish up my work here. My Fulbright-Hays award started on August 13, 2009, so I have to stay out of the United States until August 12, 2010 to finish the full 365 days abroad. It turns out that my last few days of solitude have been a very good thing for me.

As my family was planning to leave Jamaica, I was worried about how I would feel once they left. I anticipated missing them tremendously and being lonely during my last few days in Negril. I thought I might overwork myself because of boredom and return to the United States frazzled. However, it did not work out that way. When they left, I was on the phone constantly with my husband helping him get settled and doing online research and transactions for them. The constant phone contact helped me to miss them less.

When my husband and children left, I expended quite a bit of energy getting them packed and then making sure they would be able to get settled back into Kansas. They left on Tuesday. I spent nearly all day Wednesday online and on the phone doing things for them. Thursday and Friday were a bit less intense, but I was still involved. By Saturday, I had recovered from their move and had done most of what needed to be done.

Now, I have Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday to reflect on life and take care of myself. I will dedicate Wednesday to getting ready for my own move. Thursday morning, I am on a plane to Atlanta for a five day conference. Then, back to Kansas for the start of classes, meetings, and more meetings. My upcoming very busy schedule means that I really do need these next few days to relax, recover, and recuperate.

Having ten days in Negril to myself has meant that I have been able to relax and recuperate, as well as to prepare for my return. As we have already been in Negril for two months, I already have things figured out and have settled into a routine. Now that I have fully recovered from the family’s move back to Kansas, I can enjoy my last few days of this amazing year. I need and deserve a break, so am glad to have one!

Letter from Raymi, my six year old daughter, to Grandma

2010-08-06T13:06:00.000-07:00

Monday, July 26, 2010

Dear Grandma,

I am in Jamaica. Here in Jamaica, we met Chucky. He is a nice guy. Chucky has a dog that is named Blondie. She had four puppies. Sally, the other dog, had four puppies. We only get to pet Blondie and Sally. The puppies are too little to pet. Whitey, the other dog, had four puppies before we got here. Chuck gave two away. One of the other two died, and the other disappeared. We don’t know what happened to her. It is a mystery.

First we went to Jamaica, then we went to Guatemala, then we went to the Dominican Republic, then we went to Brazil, then we went back to Jamaica. We had a cool vacation.. Soon we are going back to Kansas. When we go back to Kansas, my birthday is almost coming. Today, we are going to the water park.

In the Dominican Republic, I went to school. At school, you could buy stuff in this place called the coffee shop. There wasn’t any coffee there. There was one thing that all of the class liked - pica piedras - (Fred Flintstone) it has candy inside. My favorite thing from the coffee shop was Fred Flintstone candy.

I am so happy we are in Jamaica. I have two friends here named Nikaya and Jayim. But, I don’t really play with Nikaya; sometimes she is a little mean. She likes my sister Soraya but she likes me too. Jayim, yeah, he plays with me. Sometimes I go to his house. Sometimes he comes to my house. He has a friend named Kayim. We really play a lot inside my house.

Grandma, are you going to visit us in Kansas?

In Guatemala, I had lots of friends. I had eight puppies, one dog, two turtles, and two rabbits. At first, we couldn’t pet the puppies. Then, the other day, she let me pet them. Then, we could take them outside. When we were first in Guatemala, I had school. Then, we moved and I didn’t have school anymore.

Our other cousins who live in Miami have a playground at their house. We visited them on the way back from Guatemala.

In Brazil, we had school and I talked Portuguese there. Now, I know how to Portuguese and I never forget: “eu pode falar portugues.” My teacher is named Renata. She was my best teacher. I had my best friend there, her name was Isabelle, well Isadora in Portuguese. In Brazil, I only had one friend. In Brazil, I had six pets - two dogs, one cat, one chick and one duckling. One duckling died because our friend dropped it when we first got it. It wasn’t running from me anymore because it was sick. We put a blanket on it and buried it. One chick died because the cat got it. The other chick died because Manchas, Spots, the dog, he ate it. We thought they were going to grow, and the chick and duckling that didn’t die did grow. The chicken grew bigger than the duck. The chicken was very fat. The chicken was Soraya’s and the duck was Tatiana’s.

Grandma, are you going to send me a message?

I love you Grandma, bye.

Raymi

Kool Runnings Water Park: Sun, Splashing, and Dance Contests

2010-07-28T09:11:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, I took the kids to Kool Runnings Water Park. After being in Negril for two months, my daughters, aged 9, 9, and 6, often complain that we always do the same thing – go to the beach. I decided that before we left Negril, we could splurge a bit and take the kids to Kool Runnings.

We arrived right at 11:00am, opening time. The admission price is US$28, and we wanted to take full advantage of our tickets. Unfortunately, the staff members were not ready to receive us at 11:00am, and a line formed behind us while they got themselves together. At about 11:20am, we finally were able to buy tickets, except for that they had a problem with my credit card, which took another twenty minutes to resolve. Finally, at 11:40, we were able to get into the park!

Kool Runnings Water Park has just a few main attractions: 1) Seven water slides; 2) A Lazy River; and 3) An interactive children’s area. My kids were too big for the children’s area, and the Lazy River is not very fun, so we spent most of our time on the water slides.

The water slides are divided into two structures. You walk up the stairs of either of the two structures and choose which waterslide you want to go on. Two of the water slides are with floatable rafts only, and the others are without rafts. Kool Runnings provides rafts for one person, for two persons, and for three. It was fun for me to go down the rafts with my daughters.

We spent most of the morning running up and down the stairs of the waterslides and sliding down. I used to love the very fast and scary rides when I was younger. Not anymore. I stuck to the slides that are less exhilarating and where your heart will not rise to your throat as you go down. My kids, in contrast, tried all of the slides, many, many times. Perhaps because it was a Tuesday, the park was not very crowded, and we rarely had to wait more than a couple of minutes to get on the slides.

When I first saw that the water park is fairly small, I was disappointed. However, as the day wore on, I realized two things: 1) A small park makes it much more relaxing for me; I could see the kids from most vantage points, and 2) The seven slides provided plenty of fun for the kids. The kids, of course, have a lot more energy than me. Thus, when I tired of running up and down the stairs, I could sit in the shade and relax while watching them run up and down the stairs.

Before going to Kool Runnings, I was worried that lunch might be expensive. I packed a few snacks just in case. I was pleased to find out that the lunch is both reasonable and tasty. I had a jerk chicken lunch for JA$380 – less than US$5, and the kids had hamburgers for the same price.

After lunch, it was more slides and slides for the kids. I spent most of the afternoon relaxing and listening to the reggae music blasting from the speakers. However, I had a second wind when the sun began to go down and it was not as hot, and got on the slides again. The Lazy River is also much more enjoyable when the sun is not blazing on you, so I floated around that a few times with the kids.

Kool Runnings has a DJ, and he attracted the attention of the crowd a few times through contests. My kids just love to participate in contests, so they were eager to get on stage. The first contest was a hula hoop contest, and all three participated. Unfortunately for them, there was a hula hoop expert in the competition who more than outlasted everyone else. After that, there was a reggae dance contest. Of course, we are in Jamaica, but I did not dare tell the kids that their chances of winning a reggae dance contest were slim to none. Soraya and Raymi rushed to the stage. Tatiana decided to sit this one out.

The DJ decided that each kid would dance for thirty seconds. Despite my high expectations for the Jamaican-American contestants, they actually were not that good. The DJ put on popular dancehall songs that have a dance that goes along with them. The older kids did the dance choreographed in the music video, but without much grace or style. Raymi and Soraya were not privy to the choreographed dances, so just did their thing. Raymi did some foot-kicking moves and Soraya did her Michael Jackson-esque routine. The winner, however, was the two-year old who really shook her thing. When it was all over, Raymi asked me why they always let the littlest one win. At least she did not take it as a blow to her self esteem. Raymi also pointed out that the little one copied her moves! When they get older, I will have to remind them of how they bravely participated in a reggae dance contest in Negril, Jamaica!

When I tell them that story, I might also tell them that I participated in a cumbia dance contest in Peru. A couple of years ago, when I was in Piura, I went to a technocumbia show, and they called people on the stage to dance. Thinking it would be fun, I went on stage. The show was in the rural part of Alto Piura, where there are few to no white people or foreigners. I won the competition, by popular vote. I am sure the cheers were more out of surprise that a) there was a white woman in rural Piura and b) she got on stage to dance!

All in all, Kool Runnings was a good way to spend the day. The crowd there was nearly all Jamaican and Jamaican-American. I suspect that most foreign tourists would rather spend the day at the picturesque beaches than at the water park. I, too, would have preferred to be at the beach. My kids, of course, would disagree.

Fourteen months in four countries - from a nine-year-old's perspective

2010-07-24T11:10:00.000-07:00

This is a letter from Soraya, my nine-year-old twin daughter to her grandmother, telling all about our fourteen months in four countries. She told me I could post it online.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Dear Grandma,

We went to lots of countries. First we went to Jamaica. Then, to Guatemala, then, Dominican Republic then we went to Brazil. We rode on the horse all the time in Brazil. After Brazil, we went back to Jamaica. I had lots of fun. my favorite one was Jamaica. I met the owner of Chucky’s Island, he had 4 dogs, then there were these goats. There were 7 goats. Lasco is the owner of the goats. Every day I help Lasco feed the goat. 2 goats had babies. 2 dogs had puppies. We live in a cottage . We have a secret door. We have 3 fans. We have lots of friends. Mia was are favorite friend. We borrowed lots of her games for the computer. The mouse of our computer got broken, but we bought a new one. We have a black mouse now.

In Guatemala, we lived in the city. In the city we lived in an apartment. In the apartment lived an old lady. The old lady had a dog named Cuchi. I liked Cuchi and Cuchi liked me. Cuchi is still a kid. Did you know that in Guatemala they let dogs in the bus? We took Cuchi to school! But then we moved to another part of Guatemala. We stayed at our friend’s house. In the house they had 6 pets. They had 2 turtles, 3 bunnies and 1 dog. The dog had 8 puppies. And then they had 14 pets. We made friends. We made a collection. It was fun.

Next we went to the Dominican Republic. It was fun. We went to Jumbo. Jumbo is a very fun place. There was bumper cars. I went on a merry go round. We went on a thing that goes up and down. It was fun. Remember that you came to the Dominican Republic? I had fun with you. Thank you for all the presents. I always wanted a DS. Are you going to come to Jamaica or Kansas to visit us? I hope you do.

Next we went to Brazil. In Brazil, we had so much fun. We had a school and I made a lot of fake friends. Once when I cried, they started being my friend. Sometimes they are my fake friends. Sometimes they are my real friends.

Once we took our dog to school. And, did I forget to tell you about our pets? We had three ducks, three chicks, and one dog. But, then things started to change. First, one of the chicks got robbed by the cat. Then, another chick died because our dog ate the chick. It was chasing it. Then, the ducklings. First of all, one of the dogs was tortured by our friends. Well, they weren’t fake friends. Then, we met a kitten. It was annoying our neighbors. They said, “please get that kitten off of your roof.” We kept it; its name was Michi. Then, we found a dog on the street. We found his owner. He said we could keep him and his name was Nick. We called him Nick. We had to tie him on a leash because he did not behave so well. Then, there was a man that let us ride the horse. But, we had to pay. When we left Brazil, we gave our pets to our friend, Peruca. In Brazil, they speak Portuguese. It is like Spanish a little bit, but some words are confusing. “Oi” means “Ola” or “Hi.”

Next, we moved to Negril, Jamaica. It was so much fun in Negril. It took very long for the car to get there. Finally, we got there. Then, we met Chuck, the guy I told you about. He is a very nice old man. He owns Chucky’s Island. He also had two puppies. One was named Gateway. The other was named Pinky. But, one day, one of the puppies, Gateway, died because he didn’t give him shots. Then, Pinky got lost. I felt sad and I almost cried when Gateway died. But, things started to get luckier - baby goats! First, the goat called Isabelle had one baby goat. Then, the goat named Sara had two babies. They are so cute. We only got to pet the baby Isabelle made. That baby goat is called Brownie, because it is brown. There is a rule with the baby goats: You cannot touch its tail because the mother will not feed it and you will have to feed it. Then, the dog named Blondie and the dog named Sally had puppies at the same time. They are so cute, but we can’t touch them.

In Negril, we play with our bestest friends - Nikaya and Jayim. They are little. Nikaya is four, and Jayim is five, I think. Then, we had our other friend named Mia. She is so awesome, I tell you! She even lent us her games for the computer. Then, she let us play her DS game. Once, my little sister lost her DS game, but Mia found it thrown outside on the floor. In Negril, we went to the beach and a really cool place called Xtabi. There is also a really cool place called Rick’s Café, but my mom likes Xtabi better because there are not so many people. At Rick’s Café, there are lots of Rasta men that do flips off of the cliffs. They do lots of cool stuff. One of them did a flip over another person. There is also a place called Margaritaville where they have big nachos - like six inches high.

My favorite parts of Negril are when we rode the horses, when we had nachos and when we met two twin girls that look like me and Tatiana from behind. Thank you for listening to my story. I love you Grandma. Say to Grandpa that I love him too.

Love,
Soraya

Tatiana's letter to Grandma about Our 14 Months Abroad

2010-07-24T10:31:00.000-07:00

As the last assignment in their home schooling for the year, I asked my three daughters to write a letter to Grandma telling her about their fourteen months abroad. I wanted to see what they found most interesting about the year. I asked Tatiana if I could post hers online. She agreed. This is the letter from Tatiana, one of my nine-year old twins, to Grandma.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Dear Grandma,

We are on a vacation. We traveled in 5 countries. First Jamaica then Guatemala then Dominican republic then brazil then the last is Jamaica. The name of this place is called Chucky’s island. In this place there is a man named Lasco. He has seven goats. Two of the goats had babies. One of the goats named Isabelle had 1 baby. Another goat named Sara had 2 babies. Chuck had 2 dogs and they each had 4 babies. In a few days we are going back to Kansas. I can’t wait!

When we were at Guatemala we had 14 pets. We had 3 bunnies, 8 puppies, 1 dog and 2 turtles. One of the puppies knew how to shake hands. One of the bunnies that was white was named Violet. One of the puppies was named Mr. stomach. We named him that name because he was a fat little puppy.

In the Dominican republic we had two friends. One was a girl and the other was a boy. The boy had a PSP. it’s a type of DS. We loved it when they came to are house to play. They were really good friends.

In Brazil we borrowed a house to stay in. in school I didn’t have any real friends. But there is one boy that is in artist and he is nice to me. His name is Andrew. He never did anything mean to me. When we had our birthday it was really fun. The cake was really delicious, and now I am nine. But I still miss Kansas a lot like really a lot.

Last summer in Kingston, Jamaica I didn’t have a school. I was in summer camp. In summer camp I got to beat up boys. The boys were also scared of me. Almost every boy in summer camp was scared of me. Can you believe that a bunch of boys would be afraid of one girl? I liked it a lot when a bunch of boys are afraid of me.

Right now I am in Negril, Jamaica. There is this boy named Jayim and he is 5 years old. He has a sister who is three years old and her name is Nikaya. Here in Negril, there is a place called Xtabi. It is fun and once my sister Raymi said they saw an octopus coming up on the side of the wall from the water. Xtabi is really beautiful and you can take a really good look at the sunset. Xtabi has a cliff that I can jump off. I am not scared to jump off. Raymi is scared, and Soraya only jumps from like one inch lower than me. There is this guy here. His name is Deano and he taught us how to fish. He said that when you feel the fish biting, you don’t pull. You have to wait until the fish pulls. Then, you have to pull. One day we caught three fish. We mostly catch squirrel fish. The rest of the family eats them except for me, because I don’t like fish.

Here in Negril, we have a friend named Mia. Mia was our bestest friend we ever met in Negril. She has a DSI that takes pictures. Mia is not mean to us. She liked Raymi for a little while, then she noticed Raymi was annoying, then she didn’t like her any more. Mia is like two days older than us. Mia is like Soraya and me. She likes to beat up boys like us. And, also she bit a boy and he was bleeding. She loves insects. We also do too. That’s why we like Mia so much. One day Mia got hurt on the leg and we thought we would never see her again. Then, one day, her father came and said that Mia was going to come and visit us. We were really happy we got to play with her. She forgot to bring her Nintendo DSI but we still had fun.

This letter is closed just for you.

Love,
Tatiana

How I ended up at Margaritaville, Negril

2010-07-14T10:50:00.000-07:00

The ideal beach for me has clear sea water, white sands, plenty of greenery in view, and is isolated. I like to relax on the beach and contemplate its beauty, so I prefer empty beaches.

Unfortunately, my three daughters do not share this preference. In Negril, they shun the secluded, empty beaches, and prefer places such as Margaritaville and Rick’s Café - tourist traps full of people and loud music. They like the fact that there are a lot of people because it ensures that they will find a playmate. At Rick’s café the other day, they met a few teenage girls who chased them around the pool. At Margaritaville, they met three young men who helped the girls arrange a chicken wrestling match. Each girl got on the shoulders of a boy and tried to knock one another off. Fun was had by all.

Thus, although I prefer the secluded spots, I often have to entice the children with the offer of Margaritaville or Rick’s Café to get them out of the house. This is how I found myself at Margaritaville last Saturday afternoon, eating nachos and sipping on margaritas. The beach itself at Margaritaville is stunning - with a turquoise sea and white, powdery sand. But, so is the rest of Seven Mile Beach.

One advantage to Margaritaville is that it has plenty of shelter. So, when the thunderstorms came pounding down, as they often do, we could wait out the storm under shelter. Well, I sought shelter while the girls danced in the rain. There is also a little playground at the Negril Margaritaville, which, it seems, is more fun in the rain.

Once the rain passed, at least I had a table, chairs, and a good view of the beach. I addition, I could observe with fascination the groups of tourists who happened upon Margaritaville that afternoon. I soon tired of that, however. Fortunately, my husband arrived not too long afterwards and I could leave them at Margaritaville and take a long walk along Seven Mile Beach and linger in the more isolated parts.

A Hook, a Fish Line and an Air Mattress: Improvised fishing with the kids in Negril

2010-07-07T08:53:00.000-07:00

I am very happy with my daily routine in Negril this summer. For me, this routine involves happy writing each weekday morning, then having lunch with the family, and going to the beach in the afternoons. Being able to swim in transparent waters every afternoon is blissful for me. I have not missed a day at the beach in the six weeks we have been in Negril. Even when it rains, I will at least go for a long walk by the sea when the rain clears.

My three kids, however, have decided that they need more entertainment than simply going to the beach. Their morning routine starts with home schooling for two hours with their tutor, then playing in the yard with their friends until lunch is ready. There are two small children who live in front of us and they often catch butterflies or other small creatures together. My daughters also love to help our neighbor herd his goats and take them out for grass each morning. After lunch, they play video games, read, or play outside or inside. When I ask if they are ready to go to the beach, they often claim they do not want to go. Without exception, they have fun when we get to the beach; so, often the trick lies in getting them there.

Our latest “trick” is the promise of going fishing. The first time the girls went fishing, it was with some friends who invited them to go on a boat early in the morning. That boat trip costs US$50, so that was the only time they did that. Instead, now we rely on my husband, Fernando’s ingenuity, and the kids can go fishing whenever they want, practically for free. This is how it works.

Fernando buys some hooks and fish line for a few cents at the hardware store. They go to the nearby beach and look for sand crabs and snails for bait. Nando sets up the rudimentary hook, line and sinker. Then, he paddles the girls out on our air mattress to where the fish are. We have one of those inflatable air mattresses, and it works great as a raft! (You can see our fishing equipment in the photo behind us!)

The girls put on their face masks which allow them to see the fish underwater. Tatiana and Soraya – my nine year old twin daughters – love fishing like this. You can see when the fish begin to nibble at the bait. When you see them nibbling, you just pull a bit, and there you have a fish. When the girls catch a fish, they yell out in excitement. Nando pulls in the line and puts the fish into a plastic bag that he keeps on the raft. Then, the girls go back in for another fish.

The other day, they caught sixteen little fish, giving us plenty of fresh fish for dinner. The fish are small – so it is quite a bit of work to clean and de-scale all of them. But, it is definitely worth it to have the tasty, fresh fish. Plus, it is our best way to get the kids out of the house - for now, at least. I am sure that soon they will become bored with this and we will have to find a new way to entertain them soon.

Sundays on the Public Beach in Negril, Jamaica

2010-07-01T10:33:00.000-07:00

If you are looking for the “real Jamaica,” you will have a hard time finding it in Negril – a touristy town on the westernmost end of Jamaica. That said, there is one beach in Negril where you will find more Jamaicans than foreign tourists – the public beach at the south-westernmost tip of Seven-Mile Beach.

It is quite remarkable that most tourists in Negril tend to stay within a 100-meter radius of their hotels. There are the adventurous few who take it upon themselves to walk up and down Seven-Mile Beach. Some of these tourists make it to the end where the public beach is, but almost none of them swim in this part of the beach. Because of this self-segregation, the public beach almost always has only Jamaicans. People who are not Jamaican at the public beach are almost always expatriates who are living in Negril – usually North American and English women with Jamaican boyfriends.

The public beach is about 200 meters from the closest hotel, thus making it beyond the normal radius of most tourists. It is the closest beach to the Negril River, which, at times, can make the water quite unpleasant. However, most days the water at the public beach is crystal clear, just like the water in the rest of Seven-Mile Beach. Unlike much of the rest of Seven-Mile Beach, the public beach has several trees which offer ample shade.

On Sundays, the public beach is a lively place where local DJs set up enormous speakers that blast out dancehall tunes for the listening pleasure of beachgoers and anyone close enough to hear. Families sit beneath one of the many trees and picnic. Kids jump and play in the water and teenagers show off their gymnastic abilities on the sand.

There is a restaurant/bar on the beach, currently operated by Sanchez, who is from Sav-la-Mar. Sanchez’s place serves up delicious food and ice-cold beverages at a fraction of the price of most places on the beach. You also can try the conch soup which is served by a local man right off of his bicycle. He has a gas tank on the back of the bicycle and a burner on the front, which ensures that the tasty soup is steaming hot all afternoon long.

Last Sunday, we spent a couple of hours at the beach with my kids. They had a great time running around with all of the other children there. This was a nice change, as we often go to the beach in Negril and there are few if any children around.

River Water: Negril’s Dirty Little Secret

2010-06-22T11:51:00.000-07:00

In the center of the town of Negril there is a wide river. I imagine once upon a time, long ago, it must have been lovely to swim in the place where the cool river meets the warm sea. Today, however, there is nothing lovely about the Negril River. It is covered with grease and when it pours into the ocean, turns the clear sea waters brown and green. (The river is naturally dark in color due to it passing through peat bogs upstream, yet the motorboats have rendered the waters less pleasant.)

Sometimes the river water stays put and barely affects even the closest beaches. However, after a good rain upstream, the river water pours out into the sea and ruins the water for a few hours. During my month in Negril, I have noticed a few patterns with regard to the river, and I will point those out here.

The river sits at the westernmost tip of Seven Mile Beach. Thus, when it rains even a little bit, it tends to muddy the waters at the public beach just to the north of the river. When it has not rained at all, the public beach is one of the coolest places to hang out in Negril – as it has a laid-back, inexpensive, open-air restaurant with good local food and cold beers, and is where locals are most likely to go for a swim. When the river water stays put, this beach boasts transparent, warm waters. However, when the rain comes, this water takes on a greenish color, and sometimes a smell, making the whole experience quite a bit less pleasant.

The river water rarely makes it down to One Mile Beach, and even less frequently to the north end of Seven Mile Beach where Margaritaville, Sandals, and Coco La Palm are. Because many tourists never leave the pristine beaches of their all-inclusive resorts, many are likely unaware that there even is a river in Negril. It is only when it rains a tremendous amount up in the mountains and in Negril that the river would make it this far. Thus far, I have not seen it happen.

The river does not only flow north, of course. It also makes its way up to the West End of Negril. Close to where we are staying – Silver Star - there is a lovely beach where Canoe Bar sits. One of my favorite things about this beach is that, when you swim out about a hundred meters, you can see the foothills to a mountain range in the distance. The problem, however, is that, during the rainy season, the waters of this beach are often less than pleasant. Whenever it rains, the river water comes to this beach, muddying the waters and bringing lots of floating seaweed with it. Before swimming in these waters, I always check to make sure the river water has not made it down.

Farther up West End Road (or One Love Drive), you come to Xtabi Cliffs. The river water rarely makes it this far. Every so often, in the evenings, the waters at Xtabi get a bit greenish, or the sea brings lots of sea grass. Those times, it is best not to get in the water, as the sea grass brings sea lice, which make you itch. Nevertheless, Xtabi is nearly always nice and the waters there are a clear, turquoise blue.

Rick’s Café sits near the end of West End Road, and thus the river water nearly never makes it this far. So, the waters at Rick’s are always a deep blue color. When the weather is a bit rough, however, the waters at Ricks do get rougher than in other parts, making it a bit difficult to swim.

Negril is renowned for its laid-back atmosphere and clear, transparent waters. At present, those waters are more often transparent than not. However, something really must be done about the Negril River or Negril will lose a whole lot of its charm.

I am no environmental expert, but I am aware of other cases of rivers and other bodies of waters being cleaned, so I am sure it is possible. And, I hope it happens sooner rather than too late. Please note: The state of the South Negril River has been an issue at least since the 1990s, according to this website.

I don’t want to go to the beach today!

2010-06-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

I always want to go to the beach. Although we have been in Negril, Jamaica for 22 days, I still must go to the beach at least once every day. Even if it’s just for an hour, I have to see and feel the sea. For me, it is a great privilege to be so close to such an amazing sea and I can’t bear not to go daily.

How, then, is it that my daughters (Tatiana – 9; Soraya – 9 and Raymi – 6) often claim they do not want to go to the beach? Granted, they do have to walk 15 minutes to get there. But, they always have a great time there.

Since they insist daily that they do not want to go to the beach, sometimes we let them stay home. Here in Negril, they usually get up around 6am when the sun rises. Their teacher comes at 8am, and they have two hours of lessons. Actually, that aspect of our life – home schooling – is going the best it has all year. I finally figured out the keys – 1) It has to be early in the morning; 2) It should be for a short, intensive period of time and 3) It is best if the teacher is not me. So, we have hired a college student to give the girls lessons and that is going quite well.

After home schooling, the girls are allowed to play until lunchtime. Sometimes they play in the yard with the children who live across from us. Sometimes they play inside with their Legos or other toys. Other times, I let them watch a movie, play the Internet, or play with their Nintendo DS. Then, we have lunch together. By the time lunch is over, it is 2pm.

At 2pm, it is too hot for me to work anymore, and I usually am mentally drained and ready to go to the beach. Most days, we find a way to convince the kids to come to the beach. Other times we let them stay home and I will just go for a long walk on the beach alone.

On Tuesday, I was able to convince Tatiana to go with me to the beach. We walked the 15 minutes from our cottage to the beach. When we got to the beach, we saw that the close beach was polluted with river water, so we decided to walk farther down to the clean part. Tatiana and I had a nice walk. Along the way, I explained to her the history of slavery, as, for some reason, she was asking about it. Once I got to the end of the story, she wanted to hear stories of times that I had embarrassed myself. I thought of a few.

When we got to the nice part where the water is transparent, Tatiana and I went for a swim. Unfortunately, after about five minutes in the water, Tatiana began to fuss that something had bitten her leg. I rushed her out of the water and found that she had two wounds on her leg. They were about 1 cm. across and one was deeper than the other. The deeper one was bleeding quite a bit. A boatman came over and went back for his First Aid kit. He put a bandage on her leg and the bleeding stopped. No one seemed to have any idea what could have happened to her. We were in fairly deep water, so it is unlikely that a piece of glass cut her. I suppose it could have been a fish bite, but the marks were so far apart. Needless to say, we went home. The next day, Tatiana did not want to go to the beach.

Fortunately, Soraya and Raymi did want to go. Raymi even agreed to walk. This was remarkable, because Raymi almost never wants to walk. So, Soraya, Raymi, and I set off on our one-mile hike to the cliffs at Xtabi. To entertain the kids on the way, I told them a variation of the story of the Loch Ness Monster. I told the story such that the existence (or not) of the Loch Ness Monster remained doubtful. However, Soraya wanted a happy ending so made me change the story such that the two main characters finally got to take a picture of the Loch Ness Monster and everyone believed them that it really existed.

When we got to Xtabi cliffs, the sun was behind the clouds and it was cooler than usual. We swam for a bit, but, it began to drizzle. Determined to stay seaside a bit longer, I decided that we would order some food at Xtabi. I ordered a hamburger and a conch burger – which was quite tasty. The food took a long time to come out, and Raymi and Soraya played darts while we were waiting. I used the time to sit atop one of the cliffs and contemplate the beauty of the sea.

After we ate, the sun peeked from behind the clouds and we got back into the sea. Other guests arrived and Soraya and Raymi quickly made friends. The highlight of the afternoon, however, was that Raymi spotted an octopus! There was an octopus by one of the cliffs, trying to scale the side of the cliff using its suction cups. It was quite a sight! Eventually, however, it fell back into the sea.

The girls and I snorkeled and spent some time in the caves before deciding to head back home. We walked back and talked about all sorts of things on the way back. They wanted me to tell them a story, but I was having trouble being creative. One story a day is enough for me!

When we got home, Tatiana was quite upset that she had missed out on the excitement. So, perhaps today we will have an easier time getting the girls to go to the beach!

Two of my favorite ways to relax in Negril

2010-06-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

We have now been in Negril for two full weeks, and I have two favorite ways to relax in this laid-back town.

The first is at Xtabi - which I raved about in my last post. If you go to the left side of Xtabi, and swim across the clear blue sea, you will find a small cave - about 20 meters long and 10 meters wide. You can swim right in and hoist yourself up onto a rock that has been smoothed out by centuries of waves crashing on to it.

I love to sit on that rock, inside of the cool cave and listen to the waves crashing into the cave. The waves crash onto the rock and the warm water tickles my toes. The waves crash behind me, making reverberating, echoing sounds throughout the cave. I can sit on the rock for a good while, thinking about life and the beauty of mother nature.

For a while, I might reflect on mother nature, on the centuries-old coral imprints hanging above me, on the life of the stingrays and tropical fish below me, on what might be beyond the horizon that fades away into a blue mist. Then, I will get to thinking about my own life, my own hopes and dreams. Even something as mundane as my plans for the next day is good food for thought inside this cave. Finally, I will tire of being alone in the cave, and will swim my way back out into the sunshine, temporarily blinded by the glaring sun.

My other favorite way to reflect on life is to walk down seven-mile beach just before dusk on an overcast afternoon. This is the rainy season, so it rainshowers for a bit many an afternoon. This leaves the beach nearly empty. All of the tourists flee and the vendors also disappear. For me, however, this is the perfect time to walk and walk and walk down seven mile beach without having to worry about getting a sunburn or heat stroke and without the constant offers for a boat ride or jet ski tour.

When the sky is overcast in Negril, it almost is never fully covered with clouds. So, you have bits of blue sky to look at. And, the horizon constantly changes with the moving cloud formations. As dusk nears, the horizon begins to show its wide array of sunset colors.

I walk along the beach barefoot, allowing the warm sea to caress my toes. I think about all I have done for the day, the week, and the year. I ponder a theoretical question I have. I make plans for what I will do if and when a friend comes to visit me in this little piece of heaven.

These are two of my favorite ways to think, reflect, meditate, and relax in Negril.

Seven Reasons the Cliffs are Better than Seven Mile Beach in Negril

2010-06-05T10:18:00.000-07:00

Negril is divided into two areas – the Seven Mile Beach and the Cliffs. Our cottage – Silver Star – is right between the two areas, giving us great access to both. From my front step, it is a twenty minute walk to either Seven Mile Beach or Xtabi – my favorite place to hang out at the cliffs.

The Seven Mile Beach is great because it's, well, seven miles of sandy beaches. However, after our first few days of sea, sun, and more sun, we decided to try out the cliffs area. We haven't been back to the beach since. This past week, it was all cliffs, every day. Why do we like the cliffs? Let me count the ways.

1) At Xtabi, where we have been going, there are far fewer people. Many an afternoon, we have the whole area to ourselves. (Note: Rick's cafe – another cliff spot – does NOT have this benefit.) If you like to swim in the sea alone, Xtabi is the place.

2) Walking to and from the cliffs, there are far fewer people trying to sell you something. On the beach, you can barely take two steps without someone trying to get you to jet ski, go for a boat ride, or buy some crafts. At the cliffs, there are far fewer sellers.

3) The sea is clearer at the cliffs. When it does not rain for a few days, Seven Mile Beach boasts clear waters. At the cliffs, the water is clear every day, even when the water is relatively rough and it has been raining.

4) There is more shade at the cliffs. We have found a couple of spots with a bit of shade on the beach. But, it does not come close to the tranquility and coolness you feel when you sit in a cave at the cliffs and feel the sea tickling your toes.

5) Cliff jumping is fun. Or, at least it looks fun, as I have only jumped off of the smaller cliffs. But, those people jumping off of the big ones look as though they are having a good time doing so.

6) The snorkeling is better. You can snorkel on Seven Mile Beach on a good day. But, at the cliffs, you will see much, much more marine life. All you have to do is get in the water, put your mask down, and look around you. The snorkeling is amazing.

7) It's cooler at the cliffs. Because of the ocean breeze blowing on you at the top of the cliffs, it is quite a bit cooler out of the water, especially if you can find a bit of shade.

We will be in Negril for another two months, and I am sure we will go back many times to Seven Mile Beach. But, there are many reasons to stay close to the cliffs.

Negril, Jamaica: Sea, Sand and Fun

2010-05-31T12:04:00.000-07:00

We have been in Negril, Jamaica for nearly a week now.

We are staying in an inexpensive cottage called Silver Star. It is located a fifteen minute walk from the famous Seven Mile Beach and a five-minute walk from a smaller beach that is great for snorkeling. As someone who loves to be able to walk to the beach and on the beach, this is fantastic.

The accommodations are quite modest, but they are clean and comfortable, so we are happy. The small size of the cottage just means that we have to make sure and keep it tidy and keep everything in its place.

It is very hot here in Negril so we take advantage of the relatively cool mornings to do work and do household tasks. I spend my mornings writing in my office (whish is just a separate hotel room) and the children are doing their schoolwork in the mornings. We have hired a tutor to give the girls lessons, and that is working out great so far! After lunch, we are all free to spend the afternoons as we like.

Of course, most days we go to the beach. If you can believe it, some days the kids complain about going to the beach. Mostly, they are not keen on the 15 minute walk in the hot sun. However, once we arrive at the sea, they have a blast.

The first day we got to Negril, the sea was amazing. It was absolutely transparent, even up to about 30 feet deep. Snorkeling in that water was fantastic. However, the next day it rained and the water has not been the same since. There are two reasons for this. One reason is that when it rains the sea gets more turbulent and brings the sand up into the water, making it less transparent. The other, less pleasant, reason, is that the rain means that the muddy, dirty river water gets into the sea, turning it a brownish color.

We have found thus far that we can walk or take a taxi about another mile down the beach - away from the river - and get to the clean part when the river comes into the sea. Hopefully it will not rain much and we can enjoy the transparent water once again. Honestly, this year, after seeing so many amazing beaches, we are getting harder to please!

None of the beaches we have seen so far in Negril have any waves to speak of. The girls complain that this makes it boring. However, it also makes it easier for us as we do not have to worry about the girls being pulled out to sea. Yesterday, I went snorkeling with Tatiana and Soraya - my nine-year old twin daughters - and we were able to get pretty far out without me being worried. However, as it was our first time, I did not stay too long. I was worried they (or I) might get tired.

I am looking forward to spending the next two months in Negril, and, slowly but surely, getting to know the rest of the Seven Mile Beach.

Five ways to keep safe in Guatemala City (and other high-crime areas)

2010-05-30T08:55:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the second Blog Carnival of the Lonely Planet bloggers from the Blogsherpa program. This carnival centers around Travel Safety. The Carnival will be a traveling carnival that will be hosted on a different travel site every two weeks.

When I lived in Guatemala City, people constantly told me how dangerous it was. My friend who works for the United Nations told me when she got here, all she heard were warnings about street crime; she doesn’t walk on the streets. At all. Our landlady warned me about most places in the city except for the neighborhood we live in – Zona 9 and Zona 10. She was robbed in the city center, and doesn’t go there. My other friend had her cell phone stolen at knifepoint on the bus three times in six months.

I was not going to avoid going outside. Venturing out of the house was a fundamental part of my job. Plus, I’d go stir crazy. So, I did what I could, within reason, to be safe.

For example, one day, I had to meet my research assistant downtown to catch a bus to our interview in Zona 6. Unfortunately, I was twenty minutes early, and she was twenty minutes late. So, I had to stand outside at the corner of 9th avenue and 9th street in Zona 1 for forty minutes. A gringa standing outside on a corner in Zona 1 is something of a sitting duck. My strategy to avoid being robbed was first to try and stand near other people.

There was a bus stop on the corner, so I made my way over there, and stood between the other people waiting for the bus. I was constantly aware of my surroundings, although I tried not to appear too paranoid. When three fairly unsavory-looking characters crossed the street towards me, I walked a few yards down, and went into a store. I pretended to browse until they got on a bus and were off.

Once they were gone, I realized I could stand in the very large storefront door and that I was fairly safe there. After about twenty minutes of waiting, I began to let my guard down. There were plenty of people milling around, and there were lots of interesting things going on.

For example, two gay men walked by. One playfully jabbed the other, and then put his arm around him. It was nice to see that they felt comfortable expressing their sexuality in public.

Across from me, there was a large metal door. Every so often, people would approach the door and knock. Someone would open up a small opening and let people through. I have no idea what was going on inside, but it was easy to imagine all kinds of things that might be going on behind that large, metal, unmarked door.

Couples, mothers, children, families strolled by. Others waited for their bus and then were off. I noticed that almost all Guatemalan men use hair gel. Funny how I never noticed that before. I focused my attention on trying to find a man who didn’t. Finally, a hippie couple walked by that was gel-less. They were both super skinny. The girl had her dark brown hair in two plaits, and the guy had big, curly hair that clearly didn’t have an ounce of gel in it.

After forty minutes on the corner, my friend showed up and we got on Bus #3 to go to Mega 6 to meet an interviewee. This experience has me thinking about a few tips on how to keep safe while traveling in high-crime areas.

1) Always carry the least amount of valuables possible on your person.
2) Avoid carrying a purse or bag with valuables inside. Instead, keep valuables in a small bag inside your shirt or in a money belt.
3) Be attentive – do not wear earphones while walking down the street, for example.
4) Do your best not to be worried about what might happen. If you are noticeably scared, it will show and make you a more likely target.
5) If you really are scared and can’t hide it, sometimes it is best to just run. For example, if you accidentally come upon a dark street, one strategy is to just run down that street until you get somewhere that is well-lit.

Goias, Goiania, Brasilia, and back to Goiania: Our last few days in Brazil

2010-05-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

Monday, May 24, is our last day in Brazil. So far, despite having to get all five of us and our many bags to the airport, everything is going remarkably smoothly. These past few days have been very hectic, so this is a very welcome change.

We left Cidade Goias at 4:30am last Thursday so that we could spend the day in Goiania on the way to Brasilia. I spent Thursday morning at Universidade Federal de Goias with my research assistant, Anna Laura. She had a film featured in an ethnographic film festival, and we watched her film about transvestite prostitutes in Goiania and participated in the debates afterwards. On Thursday evening, I had two interviews on the other side of Goiania, so Anna Laura and I made our way over to Campinas, a commercial district on the edge of Goiania. The interviews went well, but we did not get home until 11:00pm. And, we had to wake up at 6:00am the next day to go to Brasilia.

We arrived in Brasilia at noon, at the Hotel Nacional. After a very brief rest, I met Cristina and Joaze – two professors at the University of Brasila – for lunch. It was great to meet them and to talk about sociology and anthropology in Brasil and to learn about the University of Brasilia. After lunch, we went across town to the University of Brasilia, where I was scheduled to give a talk. I began my talk around 4:30pm. I was very tired and was amazed at my ability to speak coherent Portuguese for most of my presentation. The talk went fairly well, and the audience members had interesting questions about the US and immigration laws.

After my talk, we met up with my husband and kids and went out with Cristina and Joaze and their kids to a pizza restaurant. The restaurant – Pizza a Bessa – has a rodizio de pizza, which means that waiters pass by the table every few minutes with a different selecion of pizzas. They have everything from pepperoni to pizza with dried beef to pizza with ice cream (for dessert). My three kids fell asleep in their chairs by the time we left the pizzeria. I managed to stay awake, but was very tired when we got home at 10pm.

The next morning, fortunately, we did not have anything planned. Nevertheless, we all got up before 7am. In a hotel room, when one person gets up, it is hard for anyone else to remain asleep. We packed our bags and checked out of the hotel by 9:30. We were planning on going out for breakfast when we found out that the Hotel Nacional has a fabulous spread that is included in the nightly rate. The breakfast buffet was great – they had fresh fruit, yogurt, a variety of breads, omelets crepes, waffles, and several fresh fruit juices. We ate as much as we could and then set out for our day sightseeing in Brasilia.

We heard that there was a free bus that would take you to the Centro Cultural de Banco do Brasil (CCBB), so we went to wait for it by the Hotel Manhattan. We waited a long time for the bus, but it finally came and we went to the CCBB. The CCBB had four different expositions, and the kids' favorite was definitely OSGEMEOS – installation art by twin brothers that is very creative and colorful. After a couple of hours at the CCBB, we went back downtown.

Nando thought it would be a good idea to have lunch in the Rodoviaria (the bus station). The food did not look appetizing to me, so I just had a mango smoothie. We decided to go back to Goiania after that, as the kids were very tired, and Raymi seemed to be coming down with a fever. I am glad that we saw Brasilia, but there was no good reason to stay for another day.

When we got back to Goiania, we went to our friend Gabriel's house. He had a few guests over, and they were enjoying churrasco and red wine. We readily joined them. After a few glasses, at 11:00pm, I was ready to go to sleep. The kids were already sleeping on Gabriel's couch, so we decided to spend the night there. I got a reasonable amount of sleep, but had to get up at 6am when the kids woke up to make sure they did not cause too much trouble in Gabriel's house. We had breakfast there and took the bus to Anna Laura's house.

When we got to Anna Laura's house on Sunday morning around 10am, the only thing I wanted to do was to relax. Fortunately, Anna Laura lives in a rural area of Goiania, so it feels like you are in the countryside. I spent the better part of the morning in Anna Laura's hammock enjoying the bucolic atmosphere while the kids played in her huge yard. Nando and I also did some last minute laundry and got our bags ready for the next day. Our friend Izabel came over in the afternoon, and we spent the afternoon chatting with her, her husband, and Anna Laura. Not too long after they left, Soraya fell asleep on the couch. It was only 7pm, but I decided to let her sleep.

By 8pm, the whole family was asleep. I could not believe it. Even better, I did not have any nightmares about missing the plane. We were completely packed, and our plane did not leave until 11:00am the next day. We woke up at 6:00am, with plenty of time to do our last-minute packing of our pajamas and toothbrushes and make it to the airport. This allowed me to remain very calm and to not get stressed at all. Amazing. We called our taxi at 6:25 – knowing that it would take a while to get all the way to Anna Laura's house. The taxi showed up at 7:40, and we got to the airport at 8:15 am for our flight.

Some people might find it a bit extreme to be completely packed and to go to sleep at 8:00pm in preparation for a flight that leaves at 11:00am the next day. But, the difference a few hours makes is remarkable. Right now, it is 10:00am, and, so far, everyone is in a good mood, well-rested and ready to face a very long trip.

We will be in Negril, Jamaica in a little more than 24 hours from now. We shall see how well-rested and calm we are by then! Either way, at least we are starting out on the right foot.

Can you learn (or re-learn) Portuguese in three months?

2010-05-11T04:09:00.000-07:00

I hoped our three kids - aged 9, 9, and 6 - would pick up some Portuguese during our three-month stay in Brazil. As we are preparing to leave Brazil, the kids are able to communicate wth their playmates. But, they are far from fluent.

Raymi, my six-year old daughter, has learned the most. This is interesting because she was the most resistant at first. When I spoke to her in Portuguese when we first arrived, she once replied "Don't talk to me in THAT language!" That said, when Raymi wanted an ice cream a few days later, she mustered up the Portuguese words to order one. Now, when Raymi is with her teachers and friends, she puts together full sentences in Portuguese and gets her needs and wants across.

Tatiana and Soraya - my nine-year-old twins - were more keen on learning Portuguese, or so it seemed. Tatiana would ask me to talk to her in Portuguese before we came to Brazil. Now, however, when the twins talk to their friends, it is almost always in "Portunhol." They do manage to communicate and will laugh at television shows in Portuguese, but still use a lot of Spanish in their conversations. Nevertheless, every so often, they will play translation games with me.

We are getting ready to leave Brazil (in less than two weeks!!), so I don't know how much longer it would take for them to become fluent. I am sure, however, that they have learned some of the language and that next time we are in a Lusophone country, they will have a head start.

As for me, my Portuguese is still not at the level of fluency it once was. But, it has improved quite a bit. I can even understand people on the phone now. The main reason my Portuguese is not up to par is that I do not speak Portuguese every day. I only engage in extended conversations in Portuguese when I travel out of town to visit friends. When I stay in Cidade Goias, I spend most of my day alone writing or with my family.

It is much quicker to learn (or re-learn) a language when you have full immersion. The kids are only getting full immersion four hours a day at school. (If you look closely at this video, you can see Raymi at her school.) And, I am only getting it when I leave the house.

Cooling off in Rio Vermelho in Goias, Brazil

2010-05-08T16:07:00.000-07:00

The Rio Vermelho runs right through the center of Cidade Goias (also known as Goias Velho). During the rainy season, the river is full of a reddish mud – thus giving it its name the Red River. However, as soon as the skies clear and the rain ceases in early April, the river begins to run clear.

By mid-May, you can see right to the bottom of the Rio Vermelho. There is a bridge in the center of Cidade Goias – you can stand on it and watch fish swim by. The fish seem to have learned that people often throw goodies down for them and congregate in a pool right below the bridge.

If you follow the river upstream, you will come to the Fonte da Carioca – a popular bathing spot for townspeople and visitors alike. Fonte da Carioca is a small waterfall that pours down into a shallow pool. It is perfect for cooling off on a hot day in Cidade Goias – which happens to be just about every day.

We usually take the girls to Fonte da Carioca after lunch. They enjoy walking on the rocks of the small waterfall, swimming in the shallow pool, and looking for baby fish. As we are in the dry season, you can see the fish swimming by. Fortunately, they are not very easy to catch. Fishing in the Rio Vermelho is a federal crime, and we wouldn’t want our daughters to be arrested for violating the law.

Downstream, the river leads to the city park. The city park has a trail where residents walk the 1km path each dawn and dusk.

The Rio Vermelho is definitely one of the highlights of Cidade Goias.

Walking around the Park in Goiás Velho

2010-05-02T07:42:00.000-07:00

Nearly every evening, here in Cidade Goiás, I take my three kids to the park at the end of the Centro Historico. This park is a great place – at dawn and at dusk. The rest of the day it is empty because the sun glares down and the lack of shade makes it uncomfortable and hot. However, around 5:30pm each evening, residents descend on the park for their evening stroll or jog. Most people, including me, walk around the 1km trail. There are just a few people that actually run.

The trail is made of gray bricks and winds along the river and then circles back around the periphery of the park. The park itself has a playground, a skateboard ramp, and a bar. The playground and skate ramp are small, but serve as a point where kids from the town can meet up and play. The middle of the park is empty, making it a good place for little ones to learn how to ride a bike.

For me, it is great that the kids have a place to play while I do my evening exercise. This means that we all can get out of the house and get some fresh air while I unwind from the day.

The bar sometimes has a trampoline and, for R$2 (US$1), the kids can jump to their hearts’ content for ten minutes. The bar also sells tasty meat skewers, and sometimes I let the kids convince me to buy some for them. Most times, however, the kids sit on the skate ramp and play games with the other kids at the park.

As for me, I usually walk about 3 miles. One of these days I’d like to be able to run those three miles, and I sometimes work toward that goal by jogging part of the way. However, the most important part of the evening walks for me is the chance to think and reflect and get any stress out of my system. The fact that I get to walk next to a bubbling river amidst verdant pastures and trees makes this all the more relaxing.

I also think it is great that my three daughters see me and others exercising each day. At their age, they get plenty of exercise running around all day. However, it is important for them to learn the importance of exercise and to see how exercise can be incorporated into one’s daily routine.

A dead cat, duck droppings and a trip to the doctor: Just another day in Goias, Brazil

2010-04-30T15:00:00.000-07:00

My husband, Nando, left four days ago to go visit a friend and to see some of the amazing natural beauty to be found in Brazil. I, in turn, get to stay home and bond with my three daughters. So far, so good. Except today was particularly exhausting.

We got out of bed late – a quarter to 7 this morning – just the time we are supposed to be leaving the house to get the kids to school. About 45 minutes later, we were all out of the door – except for Tatiana who has been complaining of a stomach ache. I finally relented and allowed her to stay home from school today.

The girls’ school is a twenty minute walk from our house. And, Raymi, my six-year old daughter is not a big fan of walking. Two blocks away from our house, she began to complain. We went back and forth with her complaining and me asking her to allow me to enjoy the joyous morning in peace. Finally, Soraya, my nine-year-old daughter came up with the idea that we play a guessing game. That calmed the kids down until we got to school. Then, it was my turn to walk back. I enjoy this walk back, especially the part where I walk near the river and can enjoy the dense forest and often see an exotic bird such as a toucan or a parrot flying overhead.

Back at home, Tatiana was reading a book on the sofa. I had told her that television and the computer were off limits so long as her sisters were in school. That worked for a while, but eventually she convinced me to allow her to play math games on the computer. Anything for me to be able to get my work done.

You see, by the time I got the kids to school, walked back, and had a cup of coffee, it was 8:15 am. And, I have to leave the house at 11:15am to go back and pick them up. With three short hours in the morning, I really need to concentrate to get anything done. Tatiana was fairly cooperative and I was able to get in two solid hours of work before I had to run out the door to pick up the kids from school.

Once we got home, I speedily cooked the kids’ lunch – rice, sausage, and salad - and then told them I had to leave for a few minutes to try and get my asthma medicine. I ran out of my medicine and the pharmacy does not have the particular medicine I need. So, I figured I should see a doctor and get a prescription for a brand they sell here in Brazil. That involved jumping through a few more loopholes than I anticipated.

First, I went to the hospital on the corner. They told me that I needed to go to the medical center at Praça João Francisco. Unfortunately, I heard São Francisco and took a mototaxi to the Municipal Pharmacy. There, they said they did not have the medicine I wanted. The attendant told me I was welcome to wait for the doctor, but that he did not recommend me doing so. The doctor is 87 years old and is not very up to date on things. I asked him where I should go, and he also told me to go to João Francisco. This time, I made it to the right place.

When I got there, there was a fairly long line. While in line, I noticed that everyone else had all sorts of documentation with them – ID cards, insurance cards, and proof of residence. I had nothing. But, I waited in line anyway, hopeful that something would come out of it. When it was finally my turn, I told the lady I did not have anything. She understood this to mean that I did not have an appointment and asked me to wait for a bit. She said that she would see if there was any room left after she took care of the people who had appointments. My chances of seeing a doctor looked pretty bleak, so I made my way for the door. But, as I was doing so, the receptionist called me back in and suggested I wait. She indicated that my chances for seeing the doctor were fairly high.

When it was finally my turn, she asked for my ID. I explained that I had lost my ID and my medicine, but needed a prescription for my asthma medicine. She shook her head, but said she would ask the doctor what she could do. A few minutes later, a doctor appeared and we explained my situation. She told me to wait a few more minutes. Not too long afterwards, I finally got to go through the door everyone else was going through. I was taken to a room where the prescribing doctor sat.

I explained what medicine I needed. He took out a big book, found it, and wrote me a prescription! Victory! I went outside to the pharmacy across the street and asked for the medicine. They did not have it, but said they would order it and deliver it to my house by 10am the next day. Good enough.

I got another mototaxi home and found the kids playing peacefully in the house. I had called them a few times, and all seemed to be in order each time I called. I told the kids to get ready for their play date. One of their schoolmates had invited them to come over to swim. So, we walked the two blocks over to their friends’ house.

On the way, we noticed a new development in the river. The river is full of fish. The water is fairly clear, so you can look in it and see all sorts of fish swimming around. That was pretty cool.

Once we got to their friends’ house, the kids jumped in the pool and I sat down to chat with the kids’ grandmother. She told me the problems she was having with the kids, and how the kids’ mother and father had been abusers of crack and of each other. I found it interesting how open she was with me, and offered my sympathies. At any rate, all seems to be resolved as the parents are divorced and the mother has successfully gone through rehab. After about an hour, I told the grandmother that I needed to go home and check on things as I had left the windows open.

When I got home, I realized that I had also left the back door open. And, the two ducks and chicken had gotten inside. If you don’t already know, I will tell you that ducks go poop A LOT. Gross. Two buckets of water and a good scrubbing later, the kitchen floor was clean. I was tired and wanted to relax, but felt obliged to go back and check on the kids.

I made my way back over there and found the kids still splashing around in the pool. The grandmother had made them popcorn and hot chocolate. We sat down and chatted some more. I found out that she is a widow. Her husband died when she was just 28, leaving her with an infant and two toddlers. That did not sound fun. And, now, she is living through a whole new crisis with her daughter and grandkids back home.

When the sun began to go down, it was time to go home. We thanked the grandmother for the invitation and went back to our house. I put a movie on for the kids and, finally, got a chance to relax with a glass of Chilean red wine.

Except for I didn’t exactly get to relax yet. The neighbor called me and I went outside to find Manchas, our puppy, munching on the bones of a dead cat. Gross. This dead cat has been slowly decomposing outside of our house for a few days. I keep thinking that someone is going to clean it up. I don’t have the stomach for it. However, seeing Manchas munching on it, I finally decided that I had to do something. So, I got a big yellow plastic bag, held my breath, and put the cat’s corpse inside it. Gross. I still feel nauseous.

Now, however, I can forget about it and all the other things that happened today and relax with my wine and cheese. That is, if I can find something to entertain the kids while I do that!

Faricoccos in Cidade de Goiás – A spectacular procession

2010-04-03T12:40:00.000-07:00

On the Wednesday of Holy Week at 11:59pm, the city of Goiás hosts the re-enactment of the night Jesus Christ was pursued by the Romans. Forty men dress up in colorful robes and hoods, carry torches and walk barefoot in a spectacular procession through the city.

The idea of wearing colorful robes and hoods was brought to the city of Goiás by a Spanish priest, João Perestrello de Vasconcelos Spinola, in 1745. Thus, the farricocos and the Fogaréu Procession precede the Ku Klux Klan by more than a century. Nevertheless, their outfits are unfortunately quite similar to those worn by the KKK.

Cidade Goiás (also known as Goiás Velho) is usually a very quiet and peaceful city. However, during Holy Week, the city fills with tourists who come to witness one of the oldest processions in Brazil. On Wednesday evening, we took our daughters - Tatiana, Soraya, and Raymi – to the Plaza Coreto to see all of the excitement.

When we arrived at the Plaza Coreto at dusk, vendors were setting up a market on the street, the plaza was filled with tables full of people drinking beer and soda and eating ice cream. I sat down with the girls to have a drink. Soon, however, they insisted on going to the market.

We saw a vendor selling miniature black and white farricoco puppets. The girls asked for one. It seemed like a decent idea for a toy and a souvenir for the evening, but I suggested that they purchase the black ones. I didn’t want the girls to purchase a little KKK puppet. Tatiana and Soraya – my nine year old twins - each bought black ones. Raymi – my six year old daughter - spent some time trying to decide what she wanted. When she finally decided she wanted a puppet as well, there were only white ones left. That is how Raymi got her own little KKK farricoco puppet. I thought to myself – at least the eyes light up red so that it seems more like the representation of a devil.

It turns out that the symbolism of the farricocos is actually quite sinister. They, after all, are the bad guys in the story as they are the ones hunting down Jesus to crucify him. This background helps to explain a bit this unique custom.

That evening, the girls played in the plaza with their puppets for a while. Eventually, however, they got tired and we made our way home. I had my doubts that the kids would make it until midnight to watch the procession. And, they didn’t. They all fell sound asleep around 10pm.

My husband, Fernando, and I left the house around 11pm and went again to Plaza Coreto. This time, the Plaza was completely full of people. We had a drink in one of the bars and decided to make our way back to the Igreja do Rosario. The procession begins at Plaza Coreto, but this is not the best place to see it. The Plaza is too full of people and it is hard to see the procession with all of the multitude.

The procession goes from the Plaza Coreto down to the bridge over the Rio Vermelho and pauses at the Igreja do Rosario for a bit before returning to the Plaza Coreto. Fernando and I made our way back to the Igreja do Rosario and waited for the procession.

Around 12:30am, it arrived. It was quite a site to see. Dozens of robed men carrying torches followed by hundred of people also carrying torches walked up the hill to the Igreja do Rosario. The farricocos stopped on the church steps where there was a brief presentation where the M.C. asked them who they were looking for and they responded “Jesus Christ.” The rows of men in colorful robes and hoods holding their torches was spectacular to witness.

From the Igreja do Rosario, the procession made its way down our street. We stood in our doorway on Rua Senador Eugenio de Jardim and watched the procession again from there. This time, we had the best view and watched the farricocos and then all of the people with torches walk by. By that time, it was after 1am, and we went inside to rest.

This posting is part of the for the Lonely Planet Blogsherpa Travel Carnival, hosted at http://www.latortugaviajera.com/.

Life in Goiás Velho

2010-03-30T03:31:00.000-07:00

After a month in Goiás Velho, we are finally settled in. We live in an old house in the historic center of Goiás Velho. The town is quite charming. The streets are made of old stones and date back hundreds of years. There is a river running through the center of town with old wooden bridges that traverse it. During the day, there are few cars and more than a couple of horses with carts. It often feels as if we have gone back in time. Except for, of course, I have my laptop and Internet connection!

The kids like here as well. They go to a wonderful school – Vila Esperança – that is on gorgeous grounds and is colorfully decorated with comfy cushions and rugs. Plus, it has a focus on dance, capoeira, and music that is great for the children. This was a very welcome break after that strict Catholic school in Santo Domingo.

I asked my nine year old daughter Tatiana what she liked best about our house in Goiás Velho, Brazil, and her response was “our pets.” Normally, we don’t have household animals, because we travel too often. However, in Goiás Velho, a friend agreed to lend us his puppy while we are here. We’ll have to give it back when we leave, so hopefully that will go over okay. My husband Nando also picked up a few ducks and chickens at the market. When we leave, I am sure we will not have any problem getting someone to take in some plump poultry. Their destiny as pets, however, will be short lived, I am sure.

Soraya – Tatiana’s twin sister’s – response to my question about her favorite thing was the garden. Behind our house, we have a large, messy yard. I wouldn’t exactly call it a garden, but it certainly provides space to run around. It also has a fantastic outdoor shower that is the perfect remedy for Goiás Velho’s hot afternoons. I asked Soraya what she liked about the garden, and she said the fact that the animals live in it. Tatiana and Soraya are real animal lovers.

When I asked Raymi, my six year old daughter, what her favorite thing was, she said “the hammock.” We have a lovely, huge, colorful hammock that the girls use to swing on. Recently, they realized that they also can swing and jump off of it onto the air mattress. They have a game where they swing each other and dump each other onto the air mattress.

Goiás Velho also has many interesting things for the kids outside the house. On many a hot afternoon, we walk a few blocks from our house to a small waterfall where the kids can take a dip in the river. The cool water is very refreshing after a long day. And, the waterfall is set in a verdant valley. It is a most relaxing way to spend an afternoon.

Other afternoons, we go to the Plaza, where they have an ice cream stand in the middle. In addition, there are often plenty of children around with whom the children can play. Now that we have the dog – his name is Manchitas by the way – we can take him to the park. That way, even if there are no other kids, the girls can have fun playing with Manchitas.

As we are near to Holy Week, there is no shortage of processions in Goiás Velho. We live just a few doors down from Igreja do Rosario – a prominent historic church. So far, there have been two large processions that start there and go right by our house. And, they will continue for the rest of Holy Week. Tatiana in particular finds the processions fascinating. I imagine she will admire even more those later in the week – which will be even bigger and fancier.

Goiás Velho is a small town, so there is not much of a night life. However, there is one restaurant that serves snacks and beers on its patio on weekend nights that we like to go to. The advantage of this restaurant is that it is located right next to a playground. And, on weekend nights, a gentleman sets up a trampoline that the girls can jump on and hopefully burn off their energy. Last time we went, the girls were excited to have been out at night with us. Nando and I we were glad to have been able to have a beer in peace.

When we first arrived in Goiás, I had the impression that people were less friendly than in other parts of Brazil. When I said “hi” as we walked by, I got more than a couple of blank stares. However, now that we have been here for over a month, those same people smile broadly and say hello first as we walk by. It took less time than I thought for folks to open up.

Overall, Goiás Velho was a great choice as a family-friendly place to spend our three months in Goiás, Brazil.

A Sociologist on the Move: Fourteen Months, Four Countries, and Three Kids

2010-03-24T03:19:00.000-07:00

On May 27, 2009, I began a long trip with my family. Over the next 14 months, we would be living in four countries, beginning with nearly three months in Kingston, Jamaica.

Our journey has not been easy all of the time, but it has never been dull, with one adventure after another. Thankfully, we have had the good fortune of meeting many people whose good will has made these fourteen months abroad much easier and more productive.

In Kingston, a Jamaican colleague, Prof. Sonjah Stanley, recommended I put my eight-year old twin daughters and my five year old daughter in Edna Manley School of the Arts Summer Camp. That turned out to be a fantastic suggestion, as it is a marvelous summer camp. My husband, Fernando, got involved in the Trenchtown Culture Yard, and I began my research with deportees. I also started a blog, http://tanyagolashboza.blogspot.com that chronicles this amazing year abroad with my family.

I was able to take this trip as I had been awarded a Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad Award to conduct research on the re-integration experiences of deportees in Jamaica, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and Brazil. My Fulbright-Hays Award didn’t officially start until August 14, 2009, but I got a head start with internal funding from the University of Kansas to do some pilot research in Kingston, Jamaica. In each country, my research consisted in interviewing 30 deportees, government officials responsible for deportees, and researching the migration histories of each country.

The summer in Kingston went fairly well, with only the occasional break-down where Tatiana, one of my 8-year old twins, would cry and fuss that she wanted to go back to Kansas. My pilot research was more successful than I expected. A colleague in Kingston – Prof. Bernard Headley – introduced me to a couple of key informants, who greatly facilitated my research. Fernando completed a project teaching the folks at Trenchtown Culture Yard how to make pan flutes out of bamboo. Before we knew it, it was time to pack up and go to Guatemala City.

Before traveling to Guatemala City, I contacted Prof. Miguel Ugalde and introduced myself via email. He helped me find a furnished apartment in Guatemala City for our three month stay, and invited the family over for a churrasco our first Sunday in the city. My first week in Guatemala City, Miguel took me to the airport where deportees arrive and I was able to witness the processing of over 100 deportees into Guatemala. I couldn’t believe my luck and how quickly I was able to get my research underway. Finding 30 deportees to interview turned out to be a bit tricky. However, with a few creative strategies, I found them and left Guatemala with 35 interviews completed. My research in Guatemala was remarkably successful, even though we never were able to get the children in school. The school year had begun in January, and the schools were finishing up as we arrived. There are “American” schools that begin in September, but the $6,000 enrollment fee per child was prohibitively expensive. That’s when we decided to home school.

Fortunately, our school district has a virtual school where you can enroll your children in a highly structured program. Admittedly, it is a tremendous amount of work to home school three children. At first, we contracted an English-speaking teacher. But, that did not work out, as the children were not advancing in terms of their lessons. Eventually, I had to take over, as Fernando’s limited English skills prevented him from being in charge of home schooling. Things got a bit hectic when I had to home school in the mornings, write after lunch, and conduct interviews in the evenings. But, we managed, especially knowing that the situation was temporary.

In the Dominican Republic, our next stop, the schools are on the same calendar as those in the US, so we were able to enroll the children in a local Catholic school. I was relieved to have the children in school again. The curriculum looked similar to their curriculum in Kansas, so I kept up the home schooling, part time. In the afternoons and on weekends, I gave the children key lessons from the Kansas curriculum.

Settling into Santo Domingo and getting my research off the ground was a lot easier than I anticipated – largely because of the help of a couple of generous individuals. Mari, the sister of the friend of a friend was an angel with us, despite our weak ties to her. When she heard we were coming, she offered to pick us up from the airport, lent us an apartment while we got settled, and found a school for us! We could not believe her generosity. Once we found our own apartment, also with Mari’s help, I got started with my research. I called a few contacts in the US, one of whom gave me the contact information for Rene Vicioso, who works with deportees in the Dominican Republic. When I spoke with Rene, he was very accommodating and agreed to meet with me the next day.

When we met, Rene assured me there would be no problem finding 30 deportees. He also introduced me to several key government officials, and my research project was soon up and running. In Santo Domingo, I had no problem finding deportees to interview, and ended up completing 50 interviews. Soon enough, however, our three months were up, and it was time to travel to Brazil.

In Brazil, my research was focused on Goiás – the state that receives the most deportees. Luckily, I have a wonderful colleague in Goiania, the capital of Goiás, Izabel Missagia. Izabel picked us up at the airport, and took us to her house, where we stayed until we were able to find a place of our own. As of this writing, I am in Cidade Goiás, a lovely town that Izabel recommended to us, especially because of a fantastic, alternative school in Cidade Goiás. The children are in a school called Vila Esperança that focuses on music, dance, and capoeira. After three months in Catholic school in the DR, this is a very welcome change. The school calendar year just began, so the twins are starting the third grade again here, and my youngest is starting the first grade early. However, we decided that, in Brazil, their primary goal will be to learn Portuguese, and I will finish up the home schooling over the summer. My children already speak English and Spanish, so learning Portuguese should not be too challenging for them.

As of this writing, we are in Brazil. Like in Guatemala, it has not been easy finding interviewees here, and I have already begun using creative strategies to locate deportees to interview. This past weekend, I traveled to a small town in Goiás where I was able to find three deportees by asking around.

I feel very lucky to be in a profession that allows my family to have such amazing experiences. I traveled extensively before becoming a sociologist, but knew that, eventually, I wanted to settle down and have a career and a family. Who knew that traveling the world would become part of my career and still possible with a family! Admittedly, dragging our three children from one country to the next has its challenges. However, for me, it would be even more challenging not only to be apart from them, but also to deny them this fantastic experience that they will carry with them for the rest of their lives.

Written for “World on the Move” – the Newsletter of the International Migration Section of the American Sociological Association.

One adventure after another with the family in rural Brazil: Milking the cows, Feeding the chickens, and a Waterfall

2010-03-14T14:16:00.000-07:00

Our weekend trip to Fatima's farm outside of Itapuranga in Goias, Brazil turned out to be one adventure after another. This time, I took the whole family to the farm – Tatiana and Soraya had had been asking all week when we would be able to go.

We arrived around 6pm Friday evening. The girls were excited to see the calves and chickens. The first thing they tried to do was to pet the calves. That turned out to be more difficult than it looked. Tatiana, Soraya and Raymi got in the corral with the calves. But, each time they got close to a calf, it would run away. Finally, all of the calves had run out of the corral, and no one got to pet one.

Next up were the chickens. After many attempts, Soraya managed to catch a hen, and the girls took turns holding it. When they let it free, Raymi showed the girls where the corn on the cob was, and they de-grained a couple of cobs for the chickens.

Meanwhile, it was getting dark, and Fernando decided to start a campfire. Fernando and Braulio, Fatima's son, busied themselves bringing and cutting wood, and the girls helped by adding dry corn husks to the fire. By the time the fire was ready, it was time to eat dinner.

Dinner consisted of rice, beans, a little bit of free-range chicken, and inhame – a tuber vegetable. Tatiana and Soraya served themselves at least three plates of rice and beans. The food was hearty and tasty. After dinner, we had a little rapadura – concentrated sugar cane - and went outside by the campfire where Nando was playing his flute.

We relaxed by the fire for a while, but soon the girls wanted to play again. This time, Evandro had the idea of them playing with the wheelbarrow. Braulio gave the girls several turns each in the wheelbarrow before it was time to go to bed.

I woke up on Saturday morning at 6am, and the girls were already up and about. When I got out of bed, I found all three girls in the cattle pen, helping Braulio and Sebastiao milk the cows. Braulio showed them how to pull on the cows' udders to make the milk come out. They were able to do it, but not nearly as fast as Braulio. After milking the cows, Raymi and I went into town with Evandro to buy bread and some meat for lunch. Afterwards, we took the milk from the cows to the depository where they sell the milk each day.

After breakfast, Tatiana and Soraya finally got what they wanted most – to ride the horse. Evandro got the horse saddled up for them, and they took turns riding it around and around the house until finally it was time to let the horse eat some grass.

While the girls were riding the horse, Evandro took Raymi and me out behind the house where he cut a piece of sugar cane and squeezed the juice out of it with a small metal mill. We strained the juice and drank it. It tasted even better with limes from the tree – all natural lemonade.

After our morning adventures on the farm, it was time for a bit more adventure. Evandro drove us to Dominique's farm, which is about a 30 minute drive down a dirt road through several other small farms. Dominique's farm is more of a hacienda than a farm. She has several lakes where she raises fish, many pineapple and papaya trees, and a herd of goats for milk and cheese.

Dominique's hacienda also has a magnificent waterfall on the premises. The main purpose of our visit was to jump in the waterfall. Unfortunately, just as we got there, it began to downpour heavily. We waited the rain out at one of the small farmhouses where several men were cleaning fish to take to the market. Seeing all of the fish and lakes, the girls asked if they could also fish.

One of the workers gave them two fishing poles, and Tatiana and Soraya went down to the lake to fish. Soraya managed to catch a big fish. But, it was a little too big and she ended up falling backwards into the lake trying to get it out. Fortunately, the lake was not deep at all. But, she was full of mud and had to be rinsed off in the shower.

After their fishing adventure, we walked over to the waterfall. It was about a 15-minute walk down a muddy trail overgrown with vegetation. Each of us fell in the mud a few times, but managed to make it to the waterfall. It was beautiful. As usual, I was scared of slipping on the rocks, and, of course, I fell – right on my behind. So did everyone, but we managed to make it to one of the pools where we cooled off and cleaned up. The sun had come out enough to dry off the big rocks, and I relaxed on one of the boulders while the girls continued to swim and splash around. It was getting late, however, so we didn't stay too long.

When we got back to Dominique's farmhouse, the men had finished cleaning the fish and were taking them to market. We bought a large – two kilo – fish from them and took it home to cook. Evandro picked a few coconuts from Dominique's farm to make coconut milk to cook the fish. Evandro made coconut milk by taking the white meat out of the coconut and putting it in the blender. I added this delectable mixture to the muqueca de peixe that I made. The fish stew was delicious with the large, meaty, fresh pintado.

After dinner, Nando sang just a couple of songs by the campfire as we were all tired and full. The next morning, however, as promised, Nando made a bamboo flute for Braulio. They have some bamboo trees on the farm, and Nando and Evandro cut one down and fashioned a flute for Braulio. That way, they will have something to remember us by until our next visit.

Another Way of Life: A Weekend on a Farm in Rural Brazil with Raymi

2010-03-12T02:25:00.000-08:00

I spent last weekend in Itapuranga with Raymi, my six-year old daughter, while Nando went to Pirenopolis with the twins. When we met up in Goias Velho on Monday, Raymi regaled her older sisters with stories about the farm – how she had fed the chickens, rode the horse, and watched Braulio milk the cows. The twins were jealous, and wanted to go to the farm immediately. I told them they had to wait until Friday, as we would be going to school all this week. They were disappointed, but, slowly, the days have passed, and now Friday is here and we will go back to the farm this afternoon.

When we first got to the farm last Friday, Raymi didn’t like it. However, after two days there, she grew quite used to it. On Sunday morning, she woke up at the crack of dawn and went straight to the chicken coop. She found the Portuguese words to ask Fatima if she could feed the chickens. When Fatima said she could, she got a cob of corn out of storage and de-grained it for the chickens. Then, she took pictures as Braulio milked the cows.

On Sunday, we didn’t stay at the farm for breakfast, as we had promised Rosmery that we would have breakfast at her house in Itapuranga. After breakfast with Rosmery, we made our way to the Feira da Cachaça. It is a farmer’s market with people selling vegetables, milk, eggs, live chickens, meat, fruit, and a few plastic items. And, true to its name, it has a bar with cachaça in case anyone want to get their Sunday morning drink on. There were a few tipsy folks around the bar, but they were harmless.

Raymi was disappointed with the Feira da Cachaça; it was not nearly as nice as the Friday evening Feira da Lua, which has kids’ games and toys and grilled skewers. At the Feira da Lua, everyone dresses up and looks nice; not so much at the Feira da Cachaça. After the Feira, we went back to Rosmery’s house, and hung out with her for most of the day. In the evening, Evandro took us back to Fatima’s house, where we would spend our last night before moving to our new home in Goias Velho.

During our weekend at the farm, Raymi was able to see many things she hadn’t seen before. She saw Braulio milk the cows and take the milk to the depository where he sells it. She saw Fatima pick herbs from the garden to cook with. She saw people come to buy several bushes of dry corn from Fatima. She saw many trees with fruits – papayas, bananas, limes, and coconuts. She saw where the hens lay eggs and the pigs take mud baths. Seeing all of this, she will have a better idea of where food comes from, and of how people in the countryside make a living.

She also will have an idea of another way of life. At the farm, they have a television, but they don’t have computers or Internet or a DVD player. They also eat pretty much the same thing each day – rice, beans, eggs, and potatoes. For breakfast, they have coffee with milk straight from the cows. They rarely leave the farm.

Their general lack of mobility and lack of variety in their food also had me thinking. We eat different dishes every day. And, if I am missing an ingredient, I am apt to run to the supermarket and get it. In contrast, Fatima has everything she needs at the farm. Her husband goes to Itapuranga once a week on his motorcycle and buys oil, sugar, margarine, and some other things they like. But, if they run out of something, they do without.

I can stay in the house for a day or two relaxing or working, but I can’t imagine living on the farm and never leaving. A whole week might pass by at the farm, and Fatima won’t leave the farm or have visitors. She doesn’t seem to mind at all. They seemed quite happy to have us as visitors, and insisted we return. But, I am sure they would be fine if we didn’t.

Spending the weekend on a farm in rural Brazil, so far from everything and everyone, served as a moment of reflection for me, and a learning experience for Raymi and me.

Just Raymi and Me on the Farm

2010-03-08T11:41:00.000-08:00

This weekend, it was just Raymi and me. My husband took the twins to Pirenopolis, and I went to Itapuranga with Raymi. I had the opportunity to travel to Itapuranga, my research site, with Evandro, who is from Itapuranga. I didn’t want to miss this opportunity to be personally introduced to people in my research site. And, my husband, Nando, wanted to travel to Pirenopolis. So, we decided that I would go with Raymi and Nando would take the twins. This would be the first time that Raymi, who is six, would be separated from her eight-year old sisters, as least for as long as she can remember.

I figured I would use the weekend with Raymi as a chance to spend some alone time with her. And, Nando would have the time to be just with the twins – who often complain that he favors their younger sister. Without her around, their complaints would be moot. The twins seemed happy about the prospect of not having Raymi around.

Raymi and I set out Friday morning with Evandro for Itapuranga. To my surprise, Raymi consistently asked about her sisters during the two hour car ride – the same sisters she always fights with. Overall, the car ride went well, with Raymi quite calm in the back seat and Evandro and I chatting about the local and regional economy of Goias. We saw several Movimento Sem Terra (Landless Movement) settlements on the road on the way, and Evandro explained to me that they were settled there waiting until the government authorized their takeover of part of a hacienda.

Our first stop in Itapuranga was Evandro’s sister’s house. Fatima lives in a rustic house about 12 kilometers outside of Itapuranga – in the country. When we got to Fatima’s house, Raymi’s first question was why everything was so dirty. There were quite a few flies in the dining area; the floor was full of red dirt; and the table cloth was stained. I took a deep breath and explained to Raymi that we were at a farmer’s house, and that they had lots of things she would like.

We had seen a horse when we first walked in and I asked Raymi if she wanted to see the horse. She did, and Evandro offered to let her ride the horse. Raymi was a bit scared, but got on the horse with Evandro, and held on tight. Then, it was my turn to give her a ride on the horse, and we took a short ride to a nearby stream. Raymi seemed to be happier about being on the farm.

After our horse ride, it was time for lunch. Everything for lunch was from the farm – rice, beans, potatoes, and eggs. We both liked our lunch and cleaned our plates. During lunch, we found out we would be sleeping at the farm. Raymi was disappointed, but when she saw our room – which was nice and clean with a big bed – she cheered up.

Raymi had fun taking photos of the animals on the farm and showing pictures to our hosts. She took pictures of all of the farm animals she could find – the horse, chickens, cats, dogs, and the cows.

When we left the farm to go to Itapuranga, Raymi had lots of questions about how our hosts lived. I told her the food we were eating came from the farm, and she asked if the rice also came from the farm. I told her it did. She also wanted to know how they earned money to live. I explained that they sell milk and eggs from the farm and sometimes sell the cows. She seemed a bit appalled that they would sell a baby cow.

Now that we have spent two nights at the farm, Raymi has gotten used to farm life. On Sunday morning, she got up and went to watch Fatima’s son, Braulio, milk the cows. Then, she got some corn and de-grained it to feed the chickens. They dry out the corn and store it for the rest of the year to use as chicken feed. Braulio showed Raymi how to de-grain the corn. From there, she went to help Fatima with the wood stove. She also had fun petting the calves who were watching their mothers being milked.

It has been a different dynamic with just Raymi and me. She gets a lot more of my attention and we don’t have to negotiate her wants and needs with those of her sisters. I also find that I am buying her more things she wants – soda, ice cream, and sausages. It seems less extravagant when it’s just one kid.

The Impossible Trinity: School, Research, and Housing

2010-03-02T02:25:00.000-08:00

As our first week in Brazil is coming to a close, I am anxious to get started with my research. However, getting settled is taking time.

We arrived on Thursday evening, so I spent Friday recovering from the long flights and layovers. Over the weekend, I researched possible places for us to live and do research. For now, we are at a friend’s house. We are very lucky to have someone willing to take in all five of us.

My husband, Fernando, traveled to Perinopolis on Saturday. He loved the city, but it doesn’t seem as if the schools there will be the best options for the kids. Really, we need three things to coincide – my research site, the kids’ school and reasonable temporary housing.

One of my best options for research seems to be the city of Itapurangu. On Sunday, I met Evarando, who is from Itapurangu. He explained to me that there is a lot of emigration from Itapurangu, and that there are at least 200 deportees in that city. So, that seems like a great option for a research site. The problem is that, like Perinopolis, the options for schools are limited.

Here in Brazil, I’d like for the children to have the best experience possible. It is going to be difficult for them in school, as they don’t speak Portuguese. My friend told me about an alternative school in Cidade de Goias, called Vila Esperanca. It is a marvelous school, focused on ethnic diversity, dance therapy, music, and art. They have already said that the girls can enroll them in the school with no problem.

Cidade Goias seems like a great option for us. It has the alternative school, and is an hour away from Itapurangu. Finding temporary housing there, however, seems like it will be a challenge. A friend of ours looked for housing there and was unable to find anything. Nevertheless, Fernando went to Goias yesterday to see what he could find. With luck, Fernando will find a place for us to stay in Cidade Goias.

With a place to stay, a school from the kids and a ready research site, we will be able to get down to business in Brazil. I am looking forward to that.

How I kept three kids calm during 30 hours of airline travel and airports – The points system

2010-02-26T07:46:00.000-08:00

We left our apartment in Santo Domingo at 10:30am on Wednesday, and arrived at my friend’s house in Goiania, Brazil at 5:30pm – 30 hours of travel that involved four stops and two long layovers. Amazingly, the kids managed to remain fairly well behaved for the entire trip and earned the prize I had promised them – a trip horseback riding.

When we left the house, I told my daughters, 8-year old twins and a 6-year old, that they would earn points for good behavior, and that, if they earned ten points, they could go horseback riding once we got to Brazil. I am surprised how well that rewards system worked.

In the car on the way to the airport, when the twins began to fight over whose turn it was to play the Nintendo DS, I reminded them about the point system, and they found a way to resolve their fighting. When my 6 year old began fussing on the plane and kicking the seat in front of her, I reminded her about the points, and she stopped kicking the seat. On one of our long layovers, the twins had to help with the luggage, and when they complained, I promised an extra point for being so helpful with the bags, and they complied.

They managed to behave during a long layover in Miami, an hour wait in a line in Sao Paulo, and the eight-hour flight from Miami to Sao Paulo. We didn’t board the plane in Miami until midnight, as the flight was delayed. Almost immediately after boarding, Tatiana and Soraya fell asleep. They woke up before I did. Luckily, the American Airlines flight has individual televisions where you can choose from a menu of movies. They watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Night at the Museum while I continued to catch some zzz’s, or at least tried to.

When we got to Sao Paulo, I had to offer the girls another point while we waited for quite a bit to get processed by immigration. It turned out that Fernando had overstayed his visa on a previous trip to Brazil. We were worried about that, but, as ten years had passed, he no longer had to pay the fine, and they stamped his passport to get into Brazil.

As our flight was late getting into Sao Paulo, we missed our connection to Goiania. This turned out to be for the best, as our original travel plans involved changing airports in Sao Paulo. As we missed that flight due to delays, we were able to get a new flight that left out of the same airport. We had to wait in line for an hour to re-check our bags. But, the girls sat on the floor and played Mario Kart on their DS’s while we waited in line. Towards the end, they complained they were hungry, as it was past lunchtime. But, they held out until we were helped out, finally.

Luckily, we had time at the Sao Paulo airport to have a decent lunch. We went to one of those serve-yourself places where you pay by weight. The girls loved the opportunity to serve themselves. Raymi served herself rice, beans, and chicken. Soraya got rice, beans and salad. Tatiana got the same. But, she saw the pasta and decided to serve herself another plate of spaghetti with tomato sauce. It turned out her eyes were bigger than her stomach, but Nando and I helped her out with the spaghetti. Stomachs full, we made our way to our last flight – that would take us to Goiania.

The last flight stopped in Brasilia on the way to Goiania, so that was a bit disappointing for the girls, who thought the seemingly interminable voyage had finally ended. But, the fight from Brasilia to Goiania is only 25 minutes. And, they made friends with some nearby passengers and chatted the last 25 minutes away.

Finally, we made it to our friend, Izabel’s house. Izabel was kind enough to offer us a place to stay while we figure out where we are going to live. We are trying to decide between staying in Goiania and going to one of two smaller cities – Perenopolis or the old city of Goias. Meanwhile, the girls are having a great time at Izabel’s as she has a swimming pool in her apartment complex, as well as a very friendly dog.

Now, we just have to figure out where we will take the girls horseback riding.

From Santo Domingo to Sao Paulo with three kids

2010-02-26T03:56:00.000-08:00

My task of remaining calm as we moved the family to Brazil became a bit more difficult when we had a couple of unexpected problems as we prepared to go to the airport. The first issue was that I had to return my wireless router to the Internet company personally. I had sent my husband, but, apparently, I had to go myself. Our second issue was that we nearly had too many bags to fit in our friend’s SUV.

Fortunately, we had planned to leave well ahead of schedule and were able to resolve those two problems and still get to the airport before noon for our 2:20 flight. We made it through check-in, immigration and customs fairly easily. We had overstayed our tourist visas in the Dominican Republic and everyone had to pay a US$30 fine – except for me. The Dominicans were nice enough to waive my fee when I told them I had technically not overstayed as I had traveled to Haiti for a few days.

The kids managed to keep themselves occupied in the airport and on the plane with their video games and other things we brought along to entertain them. The flight to Miami from Santo Domingo went reasonably well. I told the children that their reward for good behavior on the long trip to Brazil would be a trip horseback riding over the coming weekend. That seems to be working fairly well.

When we got off the plane in Miami, we were greeted by three large men in Homeland Security uniforms. They weren’t waiting for us, but seemed to be waiting for someone on the plane. I stopped to wait for my daughters behind me and they asked me to keep moving. Whatever they planned to do, it seems they didn’t want an audience.

We passed through immigration without much incident, and were told to go ahead when I gave my customs form to the customs agent. However, as we were making our way out of the customs area, an agent called Fernando and asked him to come and have his bags checked.

I was bothered by this. We had already been approved by customs; they had already told us to follow the green dots out of the door. However, one of the agents saw Nando with a pile of suitcases and made us go back – the wrong way – through the customs line. We put all ten of our bags through the x-ray. As we were headed out, I asked the agent why he had singled us out when we had already passed through customs.

He told me that it was a random search, because we had so many bags. We do have ten suitcases – three large ones and seven small ones. But, there are five of us – so only two each. I looked at him, and said: “That’s okay, I know why you stopped us.”

My suspicion is that my husband, Nando, was racially profiled. When I, a white woman, handed my customs form to the Border Patrol agent, he waved us through without realizing that Fernando, my brown-skinned husband, was with us. One of his colleagues made up for that oversight by calling us to go back through the line.

I did find it ironic that the Border Patrol agent’s last name was Pardo – as that is a Spanish word for a person of color. I am at least glad that I found a way to call him out. So much for our “welcome” to the US – one by over-zealous security forces whose mandates in the war against terrorism and the war against drugs mostly work to police and surveil people of color in the US.

On a more positive note, all of the non-security agents we encountered in Miami were pleasant. And, we had a delicious meal at la Carreta Cubana. Nando had pollo asado, and I had ropa vieja. The food was tasty, and they gave us very generous portions. At least we wouldn’t be hungry during our long flight to Sao Paulo.

Three kids and a 24-hour flight to Brazil

2010-02-24T03:43:00.000-08:00

It’s 7:21 am on Wednesday, and our flight to Brazil leaves at 2:20pm – in five hours. Amazingly, I slept all through the night last night and got in a full eight hours. International travel with my husband and three kids must be becoming routine for me because normally I have trouble sleeping before a big event.

This is our fourth time moving the family to a new country in eight months. Fortunately, we are just packing up clothes and toys, and not moving the whole house. Still, it is a fairly major operation with eight-year old twins and a six-year old.

Determined not to get stressed out about it, I planned pretty carefully for the big event this time. We took a short trip to the beach over the weekend, arriving back Monday afternoon. We had done some packing beforehand and spent the whole day Tuesday just packing. Now, Monday morning, nearly everything is in suitcases, and we still have just over two hours before we leave the house.

We are leaving for the airport extra early, as I find that to take off quite a bit of stress. Our plane leaves at 2:20, but we are leaving the house at 10 am, meaning we will arrive at the airport before 11:00 am. That will give us plenty of time to rearrange any things we have from suitcases that are too heavy, and to take care of any last-minute emergencies. Hopefully, it will also leave us time to have a good lunch in the airport.

I am a bit sad to leave the Dominican Republic. I have greatly enjoyed my time here, and grew accustomed to the sights and people here. I am glad we had the chance to see some of the best beaches – Las Terrenas, Playa Bonita, Sosua, Los Guayacanes, and Isla Saona. I also got to know Santo Domingo quite well. And, I even made it to Haiti. In all, I made good use of my three months here in terms of getting to know Hispaniola.

Now, it is time to leave for Brazil. Time to get the last few items in our suitcases, to clean up the last few corners of the house, and to return the wireless router to Tricom. That is the one task I left for today. I wanted to have Internet access up to the last minute, and Tricom is not far from our house.

We arrive in Goiania, Brazil at 1pm tomorrow. That means we have about 24 hours of travel ahead of us. Starting out not stressed is a good thing. Now, I just have to keep it up for the remainder of the trip.

This means that when the kids begin to fight, I have to remain calm. Better, I need to do what I can to avoid fights. When other airline passengers complain about the children’s loud laughter or screams, I need to find a way to diffuse the situation. When the kids want to do cartwheels in the airport, I need to figure out if and where that is possible.

When you travel with kids over long distances, there has to be a balance between maintaining their good behavior and letting them burn off some steam. Hopefully there will be opportunities for them to burn off steam in positive ways.

I have to resolve to maintain my calm and to look for things to keep the kids occupied. Here we go….

The Children’s Museum in Santo Domingo: Lots of learning, less fun

2010-02-09T04:48:00.000-08:00

The Children’s Museum in Santo Domingo is a worthwhile trip if you have small children, but don’t count on spending the whole afternoon there. The museum consists of a guided tour that does not last more than an hour. The Museo Infantil Trampolin's motto is "Where learning is fun," yet the focus is more on learning than on fun.

Last Saturday, I took my daughters – eight-year old twins and a six year old – to the Children’s Museum in the Colonial City. We found the museum to be more focused on learning than on play, but enjoyable nonetheless. Instead of being a free play museum as in other cities, it is actually more of a guided tour through a series of rooms.

The first room involves a large a large-screen film about the solar system. Each of the other rooms is similarly educational. The room about natural disasters had an earthquake simulator, which the children enjoyed. They also liked the room with the dinosaurs, especially the game where you try to fit the dinosaur fossils into the holes in the wall.

Luckily, however, the tour is less than an hour, as the children began to get a bit antsy towards the end. The last room (pictured left) is the only one where the kids can engage in free play. After about ten minutes, however, the tour guide suggested our tour was over, as the next family was coming through. I asked if we could stay while the next family came in, and he consented.

This last room has a hopscotch design on the floor, a pretend hospital, a make-believe store, a pretend school, and lots of other great things for children’s imagination. When the tour guide asked us to leave a second time, I didn’t protest, although I did think that they should let people stay in that last room as long as they wished. All those wonderful toys and little rooms go to waste if kids can’t play in them and let their minds run wild.

When we left the museum, we were not quite ready to hop in a taxi back home. Just to the left of the museum is Fort Ozama. This is a great place to take kids who like to run around. First, we explored the huge fort and imagined what it must have been like to ward off pirates approaching in the sea. Then, we came back to the ground, and the girls had fun climbing on the various cannons.

The girls made friends with other children that were there playing, and played for a long while on the grass and on the cannons. It was a good thing that they were able to run around in Fort Ozama, as it would have been a shame to go home after just an hour in the children’s museum.

Boca Chica looks less nice after seeing the north coast

2010-01-07T05:23:00.000-08:00

We took advantage of our last day of the school holiday yesterday to go to Boca Chica. This time around, it seemed less nice than the first time we visited. This is most likely because the first time we visited, we had not seen the Caribbean Sea in several months. So, the white sand, clear water and warm climes were enough to appease us.

This time, however, as we were just on the north coast and have been in the Dominican Republic for nearly two months, it was less appealing. Boca Chica does have the lovely white sand and clear, blue water. However, this time, I couldn’t help but take notice of the little pieces of trash in the water, and the ever-so-faint smell of sewage that I kept trying to ignore. Plus, the vendors are omni-present and somewhat insistent.

I will say that I did enjoy sitting on the beach more than sitting at home. And, the fried fish sold just behind the beach was delicious. Also, the vibe on the beach was upbeat, and the kids had fun playing with the other children. They also finally got to try out their snorkeling equipment. The surf was too rough in Sosua for snorkeling. In Boca Chica, however, there is a protective reef such that there are no waves to speak of. This also makes Boca Chica ideal for water sports such as sea kayaking, jet skiing, and paddle boating. The kids had a lot of fun jumping off of and paddling on the boat we rented for an hour.

Given the ups and downs of Boca Chica, next time we decide to take a day-cation from Santo Domingo, we will either go further East, or try out the beaches to the west of the city.

When Soraya fell into a sewer hole

2010-01-06T18:04:00.000-08:00

The first time I traveled to Nigeria, when I was still a teenager, the one thing that I could not get over were the open sewers. I had a great fear of falling into one. My friend and I use to say, half-jokingly, that if we ever were to fall in that we would not want to be removed. Falling into a sewer seemed like the worst thing imaginable. Now that I have seen a few more things in life, I probably would want to be rescued from a sewer. However, I still find open sewers particularly repulsive.

Fortunately, my nine-year-old daughter, Soraya, does not share my same fear of sewers, as she fell into one today. We were leaving Boca Chica beach after a lovely day of sun, sand, and surf, and were waiting for the bus to take us back to Santo Domingo. The place where we were waiting was a sort of concrete island in the middle of the street. My husband, Nando, and I were doing our best to keep an eye on our three kids and our several beach bags. All of a sudden I hear a scream and turned around to see Soraya falling into a round hole.

I rushed over and grabbed her arm. A swarm of mosquitoes arose from the hole, and I began to scream as well. With the help of Nando and another bystander, we pulled Soraya out of the sewer hole.

It was pretty disgusting. But, miraculously, Soraya managed to catch herself on the two sides of the sewer hole, and avoided falling all of the way in. She was wet with disgusting water up to her waist, and scraped her underarm, but besides that, was fine.

What had happened is that the cover for the sewer hole was a big trunk. And, Soraya decided to stand on the trunk. When she did that, the trunk rolled over and she fell in. Thank goodness we were all right there!

We took her back to the beach, and got some water and soap and cleaned her legs thoroughly. Luckily, I had an extra pair of shorts.

Soraya was initially scared, but also found the whole incident amusing. For me, it was pretty stressful, but I am glad it was not worse. Once she was washed up, we went back to the bus stop and were able to get safely home.

Christmas in Sosúa: Lovely Beaches and Great Restaurants

2009-12-31T12:42:00.000-08:00

When my parents told me they had chosen Sosúa as their destination in the Dominican Republic, I wasn’t sure they had made the best decision. For me, Sosúa was most famous for its dubious fame as a sex tourism hot spot. I soon, however, learned that Sosúa is actually a great place for a family vacation.

First of all, unless you go out to bars at night, you barely notice the prostitution. For me, with three kids sure to wake up at the crack of dawn, hanging out until late at the bars was not a viable option. So, I never went. As I did not engage in the night time revelry, I did not experience any of the problems that one might think are associated with a Caribbean sex tourism destination.

Instead, we spent our days on Sosúa’s lovely beaches and our nights at its great restaurants. We stayed at an apartment hotel near the center of town called Perla de Sosúa. This was a great option for us, as the apartment hotel had two bedrooms, a dining room, and a kitchen. That way, we could prepare food and relax as if we were at home when we were not inclined to leave the hotel. It also had a small swimming pool, which the girls used to cool off in when we weren’t at the beach.

There are two beaches in Sosúa – Playa Alicia and Playa Sosúa. Playa Alicia is smaller, with a lovely rock cliff at one end. It does not have much natural shade, but has the advantage of having less people and fewer vendors asking you to purchase things than Playa Sosúa. Playa Alicia is a gorgeous yellow-sand beach with a quite strong surf. The kids had a ball getting knocked over by the waves.

Playa Sosúa is at least twice as long as Playa Alicia, and is very well-shaded. There is natural vegetation all along the beach. Nearly all of the sand is taken up by lawn chairs which you can rent. Or, you can park yourself between them for free on the few pieces of open sand. There are over 150 stalls along the beach. When we were there, that meant there were more vendors than beachgoers. Despite that, the vendors were not particularly aggressive, and allowed us to chill on the beach once it became apparent that we did not plan to purchase anything.

After a day relaxing on the beach, there are plenty of good dining options in Sosúa. The two best restaurants we went to were Bailey’s and Orchidee. We had Christmas dinner at Bailey’s. I had a fabulous steak dish. I was impressed with the quality of the meat and the richness of the sauces. Everyone enjoyed their meals, and the girls’ pizza was unusually good. Also, for a nice restaurant, it is remarkably kid-friendly. There is a metal playground right next to the dining room. Orchidee is a bit less expensive, and the food is also good. It is much smaller than Bailey’s and has a nice homey feel to it. There, I had a gyro, which was reasonably tasty, although I definitely was disappointed that it didn’t come with pita bread. My mother said her breaded fish platter was excellent.

Aside from eating and going to the beach, we didn’t do much else in Sosúa; it was a beach vacation, after all. We did walk around town a bit, and the vendors can be somewhat insistent. It is hard to blame then when there are so many shops and so few tourists. I did notice that nearly all of the vendors are Haitian. That made negotiating with them a bit complicated, as they tended to speak English better than Spanish, and my first reaction is always to speak in the local language. However, they soon came to recognize me, and stopped asking me to buy trinkets or to braid my hair when they realized that I kept saying “no.”

In sum, we had a lovely winter holiday in Sosúa, and I am glad we went there instead of one of the expensive all-inclusive resorts, which are the only option in many parts of the island.

A lovely day at the beach in Boca Chica

2009-12-08T04:14:00.000-08:00

After nearly three weeks in the Dominican Republic, we finally made it to the beach! The beach at Boca Chica is just a 45 minute bus ride from Duarte, in central Santo Domingo. Once we were ready to go, we hailed a cab in front of our house that took us to the bus station. The cab driver offered to take us all the way to Boca Chica for 1,000 pesos (US$28), but we declined the offer. Instead, we boarded an air-conditioned gua-gua (bus) that charges 60 pesos (US$2) a person, and had a nice, cool, fast ride to Boca Chica.

The bus let us off at a small plaza, and we walked about two short blocks to get to the beach. The beach at Boca Chica is reasonably nice. We went on a Monday, so it was not crowded. It is a white sand beach dotted with palm trees. The transparent water is warm and sufficiently clean. There are no waves, and the water is shallow, making it a great beach for children or for swimming. On one side of the beach, an industrial port or factory is in sight, making the beach less idyllic than it could be. In all though, it is a nice beach – much better than many.

There are quite a few vendors on the beach, selling coconuts, sunglasses, necklaces, water toys, boat rides, and sno-cones, or offering corn-rows or massages. However, the vendors are not persistent or aggressive, so I didn’t mind. There seemed to be a fairly even split between Haitian and Dominican vendors on the beach. At one point, two Dominican vendors stood near me and complained about a Haitian vendor. I am not sure what was the basis of the complaint, but the Dominican vendor pointed out that he was in his country.

Being in Boca Chica reminded me of Steven Gregory’s compelling ethnography of the town – Devil in the Mirror. I read the book a couple of years ago, so I don’t remember many of the details, but I did recall him mentioning the vendors and the prostitutes. Of course, I could not tell which of the women or men on the beach were prostitutes. However, I can say that there was a preponderance of older European men on the beach and a few of them had much younger, non-European women with them. Most of the men seemed to be Italian or French.

We had a delicious, cheap lunch in Boca Chica. We left the beach, as it had begun to drizzle around 2pm. We ordered fresh, deep-fried fish and green plantains from a roadside stand for Nando and I. For the kids, we got chicken, rice, and beans. It was a great deal – US$5.00 for the fish, and US$2.50 for the chicken plates. When I ordered the chicken, the owner of the small restaurant looked at me and said “Dominican food?” as if she were surprised we would eat at her place. She was probably even more surprised when the girls cleaned their plates. My babies love rice, beans, and chicken – it’s what they get at home most days anyway.

The kids had a great time bathing in the warm water and playing in the sand. I spent most of my time in the water as well. At some points, when the sun hid behind the clouds, the sea was warmer than the air outside. The day we went was not particularly hot, and it even rained twice – brief showers. That was actually quite pleasant, as it was not so hot. However, around 4:30pm, I rinsed off in one of the public showers and got out of my wet bathing suit. Once dry, it was nice to sit on the breezy beach and admire the view of the palm trees, white sand, and Caribbean Sea.

The girls got out of the water not too long after, as it began to drizzle again. We boarded our bus back to Santo Domingo. On the road back, it began to downpour heavily. That made the ride take longer than usual. And, once back in the city, we found the streets inundated because of the heavy rains. Some streets were impassable – people looked at the water and strategized how to get across.

The bus let us off at Parque del Independencia, and we took a collective taxi back home. That was probably not the best idea, as the collective taxis are only marginally cheaper, and they never have air conditioning. With the streets flooded, the traffic was horrible, and it took about an hour to get home. Of course, it was hot inside the car as it was not moving, and there was no A/C.

Nevertheless, we made it home eventually, everyone tired and hungry from a long day at the beach. We definitely will be going again!

Religion, White Lies and Education: Enrolling the kids in school in Santo Domingo

2009-11-19T13:44:00.000-08:00

After three months of summer vacation, followed by homeschooling the kids for three months, I am ready to have the children back in school. In Guatemala, that was not an option. So, I was pleased to learn yesterday that, in Santo Domingo, there is a school just three blocks from our new apartment that may accept the girls for our three month stay.

However, it put a bit of a damper on my spirits to find out that their acceptance to the school was conditional. The first condition was that they pass an exam, in Spanish. All three of the girls – Tatiana and Soraya who are eight and Raymi who is six – speak Spanish. However, their reading ability is limited, as most of their schooling has been in English. Tatiana and Soraya, however, did do the first grade in Spanish, so they should be able to pass a test to get into the third grade.

Raymi, on the other hand, is just learning to read, in English. In addition, the principal wanted to put Raymi in first grade, instead of kindergarten, as she turned six a few days ago. I had my doubts about Raymi’s ability to pass a test in Spanish that would allow her to skip kindergarten. So, I was a bit nervous as we waited the two hours for the school to give us the results of the tests. At least I knew that their chances were reasonably good. Condition #2 was a bit more complex.

When we entered the principal’s office, one of the first things she asked me is if we are Catholics. I told her “yes,” which is only partly an untruth. My husband was baptized and his whole family is Catholic. My grandmother is Catholic, and my father was baptized. However, my parents are now both atheists, so we, of course, were never baptized. Her next question was whether or not the children had been baptized. There, I told the whole truth – that they have not been baptized. She paused, and asked me if we had family members in the Dominican Republic who could do the baptism. I told her I might have someone willing to do the ceremony. She told us there would be a group ceremony on December 2, and that we could do it then.

That, I will have to think about. I will have to do some research on what it means to baptize the children and what sort of compromise I might have made here. To be honest, my main concern was to get the children into a school. This school is only three blocks from our house, and, like most schools in the DR, it is Catholic. Our other option would be an Evangelical school, which could be worse. There are public schools, but I doubt it would be easy to enroll the kids there, as they are not Dominican. I have heard they don’t allow Haitian children to enroll at all, even when they live here permanently, so I am not sure what our chances would be at a public school. Given these circumstances, perhaps a baptism is not the worst option.

This incident and my half-truth in the principal’s office reminded me of many other times I have been questioned about my religious beliefs and the variety of responses I have given. In most cases, I tell people I am not religious, and, if they insist, that I am able to find peace within myself without religion. If they insist more, I tell them I agree with Karl Marx, who argued that religion is the opium of the people.

In other cases, however, I avoid this discussion altogether. For example, when a woman was crying on my shoulder and began to pray, and then asked me, “You are a Christian, aren’t you?,” I just nodded my head. I felt she did not need to be concerned with my salvation at that time. Other times, it is just easier to go along. When I visited my friends in Nigeria, on Sunday mornings, I had the choice between going to church with everyone else and staying home and listening to my friends’ father trying to convert me for the whole time everyone else was at church. I often chose to go to church to avoid the whole issue.

The thing is, although I am not religious, I am not necessarily anti-religious. I do have my issues with religion. At the same time, though, I can see how some people need it, or at least benefit from it. I have met many former alcoholics and drug addicts who were rehabilitated through Christian centers. And, according to them, it is their faith that allowed them to heal. I also have many friends who are deeply Christian. And, when life has been cruel to them, their faith has gotten them through. So, even though I do believe religion is the opium of the people, I also recognize that some people need a little opium to get through life.

By the time I finished going through all of this in my head, it was time to meet with the assistant principal and then the principal. The assistant principal told us that Tatiana and Soraya had done fine in math. Their Spanish, however, was pretty bad. Nevertheless, they were willing to work with us, and agreed to accept the girls. All we had to do was go downstairs and sign some papers. As for Raymi, she decided it would be better to put her in kindergarten, which works out better for everyone.

When we went downstairs to the principal’s office, she asked me again for the baptism certificates. I reminded her of our earlier conversation. However, I think she was just trying to make a point. She gave us our paperwork and directed us to the cashier. Once we paid, I figured we were in. What a relief!