Luke and I just found out last night that Madagascar is now in the full on throws of a civil war!!! A CIVIL WAR PEOPLE!!! Can you believe that we left there only 20 some odd days ago?!?!?! Nobody is going in or out. Apparently the centre of the conflict is in Antananarivo - the one place where we felt safe and "at home" ... 23 (or so) bodies in the streets - and the four major cities are all off limits and very dangerous ... quite preposterous I might say - -
Just hard to believe is all ... xo ... xxx
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Hello Hello From GOA!!
So far my favorite part was the mystical train ride into this province at 6:00am yesterday morning. There was a low mist that covered everything outside of 50 feet from the train and the quiet beaches on the perimeter of the tourist areas were serene and cool. Peaceful actually and the perfect way to enjoy them was from the doorway of the traincar with Luke by my side. Moving in a bit more to the town - as in most of the outskirts of the cities we have seen in Both Africa and India - lies the lower income/no income areas - I find these to be some of the most beautiful parts of the countries we've had the privilege of visiting. Houses ... Homes really to those who live there ... made from mud, rusting tin, hay, beer bottles, garbage bags OR sticks ... and if they are really lucky a combination of any of the afforementioned. I haven't asked Luke to post any of the pics of the shanty townsships or ghettos that we have come across because I can't even describe in a blurb at the bottom what they are about - yet somehow I keep asking the boys to drive by them numerous times over just so that I can get a shot of the intricacies that weave those fragile, yet hostile, communities. The lesson I have learned is that no photo will do any justice to the aura that hangs so precariously among the residents of these places. The best way to describe them was spray painted across the common latrines on the outskirts of one of them in Cape Town which read ... "GHETTO BEAUTY". I find them intriguing - as I suppose most people find that which they cannot touch and struggle to understand ...
Whoa! Sorry I got caught up in my constant wonderment of what I would have to say is my most favorite part of our travels so far ...
So Goa - yes - My thoughts on it so far is that (shhh ...) "this is not India" ... but don't tell all the people here who are so dead set in the idea that they can stay here for ages and then go home and tell people they have travelled in India. I feel a little like I have falen out of India into a Hippie Psychadelic Drug Induced version of Banff .... tourists, tourists, tourists as far as the eye can see. At one point yesterday we counted more foreigners on the street than Locals ... HUH???Anyways - It is nice here I suppose. Very thankful for the opportunity to have visited such a world renowned place in my lifetime - I just feel like I got here a couple decades too late. Many of the towns are overrun with Tourists and people who like to take advantage of tourists ... I might have set my expectations a tad high and sadly, to my family, I would have to say that this is not the Goa you all remember from your childhoods.
One thing that I do think is very cool are the names of shops and places that I am seeing which bear the names of people we know so well at home. LOBO Restaurant, BRAGANZA Cashews, ALMEIDA Curios and FERNANDES, FERNANDEZ, FERNANDES ... Ha ha ha!! It's great - like the CanOrients Homeland!!
Today Luke and I rented a Scooter and headed inland to check out - and we both agreed on my Familys behalf (so this ones for you guys ...) the mortal remains of a Patron Saint who has played an important role to my family for decades now. We scooted over to Old Goa to visit the Bom Jesus Basilica and were able to visit two very beautiful churches there. The first housed the tomb of St. Francis Xavier and was ridden with ... you guessed it ... Tourists so it was a little frustrating but we managed to get some time in nonetheless. The second Church that we went to was the Church and Convent of St. Francis of Assisi. He is the Saint who means (of the two) the most to me as his prayer has been taught to me my whole life and he was the named Saint of my high school. Anyways ... I consider myself very lucky because as we entered the Church ... it was silent. One visitor was exiting the building and I (we I think) were in awe at the beauty held within its walls - and we were alone. The tiled archway and the intricate gold interior was nothing less than marvelous augmented only by the gravestone floor. It was quite. It was peaceful and it was prayerful. Two wishes for the day according to my Daddy - I knew I was a lucky girl when I knelt down as the only one, in this church of my familys Patron Saint. It was perfect really ...
Oh my goodness I just realized how long I've been writing for and thank those of you who have read this far. I'll go now - but just wanted to say it was a magical day filled with meaning in a place where so much is unfamiliear all the time that I struggle daily to find the meaning in things ... All my love and peace - -
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Aurangabad!
hello hello! hope your all doing well. we are great. as you could guess from the title, were in aurangabad, you have no idea how long it took me to figure out how to say that let alone spell it... actually sam had to spell it. shes a spelling bee wizz by the way!!
its nice here. hot during the day, but good. to get here we had to catch the 0625 train. that means we had to get up at 0400! ugh. And thats after we were up till 0100 finishing packing after dinner. But thats nothing compared to rochester, juroska and joan who got up earlier to wake us, and for rochester to accompany us to the train station. after helping us get loaded up to the train, it started moving before he could get off... haha and to all of our great surprise it didnt stop until leaving town and arriving 20 minutes some where else. thanks alot rochester. and sorry again. haha. the three of us find ourselves floored over and over again by the generosity of the rocha family. thank you, thank you, thank you.
the train ride was good. only we were all pretty bagged. sleep wasnt likely, but the other two tried. beautiful veiws. only got touched once each by lady men, begging for money and figuring making everyone uncomy enough to pay them to go away was a good tactic... it was and we paid.
now in town its pretty nice. went to a grocery store that was more like a department store than a grocery store but none the less. (the three of us always seem to feel at home in grocery stores, if that makes sense) but the caves near by are the attraction. they are these ancient caves carved out in the 6-8th centuries. amazing. caves with pillars, and statues carved out of a mountain. just amazing. cant talk to do it justice. very impressive.
anyways there are some new pics up on flickr
http://flickr.com/photos/31168733@N02/
check it out.
hope your all well. take care.
its nice here. hot during the day, but good. to get here we had to catch the 0625 train. that means we had to get up at 0400! ugh. And thats after we were up till 0100 finishing packing after dinner. But thats nothing compared to rochester, juroska and joan who got up earlier to wake us, and for rochester to accompany us to the train station. after helping us get loaded up to the train, it started moving before he could get off... haha and to all of our great surprise it didnt stop until leaving town and arriving 20 minutes some where else. thanks alot rochester. and sorry again. haha. the three of us find ourselves floored over and over again by the generosity of the rocha family. thank you, thank you, thank you.
the train ride was good. only we were all pretty bagged. sleep wasnt likely, but the other two tried. beautiful veiws. only got touched once each by lady men, begging for money and figuring making everyone uncomy enough to pay them to go away was a good tactic... it was and we paid.
now in town its pretty nice. went to a grocery store that was more like a department store than a grocery store but none the less. (the three of us always seem to feel at home in grocery stores, if that makes sense) but the caves near by are the attraction. they are these ancient caves carved out in the 6-8th centuries. amazing. caves with pillars, and statues carved out of a mountain. just amazing. cant talk to do it justice. very impressive.
anyways there are some new pics up on flickr
http://flickr.com/photos/31168733@N02/
check it out.
hope your all well. take care.
Monday, January 19, 2009
hey everyone. just a quick note. WE ARE IN INDIA!! finally. its been a long trip. but were here. were all very excited and eagerly soaking onslaught of smells, sights, sounds and feeling.
luckily we were picked up last night by juroska and cornell late at night. like 3am!! crazy kind of them and joan and rochester for staying up so late to welcome us. today after a nice sleep in, went down town. holy cow, how ive missed india! we had a great day, great food, great beer. and we found hookah! josh was giddy. and now were home again and going to relax tonight with a movie and hit up some markets tomorow. so ill write more a little later. hope you all well. just wanted to say were here and very psyched.
we would like to send a thousand thanks to elvira and terry. we miss you guys already and really hope to see you guys again. either africa or in america. take care and give the kids hugs for us.
much love luke sam and josh.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
hokey dokey. sorry every one for the delay in the post. havent had tonnes of chances to get one in in the last week. but here we go.
we got to nairobi last week and luckily enough met up with my dad and rachelle! totally skookem. it was great to see them, like a taste of home, mid-trip. we actually got them to take this enormous climbing pad home that we have been dragging around the last two months, so that was a huge load off. when they took off we headed to some of sams familys place. thats where we've been for the last week, they were kind enough to take us in and let us recoup. its been great. like a second taste of home in the last 2 weeks! elveria and terry have two kids, maria (six year old girl) and carlo (2 year old boy). the kids are absolutley adorable. maria zips around in her healy shoes and carlo close of her heals. while terry treats us to tantalizing meals, and elveria seems to orchastrate the house hold and make sure everyone is happy and comfy.
yesterday we had a great day. we went to this safari orphanage, where they have tonees of animals that have for obe reason or another ended up staying at this zoo. we saw, pigmy hippos (not nearly as scary as the one that chased me), a giant rhino, albino zebras (white and cream in color), leapard, lions and the highlight, a cheetah. we befriended a zoo keeper inside that eventually asked us if we wanted to see the cheetah! we were like 'see?' but when he said see, he meant see, up close! we went right inside. the cheetah, when we first touched it, made thsi growling noise that at first we were like '... oh shit, crazy ass just put us in a cage with a cheetah!' but it turned out that it was in fact purring!! holy crap, the cheetah was purring to our touch! then after a few minutes, started rubbing against us and leaning on sam. then it took turns licking us (sam right on the face, chin to temple!). it was an extremely sweet animal. we were crazy stoked. josh had the good sense to avoid touching it, due to his allergies to cats, but much to sams surprise learned that shes allergic to cheetahs! kind of a cool allergie if you ask me. much cooler than hay and shrimps.
and other than that we've been preparing for india... well that and litres of coffee everyday. nairobi has lots of great coffee. my favorite is the kanya java house. cafe beano quality!!
so for now thats all. but once we arrive in india im sure we'll have too much to say. and im sure sam will grace the blog with her presence.
much love to all. miss everyone lots.
LUKE
we got to nairobi last week and luckily enough met up with my dad and rachelle! totally skookem. it was great to see them, like a taste of home, mid-trip. we actually got them to take this enormous climbing pad home that we have been dragging around the last two months, so that was a huge load off. when they took off we headed to some of sams familys place. thats where we've been for the last week, they were kind enough to take us in and let us recoup. its been great. like a second taste of home in the last 2 weeks! elveria and terry have two kids, maria (six year old girl) and carlo (2 year old boy). the kids are absolutley adorable. maria zips around in her healy shoes and carlo close of her heals. while terry treats us to tantalizing meals, and elveria seems to orchastrate the house hold and make sure everyone is happy and comfy.
yesterday we had a great day. we went to this safari orphanage, where they have tonees of animals that have for obe reason or another ended up staying at this zoo. we saw, pigmy hippos (not nearly as scary as the one that chased me), a giant rhino, albino zebras (white and cream in color), leapard, lions and the highlight, a cheetah. we befriended a zoo keeper inside that eventually asked us if we wanted to see the cheetah! we were like 'see?' but when he said see, he meant see, up close! we went right inside. the cheetah, when we first touched it, made thsi growling noise that at first we were like '... oh shit, crazy ass just put us in a cage with a cheetah!' but it turned out that it was in fact purring!! holy crap, the cheetah was purring to our touch! then after a few minutes, started rubbing against us and leaning on sam. then it took turns licking us (sam right on the face, chin to temple!). it was an extremely sweet animal. we were crazy stoked. josh had the good sense to avoid touching it, due to his allergies to cats, but much to sams surprise learned that shes allergic to cheetahs! kind of a cool allergie if you ask me. much cooler than hay and shrimps.
and other than that we've been preparing for india... well that and litres of coffee everyday. nairobi has lots of great coffee. my favorite is the kanya java house. cafe beano quality!!
so for now thats all. but once we arrive in india im sure we'll have too much to say. and im sure sam will grace the blog with her presence.
much love to all. miss everyone lots.
LUKE
Monday, January 5, 2009
hey every one whats shakin? things are good here. back in antana now. it was a long haul to get here, consisted of waking up at 0430, getting a boat to mainland from our island, then a bus ride to tomatave ( big shitty city), then another bus ride (after waiting for a few hours in the sun) to get to tana. woke up at 0430, got to the city at 2000. such a long day. and to top it off, josh and i had an angry stomach for it... luckily josh was worse than me for it, haha. he diodnt even get a coffee in the morning!!! nothing scarier than the boy sans cafe all day.
so for the last week weve been on this little island, ile honet, which is south of an island a little bit bigger called st marie all on the west coast. it was pretty sweet. ile honet was, im guessing about one square kilometer. little bigger than chinook center in calgary. pretty sweet. lots and lots of snorkeling, so much snorkeling that josh had to learn to stretch out his hamstrings under water, sam got sea sick while swimming (poor sammy figured she was motion sick from dec 30 through to jan 5. between bus rides, sea sick, and swimming in a rocky ocean), and i started swimming with one leg cause of cramps and almost got stuck in a coral tunnel under water. but all and all it was great. eating the freshest sea food your could imagine. sam actually got a calmarie steak the size of her hand! new years was fitting. after lots of bus rides and motion sicknessess and bumbly bellies (joshs words) we went to bed at 8pm! haha... only to re-awaken AT midnight by the 35 degree heat to night with super humidity. haha. but on the bright side we celebrated homes new years at 10 am with a great cup of coffee (we actually watched this little old lady grind the beans with an enormous morter and pestle).
had a lot of good times and angry times out there, got screwed by this little puss puss driver (like a rick shaw, a guy pulling you on a cart) he mumbled the prices, deux and dix mille. but on the bright side, we saw him later that week, and warned his next victim against him. one small victory for canada amongst many losses in madagascar. haha. oh man its so hot. like 35 degrees, high humidity, and no wind. you actually feel disgusting. shirts feel like theyre made of waxy oil. and we couldnt find anyone to do laundry for a long while, so we resorted to doing little bits out selves and wearing next to nothing (josh and i, anyways) and sam had to mcgiver make a pair of undies from t-shirt sleeves. haha. something to see.
but all and all, snorkeling and eating and incredible beach walks were worth it. it was a great time. now were getting ready to get a flight to kenya to meet dad, which were really stoked for, then INDIA!!! very stoked for that too.
anyways, hope your all well. love and miss all of you. thinking lots about all you.
LUKE, SAM and JOSH
so for the last week weve been on this little island, ile honet, which is south of an island a little bit bigger called st marie all on the west coast. it was pretty sweet. ile honet was, im guessing about one square kilometer. little bigger than chinook center in calgary. pretty sweet. lots and lots of snorkeling, so much snorkeling that josh had to learn to stretch out his hamstrings under water, sam got sea sick while swimming (poor sammy figured she was motion sick from dec 30 through to jan 5. between bus rides, sea sick, and swimming in a rocky ocean), and i started swimming with one leg cause of cramps and almost got stuck in a coral tunnel under water. but all and all it was great. eating the freshest sea food your could imagine. sam actually got a calmarie steak the size of her hand! new years was fitting. after lots of bus rides and motion sicknessess and bumbly bellies (joshs words) we went to bed at 8pm! haha... only to re-awaken AT midnight by the 35 degree heat to night with super humidity. haha. but on the bright side we celebrated homes new years at 10 am with a great cup of coffee (we actually watched this little old lady grind the beans with an enormous morter and pestle).
had a lot of good times and angry times out there, got screwed by this little puss puss driver (like a rick shaw, a guy pulling you on a cart) he mumbled the prices, deux and dix mille. but on the bright side, we saw him later that week, and warned his next victim against him. one small victory for canada amongst many losses in madagascar. haha. oh man its so hot. like 35 degrees, high humidity, and no wind. you actually feel disgusting. shirts feel like theyre made of waxy oil. and we couldnt find anyone to do laundry for a long while, so we resorted to doing little bits out selves and wearing next to nothing (josh and i, anyways) and sam had to mcgiver make a pair of undies from t-shirt sleeves. haha. something to see.
but all and all, snorkeling and eating and incredible beach walks were worth it. it was a great time. now were getting ready to get a flight to kenya to meet dad, which were really stoked for, then INDIA!!! very stoked for that too.
anyways, hope your all well. love and miss all of you. thinking lots about all you.
LUKE, SAM and JOSH
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