The beauty of travel is that someone’s ordinary becomes your extraordinary.
Unknown
We were so excited to see Australia because one, I’d dreamed of it my entire life, and two, this would be our 7th continent. How awesome was that? Because of Covid, Australia had been closed to all tourists for almost two years, and for most of our trip, we wondered if we’d even get a chance to see it. But mere weeks after the border opened up, we hopped on our flight to go and see the land down under.
We had a long list of things we wanted to do while we were visiting, but travel around Australia was still very restricted. Unlike most countries, the individual states all had their own Covid restrictions and testing protocols. To cross from one state into another, we’d have to undergo new covid tests and have new quarantine periods imposed on us, so that wasn’t very attractive. Not having been here before, I didn’t realize how absolutely huge this country was either. Australia is about three-quarters of the size of the US, but they have less than 8% of the US population. Most of the land (the outback) is completely barren and desolate while nearly all of the country’s population is concentrated in the bigger cities on the South and East coasts. To get from one city to another, we were looking at full day travel distances and expensive transit. We were flying into Sydney, and because of the costs, distances, and travel restrictions, we decided that we’d need to stick around Sydney and simply make the most of our time there.
We’d caught our flight in the wee hours of the morning in Singapore, and after 8 hours of flying, we stepped off the plane into Sydney on a beautiful late April morning. After taking our obligatory #7 photos in the airport, we grabbed our bags and headed for the arrivals hall to meet our driver. We were staying at a popular hostel just a stone’s throw from the Sydney Harbor, and our hostel had arranged an airport shuttle for us. Our driver was the utmost professional, and he walked us through the airport and out to our awaiting SUV.
Our shuttle was quite expensive, but we’d researched enough to expect that transportation in Sydney was going to be generally pretty high. The city has grown exponentially over the last 50 years, and although they’ve tried hard, they haven’t quite been able to improve the infrastructure to keep up with this phenomenal growth. Traffic is horrendous, and there are ferries, trains, buses, and more available to travelers to help mitigate the issues; to pay for all of these mass transit options along with the roadway improvements, they charge fairly high fees, especially in that lovely stretch that we were on between the airport and the city.
Our hostel was interesting. It was actually built over ruins that were in the process of being excavated. We walked in on the ground floor, and aside from the elevator and stairs, there was nothing but ruins to see. On the 2nd floor, we found the reception area, a lounge, dining tables, and 8 small kitchen areas. The receptionist showed us how and where we could store our pantry and refrigerated items, and he ran down the list of house rules for us. There were people all over, and from the looks of the kitchens, they were much better used here than anywhere else we’d stayed. That’s not to say that the place was dirty; there were just people milling about all over, and the pantry and fridges were teeming with food. The pantry was a 12’ section of double-sided cubbies where you could label and place your items inside. The fridges were industrial coolers, and nearly every shelf was heavy laden with cold goods. The large kitchen area was divided into four small kitchen pods. Each pod had two sinks, two stoves with two burners each, two microwaves, and two toasters. There were also stacks of plates, bowls, pots and pans, cups, and more in each kitchen area. It was extremely well laid out, and it was practical and efficient.
After checking into our room, we toured the rest of the hostel and found the laundry facilities, and on the roof, we found a large gas grill, more lounging areas, and a beautiful view of the Sydney Opera House. Our rooftop overlooked the harbor, and from where we were, we could see cold waters in the harbor and the Harbor Bridge as well. I remember standing in awe on that rooftop for a few minutes because, well, I’ve seen pictures of the Opera House thousands of times in my life, and here I was finally looking at it for real. And, it looked exactly like it did in all of those pictures. So many of the places we’ve visited on this trip have been a bit of a let down because they were surrounded by construction or the view was impeded by the landscape of the city or the angles that the photographers used to get their shots were unreachable by common tourists, but this one, this one was exactly what I’d been hoping for.
I could have stayed on the rooftop for much longer than we did, but our stomachs were beginning to rumble. Our in-flight meals were okay, but it was time for some real food. We followed our noses to the Australian Hotel next door to our hostel. One of the curious things about Australia is that there are quite a few businesses that are called Hotels, and most of them are not actually hotels. I’m not quite sure I understand why they’d do this, but they do, and it took some getting used to.
We picked a table outside under the cover of the roof of the bar’s porch, but to order, we had to go inside to the bar. Brian and Henry had selected a kangaroo and emu pizza to try, and although that sounded awful to me, I was hungry enough to acquiesce. When Brian went to place the order, thankfully, the bartender let him know that they didn’t have any emu today, so he settled for ordering us a ‘normal’ pizza with ‘normal’ meats on it. The pizza was $32, so we naively expected that it would be a rather large pie. When it arrived, we were a bit taken aback at the size. It was about the size of a medium pizza, and it was thin crust. For the three of us to be as hungry as we were, it took an enormous amount of self-control to eat slowly and savor it. We finished our meal without leaving even a morsel on the table, and we agreed to go find a grocery store for our next meal.
We knew that everything would be more expensive in Australia, but I don’t think we understood just how much higher the prices would be. Even buying groceries and cooking our own meals would put a strain on our budget. But we agreed to do the best we could, and after buying groceries for the following morning’s breakfast, we headed to our room to rest up a bit.
A few hours later, we ventured down towards the train station and found a grocery store on the lower level of the station. We bought some groceries for breakfast for the week and we found a meal to throw together for dinner that night. When we returned to the hostel, we claimed our pantry cubby and a kitchen area, and we worked alongside many others as we threw dinner together. The hostel was very lively with someone cooking in every kitchen zone. Homemade meals were the norm here, and old and young alike joined us in trying to save a bit of money.
We woke the next morning and found a kitchen spot to make our breakfast. After a delicious breakfast of French toast, we decided to explore the harbor bridge area. Henry had found out that you could climb the harbor bridge, and he tried talking us into that. When we found the cost was $250 per person, we unanimously agreed that crossing the bridge on foot for free provided beautiful views as well. The hike across the bridge was enjoyable as there were good views all the way across. The bridge shook as the traffic zoomed past us, and I found that a little unnerving. There were memorials on either end of the bridge to remember the men who died building it in the 1920s and early 30s. They were sobering as well.
At the foot of the bridge on the opposite side of the harbor, we found the beautiful Kirribilli neighborhood. The streets here were lined with immaculately maintained and expansive homes, and the streets were dotted with coffeeshops and small local businesses with unique storefronts. This area is one of the older and more affluent neighborhoods of Sydney, and from the gorgeous shoreline, we could view the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Sydney Opera House, and the Harbor Bridge. We decided to snack through our lunch, as the restaurants were a little too pricey for our appetites and our budget, so after a quick visit to a local market, we sat in the shady comfort of a park bench, gorged ourselves on chips, and people watched for a while.
We continued walking down the shoreline to see what we could find, and we happened upon Luna Park. Luna Park is an amusement park, and you can see the enormous smiling face on the front gates from our side of the harbor. We considered making an afternoon of it, but we decided to wait and see what else we might want to do while we were in Sydney; we could always come back. Because the admission was only required for actually riding the rides, we were able to walk through and check it all out for free. There were quite a few rides, and Henry was definitely itching to try them, but we simply enjoyed the views and listening to the kids scream in delight.
We made it back towards our hostel, but instead of turning in, we kept walking past so we could try to find the Woolworths, a larger grocery store near the train station. The market at the train station had decent options, but we were hoping a larger store might have better selection and, fingers crossed, lower prices. The Woolworths was located in a mall, and unfortunately the mall had been closed the night before. This time the mall was open, and as we walked from floor to floor, we still struggled to find the supermarket. After taking the elevator down, and going through a few hallways and doors that felt like service hallways, we pushed open an unmarked door and found ourselves in the middle of the grocery store. It was such a strange feeling to enter a store like that, and we kept waiting to hear sirens blare announcing our presence. But no one seemed to notice or think it strange, so we tried to compose ourselves and walk through the store like it was nothing unusual.
We found lots of good options here, and even if the costs were slightly higher, the meals would be better. For dinner, we opted for vindaloo and rice, an Indian soup that Brian absolutely loved. My version was less spicy than the Indian restaurant’s version, but it was still too much for me. It had a delicious flavor, but it took hours for my mouth and tongue to stop burning afterwards!
The next day, we started with a walk over to the Royal Botanical Gardens. The gardens were gorgeous, green and vibrant, overflowing with beautiful flowers, shrubbery, and small wild animals. We wandered the meandering paths admiring the views and taking advantage of the photographic opportunities, and sooner than we expected, we rounded the last corner to find ourselves exiting the park.
Down the path just ahead of us was the iconic roofline of the Sydney Opera House. As we walked, the paved trail surrounded by luscious green lawn changed to the sprawling brick and concrete plaza of the opera house. We enjoyed watching all the people around us getting their photos. The Instagrammers were out in droves, posing in their best, and sometimes downright strange positions. We laughed at them, and then we got our own Instagram-worthy pictures too.
We couldn’t help but laugh as we watched an Asian family take their family photos. Like us, they were documenting their travels by taking a family photo on the steps of the opera. Their youngest child, a boy of about 4 or 5 was being extremely uncooperative. He refused to sit within 3 feet of anyone else, and wouldn’t smile at the camera to save his life. I couldn’t help but chuckle as I recognized that the struggle for good family photographs is real. And its universal.
The opera house was pretty, but at least in my opinion, it was prettier from afar. We’ve seen the pictures of the opera house for so long, but up close, we just couldn’t get an appreciation for the unique design so well. We enjoyed sitting on the benches outside, though, as the day was absolutely fabulous, and we’d worn ourselves out.
The opera house sits on the harbor right beside Circular Quay, one of the largest ferry stations in the country. From the bench where we rested, we watched ferry after ferry go out and come back in. We could see the 6+ lanes of traffic moving across the harbor bridge, we could hear the trains roaring through the lanes above Circular Quay and the constant horns of the ferries as they docked and undocked, and we were surrounded by people coming and going through the plaza. It was such a poignant reminder that Sydney is still a very large city, and we were in the center of it.
We grabbed some dinner at a little pub on the pier, and then we headed in for the night.
We found out that we would be the unexpected beneficiaries of a transportation strike earlier in the year in Sydney. As a result of the strike, the city would be offering free public transit for all travelers for a 12-day period which just happened to coincide with our visit. The free period didn’t start for another day, so instead of venturing too far out, we explored the walkable areas in Sydney once more on the following day. We found a fantastic lunch spot in the basement of the mall with Woolworths. Since they didn’t have any seating, we placed our order and found a nearby park to sit and enjoy our food. We loved watching the long-billed birds peck around for insects, and we got a little nervous when they got closer to us than we expected.
But on the next day, we started exploring the further reaches of the city. We walked down to the train station and rode out to the Hermitage Foreshore Walk. The buses were comfortable and easy to navigate, and since we didn’t know what would be in walking distance of the park, we hopped off a few stops early to grab a snack to eat.
After another quick bus ride, we found the trailhead and made our way into the park. The trail was paved and very walkable and it hugged the shoreline overlooking the bay. We watched a group of friends having a good time jumping off the front of their sailboat, and we marveled at their stupidity as the water had to be insanely cold. To each their own, however. We had beautiful views of the setting sun over the water, and the meandering trail took us to several private beach areas where we could stop and rest along the way.
At the end of the evening, we waited for the ferry to pick us up and take us back to Circular Quay. We waited and waited, but the ferry never came. We were starting to get hungry, tired, and a little panicky about not getting back home for the night when we came up with a new plan. We caught the bus back to the station we’d stopped at earlier in the day, and then we walked down to their ferry station. They had a more frequent ferry, and we thought we’d have a better shot at catching one.
We had to wait a little while, so Henry played on the playground in the park while we killed a little time. We laughed as we watched a nicely-dressed young lady clean up her dog in the water fountain. Her beautiful, extraordinarily fluffy snow-white dog had apparently had a bathroom accident, and she spent 15 minutes holding the dog and washing his back end in the water spigot. While not the most picturesque way to spend the time, we all laughed at her misfortune. And that poor dog’s as well.
At the appropriate time, we walked down to the water’s edge and caught our ferry for home. We spent several minutes trying to figure out what was moving in the trees above us, but we finally came to the conclusion that it was bats we were seeing and hearing. A little creeped out and a little amused, we made our way onto the dock and out onto our boat.
The night air was beginning to cool down, so we chose to ride in the interior cabin and block out some wind. Of course, when we got close to Circular Quay, we began to get amazing water views of the Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge, so we had to go outside. It was a spectacular city skyline, and it was worth braving the cold to get to enjoy it.
Only minutes after docking, we found a spot in the kitchen and cooked our dinner. It had been a wonderful day out enjoying the fresh air, but we were exhausted and starving.
The next morning, we washed our laundry while we ate our breakfast, and then we packed up to leave the hostel. We’d really enjoyed staying here, and we would have been happy to extend our stay, but they were full for the weekend. After checking out, we caught a ferry at Circular Quay to cross the harbor. We’d be spending the next few nights in the Glenferrie Lodge, an old home turned hotel in the picturesque Kirribilli neighborhood.
The ferry ride was short and uncrowded, and when we disembarked, we only had a short walk to get to our new home sweet home. The Glenferrie was a beautiful old home with a cozy and private back yard. We made it to our room and settled in, and then we immediately headed back out to explore Sydney a little more.
Our first stop for the day was at Wendy’s Secret Garden on the North Shore of the harbor. We walked the 1.5 kilometers through Kirribilli and past Luna Park to find the garden, and then we spent the next several hours soaking in the lush greenery and diverse plant life surrounding us. This garden was created by Wendy Whiteley on the land she owned with her husband, the beloved Australian artist Brett Whiteley. Brett died in 1992, and in her grief, Wendy threw herself into clearing out this overgrown plot of land just below their home. She would work herself into exhaustion clearing dense undergrowth and removing trash, old rusted refrigerators, and even rotting mattresses as her way of coping with his death. She planted a garden and found happiness in creating a living, breathing, refuge. The garden grew large enough that the public began to take notice, and Wendy allowed guests to come and visit for free. Today, the garden is full of benches, seats, and resting areas where visitors can relax and find refuge from the city.
Our next stop was to visit the Hornby Lighthouse. We walked back towards Luna Park and took the ferry to the last stop in Sydney Harbor. We wandered through the Sydney Harbor National Park on the South Head Heritage Trail until we rounded the corner and found the red and white striped lighthouse overlooking the bay. This lighthouse has been in use since 1840 and is the third oldest lighthouse in New South Wales. We watched as the ocean waves aggressively beat against the shore on the east side of the peninsula. The waters on the west side, the harbor side, gently lapped against the shore, but on both, massive rocks were visible deep in the water. This entrance into the harbor is dangerous, and many ships have crashed here because of the hidden reef and strong currents.
We found a seat on a rock outcropping and decided to watch the sunset. The colors in the sky were magnificent enough to make the return trip in the dark worthwhile. We watched as fishing boats passed around us. The moon rose and the grumblings of our bellies grew louder as we rested, and we finally headed back towards town. We found the Made in Italy restaurant near the park where we enjoyed a delicious pizza pie, and then we took the ferry back to Circular Quay yet again. The ferry nearest our lodge had closed for the night, so after crossing the Sydney Harbor bridge on foot again, we finally made it back to our room late in the evening.
We had really wanted to go see the outback and glimpse some of the wildlife of Australia, but with our tight budget and timeline, we just couldn’t swing it. It would just be wrong for us to leave Australia without seeing a kangaroo, so we found our next best option – a combo ticket to The Wild Life Sydney Zoo and Sea Life Aquarium. We got up early the next day and caught the train for the Wynyard Station, and after a short walk around the marina, we found the entrance to the Wild Life Zoo. We bought our tickets while we were waiting in line, and within just a few minutes, we were making our way through the gates to see the Australian animals.
Now I admit, I was a bit disappointed that the very first animal we got to see was a python. Snakes are not my favorite, at all, and I could easily pass them by without feeling bad about it. It just so happened that we arrived at his nest at his meal time. Just as we walked up, the zoo employees, using a two-person safety system, delivered him the cutest little white fluffy bunny to devour. Mercifully for us, the poor rabbit was already dead, but the snake still managed to find him quickly. In a matter of minutes, he had swallowed him whole. It was disturbing to watch, but the reality is that this happens in nature regularly. And in real life, outside the confines of the glass cages and eager onlookers, the rabbit’s death is far more agonizing. We stood with a bunch of strangers watching this unpleasant scene, and I couldn’t help but observe the small children as they watched. I’ve not kept much of this kind of thing away from Henry, and these parents did the same for their kids. As disagreeable as it was to see, it’s undeniably a part of life.
We also got to see gliders, numbats, and a super cute echidna. We loved watching the Tasmanian devil run around his enclosure. He darted around somewhat randomly, and it was like watching a funny looking dog scurry aimlessly around. Henry’s favorite was the wombat, though. Short, fat, and cute as a button, these little animals were fun to watch. Henry begged me to get one to bring home! I enjoyed watching the platypus also. It’s hard to believe that these animals are real because they just look like a Frankenstein-ish creature. The platypus swims gracefully and swiftly, and it is one of the very few venomous mammals in the world! And the koalas were absolutely adorable. Sleeping high in their trees, these little bears looked like as cuddly as could be and you couldn’t help but want to hold one.
We saw several different types of kangaroos – tree kangaroos, wallabys, and a pademelon. I wasn’t aware of how the different species varied so much in size, color, and adaptations. Most of the ones that we saw were quite small, less than three feet tall, but they can get over 7 feet tall. The zookeepers must be creative to make feeding more fun for the kangaroos and to keep them engaged. On our visit, they were securing their food inside the small openings of a large plastic drink carrier and hanging the carrier high in the enclosure. The kangaroos had to reach up high and work to get their food loose. This creates a challenge and helps fight boredom. The sweet little kangaroos seemed to enjoy the game.
The cassowary we saw was quite strange. These large birds look similar to an ostritch or emu, and they are similarly flightless. They are the third largest bird in the world, and they are often labeled the world’s most dangerous bird. The large casque that grows on their head makes them appear a little more foreboding, but the casque is used primarily for hearing. Their sharp claws and enormously powerful legs, though, make them deadly.
We saw lots of reptiles and insects, and I could tell you about them, but quite frankly, I’d rather never think of them again. There was a sign in the zoo that stated that 90% of Australia’s reptiles are found nowhere else on earth. I’ll just say this about it: Most of the creatures we saw were bigger than any versions I’ve ever seen before, and I’ve been to a lot of zoos. Australia is home to many of the world’s deadliest creatures, and while these weren’t necessarily the ones on this list, running up on some of them in the wild would very likely cause me to hurt myself!
We stepped out of the zoo and found some lunch at the Cargo Bar on Darling Harbor. The view was lovely, and we watched the people amble by enjoying the beautiful day as we ate our lunch. At our designated time, we stepped back in line to enter Sea Life and use the second half of our tickets.
We really wanted to dive the Great Barrier Reef while we were in Australia, but because of budget and timing, we couldn’t pull that off on this trip. Sea Life was the perfect place to learn about all the amazing plants and animals we’d miss by not going diving. The exhibits were spectacular, and we saw hundreds of varieties and species as we walked past the various tanks. Our pictures simply do not do the aquarium justice, as the animal variety, aquariums, and environment were so incredible to see. We saw so many fish, eels, seahorses, anemones, rays, jellyfish, sharks, and sea turtles.
We’d never seen a dugong, a close relative of the manatee, but we spent a lot of time watching one eat his plate of vegetables underwater. Like with the kangaroos, Sea Life helped to create a little more normal life for these animals by making their foraging a little more challenging. We watched the dugong dive and swim to get his fill.
We also spent some time watching the penguins waddle around, but we let the other visitors have the best viewpoints here. We’ve been fortunate enough to see penguins in a way that most people never will and seeing them in the zoo exhibit is just a little bit sad after seeing them thriving in the wild.
We also got to see the lionfish exhibit. The waters in the Caribbean where we’ve done most of our diving are teeming with lionfish, but they are an invasive species there. Because they aren’t native to those waters, there aren’t any predators for them. The lionfish kill off the fish in mass, and therefore hurt the economy and the ecosystem. The waters here in Australia are the native home for these creatures, so seeing them here just felt right.
We left Sea Life exhausted and mentally worn out. It had been a fantastic day, but we were done. We caught the train back to Kirribilli station, and after a few minutes rest in our room, we found our way to the Batch Burger restaurant for dinner.
We knew it would be good when we rounded the corner and saw the line coming out the door. We stood in line, and when we finally got close enough to see the counter, we saw three seats coming open at the bar. And we saw why the line was so long. There were a total of 5 seats at the bar, and then it was standing room only after that. Brian snagged the seats for us, and we placed our orders. We watched the four chefs work within the extremely small kitchen, preparing burger after burger at an astounding pace. Each person could nearly touch shoulder to shoulder in the small kitchen, but they worked together to seamlessly serve so many. Our burgers were fantastic, greasy and delicious just like a good burger should be.
After the meal, we retired to our room for the evening. Brian and I sat in the backyard gazing at the stars and enjoyed the cigars we’d been carrying with us since we lift the states 8 months earlier. We smoked them in the cool night air in celebration of hitting our 7th continent, and aside from them being a little dry, they were very enjoyable.
We woke up on our last full day and after eating a buffet breakfast in our hotel, we headed to the Circular Quay once more. We were en route to check out Manly Beach, one of the most popular beaches in all of Australia. When we stepped off the ferry, we quickly made our way to the beach. Hundreds of people were lounging in the sands and soaking up the sun. We claimed a bit of sand towards the edge of the crowd, and after laying out our gear, we began to talk about hitting the water. The sun was out, but the stiff winds made it a little cooler than I liked it. Henry and Brian braved the water, but I never made it that far.
The most interesting thing about the beach for me, really, was the attentiveness of the lifeguards. When we’d first arrived at the beach, there were several hundred feet of open swimming area, and it was all patrolled by lifeguards. As conditions shifted, the lifeguards would adjust the swimming area and corral the swimmers accordingly, but they would all stay in the area. By the time we left, the waters had gotten much rougher, and only a small sliver of the water was open. The many lifeguards watched the remaining swimmers like hawks. Swimmers were strictly required to stay in the approved areas, and any play that looked like horseplay or could be construed as someone needing help was quickly quashed. I’ve never been to a beach so well protected. I couldn’t help to think to myself that this felt like overkill, really, but then again, the conditions here change quicker than you might imagine. In mere seconds, the water can get very rough, the weather can shift dramatically, and swimming predators can enter the area unexpectedly. They keep guard like this because history has taught them they need to. And that is just a wee bit scary when you think about it.
It continued getting colder throughout the afternoon, and we finally had enough of the wind and sand wearing us out. We ate our dinner at the New Brighton Hotel just a block or two from the beach. While eating on the roof of the three-storied restaurant, the fire alarm sounded. Far from alone on the roof, we watched anxiously as the wait staff made their rounds from table to table and told us not to worry; it was a false alarm. The alarm system was outrageously loud, however, and the siren sounds seemed to resonate from right beside us. It probably blared for 5 minutes or less, but it felt like an eternity. Thankfully our food was delivered shortly after, and the delicious meal made up for the inconvenience of listening to that dreadful alarm.
We tried some gelatismo at the ferry station as we waited to come back to Kirribilli, and we finished our day pleasantly worn out and thankful for our time in Australia.
The next morning, we packed our bags, and caught the train for the airport. It was time to move on to our next destination of Thailand. It had only been ten short days since we arrived in this beautiful land, and I didn’t want to leave it so soon. I have dreamed of visiting Australia so many times, and it seems unreal to me that people actually live here. I will be back again, and perhaps, I’ll get to experience a little more of their ordinary lives.
It’s a big world out there. It would be a shame not to experience it.
– J. D. Andrews
Singapore has been on Henry’s must-visit list for quite some time. Brian was pretty excited about it, too, but if I’m completely honest, I was kind of dreading it. It’s not that I thought it would be a bad place to visit, but I guess I just didn’t really know what to expect. I cannot count how many times I heard Henry gush about their airport, and I guess I just expected the rest of the city to be way over the top too. But, whether I liked it or not, it was the best layover option we had on our route to Australia, so we planned a short stay of 5 days to check it out.
We had flown through the night to land in Singapore early on Monday morning. Our flight landed smoothly at around 7 am, and we made our way off the plane. We were all really tired, but since we knew that Henry was eager to explore the airport, and since our room wouldn’t be ready for a while, we decided to grab some breakfast and kill some time.
The airport was nice, as expected, and the Jewel, the mall attached to it was very pretty. Most of the stores weren’t open yet, but the mall had everything you could imagine. We ended up eating a Shake Shack burger for breakfast, and then we went to the center of the Jewel to check out the waterfall I’d heard so much about. It was very nice, beautiful even, but at my level of exhaustion, I wasn’t all that impressed. I was ready to find somewhere to stretch out and relax for a bit.
We figured out how to get on the metro at the airport, and after a quick train change, we arrived at the Chinatown stop. Coming up and out of the subway station, I was amazed at the scene around us. I’ve never been in a Chinatown area, but the one in Singapore is well known and rather large. The colorful street was lined with Chinese restaurants and markets, and while it wasn’t exactly bustling at this hour, I could imagine how busy it might be in the evenings. The buildings were well tended with fantastic murals painted on several. There was quite a lot to take in as we walked through.
We searched for our hotel for a few minutes, The 1888, but we couldn’t find it. At some point, we asked the shop owner of an open air market stall for directions, and he pointed us to the right spot. After a few more twists and turns, we found an entrance to the hotel. It was actually on the 3rd and 4th floors of a large building sitting above the shopping areas, and to access it, we had to enter into a building foyer that our hotel shared with a restaurant below.
Our room wasn’t ready yet, so after dropping our bags with the hotel, we decided to go for a short walk and buy the cleaning crew a little more time. I had found an ice cream shop on the map that looked to be about 10 minutes away , and we unanimously agreed to head that direction. It was quite warm outside, and we weren’t adjusted yet to these kinds of temperatures. Without our bags, the walk was much easier and more enjoyable, and we meandered through town with ease.
Singapore was a beautiful city, and there was so much to see as we walked through. The streets and buildings were immaculately maintained. And the people smiled behind their masks as they watched us explore their town. Everything felt structured with everything in its proper place. It was fun to walk down the streets and look at all the interesting buildings, each one a unique design. Our stroll was very pleasant, but unfortunately, it was not productive. We found the ice cream shop, but to our disappointment, there was a sign in the window stating that due to Covid, they were only open for orders placed online the day prior.
A little dejectedly, we walked around a little longer, and then we prayed as we made our way back to our room that housekeeping would be done by the time we returned. Thankfully, God humored us, and we happily moved into our rather small new home as soon as we arrived. The room was small, but efficient. The two beds, a twin and a queen, were mattresses laying side by side on an elevated platform floor. A very small section of floor housed a chair and a small table with a coffee maker and kettle. And right beside the desk behind a very clear floor to ceiling pane of glass was our toilet and shower. We laughed as we imagined how we’d manage the next five nights with absolutely no privacy. Thankfully it didn’t take us long to find the switch for the atomized glass. With the flip of a switch, the glass changed from crystal clear to opaque. We were all a little more fascinated by it than we are proud to admit, and we were relieved as well. We were also relieved to find the electronic shade that pitched the room into near complete darkness. Although it would be a little tight, we’d make it just fine in this new home away from home.
We ate dinner that night at a hot pot restaurant by the subway entrance. This one was quite interesting. We placed our orders for ingredients through their website, and within minutes, a new plate of meat and vegetables was delivered. We each had our on pot of sauce to cook whatever we desired, and we had a hotplate as well for searing any ingredients we wished. The experience was wonderful, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. At the end of the meal, we had a bit of a shock to find out that this rather expensive meal would have to be paid for with cash. There were a few money transfer services that we could use, be we weren’t signed up for any of them already, and they all required days to properly set up. Henry and I waited at the restaurant like collateral while Brian went off to find an ATM. Thankfully, one wasn’t difficult to find, and he came back to pay our bill and collect us.
We were exhausted, and we all crashed hard that night. The next morning, we woke and leisurely got dressed and ready to go. We stepped outside to the brightest day we’d seen in quite a while. We wandered through several streets looking at restaurant menus and trying to find something that sounded good. We found more than a few unappetizing menu items that we chose not to try just yet, but thankfully, it didn’t take us long to find a restaurant with more palatable selections. Henry chose the steamed dumplings. He’d never had anything like that before, but true to his adventurous spirit, he jumped right in and tried them.
The meals were really expensive in the restaurant, as it obviously catered to the foreign traveler. Thankfully at lunch there were half price meals to be had, but after seeing the meal prices, we began to get concerned about maintaining our budget while here. We started researching to find cheaper options, and we found some information on the local hawker centers. These are food court style centers where typically residents would eat far less expensive, and most times better, local fair. We decided we’d try that for dinner, but for now, we were off to see the best Singapore had to offer.
We walked across town to the Marina Sands area. Henry had told me about the boat shaped hotel and the supposedly magnificent Super Tree Grove nearby. We walked through the botanical gardens surrounding the hotel, and we took in the artistic displays that accented the lush greenery. It was remarkable how varied the landscaping was. Gorgeous flowers, vibrant green foliage, picturesque water features, and these beautiful sculptures dotted the landscape while the backdrop of the downtown area reminded us that we were still in an extremely urban area.
After exploring the gardens, we made our way into the hotel and up to the lookout. From the observatory on the 56th floor, we were able to look out at all of Singapore, and it was spectacular. On one side, we could see over the bay to the skyscrapers downtown. The sun was setting, and the golden hour lighting was absolutely breathtaking. On the other side, we could look over the botanical gardens and out to the Singapore Straight and the nearest islands of Indonesia. We took our time taking pictures and people watching until the sun was finally set because we wanted to admire the city under the lights as well. The city was quite beautiful during the day, but the night view was even more grand. The Helix, a unique bridge that was on our bucket list, was lit up beautifully below us. The Super Tree Grove area was colorful from our perch, and the Singapore Flyer, the ferris wheel across the bay, twinkled below us as well. We could have stayed there much longer admiring the view, but we were hungry and ready to begin our walk back home.
We couldn’t find the hawker center we’d hoped to dine at, but we found another on our way back to the hotel. It was so different from the restaurant experience we’d had earlier in the day. The building housed 40-60 booths, and in each one, a worker or two took orders and served meals from their 10 x 10 stall. We found a place that looked appealing to each one of us, and after ordering and paying for our food, we headed over to a different drink-only booth to buy some drinks. Then we sat down and waited for our food. The booth owners brought us our food, and it was delicious. For about $12, we all had more food than we could finish, and it was fresh and freshly prepared.
The next day we tried a different hawker center. The environment was very similar, and the food was equally delicious and inexpensive. We were quite taken with these, and based on the food quality, we weren’t that surprised to learn that there were Michelin star chefs in some of these centers. Street food used to be allowed in Singapore, but due to hygiene and sanitation concerns, the government began creating these hawker centers to be able to ensure public health was protected. All the old street food vendors moved into these centers. They’ve spent years perfecting their craft, and now, many have very dedicated followings. They were fantastic places to eat, and we had the added perk of being great places for people watching.
That afternoon we decided to check out the grocery store just down the block from our hotel. I love going to the store and seeing what the people in the region really eat. It is usually quite interesting. There was everything from crunchy shrimp sticks to spicy lobster crackers to barbecue flavored krill balls to crab flavored pea snacks. never before seen ramen flavored Lays, seawood flavored Pringles, or chicken flavored Bugles. And that was just in the snack aisle! Oh, and we did find some Pabst Blue Ribbon to help wash down any yummy treats we wanted. We passed on all of it.
On our way to our room that afternoon, we passed a vendor selling durians. I’d heard of them, and there are signs all over the city warning you not to bring them inside. I had heard they were a bit smelly, but when we passed the cart, I got my first whiff of one. They really weren’t that bad, but they were strong smelling, and it smelled like rotting garbage. In a poorly ventilated area, it wouldn’t take long for these things to stink you out. But people were still buying them. I read that they are delicious, but quite frankly, I have no desire to taste something that smells like that.
We walked about a kilometer and a half down the street to the Funan Center to kill some time and to hopefully find some air conditioning. The mall was quite large, and very unique. There was an indoor biking path that meandered throughout it, a rock climbing center that operated on one of the basement levels and sprawled up through the open atrium, and extensive food courts. Henry had really been wanting to go rock climbing, so he immediately set to work on convincing us to try it. After checking it out, we made a plan to come back the next day and let him wear himself out.
He had such a good time climbing. Brian climbed with him, and I watched, took pictures, and worked on my blog at a nearby lounge area. It was good to see them having fun together, and Henry climbed until his hands just couldn’t hold him anymore. We found the Little Ceasars Pizza in the mall, and he hit a second wind. He didn’t last nearly so long the second time though.
That night we happened upon a steak restaurant as we were wandering through town, and we went inside. Steak is definitely one of my favorite foods, but because of the cost, our budget wouldn’t allow us to eat it very often. I was really craving one, and I jumped on the opportunity while we had it. It was delicious, mouth-watering, and cooked to perfection. For a brief moment, the steakhouse felt like one back home, and all of a sudden, the distance to all of those we missed so much didn’t feel so far. It was a wonderful treat, and I was very grateful for this bit of unexpected normalcy.
The next day we took the train to Little India, another neighborhood in Singapore. We really wanted to visit India on our trip, but Covid was just making things difficult. With India not allowing tourists to enter, it didn’t look like that was going to happen, so we tried to get a taste of it while we were here. It was amazing how different this section of town felt from the rest of Singapore. Downtown Singapore was so orderly and controlled; everything was so beautifully neat and tidy. Chinatown was more colorful and energetic, but at the same time, it still felt structured. Little India was like a little bit of wonderful chaos and confusion in the middle of it all.
We walked through the Mustafa Center, a four story 24-hour mall. This wasn’t your typical mall with stores linked together by a walkway; here the stores were all located within the same large room. One store’s wares flowed over to the next, and we were never quite sure which ‘store’ we were in. This mall sold everything from groceries to pharmaceuticals to tools and appliances. The aisles were very narrow and a bit difficult to navigate, the place was packed with people milling about all over, but there were great bargains to be had everywhere we looked. Goods were very inexpensive compared to home, and after spending a few hours stocking up on some of our favorite candies and a few electronics accessories, we headed out to see the rest of this area.
We found a ‘regular’ mall nearby and walked through it briefly in search of at-home covid tests we’d need for our next destination. This mall was beautiful and spacious, and walking through it, if we could look past the roasted ducks hanging from the restaurant windows, we felt more like we were at home. We were eager to see more than malls, though, so we didn’t stay long.
We wandered through the streets and saw some beautiful temples, and just when we were starting to wear out a bit, Henry found a playground. Brian and I sat on the bench and let him play while we rested our legs for a moment. It’s always been funny to me how Henry can be worn out, dead tired one minute, and swinging like a monkey on something the next. Climbing has always excited him, and I can only count a few times in his life that he’s passed on an opportunity to do it. He joyfully explored the little playground by himself, jumping, swinging, and climbing to his heart’s content.
The streets were bustling here, and there were people all over. We found an open-air hawker center to enjoy for dinner, but even it felt different from the ones in Chinatown. We had a fantastic Indian dinner, and afterwards we explored the rest of the building. Not too far from the food stalls were the markets. The fish markets smelled horrendously (I hate fish), but they had an amazing selection for the shoppers. Upstairs we found all of the clothing shops. We even found several tailors making custom wedding and formal dresses there, and as I admired their craftsmanship, I couldn’t imagine how they’d ever get the pervasive smell of fish out of those beautiful gowns.
We made it back to our room that night with no issue, and we began packing up for a very long day to come. We’d be flying on another very long flight from Singapore to Australia in about 30 hours, but we’d decided to make the most of the Singapore airport and hang out there all the next day before the flight. We rested well, and when we checked out the next morning, we took the train back to the airport, put our bags in storage, and set off to explore this airport Henry had been so infatuated by for so long.
Ok, so I had to admit that the Changi Airport was really nice. The airport is connected with the Jewel, a mall having a full 10 floors of retail and entertainment options. It is nature themed, and its prize attraction is the world’s tallest indoor waterfall. We bought our tickets to explore the Canopy Park, a relaxing botanical garden and children’s play area on the top floor, and we made our first round around it in the light of day. Everything was beautiful and exceptionally well-manicured. Henry climbed out on the bouncing nets (nets suspended for the kids to climb and bounce on and look down at the 10 floors below) while I refused to look down due to the vertigo I always have with heights. We took lots of pictures, ate lots of food, and when we got tired, we took a break and went to the cinema downstairs to watch the movie Uncharted. It was nice to go to the theater, and it was even better that the show was in English too! In lieu of popcorn, we could buy salted egg yolk potato ridges or salted egg fish skins to enjoy during the movie, but we decided to pass on that. Later in the evening, we explored the Canopy Park again and marveled at the well-lit displays and the laser show on the waterfall. Henry would have loved to have enjoyed many more of the airport’s attractions like the free movies and the swimming pool, but we simply ran out of time. We grabbed our bags from storage, headed over to our terminal, and said goodbye to Singapore.
We’d always heard that Singapore was a safe place to visit, and although we kept our guard up the entire time, we never once felt unsafe. We saw a t-shirt one day that joked how Singapore was a ‘fine’ city. And it certainly is. There are fines for lots of typical things you might not think anything of. For example, chewing gum is illegal in Singapore, and you can get a $10,000 fine if your caught. Forget to flush the toilet after your done with your business? That’s a $150 fine. Vomiting in a public place can cost you $200. Jaywalking is a $1,000 fine, but it can also land you in jail. If you get angry and voluntarily cause hurt to someone, you can go to prison for up to 2 years and have to pay a $5,000 fine. Spitting in public is a $1,000 fine, and feeding those cute little pigeons can cost you $500. Nudity, if you are caught even in your own home, comes with a $1,000 fine, and should you be tempted, connecting to someone else’s wifi, be aware that it could be a $10,000 mistake. While all of this seems a little over the top to us as Americans, the culture they have created provides a very clean, very orderly life for those in Singapore. Crime does exist here, but it is very rare, and it is very harshly dealt with. As a tourist, it was a little unnerving to worry constantly if you are doing something wrong, but it was quite comforting to know you could feel genuinely safe too.
We loved it here. Once we’d found the hawker’s centers, we were able to find inexpensive and delicious foods. The people were exceptionally nice, and the orderliness of the society made it feel safe and welcoming. I can see why so many Americans enjoy visiting Singapore, and I definitely hope to make a return visit one day. Everything we saw of this country was beautiful in its own way, and I’d highly recommend you to take an opportunity to come see it for yourself. The world is so big, and there is so much to see. It would be a shame to miss it.
The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life you dream of.
– Oprah Winfrey
We flew into Athens on our route to Singapore and Australia, and going into it, we knew we wouldn’t have much time to spend in the country to make our timeline work. We had a lengthy list of places we were wanting to explore, but most of those would have to wait for our next trip. Henry and Brian really wanted to check out some of the beaches on the 6,000 islands that make up Greece. I also wanted to go check out some of the historic sites I’ve read about in the Bible for years like Corinth, Thessalonika, and Philippi, but we chose to hold off on all of those for now. Instead we decided to dedicate this trip to exploring Athens. We only had spend 5 days to wander through Athens, and frankly, that just wasn’t enough. We did our best to take it all in, but there is just so much to see and do in this tiny bit of heaven. The little we saw was wonderful. We were all very impressed by the friendly and kind people, the fantastic foods, the idyllic weather, and the amazing historical ruins. I mean, really, what’s not to love about Greece?
We had found a cute little apartment for us to stay in just a short walk away from the Acropolis, and after landing at the airport and making our way through customs, we met our driver in the arrivals area. It was a 50-minute drive to our apartment, so we had plenty of time to sit back and take in the city. It was so lovely outside. In the warm spring air, everything was beginning to green up and bloom, and the city had a magical feel to it. Our driver double parked on a busy street just outside the apartment building and helped us get our bags to the stoop. He handed us our key to get inside, and we walked inside to settle into our 5-night home.
The apartment was spacious and perfect for our stay. Brian and I had a nice room, and Henry would be sleeping on the sofa bed in the living room. We agreed to make that ‘his’ room so he could close the doors to the room and have a bit of privacy too. There was also a small bathroom with a washing machine and a decent kitchen and dining room as well. To keep our costs down, it helps if we can prepare breakfast at least, and being somewhere for a few days gives us the ability to buy more groceries in better bulk. It doesn’t always work out for us, but this time it did.
It was dinner time, and we were all pretty worn out from the flight, but we decided to wander down the road a bit and try the Tarantino’s hamburger joint we’d found on the map. It was only a few blocks from our apartment, and when we walked in, we wondered if it was even open. There were four men working behind the counter, but no one was eating inside. Starving and desperate, we grabbed a table and placed our order anyway. The food was delicious, and we were so glad we’d tried it. They were great burgers like we’d find at home. We found out later that they had just opened up during the pandemic. They filled quite a lot of take-out orders in the time that we were there, but no one else joined us in the dining room.
Afterwards we found a supermarket to get some breakfast for the following morning. We decided that we really wanted some biscuits. Biscuits are a truly American thing, and we haven’t found them since we left the US. Henry requested biscuits with fried pork tenderloin for breakfast, so we tried to come up with that. After 10 minutes of trying to figure out what the word ‘flour’ looked like in the Greek alphabet, we found what we needed to make the biscuits. The meat was harder to come by, but we found a bag of frozen pork gyro meat that we agreed might be a good substitute.
We crashed pretty hard when we returned to the room that night, but the next morning, we were up bright and early and ready to go explore the city. We were at the very edge of the off-season, and the peak-season pricing would be going into effect during our stay. We mapped out a plan for our time where we could see the more expensive sights before the pricing changed, and that meant that on this date, we would be touring the National Archeological Museum.
We wandered through the streets taking in the sights and letting our noses lead us to some lunch. Brian had wanted to go to the Falafel Guys restaurant he’d found down on this pedestrian street, but Henry and I couldn’t pass up this cute little pizza shop across the way from it. We picked out our slices from several that were already made, and Brian gave in and ordered one too. The lady at the counter cooked our individual slices for us while we waited, and then we sat down to enjoy our delicious food.
After lunch, we walked a little further until we found the museum. It was very large, the largest in Greece, and it held hundreds of items on exhibit dating back to ancient times. There were many old statues and grave markers dating back 2000 years, and we walked through the exhibits trying to take them all in. The Greeks loved the human body, and there were many examples of anatomically correct models in each room. We really enjoyed the exhibit on time where we could see the first mechanical devices that kept astronomical time.
Walking through town, Brian and I were surprised by how many sexually explicit souvenirs were for sale right out on the street. At every stand, there were erotic playing cards, postcards, magnets, and more with graphic images showing two or more people obviously in the act. There were also hundreds of very colorful, almost decorative phallus-shaped bottle openers, key chains, and magnets for sale. Sex was everywhere, but thankfully, Henry didn’t seem to notice most of it.
We ate our dinner at a traditional Greek restaurant not too far from the apartment. Brian loves a good gyro, so we picked this restaurant so he could have an authentic one. Interestingly enough, gyros are quite different in Greece from those at home. In the US, the gyro shops typically have the processed lamb or chicken kebabs, but here, it is made of shaved pork meat. Also at home, the meat and vegetables come inside a pita to make a sandwich. In Greece, the meat and vegetables are brought out on a tray with slices of pita. You just kind of make your sandwich as you go. It was quite delicious even if it was different.
We got up early the next morning to trek up to the Acropolis. The Acropolis is a very tall plateau in the middle of the city that used to house the most important buildings of the ancient times. We began our hike up the hill, and still near the bottom, we were able to see through the gates to the stage level of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. We bought our tickets at the nearby ticket booth, and we had the place nearly to ourselves when we began our slow trek up.
We saw the Odeon of Herodes Atticus again once we climbed nearly to the top, this time from the upper levels. This venue was completed in 161 AD, and I find it amazing to think that concerts are still held here. Performances have been given from Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Sting, Diana Ross, Foo Fighters, and many more. Although not much is left of the former glory, I imagine hearing live music in this ancient setting would be quite interesting.
There are quite a lot of buildings on the summit of this hill.
The Parthenon was an incredible sight to see. Outside of the main structure, there were informational signs showing how much things had changed around this former temple over the past 40 years. For many years, there was nothing here but massive piles of rubble. Throughout history, other generations and societies have tried to reconstruct and repair these buildings, but in many cases, the people did more damage than anything else. Archeologists have been working for 45 years to try to put the pieces back together again. They have sorted and cataloged the thousands of pieces of enormous rock, and they have been working to identify where each one fits in the puzzle and building replacements to fill the gaps. The buildings you see in my pictures are the result of those years of tedious labor.
After visiting the Acropolis, we decided to walk over to Areopagus Hill. This area is not much more than a litter-strewn rock patch that overlooks some of the surrounding valley, but in ancient times, this was a bustling shopping and market area. Paul, as recounted in Acts 17:16-34, preached here to the crowds. It was hard for me to stand on the hill as it is today and imagine anything like that actually happening. I couldn’t help but wonder if that was similar to what archeologists first saw when they began excavating many of these other ruins. I cannot help but find it amazing that people have the vision and tenacity to dig in and recreate what time and weather have destroyed.
We moved on to check out the Panathenaic Theater. We had seen this one from the car on the way in from the airport. For a fee, you could go in and take a tour of it, but from the sidewalk, you could get a really nice view for free. This multi-purpose stadium is built entirely out of marble and was completed in 144 AD with a seating capacity of 50,000 spectators. Eventually it fell into ruin, but the stadium was excavated and refurbished in 1869. It was used for the Olympics ceremonies and events in 1870 and 1875. It has been used for various events since then, including as an Olympic venue in the 2004 Olympic games.
We decided to explore the more modern side of Athens the next day. We found a local market and walked around it for a bit. The markets are so foreign to me, even though I have been amazed to find them in almost every country we’ve visited. This one had vendors selling everything from clothing to meat under the same roof. We’ve gotten accustomed to seeing chicken and pig parts that we aren’t used to in the US, but this market introduced us to lambs as well. They were a bit harder to look at, and Henry really struggled with it. We didn’t stay at the market long because of them.
We found our way over to a toy store instead. This was a massive three-story store full of every toy you can imagine. Easter isn’t far away, and it was interesting to see the different customs related to the holiday here. Apparently the lambada is a traditional Easter candle that people in Greece hold on the evening of the Holy Saturday. These candles were everywhere! In the toy store, there were common US toys like Legos and Barbies that all came with their own special Easter candles in the packaging. We enjoyed looking around, and we found it funny how many toys are the exact same even on the other side of the world.
On our way back home, we happened upon Hadrian’s Library. Hadrian became the emperor of Rome, but he was a fan of Greece, and Athens in particular, long before that. He donated this building to the people of Athens in 132 AD. Originally it was 400 ft long by 260 feet wide and it housed many historic papyri and several lecture rooms. It was destroyed in 267 AD when Athens was sacked by the Germanic Heluri people, though.
On our last morning, our driver picked us up promptly at 11 just outside our apartment and drove us to the airport over the next hour. She was very friendly, and we loved our conversation with her. She was from Greece, and she obviously loved her country very much. She had always lived in Athens, but she dreamed of one day buying a camper and moving out to one of the islands. She said she knew it sounded crazy, but one day she was going to do it. We never her told her about our own level of crazy, but we did encourage her to follow her dream. After all, the biggest adventure you can take is to live the life you dream of.
If we do not learn from history, we shall be compelled to relive it. True. But if we do not change the future, we shall be compelled to endure it. And that could be worse.
– Alvin Toffler
Ah, Italy. I’ve wanted to go to Italy for so many years, and who doesn’t? It’s romantic and beautiful. They’ve got ancient ruins to explore, lost cities, beautiful beaches surrounded by warm blue water, and on top of all that, they’ve got the best pizza and pasta that you’ve ever tasted. And did I mention that the wine is phenomenal too? We were in Morocco trying to figure out where to go next, and when we saw we could book $6 flights to Rome, we knew exactly where we’d be going next.
We landed in Rome after a smooth, mid-morning flight. One of the first things we noticed was that there was a United States of America plane on the tarmac. We took pictures of it as we disembarked, and we imagined all sorts of scenarios about which US official was in Italy with us. It’s funny how good it felt just to see that US plane there on the tarmac. After being gone for so long, it just felt good to see some piece of home when you least expect it. Later that day we found out that the National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, was visiting Rome as well.
We’d booked an apartment on Airbnb in the Trastevere neighborhood to stay in. We had picked this place because it was centrally located; since we wouldn’t have a car, we needed to be able to either walk to or get public transportation pretty easily to anywhere we might want to visit. This little apartment was perfect for us. It had a well-stocked kitchen where we could cook a meal or two if we wanted, and a beautiful terrace where we could sit outside and relax if we liked. The only issue we had was that the shower was so small we could barely fit into it.
When we arrived straight from the airport, the cleaning man was still working inside to get it ready for us, but he allowed us to come in and drop our bags. We decided to grab a bite to eat from a restaurant just down the street to help kill some time.
Walking into the restaurant, I was a bit concerned because of some of the COVID regulations Italy had put into place. Covid had been pretty rough in Italy, and they had created a green pass system for residents to safely get out and about. Throughout most of Europe, we are considered fully vaccinated because our last dose of the 2-dose regimen was within the last 270 days (9 months). For Italy, that qualified us for a Green Pass equivalent (the actual green pass is only for residents). Italy took the regulations a step further, though, and in order to eat in restaurants, stay in hotels, enter many tourist venues, or ride on public transportation, you had to have a Super Green Pass or equivalent. To get that, you either had to have had the last dose within the past 6 months or you’d have to take a antigen test that was only valid for 1 day. Our vaccines were within the 9-month window, but we were past the 6-month window, so we didn’t have the Super Green Pass. We worried that we weren’t going to be able to do very much while we were in Italy because of that. As a worst case, it meant that we’d have to get several antigen tests while we were in the country, so we were still willing to travel to Rome, but it would get very inconvenient and expensive if we really had to do that every day.
Thankfully it wasn’t an issue for us that first day. The restaurant was a local pizza and pasta trattoria, a traditional informal Italian restaurant. After showing the hostess our vaccination cards (which she didn’t look at closely enough to see we were past six months), we ordered two pizzas to split amongst the three of us, a salami pizza because pepperoni isn’t a thing in Italy, and a sausage and broccoli pizza. The second one is very unusual for Americans, but it appeared to be rather common in Italy. The food was good, but for all the anticipation I had about tasting my very first slice of Italian pizza, I wasn’t overly impressed. The crust was super thin, which I love, but it wasn’t crispy at all. If anything, I’d describe it as a little soggy. And I’d heard that Italians didn’t cut their pizzas, but I didn’t really think that was true. It’s true though. You order a pizza, and you get a 16” pizza whole. You get to tear it into manageable pieces like a neanderthal at your table.
We finished our meal, though, and we made our way back to our apartment to decompress a bit. After stretching and relaxing for a few hours, we decided to walk towards one of the many pedestrian areas to grab a bite of dinner. The host seated us without any questions about our vaccination status, and we ordered pastas all around. Maybe we were just tired, or maybe our expectations were off, but we really didn’t enjoy the pasta at this meal either. It was good, I guess, but it wasn’t exactly fantastic.
The next morning we woke up and went exploring. We wanted to see about going to visit the Colosseum. Because of Covid, the rules said we’d have to have the Super Green Pass to get in. They also said that we’d have to buy our tickets online ahead of time for a specific 15-minute time slot to enter the site. We’ve been travelling long enough to see that what the government says people are doing and what people are actually doing can be very different; we didn’t want to go take Covid tests for no reason if they didn’t really care about them when we arrived. We also didn’t want to buy tickets online just to get there and find out that they were sticklers for the rules and not let us in. So, we thought we’d just check it out first.
The Colosseum was about a 30-minute walk from the room, and we enjoyed strolling about the city on our way. I was amazed by all of the ruins. We’d be walking along and looking at a market, then a church, then a 1000 year old ruin, then a school. It was crazy to see how the ruins were just sprinkled into their everyday life. I’d be looking at an architecturally beautiful building and notice that the remnants of an old wall were coming out of the side of it. And of course, that was perfectly normal for the Italians who saw it every day.
As we walked through town, we came across Palatine Hill first. Palatine Hill is one of the areas that your Colosseum ticket allows you to go and visit, so we knew we could go here as well. The line was very short, so we decided to ask the guard what we’d need to get into the site. He told us the same thing we already knew – that we’d have to buy our tickets online and that we’d need the Super Green Pass to get in. He said that since we weren’t from the EU, we could either have the third dose of the vaccine or a covid test to get in. So we thanked him, and we decided that since we weren’t prepared to get the tests yet, we’d use the day to figure out where everything was. We continued walking until we reached the Colosseum. I’ve seen enough pictures to understand this building was big, but the photos really don’t do it justice. Considering this thing was completed in 149 AD, it is quite a feat of the Roman’s ingenuity and skill. The crowd milling around it was massive as well, so we decided that we’d need to arrive as early as possible to beat the chaos. There were tour groups everywhere. It was easy to find though, and there was quite a lot in the area for us to do.
We moved on to the Pantheon building. The Pantheon wouldn’t be included in our ticket to the Colosseum, so we could go see it whenever we wanted. It was free to enter, but again, you had to have the Super Green Pass. We decided to try it anyway, afterall, the worst they could do was turn us away. When we got up to the security guard station, the person monitoring our line looked at our vaccine cards (again, not looking closely enough to see that we were over the 6-months), and he welcomed us inside. We were relieved because as we were walking in, we overheard the female guard working the other line questioning other visitors about their covid tests that they’d need to enter the site.
The Pantheon is an old temple that was dedicated to Venus, Mars, and the divine Julius (Julius Ceasar). The construction of it began in 31 BC after Augustus’ victory over Marc Anthony and Cleopatra. It was donated and has been used as an active church since 608 AD, though. Because it is actually still in use, it is in great condition and is the best preserved building from the era. The dome of the pantheon is 142 ft across, and that little hole you see in the top, called the Eye of the Pantheon, is 27 ft across. The building was very impressive, and we enjoyed our visit here.
We headed back towards our room after the Pantheon, but while walking, we wandered across the Trevi Fountain. This fountain is only a few hundred years old, but it’s still impressive to see. Isn’t it funny how all of a sudden, a fountain that is only a few hundred years old isn’t that old to me?
The next morning we woke up early so we could be at the local pharmacy as soon as they opened to get our rapid antigen tests. The process was easy enough, and 15 minutes later we were $66 poorer but we had Super Green Pass equivalent documents. We still chose not to buy our tickets ahead of time because we didn’t really know what time we could get the testing done and get to the arena. So when we arrived, we went to the ticket booth to see if there was any way to buy our tickets in person. While waiting in line, we tried buying them online on our phone only to find that there was an issue with using our credit card on their site. Thankfully, we explained the issue to the teller, and he allowed us to buy our tickets there instead.
With tickets and covid results hidden in my pocket in case we needed them, we walked over to the entrance gate to begin exploring the Colosseum. We showed our vaccine cards to security, and they let us through without questioning the 6-month lapse. It was quite something to walk into it. It’s a bit overwhelming to actually get to walk somewhere that I’ve read about and seen pictures of my whole life. It’s a difficult feeling to describe. There is awe and reverence and giddiness and everything in between. We made it through security and received orange stickers to denote that we had access to the arena level as well as the upper section. We were directed down a long, arched corridor to the ‘end’ of the stadium. From there we turned and walked into the Colosseum at the arena level entry.
After the great fire of Rome in 64 AD, the Emperor Nero claimed a large amount of Rome as his personal property. He had a magnificent mansion built nearby, and he created a large artificial pond and gardens to help embellish them in this area. After Nero’s death, Vespasian his successor, decided to return the area to the citizens of Rome, so he filled in the pond and built the Colosseum, known then as the Flavian Amphitheater, in its place for their entertainment. Construction of the new amphitheater was funded with the spoils taken from Herod’s temple when the Romans destroyed it as they quashed the Jewish rebellion in 70 AD.
The amphitheater was built to hold dramatic performances, gladiator battles, exotic animal hunts with lions, tigers, pumas, elephants, and more, and other exciting games. Entrance was free for everyone, and the Colosseum could hold as many as 60,000 people. Each person was given a piece of pottery with a seat number on it when they entered the stadium so that they knew where to sit. The seats were divided by class. The most important members of society sat in the lower, marble covered seats with their names engraved in them. The lowest members of society sat in the nosebleed sections at the top. At the very top of the stadium, sailors would open and close the canvas awnings to protect the spectators from the weather during the games.
The original arena floor was made of wood and covered with sand. Under the surface, there were elaborate basement levels with 80 different elevators for the organizers to use to add new and exciting elements to the games or performances going on above. The gladiators might be fighting for their lives in the arena, and at the moment they least expected it, the editor, the organizer of the battle, might unleash a lion from one of the floor compartments to add to their drama. The underground structure also was also used to house the weapons, cages, animals, and the fighters themselves during these battles.
Gladiators were often slaves, prisoners, or prisoners of war who were forced to compete. If they were liked well enough, they could even win their freedom through fighting. Sometimes, though, free citizens took up the career out of a desire for fame and fortune. The gladiators attended gladiator schools where they could learn to fight well. The conditions in the schools were similar to prisons, but the fighters were given ample food and medical care to keep them strong and healthy. The gladiators fought until one was clearly defeated. Usually it was kill or be killed for the fighters, but occasionally, the defeated gladiators were allowed to live if they had fought valiantly and the crowd liked them well enough. The winning gladiator was given a palm and a crown as a prize, and often, these winners were well known and celebrated within the empire.
During dramatic performances, set pieces were moved around underground and raised through the elevators to enhance the plays, very similarly to a backstage area today. The Colosseum also hosted naval battles as well. During these times, the entire underground and arena level was flooded with water, and ships were brought in. Spectators could watch as the performers put on a show, usually dramatizing a famous battle or siege.
When the Colosseum was first inaugurated in 80 AD, the citizens of Rome celebrated with 100 days of games. During that time, it is estimated that over 2,000 men and 9,000 animals were slaughtered here during that time alone. It was only used for a few hundred years, though. Constantine, the first Christian emperor, was the first to ban the gladiatorial games in 325 AD, but they didn’t actually come to a complete end until 404 AD. The gladiator schools were closed down by Emperor Honorius about 5 years prior to that. In 404, a monk named Telemachus leapt between two gladiators to stop their bloodshed, and the crowd, angry at his interruption stoned him to death right then and there. That was the final straw; Emperor Theodosius, a recent Christianity convert, finally put a stop to them. The stadium was kept open for beast hunts though, and the last one that was held there was in 523 AD.
We walked through the upper floors of the arena imagining what it would be like to witness such gruesome games being played right before your eyes. A display on the second level described the multiple bowls of perfumes that were brought in daily to cover the stench of blood. It’s hard to imagine the bloodthirsty crowds eagerly waiting to watch someone die the most gruesome death possible. It was interesting to learn that in many early Christian writings acknowledging the games, the authors denounced the Romans for their idolatry displayed at these games, but they didn’t address the cruelty and murder.
We left the Colosseum in search of lunch, and then we went to our next destination: Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. The Roman Forum is the old seat of the Roman Empire and the center of public life when Rome was at its peak. The Senate was there. The Emperors lived there. The biggest temples and most important buildings in their society were all there. Beside that is Palatine Hill. The Roman aristocracy lived here. Augustus chose the hill as the site for his own house, and later, it became the site of the imperial palaces.
We walked into the same entrance to Palatine Hill that we’d tried the day prior, and just to see if they’d question us, we only showed them our vaccine cards. Like everyone else, they were fine with those. There was a lot to see in this area, but I won’t bore you with all of it. The Arch of Titus was one piece that was significant to me. Titus was the one who took credit for the defeat of the Jews in AD 70, and after his death, the arch was built to commemorate his victory. Inside, there are scenes depicting his grand homecoming and all the spoils he took from the Jewish temple during the war.
We were able to enter the home of Ceaser Agustus. Several rooms in his home are viewable, and you can see how opulent the rooms were by the fragments of frescoes still on the walls.
We had wandered through the ruins for long enough, but we had one more stop for the day. We were already pretty worn out, but we’d be leaving Rome the next day, so if we wanted to see anything else, this was our only chance. I very much wanted to see Saint Peter’s Basilica, so we made the hour walk from the Forums, past our apartment, and on to Vatican City. We waited in line for only a few minutes when we made it up to security. Somewhere along the way, Brian had lost his mask out of his pants pocket, and he didn’t have one anymore. The security guy wouldn’t let him in without one, and we didn’t see any we could quickly go and buy. Brian offered to wait outside so that Henry and I could go in, but before we could even make a decision about that, a very nice tourist behind us gave Brian a mask out of her stash. We cleared security and started walking up to the entrance.
A second security guard stopped us and wouldn’t let Henry and I go in. In Italy, it is required to wear a FFP2 mask, and we’d been traveling without one for days with no problems. Ours were standard surgical masks, and the one Brian had just been gifted happened to be the right type. We debated our options for a few minutes. Brian gave me his mask so I could go inside and see it; he and Henry very sweetly agreed to wait outside for me. They gave me a kiss and told me to take lots of pictures for them.
Reluctantly I walked in alone. It was cold outside, and I hated for them to have to wait there for me. It was also nearing closing time, and I didn’t know if I’d be able to go in and look around in time for them to each take a turn. I did the best I could to walk through quickly, but it still took me 30 minutes or so at a fast pace; after all, it is the largest church in the world.
I have never seen anything manmade that is more beautiful than this church. Everything inside is fantastically ornate. Before I even got inside, the magnificent sculptures looking down on me, the glossy marble floors of the portico, and the enormous doors humbled me. Everything is just so big. When I first entered the sanctuary, the view was simply overwhelming. In front of me, there was a 7-story, 96’ tall black and gold canopy over the alter where the speaker addresses the church. On both sides, there were long vestibules spanning the length of the church. Every wall was adorned with sculptures and paintings. Many crypts were visible, each holding a significant person in the church’s history. The ceilings were nauseatingly high at 152 ft tall, and they were covered in gold sculpted filigree and decorative embellishments. There were multiple domes, evenly spaced throughout the building and each one depicted artist renderings of biblical stories. There were several mini-alters the size of regular churches off to each side, and parishioners were meditating and praying at each. The floor was covered in decorative marble, and throughout the building, there are markers that identify the relative lengths of other massive churches in the world. The beautifully blended sounds of a choir group humming echoed in the room. It was amazing.
When I came back out, I found Brian and Henry, and I told them that we had to figure out a way for them to get to visit it in the morning. It was simply too beautiful to miss. On our way back to the apartment, we worked out a plan. We’d get up extra early and be there when the gates opened. Brian would go buy the ‘right’ masks so we could ensure we’d all go in together. And because I really wanted to do it, we’d also try our best to climb to the top of the dome together.
The next morning, we woke up and started our walk. Saint Peter’s Square was almost empty when we arrived, and we breezed through security. Just for spite, Henry wore his surgical mask and carried his FFP2 mask in his pocket. No one said a word to him.
The basilica is free to enter, but to climb the dome, we had to pay a small fee. We had the choice of climbing 551 steps, or for $2 more, we could take an elevator part of the way and only climb 320 steps. We hopped in the elevator and rode quite smoothly up instead of taking those additional 231 steps. When we exited the elevator, we were actually walking on the roof of the main part of the basilica. We could see the different domes spaced out on the roof. While we were actually above the main part of the domes, we could see into the vertical sections to see the artwork in the very tops of the domes.
We stepped inside to see the largest dome. A short ramp led us to a balcony at the base of the inside of the largest dome. From here, we were able to look down at the black and gold canopy, and we could clearly see into the arched ceilings of the nave. More impressively than that though, we were able to clearly see that the paintings on the walls weren’t paintings at all. Every single ‘painting’ in the building is a fabulous mosaic of 0.25” sized tiles. To see them up close and to view the slight variations in color that make the finished products look so beautiful was amazing. Standing on the balcony, you could reach and touch the 8’ tall cherub mosaic on the side of the dome, the one that was put there over 500 years ago! One of the most amazing things about this little cherub is that, unless you’re standing on the balcony, you can’t even see it. From the floor of the basilica, it is hidden by the balcony floor. If you know what you’re looking for and can actually spot it, it is very small and almost unnoticable. The amount of work that went into this basilica is simply mind boggling.
Henry and I both struggled with vertigo while we were standing there looking around. The dome is 137’ in diameter (almost half a football field), and it rises at least that much in the lower section alone. From the balcony, we could see the tiny chair that a regular sized person might sit in during a church service.
When we’d taken in all we could, we stepped back outside and began the climb up to the top. At first we walked up a ramp. The ramp turned into a spiral staircase, the spiral staircase turned into very narrow stairs with an arched ceiling, and the stairs quickly turned into very tight switchbacks as we approached the top. As we were walking through this, I struggled with thinking about how far down below me the floor was. There was the dome, and then there was nothing else below me for the length of an entire football field except that pointy bronze canopy. But we made it to the top, and when we stepped out on the balcony, every step was worthwhile.
The view from the top was spectacular. We could see all of Rome from that vantage point. It was a bit cloudy out, but even so, we could see so much. Saint Peter’s Square was still very empty, but it was beautiful from this angle. We wouldn’t have time to go inside it, but we could easily make out the roof of The Sistine Chapel beside us. The Pope’s residence was just beyond that along with several other Vatican City museums. Even the concrete eaves on top of the basilica was engraved and well decorated. We had the place to ourselves for a little bit, but within only a few minutes, a crowd began to arrive. We decided to head back down to see the inside of the church before more tourists arrived and spoiled the experience.
We got down to the bottom, and the ticket line for dome climbing admission nearly wrapped around the building. Apparently getting there at opening time was the way to go. The stairs were rough to climb, but we did it completely alone. I hate to think of how miserable that might have been if the crowd all went up and down together.
We toured the church together, and I showed them the most beautiful things I noticed the day before. Henry was really excited about it, and that made me happy. He kept borrowing my phone so he could take pictures of things that he just couldn’t believe. We had time to really wander around together, so we found our way to the crypt. The whole basilica sits on top of a crypt full of Popes, Bishops, and other Catholic church leaders. In the center of the church under a painting of Peter is supposedly a crypt with the bones of Peter. There’s an ongoing debate as to if those are really his, so I’m not sure if they are or not.
We toured around for quite a while, but eventually it was time for us to head back so we could catch our train. I’m so glad they got to see the inside. It was amazing, for sure. But, honestly I can’t help but have mixed emotions about it. Maybe it is wrong of me to think that way, but the thing that I kept coming back to as I looked at all that opulence and indulgence, was that I don’t think Peter would have wanted it. That first night when I came out of the church alone, we passed a woman on the street who had cardboard taped onto her feet for shoes. I had just left this over-the-top, outrageously beautiful church, and outside, nearly on the steps of the church, a woman was begging for money because she didn’t even have shoes to wear in the cool Italian air. I think the Peter who first followed Jesus may have had a vision like this church in mind when he and the other disciples volleyed for position about who would be the greatest among them. I don’t think that the Peter who died a horrendous death on that same site for teaching what he believed would have wanted it though. I think he would have preferred that the church help the little lady with some shoes. I don’t know. I just can’t help but wonder if the lavish luxury provided in his honor could have been better spent helping to spread his message of the church.
We made it back to the apartment to grab our bags and catch our Uber to the train station. We’d bought our tickets the night before, so all we had to do was to get there on time, and hopefully find some lunch. We’d eaten at the station the day before, so we knew we could grab some food in their food court. As we waited for our food to arrive, one of the employees of the Five Guys restaurant stopped by to see our Super Green passes. I showed him our antigen test results out of sheer spite because if no one asked about them, it was a waste of time and money to take the tests. He insisted on seeing the vaccine cards instead, and like everyone else, he didn’t even look at the date.
He did warn me that several of the trains were running very late that day, so I should keep an eye on the update board. Our train was still showing on time, so we crossed our fingers and ate our lunch.
Downstairs, we scanned our tickets to get into the platform area, but there was no platform identified by our train. So we waited. The people who were waiting on the delayed trains were all standing there as well, so it was very crowded and very hectic. We found a rail to stand beside, and we kept our eyes peeled for any sign of the train. It went from on time to a 5 minute delay to a 20 minute delay, and 20 minutes after it should have left, there was still no sign of a platform. As we started getting a little nervous, a train pulled up behind us, and the display indicated it was the one we had been waiting for. We made our way as quickly as we could through the crowd to hop on board.
The train to Naples (or Napoli, in Italy), was very nice. We sat together in a 4-seat section. It was air conditioned and comfortable, and it was only about an hour-long ride. When we arrived in Naples, we took a metro to a second station, and then after a 5-minute walk through a bustling outdoor market, we met Enzo, our new host, at the door of the Cristal Home. Enzo escorted us up to the 6th floor of the bed and breakfast so we could check into our room. He and his mother had purchased the apartment on the 6th floor, and they’d converted it into a small two-room bed and breakfast. We entered a code into the keypad, and the door opened up to a small foyer with coffee, tea, and snacks. Our room was just beyond that. It was a nice room with a queen bed, a set of bunk beds, and a private bathroom. He gave us some suggestions on where to go for dinner that night, and then he left us to get settled in.
Naples was very nice. We were staying in the Rione Sanita district of town. It was an older section of town and it felt very ‘lived in.’ Real people lived here. It wasn’t set up for tourists or the wealthy residents. It was where the everyday, normal Italians lived. I loved it. The market outside was a little crazy, but I enjoyed walking through it. Outside the window of our room, you saw everyone’s laundry hanging out on their lines. It didn’t make for pretty pictures, but it felt authentic.
We spent a few days in Naples and we didn’t do a lot there. We mostly needed some time for planning, and Enzo’s bed and breakfast gave us a perfect place to do that. One of the issues we were facing was related to covid. In a growing number of countries, our fully vaccinated status is no longer recognized after we pass the 9-month mark. I was down to less than 25 days, and Brian and Henry only had a few longer than that. If we followed our current plan, we’d be coming back to Europe after all of vaccines were past the date, and that would make things far more complicated and expensive. We could get the booster shot, and that would simplify the situation tremendously, but we weren’t crazy about that either; we really didn’t want the first two doses to begin with, but to travel freely during a pandemic, we had to get them. We couldn’t find anything on the internet about getting a booster in Italy, so we stopped by a few pharmacies just to ask. One of the pharmacies referred us to a local hospital, but they said that they couldn’t help us unless we had tax numbers (the social security equivalent in Italy). We started looking at more and more options, but still we weren’t crazy about any of them. Croatia is happily vaccinating anyone who will travel there. Australia is happy to vaccinate tourists as well, so long as all of their residents are vaccinated first. Abu Dhabi would vaccinate me and Brian, but because of his age, they might not give Henry the booster. We came up with a shaky plan about how we’d get through the next month or so, and it had a lot of ifs and maybes in it. But it was the best we had.
For now, it was time for us to move on. We were heading down to the Amalfi Coast. Brian bought us bus tickets one afternoon, and the next morning, we took off on a 30-minute hike across town to get to the bus station. It was pretty easy to get there, and the bus was very comfortable as well. About 45 minutes before we got to our stop in Maiori, we hit the Amalfi Coast. The Amalfi Coast is a beautiful stretch of Italian shoreline and there are quite a few cliff-side towns nestled within it. There’s a pretty good bus system that transits the very curvy roads and gives great access to all of them. The road is treacherous, though. Its narrow and windy, with cliffs on one side and rock walls on the other. The bus slowed down considerably, and every time it approached a curve, it sounded the horn to alert motorists that it would taking up the whole road. It was a beautiful ride, though. The water was a spectacular blue, and the colorful buildings made you wonder how on earth people built them so precariously balanced on the rocks. All over the hillsides, you could see groves upon groves of lemon trees.
We changed buses in Maiori to get to Ponteprimario, a little town about 6 minutes drive from the coast. We’d rented a little apartment there. Our hostess Zajra met us at the bus stop and escorted us to our place. When we walked in, we couldn’t really believe it was all ours. It was a brand new two bedroom, two bath apartment with a very well stocked kitchen, a living area, and a washing machine. For people who’ve been traveling a long time, this was like heaven. We had privacy and luxury all at once! And at $50 per night, it was a steal.
We loved our little place, but we didn’t really love the walk into town. Typically, we will walk anywhere if it’s a mile or less, but much more than that, despite my desire to save money, I start to complain. This apartment was 1.7 miles outside of town, but with no vehicle of our own, there wasn’t really any other option besides walking. Thankfully it was very gently sloped, and it really wasn’t a bad walk either way. We just planned our outings carefully so we didn’t have to hike it multiple times each day.
We got to Ponteprimario on a Saturday, and after we checked in, we walked into town to find some dinner. We met a nice man named Mario who owned the nearby Mario and Maria’s Restaurant, and at his invitation, we stopped in there for dinner. Afterwards, we saw a cute little grocery store on the corner near town, and we considered stopping long enough to pick up a few things for breakfast. But we were really tired and just wanted to get back to the room, so we decided we’d just eat the snacks we had for breakfast and come back on Sunday morning. Brian had remembered that the bus would be coming through towards Ponteprimario sometime around 8, so we walked to the nearest bus stop and waited there for the bus to come. We waited for about 20 minutes with no bus in sight. It was cold, and we were getting more miserable with every minute, so rather than wait indefinitely, we decided to hike the 1.7 miles back to the apartment. By the way, we never saw the bus come by that night.
The next morning, we woke up, showered, and ate our snacks our host had provided for us. We got a little bit of a late start for lunch, but we headed into town again in search of something delicious. And to our surprise, we learned that everything shuts down on Sundays in Maiori. Everything. Every restaurant we walked by was dark, and even the grocery store was shuttered. We stopped on one of the sidewalks to come up with some form of a plan B that didn’t involve us going to bed hungry, and a very nice man stepped out of the Casa Ferraiuolo restaurant. They were open. They didn’t have any tables at the moment, but if we were willing to wait for 10-15 minutes, they could get us seated.
We had heard about Casa Ferraiuolo from our hostess. She had listed them as one of the nicest restaurants in town, and if we wanted to go there, we should let her know so she could reserve us a table. Brian and I were a bit worried about the price tag that would come with the meal, but with grumbling stomachs and no other options, we gladly accepted. While we waited, they brought us champagne to sip on and a bread and cheese plate to snack on.
When we finally stepped inside, we immediately felt underdressed. Stepping inside was like stepping back in time. The restaurant was very small and it only held about 7 or 8 tables in total. The bar was large and took up a large portion of the room. The waiters were all dressed to the nines and showed the utmost courtesy in everything they did. We decided to split two entrees and an appetizer to keep our costs to a minimum. Everything we had was very delicious, and the food presentation was beautiful. We left that afternoon very pleasantly full and eager to come back again.
We walked around town for the rest of the afternoon. Many of the stores and restaurants began opening back up around 7 pm, so we had hope that we’d find some dinner somewhere. Henry had spotted a playground, and I stayed with him so he could burn off some energy while Brian wandered through town trying to find a pizza we could take home and reheat later on for dinner. Henry had a ball playing by himself. There were a couple of younger girls who thought he was something, and they eyed him for a little while. Eventually their curiosity got the best of them, and they came by to ask him who he was and how he could do some of the jumping and climbing he was doing. One little girl was local, and she didn’t speak any English. The other girl was also local, but she had an Italian father and a British mother, so she spoke both languages very well. She seemed to be the one that was most amazed by Henry’s skills, so they hit it off pretty well. Henry taught her to do a few tricks, and she pushed him to try a few things she knew how to do also. They were funny to watch, and I loved seeing Henry interact with kids, albeit younger ones, for a little while.
Brian signaled me that he’d found a pizza for us, so we left to meet him. On our way home, we made one more stop to grab a few babas for breakfast. A baba is a rum-soaked pastry that is very popular in Italy. It was not very popular with us, however, and while we all got them down, Henry and I agreed to never touch one again.
The next day we decided to check out the Lemon Trail. The town of Maiori is just around the curve from another town called Minori. The Lemon Trail is a beautiful cobbled path that weaves through the lemon groves between the two towns. Walking through it, you get spectacular views of both towns and the crystal blue sea. We walked over to Minori to see what was there, and after finding lunch at a local café, we grabbed a few treats from a bakery our hostess had recommended.
On another day, we caught the bus to Salerno, a town that was 45 minutes down the coast. Salerno is one of the biggest towns on the Amalfi Coast. We were going in part to check out the town, but mostly because we wanted to ask the hospital about getting our booster shots. The local health department in Naples had finally responded to my email requests, and they confirmed that we could actually get the shot in Italy. We had to have a tax code, but since we didn’t qualify for one through normal means, we could apply for the STP card. The government of Italy believes that everyone should have access to medical care if they need it, so they have this program available to people that can’t get medical coverage otherwise. This is typically geared towards refugees or people who enter the country illegally, but a tourist with a short term medical need qualifies as well.
After grabbing lunch at a fabulous little diner, we found the hospital pretty easily. Italian hospitals don’t look anything at all like US hospitals, but at least this one didn’t feel like the mental asylum the Naples hospital did. The security guard questioned us about what we wanted, and when we mentioned the STP, he signaled for us to come back in a few minutes when they would be returning to the office. A few minutes later, he signaled for us to come in and he showed us to an office at the end of a hallway. The older man who ran the office was very nice, but he didn’t speak very much English. We told him we were there to get our boosters for covid, and after some discussion with his office-mates, he sent us with a young English speaking man to the third floor. Up there, he tried to enter us into their computer system, but because we didn’t have a tax number, he had to send us back to the older man. This time around, the man filled out STP forms for all three of us and sent us back to the third floor again.
We had new people check us in on the third floor this time, and they had obviously not dealt with the STPs yet. The three of them worked together until they had us registered properly. The shots were not available until the next day at 3:00, so we would have to come back again the following day. We thanked them and went on our way.
On our way to the bus stop to return home, we had a good laugh at the vending machines. You could buy anything from sodas, snacks, headphones, masks, condoms, sex toys and booze. This was at an unmanned vending area about a block from an elementary school.
The next day we came back, and right at 3:00, we came to the hospital. The guard let us in and we went back to the third floor. There was a group of 20 or so people who were all waiting to be vaccinated, so we got in line, and within a few minutes, we had our shots and were on our way again.
Another day, we took the bus towards Amalfi just to check it out. Amalfi is another large city, although significantly smaller than Salerno. Amalfi was beautiful. The land flattened out a little before it reached the ocean, so Amalfi had a broader beach and a larger main street than Maiori. It had a charm about it, though. We wandered through the narrow cobbled streets and we found a beautiful church near the restaurant we ate lunch at. It was Saint Andrew’s Basilica. It was very ornate inside, and the steps outside were a perfect place to eat a bit of lemon sorbet on a beautiful Italian spring afternoon.
That afternoon, we agreed to let Henry stay at the apartment and eat cereal for dinner (his favorite) while we went on a date in town. Our hostess made reservations for us at Casa Ferraiuolo, and we dressed up in our nicest clothes for our date. We made the 30 minute hike into town, but because of the chill in the air, we agreed to buy bus tickets to get back home on. Our dinner was fantastic, and we enjoyed pasta, delicious cocktails, and dessert. After dinner, we made our way down to the bus station, and within only a few minutes of waiting, our bus picked us up and dropped us near the apartment.
On our last day in the Amalfi Coast, we packed our bags and caught the bus at the Ponteprimario station to head into Maiori. We were a bit sad to leave the comfort of our little apartment, but we had a new adventure to begin. We changed buses in Maiori so we could ride back to Salerno for a third time. The train station in Salerno had regular trains that would take us to Pompei, our next destination. We bought our tickets at the kiosk, and within 10 minutes time, we were seated on the nicest train we’d ridden so far.
Pompei was only a 30 minute train ride from Salerno, so we were there in no time. We stepped off the train and took a few minutes to orient ourselves. Our hotel was only about a 20 minute walk from the station, and since taxies weren’t readily waiting on the street, we decided to just walk it.
The Domus Michaeli was an interesting place to stay. It was located in an apartment building. Similar to the one in Naples, Catello, our host, had purchased the apartment and converted into a bed and breakfast of sorts. He built out the rooms so that each one had a private bathroom, and the once living area served as a breakfast and common area for the guests. Our room was really nice except that there was no toilet seat. We thought that maybe it was just an oversight Catello had made when he was cleaning, but after looking through the reviews more thoroughly, we discovered that it had been that way for years. I’ll never quite understand why we didn’t have a toilet seat, but we got used to it.
The window in our room overlooked Mount Vesuvius, which was pretty cool. It was a little unnerving, though. Knowing that we were going to see the ruined city of Pompeii that sat just a few blocks away from us and that the volcano that destroyed it so quickly was still active. If the volcano erupted, we were very close to it. I tried to remember that I can be a little overdramatic and that we’d likely be perfectly fine, but I had to remind myself of that several times during our stay.
The new town of Pompei, not to be confused with the old town of Pompeii, is very nice. Of course, most of the people who travel there are coming to see the famous ruins, so almost every souvenir shop is geared towards that tragedy. There are a lot of great restaurants around, though, and we enjoyed it very much.
We had a lot to see, and we knew we were only going to be in the area for three nights, so we didn’t have much time. We’d planned to go see Pompeii the first day and then to go see Herculaneum, another city that was destroyed in the same eruption, the next. We really wanted to climb to the top of Vesuvius and look down into the crater, but we just didn’t have time to do that as well.
That night we watched a BBC show on Pompeii to prepare us for what we would be seeing the next day. Henry was bored with the show, and I worried that he’d be bored with the ruins, but that turned out not to be the case. The next morning we woke up and started our trek to Pompeii. We were about 20 minutes from the entrance closest to us, and about 45 minutes from the one on the opposite side. We’d read that it would be better to start at the furthest one, so we did. As we passed the closest one, though, we were hounded by tour guides who insisted that it wasn’t an entrance. They just wanted to give us information, they said. We’d read to expect them, and we’d also read that they were scammers just trying to get you to take their high priced tours. We walked quickly past them and ambled down to the second entrance.
We arrived at the gate and bought our tickets to get in. They gave us a map to help us orient ourselves, and we were off. Before I get into what all we saw, let me quickly go through some history to help frame up what we were seeing.
Pompeii was a very ordinary town before Vesuvius destroyed it. There were some upper class and some lower class, but there wasn’t anything especially special about it. Seventeen years before the eruption, the town had sustained significant damage from an earthquake, but the volcano had remained dormant after that. On the other side of the volcano was a smaller town of Herculaneum. It was on the coast, and its believed that it was a slightly more affluent town than Pompeii. In the days leading up to the eruption, Vesuvius had started having smaller eruptions with smoke and rock being exhausted from the top. Many of Pompeii’s 20,000 residents and most of the 5,000 Herculaneum residents had actually fled from the area because of that. For whatever reason, some 2,000 people stayed behind in Pompeii and an unknown number in Herculaneum because they either couldn’t or wouldn’t leave. In August of 79 AD, though, Vesuvius finally erupted.
Within a matter of minutes, a massive cloud of superheated gasses, smoke, rocks, and dust shot upwards of 10 miles into the air. As the rocks and dust hurtled back down, they began to settle on the town of Pompeii. Day turned to night there. In Herculaneum, the residents could see the massive dust cloud move towards Pompeii, but the winds kept the worst of it off them. The continued dust and rockfall smothered the town of Pompeii, and eventually the roofs couldn’t hold any more. Throughout the night, the roofs of the buildings finally gave way, and there was not much left to protect the people. The people who were left in Pompeii didn’t all die immediately. Archeologists have found some of them where they had eventually died on top of 12-15 feet of ash. These unlucky ones survived the initial eruption, and they had fought to climb out of the ash and rocks as they tried to escape. In Herculaneum, the residents continued on with life as normal.
During the next few hours, though, the superheated gasses that had shot up and out of the volcano, rushed back down, and as they fell, they hit the mountain sides and rushed outwards towards the towns. They killed everyone that was left in both towns.
In Herculaneum, the gases were extraordinarily hot at 400 to 500-degrees Celsius. Anything the gas touched was immediately burnt. The people never knew anything. One minute they were alive. They saw the cloud heading toward them, and as soon as it touched them, they were gone. Their skin and muscles were burnt off their bodies in a matter of seconds. In their homes, the wood was carbonized by the heat, therefore many of their everyday objects such as food, clothing, and wooden furniture were preserved. The ash settled in over the next few days and buried the entire town in 50-60 feet of ash. The shoreline that the city was perched on was moved over 400 yards further out away from town as the ash settled and displaced the water. Herculaneum laid exactly as it was, and it was all but forgotten until in the 1700s, a farmer found the ruins while trying to dig a well.
In Pompeii, the gases were slightly cooler, at only 200-400-degrees Celsius. Anyone who had survived the initial deluge of rock and ash, was killed when the gases hit them. Their bodies were not burnt to the same level as Herculaneum though. Their bodies were frozen in whatever position they were in when they fell, and as the ash settled around them, it trapped everything in place exactly as it had been. Over the years, the remains, still maintaining a level of moisture, rotted away and left voids within the ashes. When excavations began in Pompeii in the 1850s, the archeologist in charge of the project filled the hollow cavities with plaster to retain the shapes of the people. Because of that process, we today can see extremely good representations of these people’s last moments.
When archeologists began studying Pompeii, they divided the town into 9 different districts. Within each district, they numbered the blocks and the individual rooms. This location system has given them the ability to locate where artifacts have been found and piece together a picture of what Pompeii actually looked like. It was interesting to note that they aren’t done. There are still several large sections of the town that haven’t been excavated yet. When you walk by those sections, they just look like grassy areas. Underneath, though, there are untold treasures waiting to be found.
So far archeologists have found some 1100 human bodies in Pompeii. Several of the casts have been put on display, and they are absolutely heartbreaking to look at. A baby found near its mama. A man doubled over, maybe in prayer. A man and woman who were close to one another had climbed through 12ft of ash to fall over dead before their escape. A dog who struggled to get air as his chain kept him tied in place. A man who simply couldn’t go on. You can’t go here and not look at the casts, but you won’t walk away the same person after seeing them.
The city was interesting to walk through. Some of the larger homes must have been quite fantastic. Many of them still had remnants of frescoes painted on the walls. Large gardens in the courtyards would have been lovely, I imagine. Several restaurants have been found as well. It was common at the time for people to eat in the restaurants during the day and at home at night. And of course, there was the brothel. The Romans loved their gods and sex, and there are tributes to both everywhere.
Herculaneum was very similar to Pompeii except that the homes were far more intact. Archeologists have only uncovered about a quarter of the city. I’m not sure that they’ll ever get much more than that as the new city is built directly on top of the old one. Standing on the surface of the new city, you can see that some of the buildings in the old city were only covered by a few feet of soil. It’s really quite amazing to see this buried town literally underneath the new one. Many of the city buildings haven’t been found yet, so they are presumed to be lost for now. The buildings that have been found were much better preserved here, and it makes imagining the town a little easier. You can see the multiple stories of the homes, bigger frescoes, and wooden features that simply don’t exist in Pompeii.
In Herculaneum, the excavations have found very few bodies. In fact for a while researchers believed that everyone, or nearly everyone, made it out in time there. But they made a gruesome discovery when they excavated the boathouses near the old shoreline. Inside, they have found more than 300 skeletons all together inside. Its possible that these people were trying to flee via the sea when the gas cloud blew through. The boathouses were no match for the intense temperatures though, and their skeletons are all that remain.
On our last evening, we ventured across town to eat at a Japanese Sushi restaurant Brian had found online. It was a long way from our place, but we figured we could see more of the city if we walked it. Four kilometers later, we found the restaurant nestled into the end of a cute little building. Our food was delicious, and while we felt a little bad about eating our last meal in Italy in a Japanese restaurant, it sounded too good to pass up. Exhausted from the day, we chose to take the train back towards our room instead of hiking it, and tired and well sated, we crawled into bed once more.
On our last morning, we packed our bags and headed downstairs to begin our journey for the train station. Catello met us at the bottom of the stairs on his way into the building, and at seeing our bags, he told us just to come with him. He walked us to his car, loaded our bags inside, and drove us to the train station himself. It was such a sweet and unexpected thing to do for us, and after walking so much while in Pompeii and Herculaneum, it was an incredible relief. We caught the train back to Naples with no issues. From the Garibaldi station, we caught the airport shuttle and headed straight to the airport.
Italy has been such a wonderful place to visit, and we are very sad to leave it behind. All the food we ate was amazing with the exception of that first day, and the people we met were really kind. The little cities and villages tucked in along the shorelines are amazing, and they each have their own character. The history of this place is what has stirred me most, though. Learning about the lives and deaths of the people here was very fascinating. It’s hard to imagine a place where cities can literally be built on the remnants of cities, but here in Italy, it’s real; I saw it for myself. In school I was always bored by history because it just seemed like a bunch of dates and very dull stories, but seeing real fragments and touching actual remnants of it has been educational and refreshing. I am like a new sponge, soaking it all in. I cannot wait to come back to Italy one day to see and learn even more.
If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.
– Dr. Wayne Dyer
I don’t know a nicer way to say this, so I’ll just say it. I didn’t want to go to Morocco. We’d originally planned to go there in January when we left Argentina, but because of some COVID/border closing issues, we decided to hold off on it. I was excited about it back then. We’d watched a few videos highlighting beautiful areas of the country, and I was happy to go check them out. Then in February we had the opportunity to go to Egypt, and we were able to spend 10 days there. By that point, I figured that Morocco would be very similar to Egypt, and if that was the case, I wanted to just move on to somewhere new. I really enjoyed Egypt, but I was eager to go see something different too. Brian kept insisting on us going there, and in the spirit of compromise, I agreed we could go for a little while. After 9 days of wandering through the walled cities and narrow alleyways, I have to admit that Brian was right. I’m really sorry to be leaving this beautiful place.
We left Cairo on an early morning flight to Casablanca. Our flight plan had been modified by the airline after we booked it, and so instead of the 1-hour layover we had originally planned, we now had a 12-hour layover instead. Our first flight was good, and we arrived in Casablanca at 8 in the morning a bit tired and hungry. We only had about a 5-minute walk to get to our new terminal, and when we rounded the last corner to walk in, we were shocked. It should have tipped us off when we went through security as we entered the hallway; we were literally the only three travelers in the room. The two bored looking security guards chatted idly with us as we put all our bags on the x-ray conveyor and walked through the scanners. When we had regathered our things, we walked into a gymnasium-sized room with 8 small gates leading out to a very unglamorous parking lot. There were a handful of people milling about, and there was one small café that served coffee, pastries, and light sandwiches. The only place you could go for a change of scenery was the bathroom. That was it. We would be stuck here in this little room with hardly any food options for the next 12 hours.
We waited a bit before we went to get our first meal at the café but our bellies were rumbling already. The sandwiches were good with fresh meats and cheeses on crunchy baguette breads – much better than most airport sandwiches – and we ate them in our cramped waiting room seats at the far end of the room. We all played on our phones and kept ourselves busy until three hours in, we found out that the wifi was only good for three hours and could not be renewed. We had to spend the next 9 hours entertaining ourselves without the benefit of the web. I slept. We ate the same sandwiches again. Henry complained. Brian fussed at us. I got cold and grumpy, so I slept some more. They watched reruns of their downloaded Netflix shows, and they complained some more. It was awful.
It finally came time to board our flight, and the gate attendants loaded us onto a bus and drove us out to the plane. At 10 pm, we finally got buckled into our little propeller plane for the last leg in this little adventure. Henry had fought the good fight, and he’d managed to stay awake all day long. Less than 2 minutes after he buckled his seatbelt, he was out cold. The poor kid didn’t feel anything else until we woke him up and made him exit the plane after we’d landed.
We stumbled off the plane and into immigration like zombies before we walked out of the airport and into the cool Marrakech air. Our riad was sending a driver to pick us up, and he would be waiting just outside the arrivals area for us with a sign with our name on it. We walked outside and there was a group of 40-60 people standing around. Many of the people had signs, but we couldn’t find our name on any of them. After searching quite thoroughly for our guy, we gave up and contacted our host to see if something might have happened to him. Mahjoub, our host, assured me he was there, and I assured him that there was no one with our name out there. While Brian and Henry did one more thorough scan of the crowd, I found a travel agency sign and stood by it, thinking that our guy could at least identify us that way. Within a minute or two, our driver came up and introduced himself. He seemed a bit winded, and we guessed that he’d just arrived. He didn’t have any signs with him, by the way, but he did call me by my name when he first introduced himself. I would have been irritated by his being late, but honestly, I was just so happy he showed up at all by that point.
After a fifteen minute drive through the beautiful city of Marrakech, we stopped unexpectedly at an intersection in the road. At first, we thought the driver was stopping to allow a pedestrian to push his wheelbarrow out of the way so he could turn past him. That wasn’t the case, though. The man moved his wheeled cart up to our car, and then he opened the back hatch and started loading our bags inside. He must have registered our confusion, because the driver quickly let us know that we would be going with the older man the rest of the way; he was using the cart to help us get to the riad for the night.
Now, had I been better prepared, I might have known what was going on. Remember, I wasn’t really on board with going here, so I hadn’t done any research to know what we were going into. I didn’t know that there aren’t any cars in the old city. For that matter, I didn’t know we were staying in an old city either. Our driver had stopped at the city gate because he couldn’t physically drive his car inside, but we were so tired we hadn’t registered that either. We didn’t really know what was going on, but like with all travel to new and unknown places, we had to have a bit of trust for the people who were helping to lead us through it.
After loading up the cart, we took off on a third of a mile hike through dimly lit, deserted, and narrow cobbled alleyways. The man leading us couldn’t speak much English, but he tried to be friendly to us. He tried to point out a few areas that we might want to go back and look at in the morning light, but honestly, we had no idea what he was saying. We smiled and nodded, and we did our best to keep up with his brisk pace. We wound our way through several alleys until we reached a very narrow one on the right. Our guide rang the bell, and Mahjoub answered the door. He thanked the guide and payed him for his help, and then he welcomed us inside his beautiful riad.
We had never heard of a riad before, but there are lots of them around Morocco. Riads were once homes that extended families would live in. A couple would buy or build the property and as their kids grew up, their childrens’ families would come to live with them in their own rooms/floors. The property would grow as the family did. In cities like Marrakesh, the buildings are built right up beside one another, often sharing walls. Because of this, there are very few, if any, windows on the outside of the building to let in the sun. Instead, the homes were built around a courtyard of sorts, and above the courtyard, there would often be a large opening in the roof with a removable cover. The opening over the courtyard allowed the home to have natural light from the sun during the day, and the cover provided protection from the rain when it was needed. The bedrooms and living rooms had windows that opened up to the courtyard so that they were well lit. The roofs were used also, as they provided ample space to hang laundry, dine, or enjoy a cool breeze on a warm evening.
Over hundreds of years, the kids began growing up and moving into their own homes instead of staying with the family, so these large stately mansions began to take on a new role; many families converted the homes into guesthouses like ours instead. The Riad Jenan Adam was absolutely beautiful. Outside the door, the building didn’t look very distinguishable from any of the others nearby. But inside, it was gorgeous. The center room was lined with couches, beautiful tiled floors, and intricate woodwork, but with the cool night air seeping in, it was a bit too cold to enjoy. Mahjoub led us into a smaller room off to the right that was comfortably lined with orange couches, and he brought us warm mint tea to sip on while he checked us in. After chatting briefly with us about our time in Morocco, he walked us to our room on the second floor, where we immediately found our beds and fell fast asleep.
We woke up to the blare of our alarm, and groggily, we forced ourselves out of bed. Our room was pitch black, and if not for the alarm, we’d likely have slept for several more hours. We figured out how to open the solid wood window panels, and that allowed the light to pour in and us to wake up a little easier. The rain was pouring down outside, but inside, the house was bright and welcoming. Mahjoub fixed us a lovely breakfast of eggs, several different breads with honey, jam, butter, nut butter, and oil, coffee, tea, and freshly squeezed orange juice. After giving us some time to unpack and work out a plan for the day, he escorted us to a restaurant a very short distance from our riad. As with most of the restaurants in this town, the restaurant sat on the third and fourth floors of the building, so entering through the narrow doorway, we climbed an even narrower staircase to the top floor. The space was packed tightly with tables and chairs, but we found a nice comfortable seat overlooking the edge of the roof.
One of the dishes Mahjoub had recommended was a tagine, and other than knowing it was a meal cooked in a special type of dish, we really didn’t know much about it. We ordered our meals trusting the wonderful smells in the air would lead to something good, and we anxiously awaited for them to be prepared. The tagine is a ceramic dish with a cone shaped lid. The chef places well seasoned meats and vegetables to roast inside, and the result is delicious. Henry and I had the beef tagine, and it was very similar to a beef pot roast with vegetables. Brian tried the couscous that Moroccans are famous for as well, and he said it was also very delicious.
We explored the old medina for a few hours to get a feel for our new environment. A medina is an old, historic portion of a city. The medina of Marrakesh is almost 1,000 years old, and the 2700 acre city is surrounded by 11 miles of walls. Inside these city walls, homes and businesses are built upon one another, usually sharing outer walls and leaving only very tight alleyways to walk through between them. The streets are far too narrow for cars, but many streets are just large enough that motorcyclists and bicyclists will ride through them. Shopkeepers open their doors each morning and place their wares out for display in their doorways and into the alleys to attract sales, but this further constricts traffic. It’s possible to find almost anything as you walk about. On a short walk, it is quite easy to pass fruit and vegetable stands, meat markets, bakeries, clothing stores, souvenir shops, cleaning supplies, shoes, lamps and decorative metalworks, brightly colored ceramics, and leather goods stores. Outside the businesses, shoppers mill about looking for good deals. To walk down the street, you are are constantly weaving between shops and around shoppers, and for your own protection, doing your best to stay to the right so that you are not run over. Its crazy, chaotic, and beautiful all at the same time.
On that first day, we found our way down to the Jemaa el-Fna Square. This area is a very lively section of the medina where anyone and everyone comes to eat and play. There are hundreds of food and fresh juice stalls lining one section of the square. All of the juice stalls have gorgeous displays of fruits for you to choose from, and for about $1, they’ll make you a fresh squeezed juice that is phenomenal. The food vendors are preparing their dishes as you order them, and the food is so inexpensive that it makes you wonder how they could sell it at those prices. Pass these vendors, and you move out to the more open section of the square where you’ll hear the snake charmers entertaining passing tourists. There are performers dancing and singing traditional music, monkeys almost begging for you to hold them, donkeys waiting to be ridden, and henna artists itching to help you decorate your hands and arms. All of this is surrounded by more vendors selling their wares, ice cream stands, more juice sellers, and restaurants boasting the best rooftops in town. It’s a lot to take in; the sights and sounds of it all were so different from anywhere else, and they were all so perfect together.
As we were walking around that first day, a kid who was about 10-12 years old eagerly let us know that we should head towards the tanneries today because there were some women from the Sahara that were in town, and this was the last day you could see them. He said it was incredible and rare to see them working the leather like they do, and he gave us instructions on how to find them. He told us that they would only be there for about another hour, so we should hurry. We politely said thank you and continued walking on our way when another young man, this one in his early twenties, stopped us to say hello. He also let us know about the women, and he insisted on walking with us a little further so he could point us in the right direction. As we walked, he kept up a friendly banter. We weren’t sold on going to see them, but so long as we felt safe, we were okay with walking with him to see where they were. As we walked on, the streets got a little more desolate, and we began to get uncomfortable. About the time we decided we were ready to turn around and go back, an older man came out to introduce us to the tanneries. He claimed he was the manager of the tannery. He offered to give us a tour of the facility, and he gave us some mint to use as a ‘face mask’ to help cover the stench from the tanning process. He was probably nice enough, but we’d already decided to go back, so we politely said goodbye and returned to our part of town.
Later on in our room, we were reading about the tanneries, and we learned that this is a common ploy to lure tourists into them. After a quick tour, the tourists are often guilted or intimidated into purchasing leather goods or paying an outrageous price for the ‘free’ tour. The person who delivers the tourists to the tannery insists on a generous tip for getting you there as well, even if you didn’t really want to go. You get to see the tanneries, and they get a little well-coordinated extra money as well. Thankfully we got out of there just in time.
Incidentally, in our next few days, we had several other people stop us and offer to help us find the tanneries as well. Each time the story was a little different. Every time we heard it though, today was the last day, and they would be closing up and leaving in about an hour. Every time. We tried several different lines to deflect them, but the most effective was to tell them we had already been there. Once we said that, the helpful local would simply fade away or go back to what he was doing.
We enjoyed the atmosphere so much that we found ourselves at the square on another afternoon, and we dined on the juice and food stalls like locals. Henry had strawberry juice while Brian and I drank a fresh glass of delicious pomegranate juice. We ate minced beef kabobs at the #34 food stall, and it was fabulous. After months of not having a good hamburger, their kafta (minced meat) kabobs tasted extraordinarily good. If we’d only had a bun to put them on, they would have been perfect.
One afternoon we were walking through the markets trying to get a new sim card for Brian, and the crowd was very thick. We’d already been keenly aware that this environment would be perfect venue for pickpockets, so we’d been extremely careful about what we had with us and where our belongings were stored on us. Brian was talking to the shopkeeper in a very busy alley while Henry and I leaned up against a nearby wall to stay out of the way of the of the crowd traveling through. All of a sudden, there was a ruckus behind Brian. I pulled Henry closer to me, and Brian quickly grabbed up his phone from the counter as well. We all turned to figure out what was going on, and while we stayed as far away from the commotion as possible, we watched a middle-aged man get off the motorcycle that he and his wife were riding and begin punching a younger man in the face. We gathered from the shopkeeper afterwards that the younger man and his buddy had tried pickpocketing something out of the wife’s pocket as they slowly rode through the crowd. She had felt him and told her husband to stop driving immediately. There were no police called; they settled this for themselves. The husband beat the snot out of the kid, and then he and his wife went on their way. It was unnerving to watch, but it was a good reminder for us to continue to be vigilant.
On another afternoon, we found our way out of the medina and walked over to a shopping mall in the new part of town. After a quick lunch at our favorite Chili’s Bar & Grill, we explored the area for a few hours. We never found the garden we were looking for, but we did find an awesome grocery store which was almost as good. They had everything we needed to make homemade quesadillas, and Mahjoub agreed to allow us to use the kitchen, so we were excited for that. Back at the hostel, Brian cooked up our quesadillas while I finished up a few things I needed to do upstairs, and then we shared one of our favorite dinners with Mahjoub. He seemed to enjoy it as much as we did.
We loved Marrakech, but it was time for us to move on. The beautiful red city, as it is known, was wonderful to visit, and the riad we stayed at was simply beautiful. We were eager to see what the rest of Morocco had in store for us, though. Mahjoub really wanted us to check out the Sahara and Southern Morocco, but we didn’t feel like we had enough time to see it the way we really would have liked to. Instead, we chose to take the train from Marrakech to Fes, another even older town, and see what was there. Mahjoub arranged a ride for us to the train station, and after grabbing a bucket of KFC to enjoy on the train, we hopped on board.
The train was comfortable and smooth. The car was divided into several different cabins that each seated 8 people. When we arrived to our cabin, there were four people already there, so we put our bags on the overhead racks and settled into the vacant seats for the six hour ride. We were able to take in the sights as we traveled through the country, and except for the car getting very warm at one point, we actually enjoyed the ride. Henry spent most of the time working on his Algebra and getting mad at me in the process. He, Algebra, and I are not a good combination, and it’s one of the reasons we’ll both be glad when he returns to normal school.
We made it to Fes with no issues aside from being hot and tired. Mahjoub had been kind enough to arrange a friend of his, Ayoub, to meet us at the station and escort us to a riad that he knew. At the station, I heard him call my name before I ever saw him. Ayoub was an enthusiastic young man who was quickly bounding over to meet us. He had the biggest smile on his face as introduced himself, welcomed us exuberantly, and then escorted us to a taxi. He took a second taxi because the cars weren’t big enough to hold all of us, and our taxi followed his to the edge of the medina.
Our first views of the medina let us know that this one would be very different from Marrekech. Marrekech is flat, and the entire medina is easily walkable because of its size and topography. Fes is much larger, boasting more than 9400 cobbled streets and 300 mosques. At over 1,200 years old, it is the oldest and largest medina in Morocco, and while it sees far fewer tourists than Marrakech, we were told the town had a lot to offer as well.
We walked down a large hill, and after winding through several different streets, we found ourselves at the door of the Riad Sanaa Rose. Abdel, our new host, opened the door to the riad and welcomed us inside. After unloading our bags, we sat with him and Ayoub at the dining table in the lovely home enjoying freshly baked cookies and mint tea while we learned more about Fes. We found out that this Riad was at least 300-400 years old, and that all of the tilework inside was handmade. The dining table sat in the center of the courtyard area, and the three-story building loomed around us as we rested. Off to one side of the room was a beautiful fountain where the family would have gotten their water. Another side yielded a plush seating area lined with couches and big, fluffy pillows. And a narrow spiral staircase with insanely steep steps was inset into a third wall. After setting up dinner plans with Ayoub, Abdel showed us to our room on the third floor. Our room was large and spacious, and after traveling all day, we were eager to stretch out on our beds for a short while. Henry and I couldn’t help but open every window and wood window panel to see the different views first, though.
Ayoub and Abdel both warned us about walking through the medina alone. With over 9000 very narrow streets, it is very easy to get lost. Everyone gets lost, so its more of a question of when than if. Also, there are people in Fes who will try to lead you to places you don’t want to go (sounds familiar) and will try to help you in order to get a tip. To help us avoid that, Ayoub agreed to pick us up for dinner and escort us to a nearby restaurant so that we could try some tagines there. The restaurant was very expensive, so we opted to split two entrees instead of each of us having our own. The food was delicious, but there wasn’t very much of it to go around. Thankfully we were too tired to care very much, and we made our way back to the riad and quickly found the warmth of our beds.
We arranged a tour with Ayoub for the next day. We don’t typically do tours, but Ayoub was a friend of Mahjoub, and he seemed helpful. He agreed to take us to several local sights, and since we would be a little pressed for time in Fes, we thought it would be helpful to have someone help us get to them all quickly. We felt like the few interactions we’d had in Marrakech had helped us prepare for the people in Fes, but leaning on the side of being overly cautious, we felt like it might be good to have a local with us too.
Abdel provided us with a delicious breakfast the next morning, and shortly afterwards, Ayoub and his friend arrived to pick us up. We spent most of the morning walking through the city from site to site admiring the complexity of the alleyways and taking in the environment. Ayoub took us to a metalworking shop where we met the owner and viewed several floors of his beautiful lamps, mirrors, ashtrays, jewelry, and decorations. Some were embellished with camel bone accents and various gems as well. Many of the pieces were very beautiful, and although they were happy to ship things home for us, we wouldn’t purchase any to take with us.
Ayoub also took us to a tannery. We were a little nervous about this one, honestly, but it turned out to be a good visit. We went to the roof of a nearby building with one of the tannery employees so we could get a birds eye view of the dying pots and drying racks. Below us, the hides were being stained to their eventual colors. The smell wasn’t bad from this vantage point. The guide told us that they actually use pigeon poop to soften the leather; the acid in the poop helps treat the leather, but it is also what causes the noxious smell. He explained to us and let us feel the difference in goat, camel, and cow leather, and he helped us understand the main uses for each. Camel leather, for example, is very thick and tough, and it is best used in shoes, belts, or bags while goat leather is very supple and makes for beautiful clothing, bags, and gloves. It was a good tour, and we enjoyed looking at all of the leather goods his group had made. We really wanted to purchase a new jacket each, and I would have loved a new purse, but we did the right thing for our budget and chose not to. I will say this, though, if I ever make it back to Morocco with an income, I know exactly where I’ll be going.
We went to a few other tanneries through the morning, and we got to see different sides to the process. In one area, for example, a man was standing down in one of the pits pulling out the hides to move them on to the next process. It looked like grueling work, and I can’t imagine the physical strain this work puts on the people that do it. Even worse were the men who worked upstairs with sharp blades who were shaving the leather. They stood behind the leather and ran their knives down the front, cutting and smoothing the leather. Each pass required the worker who was starting standing upright to bend fully at his hips to the point he was nearly touching his toes, and these men were making many multiple passes per hide.
We also saw a few stables along the way. The streets of Fes are very narrow, and no vehicles are allowed on them. They use donkeys in a few places as taxis or for hauling heavy items, so at different intervals in the city, they have stables to house them.
Ayoub also took us up on a hill near the wall for a great view of the city. We could see where the medina and the new city meet, and it was pretty neat to look at the tangle of buildings and spot our hotel from the overlook.
We had to return to our riad for a few hours in the middle of the day because we had an experience of a completely different sort awaiting us. When Brian and I were in college, we met Amy through Brian’s friend Blake. Blake was in Brian’s fraternity, and although I didn’t know either of them very well, Brian thought a lot of them. Through the years, we’ve been able to keep in touch through Facebook. A few weeks earlier, Amy had texted me to let me know that her 6th grade ELA class was beginning a unit on exploration, and they had been reading up on our blog as they were studying this unit. We talked a bit, and Amy asked me if we’d be willing to do a Zoom meeting with her kids. Brian and I were really excited about it, and Henry was too, although he was far more nervous about it than we were.
We found the best spot in the riad for getting good wifi, and we got our computer set up to do the call. We were able to get connected with no problem, but they had a few technical issues on their end. One of the coolest parts of this experience for us was while we were waiting for them to get everything set up. Apparently, they had gotten the display working, because we heard one of the kids exclaim, “That’s them!” It made us all feel a little like we were celebrities.
We found out then that we’d be talking to four different classes of kids and not just one. They were all so polite, and we loved talking with them. We got to tell them about our trip, and they got to ask us a few questions. They loved the penguins in Antarctica, and they loved hearing about some of our misadventures. Henry told the classes all about penguin poop, and the kids loved it. I wouldn’t have mentioned that part, but he knew just what it would take to entertain them. It was really nice to get to see and talk with Amy as well, even if it was very brief; I think it must be hard for anyone to understand how good it feels for us to see a familiar face when it happens so rarely these days. This has to be one of my favorite experiences of this whole trip.
After our call, we met Ayoub again, and he escorted us to his home. He was going to teach us to make tagine from scratch, and then we’d get to eat it with him and his family. His home was on the second floor of a building overlooking a little courtyard near the edge of town. We sat in a small but warmly furnished living area and watched television while he fixed us some mint tea to share. His sister was babysitting a neighbor’s young child, and they sat with us for a while also; after a bit, the child decided he was bored with us, so they went outside instead. We sat inside and talked with Ayoub about his family and his work. I enjoyed how passionately Ayoub talked about his job and getting to show people around. He has worked in the tourism industry for several years, and he’s made a lot of friends along the way. He’s also a lover of languages, and he speaks several fluently. Because of this and his knowledge of the area, he’s able to show visitors a side of Morocco that few others can. He worked hard to help us be comfortable and enjoy our visit to Fes, and the love he has for his work is infectious; you can’t help but enjoy Morocco more because of him.
After tea, we began the meal prep. He made space for us to work in the kitchen, and then he put us all to work. We peeled and sliced potatoes, carrots, peppers, and zucchini as he mixed in the seasonings and prepped the chicken for the meal. After all the meat and vegetables were placed inside, he added a little liquid to the pot, and then he used a plastic sack to seal the top. Finally, he placed the pot onto a propane burner, and it began to cook.
It took between 45 minutes to an hour to cook completely. The smells that wafted into the room as the food neared doneness was heavenly. At some point while we waited, we were joined by Ayoub’s father. He didn’t speak any English, but he sat beside us watching television for a bit while the food finished up. When everything was ready, Ayoub set the table and brought in a delicious smelling pot of roasted chicken and vegetables. We enjoyed the meal at the family’s table, doing our best to mind our manners. Henry was having issues getting the chicken meat off of the bone with his fork, and Ayoub’s father kept encouraging Henry to just pick it up and eat it with his hands. He finally did, and that seemed to make him very happy. After we had our fill of the tagine, Ayoub fed us a very tasty desert of oranges and bananas, and then he walked us back to our riad.
We relaxed mostly the next day. Ayoub’s friend escorted us to another rooftop restaurant where we found a delicious meal, and we found our way back to the riad with no problems. Later on in the day, we needed to go to the ATM to get some cash so we could pay for our riad. Brian memorized the directions to it, and then we set off on our own for the first time. We got to the ATM with no issues, but we weren’t crazy about the environment around it. The ATM was located directly on the street, and across the street, there were 8-10 men who were milling about. Henry and I tried to discreetly keep an eye on them while Brian got some cash out. While we were by the ATM, one of the men brought over a very large tagine, and all the men completely ignored us and started diving into it; apparently they were just waiting on their food. Just to be cautious, though, we decided to walk into a large ceramic shop nearby and kill some time with the hopes that they would leave before we left the store. The ceramic shop was beautiful, and I wanted to buy some new dishes for home, but of course we couldn’t. The owner said he had an Etsy shop, so maybe when I get home I can look into that a little further. Either way, when we exited the shop, the men had dispersed, and we made it back to our room with no issues.
On our last morning in Fes, Ayoub met us bright and early at the riad, and he escorted us out of the medina. We walked for half a mile or better before he was able to hail a taxi for us, and then he gave instructions to our driver. We said our goodbyes, hopped in the car, and headed to the bus station.
The bus was comfortable and roomy, and we made it to Chefchaouen in about 4 hours. Chefchaouen is called the blue city, and we’d heard it was beautiful. We had only planned to stay there for one night, and then we were going to head back to Fes to catch our flight out of Morocco. After a short taxi ride from the bus station to the edge of the medina, we walked for about 5 minutes through the city and found our hotel, the Casa El Houta. We were tired and hungry, so after we settled into our spacious 2nd floor room, we asked the gentlemen at reception for any lunch suggestions. He told us a few places, and then he walked with us to one of them.
Chefchaouen is another walled city, and because of it’s history, all of the buildings in it are either blue or white. A young man we met there told us that when the Jewish people were being persecuted in Europe way back when, many of them fled to Morocco for their safety. The Jewish and Islamic people lived together, but they wanted to create something to easily tell who was who. The Jewish people painted all of their houses blue, and the Islamic people painted theirs white. From that point on, the city has made it a point to keep the paint fresh and beautiful. The city is very well maintained, and it is a photographer’s dream.
Our food on the third floor of the restaurant was delicious, and afterwards, we decided to walk to a viewpoint at a nearby chapel. The views were gorgeous, and the weather was spectacular. We didn’t have time to explore the new city, but we could see it from the hilltop. Vendors sold souvenirs, fresh juices, and clothing all up and down the medina streets, and the atmosphere with the brightly colored buildings was light and airy.
On our way back to our hotel, Henry found a vendor making cotton candy for $0.30. We got to watch our candy being made, and then we ate it up on the nearby steps as we watched the people go by.
We headed back to Fes the next morning. After we grabbed some breakfast at a nearby restaurant, we took a taxi back to the bus station. We walked in and bought the tickets for the next bus to Fes, and we didn’t really catch that the price the attendant charged us was slightly less than what we’d paid to get to Chefchaouen. He directed us to the bus, and after a short discussion with the driver about needing to change busses midway, we climbed on board.
About halfway through the trip, we pulled into a gas station, and the driver signaled for us to get off and wait. He gave us our bags, and said that our next bus would be here in about 30 minutes. Unsure and scared of being stranded in a gas station in the middle of nowhere, we dumbly stood by waiting for further direction. A very tall man in a striped shirt who appeared to work with the buses told us to have a seat; our bus was on its way. We nervously waited in the chairs by the station for some sign, any sign, of a new bus. Our old bus didn’t leave the station either, and we didn’t exactly know what was going on with that. About 30 minutes after we first stopped, the striped shirt guy started signaling for us to walk with him across the street. With a few others in tow, we walked with him to a proper bus station and waited some more. No one else seemed to be getting nervous, so we tried to entertain ourselves by watching this one fellow passenger’s turkeys. Striped shirt guy was still in the area, and he didn’t seem concerned, either, so we tried to be patient. Meanwhile Brian and I were trying to come up with a plan B if this didn’t work out. Obviously we’d gotten on the wrong bus. This one was going to Fes also, but in exchange for the lower ticket price, we got a longer, more tedious ride. While we were waiting, we actually watched as the bus we should have been on passed by.
After 10 or 15 minutes, a new bus finally pulled up in the lot, and we were told to hop on if we were going to Fes. We climbed on and took a seat, and after 6 hours, we finally made it to back to Fes.
We opted to walk from the bus station in Fes to the Cine Hotel where we’d be staying. Really we didn’t want to walk, but the taxi drivers acted like they couldn’t understand us, so we had no choice. It wasn’t a bad walk, though, and the hostel was very nice. We were staying outside the medina this time, so the hotel was newer with more modern conveniences. We grabbed a good dinner from the restaurant on the first floor, and we enjoyed our gloriously warm room upstairs.
The next morning, we met our awaiting driver at the curb to head to the airport. It was time to leave Morocco behind. Mahjoub, Ayoub, and Abdel had made a very good impression on us, and we really hated to leave them. All of them had been very good hosts to us, and they checked on us long after we left them. We really enjoyed the food and environment of Morocco as well. When I didn’t want to go to Morocco and only reluctantly agreed to go, it was because I saw Morocco as some version of Egypt with nothing new to see. It turns out that there was so much more to see and do there than I ever imagined. We explored Marrakech, Fes, and Chefchaouen, but we could have easily spent weeks relaxing on the beautiful beaches, exploring the magnificent Sahara, and checking out the modern town of Casablanca as well. The people of this nation were interesting, and their lifestyle was different from anyone else we’ve met. I am grateful that I gave Morocco a chance, and now I truly look forward to going back there again one day.
Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
– Ferris Bueller
I was very excited about getting to go and visit Egypt. I’ve always been fascinated by the pyramids, and I truly enjoy reading and learning about ancient history. I find it amazing to learn how people lived and died thousands of years ago, and how similar and how different their lives are from ours. Egypt was one of the countries we put on our wish list back when we were in the very early planning stages for this trip. When we were in Sri Lanka trying to figure out where we would go next, we were all excited to make this our next destination. Now, to be completely open, beyond visiting the pyramids, none of us really knew what else we could do or see while we were there. But we booked our flights, and with no real plan, we boarded our plane bound for Cairo.
So, if you’ve been reading our blog, you might have picked up that Henry is a connoisseur of all things fancy and expensive. He researches them, and he’s like a walking version of Google if you get on the right subject. One of the things that he has been talking about since the beginning of this trip is that he hoped that somewhere, some way, we would get to fly business class or first class on one of our flights. Of course, we knew the budget we must keep to, so while we told him we would always be on the lookout for an opportunity, we didn’t really expect to do it anytime soon. But when Brian started looking for flights to Cairo, he found an opportunity to make Henry’s wish come true.
The cheapest economy seat tickets Brian could find were around $300 each. Then, he started looking to see what options we had if we used some of our credit card points that we had been saving. By using a combination of points and cash, he found tickets from Colombo to Cairo, on Etihad Airlines Business Class for $165 each! We decided to go for the nicer option, but before we could make it happen, we’d need to jump through a few hoops. We didn’t tell Henry about it because if this opportunity fell through, we knew that he’d be crushed, and it would make those economy seats feel that much worse. Also, Henry has a tendency to get a little overly excited, and we didn’t want him to completely tune out for the rest of our time in Sri Lanka while he was anticipating this flight. Before we could book the flight, we needed to transfer the points from the credit card company to a partner airline. Normally, this is a very easy process that can be done online, and your transferred points show up immediately in your airline rewards account. For some reason, that didn’t happen this time. We got an email saying the transfer was pending, but it could take seven days to complete. The flight we were trying to book was seven days away. If it took that long, we wouldn’t be able to take the Etihad flight, and the other flight we had found would probably be more expensive. Oh, and did I mention that our Sri Lankan visas expired the day after we were trying to leave? It took several lengthy international phone calls to both the credit card company and airline and some pleading prayers to get our credit card points moved over, but thankfully, a few days after we found them, we were finally able to reserve the flights we wanted. The plan was that we would arrive in early evening at the Sri Lankan airport, board our flight at around midnight, fly for 5 hours to Abu Dhabi, have a 4 hour layover there, and then fly 4 more hours on to Cairo. It sounded a bit miserable to me as I do love my sleep, but with upgraded lounges and lay-flat seats, I figured we would at least be moderately comfortable.
I had never heard of Etihad Airlines before this flight, but apparently, I was in the minority. They are a luxury airline based out of Abu Dhabi, and as soon as Henry found out we would be flying with them, he was thrilled. He told me all about how they had a reputation for being exceptionally luxurious, and he assured me that even in economy, it would be the nicest flight we’ve ever taken. I picked on him about his excitement and played dumb, acting like it was no big deal to me, but deep down, I was pretty excited about the flight too.
We had gotten to the airport at around 6 pm so that we could get safely inside and grab some dinner before our flight. Unbeknownst to us, the Colombo Airport has a security check point before we could get up to the check in counters, and they would not allow us to go through there until 3 hours prior to our flight time. Thankfully there were a few food vendors setup so we were able to grab a sandwich or two out there. After waiting in the lobby outside of security for a few hours, we were finally let through so we could go check in at around 9 pm.
We still hadn’t told Henry about the business class seating, and we really wanted to keep it a secret for just a little longer. Thankfully, Etihad currently has a program called “Verified to Fly.” With this program, you can upload your Covid test results and all other necessary documents ahead of time to speed up the check in process at the airport. So, instead of walking up to the business class check-in counter, we went to the Verified to Fly line. We thought we’d be able to still get through the line quickly but not give away our little secret to Henry just yet. Everything was going well until the clerk that was helping us asked for the details for our flights out of Egypt. Egypt required proof of onward travel before we could successfully check-in to our flight, and we’d forgotten to book something before we got to the airport. So, we stepped out of line to get that taken care of. Most countries we’ve been to require this, and because our travel schedule is very open and flexible, we typically only book something long enough to show the proof they need. When we get to our destination, we cancel the flights, and we ensure that we leave the country well before our visas expire.
The easiest way to manage this has been by using our points to book the flights. Our points program allows us to cancel any flight with no penalties in the first 24 hours after booking. Unfortunately, our points program had recently undergone a website change, and for some reason, we were getting an error when we tried to book the ‘onward travel’ flights. We tried over and over, using different accounts, different devices, booking the flights to different locations, but it was to no avail. We tried calling customer service, but they got nowhere either. All the while, the clock was ticking towards our flight, and we were getting more and more anxious as the minutes went by. We had been looking at a particular flight onward to Morocco already, and with nothing else working out for us, we finally decided to just book those flights directly with the airline. Best case, we would be able to cancel them once we landed in Cairo. Worst case, we had our flights out of Egypt locked in.
With flights reserved, we walked back up to the counter, and we got checked into our flights in just a few moments. While Brian was talking to the clerk, I did my best to keep Henry occupied so that if the clerk mentioned anything about our class, Henry wouldn’t overhear it. Henry was really excited though, and it took a lot of creativity to keep him away from the counter and paying attention to me instead. Finally, with boarding passes in hand, we grabbed our carryon luggage and walked through the second security check point.
We found the Araliya Lounge with no issues. This lounge is only for Business and First-Class customers, and Google-Henry had already looked that up. He had also determined Brian’s Priority Pass membership (another credit card perk) would get us access to the Lotus Lounge. When we arrived at the doors to the Araliya Lounge Henry questioned us about it and said we wouldn’t be allowed in. Brian told him that the clerk had felt sorry for us after the issues we’d had and gave us passes to get in. He was excited enough not to question it further. Inside, we grabbed some dinner and drinks, and we rested up for what was sure to be a long night ahead.
We walked to our gate when they started boarding and making sure we discretely kept the boarding passes away from Henry, we scanned them as we entered the waiting area. Once the passengers were all scanned in, we were left to wait together in a large room until the flight crew was ready to load us up. Over the intercom, the attendant announced that they were ready to begin boarding their business class customers, and we stood up. Henry corrected us and told us that they didn’t call us yet, but we told him that he must have just misheard the announcer. I started recording him on my phone so that hopefully we’d be able to get his reaction to the upgraded flights on video. As we walked past the airline attendants, they checked our passes and let us through with no issues. Henry was still dubius, but thankfully he just went with it.
Henry led the way down the corridor to the plane, and you could see the excitement all over him. We stepped on board the plane in the hallway between the business section on the left and the economy seats on the right. He told us several times that day that he was going to ask the flight attendant if he could peek in the business class section to see what it was like before going to our seats. Instead, he chickened out and turned to start walking in the economy section. Brian stopped him and sent him the opposite way towards the business class seats. Henry stepped out of his way not understanding what Brian wanted him to do, and Brian told him that they were going to check out the business section since he’d always wanted to see it. Henry went with it, and they walked a little further up the aisle. When they got a few seats in, Brian pointed to Henry’s seat and said ‘I think that’s your seat.’ Henry didn’t understand him, so Brian repeated it and showed him the boading pass. It was about that time that Henry finally got it. He stepped back in shock, and he immediately began to cry. Shaking and emotional, he climbed into his seat and buckled himself in. He was thrilled to get to fly on this plane, and he couldn’t believe that he’d actually get to fly business class in it too!
You can watch the video right here. He was so happy!
I went to my seat on the opposite side of the plane, but I watched them talking and enjoying the moment. It was gloriously luxurious, and I had so much room to myself. I drank my freshly squeezed orange juice as we waited for everyone else to get settled in. My large pillow and oversized blanket were soft and comfortable, and I was certain that my lay-flat seat was going to feel amazing too. I sat in my little cubbyhole with no one around me and no one to share the armrest with, and I was both happy and sad in the moment. It was wonderful to get to sit here and enjoy this, but it was sad that they were too far away for me to enjoy it with. I had my own window, a massaging chair, and an array of electronics to play with, so I entertained myself finding a movie and getting comfortable. I ordered a gourmet breakfast from the in-flight menu, and when it came shortly after takeoff, it was just as fabulous as Henry had promised me it would be.
When we landed, we made our way directly from the plane to the Etihad lounge where we’d spend a few hours waiting for our next flight. We grabbed some food and found a comfortable place to relax until it was time to go to the gate.
Our second flight was even better than the first because we all sat closer together. Brian and I sat in side by side pods, and Henry sat in his pod facing backwards on my right. We could talk when we wanted to, but we each had our own space. Lunch was fantastic as well, and after a month of living in Sri Lanka and not having beef to eat, I very much enjoyed my juicy and delicious beef tenderloin.
We landed in Cairo around noon, and Henry deboarded the plane carrying his coat with him in a very awkward manner. When we got to immigrations, I found out the whole story. At some point towards the end of the flight, Henry had called the flight attendant over to ask if he could take the super comfy blanket home. The attendant told him that technically he wasn’t allowed to take it. Henry was sad, but he was okay with it. However, a few minutes later, the attendant came back by and told him that as long as he didn’t see it, and as long as no one else saw it, he thought it would be okay. Henry said he wasn’t sure about taking it then, but when a few minutes later, the flight attendant came by again and gave him an exaggerated wink, he decided it was going to be his. He had wrapped the blanket up in his coat and was using that to get it off the plane. I fussed at him, told him that I didn’t want to hear any complaints about how heavy his bags were from here on out, and then I laughed at the fact that he’d even ask them about taking it. He is something.
We quickly made our way through immigrations and baggage claim, and our hotel driver picked us up outside of the arrivals area. After about a 40-minute drive, we arrived at the Cecilia Hotel in the middle of the downtown area. We chose this area because it was inexpensive, close to several things we wanted to see, and it promised to give us the best glimpse of Cairo. We knew it was going to be crazy busy and chaotic, and we had tried to prepare ourselves for it. I’ll just say right now that we did not do an adequate job with that.
Our hotel occupied the 5th and 6th floors of a 100-year old building very near Tahrir Square. There was a small sign over the door identifying it, but it would have been difficult for us to find if we had travelled there on our own. Thankfully the driver knew exactly where he was going. He circled the block trying to find parking, and when he couldn’t, he simply stopped on the side of the road to let us out. As we were exiting the car, several men started grabbing our bags and walking away with them. They were talking to us the whole time, but since we didn’t speak Arabic, we couldn’t understand what they were saying. Based on the reaction of the driver, we had to assume that this was both expected and okay, so I tried my best not to panic. I must have looked concerned, because one of the men who spoke English tried to reassure me that everything was okay as we walked in. We entered an open door on the ground floor of the hotel into what looked like an old, abandoned building, and after crossing what was once a nice foyer, one of the men opened up a door to a very small elevator. They placed our bags inside and started climbing in. My panic level rose higher because there was no way we could fit in there too, and I feared that we might never see our bags again. One of the men stopped them, and after a brief moment of discussion, they all got back out leaving only our bags inside. He then directed us into the elevator instead and he stepped in with us to show us to the reception on the 6th floor.
At reception, the hotel staff was very warm and welcoming. Kero, the man who had accompanied us up in the elevator, sent us quite a lot of information about the area so we could plan our stay. He and George, the owner, invited us to come lounge with them once we’d gotten settled in, and they gave us a tour of the common areas and the terrace before they showed us to our room. They had two lounge areas with comfy pillows lining the floor; the first was near reception and the second was out on a pretty terrace overlooking the city. Our room was nice, albeit very basic. We had four twin beds with very warm blankets and a private bathroom. The building was old, but they had done some work to make it more modern. It still needed some work, but it had everything we needed for our stay.
We opened the window in our room and enjoyed watching the people go about their lives down on the street below. There were no lines painted on the road, but a mass of cars up to 6 cars wide were jostling for position as they passed by us. People seemed to drive haphazardly, meandering from left to right and back as space opened up. And everyone honked. You simply wouldn’t believe how much Egyptians in Cairo really love the sound of their car horns.
We rested in the hotel for a few hours, but at dinner time, we ventured out to a little restaurant called Oldish that was only about half a block away. We ordered our food, not knowing anything about what it was that we were getting, but it turned out to be delicious. I had a minced beef sandwich that was very similar to a patty melt. Henry had chicken fajitas, and Brian had some very flavorful chicken kabobs. We enjoyed watching the people, but our favorite activity during dinner was trying to use the Google Translate app to understand some of the Arabic writing on the menus. I’m pretty sure that it wasn’t working correctly, because my menu said “Shave me with my throat pierced me and Danny.” We were all tired enough to find that hilarious. After the meal, full and exhausted, we climbed into our individual beds very early, and we slept as hard as we have slept in a very long time.
On our first full day in Egypt, we decided to go to the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities. This downtown museum houses many of the treasures that have been removed from the pyramids, the valley of the kings, and more, and we couldn’t wait to see it. We’d read that there would be a lot to see there, and we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to wander through all of it. So after having a delicious breakfast of falafel and potato sandwiches on the terrace of the hotel, we headed out to the museum.
Now, the museum was only about half a mile from our hotel, so we decided to walk to it. We could see it from a few blocks away, but getting to it proved to be quite a challenge. It was a Thursday, a workday, and traffic was in full swing. Tahrir square is a large roundabout, and at that time, it had 4-6 very full lanes of traffic moving in every direction. There were a few traffic lights around but not many. To get around this area, we would have to cross most streets in the traffic. At first, we tried waiting for a clear stretch where we could safely cross, but it didn’t take long to realize that was never going to happen. The only way to really get through was to take a deep breath, say a little prayer, and then walk out in whatever opening you could find. Cars would slow down (sometimes) or go around you, beeping their horn at you the whole time. Uncomfortable with this ‘taking your life in your own hands’ approach to crossing the street, we followed the locals. If they went, we went with them praying the whole time.
We met a few people that first morning. The problem with being a tourist in a foreign country is that you look like a tourist in a foreign country. We were easy to spot, despite our efforts to fit in and look like we knew what we were doing. The first man we met passed us on the street, and then turned around to talk to us. He told us that the museum is better to visit after noon when all the tour buses have left for the day; the crowds are much smaller then. We didn’t know if he was telling the truth or not, but we wanted to eat first, so we figured we could wait until noon to go with no problem. He also told us about the government run souvenir shops, and we stepped into one of those briefly to look around. These shops offer the same gifts that all the locals have in theirs, but they have them at lower, set prices. Since we’ll be travelling for another 5 months, and we have to carry whatever we buy for that whole time, we generally don’t buy many souvenirs. But we browsed for a moment before continuing on our way.
A short while later, a second man stopped to help us find our way to the museum. He also told us about the tour buses leaving the museum at noon, but then he quickly went on his way again. By this point, we were en route to the Chili’s Bar and Grill we’d found on the map in the Zamalek neighborhood to get a bite to eat.
A third man stopped us and told us that the route we were going wouldn’t work because we couldn’t cross the bridge we were heading for as pedestrians. He told us to go a different route, and then insisted on walking with us. He said he was from Detroit, that he was a history professor, and that he was visiting his family in Cairo this week because his sister was getting married on the weekend. As we walked to the street we needed to get to, he asked us to stop by his family’s shop so he could get his business card for us.
We shouldn’t have gone in, but we did. His family’s business was a papyrus shop where they created beautiful art on papyrus sheets, and he was very proud of it. He took one of the small sheets of papyrus out and wrote Henry’s name on it, and we knew we were in trouble. We’d read about people pulling these kinds of scams, but we’d underestimated how difficult it would be to get out of it. He kept pulling out sheets and writing on them as a ‘gift’ for us, and then afterwards he used the guise of hospitality and friendliness to guilt us into purchasing the papyrus. We gave him a little money for it, and then we left as quickly as we could. We felt frustrated and cheated when we left, and as childish as it sounds, I decided right then and there that I didn’t like Egypt anymore.
I hated this one experience almost as much as when we were robbed in Colombia. We try to be nice people, but these types of people prey on that. The worst part about it, for me at least, is that because of people like this guy, it feels like I can’t trust anyone anymore. And when you’re traveling in an area of the world that you don’t know, you have to trust a little bit or you’ll drive yourself crazy. I hate being rude and cold to people, but unfortunately, to protect ourselves from this type of scam, I know we’ve had to act that way to people who were genuinely good along the way too.
We continued down the street and found the Chili’s on an anchored boat in the Nile River. It was a pretty good meal, considering we were on the other side of the world. Our food tasted just like the food at home, so that helped a little. Henry had really been missing home, and the only reason we’d come was to give him a few minutes of normalcy. It was nice for all of us, really, even if you don’t get the normal perks of free refills and free chips in salsa (in the bar). We had drinks with ice, and that was like a little slice of paradise for me.
After lunch, we made our way through the stream of traffic, Frogger style, and over to the museum. It was a very large building, and we only had about 4 hours to go through everything before they closed. Many of the exhibits didn’t have tags or markers on them, so while we could see what they were, we couldn’t learn much about them or where they’d come from. There were tour guides who would show you around for a fee, but already feeling like we’d been ripped off, we didn’t want to add that expense too. We walked around learning what we could from what we saw. It was amazing seeing real life artifacts like I’ve seen in books – hieroglyphics, tombs, statues, and mummies. I was very interested in learning more about all of this, and over the next few days, I read as much information as I could find on it.
I also felt incredibly sorry for these ancient people. They went to great effort to ensure their remains were being stored in the best way possible to ensure a fantastic afterlife. Now, here they were with their tombs robbed, and all their personal effects (and in some cases, themselves too) were out on display for the general public to view in a museum. It felt like an extreme invasion of their privacy.
We walked through the museum until they made us leave at closing time. I really enjoyed all of it, and so did Brian. Henry lost interest about halfway through, but he enjoyed seeing the mummies in the last section of it. We found our way back to the hotel and settled in for the night with our unwanted papyrus souvenirs to remind us about the day.
We woke up the next morning to a text message from Brian’s sister. She wanted to talk to us before we went out for the day, and she would be up waiting for him to call. We knew that couldn’t be good, so we called as soon as we saw it. There was a medical emergency back at home with Brian’s dad. His mom and sister were with him, and they’d update us as soon as they knew more. We were scared and emotional at that point, and we began trying to figure out what options we had. Since we couldn’t do anything until we heard more from the doctors, we decided to go forward with our plans for the day, and then hopefully by the afternoon, we’d know more.
So, at 8 am, Isra, our hotel recommended tour guide, picked us up for our trip out to see the pyramids. She was an incredibly nice and friendly woman who had been doing these tours for several years. She instantly made friends with Henry, and we laughed as she kept reminding him that she was single. We started out the day by heading to Saqqara, the location of the very first pyramid in Egypt. This oldest one is a stepped pyramid, and it is called the Pyramid of Djoser. Archeologists date it back to 27th century BC, and some say it was designed by Imhotep, the high priest and chancellor to Pharoah Djoser.
We pulled up at the entrance to the pyramid complex to find that they were having some type of 5K race there. Runners were everywhere, and the traffic directors told Isra that we were going to have to walk from there, a lengthy distance to the pyramid. She bargained with them to get them to let us drive up, and after a 5 Egyptian pound fee ($0.30), we were allowed to drive up. She let us out, gave us a few pointers, and told us where to meet her when we were done.
As soon as we walked in, an older man began trying to show us around and tell us about the place. He insisted that he wasn’t interested in our money, that he worked there, and that he was just happy to help us, but we made it a point to get away from him as quickly as we could. Unfortunately, here like in many other countries, people will be helpful to you even if you don’t need or ask for their help, in order to get a generous tip. Those that don’t want tips are typically working with someone else who happens to be at just the right place at just the right moment to sell you something else. Since the man had us moving quickly towards the camels, we assumed that was probably his intention. There’s a joke we’d heard about how in Egypt it costs 5 pounds to get on the camel and 150 pounds to get back off of it; we didn’t want any part of that.
It’s a shame, though. Again, I don’t want to be rude to anyone, but here we were being as cold and deliberately uninterested as we could be to this man. One of the hardest parts about traveling anywhere is trying to decipher who is being genuinely kind and helpful to you and who is just setting you up. Egypt is not really worse than anywhere else for this, but after leaving people that we felt were genuinely good to us in Sri Lanka, it felt that much worse.
We walked around the pyramid, taking lots of photos and admiring the site. Other than having to fend off several other people, we really enjoyed it. Isra had moved her car when we got down to the parking area, and for just a brief moment, we all kind of freaked out when we couldn’t find her. She didn’t really leave us, did she? She wouldn’t do that, would she? How in the heck are we supposed to get back to our hotel an hour away? Could we really be stuck in the middle of the desert? But, just as I was beginning to get my blood pressure up, we saw her standing in line to buy some overpriced coffee from one of the 5K vendors.
Our next leg of the trip was to head to Memphis. Memphis was once the capital of Egypt, and there are quite a lot of relics there as well. We pulled up to the museum, and before we got out of the car Isra told us to walk up and look inside before we bought our tickets. She said that two of the exhibits were in really good shape and that they were great to see, but she said that most of the others were pretty rough, and if we were going to go visit other Egyptian historic sites, we might get a better view of similar artifacts there. We walked up, and from the very quick glimpse we had, we decided that she was probably right. It might have been a wonderful experience that we missed out on, but if our guide was not vouching for it being a fantastic experience, it probably wasn’t going to be worth the money. We climbed back in the car and headed down the road to our next stop.
Isra had coordinated a visit for us to a local carpet making factory where we were able to get a personalized tour of the carpet making process. The owner of the business taught us about their different materials, and we were able to watch his workers hand-tie their carpets one string at a time. The first person we watched was a lady working with silk, and she was knotting the silk strands so quickly you couldn’t follow the movement of her fingers. She was working by a pattern, and with her design and materials, it would take her about three months to produce one square meter of carpet. The second worker we watched was a man who was using wool. His process was very different from hers. He didn’t have a pattern, so instead, he was designing the carpet with his imagination as he went. Because of the different processes and the different materials, he could make one square meter of carpet in about a month. We looked over their showroom which was full of beautiful designs in various sizes and colors. If we had been heading home, I would have loved to purchase one; they really were quite exquisite.
Our next stop was to a tourist-centric restaurant on our way back towards Cairo. The food was delicious, and we enjoyed relaxing with Isra and getting to know her a little better. She was a lovely woman with a contagious laugh. We talked about everything from religion and politics to peculiar or interesting traits of the different nationalities that she’d worked with. She loved her job, and it showed.
Once we were back on the road again, Isra took us to a papyrus seller. Our guide in the store showed us the papyrus plants and explained where they grew and how they were harvested. Papyrus only grows in Egypt, and it used to grow abundantly in the waters of the Nile. The shoots come up through the water, and the plant emerges at the surface. The stalks of the plant are triangular shaped and very pulpy, and they are the part that gets used in making the paper. She demonstrated the manufacturing process for us by first peeling the green surface off the plant stalk. She then used a hammer to flatten the stalk into very thin layers. The stalk is very brittle when it is whole, but once it is flattened, it becomes very strong and pliable. After soaking the flat strips for several days, papyrus manufacturers will then lay them out in a crisscross pattern to the size of the sheet they want to create. Once the strips are assembled, they are placed under a press and pressure is applied for a few days until they are good and dry. She also showed us how to spot fake papyrus. If you hold real papyrus up to a light, you can see the horizontal and vertical strips running in the paper. Paper made with banana leaves or another similar material won’t have grains in both directions. Also, you can wet papyrus, disassemble it, and then later reassemble it which was pretty neat. Armed with that bit of information, we suddenly couldn’t wait to get back to our room to see if our unwanted papyrus souvenirs were actually the real thing. To our surprise, it was.
Our last stop was the one we had been waiting for. We drove into Giza, and over the tops of the buildings you could see the peaks of the Pyramids. There are actually 9 pyramids in this region. The largest was built for King Khufu, and each side of the base of the pyramid is roughly 755 feet long. The two smaller ones were built for King Khafre, Khufu’s son (707 feet), and King Menkaure, Khafre’s son (356 ft). These pyramids were plundered both inside and outside a long time ago. Inside they are all empty, and the Khafre pyramid is the only one that has any of its original outer limestone coating; you can see this in the pictures near the top of the structure. There are six smaller pyramids in the complex, and they were used for members of the royal families as well.
There are many other tombs, buildings, and structures in the area, but time has reduced most of them to mere foundations. There is also the Great Sphinx. It has the facial features of a man, but the body of a lion. It is 240 feet long and 66 feet high, and it is made of limestone. Ancient Egyptians thought the Sphinx was a spiritual guardian, and figures of the creature were included in tomb and temple complexes. Though the purpose of the Sphinx is unknown, it is assumed that it somehow helped the kings in their afterlife.
Isra introduced us to her tour guide friend in his shop just outside the pyramid complex. We sat with him for a few minutes as he explained his services, and after negotiating with him to get a deal we could work with, we took off with his guide Mohammed to find our camels. We each mounted a camel, and we started our slow and quite rough ride up and around the complex. We were taking the long tour, which meant that we would begin by riding the camels up to a panoramic viewpoint where we could see all nine pyramids in one spot. After stopping briefly for photos, we rode the camels down to the pyramids and took pictures right beside Khafre’s pyramid while we admired their immense size. I knew they were big, but until you’re standing beside one of them, you just can’t comprehend the magnitude.
From there, we mounted the camels again and walked towards the Sphinx. I hated this part of the trip. My camel was almost as graceful as I am, and his hooves kept slipping on the sand covered limestone. If you’ve never been on a camel, let me tell you that they are very tall – way too tall to comfortably fall from. And going down a sand covered limestone mountain on the back of a clumsy camel isn’t very fun. It took a while, and I was white knuckled the whole time, but he got me there in one piece, thankfully. The Sphinx was impressive to look at as well. I wish I understood more about its purpose, though. I’m certain it took an immense amount of effort to build, and they wouldn’t have done that if it wasn’t worth it to them.
We returned to Isra after the ride and hopped back in the car. The camel ride was fun, but my legs were already a little sore from holding on with my death grip. It had been a very good day, but we were anxious to get back to our room and see if there was any news on Brian’s dad. Isra offered to take us to a factory where they extract oil from the lotus flowers, but we declined so we could get back sooner.
Isra was a great tour guide, and we had a lot of fun hanging out with her. She talked to herself a lot, and she would talk to the other drivers as if they could hear her. I really wish I spoke Arabic, because I’d like to know exactly what she said them. Many Egyptians, Isra included, speak with a tone of voice that makes you think they are upset even if they aren’t. She may have been having a friendly conversation, or she may have been biting their heads off; I’m not really sure, but there were several other drivers that I got the impression she didn’t really care for. On second thought, maybe it’s better that I don’t know what she said.
At about 3 pm, she dropped us at our room, and after taking a photo with her, we parted ways. Up at the room, we got news that Brian’s dad was making some slight improvements, and we all began to feel some bit of relief. We grabbed some dinner, and we spent the rest of the night in our room figuring out what are plan would be for the coming days. We still weren’t sure if we needed to go home, or if we would be better off sticking to our original plans for the time being. We talked about going home, but even if we went home, there was nothing we could do to help. We talked about staying in Egypt, but we were uncertain about that too. We didn’t want to get out to the middle of nowhere and then need to rush back. We knew that no matter what we decided to do, if we needed to get home quickly, we could and certainly would.
We didn’t really care for the big city. If you know us, you know that Brian and I kind of like to do our own thing. We don’t like being in the very touristy areas, and we hate crowds. Cairo felt claustrophobic to us. It was loud and chaotic, and everywhere we went, we felt like we were targets for people to try to take advantage of. We were cold, tired, worried, and a little miserable. We had talked about following the typical tourist path and visiting Luxor and Aswan. These areas are supposed to be beautiful and full of interesting historical artifacts, but they are also full of tourists and the vultures that pounce on them. We also talked about going the opposite direction towards Alexandria on the Mediterranean Sea, but it was even colder weather there. We weren’t excited about either of those options, and we had several days left before we would fly on to our next destination if we stayed on course. After a few hours of discussion, we decided not to do either of those. We found an apartment to rent in Hurghada, a small town on the shores of the Red Sea and a few hours outside of Cairo, and we found our bus to go there the next morning.
We woke up early and ate our breakfast sandwiches while we watched the doves on the terrace tend to their baby chick. The hotel had these two beautiful doves, and they had a brand new baby chick in the nest. The mama dove was still sitting on her nest waiting for her second egg to hatch, and the dad appeared to be bored as he paced back and forth the whole time we were there. We had a little time until we’d need to head to the station, so we piddled around and tried to rest up. The employees of the hotel called Henry up to hang out with them at the reception desk, and he nervously went up to join them. I came to check on him about 15 minutes later, and they were having a ball, picking on one of the other employees.
We decided that we wanted to take an Uber to the bus station, even though it wasn’t very far at all from the hotel. We didn’t want to be bothered by anyone, especially with us having all our stuff with us. The Uber driver pulled up and asked where we were going before he would let us in the car. When we told him the bus station that was less than a mile away, he shook his head saying no and drove away. The second one we called got hung up and was taking far too long to get to us. We were getting a little tight on time by that point, so we ended up walking to the station anyway. We decided that we’d walk with purpose and just be downright rude if people wouldn’t leave us alone. It worked, and no one even said a word to us. We got to the station with not much time to spare, but we were able to purchase our tickets and board the bus in time.
The bus ride was smooth and comfortable. We laid back in our reclining seats and watched movies or played games through most of the trip. I stared out the window watching the desert go by for a good while. I was trying to image what life would have been like here all those years ago when the local people built the pyramids and all the fantastically large monuments we see today. I also thought of the Biblical narrative of the Israelites’ exodus out of Egypt. The stories about Moses and the Israelites didn’t happen in the particular area we were traveling through, but it wasn’t hard to imagine the land looking very similar to this. The landscape was extremely harsh outside my window. There were a handful of bushes, but beyond that, it was all dry and hard and barren. I cannot imagine surviving out there for more than a few days. The Israelites wandered through similar terrain for 40 years, and during that time, the Bible says that God supplied them with water to drink and manna from heaven to eat. I get why now. There was absolutely nothing else. Barren doesn’t even begin to describe it, and the only way a million plus people could survive this horrendous landscape was by the grace and mercy of God.
We made it into Hurghada by about 6:30 that evening after a 7-hour ride. As we were grabbing our bags from the bus, a local man offered us a taxi ride. We were negotiating a rate, but before we’d agreed, he grabbed my big backpack and started walking out the back exit to his parked car. Brian and Henry were doing their best to keep up with him while I was contacting our host; it felt a little sketchy. When we got to his car, he admitted he wasn’t a taxi driver; he said he was a bus driver that was trying to make a little money on the side. Being unsure of the area, we politely declined, grabbed my bag from his car, and walked away. He may have been a super guy, but we didn’t want to take the chance. Unfortunately, it was already dark outside, and the area we were in behind the station was not well lit or populated, so we decided to take a longer route and walk up to the main road so we could at least be seen. At the main road, we were relieved to find that there were plenty of marked taxis on the street. We hailed one of those, and within only a few minutes, we met Mohamed, our host at our rented apartment.
We’d found several nice places to stay in the Hurghada area, but we’d picked this apartment because in the pictures, it looked like it might feel more like a home. We were all a little homesick, and we needed a bit of time to relax and unwind together after our stressful few days in Cairo. After registering with security downstairs, Mohamed showed us the apartment which was in the very nice Florenza compound. The resort had apartments for sale and rent, and the area had restaurants, markets, and spas all around. Typically, there was resort only access to the Red Sea beach as well, but during our stay, that area was under construction. While we started getting settled in, Mohamed, knowing that we were hungry, was kind enough to bring us some snacks, water, and juice to share.
While we were visiting Hurghada, Mohamed helped us set up a trip out to the Red Sea to dive, snorkel, fish, and visit an island for the day. He picked us up from the complex at around 8:30 in the morning and drove us out to the beautiful Mellow Yellow boat that was moored at the marina. He waited with us to make sure we were okay until Kareem, his friend who would be going with us, joined us, and then he headed on to his real job for the day.
There were a few other guests on board when we arrived, and by the time we pulled away from the dock, there were probably 20 passengers and 8 or so crew. We signed our activity waivers, and the dive masters were surprised to learn that we were certified divers. After a few minutes of confusion, we realized that this was a trip that was geared towards an introduction to diving; each guest would get to go down with full scuba gear with an instructor and dive for about 15 minutes to see if they were interested in taking a course afterwards. Since we were already certified, that would be a disappointing experience for us. They let us know that we were welcome to go on a regular dive with Kareem, our dive master, instead. I had never heard of this kind of introductory course, but it was a very neat concept. Being the control freak I am, I don’t know that I would have liked it myself, but I’m sure that many people do.
We did our dive at a site near the most beautiful coral reef I’d ever seen. It was cold, and we had to have wetsuits to be even moderately comfortable. Because of the introductory course, the crew on the boat set up our gear completely for us; we just sat down at the edge of the boat while they mounted everything on us and dropped us in the water. I can understand and appreciate why they’d do this for all the beginners, but as an experienced diver, I prefer to check all my own gear before getting in. It wasn’t a big deal, but it was a little unnerving to trust someone I don’t know that completely. It was a shallow water dive, so I wasn’t overly concerned. Once Kareem, Brian, Henry, and I were all in the water, we went down together. It took a few minutes to get used to that bitterly cold water washing into the wetsuit, but once we got moving a bit, it wasn’t too uncomfortable. Unfortunately, Brian had an issue where he couldn’t seem to get his breathing right, and he chose to abort the dive only a few minutes into it. He was able to communicate underwater well enough with Kareem, and Kareem swam us back towards the boat to make his ascent easier. Henry and I continued with the dive at Brian’s encouragement, and we both had a great time.
I’d always heard that the Red Sea had some of the world’s best diving, and it certainly deserves that reputation. I have seen more fish in other regions, but the reef was by far, the healthiest one I’ve ever seen. The corals were enormous, and there was life everywhere. I was completely mesmerized by it. After about 45 minutes of diving, though, Henry and I had had all we could take of the cold, and we let our diver master know we were ready to go back. At the surface, the crew had us remove all our gear in the water so we could climb the ladders on the back of the boat unimpeded. I’m not used to this either, but it was pretty awesome. It’s always extremely difficult to climb up on a boat when you’re worn out and wearing another 70-pounds of equipment on your back.
We could have gone on a second dive, but we elected not to. Brian wasn’t sure what had gone wrong for him, and he didn’t know if he’d have issues on another dive too. Henry was very cold and couldn’t get warm. I would have gone with him if Brian wanted to try again, but I was pretty happy to go inside the salon and get warm too.
Some of the passengers went snorkeling, but we hung out in the salon of the boat warming up a bit. The crew was fixing us a meal, so we just enjoyed watching them work. The lunch was delicious, and we all ate more than we needed. There was baked chicken patties, prawns, fried fish, pasta, beans, and eggplant.
After lunch, we all tried our hand at fishing. They didn’t use rods and reels like we are used to, but they had little wooden spools that you simply wrapped the fishing string around. I think maybe a few people caught fish, but in typical Swain fashion, we came up empty-handed. Honestly, I’m not sure that we have actually ever caught a fish.
Our last stop for the day was at Orange Bay, a touristy but beautiful spot on one of the islands in the sea. The water was a beautiful clear turquoise blue, and there were comfortable lounging seats lining the entire beach. The water, however, was frigidly cold. I may be a little dramatic, but if felt insanely cold. You’d put your feet in, and within seconds, they’d become completely numb. It took us a while, but eventually we were able to get to thigh deep water so we could take some pictures at a swing beautifully positioned over the water. Henry had gotten down in the water completely, which I don’t understand how, but right after we were done with the pictures, we were all done with the water too.
Henry had made a friend though. There was a Russian boy named Roma on the boat that was about his age. He spoke some English, and he and Henry seemed to get along pretty well. He liked splashing around in the cold water too, so that gave them something in common. Their favorite activity, though, was once we got back on the boat. The crew brought around fresh strawberries and juicy orange slices as a treat to everyone, and these two boys devoured them. I don’t know how many they ate, but they weren’t going to let any go to waste.
We met some really nice people in Hurghada. Each day we bought snacks at the market across the street from the complex. Snacks were incredibly inexpensive there, and the two brothers who ran the market were awesome. Each time we went into the store, we would spend 5-10 minutes talking to them. They were funny and more than a little sarcastic, which of course we loved. One day, Brian was trying to pay for our food when a local man cut in front of him to pay for his stuff first. The clerk looked at Brian and and smiled as he said “Egyptians have no appreciation for waiting in lines. Welcome to Egypt.” Henry would talk to the cats that roamed the street and market while we talked with them about the area, Egyptian culture, and the United States. We were actually a little sad to go to the market for the last time on our last day in town.
We also met a lovely young lady at one of the local restaurants. She was Egyptian, but she spoke English with a better accent than me. She said she loved Americans, and she watched American television to learn the language. One of the waiters in another restaurant also became a friend to us. He waited on us the first day, and we tried to eat at his restaurant several other times during our stay. Unfortunately, something was going on with their chef, so while they could serve plenty of drinks, they had no food. We enjoyed his warm smile and good conversation, though, and we hated to say goodbye to him as well.
And then there was Achmed at a third restaurant. He served us twice during our stay. During the first visit, he chatted up Henry. He invited us to stay for some live music they were having later in the night. We did, and we had a great time listening to their musician sing everything from I Will Survive to Gangster’s Paradise to Achy Breaky Heart. We stopped by on another evening, and Achmed greeted Henry by name as we walked through the door. I love when people include him, and Achmed made him feel like he was his honored guest.
On our last full day in town, Mohamed helped us with our PCR tests we would need for traveling on to Morocco. He set up the appointments for us, and when it was time, he had a driver pick us up at the compound. A few minutes later, the driver picked up Mohamed as well, and he escorted us to the testing center where he helped us get our fees paid and our tests completed. His driver took us back to the compound, and Mohamed took our receipt so that he could help us pick up our results. In this area, we’d take our test at the center, and then 24 hours later, we’d need to go to the hospital to physically pick up our printed results. Mohamed said he had a friend that worked at the hospital who might be able to help us get the results sooner, since 24 hours would be too long for us to comfortably wait to head back to Cairo.
When I had texted Mohamed to ask if he knew where to get COVID testing done in town, I was just hoping for a quick reply with a location or website to check. I couldn’t believe that he took the time to go with us across town, and that he would be willing to help us through it and help us get our results. We were humbled by his hospitality and willingness to go above and beyond.
While we were in town, a local businessman had been talking to us about visiting the spa inside the Florenza compound. It sounded good, and it was fairly inexpensive, but it wasn’t something I was actually considering either. Brian talked me into getting a massage, since I’d never actually gotten the one I wanted for my birthday back in October. Since we had some time to kill while we waited for our COVID results, I decided to go for it. Let’s just say it’ll be an experience I’ll never forget.
I scheduled the Cleopatra Treatment, which sounded pretty amazing. With it, I would get to spend a little time in the sauna and the steam room, and then I’d get a full body scrub, a facial, and a massage. We stopped by the spa after lunch and scheduled the appointment, and I couldn’t wait!
I arrived promptly for my 4:00 pm appointment, and Maria introduced herself to me and helped me to their changing area. I removed my clothes, locked them in a locker, and then, wrapped up in a Turkish towel and sandals, I headed out to the sauna.
The sauna was hot. For the first few minutes, it felt good. The air in Hurghada had been chilly as it was still winter, and it felt nice and cozy to sit there. After about 5 minutes, though I began to think I might actually combust. I could feel the sweat trickle down my back, and I tried to imagine the wonderful things this was doing for my pores, but all I could think about was escaping the heat. I didn’t have a clock with me, and with no one to talk to, it felt like an eternity of sitting there waiting for relief. I felt every single breath. The time ticked by so slowly I could barely stand it. When Maria stopped by the door to let me out, I pasted on a smile and calmly stepped out towards her instead of bounding out like a caged animal with a chance to flee.
Our next stop was the steam room. I had been looking forward to this one. I love a super hot and steamy shower better than just about anything else, and I was really excited. The room was small, maybe 4’ wide by 6’ long, and there was a heated granite slab on one side of the room. I knew from a tour the previous day that it would be warm, and I could rest on that while I was in there. I walked in, and Maria told me to remove my towel. Now, me being the modest person that I am, I was trying to figure out how to do that without showing her my everything, but I couldn’t come up with any way to do that. So, after awkwardly trying to hand her my towel at her eye level, I finally gave up. She was just going to have to see me naked.
The steam room was nice. It wasn’t hot, but it wasn’t cold. The granite slab was very warm, and I laid comfortably on the slab while I soaked in the steam. It began getting in my lungs and loosening up the phlegm in them, so I started coughing. And coughing. And coughing. I began to worry that she’d think I had COVID and make me leave. Maybe my time was over, or maybe she felt like she had to get me out of her steam room, but the steam began to abate, and I heard her come in with some supplies.
Now, Maria is a very sweet lady, but she doesn’t really speak English so communication is a bit difficult. She’s also about my shape and size, so 5’ tall and a bit round in the belly. She came in the room dressed in a small t-shirt and shorts with an apron on to keep her from getting soaked. I assumed she was getting ready to do the body scrub, and I was hoping that I hadn’t somehow insulted her by laying here naked, although really, I wasn’t sure what other option I could have gone with. She took my towel, after all. She didn’t seem bothered, so I just did my best to relax while she did her thing. While I was resting with my eyes closed, she did something with her supplies, and then I heard her turn the water on and get it adjusted right. About that time, I felt a massive spray of water over me. It was really warm, and it had good pressure; it felt good after the first shock of it, and I thought that it was interesting being washed off on this rock slab by a complete stranger.
She had a step stool that she used to climb up on her knees on the granite slab. And then when I was contemplating the oddness of this situation, she broke out her little scrubber sponge. I don’t know if you’ve ever been scrubbed with a coconut husk, but it feels exactly like you might expect it too. I tried my best not to cringe or cry out, but it hurt very badly. And apparently, I had underestimated Maria. For such a little woman, she was very, very strong. Now, I’ve never been to prison, but I imagine that if I were ever getting scrubbed by someone in prison, it might feel exactly like this did. It was incredibly painful, and this woman worked me over like it was nothing to her. I was grateful when she came to a stop and rinsed me off, but then she said ‘Change Please.’
I didn’t know what that meant, but after looking at her quizzically, she motioned for me to roll over on my back so she could continue to scrub my front. I tried to think of a way out of it, but trying not to be rude, I couldn’t. Reluctantly, I began rolling over, but at about that time, my body began to slide around on the slippery, soapy granite slab. I laughed out loud as I started to slide off the end and couldn’t stop myself. This woman had to think I was some kind of special because I simply couldn’t stop laughing. After what felt like an eternity of slipping around quite ungracefully, I finally slid myself back on the slab and kind-of in the right place, and then she scrubbed my front half.
We repeated this process a few times, and every time I tried to move, I slid around like a greased pig. Every time I laughed hysterically. Either she felt sorry for me or she thought it was comical too, because eventually she started laughing too.
After a final rinse, the horrific coconut scrub was over, and we moved on to the next treatment. She rubbed something all over my skin, and then she told me to lay there for 10 minutes while she left the room to do something else. I don’t know what it was, but it looked and felt like coconut oil and coconut flakes. The oil felt good, but the flakes just made me itch all over. And they were everywhere! I laid there like a good customer, and when she came back, I was eager for her to wash them off of me.
Instead, she turned on a different handheld shower and told me to wash off and come out. I sat up and very ungracefully slid off the end of the slab and onto the floor, trying not to let momentum make me hit the wall on the opposite side of the room. I don’t know what happened to the shower head she used, because the one she gave me didn’t have much pressure. I was absolutely filthy and trying to take a shower in a trickle of water. And those flakes weren’t having any part of coming off me. I washed and cleaned, and it felt like they just kept multiplying. She must have been worried about me, because she kept peeking in to check on me. I would think I was almost done, and I’d smile at her and tell her just a moment more, but then I’d find more flakes. At some point, she gave up and just stood in the door watching me. I didn’t know what else to do; I couldn’t get her to understand that there were more flakes in places the flakes shouldn’t be, and the whole time I was awkwardly trying to clean myself off, she was there watching me, and I hated that too. I finally took the least uncomfortable path and just turned the shower off, figuring I’d take another shower as soon as I got back to the privacy of my room.
When I was out, she fixed me a tea, and I sat on a comfortable chaise lounge enjoying my drink. I have learned to drink hot tea, but only under specific circumstances. I like it very weak, and I like it with a lot of sugar. I prefer tea flavored sugar water. The cup she brought me was really strong, and she might have put three granules of sugar in it. It tasted terrible, but I figured to be polite, I’d just have to drink it like a civilized person and move on. I tried really hard. I did. But while a normal person may have found it delicious, I thought it was awful. Thankfully she gave me a reprieve when she asked if I was ready for my massage. I quickly said yes and sprang up from my chair!
Now, I think it’s fair to say that I didn’t relax and enjoy the treatment until this point. The massage changed things though. It was absolutely, fantastically amazing. Maria was excellent at her job, and when I finished up my 60-minute massage, I was as loose as a goose. I have never had a back massage like the one she gave. At some point she was up on the table with me working at my shoulder blades. I knew I’d be sore the next day, but it felt heavenly.
As we wrapped things up, the spa owner tried to talk me into other treatments, but I was hungry and tired and ready to get back to my family. I couldn’t wait to regale Brian and Henry with my latest adventure. I’d spent too much extra money on the treatment already, and honestly, I wasn’t sure that I could handle anything else.
That night, we worked on packing up so we could get back on the bus the next day. I woke up early that morning to see that Mohamed was able to get our results picked up, and instantly I felt relief. I’m not exactly sure how he got them, but he delivered just like he said he would. We made arrangements to meet for breakfast at a nearby restaurant before we’d head back to the bus station.
Mohamed was delayed that morning, so when he arrived at the restaurant, our breakfasts had already arrived. He enjoyed a coffee as we ate, and we talked about our visit and how grateful we were for his help. He had surprised Henry with a tub of Egyptian candy, and Henry was excited to try it. When it was time to go, Mohamed surprised us by picking up the check too. He helped us hail a taxi, and then he rode with us to the bus station and helped us get our tickets for the bus. At the bus, he even talked with the driver to make sure he knew to let us off at the right stop. As we said goodbye, we were all sad to leave. It was nice to have made a friend, and while we would like to make it back to Hurghada one day, we also know it will be a while before that happens.
Our bus ride back to Cairo was uneventful, and we arrived at the station at about 6 pm. Our Uber driver took us to our hotel, and Henry was beside himself. We were staying at the Novotel, a large hotel perfect for conventions and weddings. It was very large and very comfortable. We’d be flying out early the next morning, and the reason we’d picked this hotel was for their airport shuttle. Since Colombia, we’ve been a little nervous about traveling late at night or very early in the morning, and we didn’t want to be flagging down a taxi or Uber at that hour. The hotel was nice, but it was very expensive. We ate a decent buffet dinner in the restaurant, but it was the most expensive meal we’ve had in months, even with Henry eating for free. And it wasn’t that good.
We woke up bright and early the next morning and caught the 3:30 shuttle for the airport with two other guests. The airport was quiet, and we made it through the check-in process with no issues. Thankfully, we also made it into the Pearl Lounge for a ‘free’ breakfast and some quiet comfort to rest in until our flight boarded.
Egypt was an interesting country to visit. We didn’t care for Cairo, but that may have been as much a product of where we were in the city as anything. We stayed downtown because it was close to the action and relatively inexpensive. There were nicer, calmer areas, and had we stayed there instead, we might have found the city to be a little more livable. I’m grateful we got off the beaten path and went to Hurghada for a while. I’m sure Luxor and Aswan were incredible, but we needed something a little different in that season.
Hurghada was a very nice area, and we really enjoyed the people we met there. I’m very grateful for the friends we made as they helped to change our opinion of Egypt, and they’ve left a very positive impact on all of us. We were there in the winter, and the weather was a little too chilly to enjoy the beautiful pools and the sea very much. In the summer, I think we would have wanted to stay for much, much longer. I cannot wait to one day go back and do more diving there!
With Brian’s Dad’s health scare, we were reminded that life is short and tomorrow is not guaranteed for any of us. Even in the traveling, we can get so busy going and doing all these amazing things that we miss out on what is most important in life. We all need friends to lean on. We all need family to hold on to when life gets tough. And we all need the reminder to slow down and take it all in. After all, life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Expect the unexpected. Life is full of wonderful things just waiting to surprise you.
– Unknown
In the interest of full disclosure, I have to start out by telling you that I absolutely loved my time in Sri Lanka. I am very, very biased. We spent 4 full weeks in paradise, and it was amazing. I met so many wonderful people, and I loved the experience of staying in a guesthouse and getting to know the families there. Even after travelling for quite some time, we found that we had to rely on the kindness of strangers much more than ever before, and while that was very scary, it was also an incredibly rewarding experience. Oh, how I already wish I was back there, but my next trip will have to wait for a while.
We flew into Colombo on a red-eye flight, and we arrived at about 8:30 am on January 26th. After getting our visas upon arrival, we grabbed our luggage and went through customs. We tried to kill a little time because we knew our room wouldn’t be ready yet, but there wasn’t much to do at the tiny arrivals area. After wasting an hour or so, we hauled our bags through the health screening area and loaded into a taxi. After twenty minutes of white knuckled riding, weaving crazily through traffic with no apparent regards to lanes or other vehicles, we finally pulled up to The Panorama, our guesthouse for the next few days.
We had picked this guesthouse because it was in Negombo which is very close to the airport. Admittedly, there isn’t much to do in Negombo, but the city is very near the beach and is easy to use as a base for any trips to the area. We figured that we could stay for a few days there until we could figure out how we’d spend our time, and worse case, we could work on getting our tans back.
Our guesthouse was very nice. Our room had two king sized beds and a nice sized bathroom, and it was gloriously air conditioned. The weather was very warm in Sri Lanka, and having come from the cool, winter weather in Dubai, we were all a little warmer than we liked. We broke out our shorts and flip flops, though, and it didn’t take too long to get comfortable again.
A guesthouse in Sri Lanka is a little different than anything we’d experienced before. Most areas don’t have a lot nearby, so the guesthouse is more like a combination of a hotel and a restaurant. The owner of the guesthouse usually lives on or right at the property, and he/she and their family took care of you while you stay with them. They generally provide you with breakfast, and in some cases, they can prepare a lunch and dinner as well. They are also very good at helping you plan your sightseeing and transportation from one town to another.
Our host at the Panorama was very kind. He spoke some English, and we got to know him a little while we were there. He was a Sri Lankan man who had been living in South Korea for the last several years. He had recently moved back and had only been working at the hotel for about a month. He worked hard to make sure we were comfortable, and he and the other staff at the guesthouse were extraordinarily nice to us.
We enjoyed the local restaurants, but we ate several of our meals at our guesthouse. We loved the food, and we didn’t have a bad meal the whole time we were there. Our favorite restaurant was Lord’s Restaurant. They had live music, which we very much enjoyed, but the highlight of the evening was the fish spa. While waiting for our food, we entertained ourselves by allowing the fish to eat the dead skin off of our hands and feet. Hygienic? Probably not. But we laughed so hard it hurt. We also really liked the owner. He used a portion of his profits to take in some of the many animals he’d seen starving and roaming the streets; on the night we came, he said he was taking care of 48 dogs and 5 cats at home. His food was delicious, his mission was noble, and being bait for his fish was way more entertaining than you might ever believe.
Most of the time we spent in Negombo was trying to figure out what we were going to do in Sri Lanka. The gem-shaped island nation is quite small, but there is quite a lot to see and do. We had several tour guides trying to talk us into working with them. One of the common vacation strategies here is to hire a car and driver for a few days to tour you around. Typically, you’d be expected to pay all of your own food, lodging, and entertainment and you’d pay a set amount to hire the driver and car to tour you around. The advantage here is that the drivers know where all of the good sights are and how to get there. By handling your logistics for you, you can enjoy a comfortable ride wherever and whenever you want. We seriously considered these options, as the cost was much lower than you might expect. In the end, though, we opted to go a completely different route.
We’d read about people renting tuk tuks for their adventure, and as crazy as it sounded, we thought it might be a lot of fun. The tuk tuk is a three wheeled vehicle, and it’s considered the poor man’s vehicle. Locals buy them and use them quite frequently, but if you have money, you’d probably upgrade to a car with doors, windows, and air conditioning instead. While locals are used to the tuk tuks, they aren’t used to foreigners driving them. But to experience Sri Lanka like a local, we’d read that there was no better way than to travel like one. We debated on it for a few days, but we figured this might be a neat way to see the island and meet people. And since we liked the concept of the tuk tuk rental company, we signed up, submitted the fees for our Sri Lankan drivers’ licenses, and scheduled our tuk tuk pickup.
On Saturday afternoon, we took an Uber to the TukTukRental.com location in Negombo, and we met our driving instructor. After reviewing their safety information, we stepped out to the lot with our instructor to get our first glimpse of our new ride. The rental company doesn’t actually own any tuk tuks. They help local people rent theirs out as a way to earn extra money. We had a really nice, shiny red tuk tuk, the newest of their entire fleet with only 6000 kilometers on the odometer. We spent the next two hours driving through a residential area in the city trying to get a feel for how to handle it. We circled the same block hundreds of times, but eventually, we both got the hang of driving it. Brian was a natural. He’d ridden enough ATVs to feel very comfortable driving it. I was less so. The gear shifting wasn’t natural or intuitive, and I was scared to death. Did I mention that they also drive on the opposite side of the road as we do in the US? I was terrified that I was going to forget and get us killed in a head-on crash. But the guy said we did great, and when we got back to the shop, we signed our final papers on the tuk tuk, and said goodbye.
Brian drove us back to the Panorama so we could relax there overnight; we planned to leave the next morning. It was a bit scary, but he did so well! Henry and I enjoyed the wind in our hair, and he and I spent the trip back trying to figure out how we would ever get all our bags to fit inside and us still sit comfortably. We got a few interested looks from the local people as we drove, but we enjoyed the ride very much. All of us were very excited about heading out on our adventure early the next morning.
Because tuk tuks are very popular, and the parts are very interchangeable, it’s apparently a fairly common thing for people to take the newer, nicer wheels and other parts off of tuk tuks that are parked near the street and replace them with their more worn-out parts. To help protect our ride, our host allowed us to open the gates into the hotel grounds and push the tuk tuk into the locked area. We lovingly put down the leather doors and locked it up for the night safely inside the fence.
The next morning, we brought all our bags down and set them in a pile by the tuk tuk. We still really didn’t have a plan for how to load it up, but we had to start somewhere. It seemed like a laughably big pile next to the little vehicle, but once we got in and started putting things in their place, it worked out nicely. Our host thought we were crazy for not using an air-conditioned ride, but he came out and took photos of us in front of our ride before we left the guesthouse.
As we started down the road, we were all almost giddy. Brian was a little nervous, but we knew that once he got out on the road and drove for a bit, it would get easier. It was Sunday, a weekend in Sri Lanka, and traffic would be somewhat quieter than we’d experienced. On top of that, we were getting out of the city. Our instructor told us it would be a breeze once we were past the edge of town. We needed to buy a Sri Lankan sim card for one of our cell phones, but after that, our next stop was Dambulla, a small town near the center of the island.
We stopped at a little market to buy some snacks, and after an hour long stop at a different local convenience store, we had a sim card as well. The men at the store were incredibly kind to Brian. Henry and I waited outside with our stuff while Brian tried to get the cell phone working. The shop-owner didn’t speak much English, but another customer that had come in took the time to help him communicate with Brian. This new customer was very friendly, and he even gave us his phone number in case we had any issues on the road; he was happy to help us.
I should mention that traffic in Sri Lanka doesn’t work the same way as it does in the US. Lanes are merely suggestions, and on a two-lane highway, traffic could easily be 3-5 vehicles wide in places. Its also interesting that there are multiple speed limits based on the vehicle type. A tuk tuk, for example, can only go a max of 40 kilometers/hour while a car or bus can go up to 80. The general rule here is that the bigger you are, the more right of way you have; tuk tuks are on the small end of the scale, with only motorbikes and bicycles being smaller than them. All vehicles ride towards the outer edge of the road, and if someone wants in front of you, they honk to let you know they are there and then they go around. Oncoming traffic just watches out and stays out of the way the best they can. There are dotted and solid lines on the road to help you know when to safely pass, but by all appearances, people do not follow them.
About 65 kilometers down the road, our tuk tuk fun ended rather abruptly. We were driving at about 40 kilometers per hour, as near to the white line as we felt safe to, when a white car behind us started to pull out in order to go around us. The car started to work its way around us, but about that time, two cars topped the hill in front of us with the one on the inside trying to overtake the other. The white car was forced to very quickly scoot back into our lane of traffic. He tried, but as he squeezed in, he ended up hitting the back right end of the tuk tuk and sending us off into the ditch. Brian heard the brakes on the car locking up just in time to grab onto the handlebar as tightly as he could. Henry and I had on our seatbelts in the back seat, and Henry had been dozing off a bit. Because of the design of the tuk tuk, even though I could hear the brakes, I couldn’t see what was happening. I remember saying a quick prayer when I heard them and hoping that it wouldn’t involve us. But it did.
Seconds later we were at a dead stop, upside down in the ditch. I’ve never flipped over in a vehicle, but hanging there suspended by the seatbelt was terrifying. I could hear Brian calling for us, and Henry was crying. I was most worried about Brian at the moment because I knew he didn’t have a seatbelt, and I imagined him being thrown out of the ride. I unbuckled my seatbelt and fell a few inches to the ground. Henry couldn’t get his seatbelt undone, but after just a moment, we were able to get it unbuckled. We could smell gas, and that was scaring me, so I encouraged Henry to crawl out as quickly as he could. Brian was kneeling outside the vehicle helping to pull him out, so I could see that he was at least mostly okay. I remember Brian telling me to crawl out through the front, but all I could think was to get out as quickly as possible, so instead of listening to him, I crawled through a very small, crushed section of the support bars.
There were at least 10 people standing on the side of the road when I stood up. They were all worried for us, and they were checking us out as we were doing the same. Henry was very scared, but he was okay. He had a knot on his head where he and I bumped heads. He also had an imprint over his eye from the Bluetooth speaker we had with us in the backseat. I had a bump as well, but aside from a few very minor scrapes, I was physically okay. Brian definitely had the worst of it. He had a large bump on his head and several large scrapes. Amazingly though, he had been able to stay inside during our flip.
The driver of the white car was one of the first to check on us. We were obviously extremely shaken up, but he was too. I firmly believe he thought he’d just killed someone when he saw the tuk tuk flip in the ditch. He immediately took responsibility, apologized profusely, and continued checking on us over and over.
There were quite a few other men who hung around to help us out. A group of monks were traveling behind us, and they stopped to see if they could help. One of them was a man from Pennsylvania, and because he spoke both English and Sinhala very well, he helped us communicate with both the police and the insurance agent. While we were making phone calls and dealing with the business end of things, he and another man, a local farmer, never left Henry’s side. They talked to him the whole time and asked him all sorts of questions to help him calm down. A third man, a vendor who had been working at his stand on the side of the road just opposite of the accident, found Henry some water and a cold pack for his head.
The men also helped us get all of our gear back together. Most everything we had was packed tightly in our backpacks, but we’d had one bag of snacks and supplies that got emptied in the accident. With the tuk tuk upside-down, our backpacks were directly under the engine, so as the gas was leaking, it leaked out and puddled around the bags, soaking into the bags and all of our clothes inside. The men helped us pull them out of the tuk tuk, and they helped us roll it back over so we could make sure that everything else was out of it.
Auto accidents are handled a little differently in Sri Lanka than in the US also. Here, they settle the accident on the spot. If it’s a small accident, the two parties agree to a settlement right then and there. Cash is exchanged, and then everyone goes their way. In a larger accident, the police and both insurance agents are called to the scene. Both do their investigations, and then a settlement is made right there on the spot. Once the settlement is agreed to, the parties can go their separate ways.
In our case, we were lucky in a few ways. First, the other driver clearly recognized he was at fault and took the blame. Second, both the driver of the white car and the tuk tuk rental company used the same insurance company. The tuk tuk company was able to talk with the insurance and police over the phone on our behalf, and they came to a settlement very quickly. The owner of the tuk tuk would be reimbursed for the ride, and they would get some agreed-upon settlement for the time that they were without their vehicle. A few hours after the accident, the tuk tuk company was able to send us a ride to take us the rest of the way to Dambulla, and we were thankfully back on our way.
It is a terrifying thing to be in a car accident anywhere, but during those first few moments after we were hit, all I wanted was to go home and hug my family tightly. It was awful to be in a foreign country, halfway around the world, surrounded by people who don’t speak English and writing in a language that we can’t even read. The men who helped us could have kept going. They had places to go and things to do. It would have been easier for them to not deal with the distraction of us, but they chose us instead. They went out of their way to ensure we were okay and that we had everything that we needed. We even got several phone calls over the next few days from our new monk friend to make sure we were all okay and to see if we needed anything. The people who helped us were incredibly kind and I will always be grateful for them.
We made it to Dambulla with no other issues. I felt sorry for our poor driver as his car absolutely reeked of gas, and I know that had to take a while to go away. Our new guesthouse felt like it was way out in the middle of nowhere, and we had to stop to ask if we were going the right way several times before we found it. The Lake Bliss guesthouse was beautifully situated by the lake and in the middle of several beautiful palm trees. The owner’s son, Anjuna, met us and brought us fresh juice to drink as we made ourselves at home. Our room was one of two that the family managed, and a short walk away from the room was a very nice kitchen and dining room where we would eat our meals. The room itself was spacious and well furnished. Brian and I had a gloriously comfortable king-sized bed, and Henry had his own twin bed as well. Outside the room, we had a beautiful little porch that overlooked the palm trees and a field where the wild peacocks would roam each day.
After checking in, we got our stuff settled as best we could, and we quickly decided that all of our stuff had to stay outside because it smelled horribly. Our room had become noxious just in the few minutes we had set our stuff down while we were unpacking. While Anjuna fixed us a fantastic rice and curry dinner, we worked on washing our bags in the trash can in the shower and laying out as many items as we could. After dinner, he offered to take our laundry and wash it for us, and we gladly handed it over. We continued washing our bags, packing cubes, and other non-clothing items late into the night, but it seemed like no matter what we did, we couldn’t get the gas smell out.
We stayed in Dambulla for three nights, and we had a lovely time. Each morning, we’d enjoy a delicious breakfast served by our host Ranjith and his family. Most evenings, we had a great meal as well, and we would go to bed stuffed miserably full. Ranjith helped us coordinate a few activities while we were in town also. He would contact their driver to pick us up, give him instructions for us, and negotiate a fair rate for both parties. It worked out incredibly well.
On the morning of our first day, Anjuna came by and took us on a walk in the area. He led us up to the dam that the Dambulla people had put in to help with irrigation. There were other dams in the area that the government had created, but this one was built by the people for the people. He also walked us to a local farm and toured us around their property. We were able to see how they grew different fruits and vegetables, how they tested out various soils to determine what crops might grow best there, and how they managed their compost business that sold compost to the surrounding community.
Our next outing was to go see Sigiriya, the ruins of an ancient city that sits atop a large boulder and is surrounded by acre upon acre of gorgeous gardens. We’d planned to go the morning of our first day in town, but with us trying to get back on our feet after the accident, we had to change our plans. Instead, at Ranjith’s suggestion, we chose to go in the late afternoon. We arrived at the rock with only a short time before the site closed for the night. A tour guide named Gayathri walked with us most of the way, and knowing we didn’t have much time left, he helped me push through the climb so we’d make it before the park closed. We made it to the top just in time to watch a beautiful sunset over the surrounding area. Looking down at the land, I was in awe; it was absolutely gorgeous with rich green rice paddies, tropical jungle foliage, and blue mountain peaks in the distance. The gardens below were immaculate, and the soft light from the sun made everything look heavenly. I could easily understand why Sri Lankan kings chose to rule their kingdom from here. The city on top was amazing, but the land down below was absolutely breathtaking.
One of the things we found very endearing in Sri Lanka we had started picking up on when we were in Dambulla. When people would ask us anything about Henry, they would call him Baby. So, they might ask us “Baby hungry?” or “Baby tired?” It didn’t register with us at first, but then we noticed that everyone called him that, and from then on, he became Baby to us too. As Gayathri walked with me, he told me about his 4 babies at home ranging in age from 6-17. I tried to assure Henry that just because they called him Baby didn’t mean that they thought he was one. We thought it was really sweet.
On another day, we went to the Dambulla Cave Temple and did some sightseeing with our driver. The Cave Temples were interesting. The natural cave was first used as a temple over 2000 years ago. There were hundreds of statues and even more paintings of Buddha throughout the complex. Our tour guide taught us that you’ll generally see figures of Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha in one of 5 different positions – teaching, meditating, blessing, sleeping, or dead, and we had some fun trying to pick them out on our own.
Several members of the staff were working on scaffolding inside the temple perfectly documenting all of the paintings so that if they were damaged, they could be recreated. We watched them for a bit, but we tried not to disturb them. The complex is still in use by local monks, and while we were there, we got to witness Buddhist followers bringing their offerings to the temple as well.
After the Dambulla Cave Temple, our driver took us to the Sri Lanka Fruit and Vegetable Market. This market is used by people on the whole island to buy their produce for restaurants and guesthouses. We were amazed by the sheer quantity of food, and we were overwhelmed by the mass chaos. Men were going every which way; some were negotiating, some were loading and unloading, and some were standing around waiting. Trucks were parked three deep and loaded as full as they could possibly be. It was difficult to even find a path for us to snake through inside the market, much less to try to drive through or carry a load through.
Having worked up an appetite, we grabbed a bite to eat with our driver, and then we wandered around Dambulla for a bit looking into stores and exploring the city.
Afterwards, per Ranjith’s invitation, we rode out to the Athena Lake Hotel. Ranjith helped to manage that property, and as a treat to us, he allowed us to come out and swim in their gorgeous pool. We were treated like valued guests, and we enjoyed a tea service with wonderful biscuits in the idyllic setting. Henry had such a great time splashing around, and we enjoyed a few hours of just relaxing in the sun.
That evening, we went to dinner at a local restaurant, and we had such a good time. Our host had recommended the Kokiya Café, and we were thankful for it when we pulled up in our taxi. There was some chicken cooking on the grill that looked and smelled amazing, and we couldn’t wait to try that. The meal was fantastic, even if it was a little too spicy for me and Henry. And while we were there, we had the pleasure of getting to talk with the restaurant owner a bit. He was a nice guy, and he was very proud of his restaurant. He had reason to be, as the food was probably one of the best meals we’d eaten.
We had debated for days on how we would get to our next destination from Dambulla. The tuk tuk rental company had offered to deliver to us a new ride, but we were still a little nervous about it. We all agreed that it would make for a more interesting trip, and we all really enjoyed the freedom of going where we wanted when we wanted. On the other hand, we knew what the traffic was like, and after the accident, I knew that I wouldn’t be comfortable driving to give Brian any relief. We all trusted Brian, but we couldn’t control any of the other drivers; if anything else happened, which would be highly unlikely, we’d never forgive ourselves. In the end, we decided that we would just take public transportation to get around, and while we’d still have to deal with traffic, we could do it from the comfort of our passenger seats.
On our last day, we got our laundry back all clean and smelling wonderful again. I don’t know how many times they washed it, but I know that it took quite a lot of work to get the odor out. After we finished breakfast and packed our freshly washed everything, Ranjith helped us arrange for bus tickets to get us to Kandy. Our driver picked us up, helped us take a few photos with Ranjith and his sweet wife, and then carried us to the bus station. We quickly loaded on board, and a few hours later, we arrived at our next stop, Kandy.
Kandy is the second biggest city in Sri Lanka, and we were only planning to stay there for one night. We found the Café Aroma Inn, and instantly decided that two nights would be better. The hotel was comfortable and roomy, and the café served a delicious breakfast. Kandy has quite a lot to see on its own, but even with two days, we weren’t there long enough to see very much of it at all.
We ate lunch at the very small Mandiya Restaurant because it had an impressive number of 5-star reviews. We’d read it was difficult to find, so we did the best we could to follow the reviewers’ instructions. We walked through a small mall, and when we exited out the back door of the mall, we came across this little bitty place. There were only three or four small tables inside, and even at the odd hour, there were several locals enjoying their lunch. We picked our seats and ordered the rice and curry. As we were eating, the owner of the restaurant came in and introduced himself. He taught Henry the ‘right’ way to eat rice and curry – with your hands! Oh, and we added another 5-star review. It was fantastic.
We went to The Temple of the Tooth, a large Buddhist temple in Kandy. In 543 when he died, Siddhārtha Gautama (Buddha) was cremated, and his followers found and recovered his left canine tooth from the funerary pyre afterwards. The tooth made its way from India to Sri Lanka, and the temple was built to house it. Per our hotel’s recommendation, we waited until the evening to go see it, so that we would be able to witness the evening service. We watched in silence as their ceremony unfolded. Hundreds of people brought their offerings while the temple priests performed their rituals.
We also walked up a large hill overlooking town to the ‘Big Buddha’ statue. We chose not to go in because it required an entry fee, and we had already seen several temples. Instead, we took in the view from the hilltop. On our way back down the hill, we listened to the beating of the drums in the Buddhist temples mixing with the Hindu call to prayer. It was interesting to hear, even if we couldn’t understand anything they said.
In Sri Lanka, one of the most iconic things to do is to ride the train between Kandy and Ella. The mountainous region of the island sits primarily between these two cities, and it is simply wonderful to behold. Tea plantations line the steep hillsides, and the train gives you the perfect vantage point to admire all of it. The train ride is about 7-8 hours long, but because we wanted to go to Adam’s Peak as our next stop, we’d have to detour a bit. We decided to ride the bus down to Adam’s Peak. From there, we would catch the train in Nuwara Eliya, another town that sits much closer to Ella. The section of the tracks between Nuwara Eliya and Ella is supposed to be the best part of the ride, and by starting closer, we would cut the ride down to 4 hours instead.
The issue is that the train tickets for the 1st and 2nd class reserved cars sell out very quickly. With these cars, you get a guaranteed seat all to yourself for the entire ride. There are also 2nd, and 3rd class unreserved seats that are only for sale at the station, and these seats never sell out. With these tickets, you can get on the train, but you aren’t guaranteed a seat. The cars can get very, very full; they are called cattle cars for a reason. We would go this way if we had to, but because we’d have all of our luggage, we really didn’t want to.
We hadn’t been able to get any reserved tickets but we thought that maybe we could buy them at the station. On our last day in Kandy, our taxi driver dropped us off at the station so we could try to get them in advance. We struck out, unfortunately, but we were determined to figure out some way to get on that train.
We made our way over to the bus station to get our real tickets for the day. We were heading to Adam’s Peak, and riding the bus or hiring a taxi are the easiest ways to get there. On our way, a tuk tuk driver stopped us and said the bus station was already closed. Now, we’ve heard of people lying to tourists with something like that so that they can steer them in the direction that is more profitable for them. Dubious, we said thank you and went over to check out the bus station for ourselves.
The station was actually closed, as it was the Sri Lankan Independence Day. We stood on the corner evaluating our options, and the tuk tuk driver came back to us with another man in tow. This man, Ajantha, was a taxi driver who was driving a tuk tuk for extra money on the holiday. He struck a deal with us for getting us to Adam’s Peak. We were nervous about it, but not seeing too many other options available to us, we decided to trust our gut. He asked us if we would go with him to his house so he could drop off the tuk tuk and get his car. Nervously, we agreed, and then we texted our family back home to let them know where we were in case we came up missing.
About 10 minutes later, we arrived a very modest but very warm home. There were several kids in the driveway, and the women of the house were watching out the door as we pulled up. We had stopped along the way to pick up Ajantha’s oldest daughter, so when we were safely parked, the 5 of us climbed out of the tuk tuk. The family was very friendly with us, and they seemed to feel honored that we were there. They even brought us Sri Lankan pancakes for a treat on the road. Before we left, they asked if we would take pictures with them. All of my reservations about Ajantha disappeared when I saw that he was just a working man, trying his best to support his family.
Ajantha had offered to take us to see a few different sightseeing places along the way, and our first stop was the Handuni’s Gem Store and Museum. After he introduced us to the family who ran the museum, he waited for us in the lobby. We watched a video on how the gem mines were and still are built and how the stones are recovered. Afterwards, we were able to visit their factory where they were shaping and polishing the stones as well as designing and creating the jewelry to hold them. It wasn’t a place we’d ever have stopped on our own, but it was quite fascinating to see. After a short push to sell us some gems, we said our goodbyes, and we were admittedly relieved to find Ajantha still waiting in the lobby for us.
Our second stop was at a government run spice garden. We’d heard that they had spice gardens, and we had hoped to visit one. I don’t know what I’d expected a spice garden to be, but this wasn’t it. In Sri Lanka, the locals are big on Ayurvedic medicine, a homeopathic approach to medicine. In this spice garden, our tour guide was an Ayurvedic doctor, and he spent about 45 minutes walking us around from plant to plant and telling us how they used each one to treat all sorts of ailments from varicose veins to insomnia and from hair loss to acid reflux. At the end of our tour, we had the opportunity to purchase their medicines from their shop. We enjoyed our visit here much more than I ever would have anticipated. We aren’t big proponents of modern medicine because we believe it treats the symptoms more often than the causes, and it was interesting to learn about their approach to healing. Our guide was fun to talk with as well. He said that we were only the second ever Americans that spent time talking with him, and that made us both sad and angry. He was such a nice man, and I hated that our countrymen he’d met were so rude to him.
Oh, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Nidikumba, Henry’s favorite plant. If you thump a branch of this plant, the entire branch will wither and appear dead for a few minutes. After 5 minutes or so, it comes back to life and is perfectly fine. Henry had a lot of fun with this, and he thumped every branch he could find.
Our third stop was at the Storefield Tea Factory. We walked up the hill to meet our guide, a very kind Sri Lankan woman. She walked us through a small section of the tea plantation to show us the difference in several different tea types and different harvesting techniques. From there, we walked into the factory with her. Brian and I are both engineers, so we always enjoy a good factory tour. We looked quizzically at each other and laughed as the guide left her shoes at the door (a common Sri Lankan thing) and walked into the factory bare footed. Never have I ever seen that before. In her traditional dress, she explained the process of harvesting, drying, rolling, and sorting the tea leaves. Her factory had been open and making tea since the 1930s, and while they had upgraded a piece or two, they were generally still using the same equipment they started with. After the tour, she walked us to the tea shop where we were able to sit and try 8 different varieties of tea side by side. Henry really enjoyed the white and gold teas, decaffeinated versions that have all the health benefits of tea without the caffeine or taste; they tasted more like water. Brian and I liked the breakfast teas the best.
After the tour, we got back on the road to continue our journey to Adam’s Peak. The roads through this region are very narrow and terribly crooked. There are cliffs on both sides, and in many of the areas, it is difficult for two vehicles to pass one another. With the holiday, traffic was very heavy, and we had to stop several different times to allow buses through since the road was too narrow for them to make the curves. As it began to get dark, we also started noticing that in the wider stretches of the road, cars were pulled over to the edge, and the families in them were gathering around fires and grills to prepare their evening meals. It was very hectic, and we were grateful to not be driving at this point.
It was about 9 pm when we finally got within 2 kilometers of our guesthouse. We were staying at the WaterSide Residences Guest House, and there were so many people and cars out on the narrow road, that no one could move anywhere. Ajantha’s patience must have been wearing thin too, because it seemed like he was more than ready to get out of the craziness as well. It took us almost an hour to go that last bit to the guesthouse, and when we finally pulled in, we were starving and exhausted. I felt so terrible for Ajantha, because I know he had to be tired. He had to drive home still, and I hoped the return trip would be much easier for him.
Our guest house was very nice, and we were greeted warmly by our host Ruwan. He and his family live in a house on the property and run a restaurant as well. Our room was very nice, and our dinner that they prepared for us was even better. We had planned to check in, get a few hours sleep, and then head up to Adam’s Peak at around 2 am. Having seen the incredibly massive crowd, Ruwan recommended that we wait a day instead. I was disappointed to wait, but I figured if he was telling us to wait, we should probably listen to him as he knew the area much better than us.
The next morning, we found out he was right. We were in the restaurant eating breakfast when a couple came in from climbing to the peak. I don’t know how far they made it, but they said that they gave up because the last hour that they were climbing, they hadn’t gone but about 20-meters. Even with all of the stairs, 20 meters should take you less than a minute or two to climb. The holiday crowds were huge though, and the paths up to the top were narrow.
We were thankful that we had decided to spend the day enjoying the area instead. We walked up to the entrance to the peak just to see where it was and what it looked like. The crowd didn’t look too bad from there, but we wanted to be able to see the sunrise, so we didn’t start up it yet. Instead, we explored a tea plantation just across the street from our guest house, and we got Henry a much-needed haircut.
Henry was nervous about getting his hair cut since it was difficult to communicate what he wanted. He was desperate, though, and so was I. We found a picture on the shop’s window that was similar to Henry’s style, though, and the barber seemed to understand what we were saying. Henry sat in the chair, and I sat down in the only nearby chair to watch. Now, I’ve never been one to help Henry get out of a mess, but as I watched this young man start to cut Henry’s hair, I did have the thought that I might need to come up with an excuse to end this little adventure. As I watched him give Henry a horrendous bowl cut, I really began questioning if the barber understood us at all, and while I usually can cut Henry’s hair, I wasn’t sure that I could fix what he was doing to him. I decided to bite my tongue for another moment more, and I’m so glad I did. The kid did a great job on Henry’s hair. Within 30 seconds of my questioning his skills, he showed me that he knew exactly what he was doing. Henry walked out with the best $2 haircut I’ve ever seen.
The next morning, we woke up at 1:30 am, and in a sleepy daze, we began making our way up to the peak. I had never heard of Adam’s Peak before we arrived in Sri Lanka, but it’s a sacred site to many. At the top of the mountain, there is an impression in the rock that resembles a footprint, albeit a 5’ long one from what I’ve read. The Buddhists believe that it is a footprint left by Buddha. The Hindus believe that it is an impression left by Shiva, one of their gods. And I’ve read that some Christians and Muslims believe that it was the first step made by Adam after he was removed from Eden. Believe what you will about it, but many of the local people make the trek to the top as a type of pilgrimage (hence the huge crowds on the holiday weekend). We went up there for the sunrise.
The hike is roughly 4 kilometers one way, and there are more than 5,000 steps to get to the top. It’s a very hard climb. The beginning isn’t too bad because you alternate stairs with level sections, but once you get closer to the top, it’s nothing but steps. We left the hotel just before 2 am, and at 5:50, we found a seat on the stairs near the peak to stop and watch the sunrise. It was breathtaking. The sun came up, and we watched in near silence with the hundreds of people huddled in around us as the soft dawn light slowly begin to light up the tea plantations and lakes in the valleys.
Old and young climbed the mountain for their chance to pay homage to the footprint, and while we were merely tourists to it, we respected their conviction. Along the way, we saw mothers and fathers carrying their sleeping kids up and down. We watched babies breastfeed as their mothers took quick breaks. We passed and were passed by more than a few elderly men and women who made the climb as well. At one point, we spoke with a 70-year old woman who was on her 6th trip up the mountain. Her elderly sister had made this trip 15 times already. She patiently waited for her grandchildren to catch their breath, and then she continued walking up in her dress and bare feet.
After the sun rose, we stood up to continue our trek to the top. It took well over an hour to go the last 30 meters. The very hospitable and kind Sri Lankans became a little aggressive as we started making our way into the final gates at the top. The shrine administrators encouraged this push and shove mentality as they had us move up and fill in all the empty spaces between us as we waited to get through the narrow gates; I felt like cattle being herded through two very narrow gates. When we finally made it to the very top, we walked through a small hallway with a shrine in it. We couldn’t see the footprint as the shrine was covering it. I was exhausted from the climb, and I was irritated by all of the pushing and shoving over the last section, and only seeing a shrine at the top was disappointing. I tried to remember that the sunrise was spectacular, and that made the climb worthwhile, but honestly, I struggled with that.
The climb up was one of the hardest I’ve ever done, but the trip down was even harder. At first, it wasn’t so bad, but after a very short time, we were worn out. Our legs trembled with every step, and all three of us were worried that our knees and ankles were going to buckle if we stepped wrong. Tired from not getting much sleep and hungry from missing breakfast, we were all getting a little testy by the time we reached the bottom. It took us about 3 hours longer to make the round trip than we’d expected, and we were worn out when we reached the guesthouse again. For the next three days, we all struggled to walk. I never wanted to go up or down stairs again.
After a hearty breakfast, Ruwan arranged for a taxi to take us to Nuwara Eliya. Henry and I slept in the backseat, but Brian somehow managed to stay awake through the two-hour drive. It was a beautiful drive, but the little we saw of Nuwara Eliya was very nice. It is a British town, fondly called Little England, and is a hill country village complete with pubs and colonial-style buildings. We really wanted to see more of it, but we were happy to make it to our room for the night. After a quick shower, we found some dinner at a British pub, and then crashed hard in our beds.
The next day we caught the train from Nuwara Eliya to Ella. We had finally found some tickets in the observation car, and we found our seats with no problem. The car had seen better days, but we were there for the experience, and not the luxury of it. The car was the last on the train, and there were enormous picture windows to look out at the tracks as you travelled along. This car wasn’t air conditioned, so we could open up the windows and get a great view of the passing sights.
The train doesn’t go all that far, and it doesn’t go fast at all. It is an open-air train, though, and because it goes slow enough, you can comfortably stick your head out the window and enjoy the fresh mountain air as you pass through some of the most picturesque scenery in the world. We rode in our seats for a few minutes, but it didn’t take long for us to find our way to the luggage car so we could get a better look out the big doors as we traveled down the tracks.
We took lots of photos on the train. Pictures of the landscapes. Pictures of us on the train. Pictures of Instagrammers getting their pictures. It was quite a lot of fun. We spent a lot of time talking to a young couple from Slovakia and sharing travel stories with them. They thought Henry was a hoot, and they enjoyed hearing his perspective on our travels.
In Ella, we stayed with a sweet family at the Restful Homestay. Our room was behind their house in a lovely two room building. We had bunk beds, and even though his legs ached every time he climbed in or out of the bed, Henry loved sleeping in the top bunk. Ella was a small town, but it was the base point for several beautiful hikes.
We decided to do an easy one and hike up to the Little Adam’s Peak. Little Adam’s Peak is nowhere near as tall or as difficult as Adam’s Peak was, but the views are beautiful there as well.
From there we walked down to the Nine Arch Bridge, a 300-foot railway bridge that spans over a valley. The Nine Arch Bridge was completed in 1921, and it is impressive in that it was built completely of brick and cement, and with no steel supports. We timed our visit with the train coming through town, and so from the safety of the edge of the viaduct, we got to see the train pass over the bridge. Afterwards, we ate boiled corn on the cob from a local seller, and then we hiked our way back to our room.
After a few days in Ella, our host arranged a taxi to take us on to Tangalle, our next destination. Tangalle is a beach town, but most tourists don’t visit here. This is a locals’ city and beach, and since we aren’t big on touristy things, we decided that this might be a good place for us as well. We were right; it was heaven.
Our guest house in Tangalle was the Golden Beach Rest, and it was located about 100 meters from the Goyambokka beach. Our driver let us out, and we immediately fell in love with the place. The home was beautiful, surrounded by a garden, and it was near to town but far from the noise. After checking in and getting settled, we walked down to the beach to get a feel for it, and Henry was instantly excited. It was a beautiful beach with clean, tan sand, and it wasn’t crowded. The water rolled in on decent waves, big enough for him to play in, but calm enough to just swim in also. We all wanted to go on into the water, but we were hungry, and we had to take care of that first.
There weren’t many restaurants where we were, though. We walked up to the main road and decided to go to the right, thinking we’d seen more on the map that way. We walked and walked and walked. Finally, we found something that was open, so we grabbed a table at one of the beachside tables. The owner introduced himself and tried to sell us a fresh seafood platter for about $95, but since Brian is the only seafood eater (and we’d never spend $95 on one platter), we politely declined. Instead, we found much more reasonable and delicious entrees, and then made our way back to our guesthouse.
We really enjoyed the next three days in Tangalle. Our host family allowed us to borrow their boogie board, and Henry wore it out on the beach every chance he got. On our first day at the beach, an older British man introduced himself to us and gave Henry a few pointers on the board. He said he’d been working to teach his grandkids to surf, and this beach was great for it. Henry instantly became concerned thinking that by surfing, everyone here meant using the boogie board. We didn’t really know, so we just told him to enjoy whatever we could while we could. He had a ball with it, and the man’s pointers really helped. Henry was really happy to teach Brian and I how to use it as well.
One day on the way to the beach, we were surprised to see a giant monitor sitting on a pile of rubbish that had been cleared out of the area. It was obviously trying to figure out how to get away from us, too. As soon as he saw him, Henry was ready to pack it up and call it a day. It was colored just like a komodo dragon, and while they don’t go looking to hurt people, they are quite fast and quite capable of doing so. The lizard made its way down the fence line trying to figure out how to get away, and we walked warily behind it until we could get clear of it. Henry was a little more than freaked out, but the locals didn’t seem overly concerned. They just gave it plenty of distance, and we figured we should too. Turns out that the island has many very large monitor lizards, and this was just the first, and scariest, one we would see.
The Goyambokka beach was fantastic, though. It was very unpopulated, and there were 3-4 restaurants for us to choose from. If you ordered food or drinks at one of the restaurants, you could snag their lounge chairs to use also. It was relaxing and easy, and we spent quite a lot of time soaking in the sun there. We had considered staying here for much longer, as we really enjoyed it, but we felt like we needed to move on down the coast and see what the rest of Sri Lanka had to offer as well. Our host drove us to our next destination of Mirissa Beach.
During the drive, our host told us about the devastating damage that was done by the tsunami of 2004. We drove through one of the towns that was completely wiped out by the waves, and he shared with us how the town has rebuilt. I remember hearing about the tsunami almost 20 years ago, and I remember how quickly and unexpectedly the water destroyed the coastal towns. They’d never experienced a tsunami before, and in just a few minutes with very little warning, they lost 35,000 people. It was heartbreaking to imagine, and driving through the coastline, we couldn’t help to wonder what that would have been like.
Mirissa Beach is a tourist beach, and we had reservations about going here. The main section of town is quite busy with lots of hotels and hostels, restaurants and cafes, souvenir shops, and travel companies lining the streets. We checked in to the ExtremeHost Hostel, and while we thought the place was nice, we felt a pang of regret for having left Tangalle. We walked to a nearby restaurant to grab some lunch, and we sat, surrounded by the noise and constant picture taking of the backpackers and European tourists. The area was beautiful, and there were certainly more options to pick from, but we missed the peace and solitude we’d just left behind.
We decided to make the best of it, and we found the Mirissa Beach after a short walk. The beach was very nice with beautiful sands, calm waves, and a good breeze off of the ocean. There were restaurants with tables and beach chairs lining one end of the beach, and on the other, there was a rocky promontory that you could climb. We climbed up to see the view, and it was beautiful. On one side, you could watch all the crabs scurrying around the rocks as the waves crashed on them. On the other, you could watch the sea turtles swimming through the larger boulders.
While in Mirissa, we also made a day trip to the Secret Beach, a not-so-secret area of the beach that requires a bit of a hike to reach. We had moved over to the Resort of Happiness after our first two nights, and this guesthouse was much easier to hike from. We followed our map and the locals helped us along the way until we walked up to the rocky beach hidden from the main Mirissa beachfront. It was nearing sunset, and the little cove was perfectly situated to watch the sun go down. Henry played in the waves as best he could, but with the rocky bottom and the rough waves, he could only go in to about knee high in the water. This beach was less sand and more shell remnants, so it was less comfortable to walk or sit on. We stayed and enjoyed it for a while, but it wasn’t quite our kind of place.
On another day, we took a trip over to the Weligama Beach. We had heard that this was a great beach for surfing, and sure enough, the shores were lined with surfboard rentals and surf schools. We grabbed a bite to eat at a local restaurant, and while Brian and Henry paid $2.50 to rent a surfboard for an hour, I paid $2.50 to rent a beach chair for the afternoon. Henry and Brian had a great time getting thoroughly beat up by the waves, and I watched with amusement from the comfort of my lounger. A good time was had by all, but I’d like to think that I got the better end of that one.
After several days in Mirissa, we decided we needed to move on again, and this time, we were moving to Hikkaduwa Beach. Brian had made a friend in Mexico the previous January, and she happened to be in Sri Lanka as well, so we were heading here to meet up with her. We got into town a few days before she would arrive, and we found a room at the Mount House Hotel in Dikwella.
The Mount House was an apartment building, and it was gorgeous. Pulling up to it, even our taxi driver was impressed. The house was large and well kept, and Kumari, the caretaker, was very helpful. One evening, Kumari helped us light his BBQ grill and we were able to grill some chicken. It was such a normal thing for us to do that at home, but on the road, we haven’t been able to enjoy that at all. It felt nice to prepare our own meal and eat in the privacy of our ‘home.’
Our favorite thing about the Mount House though was the wildlife. We saw another giant monitor, several monkeys, and a peacock. The monkeys were my favorite, though. We’d been warned that they were mean, and while they look really cute, they like to fight. We watched them from behind the safety of our balcony each time they came around. Several of the bigger ones had babies, and mean or not, there’s nothing cuter than a baby monkey. One afternoon we were visited by 20-30 monkeys who were climbing and playing in the trees surrounding the building. They would wrestle on the deck and race up and down the trees, and they seemed to be particularly amused by the giant water tank in the back yard. They must have figured out how to get the top off of the tank, and once they did, they spent hours taking turns dipping down into the water, climbing in and out, and occasionally, going for a swim inside. When I told Kumari about it, he immediately closed the tank back up so that they couldn’t get in there. I’m not exactly sure what the water in the tank was used for, but my guess is that this is one of the many reasons you don’t drink water from the tap.
Of course, we checked out the beach while we were there too. The Hikkaduwa beach is a small cove that is perfect for surfing as well. On the right side of the cove, the waters tend to be calm, and swimmers can enjoy playing in the clear turquoise waters. On the left side, though, intermediate surfers can catch some rather large waves. Unfortunately, in the middle, you get a very large group of beginner surfers who have no idea what they are doing.
Henry and Brian decided to rent a board and try the waves for a bit, but they didn’t have much luck. The waves were a little unpredictable. You’d have two or three good ones, and then nothing for a time. Then out of nowhere, you’d get a big one. And did I mention that there were a lot of people who didn’t know what they were doing? It was very crowded. Surfers were lined up very close to one another, and swimmers were out in the water doing their own thing. When a good wave would come along, all the surfers would give it a go, and most would wipe out precariously close to every one else. The few surfers who made it further in would do their best to not run down the swimmers on their way.
And so we should have known better to try to be out there, but it was beautiful, and we just couldn’t resist it. About 45-minutes into their first rental hour, Henry was trying to catch a wave, and he and another surfer got too close. Her board flew up and came crashing down right on Henry’s cheek. Brian went out to get him, and he tried to be brave and shake it off, but he was hurting. We returned the board and decided to play in the shallow waves instead. We’d had enough surfing for now.
While we were in Hikkaduwa, we were able to catch up with Brian’s friend Pauline. Pauline is from France, and she is traveling round a bit until she starts her new job in the travel industry very soon. We met Pauline and some of her friends for dinner at a local restaurant near the beach. We had a great time chatting with everyone about their adventures and learning how these people were living out their dreams.
After almost 4 weeks in Sri Lanka, it was time for us to begin a new chapter in this adventure, so after we got our COVID tests for traveling, Kumari set us up with a taxi ride to the airport. We’d experienced so much in a short time, and we had met so many wonderful people along our way. I touched on this earlier, but Brian and I just could not get over how kind and warm the Sri Lankan people were. They went out of their way to be friendly to us, and when we needed help, there was always someone there and willing to do whatever they could for us. During the tuk tuk incident, those men who stood with us on the side of the road made an impact on us that they probably aren’t even aware of. Several of our hosts checked on us for the days following our leaving their homes. And everywhere we went, people would walk up to us for no other reason except to just say hello and welcome us to their land. Of all the places we’ve been, I’ve never felt more welcome than here. The Sri Lankans seemed truly grateful for us coming to visit their country, and they have left an impression on us that we will remember for a very long time. Coming here, I expected to see beautiful beaches, breathtaking mountains, and all sorts of paradise in between. I never expected that the most beautiful memory I’d take away with me would be of the people.
One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.
– Henry Miller
Henry had pinned Dubai as one of his absolute must-visit cities on this trip very early on. He tends to obsess about things and go on and on about them (I wonder where he gets that), and he’s talked about Dubai and the UAE for as long as I can remember. Even before we arrived, I had heard all about the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. I knew about the man-made palm shaped islands, Deep Dive Dubai (the world’s deepest pool), The Dubai Mall (the world’s biggest shopping mall), The Mall of the Emirates (a mall where you could go snow skiing inside – in the mall, in the desert), and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard about all of the expensive and luxurious cars that people drive there. If it can be done, Dubai can do it bigger and better. And Henry couldn’t wait for us to get there.
Brian and I were perhaps a little less eager. We both wanted to go, also, but we knew that this region would be much more expensive than any of the Central and South American countries we had visited so far. Already a little over budget, we weren’t sure what we’d be able to do or how long we’d really be able to stay there. But we booked our flights, and after a short layover in Switzerland, we arrived in Dubai at around 10 pm.
Brian and I were also very concerned about how to behave like good tourists in a culture that we didn’t understand. We are Tennesseans, raised in the Bible belt of the USA. We’ve grown up in an area where the vast majority of people practice, or at least claim to practice, Christianity. Throughout our trip so far, we’ve learned about several ancient religions, but everywhere we’ve been, Christianity was still the primary religion of the modern society. We knew that the United Arab Emirates would be a culture shock for us, so to prepare for our visit, we read up on as much as we could on the internet. Ultimately, we learned that we’d need to behave as conservatively as possible – no foul language, no public displays of affection, dress conservatively, and be polite. We learned a few other specifics for mosque visits, but aside from that, it was pretty well business as usual for us.
Going through customs, we were directed to a ‘family’ line where a young woman stamped our passports and warmly welcomed us into the country. After collecting our bags, we made our way to the airport exit. A line of men stood waiting in a row with their taxi signs as we walked through the hallway. A young Arabic man asked Brian if we needed a taxi, and he quoted us a price. The price he gave us was higher than we expected, but we were tired, we didn’t know how accurate the estimates we’d researched were, and quite frankly, we were just ready to get to our beds, so we walked with him out to the parking garage. As we waited in the well lit but unpopulated garage with him, he assured us that the car would be around for us in just a moment. We grew very uncomfortable with the situation; it just didn’t feel right, and we decided to go back into the airport instead. After politely walking away, we found the ground transportation exit again, and this time we passed by all of the men and followed the arrows to another section of the garage. Here, there were metered taxis everywhere. We quickly loaded our bags into a waiting car and took off for our hotel. Incidentally our real taxi costed more than we were expecting to pay, but less than half of the quoted rate from the man we left standing on the parking deck.
Driving through the city was a thrill. There were bright lights everywhere, and we all were on the lookout for the famous buildings and landmarks we’d learned about. We had been told that Dubai was the Las Vegas of the Middle East, and it felt very much like that. There were bright lights and beautiful examples of architecture everywhere you looked. Henry was watching for the fancy cars, and every time he saw one he’d excitedly point it out.
We made it to our hotel within 30 minutes, and our driver helped us with our bags. We were staying at the Tulip Al Barsha Hotel, very near The Mall of the Emirates. The hotel staff checked us in, and then we went up to our very spacious and nice apartment. Henry would be sleeping on the pull out sofa, but he had his own bathroom, so he was still excited. The apartment was very nice, and at check in we learned that there was a rooftop pool that we could enjoy as well. We got our belongings situated, and then we did the best we could to try to sleep through the night. We’d been traveling for 18 hours, and the time had moved 7 hours ahead while we flew. We weren’t really tired, but we knew we had to get on their schedule as quickly as possible. We all struggled to sleep, and when morning came, it hit us like a ton of bricks.
We missed breakfast because we just couldn’t get up and moving, but we made it to a really nice lunch at the restaurant next door to the hotel. I was thrilled because they had Mountain Dew! We didn’t know what much on the menu was, but thankfully the waiter was very patient with us. Brian ordered Afghani Pulao, a mutton dish, and Henry and I ordered the one picture on the menu that looked like grilled chicken kabobs. We got a tray of vegetables to enjoy, two large pieces of naan (Indian bread), and a yogurt based sauce each. We weren’t really sure how to eat all of it, but we watched those around us and improvised as best we could. We didn’t get any napkins, but there was a box of kleenex-type tissues on the table that we could use. We debated if they were really supposed to be used as tissues or napkins, but since we had no other options, we made do with them. In our opinion, these made a poor substitute for napkins, and as we spent more time in Dubai, we learned that this was indeed their intended purpose.
After a quick dip in the pool, we found some dinner nearby at The Seven Stars Hot Pot. This was a different kind of experience for us. If you aren’t familiar with it, hot pot is a Chinese meal where you are served various raw meats and vegetables, and you cook them yourself at your table in a flavorful broth served in a large pot. We were seated at our table, and from there, we got to pick two meats from their menu to begin with. We could order any of a wide selection of meats from their menu that we wanted, and we could eat all we wanted, but we were limited to pick two at a time. Trying to stick to something somewhat familiar, we chose chicken and beef to start with. We weren’t sure what we were doing yet, so we ordered a mixed pot of sauces; on one half of the pot, we had a red, spicy broth, and on the other, the broth was well seasoned but not at all spicy. Then we each went through the buffet area picking out the vegetables that we wanted as we went down the line.
Brian and I had been to The Melting Pot before, and so we kind of knew what to do. But this was different. Everything was brought out all at once, and it was up to you to figure out how to properly cook your foods and how to keep your dishes clean and sanitary. We messed up at first, and each of us put in the items that we were wanting to eat in the order we were wanting to eat them. After a few nerve-wracking minutes of trying to figure out whose chicken was whose (and more importantly, whose chicken was fully cooked), we figured out a system that worked pretty well. All in all, it was a great meal, and we enjoyed it very much. Henry discovered he loved bean sprouts, Brian ate his weight in crab, and I got my fill on sweet potatoes. And the absolute best part, no one got sick from it.
The next day, we rested up quite a lot, and we made it over to the Mall of the Emirates for the first time that evening for dinner. It was a nice mall, very nice actually, but if we’d realized that we would come to this mall every single day for the rest of the trip, we’d probably not have made this trip. It was stylish and modern, and it had every store you could imagine. We enjoyed the food court, especially, because we could all eat what we each wanted. Brian and Henry picked Chinese, and they laughed at me because I picked a hot dog for our first meal there. It just sounded so different from normal. I mean, really, I won’t eat a hot dog in too many places because I’m just never sure they’re going to be good. I figured if I was going to eat one outside of the US, Dubai would be a good place. It wasn’t really. I should have waited. In this case, they made the better choice with their standard Chinese fare.
The next morning, we woke up and found our way over to the Burj Khalifa. Henry has talked about this building for years, and he scoured the sky looking for it on our way into town. It’s the tallest building in the world, and Henry couldn’t wait to see it in person. We walked over to the Mall of the Emirates and bought our tickets from there to board the Metro, Dubai’s subway system. After a short ride, we got off at the station for the Dubai Mall, the biggest shopping mall in the world. Like the Mall of the Emirates, the Metro is connected to it via elevated walkways, so after exiting the train, we easily made our way into the mall. It took us a little while to get ourselves oriented because the place is just so unbelievably large. We passed by the ice skating rink and the world’s biggest aquarium, through one of several food courts, and then we finally found ourselves outside in an outdoor park area. American restaurants peppered the mall’s exterior, but we hardly took notice of them. Standing in front of us was the beautiful building that we’d come to see.
As we walked closer to it, we crossed a bridge and watched the water fountain show. Henry got a little teary eyed because he couldn’t believe he was actually here and seeing this in person. Of course, that made me a little teary eyed too. The show was spectacular, timed perfectly with the rhythms of the music. After the show, we made our way back into the lower level of the mall and over to the entrance of the Burj Khalifa.
We walked through a museum of sorts as we entered the building. There were displays that detailed the timeline of building it, the different milestones they hit during the construction, and the impact to the region. From an engineering perspective, I found it quite interesting. The building wasn’t initially planned to be so large, but as other countries built taller structures, the plans morphed into what it is today. After all, Dubai couldn’t build the second largest building in the world on purpose.
When we finally got in and the doors closed on the crowded elevator, we watched and listened to a multi-media presentation as we quickly made our way to the 125th floor. The view from there through the floor to ceiling glass walls was impressive. It was hazy outside, so visibility was reduced a bit, but you could still see the massive city sprawling all the way to the Persian Gulf. There were quite a few displays detailing the construction and maintenance of the building, and Brian and I really enjoyed those. There were also computerized binoculars to help you look out on the city and identify local points of interest that we found quite fun as well.
After circling the entire floor and taking plenty of photographs on the open-air deck on the 124th floor, we made our way back down to the exit. With our ticket purchase, we’d gotten a pass to go to the Sky Observatory in the Sky Views Hotel. We decided to kill a few more hours at the mall so that we could use the Sky Observatory tickets to see the night sky from there. We debated going to a Virtual Reality arcade, a movie, or go-kart racing. Instead, we ended up just walking the mall area some more. By dusk, we started making our way over to the hotel to use our ‘free’ passes.
There wasn’t a crowd there at all, and we were able to walk right in with no issues. After making our way up the elevator, we were escorted to the glass-bottomed slide on the 53rd floor. The employees helped us get on our mats, and we each took our turn sliding down to the 52nd floor over the glass that was cantilevered out past the edge of the building. The slide was quick, but I wouldn’t open my eyes and I refused to look down. When I reached the bottom, I couldn’t get off the glass quickly enough. Henry loved it though, of course.
If the slide wasn’t enough to raise my blood pressure, the see-through floor of the Sky Views Hotel certainly was. I was nauseated just by looking down. In my head, I knew that the floor is safe to walk on. I really did. But I could not make myself get out there and do it. Henry tried to get me out there. Brian tried. The sweet little lady who was working in the area even offered to hold my hand. But I just couldn’t do it. It was beautiful, but I could see the beauty from the solid floor on the side of the glass just fine.
My favorite part of the experience, though, was looking over the city at night. The twinkling lights on and around the Burj Khalifa were majestic looking. It was absolutely stunning. Traffic moved on the streets below, but somehow the head and taillights just added to the beauty. I could have stayed there staring at that all night. The Burj Khalifa was great to go see, but when you are inside, you cannot really appreciate how big and beautiful the structure really is. Standing on this observation deck, though, you could fully take the spectacle of it in. It was gorgeous.
We stopped by the Shake Shack in the Dubai Mall before we went back to our room for the night. We were still fighting the effects of jetlag, and we were all ready to crawl into our beds. Maybe we were just craving comfort foods, but we just couldn’t pass up a good greasy burger and chocolate milk shake that night.
The next day, we decided to try a new kind of adventure. Henry had really wanted to go to Deep Dive Dubai to scuba dive in the world’s deepest pool, and when we found out that for the three of us to enjoy an hour dive there would cost us 8 days on our trip budget, he was heartbroken. We just couldn’t swing that kind of expense for an hour of entertainment. We’d talked about a few different options we could enjoy, and after several days of debating the pros and cons of each one, we elected to go snow skiing instead. So after grabbing a bite to eat, we paid our fees and made our way into the Ski Dubai Resort.
In full transparency, I have to admit I was very excited about snow skiing, but I was really nervous. I went with a group of friends when I was a teenager, and I absolutely loved it. We spent a week in West Virginia, and I remember getting the hang of it and finding it loads of fun. Brian had never gone until about 15 years ago. He and I went with some other friends to ski in North Carolina. It was really warm in the day there and really cold at night, so the snow would turn to slush in the day, and freeze hard as a rock at night. It was more like trying to ski on ice, and it hurt incredibly badly if you fell. Also, it was man-made snow, so on the slope, it was great. But if you got too far off of the main slope, you’d hit grass which skis don’t slide on at all, and that was extraordinarily painful as well. Brian hated it the whole time, and while he said that one day he might consider going again, I honestly never thought he would.
So I was really surprised when Brian agreed to do this. I don’t think he expected to like it, either. Henry was just so excited about it, and after watching how hard he took the news about Deep Dive Dubai, Brian simply couldn’t say no. After getting our rental gear, we waited patiently in the skiing class waiting area for our instructor to arrive. Henry would be in the kid class, so we wouldn’t be with him. We were all in the same little bunny slope area, though, so we could see one another and cheer each other on.
Our instructors were great, and we all had a really good lesson. I was getting comfortable again, at least on the bunny slope we were practicing on, and both Brian and Henry were doing pretty great too. After our hour lesson was up, though, we had to pack up the skis and entertain ourselves with their other snow activities. We had hoped that they’d allow us to continue to practice in the practice area, or perhaps even work our way onto the bigger bunny slope, but they wouldn’t. We were disappointed, but we decided to make the best of it and enjoy all of their other activities.
They had a luge slide that Henry loved, several tube slides, a large inflated ball you could ride down the slope inside, and another larger tube ride they called the Mountain Thriller. We were free to take the ski lift as often as we’d like also. We played until we were cold and exhausted, then we left to get lunch. We played some more, and then we left to get dinner. Not ready to give up just yet, we played a little more after that. We ended up closing the place down, and we had a great time. Our only regret was that we couldn’t ski a little more, but perhaps we’ll find somewhere else on the trip to have another try at that.
We woke up the next day, and we were all surprised we weren’t more sore. We had a desert safari planned for the afternoon and evening, so we had a little time to relax during the morning. At around 2:30 pm, our safari driver picked us up for our desert adventure. He was a young Pakistani man who didn’t speak a lot of English. He was polite and kind, but our conversation was so difficult that eventually we just rode in silence. We picked up another family on the way, and they helped liven up the ride. It was a man, his wife, and their daughter’s college friend. The man, Simon, and his wife were from the UK, but they’d been living in Dubai for the last 14 years. The daughter’s friend was visiting with them for a few days and taking in the sights. The couple had been on this type of safari several times before, but they were excited to take this girl and let her experience it for herself.
After an hour ride into the desert, we stopped at a very busy parking area bustling with activity. On both sides of the road, drivers sped up and down the dunes in ATVs and on 4-wheelers. For a small fee, our driver would arrange it so that we could enjoy the activity as well, but we opted not to. At home, we could ride 4-wheelers anytime we wanted, so we didn’t feel the need to spend that extra money here. Instead, we wandered around watching all our fellow tourists get suckered in to buying souvenirs that they’d likely throw away shortly after they got back home. We bought some snacks and found a quiet corner in the chaos to scarf them down.
After our pitstop, we got back in our SUV and drove further into the desert. After 20 minutes or so, we left the main road for a beaten down trail to another parking area. Here we changed from our Nissan Armada to a bright white four-wheel drive Toyota Land Cruiser. We climbed inside not really knowing what was in store for us. This very luxurious vehicle, complete with leather seats and electronic everything, was also outfitted with a full roll cage. While it was comforting to know we’d be protected if we crashed, it was also a little disconcerting to think we might actually need it. What had we signed up for? Our driver made sure we were all buckled and ready to go, and then we took off on an incredibly fun route over and through the dunes.
I’d never heard of dune bashing until we scheduled this excursion, but I had a ball. I hadn’t laughed so hard in quite some time. We got tossed around, and there were more than a few times I thought we were about to flip over. The driver sprayed sand all over the vehicle as we slid on and over the shifting sands, and every time we did, I got to watch Henry and Brian’s faces light up with delight. It was quite a lot of fun, but the 15-20 minutes we spent going full speed on the dunes was more than enough for me. Simon, the man from the UK who was traveling with us, told us that they tried dune bashing on their own one time, and within a minute, they were stuck very deep in the sand and had to be pulled out. Apparently, it takes quite a lot of skill to maneuver the dunes well, and our driver definitely had that.
We made our way through the unmarked desert ‘road’ to a Bedouin camp just a few minutes further in. Several men greeted us formally as we exited the vehicle and they welcomed us to the camp. We had an option to ride a camel, and of course, we couldn’t pass that up.
After the camel ride, we took our turn at dune surfing. Sliding down the dune on the snowboard was a lot of fun, but the climb back up to the top was difficult enough to discourage me from doing it too many times. I never realized just how tall sand dunes could really be!
Henry simply enjoyed playing in the sand. I’ve never seen a kid who enjoys sand the way he does. He can just never get enough of it.
After we played a while, we went inside the camp. I went over to get my free henna tattoo while Brian and Henry rounded up some drinks for us. We found our seats at our assigned table and got ready for the show. In addition to a barbeque dinner, we would be treated to a show with live entertainment – belly dancers, tanoura dancers, and a fire show. Our tables were positioned so that we sat on large pillows on the ground surrounding the stage. We were near the edge of the audience in the cheap seats, but we were able to stand and see the exhibitions much better than most of the guests.
As the evening wore on, the night air turned chilly, and we were ready to be back in the warmth of our comfortable beds. At the end of the show, our driver met us at the entrance to the camp and we loaded back into his vehicle. We dropped off the other family, and around 10:30 pm, our driver finally dropped us back off at our hotel steps. It was a great night and a fun experience, but we were worn out.
The next day, we decided to explore a different section of town and learn a little more about the culture we were in. We woke up early and headed back over to the mall to catch the Metro again. We made it just in time to the Jumeirah Mosque in Old Dubai where the Shiekh Mohammad Center for Cultural Understanding was holding their morning tour and question/answer session. After a few refreshments, the hostess started the session and introduced us to the facility. We toured the mosque, and she explained the five pillars of Islam to the group. Everyone listened respectfully and attentively to her summary. It was very informative for us, and we found it interesting to hear about the beliefs of Islam from a person who actually practices it. I’d always heard that it was supposed to be a peaceful religion, but unfortunately at home, all we hear about in the news is the violence and subjugation of women by the more radical sects. From talking with these people and seeing a glimpse into their lives, we learned that the picture we see at home doesn’t tell the whole story.
It was interesting to learn more about the Call to Prayer that we heard broadcasted throughout the city; we’d been hearing this each day as we walked in and around town, and we knew it was related to prayer, but that was all. We also learned about Mecca and how all physically and financially able Muslims are required to make their pilgrimage there at least once in their lifetime. Pre-covid, over 2.5 million people made the once per year journey to Saudi Arabia to worship and pray there together. After a brief question and answer session, we took off to explore the old portion of town.
We walked through the Gold Souk, an outdoor mall with store upon store selling everything gold from small trinkets to enormous and outrageous dress-sized jewelry. We gawked and joked about actually wearing these expensive pieces in public. You’d have to be crazy. And rich. But probably both.
After a short taxi ride across the water, we found ourselves in a section of town that was more reminiscent of Aladdin than anything we’d seen before. The beautiful buildings lined the street of the outdoor mall, but at that time of day, the streets were nearly empty.
We wandered around the maze of buildings until we found ourselves standing outside the Museum of Illusion, a place we’d discussed going, but hadn’t planned to go to. Looking inside, we decided to just go on in. The place was really neat, and we had a lot of fun examining all of the different exhibits.
The streets were packed with people when we exited the museum. Local performers were getting ready to start their exhibitions, and stores were laying out their wares for tourists to browse. While we hated to miss out on the entertainment here, we were ready to head back to our section of town and call it a day.
That evening, we walked to a local restaurant called Baba Ganousch. The food was good, but our favorite moment in the meal was when Henry bravely (or stupidly) grabbed a green pepper and decided to eat the entire thing very quickly. Now, please know that Brian and I typically do everything we can to protect him from doing something that will hurt himself because we are good parents who only want the best for him. But sometimes, he just has to learn the hard way. And he did. That pepper lit him up, and while a part of us felt sorry for him, the more devious part of me couldn’t stop laughing. If you look closely at his pictures, you might even notice the poor little tears running down his cheek.
We had saved our last full day for visiting the Expo 2020. We’d only heard about the Expo a few weeks prior after we’d already booked our tickets to Dubai, but we were excited to go. The World’s Expo (better known as the World’s Fair in the US) has been held for 170 years, and on each occasion, countries from all over the world bring their best innovations and achievements to the fair to showcase for everyone to see. Dubai had been slated to host the event in 2020, but when COVID blew up, the event was put on hold. They had built an enormous site on over 1000 acres to host the event, and they connected it to their Metro for easy accessibility. The show had opened in October of 2021, and it just so happened, that we would get to go. We couldn’t wait.
We rode the metro to the Expo stop, and grabbed our tickets on the way in. It took us a bit to get oriented to the event as there was just so much to see. We walked in with a list of the ‘countries’ we really wanted to visit, but the site map was so large it was hard to plan a route to see them all. We knew from reading up on it that there were several exhibits that were different and noteworthy, so of course we wanted to go see them. We also picked a few countries that we’d visited and a few that we knew were on our wish list. We spent the day looking at the amazing exhibits, learning more about these places, and being wowed by their creativity and ambition. There were a few exhibits that made us scratch our heads in confusion, but most of them were fantastic. Our last exhibit for the day was the one for the United States. It was nice to hear people welcome us into the show with clear US English accents. While we didn’t really care for the USA exhibit, it was nice to feel like some part of the US was there with us.
We had an evening flight to get us to our next destination, so on our last morning, we moseyed out of our hotel and over to the mall once again to get on the Metro. This time, we rode to the Jumeirah Palm. We wanted to check out the palm island and get a glimpse of the Atlantis resort we had been seeing from our hotel roof. From the comfort of the front seats on the monorail, we were able to view the buildings on the islands. The homes and apartments were all very modern and very nice. There were grocery stores, day cares, and every other business that residents needed to maintain their lives.
We got off the monorail at the Atlantis resort, and we did our best to walk in like we owned the place. The resort really was very much like Vegas. Inside the hotel, there were stores and restaurants selling high end clothing and gourmet food. We found our way to a recreation area upstairs where you could bowl and play billiards, arcade games, and more. There was a multistory playground on one corner of the building, and Henry had been eyeing it very hard from the moment we walked in. We assumed that it would be rather expensive to visit, so we told him to not get his hopes up. But after walking around for a few minutes, he’d had all he could take; he walked up to the reception desk and asked how much it was to play. He lit up when she said it was free. We signed the waiver, and they gave him a wristband and let him in. He had a ball. He ran and climbed until he finally came out of there a sweaty mess. It was good to see him enjoy himself like that again.
We made it back to our hotel in time to grab our bags and walk back over to the mall for a final time. Since we would have all of our luggage with us on the train during rush hour, we decided it would be best for us split up for the ride to the airport. Henry and I climbed in the Women and Children carriage of the train hoping it would be less crowded and Brian found a spot in the regular carraige. The train was packed very tightly with rush hour traffic, and we were all hot and uncomfortable trying to keep our balance and protect our bags at the same time. A few stops before the airport, things finally started clearing out, and we were able to grab seats and relax. We made it to the airport, sweaty and hungry, but we had plenty of time before our flight.
Unfortunately, we hadn’t banked on not being able to check in. The airlines we travel with usually have quite a few check in desks, and they are staffed all day. This one was a little different. We were flying from Dubai to Oman, and then from there, we’d catch our next flight on to Sri Lanka. The Oman Air team was rather small, and the employees would shift between the check in counters and the gate as needed. We were directed to a waiting area to wait until our check in counter would open. We’d been looking forward to getting checked in and grabbing a nice bite to eat in the lounge, and with every minute that ticked by, that seemed to be less likely.
Finally, our check in counter opened up, and we moved from the waiting area to the line. One employee went down the waiting line helping guests get all of their documents ready in order to speed up the check in process. When he got to us, we told him where we were going, and he called us by name. Apparently, we were the only guests flying on to Sri Lanka, and he’d remembered our names when he was studying the passenger manifest. We showed him our documents, but when he found out that we hadn’t gotten our visas already, he became confused. Sri Lanka had only recently opened their borders again, and this airline was unclear on what we’d need to ensure we got in properly. We had tried to get the visas ahead of time, but the Sri Lankan website would not accept our credit card payment. Since that wasn’t working, I did some more research and discovered we could get the visas on arrival for a slightly higher fee. I assured the attendant repeatedly that the Sri Lanka government’s website said we’d be okay to get our visas on arrival, and after researching it for 15 minutes or so, they finally agreed.
The final paper we needed for entry was a health disclosure form that we could either fill out electronically or we could fill out a paper copy upon arrival. I’d elected to do the paper copy, but they asked that we do the electronic copy instead. So as the line continued to pass us by, we stood in front of the check in counter and I worked on filling out the documents on my phone. I completed Brian’s and then mine. I got an email with a QR code on mine, but we never got anything on Brian’s, so assuming I had bumbled something, I redid his, and eventually we got an email on his as well. When I did Henry’s, we got a confirmation with a QR code, but the email just wouldn’t come through. The attendant demanded that we have the email before we could check in, and regardless of how hard I tried to explain that the code I’d saved from the site would suffice, he wouldn’t budge. At some point, we had 3 different attendants listening to my explanation in hopes that one of them could understand well enough what I was trying to say. I don’t know if they eventually did or if they just felt sorry for us, but after arguing for over two hours, they let us go.
We checked in with no other issues, but at this point, we didn’t have much time before we would be boarding. Brian had been hungry before we left Atlantis, and by this point, he was so hungry he was developing a migraine. The gourmet lounge meal we’d hoped for was replaced by a McDonald’s burger and soft drink that we barely had time to scarf down before it was time to get on the plane. We got to our seats, and for the first time all day, we had time to reflect on Dubai and what a great time we’d had.
We had wanted to visit so much more of the UAE, but our timing didn’t allow for it. During the week we were there, militants had used a drone to explode a fueling station at the Abu Dhabi airport killing three people, and just days later, the UAE announced that they had shot down incoming missiles over Abu Dhabi. Even if our time and financial budgets had been larger, we felt like it was time for us to get out of there. I feel certain that the UAE will go to great lengths to protect its people, but the terrorist activity going on was a little too close for our comfort. We met a lot of great people during our time there and having real faces to put in the crowd makes these heinous acts even more detestable. I’m glad we will be able to rest easy soon, but I hate it for the people who live here.
The UAE was such a nice place to visit, and it was a great first country for us to explore on this side of the world. I hated that we couldn’t stay longer. The food was delicious, the people were kind, and the city of Dubai is absolutely gorgeous. We learned a lot about a group of people who live very differently than us, and while we may not agree with all of their thoughts on life or religion, we are leaving with a new understanding of who they are. After interacting with us for a very short week, my hope is that they have a slightly different perspective on who we are as well.
I believe it is in our nature to explore, to reach out into the unknown. The only true failure would be not to explore at all.
– Sir Ernest Shackleton
When Brian first mentioned going to Antarctica, I really thought he was crazy. This man that I loved had to have lost his mind. All I could imagine was trekking through icy, near blizzard, horrendously windy weather with dogsleds and wearing heavy fur-lined coats, hats, and gloves as we survived on nasty coffee and seal blubber. What kind of person would actually want to do that? But he was adamant that he wanted to go there, and Henry was all in, also. Henry was scared of the polar bears and orcas, but in the right conditions, he said he’d love the opportunity to do the polar plunge. Begrudgingly, I accepted that this would be one of our destinations if/when we made our trip around the world. And then in July when we started setting our plan into motion, our voyage to Antarctica was the first thing we booked.
Originally, we signed up for a 10 day adventure where we sailed from Ushuaia, Argentina to Antarctica and back. At some point while we were in Utila, Honduras, we got a message from Quark saying that our trip had been cancelled due to the challenges of COVID. We were pretty upset, but over the next few days, we tried to work out an alternative. After several emails and phone calls, they offered us the option of joining this 20-day Celebrating Shackleton trip instead, and thankfully, the timing worked out with our travel plans.
We had all heard of Ernest Shackleton, but none of us knew much about him. Over the next few months, we read the book ‘Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage’ to learn a bit more about him. The book was a good and easy read, but I’ll give you the quick version here. Ernest Shackleton was an Explorer from Great Britain, and in 1914, having recently lost the opportunity to become the first man to reach the South Pole, he set out to become the first man to traverse the Antarctic continent via the south pole. His crew left Britain in their ship, Endurance, just as World War I began, and they stopped in South Georgia to make their final preparations. On December 5,, 1914, the 28 men left South Georgia with plans to reach the continent through the Weddell Sea, but the conditions soon worsened, and only 45 days into the trip, the Endurance was trapped in the icy waters. The men camped on the boat for 9 months until in late October, they had to abandon ship due to the pressure from the surrounding pack ice that was crushing the boat; water began flooding in faster than they could get it out. The wooden boat was no match for the enormous pressure of the ice. The men were marooned on large floating slabs of sea ice for 6 months until the ice floe began to break apart as well. In early April, 1916, Shackleton ordered the men off of the sea ice and into their three small lifeboats so that they could set sail and hopefully find land. They rowed their small open top lifeboats for 5 days in some of the roughest waters in the world, and somehow, they all made it to Elephant Island, 346 miles away from where the Endurance sank.
Elephant Island was/is uninhabited, but it was the first solid land these men had stepped on in 497 days. After resting and recuperating there briefly, Shackleton took 5 men with him in one of the lifeboats to try to reach South Georgia, another 720 miles away. While he was gone, his second in command, Frank Wild managed with the remaining men at a place they named Camp Patience. After 2 weeks of sailing in the tiny lifeboat, Shackleton and crew landed on the west side of South Georgia in King Haakon Bay. From there, rather than risking more danger by trying to sail around South Georgia, Shackleton and two of his men climbed the glaciers and mountains of South Georgia for 36 hours in order to reach the Stromness Whaling Station on the eastern shore of the island. Within hours, the other three men still in Shackleton’s lifeboat were rescued, and by August 30, 1916, they were able to reach Camp Patience on Elephant Island to rescue the remaining 22 men. All in all, the 28 men were stranded for 31 months in the most desolate and unforgiving areas on earth, and every one of them survived.
While Shackleton’s mission to traverse Antarctica was not successful, he is still recognized today for his leadership and drive in getting all of his men home alive. Shackleton died on January 5, 1922, and at his wife’s request, he was buried at the whaling station of Grytviken, South Georgia. This Quark voyage would honor Shackleton by remembering his expedition, visiting some of the places his men had traveled, learning about their challenges and hardships, and on the 100th anniversary of his death, holding a toast to Shackleton at the cemetery where he is buried.
It sounded nice. So here’s how it really went.
Day 1: December 22, 2021
This morning, we checked out of the Del900 Boutique Hostel in Buenos Aires where we’ve been staying for the past few nights, and we took a taxi to the five-star Emperador Hotel where Quark Expeditions is putting us up for the night. At the reception desk, we learned that we would have two adjoining rooms, and I was not happy about that at all. Henry was thrilled because he assumed that he would have a hotel room all to himself. We rode the elevator up to the eleventh floor and let Henry into ‘his’ room. It was beautiful and had a luxurious king-sized bed. Brian and I went next door to ‘our’ room and found that, while also very beautiful, it had two full sized beds. So we did what any normal parent would do, and we kicked Henry out of his room. He was disappointed at first, but when he figured out that we were actually going to let him stay by himself in the two-bed room, he was absolutely beside himself with joy. He told us he would need a few hours that night by himself just to celebrate. He couldn’t stop smiling, and he could barely get out a coherent sentence because he was so excited. The rooms were not adjoining as the clerk told us they’d be, and even though I really wasn’t crazy about him having a full room to himself, I knew he’d be okay. After all, we were right next door.
We left shortly after check-in and headed up to the 20th floor to meet the Quark Expeditions group for the first time. We had to show them our passports, vaccination cards, and the results from our most recent PCR test, and we had to fill out a health affidavit for them. Henry asked if there were any other kids on board, and Valeria, a member of the Quark ground team told him there would be a few around his age. The check in process went smoothly, and after we got our bag tags, we headed to their COVID test site for a second PCR test. They told us that if we didn’t hear from them, we should assume that everything was good.
Two weeks before this, we had met a very nice man named Chris. Chris had come from Utah to Buenos Aires for his cruise with Quark only to find out that the cruise had first been delayed and then ultimately cancelled. A few crew members had tested positive for COVID right before they embarked. He wasn’t happy, of course, and his situation planted a few seeds of doubt in us about the possibility of our trip even happening. At this point, we were still afraid that they might postpone or cancel the trip, but all signs were looking like it was a go.
With nothing else to do, we grabbed a bite of lunch at a brew pub near The Emperador. After lunch, Henry and I went to get the last of the supplies we needed for the boat while Brian enjoyed a sampling of Argentinian beer. We needed to pass some time, so we went down to the hotel pool for a quick dip. Thankfully we had the pool to ourselves for about the first hour, but eventually another couple came in as well.
After the swim, we prepped for our first official Quark activity. In an effort to help quarantine us, Quark was offering a complimentary dinner for us there at the hotel. We went, and all three of us felt a little out of place. The dinner was fancy, and we walked in wearing our best jeans and t-shirts. The travelers in the group weren’t too dressy, but the meal was elegant. We had roasted beef, chicken, cold cuts, salads, wines, and whole tables of desserts. It was fantastic, and it set the tone for a great trip.
After dinner, we had some work to do to prepare for being disconnected to the world for three weeks. Brian was ensuring our bills would be paid, booking our next flights, and setting up our computers. I was booking rooms for the next leg of our trip. Henry was basking in his privacy and enjoying laying in the windowsill of his room. We finally made it to bed around midnight, which was way later than we wanted to be. Henry ended up getting creeped out by the noises in the hotel, so instead of going it alone, I am staying with him in his room while Brian gets the whole king-sized bed to himself.
Tomorrow is so exciting that we are all struggling to go to sleep!
Day 2: December, 23, 2021
We woke up at 4 am to get our bags packed and the last few items on our to-do list done. We dropped off our checked bags to the hotel lobby, and by 5:30, we were eating our Quark provided breakfast. While eating, Valeria stopped by to welcome us to the trip. Apparently several of our fellow travelers tested positive and were not allowed to participate on the expedition. I cannot imagine their level of disappointment about that, and I felt terrible for them.
We hopped on a chartered bus bound for the EZE airport. After checking in, we made it through security and to our gate. Our flight was chartered by Quark, so everyone who was at the gate with us was bound for our ship. At the gate, we loaded onto a bus. The bus drove us all out to the plane where we climbed aboard from the tarmac.
Our flight was extraordinarily smooth. We were all excited because they actually served us a meal. We had juice and coffee/tea/soft drinks as well as a ham and cheese croissant, yogurt with granola, fresh fruit, a bag of nuts, and a chocolate muffin. As many times as I’ve flown, I think I have only got a meal once. Henry couldn’t get over how much food they gave us. We may have looked a little like the Clampetts, but we were having a ball.
Once we landed, we didn’t have to pick up our checked baggage because Quark would be taking it straight to the boat and placing it in our rooms for us. Instead, we loaded onto another bus. We got the first glimpse of our boat, the Ultramarine, as we traveled past the marina on our way to see a few sights in the Tierre del Fuego province. The tour guide on the bus taught us about Ushuaia as we headed to our catered lunch at Villa Las Cotorras. We were able to try their special coffee, and we tasted pistachio and el calafate (a local berry) ice cream for dessert. After lunch, they drove us to the only place in the Andes mountains where you can drive through them in Argentina. The view of Lake Fagnano and Lake Escondido were beautiful. We tried to enjoy the experience, but everyone was so excited about the voyage and just ready to be on the boat by then.
We made it to the boat shortly after visiting the Andes pass. Our bags were waiting for us in our room as promised, and at the foot of our bed, our bright yellow Quark parkas (that we get to keep) and our thick rubber boots (that we are borrowing) were waiting for us like Christmas presents. We were all very excited as we tried on our gear and thought of how warm we would be.
In the afternoon, we went to the Ambassador’s Theater for our first on-board activity. The lounge was spacious and beautiful with plush benches and comfortable chairs. We kept looking around for the other kids Valeria talked about, but we couldn’t find them. Maybe they were some of the ones who tested positive and couldn’t join us. Solan, our expedition leader, talked us through safety protocols and prepared us for the emergency drill we would have later in the evening. After the safety review, Brian, Henry, and I walked around the boat’s deck taking in the sites. While we were in the safety briefing, the boat had begun to move down the Beagle’s Channel on its way to open sea. We finished the meeting just in time to take the last photos of the city as it disappeared from sight.
We made our way down to our room and found our safety gear in the closet just in time for the drill. With life jackets in hand, we headed back up to the Ambassador’s Theater where we were instructed on how to evacuate the ship properly, how to don our life jackets, where to go in the event of an emergency, and how to abandon ship if necessary.
After the drill, we made it to our dinner in the Balena restaurant. To mitigate any issues with COVID, we were assigned to table 36 which sat by a window on the port side of the ship. The menu was extensive, considering where we were. Henry had salmon, I had roasted chicken, and Brian had a butterfish dish. Henry was thrilled that while taking our order, the server asked what he wanted for dessert. We haven’t had many desserts lately. The meal was very good, but we were exhausted and a little cold, and I was ready for bed.
Next we chose to go see the ship’s doctor about nausea medicine. We were still in the Beagle’s channel, and the water there was very calm, but by midnight, we’d hit the Drake Passage which is said to be the roughest waters in the world. Per Solan’s recommendation, everyone needed to get ready for the toss and sway of open sea because through the night as we were sleeping, the conditions would change. Dr. Sam was available to administer medicine to anyone who felt like they might need it. We each had a nausea patch to get us through the first days, but after that, we’d only have Dramamine. As a precaution, we went ahead and got some medicine from her just in case we needed something a little stronger.
We did meet one kid named Max while we waited in line. He was just a little younger than Henry, and he was part of a larger family that was on board. We didn’t really talk to them much, but he was as excited to see a kid as Henry was.
When we got back to the room, we found that Mark, our cabin steward, had come in, turned the bed down for us, and made up Henry’s sofabed. He tidied up the room and bathroom for us, and turned the lights to a relaxing low so that when we came in, the room was very warm and inviting. While I was in the bathroom getting ready for bed, Henry happened to look out the window and see a group of dolphins swimming along side the ship. He and Brian watched them for a minute or so, but I missed them by the time I got to the window.
We have crawled into our very comfortable beds, and the exhaustion of the day is catching up with us all. I don’t think we’ll have any trouble sleeping tonight.
Day 3: December 24, 2021
We woke up early and made it up to Deck 5 for breakfast by 7:45. All of us were doing pretty good with the nausea, but we could definitely feel the motion of the ocean. The boat was quite stable, but you could feel the toss and sway as we rode the swells. We didn’t trust ourselves to walk very far without holding a handrail, and going up and down stairs was a bit of a challenge.
After breakfast, we made our way to the Ambassador’s Theater again for a talk on penguins from Noah, the ship’s ornithologist. He was engaging and amusing, and we really enjoyed his presentation. We learned a lot about the 8 different kinds of penguins we might see on the voyage, and I began looking forward to the other presentations.
We went up to Deck 7 to the Panorama Lounge to get information about joining the Sea Kayaking excursion. It would have been fun, but Henry wasn’t quite old enough to participate, and it was very expensive to do anyway. We opted to go back to our room and rest instead.
Shortly before lunch, we watched another presentation on the Cryosphere from the comfort of our room. This one was about glaciers and how they are created, and it was given by Austin, a guide and the ship’s geologist. We’d had the luxury of learning about glaciers as we visited The Glaciers National Park in Argentina. I’m sure Austin had gone into better detail, but my nausea medicine, exhaustion, and lack of rest got the best of me. I fell asleep.
After lunch, we went to a mandatory briefing on the Zodiacs. Since there aren’t any docks in Antarctica, if we want to get off of the boat and explore the area, we have to do it by boarding these smaller inflatable boats. They are very navigable and can get us all the way to shore. The more we learn about them, the more fun they seem like they will be.
After that talk, we went through some information on biosecurity procedures. Quark is part of the IAATO, an association that helps to protect Antarctica. To protect the ecosystems, they are very careful that we don’t accidentally introduce any non-native plants, animals, or bacteria to the land. To do this, they’ve implemented gear cleaning procedures for us to follow every time we get on and off of the Ultramarine. After the presentation, we went back to our rooms and waited for our turn for personalized training. When it was our turn, Quark staff members looked over our gear with us and helped us clean it for our first visit out.
When our gear was ready, we signed up for a Zodiac group (we joined the Whale group) and received our locker numbers. To get on the Zodiacs, we have to go down to the ready room on Level 2. We can store whatever gear we want in our lockers. From there, we can don the last of our equipment and head out to our boats. When we get back on the Ultramarine, we can leave our big rubber boots and jackets in our lockers if we’d like. It keeps us from having to store our wet jackets and muck boots in our room.
Just before dinner, we participated in a recap of the day’s activities and a briefing of what to expect the next day. The plan for Day 4 is to complete our passage on the Drake and potentially do a ship cruise into Deception Island. Deception Island is an active volcano, and the caldera holds a lake of sorts. Because one side of the caldera is collapsed, you can actually sail through a narrow channel and sit in the middle of the volcano. Sounds like fun!
On the way back to the room we signed up for a gym slot and a sauna slot. We wouldn’t normally have to do that, but with COVID, they are limiting the number of guests that could use these areas at any one time. Henry will need to burn off some energy, so hopefully we’ll be able to use the gym frequently while we are on board.
But for now, it is time for me to dream about the warmth of the sauna.
Day 4: December 25, 2021
We woke up early for breakfast, and after we ate, we headed to the gym. In case you haven’t tried it, let me tell you that walking on a treadmill is quite a difficult task when you’re on a boat that is swaying back and forth.
We went to a presentation from Marla, a guide and our ship’s marine biologist, on seals. It was very educational and entertaining. The presenter told us about the 5 types of seals we might see on this trip and generally what the differences were between the types. I was amazed at just how big some of the seals could be. A male Southern Elephant seal, for example could get up to 16’ long, and they can weigh as much as 8,000 pounds.
After that presentation, we went to the Polar Boutique, the Ultramarine’s gift shop. Everything was very expensive, so we browsed and then headed back to our room empty-handed. We got our swimsuits on for our visit to the sauna. While we were waiting, we watched a second presentation from our cabin from Phil, a guide and the ship’s historian, on how Antarctica was discovered. Having never been much on history, we found this one a little boring, and we got distracted. We turned it off just in time to head up to deck 7 for our 11:45 sauna appointment.
The sauna was extraordinarily hot. Henry and I couldn’t take it long, so we went out to the spa and relaxed out there instead; Brian toughed it out for much longer than us. In my mind, the sauna was going to be so relaxing. It turned out to be a little miserable. But we did it, and when we left the Spa, we changed our clothes again, and then we stopped for lunch.
While we were eating our lunch, the announcer came over the intercom to let us know that we were beginning to see the South Shetland Islands come into view. He also said that they were seeing penguins in the water and blows from whales. We eagerly watched out the window by our table, and I saw a whale that was only about 50’ from the boat. It was awesome! Our server, seeing our excitement, brought our desserts to us quickly so we could eat and get outside to watch for more. On deck, we were able to see another whale blow and peek out of the water. We saw the whale tail and everything. I really wanted to stay there and look for more, but it was just so cold we couldn’t take being outside for very long.
Later in the afternoon, we had two mandatory activities to do with our Zodiac group. The first was that we had to perform another round of PCR testing. We were given our nasal swabs, and we performed the test on ourselves while we were observed by Quark staff. It stunk to do this on Christmas, but it had to be done. At least they were the less invasive tests, so it didn’t feel quite so awful.
After that, we got to go up to the helicopter pad with our group to see the helicopter. Colin, a guide and a leader in the Helicopter team, had given a presentation after lunch about helicopter safety. To help familiarize us so that we’d know what to expect when we get to go for our ride, they took us to the deck with it completely idle so we could look at it up-close. We learned when, where, and how to safely walk around it with the blades turning, and we were able to climb inside and buckle ourselves up. By doing this today, hopefully we’ll all be more prepared when we actually get to take our ride. One of the pilots, Steve, walked us around the chopper and taught us a few things about the equipment. They are very proud of their helicopter, and it seems like they should be. We are all really excited about the helicopter ride!
We made it to Deception Island before dinner, and although we didn’t get off the boat, we enjoyed the pitstop. It was much larger than I expected. I imagined a small lake where the boat could barely get turned around, but that was not the case. It would actually be easy to miss that you were in a volcano, until you begin to see the steam coming up through the beaches. Hopefully tomorrow, we will get to get off the Ultramarine on the Zodiacs for the first time!
This was a strange way to spend our Christmas this year. Although we got to talk to our families today, it wasn’t the same, and we have missed them terribly. We all had simple Christmas gifts of chocolates and candies, and we got Henry a fidget toy and a $2 toy suction cup gun with targets. It’s the simplest Christmas we’ve ever had, in ways. We’re trying to find the joy in that. I would be lying if I said I haven’t missed the Christmas carols, the trees and decorations, and the chaos that generally accompanies this time of year though.
Day 5: December 26, 2021
We woke this morning and had a good breakfast in the Balena restaurant. They are still talking about doing an excursion today, so after breakfast, we came down to our room to try on all our layers. We wanted to make sure we were dressed appropriately for the environment, so fully dressed, we went out on deck and found the windiest corner we could. All in all, we felt like we were going to be okay. We went back to our room to await our turn to load onto the Zodiacs.
When the Whale group was called, we finished putting on our gear and headed down to the ready room. With all our gear on, we stepped aboard our Zodiac with Ellie, our guide. There were only five guests on the boat. Ellie took us on a tour of Cuverville Island. We saw lots of penguins swimming in the water, and several different colonies on shore. The penguins are quite good swimmers, and at the surface, they pop up and out of the water like a dolphin does. It’s adorable! As we weaved through the floating ice, we also saw the massive head of a leopard seal hunting for his lunch (an unlucky penguin). After an hour or so of exploring, we made it to the island to begin our hiking there. The guides had found a good launch point, cut stairs into the snow for us to safely climb up, and marked off a few paths for us to follow. If you stayed on the path, you could walk fairly easily. If you took one step off the path, you sunk down in about 2’ of snow.
The penguins were adorable to look at, but they smelled terrible. From afar, you can tell if you’re near a colony because you’ll see pink tinted snow. The penguin diet is made up primarily of krill, a red colored shrimp like creature, and the pink tinted snow is from the penguin guano (poop). The penguins walk around mostly covered in this pink mess. Some are clean, and I presume its because they just finished their swims. The penguins were really cute, all stench aside. They waddled around fairly clumsily, and they’d stop and slide on their bellies occasionally. This is their breeding season, and there were quite a lot of penguins sitting on their nests. They build the nests out of pebbles that they find, stacking them up and around them. While we were there, the guides said that there was quite a lot of pebble stealing going on; apparently the penguins find it easier to take neighbors’ pebbles than to find their own. I wish I could have recognized that. We also saw a skua nesting on the island. A skua is a bird that eats the eggs and young penguin chicks. On land, these are the only real penguin predators. If the penguin can survive it’s first year, it outgrows the skuas and is relatively safe on land.
After about an hour on shore, we loaded back in the zodiacs and headed for the boat. We were cold and hungry, and I was dying to go pee. When we unloaded from the boat, we had to go through another gear cleaning session to make sure we don’t cross contaminate the places we go. Boot washing is a bit of a chore and is perhaps, my least favorite part.
After lunch, we waited for our second turn at going ashore. The Ultramarine was moving from Cuverville Island to Neko Harbor. Eventually our turn came, and we got dressed and went to wait in the ready rooms. We loaded onto a boat with Kim as our guide and driver. Michelle, a guide and the Quark photographer, was also riding with us. Because of the location, we weren’t going to make a landing, but the ocean surface was as still as glass, and with all of the ice afloat, it was a stunning place to explore. We saw several different penguins, two skuas, and several other birds. The icebergs were phenomenal to look at as well. The mainland was reflecting on the glass water surface beautifully, and it made for a photographer’s dream. The weather was warm enough to ride without gloves. It was such a great ride. We came back to the boat on cloud 9, and went to our room to get warm. After grabbing a cup of warm ginger lemon tea, we got down to our normal clothes and relaxed in our room a bit.
We went to the nightly recap and learned that the plan for tomorrow is to get to do our helicopter rides. We are all super excited. The team has a plan B if the weather is uncooperative, but hopefully it will work out.
We have made several friends on the cruise with other passengers as well as with staff. We are among the younger passengers, and Henry is one of only two kids on board. We’ve had great conversations though, and the age difference doesn’t seem to be an issue. We haven’t seen the other kid since the first night when we were in line for the doctor. We bought Henry a little suction cup toy gun that came with bowling pin targets for Christmas, and he’s had an absolute ball with it when we’re in our room. He hasn’t missed having kids around too much. It might be the best $3 Christmas gift he’s ever gotten. Several of the staff have been very friendly with us too, especially with Henry, so that is helping us all.
Oh, and we found out that one person on board does have COVID. He/she is now being isolated, and he/she had two people that are being quarantined just in case. I hate it for the three of them, but it has reminded us to keep our guard up. The Quark team is doing everything they can to help reduce the spread. Based on where we are in the voyage, we’re pretty sure that this person acquired their covid before they got on the ship. We will take another covid test in a few days to make sure we’re keeping it contained.
Day 6: December 27, 2021
Today we woke up and had our breakfast. We were able to go out on the zodiacs to Mikkelsen Harbor. This harbor is just south of Trinity Island, and we were able to walk out onto it and enjoy the penguin colony that lives there. The highlight of my time in this spot was watching a little penguin waddle down the penguin highway directly towards me. He got spooked about 10 ft away from me and changed direction, but he was absolutely adorable. During our zodiac cruise, we also saw several seals laying out sunning on the ice.
When we got back to the Ultramarine, we saw that they were preparing for the polar plunge. They were setting up one table near the ready rooms with vodka shots, and another table near the reception area was loaded with t-shirts for polar plunge survivors. I was just getting warmed up when they announced that they would be doing the polar plunge in just a few minutes. I hated the idea of doing it, and I really, really didn’t want to go down there. But I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t take my one chance, so I put my bathing suit on (much to Henry’s delight and dismay), put on my robe, and walked with Henry and Brian down to deck 2.
We got there in time to join a few others, and the crew had created a party atmosphere. Dance music was blasting, the crew was cheering, and nervous plungers anticipated the cold. It was frigid. All of the deck 2 doors were open, and the robe was no match for those Antarctic winds blowing through the ship. By the time we made it to the front of the line, the line of plungers extended all the way through the ready area and up the stairs to reception. All in all, 73 of 128 guests took the plunge. Henry loved it. Brian thought it was fun, and it was every bit as miserable as I thought it might be.
By the time I got to the platform, barefoot and in only a swimsuit, I was shivering. I stood frozen in place as they tied the harness around me. The ship’s photographer Michelle was capturing the moment for us, so they instructed me to turn towards her when I jumped, and that I could jump whenever I was ready. I went straight in, because I knew it would be much worse if I thought about it for too long. Jumping in was awful, and the icy water took my breath away. I don’t know how deep I went, but it seemed to take forever before I finally made it to the surface again. All I could think about was getting out of the water. I finally found the ladder, and I prayed my arms and legs would cooperate to raise me out of the water. I also prayed that my swimsuit was still on, because I could no longer feel it.
I’d seen a video where the girl said that once she got out of the water, she actually felt warm. She lied. It was still frigid. Now, instead of ice water around me, I had frigid air. The platform I was standing on with cold wet feet was freezing, and it seemed to take forever for them to get the harness off of me and let me go back inside. I couldn’t find my robe and couldn’t get to my shoes for all the people in the prep area, and I got really irritated because no one would move out of my way. The bar manager held out a glass of vodka to me, and I drank my shot without even making a face. I don’t think it helped, though, as I still felt like a popsicle.
Inside the door, I put my robe back on, and instantly, I started warming a bit. In just a few minutes, I was almost back to normal. Henry was elated. He wanted to go and do it a second time for some crazy reason, but thankfully they wouldn’t allow that. He had no fear about doing it. In fact, it was the main thing that excited him about this trip. I truly don’t understand 13 year old boys.
We were excited after lunch to learn that the weather was cooperating, and that they were planning to do the helicopter rides. The whale group was first, so while the pilots were doing their reconnaissance mission, we went ahead and got ourselves ready. By the time they made the announcement for us to come upstairs to the helideck to get ready, we were ready to walk out the door. We made it upstairs, and the guides helped us don our helicopter life jackets. We sat at a table waiting for our turn to load, but unfortunately the weather, which can and frequently does turn very quickly, had taken a turn for the worse. The winds were picking up, and the clouds were rolling in. On the reconnaissance mission, the pilot had actually lost visual of the ship, so they decided to hold off on this for another day. Dejectedly, we removed our gear and returned to our rooms. We did make it to a photography presentation where Michelle explained some of the more advanced features on many of our cameras, and she gave some pointers for taking better photographs in the harsh Antarctic conditions.
During the recap, we found out that we will actually get to step on the continental Antarctica tomorrow. We’ve been on two different islands, but this feels different. It feels official!
Day 7: December 28, 2021
After breakfast this morning, we took off on the Zodiacs to visit the continental Antarctica. We are in the bay outside of Brown Bluff on the Antarctic Peninsula. This area is home to about 37 thousand penguins, and it has beautiful glacial faces as well. We rode the zodiacs and landed on the shore of a rocky beach. From there, we all found a group of penguins to watch, and we sat down in the rocks and just enjoyed the show. Many of the penguins here already had small baby chicks in their nests, and they were extremely cute to watch. Up on the cliffside, there was also a snow gull nest that Brian and Henry walked up to see. After the hike, we loaded back onto the zodiac and cruised around the bay. We were only able to see a very small section of the colony where we landed. In the zodiac, we could get a much better idea of how many penguins live here. They covered the mountainside and marched up and down the shoreline in constant motion. While floating around the shore, we also came across a very large leopard seal that was eating a penguin. The seal was rising to the water surface and thrashing the penguin around with its teeth in order to skin it and tear it into bit sized pieces. While the seal worked on its catch, several gulls began to hang around ready to scavenge on any penguin bits that floated away. The gulls taunted the seal, and occasionally he would remind the gulls that they should be afraid. Eventually, the seal had all he wanted, and the gulls flew away with bits of food, including the penguins head.
The leopard seals are a primary predator for the penguin. They are not as quick at swimming as the penguins, so they lurk around the shore line waiting for the opportune moment when an unlucky penguin crosses their path. It was disturbing to watch this seal dismember the penguin, but that is the reality of life here. These leopard seals survive by eating 20 penguins a day, when possible. We saw another even larger leopard seal hunting at the shoreline further down the bay, and we found a weddell seal relaxing comfortably on the beach.
When we got back to the boat, we warmed up with a cup of apple and cinnamon tea. After lunch, we took our next PCR test, and then we went back to our room to prepare for our newly rescheduled helicopter ride. To help us pass the time, we watched a presentation on the secrets of Antarctica from Jean, a guide. Jean talked about the methods scientists are using to learn more about the world by analyzing the different layers of ice. It wasn’t my favorite presentation, but it is interesting to see what they are learning down here.
Our group was last for the helicopters, so we waited patiently. When it was finally our turn, the team helped us suit up for the helicopter. They weighed us individually and then assigned our seats to optimize the cargo load. We were handed a pair of earmuffs, and then the crew carefully directed us to our seat in the chopper and helped us buckle in. Within only a minute or two, we were all loaded up, locked in, and taking off on the helideck. Henry and I sat in opposite corners of the helicopter, and Brian got to sit up front with the pilot. The scenery from the air was awesome. We were able to see the giant ice shelves and icebergs in true relation to the size of the Ultramarine, and the vastness was incredible. The beautiful blues where the sea splashes up against the icebergs and ice shelves were stunning, and witnessing the calving of the massive glaciers and ice shelves was incredible too.
I found it very interesting that most of Antarctica actually sits below sea level, but the surface is covered by nearly a mile of ice. There isn’t any significant snow here, as it is one of the driest regions of the world. Looking at the massive thickness of these glaciers, its amazing to think through how long the ice has taken to build up. Pictures really don’t do it justice.
Upon our return, we had our afternoon recap and then headed for dinner. We had planned to navigate into the Weddell Sea tomorrow, but it doesn’t look like that will happen. We have someone who needs to be evacuated for a non-covid medical emergency, so we are having to change our plan. Instead, we are going to head to King George Island so we can get them the help they need. It’s disappointing for us, but hopefully they can get the help they need. On our Zodiac cruise this morning, our driver told us how excited he was that we’d get to enter the Weddell Sea. It’s rare that the weather and the ice conditions allow you to spend much time there, and both were working out beautifully for us. But the crew assures us that we will have lots of fun in the South Shetland Islands too.
Tonight the waves are going to be a little rough, so we have taken our motion sickness medicine and are heading to bed. By tomorrow night, we should be docked somewhere, and hopefully we’ll get to go and explore on land again.
Day 8: December 29, 2021
Today was a lazy day, but it wasn’t supposed to be. Last night, we knew that we’d be crossing the Bransfield Straight, and the crew recommended that we all take some motion sickness medicine in preparation. We did, and it must have done the trick, because we were all out hard. This morning when the alarm went off, all three of us struggled to fight off the stupor of the medicine. We made it to breakfast, and we were pleased to see the beautiful scenery outside our windows. We were in Maxwell Bay, just on the south side of King George Island in the South Shetland Islands. This area is home to many science stations, so there is quite a lot of traffic, all things considered. We saw several ships moored in the bay, and we watched helicopters and small planes come and go throughout the morning.
For reasons unknown to us, they have not evacuated our passenger yet, so we are staying in the area a bit longer. We had a few presentations in the morning, and the plan was for us to go out on a zodiac cruise and hike in the afternoon. The presentations were okay. Marla gave an educational presentation on Orca whales. She does a very good job in making her topic both entertaining and educational. After that, our special guest Ross presented on Ernest Shackleton. This presentation was much more difficult for us, as we were extremely tired and Ross’ voice is very soothing. He lost us about a third of the way into it. Henry and I worked on his homeschooling, and Brian entertained himself playing games on his phone instead. In the afternoon, the weather turned rough, so we weren’t able to do the zodiac cruises at all. We watched the snow come down in a thick blanket as the boat rocked and rolled on the waves. At one point, we were up on deck 7 and recognized how far the ship had listed to the left; we could see nothing but water out the windows on the left side of the ship, and nothing but sky on the right. The crew didn’t seem to even notice, so we just continued with our activities and laughed it off.
It felt like a bit of a wasted day, but we were all feeling rough. We needed a free day to rest a bit. On an unrelated note, we had another positive covid case on the ship. The ship doctor says that the two cases we’ve had are unrelated, and that both are most likely from before the people were on the ship. We will be taking another test in a few days. It’s a bit scary to have positive cases on board, even if everyone is wearing their masks and sanitizing their hands. We’re keeping our distance from everyone, and we’re doing all the ‘right’ things. There’s not much else we can do.
Day 9: December 30, 2021
We woke up to a morning announcement by Solan; we had forgotten to set an alarm. We quickly dressed and went to breakfast, and fortunately, we weren’t too late. After breakfast, we went to the Panorama Lounge and had more coffee while we played a few games of checkers.
The team readied the zodiacs for a quick cruise through Maxwell Bay on the southern end of King George Island. The waters were a little choppy, but we loaded up and our driver took us out to enjoy the face of the glacier first. On all of our zodiac rides so far, we have avoided getting wet, but on this ride, there was no other option. The snow was pelting us in the face, and the waves would regularly douse the riders in the front of the zodiac. After a few minutes, we worked our way around the shoreline until we came upon some resting seals. These seals were very large, and they were soaking up the sun on the beach. They didn’t really seem to notice us. We made our way over to our landing zone for a touch-and-go landing. We didn’t have long – 15 minutes or so – but we could enjoy the rocky shoreline for a bit. Just in front of the landing zone, a seal had made a nice comfy bed out of our pile of walking sticks. They told us we could go and look at him so long as we didn’t try to take his sticks. He was adorable. His big brown eyes were so sweet looking, and he seemed perfectly at ease laying on the beach with 20 yellow jacketed people staring at him. He lazed around, scratching his side and observing us with little interest. He was as cute as a 200 pound seal could be, and looking at his slow, tame movements, it was easy to forget that he was a vicious killer. I had seen a seal kill and dismember a penguin just yesterday. It was hard to imagine this was even the same kind of animal.
We were very, very cold, and we opted to get on the zodiac to return to the boat sooner than we had to. The ride back was the longest 20 minutes I’ve experienced in quite a while. The waters had continued to get rougher, and the cold was deep in our bones. We got back on the boat and quickly went to our room to rest and warm up.
We watched two presentations today. The first was from Tim Jarvis, the author of Chasing Shackleton. Jarvis told about his adventure reliving the later portion of Shackleton’s fateful trip. The presentation was good, and even though I did fall asleep during it, Jarvis did a great job of helping us understand the challenges that Shackleton and crew faced. It’s absolutely amazing that they survived. After being in the cold for only two hours today, I was utterly miserable. These men suffered the cold for months on end, and they were not clothed in high tech and waterproof gear with rubber boots. I don’t know how they could do it.
The second presentation was from one of the Quark crew, Fabrice. He educated us on how animals in the polar regions can survive in such frigid temperatures. It was interesting to understand some of the specifics of their anatomy that allow them to survive like they do.
After dinner, we hung out in the Panorama Lounge again. Henry played card games with his new friends Scott and Maggie while I stared out the window looking for wildlife. I was thrilled when I saw a whale pop up about 50 feet away from the boat. He traveled beside us for a short period, but eventually the boat outpaced him. We stared off the bow for a bit longer and saw several whales swim off in the distance. It was wonderful to watch.
But it was very cold, and after a short time, we found our way down to dinner. Once again, our meal was fantastic, and we enjoyed the company of our serving staff. Rudy and Meerim, our servers, have learned our names, and we have grown very comfortable with them. Rudy calls Henry ‘little boy’ every time, and it makes Henry smile. They work very hard, as they are with us at every meal. Rudy is blunt and doesn’t hold back, and we love it. Meerim is the utmost professional, and her singsong voice is as sweet as sugar. They have made the dining experience very pleasurable for us. Some of the other guests around us have been difficult, and I hate it for the serving staff. Some guests have complained about the service, and as a result, there have been several changes in the staffing. We think that the crew is doing very well considering they are still working out their own kinks. The meals are slow, but then again, we don’t have anywhere else to be. We just try to sit back and enjoy ourselves.
At some point in the afternoon, they were finally able to evacuate our passenger that needed help. Of course, the ship personnel didn’t tell us what happened, but they did let us know that he/she was successfully moved to the ICU in Puentes Arenas, Chile. Because of the nature of this evacuation (I’m not sure what that means, really), they could not safely send his/her family member with the evacuation crew. In a twist of impeccable coincidence, a miracle happened. Elsewhere on our ship, there was a large family that had been isolated from everyone else because one of their members tested positive in our second round of PCR testing. They had requested to charter a flight to get back to land as soon as possible. Typically, because of the areas the boat travels to this wouldn’t be possible, but because of the evacuation, the Ultramarine crew was able to work with them and get this scheduled. They chartered a flight from King George Island to Puentas Arenas, and because of that, the family member of the patient who needed evacuation was able to ride with them and be with their loved one. Isn’t God good?
Day 10: December 31, 2021
We arrived at Elephant Island today. We’d heard that the island was uninhabitable, but I didn’t fully understand why until we laid our eyes on it. These islands look like more of a sea hazard than land. We did get to go zodiac cruising around the southern end of the Island today to see Cape Lookout. Mauricio, our driver, was very excited; he said this area was new to him too. We seem to be blessed with very good weather that has allowed us to go to new places on this trip. There were lots of giant boulders in the water for us to navigate around, and we saw 40-60 seals sunning on the various beaches. We saw a few chinstrap penguins as we explored, and when we got out around the back side of one of the islands, we found some macaroni penguins hanging out on the cliffside. These penguins have little yellow hairs where their eyebrows would be, and this is the first time we’ve seen them. We also saw some interesting geology here. The mountains were very jagged, coming up and out of the water at very harsh angles. They look like sharp saw-teeth coming straight out of the sea. And there were several beautiful glaciers coming down between the mountains.
After lunch, we did yet another round of PCR testing. It’s getting easier now because we all know the drill. It doesn’t make it any better though. Hopefully everyone is negative on this test. If we get a positive now, it’ll indicate that we’re spreading it around on the ship, and I’m not quite sure what happens then.
During the trip further up Elephant Island, the announcer came over the intercom to let us know that we were changing our course slightly because a large quantity of wildlife was moving in the water. The captain and team were seeing many different whale-blows up ahead, and we were changing direction to move closer to them. It was wild! Every direction you looked, you’d see whale blows and the dorsal fins of whales. And there was so much more in the water than just the whales. We saw seals and penguins swimming too, and there were all sorts of birds swarming overhead. Our guides said the animals were in a feeding frenzy, as the geography in this area tends to create a massive oceanic supermarket. They estimated that there were at least 50 whales (finwales, hump backs, and others), and there could have been as many as 100 of them. It was an amazing spectacle to see, and the crew was just as excited as we were. We didn’t see it, but one of the other spectacles of this wildlife gorging was a vibrant red tint to the ocean. Apparently, there was a bit of a whale poo-nami happening as well. I’m kind of glad I missed that part.
We ship cruised to Camp Patience and Point Wild on Elephant Island. This is where Frank Wild and the 21 men stayed behind while Shackleton went for help. The team did a little tribute to the men as we observed just how inhospitable the land would have been to camp on for four months. We toasted our mulled wine in their honor, and then we set sail for South Georgia.
While we were at Point Wild, Henry’s friends Scott and Maggie actually got married on the ship. We found out later in the evening at our daily recap, and we couldn’t be more happy for them. They were so cute!
As we entered the restaurant for dinner tonight, the staff presented us with champagne. Henry was disappointed because they didn’t give him one, but Meerim brought him some apple juice in a wine glass so that he could celebrate with us. The atmosphere was festive, and our meal was delicious. After dinner, Stefano and Ryan, two of our guides, hosted everyone who wanted to play some games in the Ambassador’s Theater. They told a lot of dad jokes that of course we loved, and we laughed quite a lot. At midnight, we grabbed our drinks and headed out to the deck to ring in the new year under the stars.
It’s been a wonderful day today, and a great way to end this year. I cannot wait to see what 2022 brings us!
Day 11: January 1, 2022
Today has been a very lazy day. We were able to all wake up on our own since the crew blessed us with no wakeup call this morning. We have left Elephant Island, and we are en route to South Georgia. The waves are really rocking the boat. Between the waves and the drinks last night, there are very few people out and about on the ship. We dropped off laundry, and then spent most of the day in our room battling that queasy feeling. The crew says this is a great weather passage through the Scotia Sea, and if that is true, I’m thankful for it; I’m certain I don’t want to see a bad day.
We went to a mandatory biosecurity update for South Georgia. Antarctica biosecurity was pretty easy compared to their standards. They want to make sure that no non-native species get inadvertently brought to the island. In the past, they have had issues with grasses that traveled in on a visitor’s boot and sprouted on the island plains. The government here is very particular to prevent that. So, after we went through our training, we inspected our gear and used wire brushes to clean our Velcro, paperclips to clean the grooves on our boots, and vaccums on all of the mesh on our gear.
Incidentally, South Georgia wasn’t always managed so closely. In the 19th century, whalers brought reindeer to the island to be used for meat. The two deer turned into hundreds over the years as there were no predators for them. Unfortunately, they ate the tussock grass that grew in the area and provided a home for the other wildlife living there. Rats also found their way from ships onto the island, and the rats would feast on pipits which are small songbirds. The pipits were almost eliminated completely, but thankfully humans stepped in to help them. It ended up costing a lot of money and tremendous effort to eradicate both of these animals from the island. The project was successful, though; the pipit population has rebounded, and the rest of the wildlife has their tussock grass back.
We also went through some safety information about South Georgia. We are told that there is a tremendous amount of wildlife on the shores, and we must be very careful. So far, penguins have been interested in us, but that’s all. There have been plenty of elephant, leopard, and Weddell seals laying around on the beaches, but they are not fast movers on land. South Georgia will be the first time we have seen fur seals. These seals can get up on their ‘legs’ and run faster than a human. So, we were told to always have a partner when we’re on shore, to keep our distance from them, and to never turn our back on them.
Also, as a precaution for the bird population, we will also be blacking out the ship at night. There are a tremendous number of birds living on the island, and many of them are attracted to the lights on nearby ships. They fly out to check them out and end up hitting a window and getting themselves trapped or hurt. So for now, at night, all of our window curtains must be closed, shades must be drawn, and the outside lights must be kept to a minimum.
Oh, and South Georgia is in a different time zone, so we lose an hour tomorrow. We are all still struggling with the time schedule, and this is unfortunate! Speaking of that, it is very late now, and we really should be getting to bed if we want to catch any sleep at all.
Day 12: January 2, 2022
Well, we were supposed to change our clocks today, but we didn’t. We were tired and went to bed without taking care of it, and since there wasn’t a wakeup call this morning, we almost missed breakfast. We got to our table with about 15 minutes to go, but thankfully the restaurant staff didn’t seem to mind. After breakfast, we watched a presentation by Noah about the birds of South Georgia, and Marla gave one on the fur seals after that. We had a great lunch, and then we spent the afternoon in our cabin. Brian and Henry have wrestled on and off all day, but I haven’t felt like doing much. We watched movies and relaxed together most of the day, and that has been wonderful. We skipped an educational presentation on the Antarctic Treaty and a photography session that might have been great. It was nice just to sit in our room and hang out for a bit, though. We needed that.
We went out on deck for a little while to see two humpback whales that were in the area. Henry and Brian saw a fur seal that was in the water, but I never saw it.
During the day’s recap, the expedition team did a dramatization to help us understand what to expect when we get to South Georgia in terms of seals. Apparently, they will be everywhere, and because this is the end of mating season, many of the seals are very aggressive. We will stay away from them, but according to the team, they will almost certainly not stay away from us. And they bite. Isn’t that nice? We’re told to never run from them, but to give them their space. Henry is worried they’re going to go for him because of his size, but hopefully he’s worried for nothing. Anyway, the dramatization was hilarious, and it did help us understand a little better what we’re walking into.
At dinner, the restaurant did a tribute to Shackleton and the Endurance by making some of the dishes that the crew ate on Christmas. Brian tried them all, but Henry and I chickened out. They also gave us each a shot of Shackleton Whiskey to go with our dinner. We decided to let Henry try a very small bit. He hated it, and said that it would definitely put some hair on his chest. Thankfully, he can’t understand why anyone would want to drink that stuff!
After dinner, we went to a bar talk with Kim, one of our guides. She talked about her experience learning to be a white water rafting guide in Ottawa over the summer. It’s funny to hear her talk about learning that; she seems so competent, it was refreshing to remember that she’s just a person and has to learn too.
Day 13: January 3, 2022
We woke up this morning in King Haakon Bay. This is the bay where Shackleton and his men landed as they sailed the James Caird lifeboat from Elephant Island. It took them 14 days to get here, and when they arrived, they were thrilled to have reached solid ground, but terrified because the terrain is far less than hospitable. They nearly died trying to get their rowboat through the narrow entry to the bay in the massive storm they were in. Once they were finally in, they still had 36 hours of climbing over the mountains and glaciers in wet gear that was not designed for the task in order to get to help.
We did a shore landing at Peggotty Bluff. Shackleton’s men named the bluff this, and it was here that they upturned their boat and made camp for the first time. It was our first opportunity to experience South Georgia, and we were very excited about it. We got into the zodiacs and drove across the smooth waters to the shoreline.
We were amazed at the number of seals we saw laying around on the beach, and we got to experience seeing fur seals for the first time. The seals we had seen thus far in the trip were all the kind that move slowly on land. In the water, they are quite quick and graceful, but on land, they look like giant slugs, and they move about much like inchworms. Fur seals are eared seals, though, and they can hinge their bodies upwards and walk on their front and back fins. This means that they can move quickly, more quickly than a human, on land as well. And in mating season as it is now, these massive male seals are all on the shore marking out their territory and waiting on the female seals to come ashore. We’d been told that these seals would be aggressive, but we didn’t really know what to expect.
We were given a walking stick, and we were allowed to take off our life jackets since we might want to remove our parkas here. The weather was quite warm, and with all of our layers on, we began overheating quickly. Unfortunately, the rain started not long after we arrived, so we had the option to sweat through our clothes or get them soaked in the rain. South Georgia is still within the Antarctic convergence (meaning the water is still Antarctica-cold), but the weather is a bit warmer here. There is tussock grass on the ground, and moss grows thick over the rocks on the hillside. There are very few blocks of floating ice here as well.
Also the Scotia Sea is very deep, but South Georgia sits on a bit of a shelf in the ocean. The nutrient dense water from Antarctica flows towards the shelf to form an area very ripe with oceanic wildlife. This is part of the reason that over half of the worlds’ oceanic mammals live here. It is also the reason that there were hundreds of seals and penguins out on the beach enjoying the sun with us.
We walked up a moss-covered hill to see the glaciers just over the ridge, and it was beautiful. The trail was rocky, but there was very thick moss growing on the ground. It felt like walking in a foam pit. At the top of the ridge, we looked over a canyon with glaciers all over. With the warmer temperatures, the water was melting and flowing down the rocks in beautiful waterfalls. We walked amongst the seals keeping our walking sticks between us and the seals in an effort to keep our distance. Most of the seals watched us with interest, but they didn’t seem bothered by us. It is interesting to be surrounded by wildlife that doesn’t view you as a threat.
From there, we walked down the trail to a boulder near the shoreline. From here, you could see down on all of the seals that were sprawled out marking their territory. The male fur seals were all fairly equidistantly spaced on the plain. Sometimes the male would be surrounded by his harem, and several young pups wandered around as the adults rested. There were a couple of piles of Elephant seals as well. Elephant seals are different from fur seals in that they like to pile up together. Many times that we’ve seen them, they are in large groups. They enjoy touching one another, but they can get a little territorial too, and we did watch two elephant seals fight for alpha status too. By the end of the walk, we were ready to go back to the boat. The water was getting a little rougher, and our gear was beginning to feel damp.
Each white circle is identifying where at least one seal is laying in the grass or on the beach.
We got back on the boat and had our lunch, and then the real fun began.
We went out on a zodiac cruise shortly after lunch to see the Shackleton Gap, the area where Shackleton and his men began their walk across South Georgia in search of help. While part of our group toured the area, we boated through the bay looking at glacier faces. While we were on the boat, the wind began picking up significantly, and the rain really began to come down. The glaciers were pretty, but we were miserable in the boat, and the swell soaked us as we traveled through the water. Our fellow passengers couldn’t seem to understand that if they would scoot closer to the back of the boat, we’d all stay significantly dryer, even after our driver and Tim Jarvis, the Shackleton special guest reminded them repeatedly of this. By the time we got to shore to explore the area, we were completely drenched and absolutely miserable. We considered not even going on shore, but we figured we’d get out for a few minutes and see what we could.
About the time we got out, the guides let us know that they were wrapping up the shore excursion because of the weather. We could have a quick look around, but then it would be time to go. We did, and the beauty of nature did not compete well with the cold and uncomfortableness we were experiencing, so we quickly got in line to go back. We got in our zodiac, and our driver manuvered the craft as best as he could in the large swells, but at some point, he gave up trying to keep us dry and headed back as quickly as he could.
We walked back on the boat with every inch of us dripping wet. We came back to our room and tried as best we could to wring out water from everything. All three of us were in our underwear trying to get everything that was wet somewhere it would dry. We were freezing and mostly naked, and I truly felt sorry for Shackleton and his men. We had waterproof (albeit ineffective) gear and a warm ship to come back to with heated rooms, endless hot chocolate, and steaming hot showers). We were out in the cold for only a an hour or two, and then we were able to warm up quite well. These men were out there for months in woolen clothes that were meant for the dry environment of Antarctica, not the stormy mess of South Georgia. They stayed cold and wet for months on end.
We spent the evening trying to warm ourselves up. After dinner, we all curled up under our covers and watched movies. We are keeping our room very warm in an effort to dry our gear, and hopefully that will work. The crew is talking about going out again tomorrow, and quite frankly, I have little interest in it. I was miserably cold today, and I don’t want to go through that again. We’ve rung out gallons of water from our gear (I’m probably being overly dramatic, but it felt like gallons), and I don’t think its possible for it to be remotely dry by tomorrow.
Day 14: January 4, 2022
This morning we woke extra early so that we could begin on an early excursion. Because of the weather coming in, we are needing to visit the Salisbury Plain and Grytvikin stations today, and since there is a three hour transit between the two, we’re having to get started early.
Our first excursion was very nice. The weather was windy and rainy, but the temperatures were in the 40s and it was pleasant to walk around in. The worst part of it was that our clothes have still not dried. Our shirts and pants were all good, but our socks and shoes were still drenched. The sleeves of our outer jackets were still damp, and our gloves were very wet still. So, we did the best we could. We wore as few layers as we could so we wouldn’t get anything more wet, we went without gloves, and we just gave in to the sopping wet of our boots. The landing was spectacular, though, and worth the squishy wet feet.
As we pulled up to the shore, we watched a leopard seal ripping apart a penguin. The flying birds swarmed hoping to get a morsel or two as the penguin was being thrown around. As we landed, the guides were trying to intimidate a fur seal who was a little too feisty and who was coming uncomfortably close to them. We unloaded from the zodiac and walked up the shore to meet with Solan and learn about our excursion.
It was hard to pay attention to the briefing with all of the wildlife surrounding us. Literally as far as the eye could see, the ground was scattered with adult penguins, year old penguin chicks, and seals – fur seals as well as elephant seals. We walked through the rocky beach, and then across tussock grass watching these animals live amongst each other. The male seals fought to maintain their territory. The female seals that weren’t basking in the sun were mothering their pups. The pups, cute as they could be, are born very aggressive and reminded me of chihuahuas trying to strike fear into everything they saw. Meanwhile, penguins were wandering through them, petrols (vulture like birds) roamed the area searching for carcasses to devour, and even a pintuck duck flew around. It was amazing and awful at the same time. There was so much beauty to behold, but you couldn’t see it without stepping around bones, feathers, and carcasses. This is daily life to these animals, and you simply cannot appreciate this spectacle of nature without fully seeing the savage side of it as well.
This plain is home to 600,000 king penguins. King penguins come here to hatch their chicks, so up on the rocky hillside, there were thousands of penguins on their nests. The chicks stay in the area for just over a full year, so many of the larger birds we saw were actually last year’s chicks. All of the penguins are molting right now, but the adolescent chicks are the most noticeable. They are losing all of their soft and fluffy brown down as they get their first layer of true penguin feathers. It’s an ugly stage, but its easy to imagine how beautiful these birds will soon be. Some were still completely fluffy, but most were a mangy looking combination of fur and fluff. The younger adolescent birds were very inquisitive, and they would walk right up to us to check us out. The older birds were too busy with their eggs and feeding to be worried about us.
We got back on the boat drenched and freezing again, and we headed to our room to dry out again. We had a decent system for handling all of the wet clothes this time, so at least the process was easier. After lunch, we had a briefing where Solan, our expedition leader, let us know that we’d go to Grytviken this afternoon. Tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of the death of Ernest Shackleton, and we’re going to his grave to pay our tribute to him. We’re going to do that a day early to avoid a massive storm coming into the Scotia Sea.
We got ourselves ready to go to Grytviken, and this time we were smarter about it. We sent Henry to the reception area to request some trash bags so that we could use those between our sopping wet boots and our socks. Apparently, we were not the first people to ask, because when he asked the reception lady for the bags, she asked ‘Are you going to put them on your feet?’
We came to shore across very placid waters. We walked between the seals and penguins to make it to the cemetery where Shackleton is buried. The cemetery is small, probably holding 20 or fewer gravestones. Shackleton’s was the largest, and the group congregated around it. Tim Jarvis said a few words to his honor, shared a quote about Shackleton, and then we toasted on Shackleton Whiskey and apple juice.
We walked around the old whaling town for a while, meandering around the buildings and relics and trying to imagine what life would have been like for the men who lived and worked here. It had to have been miserable, and the work they did here was bloody, gory, and exhausting. According to our guides, the men could work a season or two, and they’d likely be able to afford a business when they returned home. It was profitable, but very, very hard work.
The seals and penguins all made their homes in and around the relics, and they seemed very comfortable with our intrusion. It was strange to see them laying on brick piles, out by the pier, and playing in the boneyard.
Due to covid, we couldn’t enter any of the buildings, but we could peek our heads into an onsite museum that featured a replica of the James Caird lifeboat. Having just crossed two days of ocean on what our crew called small waves, I can’t imagine how they navigated this tiny boat in these waters to reach this island. It’s truly amazing that the little boat didn’t capsize.
For scientific discovery, give me Scott; for speed and efficiency of travel, give me Amundsen; but when disaster strikes and all hope is gone, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.
– Sir Raymond Priestly
Today was a great day, and I’m so glad I put on my wet gear and went back out. The weather was spectacular this afternoon, and this made a really nice capstone for the trip.
Day 15: January 5, 2022
We didn’t do very much today. We are traveling from South Georgia to the South Orkney Islands in an effort to avoid a major storm that is brewing in the Scotia Sea. We had a few nausea patches left, so we each put one on. I get the most sea sick, so I used the last one from our latest prescription. Brian and Henry used two from an old prescription (I know I shouldn’t hold on to old medicine, but I do). Theirs expired in 2016. Hopefully it won’t hurt them, and maybe, it will even help. The crew has warned us that its likely going to get rough, so it was worth the risk.
Fabrice presented ‘Of Penguins and Men’, a presentation he created to help us understand the relationship men have had with penguins in the past. Everyone loves penguins now, but for a long time, penguins were sought after for food and for the oil that can be extracted from them. I can’t imagine slaughtering these cute little creatures, but it happened en masse. There were a few other presentations today, but we didn’t feel well enough to go see them. Well, we also weren’t overly interested in the topics either. One was on Antarctic geology, and two were on Shackleton. We watched them on the live stream in our room, but I don’t know that I could tell you much about them.
After dinner, we listened to Michael, a guide from Canada who is currently living in the United Kingdom, as he talked about kayaking around the entire island of South Georgia. The wind and weather is very difficult there, and although many kayakers have raised the money and tried to make the trip, very few have succeeded. Based on my very limited experience on the island, I think that anyone who tries that has to be out of their mind.
Day 16: January 6, 2022
We had a wonderful day today. We arrived at the South Orkney Islands early this morning, so we woke up to beautiful snowy mountain tops and ice-blue glaciers. Right after breakfast, we went through another biosecurity screening where we cleaned our gear and had it inspected. After lunch, our group was the first to go out on the Zodiacs for a landing.
The water was a calm and beautiful turquoise, and we made it to shore after a very smooth ride. It was very cold outside, so we were bundled up in all of our layers. In our shore briefing, Solan let us know we had two options for our excursion. If we went to the right, we could hike up and over a ridge and go see a glacier. This glacier was stable enough that we could actually go walk on it. If we went to the left, we could follow a rocky path to a colony of adelie penguins. We unanimously decided that we’d go towards the glacier since we’d probably never get the chance to see a glacier that close again. After we picked up our hiking sticks, we wove past the seals and up the trail. Several of the guides along the way were really excited to be there. The Orkney Islands are beautiful, but they are pretty far out of the way even for Antarctica. Because of that, most of the time the boats don’t get to stop there. The only reason we were able to go was because we were evading the storm.
We hiked up the ridge with no issues, and when we got to the top, we had a stunning view of the bay, the rocky beach, and a massive glacier that thinned all the way to the beach. We got to the foot of the glacier and took our first steps on top. The surface was pocked ice. There wasn’t any snow on top, but the surface wasn’t smooth and slippery. We were able to easily make our way up on the ice and when we got there, Henry did his best to make glacier angels. An adelie penguin followed us for a while, but eventually he got bored and moved on to find his friends.
While we were out exploring, we found a creature frozen in the ice. I used my hiking pole to pick it up and take it to one of the guides. She didn’t know what it was either, but she said she would ask about it. About that time, Ross, another guide, came up to us and identified it as a Sea Spider, an arachnid that lives deep in the Antarctic waters. He said they happen to be very common, living deep in the water here.
Eventually, we moseyed back towards the zodiac landing zone. Technically, we were supposed to go one of the routes, and then we were supposed to come back to the zodiacs and join a group to go cruising. Henry wasn’t fond of the zodiacs, Brian wanted to go cruising, and I was happy to do either. So, we split up. Brian went on a zodiac cruise by himself while Henry and I walked over to the penguin colony.
As a highlight on his cruise, Brian got to pick up his own piece of ice out of the sea to use in his beverages that afternoon. He said it was a great cruise. They got to see a lot of penguins, and they were able to travel through a lot of slushy ice exploring.
Henry and I had a good time too. We laid down on the ground and watched the penguins.
It’s mid-summer here now, and the penguins are busy taking care of their chicks. The baby chicks were about 4-5 weeks old, and they were covered in thick brownish black downy fur. Their parents keep them fed and gaining weight at this stage. As they get a little older, their parents will eventually leave and just not come back, and then they will have to figure out how to go get food on their own. The first year mortality rate is very high for penguins, but if the chick can make it through that first year, the can live very long lives (30+ years). Every summer, the penguins will migrate back to this area to build their nests and hatch their eggs. For a few years, the chicks aren’t really able to lay viable eggs. They still come back though, and they practice mating and playing house. They will build nests, but most, if not all, won’t lay eggs. After a few years, the playing pays off, and the penguins pair up, lay an egg, and together they will incubate the egg. Once it hatches, they will continue to work together to get their babies bigger and stronger.
The younger birds who were playing house were building nests by gathering rocks and making small rock beds. We watched a couple of birds stealing rocks from each other. One bird was working really hard to find rocks and bring them to her nest. Every time she turned her back, another little mischievous penguin would steal a rock from her nest and put it in her own. The poor little thing was working so hard. She wandered off for a moment, and we lost track of her (they all look alike, after all). Meanwhile, the little thief grabbed four rocks from her nest and added them to her own. We cracked up when we saw that our first little penguin had come back to her nest area a different route, and on her way back, she bit the butt of the thief to teach her a lesson! Penguins are so funny. They are adorable, they waddle everywhere they go (unless they are sliding down a hill on their bellies), and they are very industrious.
We got back to the boat, and we washed up our gear for the last time. Penguins and seals are cute, but they smell awful. You can smell them from a long way out, and its a smell that gets into your sinuses very deeply. We couldn’t tell if their smell was on us, or our clothes, or if it was just lingering from our visit to the island, so we washed everything very thoroughly.
Afterwards, we played cards in our room. We’ve been teaching Henry some new card games, so on top of Uno and Hearts, he’s learning Rummy, Black Jack, and Solitaire. He’s also learning how to shuffle cards properly, and he’s doing very well with it. Someone on the ship is hosting a cribbage tournament, and we signed up for it just because we could. Of course, right after we signed up, we went to google to figure out what cribbage was and how to play it. Apparently its popular, but we’d never really heard of it. We don’t stand a chance at winning, but it’ll be fun hopefully.
We moved upstairs to the Panorama Lounge to play cards there and enjoy the scenery. Solan called all the guests up to the helideck so we could toast Antarctica as we set sail for Argentina. We had three toasts. The first was for all of the people we love that couldn’t be with us but we wish they were. The second was for the adventurous spirit that drives people to do crazy things like travel halfway around the world to Antarctica in the middle of a pandemic. And the third was to Antarctica and the beauty that awes and humbles all who see it. It was a great toast, and I got a little teary eyed during it.
We went to dinner after the toast, and we were able to admire enormous icebergs through the meal. After dinner, Stefano, a guide who is originally from Italy but has lived in Norway for the last 11 years, talked about his year of living in the Arctic. He went to school in Svalbard to become a guide, and the year was quite eventful. Stefano is probably one of the funniest people we’ve met, and he can tell a story remarkably well. I loved listening to him.
Its hard to believe our trip is coming to an end. Brian and I were talking today, and I think we’re both ready to get off of the ship. We’ve had fun, and I’m so grateful we came. But I am ready to stop rocking and rolling with the waves, and I’m ready to get back to our adventure.
Day 17: January 7, 2022
We are heading north towards Ushuaia today, so we have sailed all day long. We are trying to avoid a storm, so the captain is doing his best to keep us in the calmest areas. Unfortunately, even though we are going through low wind areas, the waves are growing larger.
Brian went to a photo editing session with Michelle where she gave practical pointers for how to maximize your photos. While he was doing that, Lacy, another passenger, was kind enough to offer cribbage lessons. Henry was dead-set on learning how to play so we could win this tournament, so he wasn’t going to miss that for anything. He and I went to deck 7 and met Lacy in the game area. She was a wonderful teacher, and she was very patient with us. Throughout our game with her, we got to know her a bit. She was a solo traveler from Alaska, and was trying to step on all 7 continents before she turned 25. Antarctica was her last one. She was fun to talk to, and she really had a good time with Henry. Brian joined us towards the end of our session, and she was able to give him some pointers too.
We enjoyed a presentation on baleen whales from our guide Marla. I learned a lot, and I was really impressed with her knowledge on them. We still aren’t feeling great though, and it makes paying attention very difficult. It’s funny how nonchalant we are about whales now. Occasionally, someone will comment that there are whale blows off the deck, and we don’t even get up to run and check them out now. Since when did we get indifferent about whales?
We were able to make a visit to the bridge area this morning. The captain and his crew were relaxing at the helm when we got there. We were in a lot of fog and had overcast skies, so they had very little to view aside from the sea spray and snow that was hitting their windows. We did our best not to bother them, so we just observed the controls and their conversation for the fifteen minutes or so that we were there. The boat drives on autopilot mostly, but there is always someone at the helm. I could imagine this job being very dull on these long sea days, unfortunately. The sway of the boat combined with an unchanging scenery would make staying awake very difficult. I’m grateful that they can do it.
Before dinner, Brian went to play his cribbage round with David, another passenger. David was a young man who was traveling with his brother, father, and grandmother. He was an advanced player and was the one who helped to organize the tournament. By this time, Brian had played maybe three games. They had a lot of fun, and the game was close, but David defeated Brian and moved on to the next round.
After dinner, we went back to the game table and played around a bit. Adam, a young man who was traveling with his father, introduced himself and let Henry know they were scheduled to play a round. They decided to play then and there. Henry was really excited about playing him, and Adam was a great sport. Brian and I sat beside them playing Hearts with David and Michael, another guest who happened to be traveling with his wife and mother. Adam and Henry had a lot of fun, and my mama’s heart was full as I listened to this mid-late twenties man interact so well with my son. They talked and laughed and joked around. Adam told Henry that he was the only person he might be okay with losing to. In the end, Henry did win the round. He is very nervous about his next round with Ms. Jane (David’s grandmother). David told Henry that she’s really good.
I haven’t been able to reach my opponent yet, so perhaps I’ll be able to touch base with him tomorrow. For now, I have to get Henry to go to sleep. He’s on a high from winning, and now he has dreams about the first place prize.
Day 18: January 8, 2022
Today was a long day. I am officially sea sick. Our patches that we put on when we left South Georgia are officially doing nothing, and this boat has a lot of movement. I’ve taken Dramamine all day, and it helps, but I hate just laying in bed napping all day. In the afternoon, we all did a round of antigen testing in preparation for our entering Ushuaia again. Our last few tests have been negative for everyone on board, so we don’t expect anyone to test positive. It’s just a formality for us at this point. There’s still a little nervousness because if, somehow, you test positive, your onward travel is definitely going to be affected.
Tim Jarvis did a presentation on climate change. I really didn’t think I would enjoy it, but he did a very good job of highlighting some of the areas that are most affected. Having seen the beauty and splendor of these glaciers in person, its difficult to imagine that they could all be gone one day. We’ve listened to presentation after presentation on the wildlife, and we’ve learned a great deal about how the ecosystem supports itself (and us). I understand better the importance of some of the small daily choices we make, and I think that my family will all take this further as we continue on this journey and when we return home.
Henry also got to play his second round in the tournament against Ms. Jane. He was nervous about it, but he did well overall. He found her in the restaurant after breakfast, and they negotiated their game time. He said she was really fun to play, and they had a good time. The winner would have to win 2 out of 3 games, and in the end, Ms. Jane walked away as victor. Henry was disappointed that he didn’t win it all, but I think he had a ball with it.
Our guide Michael presented on how waves are created, a timely presentation considering most of the passengers are struggling at least a little. In my Dramamine-induced haze, I didn’t catch all of it, but the bottom line was that more wind yields bigger waves. We’re going through the Drake Passage again now. The first time we came through it, it was very calm. These are the roughest waters in the world, and we were told to expect very large swells. When we came through the first time, we only saw swells of about 2 meters height. That’s big if you’re playing on the beach, but in a large boat, it just means you’ll feel a little sway. This time around, the waves are 4-5 meters, and it’s a bit more than a sway. The crew tells us this is still pretty nice though. I’d hate to see rough.
We did get the benefit of an absolutely beautiful sunset though, tonight. Antarctica was pretty, but it stays overcast there most of the time. We saw the sun pop out here and there, but the weather changed very quickly, so it wouldn’t last long. Now that we’re getting further north, the foggy horizon is clearing up a bit, and we’re getting back to ‘normal’ skies. The sun was gorgeous on the open sea. Vibrant reds and oranges bounced off the waters, and one glimpse was all it took to remind you that going home isn’t all that bad.
Day 19: January 9, 2022
It’s our last day on the ship. Its crazy how quickly the time has come. I’m ready to get off; I’m tired of the sway. I do think we have been seriously spoiled, though. Every morning we leave our cabin, and Mark comes in and cleans it up for us. We go to our breakfast, which is pretty much anything you can think you might want for breakfast. We’re greeted with big smiles and enthusiastic good mornings. We return to our newly cleaned room to prepare for the day.
Lunch is similar to breakfast. Mario, Romel, and Rudy ensure that we have anything we want. And at dinner, the adorably sweet Meerim ensures our wine glasses are full as she helps them take care of us. We return after dinner to our bed turned down and chocolates on the pillows. Henry has loved the towel animals Mark makes for him.
Henry has also become somewhat of a celebrity aboard the ship. He is the youngest passenger on board, and being the social butterfly he is, he’s made all sorts of friends. Most of the staff knows him by name, and the ladies in reception are exceptionally fond of him. Other guests know us by him, and as we’ve talked to them, we’ve told them our story numerous times. We are ready to move on to the next leg of our journey, but we have to admit that this one has been extraordinary. We have lived in lavish luxury for nearly three weeks. Our budget journey will be a bit of a harsh reality when we return.
We were hoping to be able to cruise past Cape Horn in Chile before we entered the Beagle Channel on our last stretch before Ushuaia, but the weather is just not cooperating. We changed course again to try to get us on the protected side of the land before the really strong winds hit us. Considering my seasickness, I’m very grateful for the change.
We had a disembarkation briefing with our guide, Ryan. Turns out, we will have to have our checked luggage outside our room before we go to bed tonight, so seeing as how we have a disaster in our room with stuff everywhere, it looks like we might have a busy night.
Gillian, another of the guides, told us about some of the other places that Quark travels. I think we’d love to travel with them again. Henry is already dreaming about visiting the North Pole now. He’s got a crazy dream of us all doing a polar plunge in the Arctic, too. This child is insane.
I had some issues meeting up with my Cribbage partner, but today, we were able to meet and play our game. Andrew, the President of Quark, and I played a very good game of cribbage. I ended up winning, but I’m fairly certain that he may have helped me out a time or two. We had a good conversation during the game, and I learned a lot about some of the challenges the company had faced and are currently facing with COVID. The two trips that the Ultramarine were supposed to take before ours were cancelled for COVID, and the one following ours was cancelled as well. It made me feel even more grateful that we had this opportunity.
Before dinner, we had a bit of a goodbye party with the Captain and Staff. Solan, our expedition leader, introduced the Captain and the ship staff managers. We all toasted to them and the great time that we’ve had. There were a few tears in the room, as it really is hard to say goodbye.
We followed the cocktails with a slideshow of the polar plungers doing their thing, and then an auction to benefit Penguin Watch and the South Georgia eradication fund. After dinner, we all gathered together again to watch the slide show of our voyage that our photographer made for us. There were quite a lot of laughs, and Henry and I both cried during it.
Tomorrow will be hard, but we are excited too. We will be getting off the ship, going on a bus tour of the National Park, and then boarding our plane for Buenos Aires. We knew this time was coming, but it seemed to get here so quickly.
Day 20: January 10, 2022
We woke extra early this morning to pack up the last of our things. We’re all going on about 5 hours of sleep. We made it to breakfast, and enjoyed our last meal at the #36 table. At the end of the meal, we said our goodbyes to the restaurant staff and headed to the theater to pick up our packed lunches and passports. We waited in our room until they called us, but when it was our turn, we picked up our things, walked out of our room for the last time, and headed down the gangway.
The ladies at reception told Henry how much they would miss him, and I couldn’t help but chuckle when they asked him to please say “Yes, ma’am” one more time for them. He did, and they just loved it. The Quark team was lining the gangway and pier to see us off, and through teary eyes, we smiled and said goodbye. We even saw Valeria from the ground team again, and she remembered Henry. We loaded our bags onto the bus. Over the next few hours, we got to go on a whirlwind tour of Tierre de Fuego, a National Park in Argentina. They took us to see the very end of the Pan-American Highway also; this highway starts in Alaska and goes all the way through the Americas. Since we’d been on this highway quite a lot on our journey, it was pretty special for us to get to see the final stretch. At around noon, the tour company dropped us off at the airport.
At the airport before the flight and then again after we landed, the people in our group were chatting with one another like we were all old friends. Henry exchanged contact information with several of the group. Ms. Jane gave us a contact that might be able to help us with coding when Henry is ready for it. Mr. Tom, the oldest man on the ship, gave Henry some pointers on his camera and editing software. Scott and Maggie, the sweet couple who got married on the trip and who had taken to Henry and spent a lot of time playing games with him, said they’d keep in touch with him as well.
Afterward:
We had such a good time on this trip, and we met so many great people. I am grateful for the Quark Expedition Team and the Ultramarine staff. Both worked so hard to ensure that we had a safe and pleasant voyage. I honestly cannot think of anything they could have done better to protect us during this pandemic. The guests were all great fun, and they were so incredibly nice to all of us, but especially Henry. My pictures are beautiful, but quite frankly, they just don’t do it justice. I know many of you reading this may never want to go to Antarctica, but if you have the means and opportunity, it is well worth your time. To be in an area where most people will never go, and to see all of the wildlife in their element was both extremely humbling and absolutely breathtaking. Brian, Henry, and I had a fantastic trip. I’m beyond grateful that we have had this opportunity, and I will take these memories with me for the rest of my life.
Resilience is accepting your new reality even if it is less good than the one you had before. You can fight it, you can do nothing but scream about what you’ve lost, or you can accept that and try to put together something that’s good.
– Elizabeth Edwards
I was nervous about going to Colombia. It would be the first country for us on another continent, and this happened to be one that had a reputation for crime and corruption. I can also still remember watching the movie Romancing the Stone when I was a kid and the jungle and the scene with the alligators stuck with me from all of those years ago. I remembered Cartagena being beautiful and the main characters in the movie enjoying the local rhythms as they danced together in the city. Would Colombia be the scary place I’d heard about where I would constantly be looking over my shoulder, or would I be taken in by the beauty and culture? I really didn’t know what to expect, and I was surprised to experience both. Let me start at the beginning.
We’d debated for days on how to get to Colombia from Panama. You cannot cross the Darien Gap by land, so buses were out of the question. Should we would fly, or should we take a boat through the beautiful San Blas Islands? I really wanted to take the boat because I had wanted to spend a few days in the San Blas Islands for quite some time. In the end, we decided that we really didn’t have the 5 extra days to spend on the boat, and the flight turned out to be slightly cheaper.
We flew from Panama City to Cartagena, Colombia on a Saturday morning. Shortly after the plane touched down, we grabbed our taxi and headed for the hotel. We were staying just outside of the historic district which is very near the ocean. Our driver turned off the shoreline highway, and we drove under an arched bridge and through the old city walls. Once we were inside the wall, it felt like we were transported to another time and place. Old enormous colonial homes and businesses replaced the standard big city buildings. These structures were all very well kept and colorful with beautiful gardens and decorative balconies. The streets were cobblestone, and there were monuments and artistic details on nearly every corner. It was crazy how by going through the wall, the whole atmosphere changed. The new city was big and bustling, but the old city was beautiful and serene.
Our driver got us to our hotel, and we entered a high-ceilinged foyer with a single large flight of white marble stairs. The reception area was at the top of the stairs, and we got checked in with no issues. Our room was up another flight, and we had the only room on the floor. This hotel was very small, and each of the 6 floors only had 1 or 2 rooms each. From our floor, you could continue up a modern spiral staircase to the others. On the 5th floor, the hotel had a community lounge area with a balcony that overlooked the street, and on the roof, it had a very nice pool to relax in. Our room was spacious and bright, and we had windows overlooking the hotel’s inner courtyard.
Outside our room, the city was hopping. A main bus terminal was directly across the street from the hotel, and there was a small mall just beyond that. At all hours of the day, people were milling about or walking to their destinations. There was always music coming from one of the businesses, and the environment was relaxed despite the busyness of the city.
On our second day in Cartagena, I talked Henry into going on a free city walking tour of the old town with me. For two hours, we followed our guide, raptly listening to the history of the area, learning how the old city used to be an island (but now is not), learning about the original residents and the Spanish who chose to settle there, and hearing about the criminal/violent history of the region and how Colombia is fighting hard to change it. I loved it. Henry did not. He patiently waited for it to be over, but that was about it. I loved walking up on the old walls and imagining the citizens defending themselves against the pirate attacks, and I enjoyed learning about the men and women who stood up for the defenseless slaves that were brought to be sold in the port and how they changed the course of history by doing so. I really enjoyed the old city.
And we enjoyed the rest of Cartagena also. The streets of Getsemani were colorful and vibrant and full of life. The ‘regular’ people lived here while the upper class made their homes in the Old town. We felt more at home here, and we loved the atmosphere. The art was amazing as well.
On another day, we explored the beaches of the town. We had planned to go for a swim out by the old city, but when we got there, we found that the beaches in that area were closed. Instead, we walked a few kilometers to the Bocagrande area and ventured out into the water there. The water was cool and refreshing, and the sand felt good on my feet. It wasn’t the beautiful crystal blue water I love so much, but in the Colombian heat, it still felt amazing.
After a few days in Cartagena, we decided to move inland a bit, and our first stop was in Medellin. The airport in Medellin is actually almost an hour east of the city and closer to another town we wanted to visit called Guatape. So when we landed, instead of going into Medellin, we got on a shuttle bound for a hotel in Guatape. Guatape was another hour east of the airport, and our driver manuevered the narrow winding roads with ease. The weather was overcast and rainy, so we didn’t get to enjoy much of the scenery. We made it to our hotel which sat atop a hill overlooking a BMX track and a soccer complex. Our room was nice, but it was a little chilly. We had only planned on staying one night, visiting the Piedra del Penol the next morning, and catching the bus back to Medellin. The next morning, we woke up to dreary skies and pouring down rain. We were all disappointed that our one shot of enjoying the scenic panoramas atop the rock was probably a bust. We decided to go have some breakfast and we prayed for a break in the weather. God granted our request, and shortly after breakfast, the skies cleared up. We headed for the big rock.
The Piedra del Penol is a giant rock that sits all by itself in a region full of lakes and forests. Its roughly 700 feet tall, and its made of materials that aren’t common in the area. The going theory is that the rock was emitted from one of the volcanic eruptions in the area way back when. I’m not sure if that’s true, but it was a sight to see. The rock was first scaled in 1954, and since then, they have built an entire attraction out of it. There are 675 concrete steps to get to the top, and on the very top, there are restaurants, a viewing tower, bathrooms, and gift shops. The view is spectacular from every angle. I was a little nervous about the climb, but it only took us about 20 minutes or so to go up, and although I had to stop several times to catch my breath, it really wasn’t that bad.
We found a crepe restaurant in Guatape that we really loved. The night we arrived in Guatape, we ate our dinner there, opting for lazagnas over crepes. We let Henry order us a strawberry and chocolate crepe for dessert, and he was hooked. We liked it so well that when we came down from Piedra del Penol, we actually had our lunch there as well. We met the restaurant’s owner, a French man who had travelled to Guatape 6 years ago for a 2 night stay and never left. The town was enchanting, and we really regretted that we only had one night to stay here.
But after our lunch, we knew we had to get moving again. So that afternoon, we caught our bus bound for Medellin. Now, of course I’d heard of Pablo Escobar, but aside from him and the drug cartels, I’d never heard anything about Medellin. I was a little nervous about going there because the little I knew wasn’t very good. We picked a hotel in the Laureles neighborhood because it was supposed to be full of restaurants, safe for tourists, and close to transportation. Our bus ran into some heavy traffic, and we were later pulling into the north terminal bus station than we’d hoped for. After grabbing our bags, a few friendly employees helped us navigate the enormous station and get on the metro towards our hotel. Our bags were heavy as we stood in the center of the train, and we were ultra conscientious about the crime in the area, so the ride was both long and difficult. We got off at the Estadio station, and walked past busy restaurants and a street full of people to our hotel. Our hotel wasn’t marked well and was a bit hard to find. Thankfully, Carlos, our host was looking for us. It was a little unnerving when we had to show Henry’s birth certificate at check in so they could be sure we weren’t doing anything underhanded with him. We were safe where we were, but this was a very good reminder that things hadn’t always been so secure.
On our first day in Medellin, I had found a person who could repair my Keen sandals, and we walked about a mile through town to drop them off. It was the middle of the day, so people were out everywhere. We walked past the metro station and past a massive recreational complex with soccer fields, baseball fields, and more, and then we eventually wandered out of the Laureles area to the Zapateria (shoe repair shop). This section of town wasn’t bad, but it was certainly not as nice as the area we were staying in. After dropping off the shoes, we returned to our side of town and caught the metro to the Casa de la Memoria, a museum that honored the victims of Colombia’s heinous past. The museum explained the reasons for many of the civil and political wars in the area, and it talked about the cartel wars and their impact on the country. It was moving, and my heart broke for these people as I thought through the loss they have suffered through for decade after decade.
On our second day, we took the metro north to Parque Explora, a children’s science museum, planetarium, and aquarium in one. For less than $9 each, we were able to enjoy an entire day of interactive exhibits. First off, the place was designed to look like 4 giant red books from above. Each ‘book’ was a different exhibit. Everything in the museum was in Spanish and English except for the 30 minute planetarium show. I may have fallen asleep during that, but that was mostly because I was laid back in the dark and the speaker’s voice was very soothing. We loved it here, and especially for the price, the exhibits were fantastic.
That night was one of the most interesting we’ve had on the trip. Apparently, there was a very important soccer match happening that afternoon in the soccer park near our hotel. When we got off the train after the children’s museum, we started noticing an abundance of green and white striped soccer jerseys. As we walked over to pick up my newly repaired shoes, we saw vendors blowing up green and white helium balloons, and there were green and white souvineers on every cart/stand. On the walk back to the hotel, there were noticably more people as the crowd continued thickening. By the time dinner rolled around, the crowd had gotten massive, and traffic was stalled in the street because of all the pedestrians. Everyone had on green and white clothing, and a whole bunch of people carried green and white umbrellas that were open and bouncing to their chants and celebrations in the street. People were cheering, and chanting, and celebrating what must have been a great game.
We made our way to a pizza restaurant and found a table on the second floor overlooking the street. The crowd continued to grow, and by the time our food arrived, they were shooting off fireworks and dancing in the street. The police had intervened to get traffic moving again, but it didn’t take long for the crowd to overtake the street again. Several of the small businesses lining the street closed up their storefronts as the crowds got even rowdier. We watched in shock as members of the swat-like force came in with their shields and started forcing the crowd to move on. They moved on for a time, but in 10 minutes, most had migrated back to the street. The swat-like police came in a second time, and this time they fired off a smoke bomb and forced the partygoers out completely. We were safe, but the crowd was massive and very energetic, which put us all on edge. The ‘regular’ police were numerous and they continued to monitor the area for the rest of the evening. We were able to walk back to our hotel with no issues.
We later found out that Medellin is the home of the Atletico Nacional, which according to our host, is one of the most important teams in Colombia and in South America. We knew that soccer was a big deal in Central/South America, but we honestly had no idea. These people were all about soccer! Thankfully we were in a safe spot in the restaurant and had a great bird’s eye view to the whole show. By the time we left the restaurant, everything was calm, and most of the street was back to normal.
The next day we toured the Museo de Castillo. In the middle of the city, there is a beautiful old castle that was built in the early 1900s. The castle is open today as a music and arts hub in the city, and its grounds are open to tourists and picnicers. We explored the old house and walked through the immaculately manicured gardens, forgetting that we were still in the middle of one of the most dangerous cities in the world.
Medellin is a huge city of 2.7 million people, and they have a very well developed transportation system to help their residents. There are metro trains, buses, city buses, and cable cars. We had heard that the cable cars were a great way to really get to see the city since you get a view from above, and we weren’t going to miss out on that. So that afternoon we rode the metro and took the cable car system to check out Arvi Park.
For about 3 linear kilometers, we watched the city move under us as we rode on the cable line and then we traveled another 2 kilometers over forest to the park. The park was very large and was full of beautiful trees and hiking trails. We walked a kilometer or two to see a waterfall and check out the camping area before we headed home for the night.
On the way back from Arvi Park, we took a detour and got off of the metro a station or two from our stop. The Parque de las Luces was one of the areas we had heard about as well. During the day, the 300 lighted poles provide shade, and at night, they provide light. Some of the lights weren’t working when we were there, which took away from the beauty, but the park itself was still beautiful.
As great as our time in Medellin had been, it was time for us to move on to our next stop in Bogota. Bogota is almost three times the size of Medellin, and was, by far, the biggest city I’d ever been in. We flew into Bogota and took the public bus system to our Airbnb. We were staying on the outer edge of the Champinero area. This section of town was heavily developed for tourism, and there was plenty to do and see in the area. Getting to our apartment was a bit of a debacle, though, and the money we saved by not taking a taxi was not worth it. The bus we caught at the airport took us to a main bus station hub. This hub had hundreds of busses coming and going each hour, but a helpful attendant helped us purchase a ticket and find the B13 bus to get to our stop. We were able to get on the bus with no issues, but when we got close to our bus stop, we were completely shocked when the bus didn’t stop at it. Panicking a little, we got off at the next bus station (about 20 blocks away) to figure out what to do next. There was a map hanging in the station, and it listed off a boatload of buses and their stops. After a few minutes deciphering the map (maybe more than a few minutes), we finally figured out that we needed to get on bus H13 to go back to our stop. After a few more minutes, we figured out where H13 would pick us up at. But eventually we made it on, and it stopped at our intended stop. About this time, the bottom fell out, and it began raining cats and dogs. We had rain covers for our bags and rain jackets for us. Unforutnately, it was crowded, and everything else we had was packed up super tight. We decided we’d walk the 4-5 blocks and do the best we could to stay dry in our jeans and tennis shoes. Less than a block later, we were all completely drenched. The water was flooding the streets, and there was 4-6 inches of water off of every curb. Since we couldn’t fight it, we just embraced it. It was cold and wet, and we were absolutely miserable. We made it to the address we had in our phone but couldn’t find the apartment. It took us a few more minutes of frantic searching in the pouring rain to figure out that the address we’d been working off of was for the parking garage. Our apartment was another 5 blocks or so. So off we went again. We finally made it to the entrance, and we entered in our keyless code. Of course our apartment was the one on the third floor (with no elevator), so after trudging up the steps, we finally walked in absolutely sopping wet.
The apartment was really nice, and we made use of every square inch of it as we opened up all of our things and laid them out to dry. We used the washing machine in the apartment to wring out our clothes, and we made a makeshift clothes line in the living room to hang everything out on. The apartment was very cool from the Bogota weather, and it had no heat. Henry took a shower to try to warm up, and then he went straight for the covers on his bed. Brian and I tried to get as creative as we could with getting our stuff dry, but we were freezing too. We’d worn our only real set of warm clothes because we knew that it would be cold, and those were all dripping wet. So we put on our best shorts and tees and made do. We ordered a pizza because we were just too miserable to go out again, and that was delicious. We went to bed that night determined to make the next day a little better.
The next morning, Brian and Henry went to check out a local laundry service. Our wet clothes were still very wet, and everything else we had was dirty. We decided to split our laundry into two batches so that we’d have something to wear in the short term. And once we dropped off the clothes, we found a really nice food court near an apartment complex just a few blocks from our apartment. Henry had found some al pastor tacos there, and Brian and I fell in love with some jugo de lulo (lulo juice) that we got unlimited refills on. We didn’t do much that day because it was really too cold to be out the way we were dressed.
One afternoon, after we’d gotten our clothes back, we went into the city to explore and see what we could find to do. After eating a delicious lunch in the garden of a downtown restaurant, we decided to walk to a nearby free museum. While we were there, we learned that you could walk to the top of Montserrat and see the view of the city, so we decided to check that out. We walked up the hill near the edge of the city, and we were able to ride a cable car all the way to the top of the Montserrat mountain. The view was breathtaking, but unfortunately, it was shortlived. The rain came in, and the clouds ruined the views. It was very pleasant up there, but we were cold and tired, and we needed to get back to our section of town before it got too late, so we didn’t stay long.
On another day, we took an Uber to the Catedral de Sal, the Salt Cathedral. In an area about an hour north of town, the native people had learned that salt was plentiful. They would make bread using the salty water that flowed from the mountain. Over the years, people figured out more efficient means of capturing it, and now there is a massive salt mine in the area. In a few of the tunnels on the third level down, the miners created artistic representations of the story of Christ for visitors to enjoy. In the fartherest visitable chambers, there is a massive church, commerce area, movie theater, and more. The caves were a constant 55-degrees, so regardless of the weather, visitors could come admire their work. When we were there, there was a celebration and awards ceremony happening in the church. I’m not sure what was really going on, but it was interesting to see the space being used like it was.
On our last day, we woke up early prepared to head to the airport to fly from Colombia to Peru. We’d figured out the bus system, and since we had a little money left on our transit card, we decided to take the bus to the airport. At around 5, we left our apartment for the bus stop that was about 3 blocks away. We waited together, being very vigilant of the sparsely populated streets. Another man joined us at the stop and waited with us for about 10 minutes. Just before he got on his bus, a second man joined us as well. After the first man got on his bus, a blue car pulled up to the stop, and the passenger rolled down his window. He spoke very quickly and in Spanish, so we really struggled to understand him. He said that he was police, and he showed us his badge. He asked to see our identification, and we all showed ours. He continued to talk quickly, and he asked to see if we had a cell phone. The man who was with us showed him his. The passenger took it, looked at it for a moment, and then handed it back to him. Brian did the same, but instead of handing it back to Brian, the man handed it to the driver. As he was handing it to the driver, he was also grabbing for mine. He continued to look at it for a moment, and then he started talking again. This time it sounded like he was asking for money. We had intentionally spent all of our cash the night before so we wouldn’t have to exchange it again. The other bus passenger handed him a little cash, and the ‘officer’ continued to push Brian for cash. Brian said we didn’t have any and showed the man his empty wallet. Then, the man started asking for cards. Brian ended up giving him a debit card for a closed account so that he would be satisfied. After a few minutes asking us for computers and other valuables, the bus stop passenger got in the back seat of the car, and the car sped off with our phones and a dead ATM card in tow. Brian said he had figured out what was going on when the ‘officer’ handed his phone to the driver. By then, it was too late for his or mine. Thankfully, we didn’t resist them, and we didn’t give them anything else. We walked back to our apartment to figure out what to do next. We were all pretty shaken up, but we were safe. Henry still had his phone, and we were able to use it to help us get what we would need to get out of the country. We tried to call an Uber, but the only driver that was popping up was one who didn’t list their car model or their car tags. In light of what happened, we refused the ride. We called a taxi instead, and after negotiating a rate, we all got in the car very dubious of our driver’s good intentions.
When we got to the airport, we notified a police officer at the entrance about what happened. Several officers later, we were asked to fill out a police report with the attendant in a little tech kiosk inside the airport. The store clerk logged onto the public use computers and filled out our report for us and gave us a copy to keep. From there, we headed over to the international departures to check in for our flights.
We made it to Lima, Peru, with no other issues, and we spent the next three days scrubbing all of our accounts and changing as many passwords as we could. We had turned on the lost mode on our phones, so we got notice when whoever took them connected them to the network. They were stolen at 5:30 am on Saturday, and by 10 pm on Sunday, they had gotten past my passcode and had managed to bypass all the security on my phone. They got into Brian’s the next morning, but thankfully we were able to remotely wipe his.
The robbery was scary, and I hate that it happened. We had been vigilant expecting someone to pick our pockets or to grab a bag and try to run with it. We weren’t expecting them to pose as police. We don’t know if they had weapons, because thank God, they didn’t pull any on us. We could have done so many things different, and we might have prevented this. But I also know that it could have gone much worse, and I’m thankful we all walked away safe with just the inconvenience of replacing our phones.
I also hate that this is the last memory we have of Colombia. We loved our time there, but now it’s hard to imagine ever going back there. Henry has really struggled since the incident with trusting anyone, and I hate that these men took that bit of innocence away from him. We keep reminding him that it’s important to be wary but to not let the few bad people taint your view of everyone. There are a lot of really good people everywhere, even in Colombia, and I’m trying hard to remember them instead. So for us, Colombia carries with it some mixed emotions. It was beautiful, but dangerous. We danced and laughed a lot, but we left with tears and frustration. We have immense gratitude that we all left unharmed, but we all lost a part of our ourselves there as well. We will use our lessons learned to help us in the future, and every day, we will remind each other of the good.
Expedition Fresh Start 