Time for a change

With our marriage, it is time to change the name of the blog.   The new blog will be Richard and Sandi on the Road.

http://richardandsandi.blogspot.com

Paddling the Owyhee River in Oregon

Owyhee River trip May 7-14

On Saturday morning, I got up very early, picked up Randy at 7, and met Roger and Steve at Steve's house in Fort Collins.  We had a good lunch in Rock springs at the Broadway Burger Station, away from I-80.  The rest of the day was a long drive to Burley Idaho.  We stayed at the Super 8 and ate at El Caporal restaurant.  Sunday, we drove to Boise;  Randy and I missed an exit, so had to backtrack an exit.  We had lunch at only restaurant in Jordan Valley Oregon. We set up camp at the put in, and had dinner at restaurant in Rome.  The restaurant is also a motel and RV park, and about the only thing in Rome.  Roger and I made a pilgrimage to the tomb of Jean-Baptiste Charbonneau, the youngest member of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Monday was very windy, with whitecaps on river,  blowing upstream.  We had breakfast and lunch at the restaurant.  We decided at 2 pm to start on Tuesday.  Only two parties put in that day.  More people showed up as the day went on.

Randy

On Tuesday, the boat ramp was busy, as you can see in the photo.  We got on the water about 9:45, and off at 2:45. The first few miles were flat, through farmlands, then we had fun rapids. We camped about mile 15 on left.

Wednesday we got on river after 10. We hiked to Rustlers cabin, where we talked to an Oregon public  radio crew filming the trip.  Artillery rapid had a series of big standing waves which filled my canoe. We wanted to canp near Pruit's Castle, but Ryegrass and the next few campgrounds were full. We stopped at mile 25 on the left.  We hiked on loose stuff, and got rather high, but not to the top of dome.    The whole area is called Chalk basin, with alternating layers of pale sediment and dark lava flows, really quite amazing.

Roger

The canyon was spectacular.  Montgomery rapid was exciting, with numerous rocks to dodge. To my surprise, I stayed upright. We took the first open camp after Montgomery.  Rather, when we saw that Jackson camp was occupied, we pulled into a sandbank upstream and made camp. It was very hot, so we all gathered in the shade of a tree and told stories.

Randy

On Friday we got on the river fairly early. We stopped and looked at the old ranch buildings at Hole-in-the-Wall.  We ran several unnamed rapids.  I got flipped in one of the unnamed rock gardens. I got bruised up a bit, but no serious harm done. When we got to Greeley camp we had a decision to make. The two guys camped there offered to let us join them, but we voted to paddle a couple more hours to the take out.  We compared the scenery to Lord of the Rings, or computer graphics, it just did not look real.

Richard

Steve

The drive out from Birch Creek was 30 miles of dirt and gravel roads, nothing but cows, not even any side roads to speak of.

We decided to eat fast food, and press on to Burley/Hayburn ID, staying in the same Super 8 motel as before.

Saturday we just drove, through Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and finally Colorado.  We got home a day early, despite laying over a day due to wind.

The Owyhee was spectacular. I would like to go back sometime, perhaps at low water, when we might have our choice of camps.  Perhaps we could be more focused on hiking, and less on miles or hours on the river.

Ponce de Leon and the Basilica

We got up early and went out for breakfast. We watched them load boats with people and gear. Then we checked out of our hotel and headed for the house of Ponce de Leon.

The drive was through the countryside, a mix of pasture land and sugar cane fields. The tractor is towing wagons loaded with sugar cane. 

The museum was small, but somewhat interesting. The building has obviously been reconstructed. The gate was closed when we drove up, but two guys in a motorcycle arrived to open the gate and the museum. 

The museum houses some artifacts from that era.  Ponce was in charge in this area of the DR, fighting indians, and later in Puerto Rico, and then in Florida. The museum receives very few visitors, fewer than ten a day even in high season. We were the first visitors that day. 

Since we had time, we decided to drive to Higuey and see the Basilica de Altagracia. This was built in 1956 for a small miraculous image. 

We drove to the airport and returned the rental car with an hour to spare. We checked into the Four Points hotel, had lunch, and relaxed in the pool. Dinner was good, at Zen restaurant near the hotel. 

Tuesday started with an alarm at 4:45 AM, for an 8 AM flight to Atlanta.  The flights home were uneventful.  The weather in Boulder was cooler than average for this time of year, adding a bit of cold shock to our return to reality.

Bayahibe

We drove to Bayahibe on the toll road. The town's main business is boat tours and diving. Our hotel, apart-hotel Villa Baya, is a small oasis. The town is about 2000 people. We shopped at a mini mart, and went down the street to a loud and crowded bar to buy beer. 

Our first night we ate at Mama Mias, with a genuine Italian cook/owner. 

On Saturday, we drove out to look at the park, but decided that it was too hot to hike into the jungle. We spent a little time on the beach there.  Siestas make sense in this climate. 

We stopped at Dominicus Anericanus, an Italian enclave, where we had good Italian gelato. The Italian lady who ran the gelato shop told us in broken Spanish that 90 percent of the residents were Italians, and that the community was just jungle 30 years ago. 

Saturday night we went to mass at the little church. It was the church's feast day. The young people were enthusiastically playing and singing. Sandi thought the priest was running for bishop. He was movie star handsome, and quite an orator, praying for healing for a long list of diseases. 

This is election season here, with flags, a blaring sound system, and decorated cars. On Saturday night there was a parade of cars generating noise and waving flags. 

We ate at the Cafe Saona, Sandi had the Lionfish, an invasive predator, while Richard had chicken skewers.

We planned for an easy Sunday;  Richard was not feeling well. Sandi read the NYT on line. We had a late lunch at Mare Nuestro, and watched the tour boats disgorge sunburnt tourists. 

We went back to Dominicus Americanis for pasta at Da Elio and more gelato.

Bayahibe was loud til midnight, due to the annual patron Festival.   We begin the trip home tomorrow. 

Santo Domingo

We checked out of the hotel, and took a cab to the bus station. We took the Expresso Bavero bus to the capital, Santo  Domingo, $9 US, 3.5 hours. The ride went fine, although Sandi was not happy about the vendors who boarded the bus along the way. The bus went from an express to a local when it hit Santo Domingo. Traffic was just as anarchistic as we had heard. We got a taxi to our hotel, El Beaterio, a quiet oasis in the city, an old convent.   The photo is of the courtyard. 

We had a nice dinner at Buche Perico, a restaurant with its own greenhouse. Nothing on the menu was familiar; most of the Spanish descriptions were incomprehensible to me. There was no English menu, and the waiter had no English. We spent 10 minutes with the waiter trying to understand the menu. The food was good, but different. 

We went to 5 pm mass at the first Cathedral of the Americas, with some elderly ladies and a guitar playing nun. 

We walked around the colonial area, and fell into a walking tour with Pablo. He was an enthusiastic guide, a wealth of information.  We visited the fort, and walked by many historic buildings, including the house of Diego Colon, son of Christopher Columbus. Santo Domingo was first in the Americas in many categories. 

On Thursday we went to the first cathedral of the Americas, or at least the oldest still standing. We listened ti the audio tour

Then we went to the Museum of the Royal Houses, all about the history of Santo Domingo. We were reminded how important Ferdinand and Isabella were. 

As it was hot, we went back for a nap. For dinner, we went to Jalao for Dominican food, easier with an English menu. 

The painted telephone ploes were interesting. 

On Friday, as we were getting ready to leave, a group arrived with historical signs, lead by a museumoligist. This will be the first hotel/museum in the DR. 

We took a 3.5 hour bus ride to the Punta Cana  airport, where we picked up a rental car, and headed for the beach, Bayahibe. 

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

We left in a snowstorm. 852 flights were cancelled, but we made it. 

It is an all-inclusive resort, first time for both of us. We took a bus to the shopping center, and bought a SIM card for the phone. We bought a turtle from a woodcarver and his son, photo below. 

The Punta Cana beaches go on for more than 7 km.

  Richard was able to get out in a kayak. 

Sandi was able to work on her beach time 

We had a nice dinner with Neda, Peter, Matt, and Kaitlin. 

On the day of the wedding, Richard got out sailing. He had not been sailing in many years, but it came right back. 

The wedding was very nice. They asked that we not post photos on social media. 

On Tuesday we took a tour to an organic farm, wherw we learned about coffee, chocolate, pineapples, and bannanas. 

Our guide showing where cocoa beans come from.   Below is a typical Dominican outdoor kitchen. 

Fish and Circuses

On Sunday, we went to mass at St. Martha's church. Looking over the church bulletin, we noticed a "Circus Priest," not something found in every parish. 

We spent most of the day at the Ringling museum, which was very interesting. I had never seen a circus museum. They have a huge model of a circus, a labor of love by Mr. Howard. It is almost unbelievable, the size and detail. It really helps you understand how much is involved in putting together a circus. 

Here is the cannon that launches the human cannonball. 

The photo below shows Sandi practicing for her high wire act. 

We spent perhaps an hour in the art museum, mostly looking at Islamic art, as well as Reuben's the Triumph of the Eucharist, four huge canvases. 

After enquiring about kayak tours, we checked the weather forecast. There was enough wind in the forecast that we decided that a bigger boat would be better. 

On Monday, we headed for the Mote aquarium, and signed up for the combination boat tour and aquarium ticket. The boat tour included houses of the rich and famous, a bird rookery, and some marine life dredged up from the sea bottom. It was fun to watch the puffer fish puff up. It was also interesting to see pelicans and other birds in breeding plumage. The roseate spoonbill was beautiful. 

In the aquarium, we got to see two manatees relatively close, and enjoyed watching the river otters play. 

Tuesday we headed home, through Atlanta. We were sad to leave. 

Sarasota Florida

Sarasota Florida

Sandi and I went to Sarasota for the 90th birthday of Fred, who iis still going strong. Nancy, Fred's wife, has been a long  time mentor to Sandi, which is part of the reason we went.  The fact that Florida is warm may also have had something to do with it. 

We flew Delta through Atlanta. The flight to Atlanta had some turbulence, and the pilot had the flight attendants sit for much of the flight. 

We found our Condo, great location but lacking in some details. 

Friday morning I was introduced to Nancy and Fred. Nancy is Sandi's friend and mentor; it is Fred's 90th birthday party. We talked business and technology; I may help them some with their project. 

We drove up the series of keys, all the way to the last key, Anna Maria Island. We had lunch in a converted gas station..  The Ugly Grouper restaurant is funky but has good food, owned by a former St. Louis baseball player. 

We headed to the mainland to the Manatee Viewing Center, at Apollo beach, next to the Teco powerplant. In cold weather, dozens of manatees group there  for the warm water. With the warmer weather, we were lucky to see one manatee.   Yes, that is the manatee's back. ;-)

Then we headed to Lido beach for the sunset. 

Saturday was Fred's 90th birthday party. The photo is of Sandi, Fred, and Nancy. 

It was a nice party. 

We went for a walk on the beach for sunset, and had dinner at a restaurant in St Armand's circle

Thoughts on Cuba

The first thing is that Cuba is clearly a country in transition.   Private business is new in Cuba, and restrictions on those businesses have been lifted a little at a time.  Public WIFI just arrived in Cuba in 2015.   The state still controls most of the economy, and probably will for some time.  Not all the transitions are for the better.

Cuba is in a time warp.  Not only are many of the cars on the street US cars from the 1950s, but there are horse drawn wagons everywhere we went, except Havana.   The only buildings built since 1958 that we saw were ugly Soviet-style concrete apartment buildings.  It is like time stopped in 1960.   Cuba felt a lot like the Mexico of 30 years ago.

Everyone was happy, and some were overjoyed, to see Americans.  Some people were emotional telling us how happy that they were that we were in Cuba.

Cuba is not ready for prime time.   It is not ready for non-adventure tourism.  There are so many things that Americans or even Mexicans take for granted, that are difficult in Cuba.   It is a constant challenge to find products in Cuba.   The hotel occupancy is 100%.   Although our B&B was fine, the reports that I have read indicate that the guest experience can range from excellent to terrible.

Utilities are substandard.  The water is not safe to drink.  Water is unreliable, so people have tanks on their roof.  Our guide said that his house gets water every other day.  WIFI availability is very limited; there are only 50 public hotspots in the entire country.  A power failure at the airport in Cienfuegos caused our aircraft to return to Miami.

It will be a 20 year project to make all the changes that need to be made, in Sandi's professional  judgement as a management consultant.

There are hardly any shops.   The shop above looks like a shop from the USA of 100 years ago.  The shops that we saw had very limited selection and quantities on hand.

The building deterioration is unbelievable.  A lot of the problem is related to the laws, which give each person ownership of their apartment, but no one ownership of the building as a whole.

Wages and money are incredibly distorted.  A Cuban doctor makes something like $30 US per month, and lives on tips from his patients.  A waiter, who gets tips from foreigners, makes more than a doctor.  There are two money systems, a CUC, which is artificially pegged to the US dollar, and the national money, worth about $0.04 US.  The plan is to phase out CUC, and make it a convertible currency, but we will see. The government pays people in the national money, and then gives them ration books to let them buy basic supplies cheaply.

Our guide's ration book

Cuba is moving from an egalitarian society to one of haves and have nots.  People who successfully make the transition to private enterprise are doing well, those still working for the government are making $20-$30 per month.

There is a lack of a legal framework and rule of law.  For example, the dance troupe in Havana reported that one of their problems is that there is no legal provision for nonprofit groups.

Outside Havana, the streets were largely empty, because so few people have cars.   The six lane Highway 1 had about the traffic that you would expect on a two lane road, with horse drawn vehicles on the shoulder.

But as Sandi reminded me, (somewhat instantly and repeatedly), we saw the country through our American eyes.  She found the people wonderful, working hard to survive, but happy of heart and eager for opportunities.  We heard often "we just need opportunities."  Cubans are survivors - they will find their way through this transition in their own way.  As the professor of Architecture said in replying to one of our group when he asked what will happen when McDonalds (Marriott, cruise ships, etc.) arrives, "That will be our problem, not yours."  Cubans are proud nationalists.   They love their country - with all of its complexities.

To Sandi, the word she used most often was poignant.  The music touched her deeply - from the women's A Capella choir, to the five year old singing solo a traditional "farmers" song,  to the elders dancing with us, to the student guitar group, and finally the professional string and piano group, playing a stunning rendition of "Shenandoah."  Cuba is about harmonies, something sad, something hopeful, always complex.  Our hearts were truly moved.  Maria was right, bring your flexibility and your heart.

Cienfuegos, and the long trip home

On Friday the 15th, we said goodbye to our hosts, and headed for the Benny Moré School of Art.  This was mostly for middle school students, who had been selected from their elementary schools as having talent.  Many of the students were boarding students.  We heard several pieces performed by individuals and groups.


At the Benny Moré school of Art, they say that the children have no time for misbehaving.  ;-)  Their schedule is very demanding, with a full time academic program plus their work in music, dance, and art.

Unfortunately, Richard's stomach, which had been unhappy for the last day, started rejecting food.   I learned that the bathrooms in the school were flushed with a bucket.  For a showcase school that often has foreign visitors, the building was in surprisingly poor condition.   But many buildings in Cuba are in poor condition....

The group then visited the Terry Theatre on the plaza.  Richard was sick enough that he just sat with Sandi.  He finally took the antibiotic offered by one of our fellow participants, and started to be able to keep fluids down.   The group went to Finca del Mar restaurant; Richard and Sandi sat separately, and Richard ate a bit of Sandi's rice and beans.  We stopped by the yacht club, and then headed for the airport.

The check in and security process were typical.  We sat and watched the arrival time for the jet come and go.   We were scheduled to leave about seven PM.   Finally they posted a new arrival time of 2 AM!  

At that point, someone took leadership of the situation, speaking in Spanish and English, joking that the plane was in South Korea on it's way to San Francisco.  He started leading us in songs, such as Guantanamera and La Bamba.   We found out later that he was a Jesuit priest.   Around 2 AM, the lights went out.  Later the lights came on, and someone from the airport explained in Spanish that the plane was not coming "due to visibility problems" (read: no runway lights).   We all spent the night in the airport lounge.   We had no WIFI and no cell phone, so no way to cancel flights, etc.  The next morning, our charter flight finally arrived, 15 hours later.

By the time that we reached Miami on the morning of the 16th,  everyone had missed their flights.   Richard was so tired from being sick that he accepted a wheelchair ride for the two mile walk to customs.   Sandi negotiated new flight arrangements, which required us spending an extra night in Miami.  

Finally, on the morning of the 17th, we flew to Atlanta and then to Denver.  We took the bus to Boulder, and walked home.  We were glad to be home.  

Trinidad and a concert

On January 14th, we headed for Trinidad, another UNESCO World Heritage Site.   The drive started in the lowlands, surrounded by sugar cane fields.  We then went up in the mountains a bit, where we stopped at a restaurant to use the bathroom.

I noticed the nearby Cienfuegos School, and asked a lady about it.  She said that her grandchild was a student, and that the lady in front was the director.  I went up to talk to the director, and she invited me in.  We ended up with most of the tour going through the two room school.  Our guides were familiar with the restaurant, but had not noticed the school before.   The students attend up to seventh grade, and then go away to a boarding school.

As we got closer to Trinidad, the road followed the coast.  We saw some beaches, as well as a shrimp farm.

The city of Trinidad is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.    It was a prosperous port town in the early 1800s, with riches based on the sugar business.   But time stopped there around 1850, and the town became frozen in time.  It was isolated from the rest of Cuba, with the only access from the sea.

Trinidad has cobblestone streets, and buildings from that era.   We were warned that the cobblestone streets are particularly hard to walk on; we had walking shoes and wished that we had hiking boots.

Trinidad is very picturesque.  The town center was full of tourists, many of whom seemed to be the backpacker type.   But if you walked a few blocks from the plaza, the streets were largely empty.

We stopped at a B&B run by a vivacious lady, who is also a blues singer.  Leah and Pasche performed a song that she wrote, and had received an award for.  They also do workshops for children, as well as house concerts.

She had fallen in love with this old building, and persuaded the 102 year old lady who owned it to sell it to her.  It took a huge amount of work to fix it up.  She left as much original as she could.  Her B&B is the ideal business for her, as she gets paid to talk to people.  ;-)   They provide employment to several local people.  They have a 35 acre farm, with a cow, pigs, and chickens, and which provides much of the food that they serve their guests.

She explained the challenges of the business, and told the story of bringing pillows back from Canada  in her luggage.  She has a lot of international tourists, but was not a fan of the French tourists, putting her nose in the air to symbolize their attitude.

Wagons are still seen on the streets.

The old cars require a lot of maintenance.

We rode back to Cienfuegos, where we attended a chamber concert of Cuban music by the provincial orchestra.   The musicians do concerts, and also teach in the schools.  They performed a mix of classical and popular music, and at one point got us up and dancing.  Their spokesman spoke excellent colloquial English, and enthusiastically thanked us, as Americans, for coming.  They are very hopeful that this will bring needed change to Cuba.