Paradise Found

When I first looked at my itinerary for the Florida Keys, I did not have high hopes for the island of Islamorada. For one thing, I had never heard of it - being a geographer, I wasn't happy about that. Secondly, I couldn't fathom why the agency suggested I spend more time there than in Key West, which seemed about as cool as you can get. It seemed to be an in-between sort of place - near plenty of more interesting looking locations. How wrong I was!

The glass-bottomed boat

I arrived by way of Key Largo. Decided against wandering the town and opted instead for a visit to a coral reef in a glass-bottomed boat. It was a gorgeous day. The sea was the deepest turquoise blue imaginable, the sky likewise. A healthy number of tourists and I boarded the rather neat-looking  stream-lined craft, so excited. Finally I was going to see a coral reef! Then came the warning. 'We have to warn you that the sea is very rough - in fact it is at the top limit in which we are allowed to sail. If you are prone to sea-sickness we recommend another sailing', came forcefully through the speakers, along with kind offers of anti-sickness medication and various precautions. We all decided to go for it! It was an amazing experience...we got to see the reef, lots of brightly coloured fish and even a shark lurking by some brain coral. But it was incredibly rough, the ship lurched in four directions at the same time, seemingly impossible. We were all sitting looking downwards through the window panes in the hull - it was a very dizzying experience. I have sailed bravely several times in storm force gales across the Bay of Biscay. I have been one of about half a dozen only on a UK-Spain sea crossing who was not violently sick. I have eaten dinner whilst glasses and crockery from the bar have crashed to the floor as the ship confronted giant waves. But I have never felt so queasy as in that glass-bottomed boat...so I was secretly quite glad when we got back after three hours of torture!! I kept looking at other people's faces to see if I was the only stoic on board. Everyone looked VERY pale, some singing and cheering as we disembarked! However, it gave me a burning desire to learn to dive, at least to snorkel. This was uppermost in my mind as I drove over spectacular bridges, the Gulf of Mexico on one side and the Atlantic on the other, both sparking like topaz.

I was to stay at the Postcard Inn. It was like a small resort with apartments facing the beach, simply but beautifully decorated in pastels and seaside style. There were small private beaches, a heated pool, lots of bars, a marina, shops and diving facilities. But what it had above all else, why it seemed like paradise, was atmosphere. Laid back and unpretentious, within an hour I didn't have a care in the world. I walked around in a swimming costume and robe and flip-flops (rare indeed), I went swimming in a warm sea at sunset, tried out snorkelling and have never felt so good or relaxed in my life. I could stay there for a month and not get bored. Only negative - I had signed up for a diving course, but couldn't it as I hadn't had the foresight to bring a doctor's certificate to say I was okay. However, I did get to overcome one huge fear! I actually put on a wetsuit!!! I hadn't realised...instead of looking like a beached whale, because it is close fitting and tight, I actually looked a stone lighter!! Wow!!! Wish I could wear one to the local Mall! That would show the snotty shop assistants as they tell me with a smirk they don't have that outfit in a an XL......

I don't think I have ever been more reluctant to leave anywhere - but I pressed on to Key West. Another great, great place. I felt as if I was Bob Marley, so laid-back and hung out. Lunched at the Hard Rock Cafe, saw the town from a very expensive Pedicab, enjoyed to the maximum the 'Silver Palms' hotel and loved, loved it. I could, without a doubt, live on the Florida Keys...as long as I could make a quick getaway from an approaching hurricane! The wildlife was stunning, the whole area just gorgeous and unforgettable....and I haven't even mentioned the best day of my life....my dolphin encounter...to come.

Racing through Mangroves and The Everglades

The rest of my time before I sauntered down to the Florida Keys was spent giving full reign to my passion for wildlife and scenery. Had a wild ride in an airboat through mangrove canals. The driver seemed to fluctuate wildly between slow, leisurely glides, then, as soon as he spotted a small lake, cackled cruelly and accelerated crazily, culminating in several wheelies, seemingly in ever-decreasing circles, drenching us well and making sure we all grasped that hairline difference between excitement and stark fear!

Another circle and we happened across a family of racoons - clearly with reliable wristwatches as they knew we were coming, and posing happily for us as the driver gave them tidbits. I held my first alligator that day too! Went for a great ride in the afternoon, down more alligator alleys, through the brown swaying emptiness of the Everglades, and a more stately boat trip around the Thousand Islands.

This was noisy. Pelicans? Gulls? No - a coach load of about fifty raucous Colombians got there first. There are the noisiest people I have ever come across. Oblivious of the few other travellers, they conversed loudly and crudely, blocked views, spoke and laughed over the commentary so we couldn't hear a thing - and generally spoilt things for the rest of us. I was glad when we got back...just one of those experiences that ensures the balance of good and bad is kept in equilibrium!

We visited this fascinating but vulnerable island

It didn't matter anyway - the next day, though I didn't know it yet, I was to discover paradise......

Wandering Wild in Corkscrew Swamp

The weather wasn't really on my side as I headed south for a few days around Sarasota and Naples. Crossing the spectacular Sunshine Skyway Bridge across Tampa Bay, which looked to be a unique experience, was, instead, a foggy, drizzly, traffic-bound crawl....this holiday really was turning out to be the opposite of everything I had planned and anticipated. The hotel in Sarasota wasn't much better - one of those with nothing to offer but a very predictable breakfast served on paper plates with plastic cutlery - lining the main busy highway, gloomy and miserable. Naples was the opposite. I seemed to be in the poshest hotel in town, with gold-plated lift doors, chandeliers and all things over the top. Not for me.  Luckily, I finally had one sunny day to see the glories of the area - long, shell-white beaches, gentle seas, great shopping and quite a cool feel to the place - even a couple of dolphins cruising near the beach in Naples. One day of this is enough for me, however. The binoculars were jiggling about in the case and my bird book kept finding its way to my bedside table, pleading to be needed. Enough of damp Sarasota and horribly pretentious, flashy Naples. I had to see some wildlife.

Like logs as far as the eye could see

 My first great adventure was at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. Serendipity strikes when you least expect it. Just as I arrived, at an odd hour, I spied a huge tractor-like jeep - which I learned was a swamp buggy, with just a couple of people perched high on top. The driver looked forlorn. She cheered up a lot when I showed interest and offered me a three-hour ride in the buggy 'to places the public don't see'. How could I resist? We eventually found another couple of very enthusiastic bird watchers and set off. This jeep is such fun. We crashed through metre-deep swamp, gurgled our way through swathes of mud, and eased our path through several different swamp habitats, most of the varieties to be found in Florida, in our quest  to see wildlife. We were rewarded with more than I could ever have imagined!

Wood Stork

Alligators lurked and eyed us from the murk, some draped fashionably with swamp weeds. Turtles lazed like yellow and green plates on the ponds, whilst I saw birds that at last required checking in the bird book. Wood storks with strange gnarled heads, owls who were happy to stare us out, graceful spoonbills, my sister birds with their flashes of neon pink, hawks, birds with funny names like grackles and shrikes...it was just amazing and I learnt loads. This is when I am in an almost Zen-like state of excitement, just like when I am painting. I live in the moment, lose track of time and reach a sublime level of happiness. It's what I live for and love.

Travel journaling is hard work. No time for any fancy arty stuff (though I always have a caseful of materials!) - just got to get it all down. Luckily the US is the best place possible for information. Visitors centres, to be found anywhere of interest, are packed with information, guides and all sorts of goodies. Local tourist centres are also excellent. My trusty Pogo mini printer works almost constantly after dinner, getting red hot. Many a night I am struggling to finish and fighting sleep - but I never, ever regret the extra effort. It's always worth it - I can relive my experiences over and over again, especially on gloomy rainy days like today in Lousada.

Indian Summer

This is what remained after a meal out - of butter curry and naan bread. I can still taste it in all its deliciousness..notice the lack of cutlery, I much prefer eating with my fingers now!

I had a wonderful time in India this summer - I stayed with Anu and family by the backwaters for five idyllic weeks. I miss them still - the days were languid and laughter filled, with plenty of love and hugs. I caught up with all my local bird friends and would still find it very hard to account for how the time passed so quickly. The highlights must be the sari I was given for my birthday, being in the monsoon for the first time, the visit of the Peace Boat from Japan and strolling once again through the streets of Fort Cochin. It's my second home. There just aren't enough weeks in a year to be everywhere I would like to be......

A typical spread - three times a day!

I could easily write a book about my time there - indeed I already have several bulging journals full of photos, drawings and a million memories - so it's almost impossible to select a few to 'represent' my experiences. Bear with me, please. I'll start with the utterly delicious food - Mummy's home cooking, Keralan Syrian Christian backwater style (lots of coconut) but also everywhere you go. I learnt to eat with my fingers this visit - I swear that food tastes MUCH better when eaten this way - somehow you have a closer relationship with it, in all its succulence. It really is finger-licking good.  I also eat more slowly and with great relish. I eat lots, but never feel the need to snack as it is so satisfying, so I always feel healthy, too.

My all-time favourite dessert - Coconut mousse...but I also love payasam and coconut pancakes and banana patties and and and.......

Dhosas for breakfast with Anu!

So I'll end there, with more to come - this has made my mouth water, I've just got to go and eat something!

Travel Journaling in Silveira, Portugal

Holidays have become totally transformed for me since I began travel journaling. No more lazy evenings. No more laid-back relaxed moments spent in idle contemplation. Now, when I am not doing, I am recording. I think I come back more exhausted than when I left in my quest to get 'everything' down, every memory, every exploration and adventure, every experience and every important visual treat. Inevitably, this gets done quite differently to art and journaling back home. There are limited supplies, lack of time and opportunity but, most of all, I am usually doing it when I am already exhausted at the end of the day. It doesn't help that I am obsessed, too, with printing out mini polaroid photos to stick in, too, with my Pogo printer. Another addictive occupation! The machine gets hotter and hotter, and prints ever more slowly, but each night I am determined to see it through!

I am telling my story through the pages of my travel journal made during the holiday. It's as much as I can manage without neglecting my holiday companions, and losing valuable adventure time. It has to fit in with the actual day's wonders!

This trip was wonderful. This little hamlet at the top of the valley of the River Tejo in a remote area of Portugal is my idea of heaven. An untouched, unspoilt corner of the world where time has stood still. Where goats, donkeys and the local 'Donas' rule.

Here is where we get to see what the world really is, and how we are meant to live in this simple, naturalistic way. I feel so alive there, so energised and excited. I am seriously considering living there one day - though so dependant on other events to enable this. But I know I would be happy there....and with friends like my hosts, Lynn and John, close at hand, I can't imagine a better existence. Anything is possible.....

Can you see the donkey cart still in use top left above? This lady told me she had never been out of the village - she is 79 years old!

But the true joy of travel journaling is apparent long after the holiday is over. I now have two shelves crammed with  all my adventures, accounts of the wonderful people I have met, the amazing scenery and unforgettable experiences. Details I would have forgotten over time. Everything is there - where I bought stuff, contacts, wildlife records and all my maps, sketches and photos. Sometimes I write poems - the only way to describe the most wondrous sights. I can relive my travels over and over again - it is always worth the extra effort!

Thank you to all my new followers and readers. I really appreciate your interest. Now I have time to investigate other people's blogs and pages, which I know I will enjoy. See you there!

Last days in Moab

My last few days in Moab were exactly what I was seeking. Hot, scorchingly hot, but full of excitement, adventure and wondrous sites. No photos can accurately show the vastness panorama that is the view from Dead Horse Point - hand up to shield from the sun to gaze upon escarpment upon escarpment in a never ending staircase of time as far as one can see. Look down into fathomless depths of time, see the white rim, entrenchment within entrenchment, gorge within gorge. Twisted pines give shade to lizards and snakes, while tourism is organically controlled and as fully-informative as ever. I wished I were younger and fitter, and could explore the labyrinth of canyons and cracks hidden away in a secret dimension. I could stay there for weeks and still have more to see and explore. My photos were a bit disappointing but the memories are vivid and focused.

On the way to Grand View Point, we passed on to the "Island in the Sky" This, in evolutionary terms, won't exist much longer as the road passes through a narrow isthmus with steep slopes on each side. Nature will, of-course win, and bridges will be built. I stopped at practically every viewpoint in my desperation to see everything, every layer, every nook and cranny. I was intoxicated with the place - just one more view, just one more photo, just one more for the road!

The narrow pass onto the 'Island in the Sky'.

My last park was Arches. I was SO glad I chose to visit at sunset. The park was bathed in golden light and the rocks looked as if they were on fire. I went on a small tour - the guide was brilliant and explained the geology and ecology of the region brilliantly. He encouraged me (not the fittest of souls) to make a real effort and climb up to the last arch as he had timed it to co-incide with sunset. I puffed a bit but made it. I sat alone with my thoughts, a blissful moment. Hard to imagine that my holiday was nearly over.....

 A final jet boat ride up the Colorado and a night time light display on the canyon walls. Time to go home. I absolutely loved every minute of this amazing adventure and can't wait to come back one day.

Towards Moab

The first thing I did today was read the papers.......

(They were just a little out of date)

Another day of geological wonders and awesomeness. The nearer to Moab I got, the more the excitement rose. I got just a little taster today on quite a big detour down a huge canyon (Indian Creek)  to see 'The Needles." All of these places are so satisfying to visit, not just because of what you see, but also because of the high quality information always provided. Plaques, display boards and wayside posters. Visitors' Centres with exhibits, films shows, rangers and guides and endless shelves of information and books. It's a huge learning experience, too. Everything is explained. Anything can be identified. This SO appeals to my left-sided brain.......

Can you see 'The Wooden Shoe'?

The Needles

Indian Creek

Journey into the hot, dry desert.......

When I visited Monument Valley the year before, everything was as I had expected - dramatic landforms, memories of John Wayne and herds of cattle and horses, amazing skylines and a feeling of insignificance against all this power from the past. Other things were not so predictable. The weather was awful - a cold front had moved in, bringing a dark, menacing sky and biting wind. We were on a small tour bus, getting up at six in the morning in our lovely hotel in Sedona (most fantastic place anywhere but don't go there if you don't like red)  - the driver/guide must be up there on the list of 'most boring commentaries ever given' His voice droned on and on throughout the journey, mostly uninteresting snippets from his life on the VERY edge of the glamorous film world (I think he walked their dogs!) - and full accounts of the geology of the area - I would normally be very excited and interested but in his hands, he made the great land movements, mountain folding and the coming and going of mighty seas and oceans as interesting as my grandmother's accounts of her knitting circle days.

This whole area is not the United States at all. Anywhere past the edge of the road belongs to the Navajo nation, and as such it is a precious and interesting area. Quite rightly, the Navajo want to protect their land and their people. But this makes for a very bad marriage with the tourist trade! We were lucky - we managed, almost wrecking the people carrier, and bouncing like pebbles in a tin can, to get to the end of the rutted track to see a few very sad native people, a very tired horse and wonderful landscapes. Other tourists, including thousands of Japanese in coach parties, were ushered onto very old, converted trucks on hard seats and given plastic macs (the kind that went out in the sixties), as some sort of feeble protection against the wind, and, by now, freezing, driving rain. I felt so sorry for them - it must have been an unforgettable experience for all the wrong reasons.

Dust devils at Monument Valley

Valley of the Kings

On this journey it was so different. Baking hot, dusty and a hot, dry wind lifting sand and dust. I thought I was in the Sahara.....Then I spotted a mini-tornado, a dust devil, twirling its way across the scrub. Later in my travels, in the very heart of Portugal in August, I was to see much the same thing. A sudden gust of wind and much shaking of trees in one very specific spot, a howling noise, then great tufts of dried grass and hay twirling high in the sky above - lasting only a minute or two but very dramatic. I drove on and on, through the valley, but then passed another intriguing place. I didn't have time to explore - but I will do one day. From the road, in the heat haze. I could see great stacks of red and orange rock, golden cliffs, and a sense of mystery so tangible that I could feel it a couple of miles away. It is called 'The Valley of the Kings.' It's on the list.....

After a long but glorious day, I finally arrived in the small but perfect settlement of Bluff, back in Utah - an oasis in the desert. At first unpromising, but with a historic cavalry fort, amazing restaurant and Navajo Trading post (Twin Rocks, very suggestive formations...), I couldn't believe my eyes when, opposite my lodge hotel, was a sign welcoming me to a coffee shop with, yes, EXPRESSO coffee. Also with an amazing array of Indian crafts, local artists' paintings, sofas and all kinds of quirky stuff. The guy said the mighty Eric Clapton came there to buy stuff! An oasis indeed. I still found it hard to believe that the best part of the trip...was yet to come!!!

COFFEE!!!!!!

My bedtime reading!