Travel

Sun, sea, surf and sand

/ edebock / 3 Comments

After a very long day of waiting in airports and sitting on planes followed by an hour’s drive through the dark Costa Rican countryside, we checked into beautiful Flamingo Beach Resort at exactly midnight. As we drifted off to sleep in our giant king size bed, we could hear the pounding of the surf. It brought back memories of my childhood on the BC coast. Imagine my delight when morning came and I discovered that these were the views from our balcony!

To a girl from the Alberta prairie, there’s something very decadent about spending most of a January day in a swimsuit! Our mornings began with coffee on the balcony followed by a leisurely buffet breakfast and then it was time to soak up some sun on the beach or laze around the pool reading and relaxing.

  

The surf was heavy the first morning and we survived being pummelled by some pretty big breakers. They rolled us around and we came up spluttering a few times but it was great fun! Later, we learned a few salsa dance steps by the pool.

The next day after I took part in an aquasize class in the pool, we ventured a little further afield to Playa Conchal to try a little snorkelling. To see a lot of fish, we would have had to hire a boat to take us out to the coral some distance offshore but we managed to spot a few colourful ones amongst the rocks close to the beach.

Sunsets over the ocean were spectacular. The first evening, we sat on the beach and watched the sun sink below the horizon but the next day, I decided to recreate another childhood memory… swimming in the gold, the band of light reflecting on the water as the sun kisses the horizon and then slips away. All around us, the water looked like molten silver but we stayed in the gold until the sun was fully down and it began to fade.

Random stuff about me

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When I packed for Costa Rica, one of the things that went into our suitcase was a very special leather bound journal; a retirement gift from the students of Lougheed School. It’s travelled to many interesting places over the past four and a half years but it still had enough pages left to record the highlights of this trip. I planned to refer to it when we got home and I resumed blogging but unfortunately, though we got home in the wee hours of this morning, the suitcase containing the journal did not! In fact, I watched from my window seat as the baggage handlers at the Houston airport failed to put it onto the plane yesterday afternoon and was powerless to do anything about it! I have no idea why they wouldn’t load it but the return trip was a comedy of errors from beginning to end and included an unscheduled overnight stay in Houston. That’s a story for another day, however. In the meantime, suffice it to say that we had an absolutely awesome time which, try as they might, Continental Airlines was not able to spoil!

For today, however, my brain is too tired to handle anything beyond following the example of my blogging buddy, Donloree, and answering some random questions about myself. Perhaps some of you who have only met me through the blogosphere will learn a little more about me today…

  • What’s the most interesting or moving book you’ve ever read?
In my opinion, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn should be required reading for every citizen of the developed world. Kristof and WuDunn are upfront and clear; their aim is to recruit their readers to get involved in helping provide the economic resources that will transform the lives of women in many parts of the world who face unspeakable violence, exploitation and oppression. This book had a tremendous impact on me and prompted me to become a lender through the Kiva organization.
  • Which do you prefer: the book or the movie?
Always, the book!
  • If you could move to anywhere tomorrow, where would it be?
I honestly have no idea! There is so much world out there; so many places I’d like to see and experience. Somewhere warm where I could hear the sound of the surf as I drifted off to sleep every night would definitely work well for me though!
  • What’s the one thing in life that you can’t leave the house without?

My glasses. I’ve been wearing them since I was two and I’m pretty useless without them.

  • What’s the furthest place you’ve flown to?
The tiny tropical island of Saipan.
  • If you could be anyone for a day, who would it be?
Wow! That’s a tough one. It would be wonderful to be able to see the world through someone else’s eyes for a day but in reality, I just want to be the best ME that I can be.
  • What is one word that best describes you?  (only one)
Adventurous.
  • What’s been your greatest accomplishment to date?
Raising fantastic children! I am so proud of each one of them.
  • What’s your favourite type of food?
At the moment, I’m missing Costa Rican food. Who would have thought I could love rice and beans three meals a day? Of course, there were many other flavourful dishes to go with them. In reality, however, I’d have to say chocolate. After all, it is an essential food group, isn’t it?
  • What’s one nickname you have?
My daughter has called me Marmee ever since she played the role of Beth in Little Women in high school drama.
  • What’s the best thing you did in 2011?

Spent the summer working as a short term missionary alongside my husband providing summer ministry coverage for Living Hope Church of the Nazarene on Saipan.

So, now that you know a little more about me, what about you?

It’s your turn!

And yes, I’ll be back very soon to share more about our Costa Rican adventure. Hopefully, the suitcase will find it’s way home and I’ll have the journal to help me out!

Packing again!

/ edebock / 4 Comments

On what is perhaps the coldest day of winter so far I’m taking out my summer clothes! Why, you ask? Because I’m packing again!

Back in October, when Richard and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary, we decided to celebrate by taking a mid winter vacation to someplace warm. I searched the internet for possibilities. I considered a cruise. In fact, I almost booked a seven day western Caribbean excursion but it just didn’t feel right. I thought about an all-inclusive resort vacation and considered all sorts of sunny destinations. That didn’t feel right either. I thought about renting a condo on a beach somewhere. That was appealing but then along came just the right thing… a Costa Rican adventure!

I was looking for something that wouldn’t take as much planning on my part as some of our Asian adventures required and something where we’d feel a little more pampered. On the other hand, we simply couldn’t see ourselves sitting in a luxury resort sipping cool drinks by the pool for an entire week. Not that that doesn’t have appeal but we can do that when we’re too old for more adventurous pursuits.

So what will we be doing? We’ll fly out on Thursday morning and begin with three days at a beach resort on the Pacific coast. Then we’ll move inland to Arenal Volcano National Park where we’re looking forward to doing some hiking and get this… the lady who has worked hard at overcoming her fear of heights is going to experience the rain forest from above on a zip line canopy tour! They may have to push me off the first platform but I can hardly wait!

Our package includes almost everything including a rental car to get from place to place. All we’ll be responsible for is finding lunch and supper each day which means we’ll be free to sample a variety of eating places and local cuisines.

In addition to commemorating our 35 years together, this vacation is also going to be a much needed digital detox for both us. As much as I love the internet, it’s easy to let it to consume more of our time than it ought to so the laptop is staying home this time and we won’t be searching out internet cafes. I’ll definitely be blogging about our adventures but not until we get home. We’ll only be gone for a week though so stay tuned!

Aftershocks

/ edebock / 2 Comments

We spent a wonderful week visiting friends in Japan on our way home from Saipan. While we were there, we only felt the earth shake once and though it wasn’t any stronger than many of the tremors we’ve experienced in the past, it did last longer.

The physical effects of the devastating March 11 earthquake that ravaged parts of northern Japan were fairly minor in the area where we were but it has clearly had a powerful effect on the psyche of the people. More than five months after the big one hit, it’s still at the forefront of their minds and it constantly comes up in conversation. When we arrived at Seiko’s home, she hastened to point out the cracks in the cement stairs at the side of the house and the new flat screen TV that replaced the one that fell and broke.

Stairs can be repaired and TVs replaced but what of people’s fear? What will its long term effects be? Seiko was relieved that her son, Ayumu, was napping when last week’s tremor came. At three years old, he’s already lived through the biggest earthquake in Japan’s history and its many, many aftershocks. Whenever he sees a weather report on the television he gets upset because the weather map looks like the one that appears when earthquakes are reported and he thinks that another one is coming.

Seiko’s husband, Atsuo, used to dream of owning a house close to the water but now he’s happy to live further inland. Areas of prime real estate built on reclaimed land around Tokyo Bay plummeted in value when the land proved to be unstable after the quake. We visited a Japanese garden in that area last week and found that sections of it were closed due to earthquake damage. The pond which would have once been clear and clean is murky and algae covered now because the water circulation system was damaged.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Though they know that the water in their area has been declared safe to drink, our friends Smoky and Ikuko drink only bottled water now for fear of radiation poisoning. They have a larger yard than most Japanese families and food shortages following the big quake prompted them to turn part of it into a vegetable garden so that they won’t be left in want again. It now produces delicious tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, and kabocha. They also planted some small trees which will eventually provide them with fruit.

Like many Japanese, Smoky and Ikuko are also doing their part to conserve energy following the catastrophe at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Though the Japanese summer is extremely hot and humid, they use their air conditioner very sparingly to help avoid more of the rolling power blackouts that they lived with in the weeks following the earthquake and tsunami. This community effort to conserve power is also very noticeable in public places such as shopping malls where many of the overhead lights are not turned on. With the air conditioners turned down or off, the terminals at the international airport are noticeably warmer than in the past and some of the elevators are not in use.

Though the earthquake has clearly affected the people and how they live, we were pleased to see that Seiko didn’t panic when we sat at her table last week and felt the house begin to shake. It’s definitely a bit disconcerting to watch the light fixture above your head sway back and forth but we weren’t really frightened either. We were happy to be back in Japan with the people we’ve come to love and more than willing to take our chances on being all shook up!

Spam!

/ edebock / 5 Comments

Since the advent of the internet, Spam has taken on a whole new meaning. To most of us, Spam means electronic junk mail or any unsolicited commercial advertisement distributed online but here on Saipan, Spam is still canned luncheon meat!

There are all sorts of interesting foods available on the island. Chinese, Japanese and Thai are all popular but the local favourite seems to be Spam! We’ve been to a lot of potluck meals in our time but this summer was the first time I ever saw fried Spam at one of them! I’m not sure if the Sedgewick Coop even sells Spam but on Saipan, the grocery stores have shelves and shelves of it! I didn’t realize that Spam came in different varieties but now I know. In addition to Spam Classic, there’s Hot & Spicy, Hickory Smoked, Oven Roasted Turkey and even Spam Lite. There’s Spam with Bacon and Spam with Cheese as well as several other choices. Yesterday, I even saw Limited Edition Island Spam in one of the tourist shops!

This summer, grocery stores on the island are advertising a special Spam promotion. Sixteen labels will get you a Spam Island Saipan t-shirt! There are also ball caps and other memorabilia available. One of the stores is also advertising a Spam carving contest!

Did you know that there’s even a Spam website? Imagine the possibilities! You can play Spam games, order merchandise or buy your friend a Spam gift certificate! That should make birthday and Christmas shopping easier! You can also learn all about the history of Spam.

Perhaps history is the clue to Spam’s popularity on the island. Between 1941 and 1945, more than 100 million pounds of Spam Classic were shipped abroad to feed the Allied troops. That’s a lot of Spam! In 1944, those troops took the island of Saipan from the Japanese. They placed the native civilians in interment camps for their own protection and I suspect they fed them Spam.

What about you? Any Spam lovers out there? Wherever we travel, we like to sample the local foods but so far we’ve avoided this island favourite. After seeing some of the meat that’s sold in the grocery stores however, I’m beginning to see the appeal of something that comes in a clean, shiny can!

Bird Island hike

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With this morning’s hike to Bird Island, we crossed the last item off our Saipan Bucket List today! Yes, we actually did write one! I wanted to make sure we didn’t miss anything.

Bird Island from the viewpoint

According to the atlas, we’d drive to the end of Bird Island Lane and then hike down to the water’s edge. It didn’t look very far.

Isn’t this where you’d expect Bird Island Lane to begin? Me too. Pretty easy. No yellow shorts this time. The only problem was, there wasn’t a lane there. No road of any kind. There was the beginning of a trail though so we guessed we’d have to walk a little further than we’d anticipated and set off. It was an easy, well marked and mostly level path through the jungle. We knew we were going in the right direction because we could hear the ocean in the distance.

Suddenly, after walking for awhile, we came upon a road! Apparently, Bird Island Lane did exist, just not where the sign said it was! Weird! Sure enough, there was the actual trailhead too.  From that point on, it was a fairly steep descent but, like the trail to Old Man by the Sea, there were ropes to help us down the steep, slippery parts.

Soon, we emerged on the beach. The tide was high so we couldn’t get close to Bird Island itself but we walked the narrow sandy beach from one end to the other, explored a small cave at one end and climbed over rocks at the other. What a beautiful spot!

   

We’re close to the equator here and with the tropical sun beating down on us and it’s heat reflected back at us by the white coral sand, it was really hot on the beach! We cooled off with a dip in the Grotto on our way home. This time we had our masks and snorkels with us so we could actually see the fish and watch the scuba divers deep below. It amazes me that there are lots of people living on the island who have never swam in the Grotto and we’ve been there three times already!

Though this is a tiny island and we’ve explored it pretty extensively, I know that there are still more hikes that could be done and beaches that could be seen. With close to two weeks left, though, we’ve seen and done all the things we most wanted to do which is good because we’ll be busy with Vacation Bible School every day next week. Ministry is, after all, the main reason we’re here!

Oh rats!

/ edebock / 2 Comments

It’s early Friday afternoon and everything is ready for the weekend so what do we do with the rest of this dreary wet day? It’s been raining non stop for about 18 hours! Fortunately, I’ve been keeping a list of things to blog about!

With the exception of birds and sea life, Saipan doesn’t appear to have much in the way of wildlife. What it does have, however, is rats! For a girl from Alberta, Canada’s only rat free province, this was a little disconcerting but I quickly got used to seeing the occasional rat scurry across the porch. They weren’t as big and ugly as I expected them to be but when I discovered that they were raiding the cat’s dish I decided to take action. I started bringing the dish into the house after the cat had her morning meal. That seems to have taken care of the problem. I haven’t seen a rat for awhile and the kitty has learned to wait patiently at the door every morning for me to bring her her food.

Though we’re not willing to share the porch with the rats, we’re quite happy to share it with the geckos. After all, these cute little lizards eat insects and they’re really quite fascinating. They actually have adhesive feet that allow them to walk across the ceiling or scurry up a pane of glass! And did you know that geckos chirp? I didn’t. Geckos are nocturnal so we rarely see them until after sunset. I’d noticed the occasional loud chirp in the evenings but it took awhile for me to realize that it might be coming from these tiny critters. Sure enough, according to Wikipedia, geckos are unique amongst lizards in their ability to vocalize. Apparently, they make these chirping sounds to interact with other geckos. If you want to hear what they sound like, click here.

It’s kind of nice when we’re hiking through the jungle to know that we’re not going to round a corner and come face to face with a bear as we might in the Canadian wilds. I suppose a tiger or a leopard might be more fitting but they aren’t here either. In fact, there aren’t even any dangerous snakes. There’s actually a program that actively works to keep the the island snake free, much like Alberta’s rat control program. If you see a snake, you’re supposed to kill it then immediately call 28-SNAKE! Hmm… I hope I don’t see one. I’m not really up on the best way to kill a snake!

By far the biggest animal control issue on the island is the stray dogs. According to a recent survey there are an estimated 10 000 to 20 000 of them and the number continues to increase! The municipality has recently introduced a licensing program for dogs and already pet owners have registered approximately 1000 of them. Apparently, the revenue generated will be use to build a permanent animal shelter but clearly it won’t be able to house the thousands of unwanted animals that wander the streets. Sad.

Mount Tapochau

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This morning we stood at the highest point on the island of Saipan, the top of Mount Tapochau (pronounced top-a-chow). Rising 1554 feet (474 m) above the coastline just a few miles away, the lookout point at the top offers stunning views of the entire island and the azure ocean beyond. This amazing vantage point made it a strategic location during World War II. Several informative plaques at the summit describe the views below and explain what occurred in June of 1944 when the Americans captured the island from the Japanese.

Unlike our climb up Mt. Fuji almost exactly 3 years ago, we were able to drive most of the way up Tapochau. Sixty-five cement stairs took us from the small parking area to the top. I’m glad we waited until we’d been here awhile and had explored the island quite extensively before venturing up Mount Tapochau as we were able to identify many of the sights spread out below us.

Looking south toward the airport with Tinian in the distance

Lao Lao Bay on the island's rugged east shore

Looking north

The western side of the island is lined with sandy beaches and an offshore coral reef which creates a large lagoon. Beyond the lagoon, you can see US Navy ships on stand by. A concrete statue of Jesus overlooks the western shore.

There are a number of beautiful homes along the dirt road that climbs Tapochau. The road is in very rough shape but I’m sure that the spectacular views make up for the difficult access. One would hardly know it but approximately 55 loads of coral were hauled up the mountainside this spring to fill potholes and prepare the road for the annual Good Friday procession to the peak. Deep gouges are the obvious results of recent heavy rainfalls but I reminded myself that at least they never have to deal with snow! Once again, though, we were happy to have the use of a 4-wheel drive vehicle!

Hike to Dry Grotto

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We hiked to Dry Grotto this morning, a formation somewhat similar to the better known Grotto that we swam in on Sunday. It was an easy hike through the jungle and then along a cliff edge overlooking the ocean. We were able to look across the water to Tinian, the island that the  Enola Gay took off from carrying the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.

   

Soon we reached the Grotto and climbed down inside. Surrounded by fascinating coral and rock formations, we stood inside in an open window looking out over the ocean.

   

   

The island of Saipan is dotted with World War II relics. On our way back out of the cave, we noticed a small pile of rusty unexploded hand grenades. Definitely a look but don’t touch experience!

Swimming in the Grotto

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We definitely crossed one off our Saipan bucket list today. We went swimming in the Grotto! I’m almost at a loss for words when it comes to describing how fabulous it was.

The Grotto is an amazing natural formation on the northern end of the island. Thousands of years ago it was an underwater cave but at some point part of the roof caved in and it became accessible from above. More than 100 stone steps lead down to the water’s edge. There you wait for a break in the waves before stepping across a narrow opening and climbing up onto a huge flat-topped  boulder. Many swimmers like to jump or dive into the water from there but I chose the easy climb down the side of the rock.

The water is a brilliant blue, very deep and crystal clear. The Grotto is one of the island’s prime scuba diving spots and at times we could see divers deep below us! We could also see light entering the pool in three spots where tunnels extend out to the open ocean. One of these forms a deep narrow cave at the back of the pool. We swam to the very back of it.

The water temperature was perfect; cool enough to be refreshing but warm enough that we could stay in for as long as we wanted without becoming chilled. Being ocean water, of course, it’s salty and we floated easily. It truly was a fantastic experience and one we’ll definitely want to repeat while we’re here.