There was not a hint of litter on the street. Mexican children frolicked on the beach. Los Pacenos (La Paz natives) offered gentle smiles as they jogged past me along the Malecón – La Paz’s bay-front boardwalk that stretches along the historic downtown. It was hard to take it all in with the sun setting on the glimmering Sea of Cortez.
Just a pleasure visiting the wayback, remembering my daughter’s first far-flung travel. And a chance to reprise it for Christmas and New Years wishes from the original Santa Claus. Many lay claim to the origins of the Santa legend, but St. Nicholas, of the ancient city of Myra in Turkey, is the real deal. Trace them back, most other countries’ Santa legends are spinoffs.
Despite studying in a different state and two different countries, I’ve been privileged to never miss a Christmas at home with my family. Until this year, I was not aware of the comfort and joy that familiar friends, family, and traditions can bring during the holiday season.
Fireworks explode across the night sky. City streets and brick houses appear below shooting sparks and colors. Not a soul sleeps. We watch in awe and excitement as the clock strikes midnight; it’s Christmas morning.
The pastry chef aboard the Viking Vili had no fear of losing his job because of me. My pathetic attempt at making a gingerbread house during his lesson on board put my skills at the kindergarten level. His fanciful creations in the ship’s lounge looked like they were conjured up by a Christmas elf employing Santa’s magical powers.
Someone described it as “hell on the outside and heaven on the inside.” Another compared eating one to “sitting on the toilet while eating your favorite ice cream.” Others weren’t as generous. Henri Mouhot, the French naturalist and explorer who popularized the ruins of Angkor to the West, didn’t mince words: “On first tasting it I thought it like the flesh of some animal in a state of putrefaction.”
The Philippines often lies in the path of typhoons in the western Pacific which means we’re often prepared for the worse. But a month ago three consecutive cyclones struck the country within a span of 18 days, one of them the strongest in the world this year and among the strongest in recorded history, a streak of calamities unparalleled in the country’s history.
Elsewhere I wrote about a more formal Monterosola red wine tasting but their whites simply lent themselves to an informal late summer brunch . . .
A speedboat departs the Iquitos slums, which hover over the water on stilts and rafts to accommodate mercurial high-water marks that vary 15 meters with the Andes snowmelt. Devouring Peru's Amazon for several hours, the boat slows as it enters the tributary Yanayacu that snakes through the jungle like an anaconda.
A few years ago, four intrepid explorers from Ontario Canada joined eleven others for a 500+ K cycle along the Camino de Santiago pilgrim trail in Northern Spain. Here are some of our experiences and impressions from this glorious trip.
