GLACIER NATIONAL PARK SEPTEMBER 2014 -2- COMMANDING THE WEST SIDE OF THE PARK FROM THE APGAR LOOKOUT

9/13/2014

Apgar Lookout Point is our destination today. According to the books and hiking guide that we obtained from the visitor center, it will be a 7.2 mile round trip hike, with an 1850 feet elevation gain over 2.5 miles or so. From the Lookout, we are promised to see quite impressive vistas toward the east of the park. Yesterday, we have already identified the turn from the west entrance toward the trailhead, we are in good shape.

Apgar Lookout trailhead turn is just before heading toward McDonald Creek Valley

We stop at Night Owl and Backroom restaurant for breakfast in Columbia Falls. Our server is a woman in her 60s, quite a no-nonsense woman. She towers over us with little grace and asks me "Wha d'ya want honey?" Honey is like a sharp whip, I tell her and ask whether my bacon and English muffin can be really crisp. She looks at me and utters "As crisp as this bacon gets" without much affection. She looks at Greg with another "Wha d'ya want?" No honey this time. Greg gives her his order with no additional requests and doesn't get at least the scolding I received. As she leaves, we chuckle labeling her "the first no-nonsense woman of Montana".

Mushrooms and a fallen tree in a symbiotic love story on the way to the Apgar Lookout

As I observe her with locals, whom she clearly knows, I notice that she is very friendly with them. Hmmm, perhaps there is a way to get to her. In the meantime, Greg and I wonder whether we can order a sandwich to take along for lunch on the trail. I go to the register to ask. Our waitress, who happens to be standing behind the cashier with her back toward us turns around with her "Wha d'ya want?" face and I end up posing my question to her instead of the lady I was aiming at since she seems to be a bit more friendly. It is certainly possible to order a "sack lunch".  She will bring the menu to the table.

Crystal clear water finding its way down from the glaciers..

Before I order our sandwich I ask her her name. It is Carol. My goodness, how can this short and simple a question change a person's demeanor this much? The no-nonsense Carol disappears and the Carol with a motherly, somewhat domineering but with some sweetness a Carol that I observed her to be with the locals emerges. What power lies in our names. We all want to be recognized with our names, to be addressed with our names, correctly in that. I know what it feels like. I want non-Turkish speaking friends, colleagues alike to learn to pronounce my name the way it identifies me. And our waitress perhaps simply needed to be recognized as a person first and foremost, that is as Carol, nobody else.

An old Montana menu at Night Owl

As we leave the Night Owl, we have a big turkey sandwich to share for lunch and leave behind a happy Carol promising her to return. Along with my trail snack, figs and walnuts, and a portion of the Flathead Valley cherries we bought yesterday from a Native American, we should be all set. We are ready for the hike. We find the parking lot and head toward the trail: The subconscious thoughts that go through my mind, which will rise to mindfulness in half an hour are "hmm, that's quite a trail, it probably will become narrower soon; I wonder why they didn't put up a trailhead sign at the trailhead; I wonder why the road is blocked". I am so excited about the hike, I push all of them aside and we push on. The walk is pleasant until we come across a drainage point for the waters of the higher country head down without being destructive. The trail dissapears abruptly! We search the ledges, any hint ends in the thick woods. We are asking ourselves, whether we might have missed a turn on the way up, can't think of anything.

Greg skimming through the region to figure out where we took a wrong turn

Right around that time a father and a son join us. What a relief! Finding comraderie in misery is great, at least we are not alone in being lost on our first day of hiking. The young and electronics savvy son of John, Brendon is working on his cell phone. First, I wonder if he is texting his girlfriend or not when we are trying to find a solution to our conundrum. However, I soon smile with compassion, at this age, of course that is what he would do, especially he has come to this hike just to please his dad. I am totally wrong, it turns out he in fact was working for the good of the team! He discovers that we all had taken the wrong trail according to "Holy Saint Google" as Turks call Google nowadays. We turn around and come back to the parking lot to discover, the correct trailhead with the right size, with a marker at the entrance and with no blockage is just 10 yards to the west of the blocked entrance to the lumber road that we had taken earlier. We profusely praise Brendon.

Wild flowers are still alive on the moist and warm west side of park

John and Brendon's second service to us is the good news that the Sun Road is open to traffic! We are not only back to business of hiking, but also have a plan for tomorrow, we will go to Many Glacier region on the east crossing the park in its entirety on the Going-to-the-sun Road. We first travel through meadows with the evidence of the 2003 Robert fire comes to view. Entire mountainside that we will soon start climbing with switchbacks is dead forest. Soon we are at the first switchback. We stop often; I'd like to look back or up to take in all the vistas, take photographs of what we see both in the distance and at the skyline and also in our immediate environment. I notice a small almost dwarf bush with leathery leaves that has dark blue discoid fruits that look very much like huckleberry. Since bears are supposed to be bulking up on huckleberries at this time of the year for the winter before they go into hibernation, I wonder if we will come across any bears.

And.... Huckleberries, we can't wait till we try a huckleberry pie

Climbing up the 2.5 mile set of switchbacks takes about 2 hours. Finally, we are on the deck of the lookout. The vistas indeed are breathtaking. To our left is the west end of Lake Mc Donald stretching all the way to the east  surrounded with Mount Oberlin, Mount Cannon and Clements Peak. To our left, are multiple peaks all the way to Canada (as I learned from our book on the way to Missoula). We enjoy our lunch on the deck and later down below taking in as much of this visual magical feast as possible.

Greg is leading our party of two

We meet a couple on the deck, originally from Kentucky, who are now living in Kalispell. It is interesting that  Greg and the gentleman had done their PhD during the same time frame, one in chemical engineering, the other in psychology. Our psychologist friend now has a private practice in Kalispell now. After his wife took care of her ailing father for 7 years, who recently passed away, they are now enjoying all the outdoors activities the area has to offer. They tell us they found social connection opportunities through their church activities and they are happy. Both Greg and I decide, we probably would need more to be content than just outdoors and church activities, it is good that this couple, who at least for the last 7 years went through a difficult period of providing care to an aging parent, found content. In half an hour, we start our way down.

The higher we go, the more the white capped peaks reveal themselves

The descent is much shorter of course although it is hard on toes. By the time we are down at the parking lot, we feel like we haven't eaten anything all day. It is very appropriate to have the huckleberry pie at the "Huckleberry Patch" that we saw on Highway 2 on the way to the west entrance. We are both very excited with the idea and in 15 minutes, we are there. This place is clearly a local's favorite, people young and old are enjoying not only the pie anything and everything made with huckleberries, pies, ice cream, milk shakes, jam, cookies, muffins, you name it.

And Lake McDonald from the Lookout

A lovely couple that we will meet on the trail to Iceberg Lake the next day will tell us that growing huckleberries commercially failed miserably and all huckleberry related production depends on picking wild berries. What a competition with bears!  With that, one would think, it would be very expensive, quite on the contrary: A huge slice of pie and "one" scoop of ice cream (worth four scoops in Iowa) cost only $5.95! Unbelievable, but true, we are just starting to learn that portions in Montana are extremely generous, wherever we go, whatever we order. Since we have learned our lesson from the McDonald Lodge Restaurant and now from Huckleberry Patch, we decide to order only an appetizer and an entree at the Three Forks Grill where we have our dinner in Columbia Falls.

Wrong turn to Apgar Lookout!
All in all, our first day hike went very well especially for Greg, who has not done this kind of hike for couple of decades, except for large blisters that formed on his right heel. Good thing, we have band aids and ointments. He is great sport and is looking forward to our expedition for tomorrow. We are decided on going to Many Glacier area over the Sun Road. We are torn between Grinnell Glacier hike and Iceberg Lake hike. We will decide tomorrow when we talk to more people on the east side of the park. A good night's sleep after a hot shower is the best reward following an all-day hike in a national park...

This is the sign you have to find to take the right trail to Apgar Lookout!

Huckleberry Patch where we had delicious huckleberry pie

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK SEPTEMBER 2014 -1- HALF WAY ON THE 'GOING-TO-THE-SUN' ROAD

9/12/14

Glacier National Park (GNP): One of the parks I have wanted to visit for a long time, the desire escalating every passing year, knowing that time was ticking: The Glaciers that have receded to one quarter of their sizes of the turn of last century have been shrinking with ever increasing pace. Most are expected to recede to their eternal resting site in the universe within the next 10-20 years. This unimaginable acceleration of glacier demise certainly has something to do with human activity: When is common sense take over politics and we will all come to consensus that we are killing our earth bit by bit, but at an insurmountable pace, not only the earth, along with it our future, too. With all these thoughts already in my mind, it was all too natural to fill the week that was vacated with the cancellation of a planned trip abroad in September with an expedition to the Glacier, be it brief... And Greg was delighted to join in.

West entrance of the park is close to Columbia Falls, a small town in Northwestern Montana 

The idea occurred to us mid summer with little time for planning and arranging our trip and accommodation. Thus, by the time I got around to looking for lodging, all the within-park lodging, mainly Lake Mc Donald Lodge to the west of the continental divide and Glacier Lodge to the east were booked. My internet search took me to a Lake Meadow Lodge in Columbia Falls, 15 miles from the western entrance, and I took it. We flew into Missoula, not being aware that Kalispel actually was a closer airport, which is also called Glacier Park International Airport. Next time, we know how to plan better. However, we will be happy we arranged our trip at least for this one time through Missoula, since the ride will turn out to be a fantastic experience. 

The road from Missoula meandering up north toward the park along the Flathead Lake

Our rental car takes us through beautiful country along the eastern shore of the Flathead Lake, which is a 27x15 mile, almost-inner-sea, with two state parks along the eastern coast and to my great surprise many cherry orchards at this latitude! The lake must have a moderating effect on climate. Being a cherry lover, we start looking for an open cherry vendor along the orchards and midway along the lake, we find one. A Native American man, who speaks little English in fact, sells us close to 3 pounds of cherries for only $4! They are fresh and delicious, perhaps picked just this morning. We munch on a good portion of it in the car and save some for the hotel. Little do we know that this wonderful fruit will become our fruit servings for our lunch breaks during our hikes over the next 3 days.

Little cherry huts under the trees are scattered all along Flathead Lake

When we arrive at West Glacier village, which is basically a service conglomerate of small shops and restaurants at the west entrance of the park, it is 4 pm. Apgar Visitor's Center is 2 miles up the road on Going-to-the-sun Road, in short Sun Road. With its 48.7 miles between east and west entrances, we learn later on that the road has borrowed its name from the nearby Going-to-the-sun Mountain. According to the local legend, the deity, Sour Spirit came down from the sun to teach brave Blackfeet Indian warriors the rudiments of the hunt. On his way back to the sun, Sour Spirit had his image reproduced on top of the mountain for inspiration to the Blackfeet and the name stuck to the mountain first then the road that was built during the first half of the last century. When I read this in our book, I get that deja vu feeling again as if I have been up on these mountains some time earlier, especially when we approach the magnificient peaks of the Continental Divide.  

The first glimpses of the glaciers as we start climbing up the Sun Road from the west

We are initially frustrated to hear that this, one of the most scenic highways in the nation, is closed to traffic at 28th mile due to the snow storm of last week, but soon cheer up since we know that weather will get better and warmer in the next several days. We have heard many horror stories about the road, from how narrow it is to how sheer the cliffs carrying this road on are, thus, how scary it is to drive on, on and on and on... Let's see how it will treat us, newcomers. We look at each other trying to figure out what to do with this closure.

Going-to-the-sun Road, a snake that embraces many mountain sides of the Continental Divide

However, we also know that the Sun Road connects two valleys carved out by glaciers of the old, now filled with the two large lakes of the park, Lake McDonald and St. Mary Lake. 28 miles on this road, which is also a national historic landmark, might be all that we may want to do today anyway since we would like to be out of the park before dark. I am specifically nervous about driving after dark on dangerous, unfamiliar roads. But, we also would like to savor some of the beauties the Sun Road has to offer. Looking at each other's eyes, almost without needing words, we know what we will do. On we go with Greg being the driver up to explore the Mc Donald valley.

Lake McDonald, the largest glacier-carved body of water in the park

The road meanders through thick pine and birch forest along Mc Donald Creek and its namesake lake for about 15 miles, after which it starts ascending via switchbacks through the central peaks of the Continental Divide toward Logan Pass at 6646 feet elevation, which we will discover in two days that it saddles over the Divide. We stop at Lake Mc Donald Lodge, another national historic landmark to marvel its beauty, one that I tried to get a room in with no success as early as the beginning of July. We learn soon that the park lodges fill up about 6 months ahead of time. Lake Mc Donald is the largest lake in the park. The lodge along the coast commands the lake at the 1/3 north-eastern end with great vistas of the Howe and Snyder ridges and Stanton Peak that once embraced the bulldozer glacier that carved out this huge valley. Both Lake McDonald Lodge and Glacier Lodge on the east side are run by the National Park Services, which we are both happy about.

Looking toward the east end of Lake McDonald 

At the eastern end of the lake is the trailhead to Trail of The Cedar, which we will hike on our way down from the Sun Road. This forest is the rain forest of the GNP, the easternmost rain forest of the nation. I must say, after having seen the true rainforest in Olympic National Park, I coudn't call this wooded area a rainforest, but it definitely has indicators that this particular section of the park is more moist than the rest especially compared to a more rugged, harsh, and dry climate and habitat on the east half since Continental Divide stops the warm and moist air the western winds bring from the Pacific. This trail, lined up with hundreds of years old red wood trees continues to Avalanche Lake, which we decide to visit on our second visit to GNP since we have identified some trails we'd like to do ahead of some others at least during this visit.

McDonald Creek although it looks more like a river 

As we climb up to the Sun Road, the first breathtaking vista is Heaven's Peak rising at 8987-foot elavation. Other than patches of snow of late, it doesn't show any sign of a glacier at least from the western angle. We see many avalanche paths scarring the face of the mountains as we rise up. Apparently, when snow goes into avalanche, it uproots trees and boulders to pile them up at lower elevations. A mental note: I don't think, I would like to hike up on these mountains in the winter. In the days to come, hiking up to higher elevations, we will see many evidences of such avalanche paths and chutes and my season choice for a second visit to the GNP becomes more decided!

Heaven's Peak revealing its glacier on the eastern side as we climb up higher 

The more we rise and take turns around the valley cliff after cliff, the more snow-covered Continental Divide peaks join in the celebration of this natural marvel including Mount Oberlin, Mount Cannon and Clements Peak. As Greg focuses on the road only, to keep both of us alive, I marvel the deep cliffs as the road drops sharply into the 2500-foot deep valley down below. The peaks rising up to the sky right across the U shaped Mc Donald Valley, which was carved out by the glaciers of some two millions of years ago, are spectacular as well as the engineering ingenuity of the early 20th century. I must eb honest though, I am much more awed with the natural marvels than man-made ones, although this road, the product of the latter is what is taking us to what is most impressive for me. One of the engineering marvels is the 192-foot long West Side Tunnel, the alcoves of which beautifully frame the Heaven's Peak.

West side tunnel on the Sun Road 

After passing through the tunnel, the road takes a sharp north turn taking us to The Loop, which will be our destination in two days at the end of our High Line hike originating from the Logan Pass. We stop at the two-tier parking lot of the Loop and enjoy the Heaven's Peak one more time in solitude. Next stop is Haystack Creek, flowing from the Haystack saddle, which we will hike over in two days looking down onto the Sun Road from some several hundreds of feet above. The ledges of Haystack Creek actually were carved by the erosions of an inner sea called Belt Sea sometime between 800 million to 1.6 billion years ago. Across from the valley is Bird Woman Falls that fall from 500 feet, which we will see with all her grandeur in two days during our High Line hike. 

McDonald Creek flowing into its namesake lake down below the Sun Road 

Last marvel of the day is the Weeping Wall. At the bottom of the Mount Gould, this is indeed a sheer wall rising a hundred feet or so off the road, allowing the waters of the higher land drain down on her surface, sometimes as in weeping sometimes (early in the summer, we heard) as in crying a storm. No further travel is allowed by the park administration beyond the weeping wall. We can see patches of snow on the road side, nothign major, but we must abide. We turn around, this time I drive so that Greg may enjoy what he missed on the way up. My job is easier since driving down is along the mountainside lane whereas Greg had to cover the outer lane, which was scary enough for me being merely a passanger. In two days, though, after having traveled on this road time enough, we will both agree that scariness posted in the travel books and on the internet is a bit overrated, however, perhaps for a good reason.

My brave driver biting his nails:) at a stop at some 6000-foot elevation on the Sun Road 

We are determined to return to the park tomorrow morning. We will start with a warm-up hike, a 7.2 mile round trip hike to the Apgar Lookout point. By the time we are driving along the McDonald Creek, we feel much safer. We stop at Lake Mc Donald Lodge for a beer to savor the first sunset at the park. We make an on-the-spot decision to have dinner at the lodge. Pleasant ambiance with a middle aged woman playing the piano for diners along with good food. I try sautéed trout for the first time in my life, tastes pretty good although Greg states, it could be better. We have heard enough about huckleberry pie, but we are both so full, we decide to postpone it to tomorrow. When we finally get to our lodge, in Columbia Falls, we are both excited about the three days ahead of us.



Sunset at Lake McDonald







Posing against dissapearing glaciers below Logan Pass

Greg on Sun Road against Heaven's Peak

COLOMBIA AUGUST 2014 -7- PLAYING WITH WORKING CLASS PEOPLE OF SOUTH AMERICA

8/8/14

My last day in Cartagena and Colombia. Isa, our conference chairperson, gradually becoming a dear friend and Robin my American colleague from the conference we attended in Bogota have decided to stay at the hotel I am staying at. That will make things much easier. We will definitely have dinner together, which will give me an opportunity to not only chat about how things went since my departure from Bogota, but also I will be able to take over the possession of the jewelry I left in Bogota in my hotel room that I vacated! Isa makes a joke and tells me, you want to leave your jewelry with us it looks like. True, what she doesn't know is that there are several metaphors in that statement as well.

What a group of jewel of people I spent time in Bogota 

I consider my heart the core jewel of my existence (most likely like everybody else) since I wish the best for all creatures on earth and try to do good in the world as much as possible for especially those that need it. I know that I will leave part of my heart behind with the gracious, elegant, warm people of Colombia. Secondly, my daughter is also a central jewel of my life. Having traveled to Colombia in the past and fallen in love with it, who knows, she may choose to settle down in Colombia... And, there may be a metaphorical connection there in my attempting to leave my jewelry in Bogota.

Cafe Sanalejo in Bogota, a  must visit place 

Since, I am essentially free till the evening, I would like to repeat some of what I did yesterday if I can. I go downstairs. Dear Andres, our gracious receptionist is already in when it is barely 7:45. I tell him about my plan. He tells me enthusiastically, he knows of a tour he could call. Sure enough, they do have room for me and Andres makes the reservation. They will give me door-to-door service and lunch is included.  And the tour is going to the Baru island, which I had been curious about. All is well, although since the price is one third of the price to Maja Gua Hotel, I am a bit skeptical about the service, but "what the heck, I will see a different type of tour service at a lower level of quality."  I take it.

Where The People board the boats in Cartagena 

A young African man arrives in a taxi cab to pick me up. We are heading to where all the boats were docked yesterday that had raised my curiosity about what they were up to when we were headed to a secluded, private looking dock to catch the elegant yacht that took us to Maja Gua yesterday. I smile to myself with a silent murmur "Isn't everything relative in life?" Only after seeing the boat and dock of today, I discover that the boat of yesterday in fact was an elegant yacht and the dock was a quiet, private dock!

A team of natives accompanying our boat for a while 

Our boat today will be Nautico and we are shown to the rows of white plastic chairs lined up on the pier to wait for our boat. I chat up a Mexican young couple, who turn out to be running a restaurant of their own in Guadalajara, and they are on vacation in Colombia now. After half an hour of waiting, Nautico arrives and all 42 seats are occupied, maximum allowed per the ordinance put up on the wall of the boat. The way we are cramped up in the boat reminds me of the "chicken bus" concept of Guatemala. Sitting next to me is an "African-indiginous" mixture of an adolescent beauty, a zambo. She tells me she lives in London with her parents. She has this adolescent insecurity and her answers are brief. I leave her be.

One of the fortresses watching the entrance of the Cartagena Bay

Later on, when her mother volunteers to chat, she tells me her husband is a chef in London and she stays home with her four children. We go through the same routine of discussing the meaning of the fortresses at the entrance of the bay before heading toward the Rosario Island National Park. I will learn in the evening from Isa that in fact, there was a chain between the two fortresses and they would raise it when a ship approached and not allow the hostile ships even enter the bay.

Almost exclusively Latin Americans filling the Baru beach 

When we arrive in Baru, some people are offered to stay here to enjoy the beach, which is crowded to the nth degree. The Mexican couple among other people get off here. Since I did snorkeling yesterday, I would like to do something different today. Besides, I would like to leave my snorkeling experience at the climax it reached yesterday. The snorkeling they offer doesn't seem to be very inviting anyway. I choose to stay with the group heading to the aquarium. As we rush out of this cove, I see evidence that I made the right decision by not volunteering for snorkeling here. There are 5 heads per square yard of water 100 yards off the shore with pretty much no guidance as I can see it.

Young female caregiver playing withe the dolphins in the aquarium 

Aquarium on the other hand, is an interesting place, at least a place worth visiting once. Along with the enclosed mini acquariums, in which smaller sea animals are displayed, there is an outdoors display area. This section of the aquarium is sectioned from the ocean itself with metal chicken wire fencing. In each section, sea creatures live in their more or less natural environment, although a bit crowded one might say. One section is dedicated to dolphins, another to big brown fish, yet another to sea turtles, on and on. Well trained caretakers put on a show for us in each section during their feeding process. It is quite a spectacle to observe the crowd move from the fencing of one section to the other not to miss the show. I join in.

Another caregiver putting on a show with getting teh fish beg him for food 

When we are done, I feel I desperately need some juice, coconut juice comes to my help. It feels really good, refreshing, rejuvenating as we wait for our boat Nautico to come pick us up. I look around, nobody familiar. I ask somebody about whereabouts of Nautico, he shows me a boat approaching. Come to see, the boat that has arrived has nothing to do with Nautico, and now the guy I asked for help is gone. I ask somebody else. The same process repeats itself, which makes me a bit anxious, especially given the fact that I don't see anybody from my group on or around the pier.

The crowd around the aquarium shows 

Fortunately, I spot the Colombian couple, a young architect and a civil engineer, with whom I will stay for the rest of the day, and I learn from them this is how it works. The time set for our meeting 12:20 apparently is just suggestive with some +/-, and how large that variation may be is open to imagination. We are in the Caribbean and I am not in a rush for anything anyway. As long as I know Nautico will come pick us up at some point, I am at peace. I sit down and enjoy my coconut juice until finally Nautico collects its snorkelers and comes to pick us up with 35 minutes of delay, which is not considered a delay around these waters...

Sections of aquarium fenced in from the ocean 

I have learned my lesson, this time I sit in the back of the boat: These boats are like jets. They probably do 80-90 miles an hour on the water, causing the water to become almost a non-yielding solid surface. Since they also try to cover the shortest distance, they don't mind riding perpendicular to the waves. As a result, it is not rare for the front end of the boat rise up to the sky and land on the surface of the ocean from several feet! You can imagine the impact of such on somebody who may have a lower back pain, which I do since yesterday's excursion. In the back I expect the "slams" to be felt much less. And... It turns out to be very true.

Fruit juice is the most abundant item via street vendors

When we get to Baru island, we are rushed through the crowd from behind the shade-tents into a make-shift restaurant. The servers are not as friendly as yesterday, but people who leave the area with a plate seem to be happy. The plates are loaded with a whole fish, I am sure it is morollo, this will be my third morollo in subsequent three meals, for the first time in my life! And the best morollo of all three, too, since it must be so fresh; with this crowd, all the fish must have arrived this morning.

I am now not only with the couple from Medellin, but also a young man from Chile, vacationing in Colombia. Sabrina, the architect and I enter a discussion on the political circumstances in Colombia. The men, who don't speak much English start their own conversation in Spanish. I show them how Turks eat whole fish with head and all, they are interested, Sabrina is a bit disgusted with the eyes and the brain, but is good sport;  that makes me chuckle... We are having our lunch under a straw canopy providing the deepest shade to the tables laid out for the needs of these humble boat tours.

Indigenous women parading in Bogota Festival

Today, I am definitely meeting a different crowd of Colombia and South America. Except for me, everybody on our boat is either Colombian or from somewhere in Central to South America. Age average is much lower and these younger people are either students or young professionals. Middle aged people on the other hand, are from the blue color section of their society. Yesterday, we, a combination of Europeans, North Americans and upper class Latinos had a private beach all to ourselves. Today, I am sharing my day with the real people, mainstream people of a cross section of Latin America.

More from Bogota Festival

After lunch, Sabrina and her husband Rudolpho ask me whether I would like to share an umbrella with them, "Claro!", but I would like to pay because I am their senior. We chuckle, they agree, but Sabrina tells me we will pay before we leave. When we are ready to leave though, I discover that it was just a trick, Rudolpho has already paid for the umbrella. They smile at me and Sabrina tells me "you are a guest"! How Turkish, knowing this common element of our cultures, I smile back accepting their hospitality with gratefulness. When we get under our shade, I tell Rudolpho and Sabrina to go swim as I look after our stuff. They are pleasantly surprised. At this age, I feel motherly instincts toward protecting all young people, who are in my daughter's age range now. I hope my daughter, who will soon embark on a 1 year-long travel across the world may come across good people to give her a hand and good guidance should she need it. After all, I have a sense that all good deeds on earth are interconnected and hopefully my daughter and I will remain connected through our good deeds be it when we are half a world apart geographically.

Meat Market in Bogota

Back to being in the shade... I take out my book titled "A Few Small Moments" by Carol Scott-Connor, a surgeon who rose to the department head position at the University of Iowa Hospitals, a rarity for a female to become a surgeon, especially during their time, even rarer to become a surgery department head. As soon as I read the blurb on the back cover, instantaneously I ask myself "At what cost, I wonder". As I read through this book, Kim Ephgrave, a dear friend, albeit brief, who died due to terminal lung cancer after three years of very gracious battle with it, keeps popping into my mind.

And... The holy fish world...

It warms my heart that Carol mentions her as one of her guides in her work in her preface. As soon as I return home, I will contact Carol and meet with her to share with her how much I enjoyed her book and her honesty in it. So many things I read here resonate with what I heard from Kim throughout her experiences as a female surgeon in a manly world of surgery. I am so surprised though, that as many things resonate with my own experiences... Expectations of perfectionism, first and foremost from my own self, but then from my secretaries, from medical students... I wonder if I make their life as difficult as Alexis in the book, does her counterparts'. As I move on, though, I feel a sign of relief since I have never done anything to make a staff feel humiliated or angry to the extent of filing complaints... Still, food for thought in this life of mine, which I have identified as work in progress till last breath...

Vegetables are also abundant in the market

It is not possible to keep a train of thought, though, since every minute or so, an indigenous man or woman stops by and tries to sell something, beads, fruit, baked goods, fried coco, massage, water, you name it... I almost feel like there are as many salespeople on foot as clients trying to enjoy the beach! I now understand what Theresa meant by "Public beaches are not very pleasant, they are extremely crowded and every minute somebody is trying to sell something to you". I get it, but I also notice the similarity between what I observe today with most of the beaches in Turkey.

One of many delicious dishes in Colombia

All in all, when all is said and done, my day on Baru island was not that bad at all. I was in fact able to get a glimpse to a different section of Cartagenian society, which enriched my life and understanding of Colombia. All is good. On our way back to Cartagena, the boat unexpectedly approaches a ready-to-fall-into-the-bay type of a pier in front of a village or shall I say "suburban"  shanty town east of Cartagena. In the meantime our "tour guide" another zambo, who proved to have a very good sense of humor from the amount of laughter he brought out of my fellow Latino boaters is shaking hands and bidding farewell with all of us.

Another delicious and vegetarian dish

"A bit early?" is my thought, but not quite, since by the time he is done we are at the pier and off he jumps onto the pier with his graceful backpack on his back and another of his villagers jumps on the boat. That's where our handsome tour guide lives, in this neighborhood that looks like a very poor one, in which the only thing that is sparkling is the church painted in the brightest blue and yellow. I wish him and his villagers well. I know there is a world outside of the touristy vivaciousness of the old town and showiness and luxury of the towers and hotels of the new town in Cartagena....

Where our host jumps off the boat

I believe each country or location that we visit is an iceberg. What we tourists are allowed or choose to see is the tip of the iceberg. If we have contacts from within we may reach couple-of-feet-below-the-surface section of the society. Only if we live in a society long enough, at least 6-12 months, will we be able to dive toward the deeper depths, perhaps never to get to the bottom of the iceberg for a variety of reasons... Locals may not want us to see the bowels of their society, we may not feel safe to explore those depths or have the desire to do so. After all, what proportion of our own society do we know well enough that we may say, I have reached the bottom of the iceberg ?

Gabriel Garcia Marquez' home in old town Cartagena

All in all, Colombia gave me very good glimpses of her society from intellectual professionals, to intellectuals interested in politics of their own land as well as distant lands, to working class, to small business owners, to a variety of ethnicities... I am grateful for all the exposures and appreciate the grace, dedication, and warmness of her people, whether they came from the poor working class or blue color or from upper class intellectuals... Colombians opened my eyes to a different way of existence in Latin America. Looking forward to repeat visits to discover more of it in the near future....



Colombia is a country that one must visit...