BEST LAID PLANS

AN INTERESTING INVITATION

          I was close to 65 when I had a phone call from a roommate I’d bunked with in Belize. She was about five years older than I, and she wanted to go down to the Sea of Cortez.

            After the general niceties of a call from someone you’ve only known briefly, she said, “How would you like to go to the Sea of Cortez? My usual travel buddy thinks roughing it is room service at one of the big hotels. I don’t know anyone who would be willing to sleep in a pup tent on the beach.”

            Had I told her I was an old Girl Scout? Of course since we’d met doing a dolphin project on  an isolated atoll in Belize might have given her a hint that  I’m pretty open to any adventure, so I responded, “Well, tell me about it.”

            She did and when all was said and done, I told her, “That really sounds like fun. I do have one condition though.”

            “What’s that?”

            "I want to come home on the Copper Canyon Railroad instead of flying home.”

            “I’ve never done that so sure, I agree to that. You want to take care of those

reservations and I’ll take care of the trip? Then we can settle up.”

            The day I was to meet her in the L A airport, a fellow on my plane decided to have a heart attack. We had been in the air less than an hour. The pilot informed us we had to circle in order to dump fuel so we could land safely. An ambulance was waiting on the tarmac for the patient, who incidentally did ok, when we landed. Then we had to refuel so I was delayed and our lunch plans in LA went out the window.

            I had told my friend on the phone before leaving, “I’ll be wearing a maroon jogging suit.”

 So as I hustled to my LA departure gate at least a dozen people said, “Oh you must be W----. She’s at the gate.”

            She had waited at my arrival gate as long as possible, then she informed people along the route to keep an eye peeled for me.  Many did. I arrived at the gate minutes before they were to let my seat go. We were happy to see each other and we had a wonderful informative carefree time camping on a lovely uninhabited island. Lots to tell in other posts.

            We made seven trips together before she sadly died. She was a trooper!

A HOT CITY MARKET

                            A Little Claustrophobic For Me

            When my son and I were in Nairobi, Kenya, it was suggested that we might like to visit the local city market, which was within easy walking distance of our hotel. After receiving directions we took off and had no difficulty finding it.

            There were hundreds of small stalls within a huge fenced area. The aisles/paths between the rows of stalls were about three feet wide and the whole area was mobbed with people.

           Moving about was a slow process. The closeness and numbers of people made it stifling hot inside and the aroma can be best described as the worst case of BO you have ever experienced and then multiplied fifty times. It was overwhelming.

          Prices started very high and then one was expected to play the barter game; a game I do not enjoy. So after seeing what it was all about and getting a good taste of the crafts available I said to my son, “There are too many people smoking here for me. Besides the odor, I see this as a real fire trap if anything should catch fire. Have you seen any exit other than the entrance where we came in?”

          Agreeing, he answered, “I’ve seen enough. I’m ready to go anytime.”

          So we left. When we got outside the fence where we could breath again my son checked his backpack which was pretty well loaded  with camera gear.

            He groaned, “Son of a gun, someone cut my pack. That’s a razor cut. Nice and clean. You know I was pretty uncomfortable in there so I just kept moving about and that is probably what saved me. If I’d been still for a minute they would have gotten this expensive lens.”

I expressed my concern and then told him, “I think we can sew and repair that slit in your pack. The important thing is they didn’t take anything. You were smart to keep moving.”

I know there are many people out there who love this kind of experience; it’s just not for me. My son had worked hard to buy his camera equipment and we were to go on safari the following day. He was lucky to still have what he needed to take the wonderful pictures documenting a fabulous trip.