COSTA RICA

                                Couple More Costa Rican Experiences

We drove through Braulio Carrillo National Forest where the foliage was lush and thick. Named for Costa Rica’s third president Braulio Carrillo Colina, the area protects 6000 species of plants and 333 birds. We saw a couple of small waterfalls.  We stopped in the rain forest bordering the national park on the far side for an aerial tram ride through the canopy of the forest. We couldn’t have asked for a nicer day. The sun was shining on a  clear day.

We boarded a six passenger gondola where a local guide was waiting for us. He was good about identifying and pointing out birds to us. We saw a rare black bird, a duck sitting in a tree, lots of palm and mahogany trees. There were several streams running on the ground below. It was so quiet up in the canopy---the only sounds being those of birds.

After the tram ride we took a half hour nature hike on the rain forest floor. We all were fascinated with the many leaf-cutter ants busily working away. Their nesting area was huge. The guide pointed out a small, but very poisonous snake. This private rain forest covers 470 acres and the tram is fourteen years old. It was a new experience for the girls and great fun for us all!

Butterfly gardens are always fun and often one sees unusual butterflies that you’d probably not see in the wild. It is hard to photograph butterflies as they always seem to be in flight. We saw lots of the blue morpho butterflies on this trip. The beautiful blue is easy to spot as it stands out against the green backdrop.  Later we rode by many pineapple fields and banana plantations. The last few miles to the canal boats for Tortuguero National Park were over a bumpy dirt road.  At the dock people were selling coconut milk. The coconuts were small and round. For a dollar a fellow with a sharp machete cut off the top of the coconut and inserted a straw. Not only were the perfectly round coconuts a different shape than the ones we were familiar with in Hawaii, but the ‘milk’ was clear and very mild in taste. Until I watched the actual process of preparing the coconuts I thought they may have filled the nut with water. There was perhaps an eighth of an inch of coconut meat in each shell. I liked the cool and refreshing ‘coconut water’.

            There is only one way to get to Tortuguero National Park and that is by boat. There are no vehicles in the park which consists of several islands connected only by canals. We all boarded a large canopy-covered boat for the hour-plus ride to our hotel. Enroute we saw howler and white-faced capuchin monkeys, snowy egrets, green iguana, rose spoonbill birds, and a small crocodile called a caiman. A caiman can survive in either fresh or salt water and is the most numerous specie of the crocodile family.

            Monkeys were seen several places during this trip with the girls. At the beach they played and scampered just beyond us. One monkey came down on the beach and lifted a pack of crackers from a gal’s beach bag while she lay sunning and oblivious to all the activity. The white faced monkeys are very social and are great fun to watch. We also had the chance to see and watch sloths---are they slow! It would take all day for them to climb up a tree!

GRAND PRE, NOVA SCOTIA

                                            A True Historic Place
                                               

            At the Grand Pre National Historic Site we were joined by a young docent dressed in period costume. He told us, “In 1680 Pierre Melanson, his wife and five children escaped from Port Royal because it was always under French-English conflict and settled in Grand Pre, French meaning great meadow. He and others who joined him built a dyke system to hold back the tides in Minas Basin creating rich pastureland for grazing and fertile fields for crops.” He demonstrated how the dykes worked with a small model.

            Grand Pre soon outgrew Port Royal, and by the mid 18^th century was the largest Acadian community around the Bay of Fundy and the coastline of Nova Scotia. The Minas area became the breadbasket of the colony and the Acadians prospered. Today a lot of apples as well as corn are grown in the Annapolis valley.

            In 1713 part of Acadia became Nova Scotia with Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal) its capital. The Acadians chose to remain and live under British rule. An oath of allegiance to the British crown was a point of contention for the next forty years. Many did sign the oath in 1730 when promised that they would not have to bare arms against the French.

            But in 1744 when England and France were again at war everything changed. Attacks and counterattacks occurred. Halifax became the capital of the colony in 1749.  The majority of the people living in the British colony were Acadians, their numbers were growing, and they lived on the most fertile farmland.

In 1755 the boats and guns of the Acadians living in the Minas area were confiscated. The governor decided to expel the Acadians from Nova Scotia and disperse them in British colonies south from Massachusetts to Georgia. The men and boys of the area were ordered to the church and were told they were to be deported as soon as ships arrived to take them away. Families were split apart and before 1755 ended more than 6000 Acadians were carried away. Their villages were burned to the ground.  Thousands more followed until 1763 when the two countries were again at peace.

Evangeline

       Henry Wadsworth Longfellow told this tragic story in his poem Evangeline in 1847. Grand-Pre was forgotten for nearly a century until   Americans wanted to visit the birthplace of the poem’s heroine. Of the original village only the dykelands and a row of willows remain. A lovely bronze stature of Evangeline stands at the front of the walkway to the church that has been reconstructed at the Grand-Pre Historic Site. It is said in many circles that Evangeline is the most famous Acadian who never lived.

GEORGIAN TOWN HOUSES

                                    GEORGIAN  TOWN HOUSES

            In Dublin, Ireland legend says that years ago a fellow was too drunk to find his own house so his wife painted the front door a different color from all the rest of the houses.  Georgian townhouses are joined together like the row houses in the eastern part of our country. The doors have a distinctive design with a half circle window above. The different colored doors on the brick square homes are most attractive, lending a Georgian grace to the city.

            Georgian houses of the 1700s were mostly built the same. The kitchen and servants quarters were in the basement. Servants never entered through the front door. The dining room was on the ground floor so food did not have to be carried very far. The drawing room and living room were on the next floor and on the top floor were the master bedroom and children’s rooms. The windows are shorter on the top floor to protect the children and to give the illusion of height to the building.

            Early one morning we walked the Georgian area with a local guide. We stopped in front of Oscar Wilde’s house, directly across the street from Merrion Park. The guide told us, “Wilde’s father was a well known eye and ear physician who was knighted. His mother was a poet and he probably got most of his literary urge from her.”

            At the corner of the park we found a lounging Oscar Wilde on a huge rock. Fourteen different rocks are used in the statue. His face is a bit unusual as it portrays different moods when viewed from different angles. From the left he appears rather sad, face on he appears contemplative and from the right he appears happy. The statue sits high enough to peer over the fence onto the busy street.

            We learned the round metal covers in the sidewalks were old coal shoots where coal was once delivered for heating. The Georgian homes were primarily built by Protestants as Catholics were excluded from representation and were not allowed to vote between 1690-1840.

            The Georgian neighborhood was quaint, attractive and interesting. We learned several things we did not know. Several small parks in the area add to the ambiance. 

           Georgian homes appear in a lot of other locales, but the district in Dublin was rather extensive and colorful.

            Some of the other things we saw and found interesting another time.

THE YANGTZE RIVER

                  The Anticipated Trip Did Not Disappoint

        The mighty Yangtze is the longest river in China.   Only the Amazon and Nile Rivers surpass the Yangtze in length. In Chinese the river is Chang Jiang and is also known to natives as the Long River, China’s Main Street, or China’s Lifeline. In some literature the river is also spelled Yangzi, but we’re all talking about the same body of water that starts in the snow-capped mountains of Tibet, winding its way through the mountains, across the China heartland and 4000 miles later empties into the sea at Shanghai. Three-quarters of the Yangtze’s course runs through mountains.

The cabins on the Victoria Empress were small with two single beds, a desk, hanging closet, and a small bathroom with a shower over a short tub, sink and commode. It was nice the cabin was  en suite so we did not have to walk down the hallway to the bathroom! We loved the balcony and spent a fair amount of time on it. The Victoria cruise ships are American owned. The 77 cabin Empress was 287 feet long.

The Yangtze running east to west splits China north and south. The country north of the river is grain country, past military, and  has cold snowy winters. South of the river the climate is green, covered with rice paddies, and is where the outside world begins to make a presence.

It is 400 miles via river from where we boarded  the boat in  Chongqing to Yichang. Neither the wildest nor swiftest part of the river, but it is considered the most beautiful. The brutal simplicity of life along the river means long days of toil from dawn ‘til dusk producing meager comforts. Terraced fields were seen all along the river and the power was sheer muscle power. We never saw any piece of mechanized equipment. It felt like being in a time warp, like time had stood still since 1900.

Since the initial flooding of the river in June 2003 the steps leading from the river to Fengdu were under water so we had to bypass that city.  The Ghost City’s, quaint legends live in contrast to the modern day construction of the Three Gorges Dam. In ancient times sailors anchored their boats in mid-stream to avoid attacks by ghosts.

            The river’s watershed covers two million square kilometers, or 20% of China’s land mass. It supports a population of 400 million. In the Sichuan area of the Red Basin it nourishes a population greater than England and France combined!  The river has 700 tributaries.

            At one time there were extremely dangerous rapids on parts of the river. In the 1950s many of the rocks and submerged reefs were blasted away in the gorges calming dangerous rapids. The muddy river is polluted, and a particularly dangerous parasite makes swimming unadvisable.         

The Upper Yangtze runs between Chongqing and Wuhan.  The central part of the river is called the Middle River, and the Lower River is the part of the river from Wuhan  to Shanghai, China’s most cosmopolitan city and center of trade. It is here where the river becomes the main transportation route between ancient villages and bustling commercial centers.

The Lower River for centuries has been the grain basket of the country and has been vitally important to the development of China. Twenty-five percent of China’s arable land is along the Yangtze. The Chinese have plied the river in their sampans and junks for centuries. In the 13^th century when Marco Polo navigated the Lower River he was amazed at the amount of river traffic. Periodic floods have occurred, putting thousands of acres under water and causing the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives.

            In Wanzhou, the gateway to Sichuan, it was an easy walk up 120 steps that were narrow in depth and perfect for pacing. The controversial dam  project has meant the relocation of over a million people. [Estimates vary from 1.2 to 1.6 million people.] Wanzhou  has a 1600-year history, covers 3500 square kilometers, and has a population of 1.8 million. In addition 250,000 people have been relocated there. The new relocation area was nicely landscaped with waterfalls, gardens, and wide pedestrian walkways.

            We transited the Wu Gorge known for its forested mountains. At the narrowest part of this gorge the river is only 100 yards wide. Stark rugged precipices are on one side of the gorge and gentle mountains and terraced farm plots on the other. Legend  says a goddess came down to earth and vanished dragons from the river turning them and herself into mountain peaks. Each gorge seemed more beautiful than the previous one and it would be hard to fixate on any one.

            We passed under many bridges, some of which will be replaced, as the water will cover them when the final flooding is done. The Chinese travel mostly in small low to the water commuter boats. Along this stretch of the river we glimpsed a few sampans and watched women doing their laundry in the river. I wondered how clean the clothes would be after being washed in the muddy river.

            I’ve seen so many pictures of  people balancing buckets or baskets from a pole over the shoulders, but I never thought I’d actually see such a scene. But I did in old rural China.

Markers all along the river banks marked various levels of where the river will be when the project is finished. The top mark was 75 meters. Fifteen million people have been under direct threat when the Yangtze floods. When completed the dam will supply 10-15% of the power needed for the entire country, and China is a huge country.

            In Wuhan, we boarded a ferry for a ride up the Daning River though the three Lesser Gorges. Dragon-gate Gorge, Misty Gorge, and Emerald Gorge may have been lesser in size but they were certainly not lesser in beauty. In fact I and many others thought they were the most beautiful of all the gorges where the river was much narrower.

            Before 2003 the Daning River had only 1-3 meters of water, now it has 65 feet of water, and the dangerous rapids are gone as is the need to portage around them. Two-thirds of the city of Wushan is under water and its people have been relocated. We saw monkeys about the size of squirrels playing in the trees, also sheep, goats and a few birds. We spied a coffin left in a high cave eons ago.

            The scenery was spectacular and in the Emerald Gorge the water was definitely a dark green—a big contrast to the rather muddy river elsewhere.

            We sailed through the Xiling Gorge and then through three locks.  Once out of the last lock, we moored to be ready for a tour of the Three Gorges Dam project the next day.

          It was a fantastic river trip and certainly a memorable one!

YORKMINSTER

                                       York's Magnificent Church

            During our morning walking tour of York, England we only walked around the outside of the cathedral. At the end of the day we returned to tour the inside of this marvelous church.

            The remains of the Basilica, the ceremonial center

of the Roman fortress, have been found beneath the Minster building. The first Christian church on the site has been dated to 627 and the first Archbishop of York was recognized by the Pope in 732. A stone Saxon church survived a Viking invasion in 866, but was ransacked by William the Conqueror's forces in 1069.  This is the fourth building on this site and was built 1220 in stages until its completion in 1472. It is the largest medieval structure in England and the largest Gothic church north of the Alps.

             The Minster contains 128 stain glass windows and one half of all the stain glass in England. John Thornton created the east window in 1405-08. It is the largest stain glass window in the world. Its 117 square panes represent 1680 square feet and is the equivalent size of a tennis court! It is a unbelievably gorgeous window. Thornton’s work surely was a labor of love as his payment was 50 pounds.  The five sisters’ window, done in 1260, is the oldest window in the Minster.

            The Chapel house was built in 1280-90 and contains fine carvings and medieval glass.

            The ceiling wood in the nave is painted to resemble stone, and it sure fooled me.  On one wall, 400 year old oak figures strike a clock every fifteen minutes. The clock movements date to 1749. It is a charming clock.  The 15^th century screen is decorated with statues of fifteen kings from William I to Henry VI.

            In the Octagonal Chapter House, constructed between 1260 to 1286, the walls contain some of the Minster's finest carvings, most dating from 1270 to 1280.  The Undercroft, Treasury and Crypt are under the Cathedral and is where Roman, Norman and Viking remains can be found. The jewels of the treasury are also found there. If you desire, you can also climb the 275 steps of the Tower for  fantastic views of the city's ancient streets.      

            There are many points of interest within the Minster. It is a magnificent building, but it is absolutely worth it to take a guided tour with a docent first, then wander around on your own.

CUBA continued

                                                  Cuba  continued

As Spain imposed heavy taxes on sugar, the politics shifted with independence as an ideal, but autonomy from Spain actually pursued. The United States talked about annexation and Thomas Jefferson wrote James Madison that annexation of Cuba was desirable. But John Quincy Adams believed in a wait and see attitude and did not support Cuban independence.

The thirty-year struggle for independence covered the years 1868-1898. Spain spent more money to fight Cuba than it spent on all other Latin American countries combined. In the last third of the 19^th century, the struggle slowly resolved many racial problems when several blacks became generals in the liberation army. In 1899 the U.S. intervened and with Spain ended the war for independence without a single Cuban being present. Cuba had a new constitution and became independent in 1901 with a heavy American military context.

The Platt amendment to the Cuban constitution basically said that the U.S. could intervene in Cuba under various circumstances. It was repealed in 1934. U.S. troops left in 1902. In 1940 a new constitution was drawn up that for the first time involved land reform. However, no land reform took place until 1959.

Between 1900-1920 land was selling for six cents an acre and the United States bought a lot of it. In fact, Cuba was the largest overseas investment the United States had, resulting in a big economic boom in Cuba.

During U.S. prohibition (1920-1933) the Mafia contracted with Cuban sugar refineries for molasses for the illicit liquor industry in this country.  With the end of prohibition the Mafia switched to gambling, building casinos.

Batista was an American backed dictator until 1959 when Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries overthrew him. Castro aligned himself with the Russians, which was the end of friendly relations with Cuba for the United States.

When the Soviet Union collapsed and pulled out of Cuba in 1989, the Cuban economy took a nose dive of 34%, hitting bottom in ‘92-’93. No one saw the collapse on the horizon. Cuba had been 83% dependent on Russia for imports, and depended on 92% of imported oil. This produced a tremendous problem throughout the society involving electricity use everywhere. Buses were cut by 75% and the wait for a bus averaged four to five hours!   Everything was scarce and unemployment ran at 70%.

Sugar was the country’s only export. Cuba signed long term agreements to supply sugar to some countries. Tobacco and nickel were the only other resources. The country was desperate for credit. There was a lack of resources, knowledge, and infrastructure. They needed to learn foreign languages to communicate with other countries. They needed to learn skills and how to deal and operate in a free economy. They needed direct foreign investment (DFI) and environmental controls. What an undertaking!

Some of the first foreign direct investment was spent on the airport, telecommunications, and hotels. By 2003 the country was independent of oil imports.  Now it takes only six months to build 100 rooms compared to a two-year time frame a decade ago.

Why would anyone want to be involved in Foreign Direct Investment? There was virtually no self-employment, and when people are desperate they will accept most anything. Then there was the element of being in the right place at the right time or just plain opportunity, and under such circumstances the lender could charge high interest rates.

In the 1980s a 180 pesos would comfortably cover four weeks of living expenses in Cuba. That decreased to covering only 3 ½ weeks and the peso went from 6-7 pesos to the U.S. dollar to 150 peso per one U.S. dollar. The present exchange rate has stabilized at 26 pesos. However, only Cubans use this currency. The U.S. dollar is interchangeable one for one with the convertible peso.  Today 64% of the population has access to the U.S. dollar. The terrible inflation encouraged entrepreneurship, which today seems to be healthy.  In 1980 the service/tourist business comprised only 8% of the economy, today that same business is 65% of the economy.

I asked a couple of young Cubans about prejudice in the country as some people were very dark and some very light with everything in between.  Both times I was told, one is just Cuban, period, and color is not a factor.

         Education through college is free in Cuba.   After teachers fulfill their obligatory 3-4 years of teaching, they often leave the profession and join the tourist industry, because that is where the money is. Every day when we returned to our hotel room the TV had been reprogrammed onto CNN which made me wonder who was cleaning our room, maybe an ex-educator? Everywhere we went we found Cubans very friendly. The Cuban people have maintained their unique identity and culture, and are proud of their revolutionary tradition. 
  
Other posts: Cuban Music 7/11  Cuban drinks 4/11  Old Havana 11/11 Che Guerra 1/12  Impressions 6/12