Insomnia at GopherBroke

Today we set off for Spain. I am traveling with my dear friend Barb McCowan and so came up here yesterday so we could set off together to catch the 5:30 p.m. flight. Everything is packed (more or less) and there are just a few last minute things for me to do. I thought I would sleep until 7 a.m. or so but some how my brain thought otherwise and I find myself awake at 4:30 a.m. It was a dream that woke me up - you know, one of those "made for TV" drama type dreams. I was a cop and there was a serial killer on the loose. I woke up when I got to the part when my partner and I found a clue which suggested that I might be the killer's next target. I gave up trying to go back to sleep after tossing and turning for an hour. I wonder what that dream is supposed to mean?

I am quite excited about my trip. It is part 2 of my 6 month sabbatical journey. Having successfully put Part 1 behind me I am anxious to resume my gypsy ways after my 10 day "refueling stop" at home. Next is 90 days travelling through Europe - 50 days in Spain, 16 days in France and 24 days in Italy to be precise. A lot of traveling and a lot of travel arrangements because by nature (and profession) I am a planner and I did all the planning myself. No "I will figure it out when I get there" for me! So I have carefully researched destinations to decide the cities I want to see and places to stay and things to do and the route to take. Let me give you the "Reader's Digest version.

Seville, Spain for 4 nights to do some sight seeing and to get in the right headspace to walk across Spain. Going to take a day trip to Granada to see the Alahambra. Barb and I will be joined in Seville by the 3rd member of our little expedition, Ian Royce.

Yes, I said WALK ACROSS SPAIN! It is called The Camino aka The Way of Saint Jaimes. We set off on April 15th following this ancient pilgrimage route leading to the official final resting spot for the bones of St James the Apostle. Each year hundreds of thousands of pilgrims or Peregrinos (as we will be called) follow the many routes in Europe which all lead to Santiago de Compostela. The route we are taking, called the Via de la Plata or Silver Route will send us pretty much straight north for about 700 km at which point we can continue on this route west or head a bit further north to join the Frances Route For the final 300 km to our final destination. We will need to average about 25 km per day to keep to our timetable. Barb is going to fly home at this point with lots of stories to tell Johnny when she gets there. Ian is the wild card. I hear he will finish his Camino wandering a wee bit earlier than Barb and I so that he can spend a week in Barcelona. I will fly from Santiago de Compostela to Barcelona on May 30th.

1. I will spend 2 nights in Barcelona before taking a scenic train through the Pyrenes Mountains to Toulouse, France and then on to Bordeaux on June 1st.
2. I have for 2 nights pencilled in Bordeaux to do a winery tour and hopefully hook up with some "friends of friends" for a meal. A fast TGV train will take me to Paris on June 3rd.
3. Paris will be fun. I have rented an apartment in the 4th arr. which is right in the heart of Paris near the right bank of the River Seine. Three of my adult children will be joining me for a week of sight seeing. We will even steal away for a day trip to see the D-Day Beaches at Normandy! The kids fly home on June 11th.
4. Next I have 2 unplanned nights. I expect that I will leave Paris on the 11th and spend some time in Burgundy in either Beaune or Dijon, but in any case I need to be on my way to the French Alps - Chamonix/Mont Blanc for the 13th.
5. I am staying in Chamonix for 3 nights and am really looking forward to seeing the Mer de Glacé Glacier and taking the cable car to see the the highest peak in the Alps. The cable car travels over the Alps to the Italian side, so I may be able to get to the next destination from the Italian Alps side. The train route doesn't look promising so I will have to see.
6. I arrive in Cinque Terra, Italy on June 16th for 3 nights. The 5 hillside villages are famous for their views of the Mediterranean and the picturesque, colorful houses built on the sloping ground from the sea up to the National Park they border. The walking paths and the train ride connecting the 5 villages is what folks come for.
7. On June 19th I will take a train to Pisa, see the sights for a couple of hours and then carry on to Florence where I will be for 4 nights to see the city sights and the Tuscan countryside.
8. On June 23rd I will take the fast ave train to Venice. The next morning I will join a small tour group for a 15 day tour of the rest of Italy including Gubbio, Assisi, Spello, Rome, Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento and Almalfi Coast including Positano and Amalfi Villages. At tours end, on July 8th I will make my way back to Rome for my flight home on July 9th.

You might have noticed that the picture didn't upload when I loaded this at first, then the whole blog disappeared for a day - evidence that i am somewhat challenged by my blooging tools. But now (I hope) the whole thing is going to upload.

October 17, 2012 - Update:
I am revisiting all my blogs and fixing them up - some have somehow lost their pictures and many contain small typing errors due to my haste in posting while on the road.  I fixed this blog and replaced the missing picture today.

Vinales: Mogotes, Farmers and Street Vendors

I had to escape Habana. Havana is loud and full of life - vendors and touts hustling, cars honking and Habanaros spilling out onto the streets everywhere.  I needed to go some place slower, some place quiet and beautiful - Vinales.  Vinales is in Pinar del Rio, the most westerly province and by all accounts one of the the most beautiful and most visited places in Cuba.   The valley is nothing short of spectacular and I could have happily sat at this roadside cafe overlooking the valley for a long, long time.

Vinales is the name of the valley and the official national park which is in the valley and the name of the village at the junction of the two main roads which intersect at its centre.  (Note that there should be a "~" over the n in "Vinales" but I can't seem to find a way to do that on this keyboard.)

The valley has a remote, lost world look, mainly because of the odd looking "mini mountains" called mogotes which rise up on the valley floor. The odd geographical formations, which look like huge boulders dropped from the sky, were formed by erosion of the mountains in the Jurassic period millions of years ago. The limestone contained in the mountains was eaten away and the what remains today is just a few surviving lumpy hillocks here and there. Suitable for mountain climbing with their sheer drops, but they seem very odd and out of place on the valley floor.

A fellow traveller and I wandered over the valley and checked out all there was to see.   Interesting to see how basic the farms were and an eye opener to see how hard they had to work to eke out a living.  The farm animals (save the chickens)  were all grazing in the fields, each one tethered to the ground with a long rope, looking forlorn and malnourished.  The chickens all were wandering through the planted fields, I guess eating bugs. As there are no predators and the climate warm there is no need for hen houses. The ground was bone dry and there was not much hope of rain until June. These farms are prosperous by Cuban standards, but I wouldn't say that they were very productive.

It was by chance that I arrived during the annual 4 days of Carnival - a festival which might compare to a huge fall fair held in the centre of the town of Vinales. There are about about 1200 permanent residents in the town, 400 of which operate Casa particulares, or in other words rent rooms.  The main street was closed to traffic and served as the fair grounds which was crammed with a great many people.  

At one end they had an area set aside for music and dancing and the music could be heard through the whole valley. The music was constant from noon to the wee hours of the morning. So while I didn't find it particularly quiet the music was a nice change from the noise of Habana.

I will write a longer blog about Vinales, the travellers I met and the Carnival when I get back to Toronto but will leave you with some pictures I took of some street Vendors. 

This is the green grocer - Cuban style.  In Havana there are vegetable markets but the also have street vendors selling everything from soup to nuts, but most commonly produce and bread. 

 This is the panaria or bakery where everyone buys their bread fresh daily. In Havana they also have guys with wagons selling bread and other baked goods from the street.  They roam up and down at the beginning of the day (~7 a.m.) and at the end of the day blowing a whistle and yelling out the name of whatever they have in their cart.  A loaf of bread cost 3 pesos of the national money (vs the convertible pesos) which is about 13 cents.

An interesting take on "street meat" this roast pig was served up In sandwiches over the whole 4 days of the fiesta.  As you can see from the sign, they cost 5 or 10 pesos, depending on size.

The pig sat smiling at passers by as it's innards we're slowly carved out by one of the 4 guys who sat and partied while they made a few bucks selling the pork sandwiches.  At home we would be calling the health department if someone selling to the public had meat sitting out in 30 degrees even for an hour let alone 4 days! 

 There saw lots of street food sitting out in the heat and no one was the least concerned. I declined to sample any of the street food - except the potato fritos which were fresh fried on the street and much like our Vickie's Kettle fried chips.  Delicious - and only 3 cuban pesos! 

I watched with apprehensively as the street vendor guys hooked up some lights for their umbrella.  Once they hung what looked like the innards of a lamp over the spokes of the umbrella which shaded porkie, they just stripped the wires at the end and hooked the bare ends of the wire over the wires from the hydro pole at the point it went into the nearest house!

Here is a close up of the hook up at the edge of the roof.  I guess it works for Christmas lights as well!  LOL.  Interestingly, when we joked about whether the hook up was legal the guy showed us his paperwork giving him permission to connect to the power in this location.  

I returned to Havana on Tuesday in time to witness the bedlam of the Pope's visit and do my last 2 days of Spanish classes. My flight back to Toronto is late Sunday evening and I have just 10 days before I fly out to Spain.  Lots to do!  I am not sure when my next blog will be, or where it will be posted from but stay tuned as I want to write more about my Cuba trip and I hope to find some time in the interval before I set out again.

Hasta luenga me amigos!

Note: I added the pictures to this blog after I returned and added a few more - as I discovered that the pictures I had thought had been uploaded from Havana's wifi did not actually make it into my blog.  

Hemingway Trail

El Floridita - apparently the cradle of the daiquiri.   I passed on that treat and instead mugged in front of the camera with the gentleman himself. LOL,  well sort of.   I am checking off each of the Hemingway "must see" and will have done the lot before I leave Havana. Will save the observations for a later blog.

I am heading to the western province of Pinar de Rio on Sabada to Vinales to see the beautiful mountains and do some hiking.  Don't tell anyone that I am skipping  classes on Monday and Tuesday!  The Pope arrives next week and I understand that everyone gets a holiday as "The Party" (as they call the governing body) has ordered everyone to go to the mass which will be held at the Plaza de la Revolucion on Wednesday.  My Casa is only 5 minutes from the Plaza, I am wondering what the spectacle will be like.
I am attempting to upload a picture. If it takes forever this will be the last one I upload until I get home.
Hola!

OK, so the picture appeared to upload from Havana, but obviously did not arrrive in my blog, so I have uploaded it now.

Hola from Cuba - Wow how time flies!

Hard to believe that I have 2 weeks of Spanaish lessons under my belt and that I have only 2 weeks of my Cuba adventure left! The classes are fantastic for many reasons, but I fear my poor little brain will not do justice to the number of Spanish words my profesor has tried to cram into my brain - not to mention the grammar! Mucho dificil! The good news is that I have enough Spanish to eavesdrop on conversations around me and understand the jist of it. I will however need to work on my verbal skills as I am challenged by the pronunciation and the grammar. I had no idea that there were so many forms of each simple verb! Tonight I am going to a party at the Casa of one of my classmates. The Spanish classes have been a great way to meet others as we all have the common goal to learn the language and as it turns out most of us are solo travellers. We have formed a little "United Nations" and have bonded during our 2 weeks of "Yo estoy mui bien. Como es tu?". There are several young guys from China just out of high school, a couple of gals from Korea, a couple from Bulgaria, a couple of guys from eastern Europe, a couple of Germans, a Swiss and a Swedish lady, one English girl on her gap year, a French gentleman who arrived from Europe having sailed on his boat from France and, of course a few of us from Canada. I have made many friends. This can't be a long blog, as I mentioned in an earlier blog, the Internet is slow and expensive and I am not able to upload any pictures. So details need to wait until the first week of April when I am back in Toronto for 10 days before I leave for Spain. So I will bid you Adios!

2nd Week in Cuba

Internet sure sucks big time here. So I will keep it brief.

Varadero was great and the travel back to Havana easy peasy.

I am meeting lots of folks and having a great time.
I enrolled in my Spanish classes and have 2 classes under my belt! Lots of studying to do for sure as it is an intensive course. It is half days for 4 weeks so I should be able to find my way around the language by the time I head for Spain!

The Casa is great - Ramirez cooks a great breakfast!
I am walking lots and soaking up the local culture.

Oh, ya did I mention - Internet sucks. I bought a 5 hour wifi card for $35, which is cheaper than the $10 an hour at the Internet "cafe" but it is so slow I haven't been able to download mail.

The blogs will need to wait until I get back.

Adios!

2nd Week in Cuba

Internet sure sucks big time here. So I will keep it brief.

Varadero was great and the travel back to Havana easy peasy.

I am meeting lots of folks and having a great time.
I enrolled in my Spanish classes and have 2 classes under my belt! Lots of studying to do for sure as it is an intensive course. It is half days for 4 weeks so I should be able to find my way around the language by the time I head for Spain!

The Casa is great - Ramirez cooks a great breakfast!
I am walking lots and soaking up the local culture.

Oh, ya did I mention - Internet sucks. I bought a 5 hour wifi card for $35, which is cheaper than the $10 an hour at the Internet "cafe" but it is so slow I haven't been able to download mail.

The blogs will need to wait until I get back.

Adios!

Cuba and Varadero - My first week

As I said in an earlier blog, these posts from Cuba will be short and without much in the way of pictures.  Internet is slower than you can imagine and I can't even download attachments to emails. 

I have a nice blog written on my offline blogging tool, ready to upload when I get back to the land of wifi and probably will have quite a few ready to upload by the end of my time here.  So a bigger better blog of my Cuban encounters will come, so be patient.

So here goes the Coles notes*

• spent Thursday last week doing all my errands in Havana, bus ticket to Varadero, courses lined up at the University and trekked all around town, clocking 11.5 miles in my sandals and one tiny blister on my baby toe. 
• spent the last 6 days lazing on the beach and walking up and down the strip in downtown Varadero, which reminds me a little of Daytona beach, but with a little more Latin temperament.  I have been clocking 5 miles per day walking and pretending like it is training for my Spain Camino walk - but it really isn't since it is just a stroll up the avenue without hiking boots or backpack.
• Met  two friendly Russian 20-something girls and one late 30s Winnipeg Canadian guy and they all left today.  The place isn't hopping - quite a crowd of late 60's and 70's Canadian and Russian snowbirds here and they are not really a rambunctious crowd.  But I had fun with the friends I met.

I am headed back to Cuba tomorrow and start classes next Monday.

* If the term Coles notes are before your time it just means the abbreviated version of the full story.