8
May
2009
Wandering
The sun came out this afternoon and I took it as my chance to do some wandering with my camera. I’ve done very little photo walking outside of my trips of late. It was awesome to get out for both body and soul.
I started out my amble in nearby Roswell. The light was so-so, but I did find one little ramschackle house that called for attention.
Once Upon A Time
After the Roswell stroll, I meandered through downtown Alpharetta. Per usual, nothing really caught my attention. Alpharetta is a neat enough little place but it was never big and what’s there is either new or has been so cleaned up that the original feeling is lost. So, I moved onto a spot that I have meant to stop and take photos of for years.
When I first moved out here to North Fulton, Union Hill Baptist church was this lovely little cemetery on an isolated hill on a country road. Suburbia is quickly rolling in and now although my photos omit it, there’s a large subdivision surrounding it. Still, it’s a lovely little cemetery with one lone oak. And maybe I’ll get back for some morning or evening light before it’s over, but I’m quite happy with what I got there this afternoon.
Probably My Favorite
There are several more from Union Hill and Roswell in my North Georgia Rambles album – hope you’ll check them out!
6
Jan
2009
Back To Nowhere
Ah, about to head off to another anonymous island in Lake Nicaragua. After Ometepe, I think I´m over the middle of nowhere now, but maybe this stop will surprise me and be stellar. But after getting into Granada and getting to be in an actual city a few days, I am really not itching to go back. Apparently the next place, Selentiname (sp?) is pretty remote and unvisited and this is the last GAP tour going there, so maybe it´s pretty cool to get to go.
I spent a good chunk of my day exploring the small town of Altagracia on the isle of Ometepe on my own as reported part way in last time. I took a local bus out and got in some net time during the rain and wandering around the small town. I eventually found a local cemetery, which is on my list of cool things – seeing the different burial practices and all. Similar to Yucatan but not as colorful. There were horses and a bull grazing in this one. I didn´t realize about the bull until I was quite close but he seemed content to eat and really didn´t care.
Afterwards, I got a ¨quick¨ lunch in a little restaurant. It was the slowest meal yet – over an hour to get food after ordering. It really is slow time down here. I missed several buses back to the hotel while waiting on lunch. Finally got it and woofed it down and made a run for the central square to find a bus back. Lucky me, the bus that should have left 15 minutes earlier was still sitting in the square, jam packed with people and boarding more and more. I´ve been on a couple of ¨chicken buses¨in Mexico, but this was much more crowded. Lots of kids, so maybe school was out. Not sure, but crowded. Standing room didn´t even really exist. I was one step up from the exit on the stairs. Oh, and it was an old Bluebird school bus made in Fort Valley, Georgia! Surprise, right up the road from home!
The bus finally shoved off, and then stopped several more times to take on more passengers, never dropping any off. I have no idea how they kept squeezing them in. One mother got on the bus, handed her baby to the ticket collector, climbed over everybody and then had her baby passed back to her. It was really a neat experience ONCE!
After getting back, the group re-gathered and most of us went to a rodeo. I won´t go again. Seeing them get the bull riled up once was quite enough. Several of us left early and waited outside for the rest. I´ll try to be neutral and accept it as not my culture, but it was not fun.
Next morning, we made our way up to Granada! Granada is a lot like Merida, Mexico. And in January, it´s as hot as Merida was in May! Whoa! It´s a colonial spanish city like Merida, so that´s where a lot of the similarities come from. In two days, I´ve wandered a lot of the streets and gotten some (I hope) great photos of old spanish architecture, peeling paint, and all.
Yesterday was a tour of Massaya Volcano. There have been several chances but all involved hours and hours of hiking. This is a park and you can literally drive to the crater. Perfect! It was quite a site. No lava visible in the day, but you could see and smell sulfur smoke rising from the crater. Apparently no eruptions since 1772, but still active. We walked around there a bit and then visited a nearby town market and a pottery shop/school. There were some great bargains to be had, and now I just have to hope they can make it home in one piece! Think good thoughts!
After we got back, I walked to the edge of the old city to a giant old cemetery I´d seen on the way in. Fantastic! A half hour walk, but totally worth it as I got there in the best afternoon light. There´s really no way to describe it. I think it may be similar to New Orleans. Tons of mausoleums. Crosses and statuary dotting the cemetery´s skyline. I really could have spent a day there but it was late and I wanted to get back to the centro historico before dark. There were tons of guards in the ecemetery but there were also people sleeping amongst the graves! Not a full fledged city living in the cemetery like we saw in Egypt, but none the less they were there.
This morning, got up early and tried to re-pack everything. We have a charter cessna to ride from Managua to Selentiname island this afternoon. There are weight restrictions for both checked in bags and carry-on. I´m worried about hitting the weight limit on my carry-on since that´s all my camera stuff. So, I tried to re-distribute to the pack anything I wasn´t worried would break. I may have to pay for overage in the checked bag… oh well.
Anyway, that´s it from Granada. I could easily stay here a few more days. Nice city, nice people, but just a taste of it on this trip. Maybe back one day, maybe not. You never know.
3
Jan
2009
Catch up From Lake Nicaragua
Wow, it´s been several days now. I never had time in San Juan del Sur to post a blog and last night in Ometepe the only apparent computer was tied up for hours. I tried twice, once before dinner and was told the second computer in the hotel didn´t work. I saw someone using it later and came back when she was done and was told again just one computer… uhm… It´s very hard to communicate that this makes no sense with the language barrier. I just got frustrated and went to bed.
Anyway, catching up as the title says, we left Liberia early in the morning of Dec 31st, bound for San Juan del Sur. As a group, we decided to pass on the bus on both sides of the border and paid a little extra for a van. Fast drive to the border and then a slow crawl to get through. I truly would not have enjoyed crossing that border without a guide or at least someone who spoke spanish. We had to go through several iterations of getting passports checked, paperwork checked, etc. And then finally crossed into Nicaragua where it was just chaos, particularly not speaking the language. Had no idea what was being said, just followed and loaded bags into cabs as we took three to San Juan del Sur.
Arrived before noon and different groups drifted into different directions. The group I was with ended up walking along the beach. Pretty nice little cove with tons of boats harbored there. Still not a gulf beach but pretty.
The town was pretty nice and fairly gringo. Not hard to communicate even knowning no spanish and everything you could need. We went and arranged our next days activities and had dinner. And then onto the beach for New Years. They had a beach party we all went to. Was told it was crowded, but I have been in far more packed streets in Edinburgh and Rome on New Years. To me, it was great, not pressed against everyone but a happy celebration.
Tried to get in early, though as we had a long day ahead. Well, it was another of those days where we went different directions. I chose sailboat for most of the day. The sailboat was owned by a retired American businessman, Ralph Hewitt. He and his wife also own a hotel in town, Park Avenue Hotel. He uses the sailboat as part of a sailing school deal for youth, teaching them to operate a sailboat and help them out a bit, most are fairly underprivileged. He had two aboard with us, nice young men. And Ralph was a real hoot, had been a DJ in the past and sang songs from my parents day and quizzed on who sang them, etc.
This was my first time on a sailboat. Other than losing a baseball cap I had for a decade to the sea, I had a great time. We had some wonderful winds and went up the coast aways. A couple of the group snorkled and I even plopped into the ocean and swam a bit. I stayed close to the boat, though, because I am blind without my glasses. First time swimming in the pacific and the water was perfect for it. I floated for awhile too and somewhere in all this burned a bit. I had three coatins of SPF 50, two before the water and another when I got out and still managed to get a few blisters. Sigh! I´ve had far worse, though!
We had lunch and sailed down the coast, hoping to see some sea turles, dolphins, or whales. Only saw pelicans, but the sailing alone was great fun for someone who had never done it.
We were dropped off back at our hotel in early evening. A group of us had italian, mostly those going to see the sea turtles hatching! I have seen this on TV but never imagined I´d see it in person. Sea turtles return to the beach they were born onto lay eggs. They dig a hole and fill it with eggs and bury them. When the nest hatches, as a team, they dig out and make a run for the sea. We did this at a preserve. They also capture nests that hatch in the day because they stand a better chance at night if released and they are endangered. So, we were got a chance to see those and help release them.
Actually, although I wouldn´t trade the experience, I also wouldn´t repeat it. It was kind of nerve racking standing on the beach trying not to stomp baby turtles! We only had these little red lights (and not enough of those for everyone). I was constantly afraid I was about to crush them. After those made it in, we began to search for hatching nests. We split into two groups (about 10 each) and must have seen 5 nests just in our group. Really an amazing experience to watch the sand thrust up and all these little turtles about an inch long pull themselves into the air and get their first real strong breath of air before flopping themselves into the surf.
We then made our way back to the hotel and got back slightly before midnight.
Got to sleep in a bit the next morning. I got up and went and took some photos of the streets around the hotel as we had not sat still for long for me to do that until then. Afterwards, we grabbed another three taxis and bid farewell to San Juan del Sur.
Next stop was Ometepe, an Island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, one of the larger fresh water lakes and I believe largest in central america. We had to take a ferry to get here and then a van from the port city to Playa Santa Domingo. There´s not much of a beach right now, though because the wet season just ended and the beach is flooded.
A nice place if you want to just collpase or maybe to naturey things. I´m kind of hitting my naturey overload point. And possibly my group activity point. Scrambling over rocks to see one of the Volcanos of the island (there´s an easier volcano later in the trip) or seeing a waterfall (more rocks to scramble over) just did not appeal to me. So, I took a local bus to this little village today, Altagracia, about half an hour from the hotel. It was gray and overcast when I got here and it started to rain lightly. So, I found an internet cafe and decided here was my chance to catch up while it cleared up. Supposedly this normally lasts an hour at most and sure enough it looks much nicer outside so I´m probably almost done.
I don´t know that I´ll ever make it this way again. The people are incredibly friendly but unless I want to learn spanish, it´s not easy to make it around here. And in Nicaragua, hot water is a luxury. When I get to another hot shower, I may stay in there an hour! It´s amazing how the little things are what you miss most. The weather is warm, the water is not really that cold, but it feels like needles hitting me in the morning when all I want is hot water to bring me back to life.
Onward to a city stroll now!
2
Nov
2008
Is It Midnight?
Okay, for weeks, I’ve been hating how dark it was in the morning. The late sunrise made it seem even harder to rise and shine. Okay, I never shine, but I do rise. Now the sun is going down too early. There is no winning is there?
Where to begin on updates? Hmmm… I don’t know that I’ll start at the beginning as such, but I’ll start with the biggest news. And by that, I mean big to me and probably no one else. My annual new years holiday is now officially planned. I will ring in 2009 in Nicaragua. Defeaning silence? Okay, let’s just say warmth and sun in Central America? Is that more appealing? I’ll be honest. I hadn’t really heard anything about Nicaragua in years and years. It was stowed away in some dark corner of my mind as being a place of much conflict. That’s apparently mostly sorted. There appears to be some lingering issues over control of the northeast corner of the country from what I can sus reading the US State Department’s travel warnings. And if I compare it to Egypt’s travel warnings, it would look like I visited a war zone for my last New Years getaway. Just to put things in perspective. And no, my trip will not take me near said corner of the country.
I am actually visiting two countries, so I shaved a little off the trip by just stating where I’d be to see in 2009. The trip actually starts and ends in San Jose, Costa Rica. I fly out to arrive on day 1 (not unlike my Intrepid trip last year, a day to meet and organize) on Dec 28th. I fly back on Jan 11th. The rest of the time will be spent in comparative warmth and sun. And I know friends who live up north are reading this and shaking their head as I live in comparative warmth and sun for them. Sorry, I’m just a big baby when it comes to my sunshine!
This weekend, in far less interesting fashion, I went up to the tippy top of the state to check out the fall foliage. I don’t think I got any killer photos honestly. I am very challenged by forests and mountains, still. None the less, I had an awesome time if just for the zen moments and the riot of colors. The trees were really putting on a show this year. I drove up Saturday, getting a later start than intended. I really only stopped by Anna Ruby Falls and did nothing else worth mentioning until checking into a hotel in Clayton, GA. If I had realized just how close to North Carolina I really was, I might have gone that little bit further.
But if I had, I would have missed out starting my Sunday on the top of Black Rock Mountain, just north of Clayton. The aerial view of the surrounding mountains and valleys were incredible. The park ranger told me that this was the best color he’d seen in about 15 years. Color enhanced even more by the warm morning sun.
After, I popped back northward and crossed the line into North Carolina. This was actually the second time in as many days. I had border crossed the evening before hoping for some nice sunset photos. You can tell I am by nature a low lander. I was flummoxed quickly by the fact the sun didn’t really set so much as the mountains blocked it. Twilight came suddenly and I only got a few shots in, more of them covered in long shadows than anything. I’m not sure I could quickly adapt to life in the shadow of mountains and I know I don’t want to live *on* one. Nice flat yard please.
I took the Appalachian Parkway across the southern edge of North Carolina. Saw more staggering views from various overlooks, and took one old mountain road down into a valley. It was fun in a way, but more of a driving experience than a see the sights experience. The curves were coming too fast to do anything but focus on driving!
And this is where I go into a side rant. Most of the North Carolina stretch was fairly empty, when I dipped southwards again towards home, I ended up on more winding “scenic highways” packed with other Atlantans. All wanted to go faster and wear their brakes out in every turn. I’d rather not wear my breaks to nothing. Face facts, you’re not going to get there much faster by screaming down the few straightaways only to jam on brakes into every curve. And more importantly, I’m thinking you came into the mountains to see the sights, so please, slow down and see them. Sheesh!
There’s much irony that I’m planning a trip that’s now less than 2 months away and I’ve yet to go through all the photos from England. There are a few more England photos up, though. Starting here should get you to the newer ones since last posting. And here are some of my favorites from the new crop.
Lanyon Quoit - Standing Stones
The Trail To Lands End - Cornwall
Minack Theater - Cornwall - In The Spotlight
Newquay Surfer - Heading Out
2
Apr
2008
On This Day in 1903
One hundred and five years ago, my grandmother was born in the tiny community of Midway, Alabama. She was the eldest child of Joseph & Gertha Johnston, and was born at the home of her grandparents, Proctor & Lula Johns. My grandmother, who I called Ma-Ma, also called her grandmother Johns the same.
They were very close and as Lula Johns lived into her 80s, my grandmother had her Ma-Ma for a long time. I did not. I have good memories of her, but they are very much the types of memories a small child forms. I remember a quiet and sweet lady who always had candy. My paternal grandmother was a bit younger and lived into her 90’s, so we got to talk some about her life, her family, etc. Everything like that for Ma-Ma are second hand stories.
And it’s so hard to believe the baby in this photo was born over a century ago.
Lula Ceil Johnston 1903 – 1979
