Travels With Laura

September 7, 2012
Athens, Greece

The changing of the guards happens at the Parliament building on Syntagma Square (Plateia Syntagmatos) in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and occurs every hour, on the hour 24 hours a day, and since it is a few mintues to wait, we all take in our surroundings. People are milling about and a priest and a few nuns arrive~I can’t help but take this photo as he is the epitome of Greek Orthodox. I laugh because I still can’t believe that I am here!

I also must say how tame the pigeons are, as this girl extends her hand and they eat right from it.

A hush settles over the crowd once the guards come into view…there are three of them marching in their exaggerated and synchronized gait, toward the guardhouses. We have already been told that every young man must serve at least one year in the military. For every Greek soldier, to be chosen as an Evzone is a very high honour, and they must undergo even more training than the average soldier.

Red clogs, or tsarouchi shoes with pompoms on them are made of wood and each weigh 1.5 kg and have 60 nails studded into the sole to prevent slipping. I am told these uniforms take many months to complete as they are hand made, including the beautifully intricate embroidery on the waistcoat of some of the more elaborate uniforms.

The tall and well trained Evzones belong to “Proedriki Froura”, the guards of the President of the Democracy.

The ceremonial steps are carried out in slow motion so as to protect their blood circulation following the motionless 60 minutes they must endure. Each Evzone pairs up with another for training and to help one another with the traditional uniform, to ensure that everything is perfect.

The changing of the guards was an impressive event that still runs through my mind like I was standing there watching it again. I took a video of the ceremony and unfortunately, there were too many heads bobbing in and out of the way in front of me to get a good take.

September 7, 2012
First full day in Athens…

How excited am I to be here in Athens, Greece?! Knowing that so much history is here and I am going to be witness to it. This is such a humbling feeling…one that lets you know just how young and small we all are in the world.

First there’s breakfast. A Continental breakfast, I’m told, so I’m thinking muffins, pastry, tea, coffee, juice and maybe some cereal if you’re lucky. Not even close! I arrive in the dining room to see platters of cold cuts and cheese, tiny weiners (I think they are Vienna sausage), hard boiled eggs, Greek yogurt, honey, fruit, toast, preserves, granola, bacon, scrambled egss…did I miss something? Probably! I couldn’t begin to eat it all! I’m glad that I have breakfast included in my stays…I could probably exist on this meal alone while I’m here!

After receiving directions to where I need to go for the Acopolis walking tour, I head out, completely unprepared. No hat, no suncreen and no water! Sheesh! What kind of grandmother am I that I don’t even take my own advice. However, I have my camera and I figure I can tough it out on the hat and sunscreen if I can find some water. Happily, getting water is one of our first stops.

We meet at the Metropolitan Station which is an underground train station. I didn’t realize as I arrived that we were starting our tour here…from here we see the layers in which Athens was built and the graves of people from centuries ago…

Walking around the top level of the subway we come to display cases of artifacts found from centuries past. Our guide, Kostas, is extremely enthusiastic and it is easy to see that archeology is his passion. These carrying jugs, he explains, are designed with perfection. The bottom has a pointed and weighted end that will allow the jug to remain stationary during shipping so that no oil or wine or whatever the jug contains will spill.

There are little receptacles that were buried with the women said to contain perfumes….

Pipes and columns…

There is so much to see and listen to, it’s difficult to remember everything. Finally we ascend to street level and the sun is already blazing at a few minutes before 10:00. Here we will watch the changing of the guard (another post) before we make our way to the Royal Gardens, now called the Public Gardens. Thankfully, our first stop is for water! I’m challenged with how much to give the vendor, and it’s clear he’s not impressed with my 50 Euros!

Moving along to the gardens, we meander through while Kostas explains all about the various plants and structures and of particular interest are the palm trees…these are not indigenous to Greece; they were imported by a Queen from Hawaii. Looking way up, they are tremendously tall!

It’s a beautiful and leisurely walk through the gardens with a bit of a rest at the Zappeion. Here we see the Corinthian style columns that Kostas had described to us earlier. Gargoyles perch atop the building, standing vigil

It isn’t long though before we move along to the Temple of Olympian Zeus and the Arch of Hadrian. ( another post) After spending about 45 minutes here, we make our way across the street (I can’t believe the traffic! You can only cross one side at a time!) to reach the Acropolis, one of the highlights of our tour. Acropolis, I learn, simply means “high point”, so it is a law that no structure may exceed the height of the Acropolis.

At the bottom of the hill we learn about the colliseum. The chairs that surround the arena are made both of marble and limestone. The marble seats were reserved for Royalty, while the rest of the seats are made of limestone. The statues that line the front of the colliseum are crumbling and many have lost their heads as this was the most vulnerable part of the carved statues.

A little further up we come to the Amphitheatre~oh, how I would love to listen to a concert here! The seats are limestone so when there is a concert, cushions are supplied…imagine! Sitting under the stars in the summer night, listening to such legends as Sting or Yanni…I think I must make another trip back one day just to listen. Spending less than 2 days in Athens was not enough.

Upward we trek and at a midway point, the pathway becomes precarious and slippery. The sun is blazing, I’ve had very little sleep in the past couple of days and with the height at the top of the Acropolis, I begin feeling dizzy and a little nauseaus…the view though is spectacular!

I find that I cannot complete the tour and i head back to the hotel, napping for the afternoon. It was my hope to make it back for the Archeological Museum, but I regret that this isn’t in the trip for it. All the more reason to come back to Athens one day…

September 6, 2012

I was surprised how quickly the hours on the plane went by as I arrive in Athens in the latter part of the afternoon. I was able to see the city from the air…of course, it looks like many other cities from the air, but just knowing that I had arrived in Athens! Wow! My first ever trip off the continent…well, besides Maui…I haven’t slept the entire way so it’s been about 19 hours now that I’ve been up and travelling but I’m not feeling tired….too much adrenaline going through my body!

My stay for the next two nights is the Hermes Hotel in the Plaka District…Old Town Athens…the hotel is older I can tell and well maintained, though the room I was in was quite small. Still, there is a lot of charm to this place and I would definitely stay here again.

The view off the wrougt iron balcony was of rooftops and a labyrinth of narrow streets that I would soon find out go on forever as they wind their way onto more streets and little “squares” that are lined with stores selling everything anyone could want…tons of souveniers, food, restaurants…this reminds me of Mexico, yet is different…Greek flavor as opposed to Latin so to speak…there is a lot of live entertainment in the streets as well…buskurs and singers, dancers…a feast for the eyes and the senses!

The view on the top of a roof from the Hermes Hotel. It reminds me of Mexico with the Palapas on the rooftops

I set out for an adventure to find something for dinner within an hour of arrival and I tried, without success, to remember my way back to the hotel as I was strolling around. I kept going though, looking at beautiful dresses and beads, soaps and spices…I stopped in one store to ask what the signifigance was of a bead with an eye in the centre of it…they were everywhere for sale. He explained that it was to ward off evil or bad things…I guess the reverse of the evil eye!

It wasn’t too long until I realized I was lost. I figured the worst case scenario would be to take a taxi back to the hotel, but instead I stubbornly walk on until I’m rewarded with the view of my hotel. By this time it’s nearly midnight and I can’t believe the number of people that are out and how safe I feel walking around.

In the days to come I realize that this isn’t really late because unlike Canada, dinner is served between 8-10PM it seems rather than between 5-8PM….which brings up another point. Rather than using AM or PM, the 24 hour clock is used. Frankly, this makes much more sense to me.

I took no photos of the Plaka District, I regret…I was much too awed by what I was seeing. I’m pretty sure I looked stunned as I walked around…a few times I just laughed out loud, it was so different from what I have known and so refreshingly good!

It’s taken me all this time to “come down” from my journey to Mexico, and I’m not even sure that I’ve done it now. Life has dealt me some circumstances that have forced me to put some things on the back burner for now…

The places and things, people and events that I witnessed in Mexico will forever be in my mind. Mexico is a country so rich in colour and expression…I’m realizing these days that what I loved the most was the authenticity of the people…it is truly overwhelming, particularly upon reflection in this very moment! The journey has led me to digging deeper into my own authenticity and to learn to be present in each moment.

I experienced homesickness while I was in Mexico though. One of the things that I missed the most about being in Canada was the forests and the trees. I find it interesting that my first place back in Canada after my trip was right in the middle of the forest! The interesting part of this was that I had arranged the rental without ever seeing the place in person. The Universe looking after me, as usual.

I am so fortunate to live in a westcoast rain forest…there’s a lot of rain and a lot of magnificent beauty and splendid nature to behold. This is what has occurred to me as I’ve sat and felt sorry for myself for not being able to be in Mexico. There is so much beauty all over the world once you take a moment to look…to see the beauty and to allow it to enter you.

My blog is “Travels with Laura” wherever they may be…writing this post has opened up a lot of emotions which I intend to put forth in new posts for new places. Thank you to all those who read and enjoy my blog.

When you book a hotel, you want your stay to be easy as possible, with the least amount of worry to consider. Half of the battle is in choosing a good hotel, a factor that doesn’t seem to cross a lot of our minds when we travel.

The main factor we consider when we book a hotel is the price. If it is the cheapest one, that will do nicely, and we can get back to playing CheekyBingo or watching Downton Abbey in peace. Except that shouldn’t be the only factor. Here are a few things to consider:

Reservations

Thanks to the Internet, it is very easy to book a hotel online. It is a better idea to book your stay through a travel agent though. If you would prefer to book directly and cut out the middle man, then do it by phone. Make sure you call in the afternoon or night though, because the rush periods are hectic for staff due to guests checking out.

Make sure you make a note of the quoted rate, the confirmation number and the name of the person you spoke to. It is always a good idea to have evidence of your reservation just in case there has been a mix up.

Guarantee

It’s a good idea to guarantee your reservation, in case you get stuck in traffic. Most hotels hold a reservation until 6pm but if you intend to arrive after this time, it is advised you guarantee your room with a credit card number. A hotel can cancel a reservation that is not guaranteed.

Safety

Hotels that are 4 star and up are normally very safe. However accidents do occur so take every precaution. Park your car in a well lit area, keep your valuables out of sight at all times and lock your doors. When you arrive ask the attendant to write your room number down, rather than saying it aloud. When sleeping at night, deadbolt the door and put the chain on. If a safe is provided with the room, use it.

Finding ourselves out driving (in the opposite direction) we decide on a whim to go to Todos Santos. Today we’re going to devote the day to spending some time in Todos Santos, checking out the sites.

The first place we visit is one that we had recently been to, but only for a brief moment; the Todos Santos Cultural Center. The murals just inside the door were done in 1928 which is pretty incredible since they’re still very detailed. They span the length of the walls and more than ½ the height, each one different from the other.

Wandering through to a building that houses relics from days past, we find maps, implements, weapons and even currency. Of particular interest to me, since I love miniatures, is this little village, all done in a miniature scale and housed in a Plexiglas case.

Gold mining was part of the Mexican history, and this unit was used to wash the gold. The gold was put onto the top of the unit, filtered down through a screen to the boxlike chamber, and presumably, the gold landed in the lower portion. There was an explanation…in Spanish. One day, my understanding might be adequate to read it, but not today.

Currency is very similar to Canadian currency in that it’s very colourful. This display case holds many pesos, both in bills and coin. The money here also has people of distinction adorning the bills. Something I’ve noted with the currency as it is now is that the denominations tend to be larger in size the higher the denomination.

This wall hanging is very similar to a photo I took in Loreto of a blanket that had this same design. From what I understand, this is the Mayan calendar. This particular wall hanging was clearly done all by hand. It must have taken hours of work and judging from the colours of the thread and the cloth, was likely very old.

Another piece of needlework that caught my eye was this one. This is a theatre in Todos Santos which is currently under renovation. I happened to take the photo of the picture before we took a walk around Todos Santos to discover that the building is still there and looks exactly the same.

These bottles with ships inside were amongst the artifacts we saw and it was clear when we looked at them that they were meticulously hand constructed in another era.

Outside the building the grounds are maintained pretty much as you might have expected from a Mexican village or farmland from another time. This rooster is real, and struts around like he owns the place…well???

This old plow rests outside one of the houses next to an iron horse towing a wheeled cart. Going inside the house, you can still find a lot of the pots, pans and stone implements used to grind grains. The molcajete that I purchased at Rancho Viejo is an example of implements from the past that are still in use.

The house is set up like someone still lives there and has just stepped away for a while. Curtains hang at the windows, food in the pantry and clothing hangs from the walls. The beds are neatly made and various pictures adorn the bedside table.

It appears that the houses were used as sleeping quarters…separate building for the “kitchen”, and food was eaten outside under the shade of the veranda at a picnic table. Considering the heat in Mexico, this makes perfect sense.

I found it interesting that the baby bassinet hung from the ceiling. This would allow the bed to swing and would also allow the parents to lift the baby out without too much strain.

There is plenty of foliage on the grounds, including a small cactus garden with several varieties. You can also find vendors within the walls offering you their hand crafted jewelery or rain sticks.

Glad we stopped at this cultural centre finally. It gave us a good impression of the ways of life in days past in Mexico.

From an earlier post, you may remember that we showed up in Todos Santos wanting a room at the Hotel California…no such luck.

This time, we decide that lunch at the Hotel California is probably just as good…besides, we have to eat somewhere, and this looks as good as any other place.

The lobby is colourful in decor…wooden painted slices of watermelon on one table and masked mannequins at another. Bold Mexican colours on the walls, heavy timber tables and wrought iron furniture with a collection of throw pillows tossed on them bring the rustic atmosphere together.

We elect to sit outside to enjoy the heat of the day, but shelter ourselves from the sun under this stunning palapa.
Lunch is delicious; I would imagine that pretty much everything you eat here would be fabulous, and the waiter adds his own brand of humour making it a truly memorable experience.

It would seem that the Hotel California either make their own wine or commissions a winery to do so. The empty bottles add a nice touch to the ambiance and come in a variety of colours. We saw clear, red and blue bottles.
A common site around the town of Todos Santos is the musicians, known as the Four Amigos.

Once we’re ready to leave, we make a little pit stop to the banos…it’s surprising how many people were confused by the sign and which particular bano to use…for me, the choice seemed fairly obvious!

Even though this isn’t the original hotel, I would still say that it’s worth a stop for lunch or a refreshing bebida. (beverage)

Five years ago, I went to Cabo San Lucas with a friend. During our travels there, we ate at a restaurant on the Marina called Los Deseo. We ordered an appetizer that was tequila and cheese melted and flambe in a lava rock bowl.

It was an spectacular presentation, and the cheese was absolutely yummy! Ever since that time, we’ve looked everywhere for this bowl so that we could make this awesome dish for ourselves. We even figured the best place to buy such a thing would be Maui, so when we went there a couple of years ago, we searched for one, but without success.

Well, the other day, I was having breakfast at one of my most favourite places in La Paz, Rancho Viejo, and I notice that they have a little gift shop where they sell ceramics, blankets and nick knacks all relative to the Mexican Craft culture, though I’m pretty sure some of these are manufactured. Naturally, I must go have a look as I love to shop, but I couldn’t see anything that jumped out at me particularly, so I didn’t bother to buy anything.

As I’m coming out of this little shop, our waiter Francisco indicates to me that he might have something I would like and off he goes to the warehouse. He came back a few minutes later with a Molcajete, which is a Mexican mortar and pestle. This was a pretty close version of the bowl that my friend and I had been looking for! It was a little smaller perhaps, and of course has a pestle.

I didn’t buy it at that point, as it was 300 pesos, which I thought was a bit steep…translates to about $25 CDN. It also appeared to be made of concrete, so I wasn’t entirely sold on it at this point. It was really dusty from the grinding of the concrete, and didn’t look that attractive. It was only after a couple of days that I went back to the store and bought one, and then a few days later, bought another one…one for me and one for my friend.

I brought them home and cleaned them up with soapy warm water and a stiff bristled brush, and once I’d done this, they were lovely and black looking…kind of like granite. I also convinced Francisco to share his recipe with us for some burnt salsa (Tatemedu). This salsa is on the hot side and tastes wonderful!

This bowl can also be used for hot pot type dishes. You simply heat it in the oven and put your food inside. I’ll try to get more recipes on this and share them at a later date…we had a sampling from a gentleman across from us that simply insisted that we try it. It was very delicious and probably quite simple to make.

I haven’t tried the cheese dish yet, though I will add this recipe on another post…I’ll have to go back to Cabo (darn!) and video the process, as it’s quite spectacular with the tequila flames leaping off the cheese. Meanwhile, enjoy this salsa with some tortilla chips or on a taco or whatever else you like salsa on.

Rancho Viejo’s Salsa Tatemedu

2 tomatoes
1 or 2 jalapeno peppers
Garlic
Salt
Onion

Roast peppers and tomatoes. Put peppers in molcajete with onion, garlic and salt and then smash together. Then add tomatoes. Taste for salt. Do not skin tomatoes or peppers.

Did you know that you can look at Craigslist pretty much anywhere in the world? It’s kind of cool and a little surprising, but this is how I found our latest home in La Paz.

I was  looking for a “Used La Paz” or something to the likeness and ended up on Craigslist. I surfed around on that site for a while looking for a place to live, though most of them seemed to be in Cabo San Lucas.  Strangely, the rents are very reasonable, so if you’re ever considering vacationing here, you might want to look into this rather than going with the traditional hotel route.

Anyways, there didn’t seem to be anything available, so I clicked out of Craigslist, but something made me go back in a look a little further back. That’s when I found it. A two bedroom, two full bathroom home in a gated community, with a full kitchen, laundry room, common area and pool.

This looked perfect, and it was listed at $700 USD per month. There must be something wrong, I thought, as we had looked at a some similar type residences, and they were running $1500 USD per month and higher.

We made arrangements to go and view the place, and ended up going for a sort of interview. The longer we sat there, the more we felt comfortable, so by the end of the hour and a half visit, we were anxious to rent the house. Two days later we moved in.

The master bedroom has a lovely and comfortable king size bed and an ensuite. This was one of our “wishes” on the list…queen size would have been okay, but king size was definitely preferred!

The living room has two recliners that are quite comfortable, a sofa which we just had replaced and also very comfie, coffee table, end table and a fireplace.

The fireplace will be handy on cooler evenings, as there are no heat sources in every Mexican home I’ve been in. I guess it’s not really necessary, but I did find at one point in February that a fireplace would have been nice.

The spare bedroom has two single beds which we’ve arranged in an L-shape to accommodate our offices…

Having said that, I prefer to have my office on the veranda which wraps around 1/2 of the house. I get to listen to the birds, smell the flowers and be right next to the pool if things get a little too hot. The thing is, the veranda is all shaded, so we do get a little afternoon sun, but for the most part, this house stays very cool all day long. All the windows are recessed, so there’s plenty of light, but nothing direct. Perfect!

At long last, I have a full kitchen…complete with an oven. I was baking in a toaster oven in the apartment, and I have to admit that was getting pretty old. The kitchen required 4 hours of cleaning before I would use it, but it’s now quite functional with a ton of counter space and plenty of cupboards.

Our laundry room is functional…kind of water smelling, but then there’s a huge hole in the floor which holds our water…500 gallons, I’m told.

Incidentally, I learned about all this, as the water ran out right in the middle of a shower the other day. The city will pump water to the homes on certain days, and I guess they hadn’t pumped it to our development for four days…fours days of cleaning and doing laundry and it all got used up. Something to remember! Fortunately, there’s a reserve on the premises and we were full of water again in a couple of hours.

The centre entertainment and common area has 4 tables each with 4 chairs, a television, stereo, BBQ, wet bar, cooler, sink, bar stools and lounging chairs for the enjoyment of the tenants. The development has 5 houses and 4 condos which all have use of this area; though from what I’ve experienced, there aren’t many that use it. It’s pretty quiet during the day until the resident kids get home from kindergarten. Even then, they will only play outside for a couple of hours a day, so all in all this is a very peaceful place compared to our last place.  Beautiful, right?  Read on…

Why so cheap you’re probably wondering.  So were we.  Until we moved in, that is.  It was the night we moved in when we first found out about the dirty little secret of Fidepaz first hand.  Seems that the whole north end of La Paz is downwind from the sewage treatment plant.  The smell is something that seriously can’t be mistaken for anything else, if you catch my drift!  It also occurs daily…sometimes more than once and seems to linger for about three hours at a time.

We did a little investigation with our trusty source, Les from Pan D’Les, and found out about this little problem.  So we discussed this with the landlord, and were assured that the smell was not something that was ongoing and that it was probably a farmer who had fertilized his crop in the area and would likely dissipate in the next couple of weeks.

Well, fortunately for me, I’ve been in Canada since about day six of moving in.  Unfortunately for Nathan, he’s been there everyday since we moved in and the smell is not going away.  It is so horrific that the windows need to be closed and air freshener sprayed around the house in copious quantities.  We’ve also been burning some Nag Champa to try to get rid of this smell.

One thing has become clear.  There will be no lease…6 month or otherwise.  The Universe has once again looked out for us in this.  The lease was brought to us for signature already; however, it was all in Spanish, and since we can’t understand it, we declined to sign it and asked for an English one.  We’ve yet to have this delivered.  We have also learned that contracts in English are void in Mexico…oh well.

So, once I am back in La Paz, we will pack up our belongings and head to Cabo San Lucas for a few months.  It’s a renter’s market, and the positioning of the city makes it even cooler than La Paz, even though it’s farther south.

The drive up to Courtney includes a glimpse of countless magnificent splendours of nature, including these snow capped peaks as you look across the straight from a roadside rest stop near Coombs, B.C.

We took the opportunity to take a side trip to the little community of Coombs.  Here you can sometimes catch a goat snacking on the thatched roof tops and you have to wonder how they even got up there!  I’ve been to Coombs before but never took the time to actually meander around the shopping area and see the many offerings of the local shops.

The goats have free rein of the marketplace, which is an adventure you should plan on taking.  The stores are laden with handcrafted and homemade goods with a country flavour.  Fresh, organic vegetables, cheeses, jams and other various gastronomical delights are available for the discerning palate.

Country crafts to complement your home are worthy of a ½ day of checking everything out.

Venturing further along, we come to several photo opportunities.  These statues are among the many available.  I didn’t check into it, but I believe they’re offered for sale.  Just try to get them into the back of your pickup!

We also took a moment to have some fun with the Coombs Taxi.  Today, we only spent about ½ hour there, and one day soon, I plan to spend more time…having lunch, doing some shopping.

Giddyup!