Airport musings

Sad day, the 29th. Hannah, Esther and Sophie,and Seth have flown away. Our Christmas visit is over. Hundreds of travelers were stranded at even the Princess Julianna Airport but our birds got out on time and really left. We’ll see how they fare in Newark.

Once they were through passports, Paul and I drove to the next village to get shwarma wraps then parked back at home and walked down to the Maho beach to watch the plane take off. Great excitements there as wave swells had dumped dunes of sand on the beach head and onto the road. (Earlier this morning, after droping Seth off, Paul helped a van get out of the sand (like being caught on snow and ice). I was just walking up with some big palm branches when the driver finally gained traction.

Actually, there is a lot to say about this….

1. The road curves around the end of the airport and the runway (it’s fenced)
a. This is the only road connecting two popular areas, Beacon Hill and Maho.
b. There is a lane in each direction separated by a low wall.
c. The beach is on the far side of the road from the airport.
d. There is congestion at both ends of this short passage – people congregating, open air bars, parking, hotel entrances, taxi stands.

2. This passage presents an issue that sometimes requires a host of Police, roadwork crews, sand movers, convoys of huge dump trucks, extra men to try to direct traffic and forbid parking by clueless tourists
a. Large sand moving equipment brought in to transfer sand to dump trucks takes up one of the lanes.
b. The expansion of the airport runway (in accordance with the development model the country is pursuing) has successfully lured larger jets which, upon takeoff, cause blasts of said sand to spew back on the road and the crowds, which have gathered to experience exactly this.
c. When these conditions prevail, the sea is high and dangerous and spewing water over the retaining wall and onto the sandy road. People will try to swim anyway, and tourists will continue to double park in the road, they will also hang onto the airport’s wire fence in hopes of being lifted like a windsock despite signs depicting exactly this behavior and warning them against it.
d. Nevertheless, all goes fairly well until the arrival of the next giant dump truck which may require a whole line of cars, vans and taxis to exit the only open lane in reverse.

All this was occurring while we waited for the plane to leave. It was delayed about 40 minutes but finally took off, cleared the mountain it was headed for and rose into the clouds and was really, really gone.

Everyones’ attention soon turned to the water where five men on Jet skis had appeared and seemed to be moving in and out of a formation. They broke apart and variously tackled the mighty waves. They rode them like surfers or rode against them, doing handstands on the handlebars as the large wave tossed them into the air.

Xmas on SXM 2010

Visions of Xmas: red and green, colored points of light, perennial silvered orbs and cherished fancies older than my great grandfsther. Faded paper chains and angels from happy years. Candles, trees and boughs, piney fragrance and spice. Music, bells, and song. Rustling tissue secrets, ribbons and surprizes. Carols set in Druid forests, hills, heavens and gothic chapels; stories from 19th cen counting houses and prairies. Snow.

Chrsitmas Eve sunset over the ocean, from our window
Xmas in SXM: Plastic piney roping with red bows are wrapped anywhere, a 30' fully lit tree looms over the casino rooftop , inflated snowmen, santas, angels on street corners and life-size, life-like animated Santas wave from shop doors and open cafes, decked out in snowflakes and blue tinsel. Reggae carols. Sand.

A few desicated balsams are for sale in groceries while artifical firs decorate every shop and lobby. Otherwise, conifers are not found on this island. The casino's street dancing girls come out in scant Santa suits and hats all with fake fur trim and thick, knee-high furry leg warmers over their high heels, and bump and grind to pepped-up seasonal pop classics. Their parents and friends mill about in support and in case they faint, possibly.

21st -23rd
Hannah and Esther have arrived! Let's go to the beach! But the sea is too strong at both nearby Maho and Mullet bays so we drove to the other side of the island to try Orient Beach, the famous crescent of sand on the French side. Then on to the village of Grande Cas and ate ribs and conch at an open cafe and watched another sunset.

After dark (6:30 pm,) we walked around Marigot, the French side capital, to show the girls the town. There was fete on and everyone was out, including the Rasta guy who sells vanilla beans. When we wished him good luck selling, he replied he didn't believe in luck, only in Love, Respect and Ambition.

This was a long, long day and the driving was stressful in the dark. The girls have gotten a glimpse of this place.

Our Christmas Eve

Spent eve's day at the Beach with the masses of friendly Americans here for the holiday. The waves were down from the day before when we were warned of the rip tides by local surfer kids. (They ended up having to rescue 2 young teens who were swept out, we heard)

The sea swells at Christmas/Soltice time, they told us (yes, we watched the eclipse!): Swollen is the best word. By January, it will be calm again, usually.

Normally, it takes only a little time and some attention to figure how to gauge the wave action to enjoy the ocean. With sea swells, the wave pattern is less predictable and the rip is longer and much, much stronger. The waves can get higher than they look like they'll be and the sand is more pulled way back and into them until some waves look like sandy water while others remain clear. Imagine a massive celadon wall of water, rising up with the sun behind it, bodies dangling within like jellyfish, the sand pulled smooth up to its base.

It's fun to be in, but eventually you want to get out. Swelling waves don't carry you like ordinary waves do so you can't just cleanly body-surf in and walk out of the water. The sandy bottom can suddenly be pulled out from under you, making it impossible to gain foot hold before the next wall hits.

*********************************************************

In the evening, the girls made pomanders with cloves and tangerines sold from an umbrella stand. Our decorations were a crocheted lace star from Saba, lacy Flamboyant Tree fronds in a Moraccan vase, small clippings of this and that, some bright red bouganvillea, cards from home the girls brought down and a few candles.

Paul drove over to the airport to pick up Seth, Esther's boyfriend. He is staying downstairs in a tiny apartment we rented from a student away on vacation.

Our dinner included a layered crepes gateau florentine with mornay sauce and mushrooms, a joint effort of crepe-making and shopping. It's from Art of French Cooking, vol 1, and fun to make. Alas, the oven bottom-scorched our cookies (note that cookie dough is interesting when pan fried.) Cooking here is like when camping, inconvenient but goofy fun for being challenging.
We all got pretty sodden with coconut milk-based experimental drinks.

..take the eggs.....

After all was cleaned up, we started to feel a little sorry for ourselves, missing what might be going on elsewhere this night, but there is no church in our village, Maho. We pulled up Lessons and Carols from King's College Chapel on UTube, as were millions of other homesick souls, judging from the speed of loading. Hannah found a hymn site and we sang the carols which still held us: Lo, How a Rose..., In the Deep Midwinter and Silent Night.

The casino and the Platinum Club bounced along through the holy night and I lay dreamless, visions of sea swells in my head.


CHRISTMAS DAY

Despite no sleep the night before, Santa came and filled athletic socks with the bare-bones of tradition: chocolate gelt and a sectioned chocolate orange and a book to read here.
Everyone went to the beach but Santa, who was tired and feeling overworked. She went back to bed and slept when she wan't reading and felt much better for it.

Later, we are excited bacause we have gotten lobsters! Upon thawed inspection, I don't like their looks so much but Esther boils them up. They still took quite a lot of processing and "saving" so we ended up with Lobster Thermador instead of a beast each. Luckily, cream had been on the shopping list and it's only sold by quarts here. And once again, dry sherry saves the day....

Sophie made best-ever potato salad and another tomato letuce salad.

For dessert, a beautiful Pear tarte from Sarafina's!


*** HAPPY CHRISTMASTIDE TO ALL!***

Saba Interlude

You can make photos larger by clicking on them

Sophie and I (Carol)are now back in SXM . The various flights were smooth but took all the daylight hours. We left home before dawn (leaving the first real snowfall - beautiful) and arrived after sunset at Princess Julianna International Airport,where Paul was waiting with the car.

Paul had made tasty mixed fish chowder for us! We unpacked, repacked for our next adventure and fell over into sleep.

Even earlier the next day, we trundled down the road in the dark (waking all the dogs) and failing to negociate a reasonable taxi rate and not seeing a bus, we walked the really very short distance back to the airport. I was not so thrilled but actually, it was just fine as the road and shoulders had been improved over the year and it was much, much shorter than I had imagined.

Truthfully, I needed that mental adjustment to push me into a new mode for I was apprehensive about this whole project - the tiny prop plane, the short runway waiting us, the dormant volcano we would be sleeping on and the vertical hiking vis a vis my own endurance! I'd been quite intrigued by the island, Saba and the Eco-Lodge from first reading about them but thought them beyond us. Four hour hikes up mountain trails - no alternative?

But once in the plane, the spirit of adventure took over as it always will. Otherwise, one would get out, right? After the screeching halt, we did take a taxi up to almost the very top of the all-green mountain - as far as the hairpin turning road could go (and by the way, that perfect concrete road is only 50? years old; before that the local folks used a maze of steps, carved into the hills long ago. Those steps now comprise a good part of the hiking trails and like all steps, they are nearly vertical!)

It is impossible to describe the Eco-Lodge and cabins unless the reader has been to summer camp. Here is the difference - no piney smells, no horizon - for everywhere you turn, you are looking into a wall of looming tropical plants, mossy rocks, ferns layered upon ferns. If there is a break or a turn, the clearing will not be a flat lake or fields, it will be a sharply falling valley with close pointy mountainous hills rising over it and the ocean beyond, and clouds.










Sophie and Paul set out the next morning for the summit, to Mt Scenery, and will tell their own story.

I was happy just to be there but eventually set out on my own to poke about. All the cabins are tucked away on minitrails and covered by plantings and soon, I realized I was not on real trails. But, I saw the huge cistern which collects and holds rainwater, the only water used in camp and indeed, on the whole island. I tried to follow the various pipes and leads and wires from the solar collectors to the cabins (the only electricity used) and from the (total 5 min/day) showers and sanitary in-cabin composting toilets. The systems are carefully set out and managed and pretty well concealed.


I found a real trail finally and set out. It was a wonderland, not really a hike, but more like a crawl upward on ancient semi-hidden steps wiht mossy boulders offering handholds. Lots of fun, never the same from one footfall to the other - a thinking trail. After what seemed a long time, I came to the first major turn and descent and sat on a mossy rock and sketched for a time, enthralled. Picking my way back, I found a spider had built her web across the trail but left me a space to creep under. Later that day, we followed the trail to a village and more the next day.


The island has a few villages, Windward, The Bottom, the two Hells Gates (upper and lower) and St John's. The population is around 2000 and is mixed, generally Dutch and descendants of enslaved workers. It is all under the protectorate of Holland. There is the small, tidy airport and a loading pier (newish.) The waters surrounding are a Marine Park and are famous for diving sports. Hiking and diving are it - no casino underlife, no "shopping," for cruiseboats can't get in. There is a Medical University. All the buildings everywhere are white, all the roofs are red tile, everything else (except the concrete) is green wiht the exception of the white, orange yellow and red flowers.

This was a wonderful retreat and I encourage you to consider it: http://www.ecolodge-saba.com/.



ps. stay at least two nights and 3 days and be sure to rent a cabin with a hot tub on the deck - you'll like it after the walks! Tell them we sent you - thanks!

Final weeks at AUC

It has been a busy end of semester as classes come to a close and exams are run. We had no holiday for Thanksgiving but, instead, the University sponsored a traditional turkey dinner feeding over 600 people including students and employees. As faculty we all took turns serving and the different classes came for dinner at intervals throughout the day. It was very traditional and actually very good! No oysters though so Carol's Mother would have been disappointed no doubt, but there were some pies and non-traditional ginger coconut sweets. It came at a good time since it was well before the time students worried about exams and the final semester students were doing a full week of review (Kaplan Live) where many of the main themes and facts they have been faced with during medical school are summarized again during 35 hours of continual overview. The instructor, who comes from the USA for one week, was just a mass of energy and I sat in a few times and found it quite useful in seeing how my own areas of teaching linked to other areas in ways that I hadn't connected.

The following Saturday was a busy one indeed. In the morning, five of us from the University joined about 30 others in racing 12-metre yachts as I talked about in the last posting. That was a lot of fun though we certainly were kept busy. A picture of the group in our yacht is shown before the hard work started. I in sunglasses, just behind and partially obscured by the man in the blue T shirt (Dewey Hertz of the Pathology Department). After the wine tasting and punch reception be retraced our steps to go to another party given at Sue Atchley's house. She lives near the University and has created a wonderful home with a Japanese flavor, out of a space that was largely a dump for car wrecks etc. And what a party that was! A local restaurant made the pumpkin pie and for once it was really fabulous. More of a mousse than the typical stodgy, if still tasty, pie.

This past weekend, we had another sailing trip as a faculty end of term party. Luckily a beautiful day and we went snorkeling for a while - I finally have a really wide fitting pair of flippers. The best fishes were however all around the boat and not much was visible close to the shore. My car decided to die on our return: a problem with its alarm that was mended by a local mechanic by deactivating it. The Subaru has been a great car but I always hated that alarm system since it would go berserk whenever I used a key to open the door rather than the radio transmitter. In addition, it annoyed me by giving a short blast on the horn every time I entered or exited the car. It is so annoying to have all these extras built into cars.

Yesterday, the Diabetes Foundation did blood testing at a festival run by the Ujima Foundation that works with youth development. There were many school groups doing dancing and singing and it seemed to be a very Caribbean affair.

I now have a week when I will be scanning a number of papers and consolidating my documents so I don't need to carry much home in January since I need to be out of the office by the end of the year. It will be fun having the family come down at last.