Day One

Arequipa to Chivay

November 25, 2003 

Dear Family and Friends,

Say “Hello” to Enrique, my tour guide, and Felix, my driver.

My small tour group is bound for Chivay and the Colca Canyon, by minivan.

The group consists of a young married couple from Spain, a younger, soon-to-be married couple from Peru, a young man from Japan and a young man from Germany. Yes, as per usual, I am the senior member of the group. “Señor Juan,” if you please.

Just outside the city we stop for some last minute provisions: bottled water, snacks and the WC. We are off to the high plains desert, volcanoes and the famously deep Colca Canyon.

(By the way, it’s a good thing we stopped for some extra water supplies. After about a half hour on the road, we passed another tourist van on the side of the road. The radiator was steaming. So, we poured in our extra drinking water and everyone was happy. No service stations out here, my friends. Just endless, stark, spectacular desert scenery.)

Aguas Calientes

Jueves, el 20 de Noviembre 

Thursday 20 November 2003

Saludos a mi familia y mis amigos,

I am sitting in the central square of Aguas Calientes, a town tucked away in a valley in the Andes. Surrounding the town are steep, straight-to-the-sky green mountains topped with clouds.

I am watching and listening

 July 20, 2002

Istanbul, Turkey

Dear Family and Friends,

Turkey. What a wonderful country!  Beautiful rivers and mountains and valleys.  Excellent sites.

Istanbul.  What a wonderful city!  Elegant mosques and palaces.  Hospitable and enthusiastic people.

In Istanbul, the most pleasurable moment of the day was to stop for a while, take a coffee and just watch and listen.

Bangkok

Thailand

July 29, 2002

Dear Family and Friends,

I am not feeling particularly clever or articulate at the moment. I am sad. I am leaving Southeast Asia after almost six weeks.

Cambodia - a wonderful adventure: ancient temples, unusual scenery, smiling faces and delicious food in a country struggling to regain its footing after years of war and torment.

Laos - it never stopped raining. I got so depressed I left early. I did meet several warm, helpful and soft-spoken people. I bought a beautiful golden silk shawl that I plan to drape over my piano. What I did see in Vientiane and Luang Prabang was inspiring scenery and architecture.

Brookmans Park

North Mymms

Hertfordshire

England

August 12, 2002

My Cousin Dorothy and her husband Roger live in Brookmans Park, a charming village outside of London.

The first day we strolled into the village centre and stopped by the chemist, the greengrocer and the fishmonger.  The one story brick homes, they call them bungalows, are surrounded by cheerful flower gardens. There are few traffic lights and not a McD in sight. I would say that very little has changed here in fifty years. I love it.

Miami, Florida August 19, 2002 Wherever I travel, an unexpected emotional moment may arise - an encounter with someone or something that can move me to tears of happiness. West of Bangkok, in Nakhon Pathom, I was wandering around a very large market place. Everyone stares since I am the only farang (foreigner) around.