Lovely Leon

After Managua, the Leon area (about two hours north on a congested road) is a breath of fresh air and a feast for the eyes. 

A few of the countless murals in Leon

Sharing a Peace Corps-authorized taxi with a volunteer we met the night before in Managua, our arrival in Leon was a delight.  (Because of the crime in Managua, Peace Corps has vetted a few taxis for PCV use when volunteers are in the city on official and unofficial business.)

Meeting up with Nati Zavala, a local PCV was a special treat and he highlight of our trip so far. We've known him since he was a six-year old at Richmond Elementary in Salem when I started mentoring him weekly.  He's been the son we never had, and he's been a phenomenal guide to Nicaragua and its backstory.

At different points, Leon has been the capital of Nicaragua, dating back to the Spanish colonial days.  It's been a breeding ground for poetry and the revolution. 

Cathedral de Leon.

Today, it's a university town filled with cathedrals, cafes, and brightly-painted adjoined homes on narrow streets.  It's also surrounded by beautiful volcanoes. It's what Managua could have or should have been.

We toured the Museum of the Revolution, originally the provincial headquarters that the Somoza regime commandeered for their HQ.  We hired a 62-year old veteran of the revolution who gave us a highly personal tour, based on his experiences.  Bullet holes where the Sandinistas were executed are still there.

Jose, our guide

Inside the Museum de Revolution.  A few
destitute veterans still live there

The revolutionary war from about 1956-1985 is still a big part of Leon's and Nicaragua's psyche, especially from 1972 to 1985.  Between that, two major earthquakes, the US supplying arms to prop up the corrupt Somoza regime, and a US trade embargo have taken their toll.  It's a wonder Peace Corps is even here.  But as the 2nd poorest country in the Americas (Haiti is #1), Nicaragua needs all the help it can get.

Mt. Telica at sunrise

The next morning we got up at 2:15, rode on a steep and challenging dirt road, then hiked for 1.5 hours to the rim of the Telica volcano for the sunrise.  It was spectacular and so worth it.

A view toward the southern volcanoes

Sulfuric gas from the rim  

Around 11:30 am we headed north to Nati's home and job sites.   He proudly showed off his stifling-hot home, and then we went to his three schools via a three-wheeled scooter cab and walking (Normally he walks and rides his bike.)  It was hot (100+), dusty, and the air was filled with ash from the sugar cane field burns.

Nati on his front porch

Before the hour drive back to Leon, we were treated to a HUGE traditional Nicaraguan dinner prepared by his former host mom in her humble home.  Kathy and I had an easier lifestyle 39 years ago in Malaysia compared to Nati's hardships. 

At home in a stifling kitchen

I'll write another post about this later, with more about the other PCVs we've met, including a delightful retired lawyer named Denise who dined with us tonight.

Part of his commute to a school

Today we climbed to the roof of Cathedral de Leon, the largest in all of Central America.  Then a visit to the Museum de Ortiz-Gurdian de Art filled with Central American art in two large haciendas.  Most of it was interesting, some of it was spectacular.

On top of the Cathedral de Leon

Our very nice and
reasonably priced hotel

Chilling after a 100+ day of sightseeing

A delightful dinner in a former convent with
Denise Hollingsworth, a retired attorney-turned PCV

We'll miss Leon.  On Sunday we begin our four-hour journey to Granada, a rival colonial town in a beautiful setting.

Forgettable Managua

"Simply put, Managua is a shambles.  It is chaotic and broken, poetic and mesmerizing, all at the same time. "--Lonely Planet Nicaragua, 2016 edition.  It's also supposed to have a vibrant night life scene.

Fanciful trees on Managua boulevards at night

We agree, but we weren't mesmerized, found no poetry, and we're too old to partake of the nightlife. So why are we here?  Managua is the entry city to beautiful Nicaragua (the next Costa Rica) and we're visiting Salem Peace Corps volunteer Nati Zavala, whom Kathy and I have known since he was a 6-year old at Richmond Elementary.  We're also looking forward to meeting his girlfriend, Jasmine, a fellow volunteer from Atlanta.

A powerful 1972 earthquake devastating much of Managua, killing 11,000 people and leveling 53,000 homes.  Then president Somoza looted all of the international aid money, so not even the national cathedral has been rebuilt.  This energized the Sandinista-led revolution, which was followed by the Contra War.  (Remember the Iran-Contra scandal and Ollie North?  Be sure to watch American Made with Tom Cruise).   As a result Managua is a crazy maze of unnamed streets, shacks that turned to shanties that turned to homes and later buildings without a definable city-center.  Very forgettable.

Enjoying paella with PCVs Arley and Karen

That said, we walked a couple miles to lunch and back from a local market. Walking, however, is not easy because of the lack of sidewalks, the traffic and the crazy drivers. The highlight was a paella dinner at a lakeside restaurant with two of Nati's co-workers who have just completed their two years of service.  It is so fun being around young people!

Our  very pleasant B&B in Managua.  Only $41!

In the pinata section of the market

One really unique--and good thing--about Managua is a series of fanciful illuminated trees and flowers along the major boulevards at night.  Very beautiful, but we hear that they were very expensive to build and maintain.

We're off to the beautiful colonial city of Leon this morning where we'll meet Nati.  One of the girls we met last night will share the cab ride with us.  We've been warned that it will be much hotter than Managua's 90+ temperatures that were tempered by nice breezes.

Magnificent Tanzania

We've been home for five days, but our hearts and minds are still in Tanzania.  Some adjectives like great, awesome, spectacular, amazing, or wonderful have been overused so much these days that they can't truly convey a magnificent place like Tanzania and our memorable experiences there.  But we'll use them just the same.

This was our first time to East Africa, and has it been one of our most unique travel experiences, ever.  To get a sense of what it was like (minus the mosquito bites, heat, dust, and smells) click on the links at the bottom of this post to some more photos and videos.

While a poor country, Tanzania is rich in wildlife, scenery, and friendly people, and very low on litter.  It takes great pride in its vast national parks and conservation efforts.  It has 12,000-15,000 lions, over three times as many as South Africa.  With over 40,000 elephants, it boasts 10% of Africa's elephant population.  Tanzania has 121 tribes and three major religions, so no one tribe or religion can dominate.  Thus, it is probably the most politically stable country in Africa.  We felt very welcomed and secure, except when an elephant threatened to charge our vehicle.

Religion, tribe, or gender don't matter
at the Mungere school.

This was half service project and half safari, with a fun group of 11, all connected one way or another with Willamette University.  For the service project, we stayed in the run-down town of  Mto wa Mbu, which means "Mosquito Town."  It lived up to its name at night.  We stayed in the Jambo Safari Lodge, definitely a one-star place, with a common kitchen and dining area, a few duplex bungalows, some tent sites, a pool, and very friendly staff.

The Red Sweater Project

Teaching the "Hokey Pokey"

We volunteered at the Mungere School for the Red Sweater Project, in the heart of Maasai country. This was quite an innovative school, started by Ashley Holmer, a Willamette Alum and the second most impressive woman I have ever met.  A few miles from town over dusty paths by tuk tuks (3-wheeled scooter cabs), the Mungere high school is a bright light in Tanzanian secondary education. You can learn more about it at this link.

Learning to jump dance like a Maasai

Working side-by-side with students, we planted over 600 acacia trees in the rock-hard soil, moved tons of rock, and hiked 6 miles round trip  to a jungle waterfall with some of the best students. We also visited two of the students’ homes and a Maasai village.  Getting to know the students and getting insights about Tanzania from Ashley were two of the highlights of our trip. We would have loved to bring a few of those kids, ages 12-18, home with us!


Tarangire and Serengeti National Parks, and the Ngorongoro Conservation areas
After five days in Mosquito Town, we started a five-day safari, staying one night in a luxurious safari lodge, two wonderful nights in a tent camp in the middle of the Serengeti, and two nights at a very nice coffee plantation.

Morning visitor near our tent

The animals were magnificent, the vistas expansive, the roads bone jarring, dusty, and rough. Serengeti is slightly larger than our Yellowstone.  The Ngorongoro Crater is 2,000 feet deep, 12 miles across, and rich with wildlife as we witnessed the majesty and drama of the animal kingdom.

Two of thousands of zebras in the Serengeti

Ruaha National Park
Kathy and I extended our trip five days and took a series of small plane flights to Ruaha National Park in south-central Tanzania.  Larger than Denmark (excluding its Greenland and Faroe territories), it gets far fewer visitors than the Serengeti region does, and much of it is roadless and rarely explored.  It has more elephants than all of Kenya, and until last year's drought, it boasted one of the world's largest hippo populations.

View from our tent at Kichaka Expeditions

From the airstrip and park HQ (three hours to the nearest town), it took five hours on a lonely dirt road to reach our tent camp of three tents.  It is the most remote camp in the park.  We were the only guests for the first two nights.  Moli, the delightful owner and our guide is a caucasian Kenyan who wrote the script and did the narration for Disney's Animal Kingdom in Orlando.  He could mimic just about any British stand up comic, so we had a lot of laughs over the dinner table with Noelle, his American wife.

Happy hour, bush style on my birthday with Ikuka Safari Camp

Our highlights of Ruaha were not only the beauty, animals, solitude, and the two different camps, but the four-hour walking safaris in the mornings, accompanied by a park ranger with an elephant gun.  It was fascinating learning about the little things and thrilling getting close to the game--especially the elephants-- who don't like humans on foot.

Toward the end of every other trip, we get eager to return home.  Not so this time. We didn't want this magical experience to end. But like all trips, it's the people we met and our adventure together that we'll remember most fondly.

"There's no such thing as a bad morning in Africa."
--Earnest Hemingway  (He nailed it!)

We took a lot a photos.  Here's a link to some carefully curated photos with some periodic narratives.  The animals speak for themselves.
Here are some very short Youtube video clips:
Hippos chilling

Fun Mungere school morning song

Juvenile elephants jousting

Lions mating

Dancing with the Masai

Mother elephant nursing baby

Baby elephant in reverse

Joe jumping with the Masai

Off to Tanzania!

All under 30 lbs per person,
only one checked bag

We don't always agree on our individual travel bucket lists.  But if one of us is really passionate about a destination, the other accommodates and was glad we did it.  This time it's Africa--Tanzania in particular--something on my list for over 47 years. 

Africa is HUGE. It is bigger than the United States, China, India, Japan, and much of Europe combined!  Tanzania alone is twice the size of California.

Lots of big countries could fit into Africa

We're going to Tanzania as part of a Willamette University trip for the Red Sweater Project for a five-day service project at its Mungere school  in the heart of some Maasai villages near Arusha.  We're not exactly sure what we'll be doing, but we have our work gloves and school supplies packed.

Afterwards, our group of 11 will go on a seven-day photo safari to the Serengeti and the Onondagan Crater, teeming with wildlife.

The high school in Mungere

Tanzania and our two areas of exploration

When that tour ends, Kathy and I board a bush plane and head to south-central Tanzania for a five-day walking safari in the Ruaha National Park, staying in two tent camps.  (Hopefully, we can walk faster than the lions!).

Our B&B over New Years in Bend

At the Salem TEDx Conference

It's been a beautiful snowless winter in the Willamette Valley, filled with many meals with friends, symphony and choral concerts, walks, a snowboarding trip on New Years Day, and a pre-Christmas trip to the coast.  We're looking forward to getting into some tropical heat and humidity, even if it involves taking malaria pills, and missing out on some fun things going on in Salem during February.  We don't know when we'll have wifi or how good it will be, but if we have the time and a good signal, we'll send an update with much more interesting photos.

Sign at the Women's March

One of many amazing pieces at the Wyeth exhibit
at the Portland Art Museum

Portland from the Eastbank Esplanade

A foggy January morning view from our deck

Kathy’s Back is (Almost) Back!

Our seasonal doorman

We received back-to-back (pardon the pun) good news about Kathy’s back.   Last week, the surgeon talked us out of surgery in favor of steroid injections into her herniated disc.  Today, the pain doctor ruled out that procedure because she has made significant progress in mobility and decreasing pain.  From barely able to stand during our November 2 retirement party, she can now comfortably walk two miles.

While she isn’t healed enough to travel to Nicaragua, Columbia, and Panama as we had planned for November 7-December 18, things are looking possible for us to go to Tanzania in February if there is still room for us in the group.

Meanwhile, retirement has been going just fine, thank you.  We still can’t believe it is real after all the years.  It’s been a fun adjustment, and Kathy says it feels a lot like when we were newlyweds as we invent our new life together.  It’s been nice to spend more time together. The days and weeks fly by quickly, but they don’t seem rushed.  We’re both cooking and reading books more.  And sleeping in most mornings is an addicting luxury.

November 16 view from our deck

Kathy is making good progress on organizing and digitizing family photos and researching her family’s ancestry.  She’s spending more time at the Assistance League and with her 92-year old mom.   But much of her time has been focused upon healing.

I finished my thank you notes and private work memoirs.  I liberated our den from mountains of work-related files, publications, and books.  (Now I really feel retired!)  I’m spending more time practicing the drums and working out, logging over 65 bicycle miles since I retired. Got the snow tires on, and I'm looking forward to snowboarding if we every get some snow.

A spontaneous trip to a winery with
Kathy's CA Assistance League friends. 

The November 16 view on Nov 24, at night

At first, we were bummed out about cancelling our Central America trip and having to spend the dreary late autumn here.  But we’re getting into the beauty of the season, going to holiday concerts, dining with friends, and watching the river level rise.  Who knows, is binge-watching next?  We’ll no doubt get involved in more volunteer and community service opportunities.  But for now, we are just saying “no” until we get our retirement bearings.

While things aren't going well elsewhere in this country and the world, they are for us, and we're so thankful for it.  As we said in our November 7 post, we’re humbled and grateful for everything and everybody that got us to this point.  We wish you and your loved ones a happy and gratitude-filled holiday season.  

Thanksgiving fun (What Do Your Meme?)
with our nieces and nephews

Retire On!

Travel, becoming empty nesters, dealing with an aging parent, and aches and pains are all common mid-life adventures.  Most are fun; some are life-changing.  But for us so far, nothing can compare to our recent experience of retiring. 

After coaching clients to and through retirement for the past 35+ years and writing a book about it, Kathy and I woke up retired Friday morning, November 3.  We gotta say, it feels pretty damn good, and we’re not bored yet.  My office put on a fun party for us, almost as much fun as our wedding, with over 200 people attending.  They also blew us away with THIS SURPRISE VIDEO.    A big heartfelt thanks to everyone who attended.

The boring part of the video

We’re humbled and grateful for everything and everybody that got us to this point, and the reality of retirement hasn’t sunk in just yet.  This wouldn't have been possible without loyal clients, supportive allied professionals, and an amazing team.   Our gratitude is much greater than whatever success we may have had.  

The days and weeks leading up to November 3 were surreal.  When you own your own business, so much of it is intertwined within your personal lives.  It’s part of your identity. It takes a lot of unwinding.  As I cleaned out files from the company hard drive, it was both a liberating and sentimental experience.  “Hey, I won’t need this anymore.”  Or, “Ah yes, I had forgotten all about that—I wonder who else would care to see this,” and so on.  Now, my name is scraped off the door, and I'm perfectly at peace with it.  

No more me on the window by the door.  Feels great!

Fortunately, we worked part-time the past three years and did so from home.  That made the transition easier and gave us a taste of possibilities.  We didn’t dislike what we did—in fact, we rather enjoyed our work.  But we just didn’t want to be tied down by schedules and commitments.  And with my emergency stomach surgery one year ago, we realized just how short life can be.

We’ve been in a euphoric state of mind since the party, but it has been overshadowed by our disappointment that we had to cancel our November 7-December 18 Nicaragua-Colombia-Panama trip and our February Tanzania trip.  Kathy’s back has gotten worse since our return from Morocco.  Some days she can walk a mile, some days barely a city block.  The MRI indicates that surgery will be needed.  We’ll know for sure on the 27^th.

The good news is that we now have this big whiteboard of possibilities before us for the next four months and the chance to learn what retirement is like when we’re not traveling.  (Leave it to me to find a pony in a roomful of manure!).  Meanwhile, we’re still in a peaceful state of mind and savoring each other and each moment of it.

What will I miss? 

Our fun-loving and amazing team.  We will greatly miss them!

Our clients, some of whom are so fun and delightful, that I just couldn't believe I got paid to work with them. I hope I can remain in touch with them.  I've had the privilege of knowing some wonderful human beings over the years.  I'll certainly miss the team and former colleagues and the excitement and belly laughs we had every day.  However, with the office just three blocks from our condo, I'll stop by often.  They're good friends and like family to Kathy and me.  

What are our plans?

Our motto has been:  "Always make your future greater than your past."  We intend to keep living up to it in this next life adventure.  We are committed to keeping Salem as our home base.  We have too many friends here (many of them are clients) to just uproot ourselves.  We have big overseas travel plans (some of which are postponed), and we're going to continue our community involvement. I'm looking forward to mid-week activities, such as snowboarding, taking long bike rides, and snagging a campsite on the Metolius River, as well as daily things like more practice time on my drum set, reading, writing, and longer workouts.  Above all, we're both looking forward to a slower pace and spontaneity in our travels and daily routines.

One of many fun
client gifts!

Retire on!

Morocco in Photos

As our Morocco trip fades into the background as a happy memory as one of the very best countries we have ever visited, we thought it would be a good idea to post some edited photos before we get totally consumed by our next big thing(s).  The link here is only 15% of all the photos we took, and only about 30% of those that we edited and saved.  

What remains are our better shots that still manage to hold a narrative of our trip together.  We started in Casablanca; explored the northern area of Chefchaouen and Tangier; the central area of Fez, the southern area of the Sahara Desert, then Marrakech, and back to Casablanca.
So, sit back in front of your desktop or tablet and click here to see them.  What strikes us the most about them is how different the colors of the Sahara Desert changed during the day and with the angle of the shot.

Worth the trip!

Shanti, Alan, Ron, Kathy

After Morocco, we spent a few days in Paris with Shanti and Alan from London.  However, I was really sick from a stomach bug I picked up our last two days in Morocco, so it was hard to be surrounded by all  the Parisian food and the beauty of Paris without my usual appetite and enthusiasm.  It was, however, a not-so-fun way to lose five pounds!  Kathy and I climbed the 243 steps to the top of the Arc De Triomphe and caught the lighting of the Eiffel Tower at sunset.  Worth the effort!  Here's a short clip of this inspiring moment:   https://youtu.be/MU8xkjAjk3s

Long before we left for Morocco, Kathy had been organizing a unique Airstream rally, called 'Airstreams on Main Street.'  The purpose was to bring some economic activity to the charming but struggling town of Independence, OR.  We lined Main Street with 18 Airstreams and hosted a public open house for tours. It was a huge success and a lot of fun!  Some restaurants ran out of food and the town wants to do it again next year.

Here's a very good article published in the Statesman Journal just before the rally.  It now doubt, had a big role in drawing the crowds to the event.

Main Street, Independence, OR

Our trailer "Jackson" in the foreground

We're on the big countdown to our retirement on November 2.  Our original plans were to kick off our Central America trip with a kayaking and hiking trip in Puerto Rico with the Sierra Club.  But for obvious reasons, that trip had to be cancelled.  So now we are targeting a later departure in early November to Nicaragua for Spanish immersion classes, then traveling around with Nati Zavala, a special person in our lives for the past 22 years.  He's now a Peace Corps volunteer there.  Then to Columbia for a few days before wrapping everything up with a one-day cruise of the Panama Canal in Mid-December.  At least that was the plan as of a few hours ago.  Kathy's back is really bothering her ever since we got home, so our departure may be delayed until we can get a good diagnosis and she starts to feel better.  Oh well, schedule flexibility is one of the perks of being retired!

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