a tall personality

In a fit of optimism William and I booked ourselves a 55 minute layover in Boston to catch an international flight to Portugal.  TAP (a discount Portuguese airline) had a killer deal on tickets to Madrid with a stopover in Lisbon at the same time Alaska Airlines had its PFD sale, and the short layover was the only way to take advantage of both, so we took the bait and wagered our whole vacation on that little moment in time.  I’m sure you can see where this is going. Everything was going perfectly, the Alaska Airlines flight was only delayed a few minutes, it was landing in the same terminal as the Portugal flight was leaving from, and the wonderful flight attendants let us get off before everyone else.  We were balls of nervous energy, and went sprinting through the Boston airport, following signs for gate C17. But the signs just kept going, and going, and going through hallways, up and down stairs, and eventually OUT of a security check point!  How could gat...

I plunge off the bus. It trundles on and I am immersed in stillness that rings loud like the whoosh and whir of water in your ears while holding a breath. Like water it starts to seep inside and I notice the sound of every leaf that touches another, the path of each passing insect, the whip and wisp of owl wings in the willows. In awe I wonder, who made this? As if someone must have done it. Stillness whispers back. This is not a gift to me.   It is me, and I am it.   The ways we are separate are of my own creation and volition.   My clothes, bug spray, bear spray- they are barriers I want. But I don't want them. But I do. A storm sweeps toward me, its soft appearance from afar is a disguise for fury, I have seen the masquerade before (in me).   I don't need to see it coming, I feel the air change, I smell it.   I want a barrier.   I fortify myself inside a rampart of raincoat and rain pants.   I wait in the downpo...

Finally, my stomach was on the mend, and I was off to Sumatra to visit the small town of Bukit Lawang, a launch point into Gunung Leuser National Park, aka THE RAINFOREST! Rainforest is a buzzword in US culture, especially in elementary school for some reason.  "Save the rainforest!  Medicine comes from the rainforest!  Cute animals live in the rainforest!  'The man' is cutting down football fields of rainforest every day and only YOU can stop it by donating your pennies!  If we lose the rainforest we all will suffocate and die!"  So, if you went to 2nd grade in the United States, you know there is a lot of hype about the rainforest. Which means I had been anticipating this visit for at least 20 years. To top it off Gunung Leuser happens to be one of the very few places in the world you can see wild orangutans.  I researched many different spots to go and decided on this one.  It almost broke my heart that being sick might have prevented the tri...

I woke up early the next morning when it hit.  The dreaded fate of so many travelers.  Food poisoning.  We don't know what it was from.  We had a fancy Italian meal for dinner, and for lunch we had food that had been stored in the boat for who knows how long, at who knows what temperature and cooked who knows how well.  We suspect the boat food was the culprit but we'll never know.  Chelsea also wasn't feeling well but she wasn't quite as sick as me. All I could do was go from lying in bed to the bathroom and back.  No eating.  No sleeping.  No medicine would stay down...or up...or in...you get the picture.  Thankfully I have some great friends with experience in medicine and/or traveling abroad who talked me through what to do (thanks to Liz and Jackie!).  Chelsea was so good and kept me supplied with water and plain bread when I needed it to take medicine. We were flying out of Labuan Bajo that afternoon...which was going...

We woke up as the boat started moving towards our next destination, Padar Island.  The sunrise was beautiful.  I relished it because it was also the only part of the day I wasn't on the verge of death by hot climate.  Overall, I would say the views were beyond anything I have seen anywhere, including Prince William Sound and the Nepali Coast of Hawaii. The last time I was happy for the next few days...kidding...kind of Padar Island was the next stop.  It was straight out of a magazine, as long as you didn't look too close.  Notice the small text of the sign, "would be more beauty without trash." It's hard to see, but almost everything you see on the beach is trash and it's RIGHT in front of the sign.  I don't know if it was due to how the currents flow, or if boats waiting for tourists dump trash in this bay.  Either way, it was pretty sad to see in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. OK.  Can we talk ...

The day started out so good. Smoothie bowl with fruit from a little local bakery This view for breakfast. We went down to the dock to board our boat, which was supposed to be a really nice tourist boat.  Clean, cabins with AC, nice places to louge in the shade, the works.  But instead we boarded  a pirate ship.   Probably. The guy who ran the tour company put us on the boat and sent us on our way before we really had the presence of mind to ask questions. After a rocky and worrisome departure where the engine kind of worked and the youngest crew member was swimming in the water to pull the boat...we looked around.  No AC. Broken fans.  Bugs all over the mattresses.  Dirty boat.  Nowhere to sit, just a big box in the middle of the boat, and an upper deck for scorching yourself with the equatorial sun if you so chose.  Crew that did not speak English. OK wait what oops.  Save us. I have worked on boa...