New York, New York!

Left Ensenada at 2 in the morning and my plane took of on time from  San Diego and I arrived as per my schedule into a city engulfed in snow with literally hills of it piled up along roads and footpaths, nowhere for it to go and freezing so no thaw.  My travelling companion was not so lucky and his plane due to leave 5 minutes after me was 3 hours delayed and while I enjoyed what the Big Apple had to offer he was stuck in Newark for over 50 hours!

My first evening was uneventful and I wined and dined in a nearby Irish hostelry and retired to my hotel and slept the sleep of the innocent and was proud that I woke up at 8.30 until Irealised that I had not adjusted my watch and it was in fact 11.30, peace perfect peace!

My 'goodie bag' of winter clothes was waiting for me at reception (what organisational skills) and so I dawned my pallions and braved the freezing cold and snow.  There was no way to get off footpaths without performing olympic leaps or plunge into the slush, unfortunately the slush was masking pools of water underneath and I plunged right in first corner!  I then made my way to Maceys and purchased the first pair of suitable boots I could find and off I went to visit the the Big Apple on foot.

First stop was the Concern office to coordinate my Haiti trip and I found them in the middle of moving offices (around the corner) but not too busy to give me a hearty welcome.  They approved my choice of the show I chose for that evening, The Lion King.  Now any of you who have recommended this to me and did not go overboard in your description shame on you.  I am here and now telling you all that you absolutely must see thias showm it is the most wonderful imaginative spectacle I have ever seen and I am already planning my next trip just to see it!  Then of course a little Italian restaurant with a blues duo and my night was perfecT.  I set of for my hotel slowly taking in Times Square by night and with hills of snow, I have photographed from all angles and a truck of snow which I was informed was being transported to the melting pot at odds with the songs meaning of the great big melting pot.

I felt so safe and comfortable taking in New York by night, I think I prefer it at night, I have felt less safe in places I know better, I won't tell you what time I got to bed or there will be a lecture.  Next day thanks to my new boots my poor feet were very tender but onwards and upwards.  I wanted to see Central park in the snow so I bravely made my way boots in bag to the nearest entrance, I was very central, and found a very nice technical engineer, soon to finish his PHD, who drove me around in a Rickshaw and gave me a historical tour, mind you I just wanted to be driven through the snow but he was not to be discouraged and I got my money's worth.

My next stop was Connecticut to visit my brother Rory and wife Verina.  An enjoyably late evening was had and I awoke to the smell of a fry and enjoyed every morsel.  They took me to meet some of their friends which entailed covering some beautiful scenic territory and it was fairytale like with the snow everywhere but also treacherous as lanes on roads were totally covered and driving was hazardous.  Now I know I am on my own in this admiration as on both sides of the Atlantic you have had too much but I was coming from a different perspective so excuse the photos when they are put on.

Now my trip to Haiti came in the middle but I think I will continue with the Big Apple and return to Haiti at the end.  I walked and talked my way around, found a lovely little coffee shop called the Boulangerie which would hold its own very favoutably with another one that I am quite fond of.  It has a restaurant attached called 'Cognac' on Broadway and 56th West and I would highly recommend it, Sophia's in Times Square is another gem.

I finally did the downtown bus tour having already covered many square acres on foot and visited the intended memorial sight for 9/11.  I am impressed with their plans and they have a virtual reality video that shows what it will look like and I think it is very nice and if anything can be a tribute to the loss of so many lives I feel that this potentially can be a fitting memorial.  I then walked across the Brooklyn bridge and have the photos to prove it, got back on my bus and got of at the wrong stop and ny tootsies marched bravely on.  They are creatures of the wild a bit like their mistress like to run free, not enclosed I don't know how I'm going to retrain them?! 

I have visited more churches big and small on my travels and lit more candles for many of you and NY was no exception, I visited St Paul's at the World Trade Centre sight which was very moving and St Patrick's and ran in today before my departure to say thanks, thanks for a wonderful journey so far, for keeping me safe and healthy and especially for Aisling who has been accepted on an internship in the Hague commencing on the 20th of this month so I do appreciate how fortunate we are.  My departure from NY went smoothly and I arrived here in Lisbon at 6am and with nothing open I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for me to catch up with my Blog before I go on a sightseeing tour of the city and then meet up with my friend Helen and down to the Algarve for the last leg of this incredible journey.

Back to Haiti, well some of you may or may not know that on the Council of Concern Worldwide there is another Mountcharles girl, Teresa McColgan.  She flew into NY yo join me on the trip to Haiti.  We stayed at the airport hotel the night before as we had a very early start.  We arrived in Haiti around midday and it was all go from the begining, except for water nothing more substantial passed our lips until 8 oclock that night!  To try and describe the destruction to Port au Prince is difficult, there are areas that are just rubble, other areas that collapsed like stacks of pancakes, streets wiped out with maybe one building stnading erect and other areas where next door to each other you have rubble alongside buildings.

Most of the population of Haiti lives in Port au Prince and reasons for this are historical and the haitians troubles started decades ago but the earthquake just totally rocked the foundations of any developing goals.  The camps are dense with thousands living side by side in tents that would make Oxygen seem like 5 star accomodation and yet as I have witnessed so many times before the resilience of people who are down with very little is incredible and if you give a smile they will return it 10 fold.   There are different gangs in the camps and there are territorial differences which can affect the wotk of the different agencies working with the people but there are procedures in place to safeguard as much as possible.  Over the few days we visited different camp sites and met many of the local workers who are wonderful committed people and there is a good rapport with the people as they understand the subtleties in the different groups.  The expatriate Concern staff were all very informative and dedicated to their work which is very challenging as getting around Port au Prince is a nightmare and they spend a lot of time in cars as they are not aloud to walk around except in the camps themselves as it is a very dangerous envitonment.  There is a baby boom at the moment, a year after the earthquake and people settle back to living but this brings other problems and many of them are malnourished for a variery of reasons but Concern and other agencies are doing trojan work in their special feeding units.

Now a light at the end of the tunnel is a housing development which Concern has designed and trained locals in skills which is enabling them to construct themselves and will also give them skills to make furniture for schools later on, video will follow.  The school programme they are involved in is also innovative  and if emulated will give hope and opportunity to future generations but they need help so even if Haiti is out of the limelight it will be in need of support for decades to come.

I am going to sign off now and will end my piece on Haiti later on as I have a story to round it off!!

Last wunset, minutes in Ensenada, Mexico.

Yet another chapter comes to a close, but what a sunset it sent me off in this evening!  Unfortunately you will suffer or enjoy hopefully a glut of photos when some bright spark downloads them for me.

I am now, along with all my other talents, a virtual surfer like I am a virtual tennis pro during Wimbledon and Roland Garros. I know all the moves and when to catch the wave and twist and turn but they won't listen to me and then fall!  I have seen nothing but blue skies and sun since I arrived in Mexico which is quite unusual for this time of the year but today, this evening there is a change and I think they are missing me already.  I even had a seal dance attendance on me during the day, it was very funny as if he/she was putting on a special performance just for me!

For those of you lucky enough to savout my gastronomic talents I now make a very mean Salsa and Limes are what it is all about and very good in beverages as well! So you never know your luck?!

It has been a wonderful sojourn and for you book worms go and treat yourselves to 'On Mexican Time' by Tony Cohan and read it slowly to savour the nuances and beautiful descriptions or read it twice, as I am doing, it is a charming journey through Mexican life.

Now the Big Apple awaits and I'm not sure if it is ready for this free spirit but I intend to make an impression!  Goodbye Ensenada and Hello New York!

Ensenada and the Baha Peninsula

Ok so I have got lazy but if you were where I am you would be the same!  I have been blessed with unusually warm weather here and have taken full benefit of it and a 20 metre pool which I have all to myself, sheer decadence!

Every day the sea in front is full of activity from small fishing trawlers to gigantic container ships, cruise ships, small sail boats, small fishing boats, a hardy group of surfers who appear to be there all day fo my soul entertainment and to catch that elusive wave, mad!  There are also shoals of dolphins and whales not far off the coast and if I ever get someone to download my photos and video you may be able to see them someday but I have given up trying!  We took a four hour round trip one day to get into the middle of the action and it was wonderful.

I decided that my stay in Ensenada neede a bit of a boost so I took myself off on an overnight trip to San Felipe on the east coast of the Baha Peninsula.  I found the trip very different and was overawed by the Sierra de Juarez mountain range which divides the part of the peninsula I was driving through.  It was bare, barren, sparsely populated and appeared very poor with the exception of 2 fertile plains growing what I don't know as hard as I looked I only counted a few handfuls of cattle once and about 6 goats another time.  My journey was 250 kilometres long with only one petrol station en route one town that for all the world looked as if it came straight out of a cowboy movie, dusty streets etc and about the size of Donegal town with dust tracks keading into the mountains.  There were about 3 other small collection of houses along the way otherwise it was the wild west.

For any of you brought up on black and white cowboy and indian films like me this was/is the countryside I was deiving through all it was missing were the indians hiding in the rocks to ambush the 'goodies' in the ravines and gorges and the buffalo/cattle riding the plains.

Once I crossed the Sierra the terrain changed and for nearly a 100 kilometres I was travelling through sandy scrub with the mountains around and just as I was thinking all I'm missing now are the wee bushes that you see blown down an empty cowboy street one appeared and obliged me by blowing across my path! Nearly desert.

There were four army checkpoints and each time I had to get out of the car for them to check the boot, they were so young and didn't really know how to deal with me when I had no spanish, one of them asked me my name and I said Evanna and he waved me on ( do you think he heard about me?!)

About 12 kilometres before San Felipe, which Tom explained to me was a nice small tourist town, it began....the DEVELOMENTS!  Now imagine the sandy scrub being cleared of its top coat stretching inland for a few miles from the sea with 'tom, dick and harry' building their own resorts and fencing access to the sea from the ordinary punter.  Few of the resorts are finished, fewer still are sold or being lived in and this was even more evident on the south side of San Felipe.  I found it all very sad and the towh has expanded behind itself to accomodate locals who presumed this would be a big boost to tourism but their home are on soft sand and whereas this was ok in Fiji it appears wrong here and some serious planning/environmental issues will follow in the future I feel.

It was interesting to see all this however and I met some very nice locals and we discussed a lot of the issues.  The US have stopped the flow of the Colorado river into the sea of Cortez and this has ensured that the land mass has expanded but its development has not been properly thought out.  Combined with the global economy and the bad press on drug cartels and shootings the tourist industry undustry has been badly affected so the future bleak.

On my return journey the following I saw/suffered the effects of the removal of the scrub protecting the sand as it was warm but windy and the sand was blowing all over the roads and through the resorts, a nightmare to be a housewife I would say?

As I travelled back I took in my surroundings more and was horrified at the rubbish spread over a 100 kilometres of dessert, it is a graveyard for tyres of all sizes and very sad to see what we have done to nature.  I was astounded after passing my second checkpoint to see 2 large trucks, like the fish lorries at home, parked on either side of the road only about 100 metres from the checkpoint and in full view of the soldiers.

I slowed down to see what they were doing and they had the neat bales of cardboard for recycling on board.  I then saw a large crater in the sand 10 metres from the edge of the road and about 20 metre diameter being filled with these bales, I was absolutely horrified and saddened, but what to day?

I enjoyed my return trip more and was able to appreciate the wilderness viewing it in a more positive light and I do believe in towards the mountains there are conserved areas but I was warned to stay on the main road!

So back at the 'ranch' in Ensenada I will continue to live the decadent life for a few more days, won't bore you with the sun, swimming, dining, etc. etc.  Then off to NY and prep for Haiti so until the Big Apple if you're lucky!

Bula! Fiji, Hi! LA and Hola! Mexico

Well I am finally back on blog again having had no proper access to internet on my island in Fiji, now I am sitting watching an incredible sunset on the Pacific coast of Mexico, in Ensenada on the Baha peninsula!  what a view 6 floors up with the waves lapping below, I could be on a cruise ship but it is better.

Fiji was not what I expected, after a delayed departure from Auckland we got in in the early hours of the morning and I was surprised at the poverty of the area I drove through to reach the hotel for a few hours shut eye, maybe the morning would reveal life in a different light.  All my life I thoughy of Fiji as an exotic paradise so therefore after so long I presumed conditions for locals would be good.  On departing the hotel for the marina where I was to catch a boat for a 4and half hour trip north to my island I was shocked at the conditions of transport and housing and environment.  It was reflective of Bangladesh except they have 130,000,000 to Fiji's 800,000!  That was my first shock but then we arrived near the port and had to pass through security gates and drove through this manicured, tree lined, beautiful homes etc and it just did not gel for me.

Now the people are lovely, very helpful and friendly and great fun.  I boarded a large Catamaran on a glorious morning and started my fijian experience.  The journey was glorious warm and exhilirating as we weaved our way north through many islands that rose out of the sea not unlike Arranmore and others that appeared like crowns of green sitting on bands of gold, you can picture the scene.  It was wonderful and augured well for the following 5 days.  On arrival we were greeted by locals singing for us and a refreshing fruit cocktail.  I was escorted to my lodge and thereafter went barefoot as there was sand everywhere even the restaurant floor.  I was in my element and was in the sea in no time and floated happily like a walrus!  It was so warm I was in 7th heaven.  Settled in with books galore, total relaxation.  That was the first and last day of sunshine!  There started for the rest of the week some form of hurricane which kept moving around the islands and except for an odd 5 minutes or so the skies were grey, stormy with lots of torrential rain.  But you know what it was so warm that I continued to swim and sat out in a hammock when it was dry and ran for cover when the rain came, I read, swam, ate and slept so I was well pampered, again.

Most of the people there were young couples and a few single, all very friendly and travelling around the islands so there was a lot of movement everyday.  I met a few young people from Antrim and Armagh and a special hello to AnneMarie and Joe from england and Kim and Mike US/Canada with whiom I shared some fun moments.  Mike was our entertainment during the stormy weather as he Kite surfs and it was so fantastic to watch, I described Donegal Bay to him and he said it would be ideal conditions for it so watch out the 'Eagle' might land one day soon.  It certainly would be a lovely sport to watch.

All good things must come to an end and it was time for my departure.  Until that day I did not know I got sea sick but our exodus from Blue Lagoon was the roughest I have ever had.  Because it was raining we had to go inside but it was terrible and eventually I braved the elements again and arrived into port damp but in one piece.  Bula and Vinaka Fiji

Then it was onto LA for a couple of nights with my nephew Niall, wife Kacia and their beautiful daughter Star, if anyone was named correctly it was her and she is in the right place!  We had a great couple of days and I was given a quick tour and then a couple of drives through Topanga Valley where Niall has lost his heart.  We had some good discussions and I must say that with all the young people I have met on my journey if they were in charge the world might be a better place, they are so passionate, up to date with what is going on, they just need to take the next step because only they can. Thank you LA Carney's for wonderful memories.

Last Monday morning Niall left me at Grand Union Station where I took the Amtrak to San Diego, it was a lovely relaxing train journey along the western seaboard and on arrival at San diego my host was there with camera in hand to record for posterity!  Tom and I crossed the border into Mexico and arrived in Ensenada as the sun was going down and every evening it has been different but beautiful and that is all for now!

Xmas in Queenstown to Milford Sound, New Year, Goodbye to my wee ones, a bientot NZ

Well Xmas dinner was very successful with all my men and a few of us girls and yes they had the place sparkling!  The usual celebrations ensued over the next few days accompanied by inclement weather so a journey planned for the 3 of us had to be revised and only Aisling and I managed to travel to Fiordlamd and Milford Sound, fortunate with the weather due to an avid golfer who is head chef in Gabriel's restaurant the Botswana Butchery, check it out on google!  This was yet another spectacular journey into thousands of acres of protected territory and the respect that we as tourists combined with an innate respect from locals ensured that we never ever saw any destruction to property or any litter anywhere!

Aisling and I returned to Queenstown the day before New Year's Eve and Gabriel and ourselves had our last free night together as he was working all over the New Year so as you can imagine we made the most of it and had a ball.  New Year's day proved challenging for one and all and as I had to start our journey back to Christchurch to bring Aisling to airport next morning and myself the following I was struggling and had to do a few cat naps!  Then I had some of those spectacular scenes now in sundown to engulf me so that rejuvinated me again.  For those of you who have seen Lord of the Rings you can possibly visualise some of the scenes, I actually felt at one stage than instead of witnessing a sunset at Lake Tekapo, we were actually part of it, difficult to explain.

Anyway sadness had happiness leaving my children but at peace in knowing they are both in a good country with good people and where I don't get the feeling that everyone is out for thenselves.

Just when I thought I could not be surprised by anything else I decided after dropping Aisling to airport, saying goodbye to Santa's motorhome Grotto to visit the International Antarctic Centre in Christchurch which is beside the airport.  Even my verbosity could not describe this wonderful place or compliment the person or persons who conceived it in the first place.  Again I encourage you all to google it I am not sure how well you will be allowed to travel around it in cyber space but it is an incredible experience to have had and I spent 3 and half hours there and didn't even have enough time, children of all ages would love to see it.  It is just more of what this country is about and unless they hide their politicians misdeeds very well and any misdemeanours this country just seems to have got it right.  They respect and love their land, especially the southern islamders!!  There is no excessive show of wealth, people appear more equal, they are friendly, they love their country and are proud of it and what it has to offer the world as much if not more than being nationalistic, this might be something we could all take on board.

Departing New Zealand as I will be shortly but to return I hope in the future my impressions and memories of this country are how lucky and privliged I am to have visited, what extrordinary beautiful and majestic scenery it has, how welcoming and warm are the locals and how proud and respectful they are of this wonderful land.  A couple of areas of concern I have is that I felt there was a serious lack of children around, the numbers I could really count on two hands that I saw in local areas, the next thing is their insulation, nothing will convince ne that insulated CI sheeting/tim roofs can counter climatic influences so I think I have sorted out my future ventures!!??

Goodbye New Zealand and thank you for inspiring me and enthusing me with so much and to all of you reading this make a promise to yourselves it is one you will never regret.