And so she became a British citizen!!

The party is on at Buckingham Palace! The reason? A big fat welcome to Dr. Alice - who by the way, happens to be our older daughter, as a citizen to the kingdom! LOL... I know it was not quite like that, but that is how a mother sees it, ha ha ha.

How cool the way life gears the various situations it presents to us..., back in 2002, when it was time for her to choose where to go for college, she didn't choose to go to the UK because of my side of her roots, but eventually ended up enjoying being there and as for my parents, they were excited to see her wondering around the same grounds our ancestors once did. Back a few generations ago, an adventurous member of the House of Windsor went to Brazil, fell in love, had kids, who had more kids eventually getting to myself and a generation later, to Alice, making us cousins of her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth!!

On Wednesday, voila, she became a British citizen!
The gentleman on the left is the mayor of Bristol, the city where she lives and the gentleman on the right is the representative of the Queen.

God bless you Darling, enjoy your bi-nationality and have loads of fun with the new doors that have opened to you!

Time to go back home

So, here we are, ten days later and it's time to go back home. Out time here was absolutely fabulous, full of all sorts of feelings like, cozy revivals, exhaustion, frustration, unexpected business meetings in Lima, loads of learning, beautiful weather, wonderful colonial hotels... all that topped with much fun, satisfaction and of course, excellent Pisco Sours.

I thoroughly enjoyed going back to the hotel Alice and I stayed 15 years ago, seeing some of the restaurants we went to, clicking a couple of pictures right at the same spot we did then. Cusco has grown significantly. The city now has close to 1 million people which is a third of what the whole country of Panama has.... funny how we get used to some things, no? HK, my last place of residence, has its 7.5 million people and I was comfortable then. Now, living in a much smaller Country I quickly got used to less people zanzing around me and now here in Cusco it was a bit of a "wow" seeing so many people zanzing up and down. May be because I have seen it much smaller 15 years ago and because streets are still original, therefore narrow, the 1 million people look like 5 million!

The lack of air, or should I say lack of bigger lungs, was seriously felt by both of us. Drinking water would have been a big help, but the fact that we were always on the move shooting, with trillion equipments on our back and quite a few layers of cloth due to winter temperatures, I decided that searching for bathrooms around town and ruins was not going to happen. Thus low intake of water. For Joel it was even worse, because he had to go to an unexpected meeting in Lima and had to go back in the middle of the week, leaving Machu Picchu behind. Lima is on the sea level, so this back and forth of sea level and high altitude didn't help him at all... ha ha ha that is the price we both oldies,pay, for not being fit.

The whole 10 days were filled with learning after learning of photo taking. Camera settings were checked and changed almost from photo to photo. In spite of early hours shooting, therefore in theory smooth light, shooting picture was hard as high altitude + sun (in this part of the world it hasn’t many obstacles, like buildings) equals to a scenery fully loaded, full of light that majestically light your day. Experiencing it was marvelous and magical, but shooting it was terribly difficult. We even had to send an email to a photographer friend in HK and ask for some advice. Thank you CN.

This part of the world is visited by tourists from absolutely all over. One thing I thought it was interesting was that although all languages are spoken here in all their different accents, tourists spoke to other tourists in Spanish. This comments goes specially to Americans. Is the USA really becoming a bilingual Country?

Defining what and how this awe-inspiring set of 10 days meant to me would be a bit long and philosophical, so I won’t bore you. Revivals, learning, tightening a new friendship, mis-happenings, experiencing the places and all the rest of it was AWESOME! Many thanks with loads of gratitude goes to Paul TCB, our Cusceño friend who put it al together in a very “Kodak Spot” sort of way. He knew where and at what time to be in the right places,

And for last, if you have been in this part of the world or will be sometime in the future, let me know your feelings towards the funny sensation that the tip of the plane wings’ is a bit TOO close to the Andes as you land in Cusco, ok?

Pinch me pinch me...

Hello readers

Pinch me pinch me... I just can not believe it!! Guess where I am writing to you from? Any suggestions? Which continent? Which Country? Which city? Which historical treasure? Doing what? And… reviving which delicious memories?

The answers to the above questions are as follows:
- South America
- Peru
- Cuzco & Macchu Picchu
- Inca Culture
- for a photographic workshop
- a memorable trip with Alice 15 years ago

It all happened so fast, so last minute that I keep pinching myself to make sure it's really happening. By the end of today, I guess I'll all bruised, due to all the many pinching, ha ha ha.

Our Peruvian friend P, who also lives in Panama City, is not only from Peru as well as from Cuzco!! What a CV of life... just imagine... from all the million cities in this world of ours, being from Cuzco is so wow... your whereabouts around the city can't help but be surrounded by a colonial Spanish city settled right on top (literally) of Inca ruins... so involved in mystery... so marvelous!

Anyway, let me not deviate and get back to us here in Cuzco and Macchu Picchu. So, as I was saying, P is from here and is also a photography lover. Putting one and one together what do you get? A photographic workshop here! He invited the two of us, put together an itinerary, organized the train up to Macchu Picchu, suggested a specific hotel chain for us to choose the one we preferred, to which Joel did the cozy job of choosing the most boutique of the chain and voila, here we are.

The workshop will only start on Tuesday, but Joel and I came a bit early for the weekend, because one, Joel has never been here before and two, Cuzco sits nothing less than 3,300 meters (10,800 ft) above sea level... ouch Joel and I are more towards the oldie side of life rather than the younger side of things, therefore lack of air has been abundant.

We already knew this was going to happen, because it happens to everyone who comes from sea level, so they have coca leaf tea everywhere for tourist to drink freely.

Revivals are dangerous, I think. More often than not, we go for revivals, whatever type of revivals it might be and it's only normal that we take expectations with us and most usually, expectations are not fulfilled, right? But this time, this is not happening. It’s all working out just as planned! Oba!

Alice and I were here in Cuzco and Macchu Picchu 15 years ago and that was an absolutely remarkable trip. She was a W O N D E R F U L traveling companion, enjoyed all the ruins, asked her questions, chewed coca leaf with that naughty look as someone who was doing something wrong, how gorgeous, I remember well her eyes kind of asking me if it were ok to chew coca leaf to help with altitude sickness, how cute!

Anyway, Alice was not only all the above as well as a savior. Can you believe that back in 1995, after clicking my second or third photo here, my camera gave up on me and completely stopped working?? That was so not in the script of our trip! Then Alice, who had saved money to buy herself a camera in the US (our next stop), offered to buy it here in Cuzco. Poor thing... Cuzco is internationally well known for many things in life, but surely not as a camera buying paradise. At the time, we didn’t have many options and ended up getting one that worked very well. Those pictures are till this day comfortably sitting in our albums, showing evidences of the great time we had together and the camera sitting in my small camera museum. Thank you Mumu (her nickname)!

Our 1st Panama City anniversary

Boarding the plane in Mexico City was easy... I was so so so light, feeling so well, so peaceful with my soul... what a great week of my life that was. I had a good and comfortable feeling of mission accomplished. There were no regrets, no "ifs" no "I wished it had been different" ... there was nothing like that, just a huge satisfaction of being there and having learned a tiny bit from the historians guides I had hired. A huge "thank you" goes to Joel for not only making this trip possible as well as for understanding my passion, not being an obstacle but rather a bridge for me to achieve it. Another big thank you goes to Alice who not only has managed not to get bored (or at least didn't show me she was bored, ha ha ha) every time I spoke about this dream of mine which was older than her own existence, as well as participating with me on my thrills about this trip. Amen.

On another totally different note, yesterday Joel and I celebrated 1 full year of Panama City, a.k.a. "PTY". I know it's quite a cliché to say things such as "where has the year gone"?" or "time flew by and I didn't see it" or "I didn't see where time went", but that is more or less my feeling right now. May be because it was a year PACKED with many different feelings, emotions, sensations, obstacles, dramas and all the rest of it... wow... so much has happened since we, meaning Joel, Myself and darling Carlota (our dog), 8 suitcases plus a huge dog crate, landed here and now, a year later, life is so settled, we both have a reasonable routine, Carlota unfortunately is no longer with us, my Spanish is not there yet but is getting there, we have a good circle of friends, we have an excellent church, we bought a property... so all in all, in spite of the settling in dramas, life is great and we are not only thankful but also loving being here, amen!

Tha face of full satisfaction 30 years on the make!!

So, what does a face expressing full satisfaction look like? I have no idea to be frank with you! Is it a face that brings an air of exhaustion for the time it took to reach full satisfaction? Is it a face that looks busily excited? Is it a face that looks bored because full satisfaction was achieved therefore the person is now bored? Is it a face that invites you to hear all about it or is it a face that looks tranquil?

Well... in my case I'll stick to the last option, "a face that looks tranquil".

Having just arrived back in the car with the Dutch couple who went in the same tour, all red and sweaty from the sun.

Leaving the site and having to hold down my shirt not to burst in satisfaction.

My stay here has been just spotless. I am enjoying every single second of it all. Exhaustion is the name of the game though. I had forgotten that this freaking city is at 2.200 mts high (7.359 ft high). Being the completely not fit person that I'm, any walk or climbing huge steps takes all my breath away... a bit not impressed with myself, I must say! The weather has been very kind and it rains only when I am already back at the hotel , oba! Diners have all happened as "room service" because I forgot to bring an extra pair of legs for the evening, ha ha ha. As I walked into the Museo de Arqueologia I needed to pinch myself to make sure it was not a fake scene (you know, after 9 years in China the "fake" aspect of things still speaks out loud in my mind) but rather a REAL scene... I was there actually in person, walking into the so awaited Museum. Obviously that as I write this to you, my eyes are wettish... silly me again...

Anyway, today was the day dedicated to the Teotihuacan Pyramids...

... funny how things go in life. I’ve planned and imagined what this day would be like for the last 30 years and then it finally arrived...

Pyramid of the Sun with archeologists at work under the small tend at the bottom

Fellow archeologists working at full power in another spot.

Could this have been me some 20 odd years ago?

... I've dragged loads of photo equipment all the way from Panama, especially for this day. Last night, I didn't sleep 100% because I was so excited about today, so in the morning I grabbed a comfortable pair of pants, a comfortable pair of closed shoes and a shirt. Did not think with both my brain cells and chose a very bright white shirt. Oops, not good for photos in a harsh sunny day, in an open air place. Also, amongst other pieces of photo equipment, I brought my tripod, because using Joel’s huge zoom lenses requires one, only to be kindly told by the guide that tripods are not allowed anywhere in the vicinity of the pyramids... ai ai ai ui ui ui... that was not in the script. Could not use the lenses. Actually I did try it in a couple of photos but had to change it back again, they are very heavy for my emotional free hands, ha ha ha.

I know these guys in the pictures below have a questionable kind of job, they pest tourists to buy their stuff, but I wonder if they ever realize what their "office space" means to us!

But, it was not all bad... visitors who went there today in mid day, were lucky to see the festivities celebrating the end of a 52 year cycle that the Teotihuacan people used to celebrate . For what I understood, it would be like us celebrating the end of a century and the beginning of the next. So, as a consequence of the festivities, there were about 100 or more people dressed as what we think the Teotihuacans dressed themselves.

So, sitting at the top of the Moon Pyramid, we could see the "fake Teotihuacans" walking about which gave me a great sense that Teotihuacan every day life was going on as I watched them... ok ok ok, I know, you probably think that before going into the archeological site I had some shots of pure Tequila, not the "Reposada" one, but the rather strong one, so that all this imagination could surface, right? But no, not really, having these costume dressed people was great for a feel in the air.

Dreams, dreams, dreams... and here I'm in Mexico City!

Back in the 70's when my time to apply for university came up, I only applied for History. I was pretty sure that History was my choice. I wanted to study in depth the Pre Colombian History and although I knew that I was going to have only 1 semester of Pre Colombian history in my curriculum, I was not worried, because I had a plan. The plan was to finish under-grad in Brazil and follow tout suite to Mexico City for a post graduation in Pre Colombian History. Mexico, Guatemala and Peru are Countries where one finds loads about this topic. So Mexico it would be!!

Buuutttt love came into my life and my post grad plans in Mexico City flew off the window and since then, Mexico City has remained on the very top of my DREAMS' list. For two times in the past, I almost came here, but in both times some very last minute problems stopped me from getting into the plane.

God did open several other doors for me which I have thoroughly enjoyed all of them, including new paths in my field, History. Absolutely no regrets at all!

But now that I'm living near Mexico, speaking the language (or should I say, "thinking I speak the language") and making sure to plan and execute the trip in less than three weeks (to avoid any last minute negative surprises), here I am in Mexico City ready to spend hours and hours at the Museo de Antropologia, the Teotihuacan Pyramids and surroundings, the neighboring city of Puebla and then just sip the city, just breath what has been on hold for all these decades...

Dreams... some people say it in a different way, like:
- I really would like to do ABC before I die, or
- I would love to accomplish XYZ before I die, or
- Although I've never done DEF, I have this feeling that I must do it before I die, or
- I have a passion for this and that and I have decided that I want to do it before I go from this earth...

The list with different wordings meaning the same thing goes on forever and dreams come in all sorts of sizes and costs, how great this details is, hey? ... my dream started happening right before my eyes when earlier today, the captain announced we were landing in Mexico City. Needless to say that my eyes were completely soaked in tears and I was not able to see the city properly from above having on purpose chosen a window seat.... silly me!!

Anyway, I call it DREAM and you? How are you managing yours?

True good old friends, the BRETAS in Panama!

Joel and I had the big pleasure of having "The Bretas" over for 3 days visiting us. Those were fun days, with so much laughter, stories up dates, some sacrificial massages of course, tourism and a serious gastronomical galore with very good food and excellent wines... oh man... the three days felt like three weeks or even three months!!

The story behind our friendship is interesting and quite instant. Back in 1996, the girls, Joel and I were invited to a river rapids birthday weekend, up the mountains near Rio. We were all staying at a hotel who organized it all for us. We went and even took the dog we had at the time, a beautiful Old English Sheep Dog, called "Candy". She loved being part of our weekend (or better saying, she behaved as if she loved it), behaving very well and made sure we were all well licked when we got back from the rapids, cute her.

Anyway, the four of us didn't know everybody there and Cecilia, the lady on my right in the picture above, was one of them. At a certain point of the weekend, we were all sitting talking about this and that, when Joel mentioned we were going through the frustrating phase of looking for a house to buy... you know... when you see a house you love, it's location you don't love so much, when you can pay for it, it's ugly, when the location is great, the house is bad and on and on and on the story goes.

Cecilia then said that when she left her house for the weekend, she noticed her neighbor had just put their house in the market for sale and promised she would call us on Sunday night with the details of the person in charge. Being the little terrestrial angel that she is, voila, by Sunday night we had the name and number to call on Monday morning and a few days later, we made an offer, which was accepted and we moved in July 15th!!!

Cecilia introduced us to her great family and trust me, hours and hours of loads of laughter followed there after.

However, the funny side of life showed its face and exactly 13 months later we moved to South Africa and were no longer Cecilia's neighbor, sniff sniff.

In spite of this short lived neighboring, we became very good and very close friends. Cecilia has visited us in all three continents we lived after that and her brother and sister in law (the couple in the picture above) have also visited us in Jo'burg and now here in Panama.

Funny how good friends remain "in sync" no matter their geographical spots. I remember a day last year, during our passage through Angola, when I was really very completely down and the phone rang... Cecilia was on the other side! Just perfect timing!!

So, here it is for true and fun friendship!