Destinations

Amazing what one remembers from a unique experience — did you know that polar bears have very flexible noses so that they can quietly wait for a ringed seal to pop out of a hole in the ice but still smell possible dangers to the left and right of them by angling their nostrils to either side?  Did you know that they have their claws up on the top of their very fully padded feet so that the nails make no noise as they stalk on the ice?   These and many other natural details we learned on an amazing journey to CHURCHILL, MANITOBA  — the Polar Bear Watching Capital of the North.   Churchill, a small town of 850 citizens located on the shores of Hudson Bay hosts a gathering of the polar bears of the region as they wait for the pack ice on the Bay to harden.  They are awaiting a seal meal after almost 4 months of no food intake and can only do this once the ice hardens..  Large males, females with one or two yearling cubs or with their “coy” (cub of year… this year’s issue) as well as  younger females await the ice and regain their energy for the feast time ahead.

Fascinated photographers, amateur naturalists and polar bear enthusiasts come from around the world to Churchill during October/November each year to view the variety of wildlife in this Arctic region.  What can you see??  Arctic fox, red fox, Arctic hare, ptarmigan, sable, gyrfalcon, hardy ravens, and the ever-so-fascinating polar bears.  With -15ºC temperatures (warm compared to later in the winter season) and brisk winds, I had to find my old Antarctica gear in the bottom of drawers and the back of the closet in order to be prepared for time on the taiga and tundra.  I traveled with Frontiers North on the “Enthusiasts Program” which gave me time to experience my first dog sled rides with eager and hardy running dogs of the Wapusk Adventures dog stable.  The town of Churchill has solid citizens proud of their town and clear in their purpose — full of good humor and many, many “just escaped’ polar bear stories … you have to look left, right, in front and behind you when you step out of doors.  Actually, the town has a 24/7 Polar Bear patrol to make sure the bears don’t wander into town.  The nightly 1000pm curfew siren reminds kids that they must be at home and inside for safety.  Those occasional nighttime forays by an errant bear may result in being put in Bear Jail, then tranqilized and finally helicoptered about 50 miles from town to be released on the shores of the Hudson Bay ice flow.

I spent two full days on a famed Tundra Buggy (specially designed hardy vehicles on huge industrial-sized rubber tires with a viewing cabin on top as well as an open deck platform on the back) traveling across the landscape in search of wildlife and bears in particular.  Our naturalist guide and experienced driver helped us spot a variety of bears — sleeping quietly in the low taiga willows, walking behind agéd but very small spruce trees, male bears sparring on the ice testing their strengths with each other in mock fights, and mother bears with twins or small coy cubs ever wary for larger and more aggressive males.  One full day we spent in town visiting the outstanding Eskimo Museum and the Parks Canada Museum and Historical display.  We were able to see an amazing video of the remarkable Northern Lights (we did not see it in real-time as we were close to the full moon).  The real Aurora Borealis will have to await another adventure to the far northern climes.

Finding the short title to tell a marvelous story was the greatest challenge … but let me tell you more in a few paragraphs.

I just returned from a short journey but with an amazing impact ….  Bora Bora.  French Polynesia is reached relatively easily from the West Coast of the U.S.A. using Air Tahiti Nui (best way to reach a destination is to be on board a flight with staff reflecting the culture of your anticipated destination).  Where else would you get flight announcements in Tahitian, French and English enroute???

Once you arrive in Papeete, Tahiti and with a quick switch in the same terminal to the domestic flight section, you only have a short island hop on Air Tahiti and are landing at Bora Bora airport having passed past famed Moorea and over the island of Taha’a (another reef surrounded volcanic island in French Polynesia’s chain of islands).  Reaching Bora Bora you have landed in Paradise.    As we were staying at the Four Seasons Resort Bora Bora, our private welcome with a lei of flowers was a quick precursor of our entire stay.  Only 25 minutes around the lagoon by private welcome boat we landed on our Four Seasons ‘motu’ to be greeted and taken to individual over-water bungalows.

Everywhere we went on the resort, the personnel were there to offer a warm and understated welcome allowing one to quickly feel part of the ‘island family’ and not just a guest of a resort hotel.  This level of service and genuine warmth occurred all the time and everywhere at the resort…  the groundsman the second morning greeted me like an old friend after a quick chat the day I arrived; our amazing restaurant server, Jeanne, discussed with us her preferred top tattoo artist on the island — hers being a dramatic and beautiful example of his work; the spa treatment person whose love of her art showed in the care and quality of her massage treatment.  One felt immediately at home — easily and naturally.  And the resort is concerned about environment and has a full-time marine biologist who leads snorkeling expeditions in the waters of the resort to share and explain the biological realities of his water world.

The island offers so much to do if one wishes — jet skiing on the lagoon, swimming with bat rays and reef sharks, private picnics for honeymooners on a small island, 4 x 4 circle touring of the main island, spa treatments and yoga lessons as well as a special children’s area along with a ‘fun jet of water’ set away from the adult pool area so that kids can play safely and happily.   Dining options abound … on resort as well as on the mainland or even if one wishes at a neighboring ‘motu’ resort.   We sampled creative cocktails at the Sunset Bar, watched a locally based Tahitian-dance troupe with dinner at the open air restaurant, ate some of the best ‘pomme frites’ poolside in a lounging ‘fare’ large enough for about 6 people to share, and to say that the ‘little afternoon snacks’ left in our bungalows were yummy would be a severe understatement.  Delicious!  Each afternoon a little surprise is left in the living room area to tempt and entertain the palate.

This is not just another “island destination” …  this is worth the journey to not only relax, take in the sun of the South Pacific, but to learn about the natural world, the culture and history and the long traditions of welcome.  Perfection is sculpted by the efforts of those who welcome us to share their part of Paradise.

Condors soaring higher as the thermals warm in the early morning air at Colca Canyon; brown, white or multi-colored baby alpacas awaiting their next bottled milk snack on the lawn of Las Casitas de Colca; modern day Peruvian highlanders in international orange jumpsuits and helmets utilizing the ancient Inca rope pull/log roller technique to move heavy road equipment across an arched bridge over a rushing river in Machu Picchu township — all of these are part of the broad Peruvian experience.
 
I just returned a few weeks ago from a remarkable and truly mind-changing visit to Peru.  This modest country in terms of ’self-promotion’ contains the widest possible options for visitors to learn and grow as individuals.  A culture deeply rooted in the land itself expresses its history through the daily living of the people, in the historical remains of many cultures dating back several thousand years, in the constant growth of the Andes by millimeters a year and in the booming economy holding firm even in current times.
 
A few highlights from this recent trip:
 
Sunday service held in the church next to San Francisco Monastery in Lima — Quechua sung by the voices of devout Catholics who stem from the highland people of Peru and still express their long-lived history in the costumes they wear at festive occasions which occur almost every week.  Cathedrals and churches are altar-adorned and made of wood carved from trees imported from Central America — deep mahogany wood twisting in Baroque curves reminiscent of Bernini’s marble columns in St Peters - Rome.  Here in Peru the complex altars are draped in gold not only melted from early Inca gold artifacts looted after the conquest but embellished by silver art created from silver extracted from the mines of this land. 
 
The Cathedral of Lima holds the remains of the Spanish conqueror, Pizzaro.  Huge and richly decorated it shows the enormous wealth of the country and its deeply Catholic heritage brought by the Spanish.   Nearby the Aliaga family whose ancestor traveled with Pizzaro has been living in Peru since the 16th century and now hosts elegant dinners in their private 20-bedroom home located just a few steps from the Plaza.  This building modestly presents itself to the street behind substantial wooden doors.  Dinner is delicious and eaten after canapés and cocktails served in the spacious and historical lounge.  Everything is presented in rooms which have lasted centuries overlooking internal shrub- and tree-planted courtyards.  One feels transported back centuries and gets the feel of “once upon a time.”
 
I was able to see the annual Potato Festival celebrated in the main Plaza des Armes of Lima.  The plaza was filled by bands and dancers from all the regions of the country giving expression to this most essential vegetable sustenance here in Peru.  The Inca even invented a way of freezing and drying potatoes to make them last for several years — dessicated but retaining all the nutrients and vitamins needed for survival. 
 
Nature along the coast has beaches festooned with flocks of pink flamingoes whilst red-headed turkey vultures hunch on the nature park signage in a relaxed pose awaiting their next potential meal.   The dry desert of the Peruvian coast reminds one of the Skeleton Coast of Namibia with dunes, windswept barren rock-strewn surfaces but here in Peru, the Andes sends water down long rivers and streams allowing pencil-thin lines of liquid nourishment to nurture smallholdings of vegetables, wheat and other grains.  The long descent from the mountains ends in outlets to the sea rich in wildlife and feeding occasional flocks of goats tended by peasants living a precarious and transient existence along the coastal road.  Just beyond these islands of plant richness, the dessicated desert takes over again.
 
The mountains are a world unto themselves — high passes at 16,200 feet descend into valleys like Colca with an almost Grand Canyon-like eroded riverine depression splitting the high fields of corn, quinoa and wheat.  Huge and even active volcanoes such as the three famous ones near Aerquipa dominate the area which is full of deep mines and grasslands of the high Alto Plano.   Aerquipa produces fine weavings in the small factories which handle the products of the alpaca, vicunya or other camelids who inhabit those grassy plains.  
 
Machu Picchu is mentioned here not last by intent but because it’s impressive site at 8,000 feet is a fitting summation of all that the history of Peru can present.  Dominated even at this elevation by higher peaks and sited dramatically above a deep lush valley, one can even hike the famed Inca Trail to the Sun Gate where the Inca astromoners could determine by the sun breaking through the 3 openings along this ridge of mountain, the solstices and equinoxes every year.  The Inca Trail was the “information highway” of it’s day connecting Cusco with Machu Picchu.  Along it’s 27 miles of up and down at high elevations, teams of runners going at top pace ran from outpost to outpost using the still undeciphered “quipus” (threaded counters knotted in a yet unknown language telling of crop quantities, of citizen censuses, of armed and administered parts of the empire … all needed to run the Inca government during its time in ascendency) as informational sources for their rulers.
 
There is so so much more but this short set of paragraphs should give a sense of this remarkable country and lead you to want to learn more and to visit there as well.