Mike's journal

Ambitious, but this year the plan is to:

Twisting my knee last year in Turkey has freaked me out a bit.  To where I want to try getting in my serious travel while still relatively healthy.  Thus, this year's ambitious plan.  I also plan to keep an eye out for that acre with my name on it, somewhere in South America.  But very important, I'll try to lose some weight and get in decent condition before leaving on the trip.
 
 
 

The ship is large (~4600 passenger capacity) but the person who checked me in said there were just ~3900 on this crossing.  The public spaces must be large or peoples' schedules spread out enough, that I never felt like it was overly crowded.  The Cirque du Soleil performance was great - 1½ hours of non-stop high-energy entertainment, in a small venue with the performers right next to the audience.  You could literally reach out and touch them.  The food in the buffet restaurant was surprisingly good and the selection varied from day to day so it didn't get monotonous.  I paid for the unlimited WiFi - pretty expensive but the speed wasn't too bad.  The time advanced an hour every other day or so - very civilized.  The crew was all friendly and helpful.  All-in-all, a good trip.
 
The first (and only) stop on the 12-day passage is Funchal on the island of Madiera.  I took the tour to Eira Do Serrado and Monte.

Continuing to Barcelona, we pass the island of Porto Santo.
On the ship's "Navigation Channel"	Porto Santo off in the distance

Arrived in Barcelona early this morning and checked into a pension (cheap hotel) near the port and a couple blocks from a sushi buffet^*.
 
Leave for Turkey tomorrow.

I arrived in Antalya on the 1st and met up with the rest of the crew - Rick, Ed and Edmund.  The next day, Rick and I went to the museum while Edmund and Ed took the bus to Finike where Panope was berthed.

The harbor in Antalya

An old mosque on the harbor's edge

Aphrodite Perge 2nd Century A.D.

Artemis Perge 2nd Century A.D.

Hecate Valvec 3rd Century A.D.

Dancing Woman Perge 2nd Century A.D.

From the museum in Antalya

This small exhibit

A small exhibit on Early Bronze Age in the museum in Antalya

was interesting because of the bronze work and my working on the design for the bronzes for the Man-O-War Boat Builders Memorial.  There wasn't much information though - just a mention of the Early Bronze Age.  A google search says that the Bronze Age started in Turkey around 3000 BC.
 

The next day, Rick and I bussed to Finike to join Panope with Ed and Edmund aboard.  We spent a couple days there, attending to some details on the boat.   The days are warm with strong sunlight (I manage to get a sunburn).  The nights are quite chilly.  There is still snow on the top of the nearby mountain -->

The marina in Finike

Then we all set out for Kaş aboard Panope.   In Kekova Roads, we passed a castle overlooking Kaleköy ("Castle village" in Turkish).   That night, we anchored in a nice little cove nearby.

Castle at Kaleköy in Kekova Roads

There was a "gulet" anchored at a little island near us.  It had a stern line to the island and sort of looked like it was trying to tow the island.

A gulet anchored next to a little island in Kekova Roads

The next day we continued on to Kaş where we tied up to the municipal quay.   After a couple days in Kaş, we sailed on toward Fethiye.

The harbor in Kaş

After anchoring overnight in a bay nearby, we arrived in Fethiye.   We have dinner in the "fish market".

One of the many "gulets" tied up in Fethiye

From Fethiye, we sailed on to the area around Göcek and anchored for the night in one of the little bays there.

A small fishing boat anchored next to us in the bay

Early in the morning, before sunrise, from the boat

The next day, we motored into Göcek and spent a couple days there.  We use the time to have the capable marine workers there repair the head and windlass.   We make plans to return to Fethiye tomorrow to wait for crew, Len and Elaine.

Panope tied up at Skopea Marina in Göcek

But for tonight, we return to the very pretty anchorages around Göcek, look for a good spot to spend the night and decide to anchor in Cleopatra's Bay.   We launched Panope's dinghy to run a stern line to shore where we tie it off to one of the bollards (posts) that have been placed along the shoreline.  Somebody has placed them there to protect the trees from being damaged.  Our bow anchor is in fairly deep water.  We are a little nervous about the stern of Panope being just a few feet from the rocks of the shore and opt to put out a second anchor - Panope's small "lunch hook" from the stern - from the bow.   That night, Ed prepares yet another delicious meal aboard Panope.  Shrimp Scampi with raki, butter, olive oil and garlic.  With spaghetti.  And a salad of fresh tomatoes with basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Panope's dinghy, ready to retrieve the anchors the next morning Ed preparing Shrimp Scampi for dinner

After a couple days in Fethiye, I departed Panope for Kaş to spend a week or so in a small pension* near the square - 50 TL a night (less than $20), a large, sunny, spotlessly clean room, conveniently located, good WiFi and shower.  I'd like to spend some time working on my "Curator" app.  I'll rejoin Panope in Finike for the crossing to Cyprus with Edmund, Len and Elaine.

I took the 20 minute ferry boat ride from Kaş over to the Greek island of Kastellorizo.  It is much smaller and quieter than Kaş.  I spent the day there and then returned to Kaş.

Kastellorizo waterfront - with Turkey on the left in the background

A Greek naval ship So close to Turkey.. so far from the nearest Greek island (Rhodes)

Photo taken from the restaurant row on the harbor

A local treat

Kastellorizo (click on image to enlarge)

A couple days later I took the bus to Finike to meet up again with Panope with Edmund, Len and Elaine aboard.  We made a quick passage to Cyprus in 20-30 knot winds on a beam reach - 133 NM in about 22 hours which is pretty close to hull speed.  We were met in Panope's homeport by Edmund's wife, Amal.

After settling in at their home, Villa Yasmin, and resting up from the passage, we visited the Archeological Park in Paphos.  Lots of mosaics.

Hunting scene mosaic Late 2nd/early 3rd century A.D.

Narcissus, son of a river-god and a nymph, admiring his reflection in the lake water Late 2nd/early 3rd century A.D.

Detail from "The first bath of Achilles" mosaic - Cupids hunt wild beasts

From "The Four Seasons" mosaic Late 2nd/early 3rd century A.D. The border is kind of cool

Theseus and the Minotaur in the Labyrinth of Crete

"The Rape of Ganymede" Late 2nd/early 3rd century A.D.

(l) Dionysas and Acme, (m) Icarios leading ox-driven cart filled with sacks of wine, (r) two sheperds in a state of inebriation     The notation on the right says "The First Wine Drinkers"

Sylla, the mythical sea-monster who is part-woman, part-fish and part-dog.  She is illustrated holding a ship mast and trident and is surrounded by illustrations of sea life. Late 4th/early 3rd century B.C.

Peacock Late 2nd/early 3rd century B.C.

Another day we visited Aphrodite's Beach and Aphrodite's Sanctuary.

Amal and Len

Clay bathtubs (l) 1400-1200 B.C., (r) 1650-1050 B.C.

Leda and the swan (Zeus in disguise)

After a few days at Villa Yasmin, I bid fairwell to Edmund and Amal and took the bus to Nicosia to spend a week there.

Sunset from Villa Yasmin's patio

In Nicosia, I visited the Cyprus Museum.

Ancient fertility goddess

Limestone statue from Tomassos, 550-530 B.C.

Limestone portrait from Arsos Early 3rd cent. B.C.

Funerary statue from Marion, 4th century B.C.

Aphrodite 1st century B.C.

Cypro-syllabic script 350-300 B.C.

Late Bronze Age (1650-1200 B.C.)

I crossed Nicosia's "Green Line" from The Republic of Cyprus to Northern Cyprus.  There, I took the bus to Kyrenia (Turkish: Girne). I'm staying in the Nostalgia Hotel.  It is well located - a couple short blocks to the harbor, quiet and the room I got (in their Ferman building across the street) is very nice.  The rate was €35 per night with a €10 extra for the better quality room.

Kyrenia harbor, the castle in the background

Kyrenia, 15 June 2015 I took a taxi up to Bellapais to see the abbey and look for the Tree of Idleness (ToI) prominently mentioned in Lawrence Durrell's Bitter Lemons, “but I must warn you, if you intend to try and work, not to sit under the Tree of Idleness.  You have heard of it?  Its shadow incapacitates one for serious work.  By tradition the inhabitants of Bellapaix are regarded as the laziest in the island.  They are all landed men, coffee-drinkers and card-players.  That is why they live to such ages.  Nobody ever seems to die here.  Ask Mr. Honey the grave-digger.  Lack of clients has almost driven him into a decline.…” - Bitter Lemons, ch. 5 I had seen comments on the web saying two Tree of Idleness (on the right) with Bellapais Abbey in the background. The color photo is one I took yesterday - the black & white photo is from the cover of Bitter Lemons. (per) "if you once drank coffee under it you were forever consumed with idleness".  I drank a beer under it so I'll probably be no more lazy than usual. places were laying claim to being the ToI.  I also found a couple of old ToI photos on the web and copied them to my iPad to try to sort it out once I got there: 1. One of the photos is from the cover of the first edition of Bitter Lemons.  That's the one I've overlaid here on the photo I took yesterday. 2. The ToI in the other photo looks to have been located slightly to the left of the one from photo #1.  I wasn't able to locate it yesterday. After touring the abbey, I went to the café (next to the ticket office) mentioned on the web as claiming to be the location of yet another ToI.  I noticed they have a nice old tree there, but they directed me across the street to the other spot.  That other spot is actually called the Tree of Idleness Restaurant.  I compared the old photos with the tree the restaurant claims to be Durrell's Tree of Idleness and it looks like a good match with photo #1 (the one from the jacket of Bitter Lemons).  Case closed, I think.

Bellapaix Abbey

I took a flight from Larnaca, Cyprus to Barcelona where I'll stay a couple days before flying on to Miami and then Ecuador.  I am staying in the expansive old part of town that extends south of Plaça Catalunya to the waterfront and the fancy Port Vell Marina (where I met Panope a couple years ago).  It's a nice area where you can walk a couple blocks in any direction and find a plaza with open-air cafés, a church, some statues, etc.  There are bakeries, restaurants, ice cream parlors, tapa bars scattered everwhere.  Perfect, right?   Today, walking back from an early dinner, somebody tried to pick my pocket!  Mostly by luck, he didn't get away with it.  Here's what happened ... It was a busy street in broad daylight.  The sidewalk was a bit narrow with vehicles parked along one side and small shops on the other.  The culprit came up from behind and held a small card in front of me, trying to get me to take it.  He was very talkative, saying he was from Brazil and trying to engage me in conversation.  I said "No gracias" and tried to back away from him.  Then he tried to get me to "fist bump" him, ostensibly a gesture of friendliness.  I took another step back, repeatedly and politely saying "No gracias".  At that point, I felt my iPad Mini being removed from my cargo pants pocket.  I look down and see he has it in his hand.  He looks at me a little sheepishly I think (maybe embarassed that he'd been caught than any guilt that he'd done it).  He could have very easily run.  I take a step forward and grab it from him.  He turns to walk away.    I shout "ladrón" (thief).  Maybe not a shout - more of a loud voice.  I actually manage to kick him in the butt - not exactly a karate kick, but fairly sound all the same.  I start walking after him, saying "ladrón" more times.  He turns the corner to a smaller side street.  I hear him tell the people standing on the corner that I am "loco".  I follow him for a bit more saying "ladrón" a few more times as he is looking over his shoulder at me.  He turns down onto a smaller street and I decide not to follow.  There's not much I could do if he turns on me with a knife, say.  I return to the corner and ask the people if they know him.  They claim not to and ask what happened.  I tell them that he tried to rob me.  I doubt it will make much difference but at that point I need to do something while my adrenaline subsides.     I think the lesson here is that if anybody approaches you on the street and tries to get too close/too friendly (and in particular, tries to tap you to create the distraction they need), assume they are trying to pick your pocket.  Or an accomplice is trying to lift something from your bag.  Memo to self: Do not try to be polite with these people.  Instead, tell them in no uncertain terms that if they get too close or try to touch me, I will fight back.  Also, start carrying my money belt pouch thingy around my waist - not in one of the velcro-closing pockets of my cargo pants as I have been.

I flew from Barcelona to Cuenca, Ecuador.
 
It has been 6 years since I've been here.  So far, it doesn't look like much has changed - dinner at Raymipampa next to the Cathedral followed by ice cream at the always popular Tutto Freddo next to the restaurant.  For breakfast - a good cup of café con leche and a croissant at Panesa ($1.95 for café con leche, a good ham & cheese croissant and a chocolate chip cookie).  Then a stroll over to the very nice Parque de Calderón to sit on the bench in front of the statue for a while.
 
The temperture is generally in the 50's and 60's - cool enough for a windbreaker at night, good for sleeping.  My hotel room doesn't appear to have either heat or A/C.  Last night, I heard marching band music coming from around the corner.  They love parades here.  All the people have been nice - as I've found in the past.  I don't know why I've been away so long.
 
But I'm sure there is still some petty crime here and I don't have any delusions there.  I do need to be careful like in any big city in the US or elsewhere.
 
Cuenca, 4 July 2015
I have been here nearly a week now.  I have noticed a stronger police presence.  In the parque and also on the streets around the parque.
 
Cuenca, 5 July 2015
Last night, I had dinner with a couple I'd met here 6 years ago - retirees from Vancouver, Canada.  They said when they moved here 7 years ago, there were about 300 expats living here.  Now there are reportedly between 3000 and 5000 (they said depending on which report you read).  They said some of them are angry - possibly because they can't afford to live in their homelands on their retirement income (at least to the level they'd like) and are not having an easy time adjusting to a foreign country (my view: they are fat and spoiled by a too-easy life).  The couple telling me this said some will yell at the locals - demanding that the Ecuadorian speak English.  I have resolved that if I see this, I will remind them that they are visitors here and suggest that they learn some Spanish.  There are lots of Spanish language schools in Cuenca.  I find that if you make an honest effort to speak Spanish, the person you're talking with will almost always make an extra effort to understand you.
 
Today, at the coffee shop where I go each day for a breakfast of café con leche and a piece of tasty carrot cake there were 2 older, apparently American from their accents, couples at a table on the other side of the café.  They didn't appear to know *any* Spanish but were familiar with the city, so I assume were retired and living here.  I was about to translate for them, but they got their Cokes and didn't make a fuss so I just kept quiet.  Jeez.  I feel like I've appointed myself to the be-courteous-in-a-foreign-land-police-force.  Have I come to that? 
 
Gainesville, 6 Sept 2015
It's been quite a while since I've updated my journal.  Let's see.  I made another change in my trip - sort of "it's about the journey, not the destination thing".  My goal this summer was to find a more permanent base - a house or an acre of land of my own.  I got to thinking about what it would take to work on my projects from a base there in Ecuador.  That led to a burst of curiosity over the current state of 3D printers - something I'd been thinking about getting for a while.  The thought of importing the printer plus odds&ends, and then the material periodically made me wonder if Ecuador would be such a good place for establishing a base.  After a month in Cuenca, I ended up returning to the states ("the land of stuff"), looking for a house or condo for a while, and eventually renting an apartment for a year, half a block from the University of Florida campus in Gainesville.
 
A kind of neat thing is that the state of Florida has a deal where Florida residents over 60 can audit classes for free.  I signed up for two: UI design and programming on iOS.  They're both kind of fun to attend.  It feels good to be back in school.  And the nice thing about just auditing the classes is that I have time for my projects:

• The heritage collecting app with Deb of the Wyannie Malone Historical Museum.  I happened to see a sign for a department here to do with oral history. I stopped in and had a nice chat with Deborah of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program.  I hope that we will be able to collaborate with them.
• The MOW Boat Builder's Memorial with Jeremy, Pete and the folks on MOW.
• 3D printing.  I went ahead and bought an Ultimaker 2 Extended.  The prints are coming out better than I expected - with no sign of layering (using the "high quality" settings, albeit taking longer to print).  I've just been printing stuff from Thingiverse, said to contain 500,000 models.  The first thing I plan to model myself is the base for the Boat Builder's Memorial.
• The macro photography/pan-tilt app that I had started with Paul at Cognisys.

Gainesville, 15 Sept 2015
An interesting TED talk: "life is an organic process", (paraphrased) 11:50 into the talk.