Settling in…Settling down…Planning safari…

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The flowers in our yard are bountiful. Bougainvilleas are popular in Kenya.
Hesborn, locally referred to as a “house boy.”  In an attempt to be pc, we’d prefer to refer to this kindly gentleman as our “houseman” or “house-person.”

One of the main reasons we decided to come to Kenya was the opportunity to see The Great Migration of over 1.5 million wildebeest crossing the river to the plains. We’d seen this on a news program a few years ago and we took out the “bucket” tossing it in.

With literally hundreds of options to see this momentous event requires careful planning and a willingness to pay for a quality experience. We budgeted well for this. We’ll share the details once we book them.  Our hope is to go on both a local safari, a few hour drive from here and go to the point where the wildebeest will be at the time we arrive. Today, now settled in, we can begin the hunt.

Another view of the spiral staircase from the second level, which we’ll seldom use.

Please keep in mind this is a photo taking, not hunting expedition. The animals in the parks are protected against “poaching” and consequences are severe. There are parks for hunting and killing animals that hold no interest for either of us. We love “life,” both human and animal, and take enormous pleasure in seeing any wildlife in their natural habitat, as opposed to zoos.

A common flower, the hibiscus, always appealed to me often growing them in Minnesota’s warm summers.  Plentiful in Hawaii, they grow like weeds, where we’ll be in 13-15 months, depending on future cruises we’re yet to book.

Of course, we have a lot to learn as the tedious process of discovery begins with the same care and diligence we exercised in researching our worldwide travels. Even so, we’ve often found that we have much to learn as we enter a new country to live among their people, their culture, as is the case here in Kenya.

We’re settling in.

These may be African roses.  The smell, amazing.

The bugs and mosquitoes; wear repellent and Africa pants at night. The heat; no problem. The dust and sand on our feet; wear shoes. The lack of TV;  play Gin, talk, read, watch movies on my laptop. Security; feel safe.  Malaria pills; no side effects. The language; English. The sights and sounds; breathtaking.

Tom surprises me. He’s a person entrenched in familiar creature comforts. Witnessing him adapt to the unfamiliar and at times difficult surroundings we’ve experienced in our travels is both refreshing and fulfilling.Staying positive and optimistic as a couple is highly instrumental in our adjusting to a new environment. In this, we excel, always have, more now than ever.

Growing up in California, I recall these flowers but not the name. 

On Tuesday, upon arriving in Diani Beach, we were exhausted from 22 hours of traveling.  Hans had left us enough bottled water to last a day but we had no food except a one pound bag of coffee.  Without cream, neither of us would bother to make coffee. Hans kindly offered to pick us up at the grocery store, arranging a cab to take us. The original plan was to take us both ways but something came up and he offered to pay the cab fare. Of course, we insisted on reimbursing him. 

We had no Kenya Shillings, US $1 equals Kenya Shillings $87.38, we were unprepared to pay cab fare until we went to bank or cash machine. We’ve found that cabs worldwide, thus far, do not accept credit cards as they do in the US.

Lush greenery surrounds us. 

The cab ride to the grocery store was an approximate 12 minute drive. Hans had told us the fare should be negotiated to KES 1200 (Kenya Shillings henceforth), US $13.73 round trip. As it turned out, we’d bought so many groceries that wouldn’t fit in Hans’ small car but he hung around while we shopped to ensure all went well. Good thing, he did!

Hans had to vouch for us when the grocery store cashier refused to accept a credit card without a passport, which we’d failed to bring. Knowing from past experience we weren’t surprised we forgot to bring our passports in our tired state. 

Hans explained to the cashier that he knew us and not to worry. The cashier then accepted Tom’s Nevada driver’s license in place of the passport.  While I shopped, Tom hung out with Hans and a friend in an outdoor bar connected to the grocery store. Thank goodness they were entertained. It took me almost two hours to shop in my frazzled state of mind.

Care must be taken to avoid being hit in the head with falling coconuts from the many trees in the yard.

The shopping? Interesting. Different than Italy and very different from the US. There was no charge for a grocery cart or the cardboard boxes they used to pack our stuff. A VAT tax of 16% was charged on the groceries, except on rice, flour, corn and a few necessities, none of which we purchased. The staff in the store was helpful and friendly as I wandered around aimlessly trying to find items we use. 

Our total bill including the VAT tax was KES $28,835, US $330, which we typically spend the first time we’ve shopped at each new location due to the necessity of purchasing paper products, soaps, repellent for the area, etc. With everything marked in KES, knowing Hans and Tom were waiting for me, I couldn’t price shop. I purchased everything on my list that appeared to be the best quality.

The deli and meat department had the most aggressive yet delightful “salespeople” I’ve met in any grocery store. They freely pushed their products. Hungry from having eaten poorly in the previous 24 hours, I readily fell prey to their sales pitch. Only a few items prompted me to calculate the cost using the currency app on my smartphone. 

One great buy was a three meal for two portion of Fillet Mignon which the butcher carefully trimmed to ensure all fat and tendons were removed, ending up at US $4.50 per serving. Tonight, we’ll make bacon (the bacon here was OK, not great) wrapped Fillet Mignon’s with sautéed mushrooms and onions, side salad and fresh sugar snap peas. 

The produce department was lacking in variety and quality with no green beans (fresh, frozen or canned), and many other familiar fresh items.  Much of the produce looked old and wilted.  Needing some items for our meals, I selected the best I could find. Later, Hans suggested a nearby vegetable stand where we’ll shop in the future.

The remainder of the store? Touch and go. The store was larger than any in Belize, smaller than in Italy with many items we frequently use unavailable. Much to my delight I found unsweetened coconut milk and coconut flour.  

Searching for coconut oil for my teeth cleaning and cooking, they offered me a bottle to which I jumped for joy. 

Tom will move the lawn chairs to a coconut tree free zone and into the sun.Today, we look forward to recovering a little color by spending our typical one hour of sunning and funning. The beach, not as close as we’d hoped, has warnings about peddlers, vendors and possible rough characters, leaving little interest for us at this point.

Returning home, I swished the oil around my teeth for 10 minutes, experiencing a burning sensation that prompted me to spit it out, brushing my teeth over and over with toothpaste and baking soda in an effort to get the awful taste out of my mouth.  Reading the bottle after the bad experience, I noticed the words in tiny print “not fit for human consumption.” 

Oh, good grief. Did I poison myself? It took several hours of repeating brushing and rinsing with purified water to remove to awful taste.  Apparently, this particular coconut oil was intended as a body oil. Into the garbage it went!  In my exhausted state and wearing my blurry contact lenses nonstop for 36 hours, I failed to see the tiny print on the label. I’d never seen inedible coconut oil. Usually, one uses the edible type as a body oil if they so choose.

The gate looking out to the yard from our outdoor living room.

Overall, the prices weren’t outrageous, as I perused the receipt the following day. Without a doubt, we’ll manage to be able to cook healthful and tasty meals while we’re in Kenya especially with freshly picked produce from the farmer’s market.

After grocery shopping, our new cab driver, Alfred, drove us across the street to a bank’s cash machine where we received enough KES to last us a for awhile, getting more cash as needed when we shop. 

We’ve decided to shop once a week negotiating with Alfred for a fee of KES $1000, US $11.44 plus tip for the weekly round trip on Tuesday mornings at 10:00 am.

Using the cab for shopping, banking and dining out should be no more than US $30 to US $45 a week, certainly less than the over US $800 a month we paid for a rental car in Italy. Plus, after reading several warnings by the US Department of State that recommended cabs over rental cars with the high risk of carjacking in many areas.  With the reasonable cab fares, we are satisfied with this option.

The locked garage and entranceway to the property.  At night, the guard Jeremiah, walks this area and the perimeter of the property of both ours and Hans’ house.

With little storage space in the kitchen and the necessity of no nonperishable items on the counter (monkey risk), putting everything away was a challenge. The galley kitchen requires that the kitchen door be shut in order to get into the undersized refrigerator.Tom offered to help but I threw him out, shut the door and got it done in no time.

Hesborn washed all the floors yesterday but our feet are still getting black. It may take several washings to get the soot-like dust off the floors.  He explained that recently the wrought iron gates surrounding the house had been sanded, resulting in the black soot. It was a relief to know that its not a permanent situation.

Once we find safaris that appeal to us, we’ll share the links and information. The search is almost as much fun for us as the experience.

Be back tomorrow with fun photos we took yesterday!

Adaptation in Kenya…A required must…We’re learning…

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Partial view of the yard from the second level.
Different view of the veranda than yesterday’s posting.  With a huge room upstairs without frniture and no living room on the main floor, we’ll have no choice but to spend most of our idle time outside both day and evening.   Finally, it was appropriate for me to wear my Africa pants last night, just spraying my arms and feet.  Gee…those pants work well!  Wish I’d known about BugsAway clothing while living in Minnesota. The bugs are bad.

If we thought for a moment that life in Africa would be comparable to life in other countries we’ve visited since leaving the US last January, we’d have been fooling ourselves. As we’d mentioned in a past post, we came here with no delusions. We’re working hard to adapt.

The sink in the galley style kitchen.  I should move Tom’s bottle of Courvoisier out of the window so the monkeys don’t knock it over when he comes to visit.

Our house in the resort community of Diani Beach, although vastly more convenient and comfortable than many other areas of Kenya, has limitations and peculiarities for which we must adapt or we’ll be miserable.

This stove and refrigerator are much smaller than they appear in the photo.  Here, we’ll grocery shop once a week with the reasonable price of cab fare.

In itself, there nothing wrong with the house or the grounds, which are maintained constantly and thoughtfully by various staff members on the premises 24 hours a day, provided us with considerable peace of mind.

The master bedroom.  The mosquito netting is very secure around the beds leaving little opportunity for any flying insects. Bugs that walk may find their way to the bed from below. Let’s hope not!  The bed was comfortable and we slept well last night.
The guest bedroom with two beds and two separate mosquito nets.

The gate entrance to the small collection of homes is guarded both during the day and at night. Plus from dusk to dawn, we have a guard, Jeremiah, who canvasses the grounds between our house and the owner’s house next door. Last night, our first night of sleeping, we heard the comforting sounds of quiet conversation among the guards, lulling me back to sleep.

Partial view from the upper level veranda.

After Hans, the owner, warned us about possible scorpions in the house, which he sees from time to time and may be deadly, we’ve become careful of watching where we walk wearing shoes in the house except when in bed.

This spiral staircase to the second level is very steep with the steps far apart. There’s no reason to go upstairs when there’s no furniture except on a second veranda. 

There’s a red button above the bed that goes directly to a manned security company that we’ve been instructed to use in case of any emergency:  intruder, health, animals. With guards on the premises, they’d have called for backup had there been intruders. But we’d also push the button.

The vanity area of the single bathroom in the house.

The bugs: Surprisingly so far we’ve seen no flies or bees. Yeah to that! The mosquitoes are rampant day and night.  Strange crawling things are everywhere, mostly spiders (some dangerous), many lizards of varying sizes, numerous centipedes, some small, some huge. Most aren’t dangerous and don’t bite. Many are dangerous, so we’ve heard.

Yesterday, when visiting next door without my camera, my hand brushed a giant insect appearing to be a wide Praying Mantis. It didn’t move when I touched it. I didn’t scream.

The interior of the shower.  It works better than the shower in Tuscany which had poor water flow.  We flip a switch in the entryway for hot water.  Fifteen minutes later the water is hot.  We’ve were instructed to turn off the switch as soon as we’re done showering.

The monkeys: There’s a local baboon that hangs around this property that is known to get into the kitchen via an access through the thatched roof, making itself at home munching on non-perishable foods sitting out. Hesborn, our houseman, suggested we keep the kitchen door closed at all times, since that’s the first place he’ll go. He said to expect to see him inside at some point during our stay. OK.

The coconut trees: We’ve been instructed not to stand or sit in the lawn chairs directly below the coconut trees due to a high risks of being hit by a falling coconut. Makes sense to us. We’ll find other spots to lounge to recover our now lost tans. (The horrible amount of bees on the patio in Tuscany kept us away from lounging in the chairs after trying for the first few weeks). Hesborn  will crack open the coconuts using the machete upon our request. Natural coconut is allowed on my strict diet.

The weather: Right now, it’s spring here, close to the equator. Summer begins on December 21st when we’ll be in South Africa (we arrive on December 1st depending on our soon-to-be booked flight). Its warm, mostly in the 80’s but is seldom above 90 this time of year. Without air conditioning and an overhead fan in the bedroom, the bed covered in only a sheet, we’re fine both during the day and at night, so far but it will get hotter as each day passes..

The floors: All the floors in the house are stone, including the bathroom and kitchen. With the sand blowing from the ocean at about 300 feet away and the residue from various trees and plants, the bottoms of our feet were black last night. Before going to bed, we washed them once again then scooting our feet on a towel toward the bed.  This morning, I asked Hesborn to wash the stone every few days. Going forward, we’ll be wearing shoes until crawling into bed.

The Internet: Having asked Hans long before booking our stay in the house as to the WiFi situation, he assured me that he’d provide Internet access at no charge. Little did he know (and we have no animosity about this) how much usage we actually incur on a daily basis. 

Plus, the MiFi from XCOM Global hadn’t worked since we arrived in Boveglio, due the proximity of the mountains surrounding the house.  With the help of tech support via email, we never were able to connect in Italy even after we arrived in Venice on September 1st.

Partial view of the ceiling in the second story.

Last night, Hans informed us that he’ll provide us with a SIM card to use to “by the kilobyte.” With our usage, this would end up at twice the cost of the use of our MiFi at $395 a month, a figure we’d incorporated into our budget. 

Unfortunately, the use of XCOM Global‘s MiFi prevents us from downloading videos and perhaps, Tom ability to watch the NFL’s weekly videos of the Minnesota Vikings game for which he recently paid $167 for the season. 

Today, after utilizing downloaded software XCOM Global had sent us in June, miraculously, I got it going, much to our surprise. During the night last night, I found myself waking from time to time worrying about how we’d have Internet access.

Now, we wait to hear back from XCOM Global as to our ability to Skype with video, continue to download TV shows along with Tom’s ability to watch the Vikings. With literally no TV on the premises, we’re dependent upon watching downloaded shows on our computer in the evenings. 

If the event that XCOM Global‘s responses to our inquiries affects our ability to download TV shows and movies, (including Tom’s Vikings games), we’ll have no alternative but to use Internet SIM cards for those purposes only. No doubt doing so will quickly burn GBs requiring us to  pay accordingly. We do accept the possibility.

The upstairs veranda is much smaller than the main floor but a lovely breezy spot where we’ll very little time due to the steep spiral staircase.

The water: The water is not potable, although Hans explains that he drinks it. After living here 20 years, most likely he’s developed an immunity to the various parasites in the water. With no reverse osmosis or purification system in place, we’ll use bottled water including when brushing our teeth and for drinking. This morning we made coffee using the huge jugs of purified water we’d purchased yesterday at the grocery store.

The trip to the grocery store will be told in tomorrow’s post. The grocery stores are very different from the US and even Italy. To our delight, we did find a few ingredients we’d been searching for the past seven months. 

There’s much more to follow, many more stories to tell and photos to share. Soon, we’ll book our safari and look forward to sharing the experience and photos with you.

How are we doing with all of these adaptations required of us thus far? For Tom, who normally takes a little while to adapt, says “So far, so good.” 

Window in the second level.

For me, I’m fine, not worrying, especially now that we’ve safely arrived, that the MiFi is working, enabling us to reach family and friends and to write and post photos for our readers. (No video, though. Besides, I wasn’t good at making videos anyway. I won’t miss that). 

The bugs that don’t bite don’t concern me a bit.  Those, that do bite? Screaming may occur.  I’d better learn my bugs so I’ll know when to scream.  The monkey, we’ll keep you informed if it comes inside the house.

With these two beds on the second floor is the only furniture upstairs other than on the veranda. With this space, the house has room for a total of six guests with a possible two more sleeping on the sofas on the 2 verandas.  This is the railing at the top of the spiral staircase. 

Remember the movie, “Out of Africa” and the living conditions?  Its not unlike that living here, simple;  water we can’t drink, bugs everywhere, creatures around us, sounds new to our ears, limited hot water, dirt and dust everywhere and on and on. 

Partial view of the yard from another second story window.

In the near future, as we learn more, we’ll share the joys we’ll discover in Kenya which we anticipate without a doubt, will be many. Please stop back tomorrow for more house photos.

Dreams of Africa…Now a reality…22 hours later…

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This is the view I’m facing as I’m sitting on the veranda writing now.  More house  photos will follow tomorrow after we get all of our un packing done and out of the way.
 It’s hard for us to believe we’re finally in Diani Beach, Kenya for the next three months, the longest of any of our stays thus far in our worldwide travels. Planning this leg of our journey over 18 months ago, it’s surprising we’re finally here.
Sorry this is blurry but there was a sign posted saying “no photos from the ramp” of the ferry boat necessary to get from Mombasa to Diana Beach.  The number of people on this ferry was astounding. Quickly, I took a shot with no time to focus. The government doesn’t charge people for using the ferry boats, only for cars.

After only a few hours of uncomfortable sleep on the plane, I should be napping with Tom right now, who never dozed off once during the many hours in the air. Soon, I’ll awaken him to take his shower so we can go grocery shopping in our new village.  Hans, the next door neighbor and owner of our house, kindly offered to take us grocery shopping in a few hours. 

With no decent food (or within my guidelines) during our 3 flights, we’re looking forward to a homemade dinner tonight. Turkish Air, although a very safe feeling airline with newer aircraft, free food and drinks with exemplary customer service was lacking in the food department.  I’d carefully requested my special meals only the have them bring me all the wrong items.  Hopefully tonight, I can drag myself into the small galley kitchen to tackle some chopping and dicing.

Animals are seen walking along the busy roads, much to our delight. Taking photos while moving fast through crazy traffic this morning, made photo taking a challenge.  I did the best I could as our shuttle driver, Peter, who’d waited for us at the airport for almost 3 hours in the middle of the night, made his way through morning rush hour traffic.

Although from Germany, Hans speaks fluent English. How odd that we can finally speak to someone other than each other who knows what we’re saying!

Tomorrow, I’ll write more about the house itself and our immediate surroundings adding a number of photos. For now, all I will say is that I’ve never heard so many sounds of different varieties of birds singing at once. Will that be a treat to wake up to tomorrow morning after a good night’s sleep! 

Locals walking along the unpaved roads to get to work.  This photo was between 6:00 and 7:00 am this morning, as were the other street photos.

Flying long distances simply isn’t fun, although we tried to make it fun. With a four hour layover in the packed Istanbul airport that eventually turned into seven hours with delays occurring on the upcoming 6 1/2 hour flight, our 3:15 am arrival, turned into 6:00 am. I must say, we never were grumpy and we never complained. That, in itself makes the experience tolerable.

Many locals rode motorcycles and bike, weaving between the fast moving cars and trucks on the two lane narrow road.  Animals are everywhere.

Going through security three times was seamless this time around. A security officer in Istanbul questioned my carry on bag of our one year of prescriptions but let us go through when I pulled out the prescriptions. She never looked further into the bag. 

This type of little shacks, some homes, some shops, lined the highway before we reached the Diani Beach area where suddenly the landscaped changed into row after row of oceanfront resorts, high end homes and condos.

Not surprisingly, even after all we gave away, one again we had to pay a hefty sum for our overweight luggage, not a result of too many bags but due to the weight of the bags. 

Goats, a common source of food among the locals, littered the highway as we zoomed by.

In Venice, before boarding the plane, Istanbul Airlines charged us Euros $1000, US $1324 (after negotiating) after they required that I dump 3 kg (over 6 pounds) of stuff from my bag. I had packed all of those vitamin bottles we’d hauled in a separate duffel bag many months ago into my solitary clothing bag. Of course, I’d be overweight.  We’re contemplating a future course of action, which will be easier to think about after we’re rested.

Hesborn, our delightful houseman, has been running around the house, ensuring everything is in order to our liking. Each day, he’ll go back and forth between ours and the owner’s house tending to all household tasks. He’ll do all of our laundry, make the bed and do all the housecleaning.  Wow! That sure will spoil me!

So, folks, off we go to buy groceries and to create a semblance of order in our new home. Its a totally different life from that which we’ve known so far in our travels and we look forward to embracing it’s differences, its culture and it people.

Back tomorrow with more photos.

Arrived in Venice…Flying away tomorrow morning…

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Last night, our last night in Boveglio, there was a wedding in the centuries-old church across the road. The smoke is a result of a short fireworks display set off to celebrate the newlywed couple.

The four-hour drive to Venice was relatively uneventful although the traffic on the toll road was intense at times, moving fast with crazy driving typical for Italy weaving in and out of lanes with little regard for safety.

The dissipating smoke from the fireworks set off for a wedding.  Both set of bells in the bell tower rang simultaneously.  Tom timed the bell ringing at 20 minutes!  We giggled when saying that the bells were ringing as a goodbye to us!

Tom is a good driver, but his level of patience in traffic is lacking. From time to time, it was a nail biter. In charge of navigation, my task, in itself was daunting.

As we drove away from Boveglio.

With a serious lack of road signs, driving long distances in Italy is a challenge. During several stretches, we’d driven for miles unsure if we were on the correct road. How we managed to get here without ever taking a wrong turn baffles me. 

Our final view of Boveglio from the winding road in the mountains of Tuscany.

Although we have no phone service on our smartphones, we can access navigation.  However, in the mountainous and hilly roads, the signal would occasionally be lost, requiring a little monkeying around to keep the directions readily available.

Yesterday, we printed a map with line by line directions which were different from the navigation we pulled up on the phone. There are only so many ways to get from Boveglio to Venice. 

It was a busy morning on the road down the mountain, making each hairpin turn challenging.

Once we checked into our hotel, our luggage in our room, Tom took off to return the rental car, the sold rental car. Much to my delight, he returned in only 15 minutes, the task accomplished. Whew! Based on the two hours it took to pick up the car on June 16th when we arrived at the same Marco Polo Airport in Venice, we anticipated an equally long return. 

The hotel shuttle picked him up at the car rental drop off area, returning him to the hotel. Oddly, they didn’t ask Tom to pay when he dropped off the car. We owed a balance of approximately Euro $1300 which most likely will appear on our credit card in a few days. 

While I was busy navigating our road trip, Tom counted tunnels we entered for a grand total of 25.

Packing and moving out of the Boveglio house was not without challenges. Now down to only one large suitcase, one smaller wheelie each, plus one shared duffel bag and, one computer bag each, our load is considerably less heavy. The packing of these bags requires an enormous amount of planning with the contents consisting of everything we own.

Yesterday, we accomplished most of the packing, but saved the final “sucking” of the Space Bags until this morning. With numerous items drying on the clothes rack during the day along with the clothing we wore yesterday, we thought it would be no big deal to seal everything up this morning. 

Many tunnels were short, but a few may have been almost a mile long.

We won’t do that again. As it turned out, I made a dumb error placing several of my belts in one of the plastic bags. Once the bag was sucked, one of the belt’s sharp clasps tore a hole into the carefully packed bag, leaving us short one bag for my clothing.  

This required me to remove all of my clothes from 4 already sealed bags to rearrange everything, repacking it to fit into 3 bags.  Needless to say, I had to say goodbye to my tennis shoes, a swimsuit, a pair of white pants, and a few more shirts, all left for Lisa or whoever she may donate it to.  Tom also, had to repack his bags now that we had less luggage, leaving several items behind.

Goodbye to the lush hillside of Italy.  We’ve certainly enjoyed the views.

With the 220-wiring in Europe, the little Shark portable vacuum can only suck one bag in a 30=minute period before becoming overheated. In Dubai, we’d thought we’d burned out the vacuum’s motor to later discover that once it cools. it works again, provided an ample resting period exists between uses. Without that vacuum, we’d literally have to get rid of another 35% of our clothing.

The bright end to one of the 25 tunnels we navigated today on our road trip to Venice.

This morning our plan was to leave by 9:00 am. We didn’t walk out the door until 10:45 am.  We arrived in Venice with time to spare with another travel lesson learned: pack and close all bags the day prior to leaving, using the duffel bag for overflow. 

Another important task we decided to take on when we rented our first vacation home in Scottsdale. Arizona last November, is to leave the property in the same condition as when it was presented to us. With the spaciousness of the Boveglio house and the multiple rooms, we’d used to store “our stuff,” leaving it as it was when we arrived required more work than we’d anticipated.

The fast-moving highways without shoulders prevent good photo-taking opportunities. 

Although Santina cleaned the house on Friday morning, we had our share of work to be completed in the last 24 hours: wash all the kitchen and bath towels, tablecloth, and linen napkins. Return furnishings we’d moved to accommodate our needs.  Defrost the freezer and clean the refrigerator, throwing out any leftover food into the organic bins, washing out plastic and glass containers for recycling.  Clean the stove, sweep the floors, clean the bathrooms, and on and on. 

By the time we left this morning, we were confident that we’d left the house in excellent condition. With more time, we’d have washed and dried the sheets. The necessity of outdoor drying made it impossible, although we did remove the bedding, leaving it in a laundry basket with the few towels we’d used to shower this morning.

Certainly, we aren’t this tidy when staying in a hotel.  Living in a rented home, especially when we’ve been charged fair rates, leaves us feeling compelled to return it to its original state.

As we drove away from Boveglio, we saw Luca and his daughter on the road. With their several rental houses in Boveglio, they spend considerable time maintaining the homes and the grounds on the weekends. Once again, we expressed our heartfelt gratitude for the 2 1/2 month stay in their 300-year-old stone house, as we’d done yesterday when they stopped to say goodbye with multiple rounds of double cheek kissing.

Tonight, the hotel shuttle will take us out to a local restaurant for dinner, returning us when we’re done, which we’re both anticipating with enthusiasm. Once we were moving along the road at a good pace, neither of us wanted to stop to eat. With nary a morsel all day, I could eat my shoe if it was covered with a few slices of melted Italian cheese.

Tomorrow morning, off we go on our 15 plus hours,  three flights, two layover jaunt ending in the middle of the night. Most likely we’ll be exhausted, requiring a full night’s sleep to recover. Neither of us does well staying up all night as when we were younger.  

Stay tuned, folks.  We’ll be back by on Tuesday with photos and stories of our ongoing travels.  Thanks for sharing the journey with us!

Less than 2 days and counting…A little fear…A lot of excitement…

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Everything I own, except six pairs of shoes in a smaller bag, to be sucked into the Space bags.
A pile of clothes I’m offering to Lisa, owner of the house.  If they don’t fit or she doesn’t want them, perhaps she’ll give them to someone else.  It no longer bothers me to get rid of my stuff.  Bye, stuff!

A flutter of excitement began to waft over me this morning, as I ran from room to room, gathering, sorting, and planning. We’re on the move. In less than two days we’ll be out the door on three travel days to Africa, in itself a daunting task.

As a young girl I dreamed of Africa and now as a grown woman in my “golden years” I finally have the opportunity to fulfill that dream. Yes, it is wrought with some degree of fear. It’s all a part of the excitement.

Without a doubt, the flies will be chasing me longing for a morsel of my flesh, the mosquitos will be dining on our blood and, a wide array of dangerous and not-so-dangerous insects at times will run past our feet or across the bed at night. I read somewhere to pull down the sheets at night to inspect the bottom sheet for crawling things before climbing into bed. I’ve done that every night here in Tuscany.

The heat will be unbearable (we’ll be in Africa during their spring and summer), especially with no air conditioning, the dripping humidity, and rampant storms at times unpredictable.

We have no delusions. We go with our eyes wide open. In reality, living in the bug-infested, hot, humid mountains of Tuscany without air conditioning, without screens, and without overhead fans in the midst of summer was good practice. Adapting with modifications. Coins hanging in plastic bags over doorways. A floor fan. Keeping doors closed when a flying thing is buzzing inside. We figured it out.

For now, our thoughts center around safely arriving at our new home in Diani Beach, Kenya, where the hardships may or may not be considerably less than when three months later we head to Marloth Park, Kruger Park, South Africa, far from civilization, among the wildlife we so much anticipate.

We’re no worse for the wear. In our old lives, we turned on the AC in late May, never turning it off until September.  We rationalized it as hay fever prevention, mosquito reduction, and better for health, to be comfortable, to be cool.   

Little did we realize how willing, we both were for a change! Sure, we whined, mostly here to our readers, but less to one another, determined to maintain an air of acceptance and contentment between us. It’s worked.

In only a few days, we’ll have a four-hour layover between flights in Istanbul, Turkey, next door to Syria. Watching the news by the hour, we’re hopeful, if there is US involvement, it will wait until we safely reach our new home in Kenya. 

A few days ago, when Tom mentioned that our flight path from Istanbul will be in the flight path of military planes and missiles, making their way to intervene, I immediately brought up Google Maps to see the proximity to Istanbul, cringing at the result.

It was only three months ago that we were concerned about going out and about in Istanbul, ending up safely taking an excursion to Ephesus to see the ruins.  And now, once again we feel a bit of angst heading onto a four-hour layover and subsequent six-hour flight that passes through Turkey, so close to the war zone.

Trying to put such thoughts out of our minds is not possible. It helps to keep us on our toes, staying observant for possible risks, holding close our belongings, hanging close together, checking most of our bags. Once we’re settled, we’ll be at ease.

The packing continues, bit by bit.  My piles of clothing are neatly arranged, the vitamins packed out of sight, and nothing that would raise inquiry is in our carry on bags. Tom will pack today. Learning lessons from past experiences, we travel lighter, with no items drawing any attention to us in any way.  How we’ve learned! 

Thanks to Lisa and Luca, a very special couple, who’ve worked so hard to ensure our stay in their 300-year-old stone house a memorable experience who both focused on making our comfort and convenience their utmost concern.

Sunday morning, September 1st,  we’ll leave early for the half-day drive to Venice.  Once we arrive, we’ll post our arrival and any photos we’ve managed to take along the way. 

Monday morning, September 2nd, we’ll board the plane for the first of three flights to Kenya, arriving at 3:00 am on Tuesday. You won’t hear from us again, other than Sunday from Venice, until after we’re settled at our new home, late in the day on Tuesday. Most likely we’ll try to sleep for a few hours upon arrival. 

The time difference from Kenya to Minnesota, USA is eight hours, to Los Angeles, ten hours, to Boston, seven hours. 

Thus, we’ll be back on Sunday, in your inbox, or available by our link before midday.  See you then!

P.S.  Tom watched the Viking game this morning at 7:00 am. Now, the commercials are back in with the black screen during the time slot. The last box of the prescriptions did not arrive and we’ll notify the online pharmacy later today. We were able to keep the rental car for the duration. Santina is here as I write this, for the last time. It will be sad to say goodbye to this lovely woman. We agreed upon a generous, well-deserved tip.  Grazie, Santina!

Pizza and nuts…Lots of nuts…

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With enough ingredients remaining in our food supply before we leave Italy on Sunday, it was time once again to make pizza, one large pizza for each of us hopefully lasting a few days. 

It may seem that we have pizza quite often, when actually we make it once every three weeks or so, probably not more often than those that have a menu consisting partly of carry-out meals.

For us, it’s always a treat. Tom now confesses that our cheese crust pizza tastes better than any pizza he’s had in any restaurant, including a few here in Italy. 

Often, we’ve received email requests for our recipes, but with the fact that everyone has preferences for their own toppings, we emphasize that our pizzas are made of a gluten-free, low carb, grain-free, sugar-free crust along with a sugar-free marinara sauce along with low carb toppings of choice:  cheese, sausage, mushrooms, peppers, onions, olives, pepperoni, shrimp, ham, non-starchy vegetables and more. 

My formerly all-time favorite pizza was Domino’s Hawaiian which was only a once or twice a year treat. The sweet pineapple has been off of my “approved” list at allowed foods for over two years. Other equally delicious options have replaced it. Tonight my pizza crust is made with cauliflower, cheese, and egg. With a few cups of fresh cauliflower remaining in the fridge, this was a perfect and healthy way to use it.

Jess’ Low Carb Cauliflower Pizza Crust:
Mix 2 cups cooked cauliflower, chopped into small bits with 1 cup grated cheese (any type of hard cheese), and 1 egg in a bowl.  Pour this mixture onto a parchment-lined pizza pan.  Bake for 30 minutes at 375F degrees.  Remove from oven and cool.  Top with low carb marinara sauce and low carb preferred toppings, finishing off with grated cheeses.

Jess’s Toppings:  marinara sauce, bacon, shrimp, mushrooms, onions, zucchini, basil, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese and topped with Parmesan cheese

Tom’s Low Carb Pizza Crust:
Mix 2 cups grated cheese (any type of hard cheese) and 1 egg in a bowl.  Pour this mixture onto a parchment-lined pizza pan.  Bake for 30 minutes at 375F degrees.  Remove from oven and cool. Top with low carb marinara sauce, adding low carb preferred toppings, finishing off with grated cheeses.

Tom’s toppings:  marinara sauce, pre-cooked Italian sausage, mushrooms, onions, olives, fresh mozzarella cheese and topped with Parmesan cheese

In the US, there are several marinara sauces with our recommended “less than 6-grams carbohydrates” per half cups, which usually means no sugar. In Italy, we’ve been able to purchase sauce with 3 grams per half-cup. 

Carefully read the label to determine if sugar is included.  In Minnesota, we used Rao’s Marinara Sauce, but it was pricey at US $8.95 per jar. However, each large pizza only uses a half cup.  One large jar will make 3 or 4 pizzas. There are many other options without sugar. Who needs sugar in a pizza?

For those NOT on a low carb way of eating, our pizza is very high in fat and calories (if you count calories. We don’t count anything). Since our diet is a high fat, low carb way of eating we don’t worry about consuming fat. Consuming sugary, starchy, grain-related carbs results in raising insulin levels which results in fat gain. It’s not due to the consumption of fat.  

This scientific fact is outlined in this website, one of literally hundreds of medically based sites supporting the low carb, high-fat concept. Science is finally discovering that it is not the fat we eat that makes us fat. Its the combination of carbohydrates and fat. Eating low carb foods and fat results in weight loss, or in my case, weight management.

To simplify the science, it goes like this, a quote from the above link:

“Excessive amounts of carbohydrates (especially refined carbs/sugar) increases insulin and results in fat gain.”

Also, this way of eating has been highly instrumental in improving our health, in enormous ways, as described in many other posts on this site. I don’t need to lose weight. Thus, I must eat larger portions of what I do eat to ensure that I don’t.  In itself, that’s a challenge but certainly, one that I readily enjoy. 

For Tom, who struggles with a propensity to eat “junk food,” this way of eating has been a lifesaver. When he strictly follows our way of eating (minus sugary high carb snacks) he easily loses or maintains his weight hunger-free. Having quit smoking almost a year ago, he weighs considerably less now than when he was smoking. 

For those considering quitting smoking, adopting a low carb diet at the same time is a sure-fire way to avoid gaining the typical 30 pounds. We’re talking about saving lives here, not a fad diet so one can “look good” and fit into small sizes!

Much to our delight, we can eat nuts, the perfect evening snack. We enjoy low carb nuts, even peanuts in the shell (which are a legume, not a nut). Arriving in Italy months ago at that time I’d been eating cheese for dessert. Without preservatives in cheeses in Italy, it spoiled within days of purchase becoming impossible to keep fresh with our bi-monthly grocery trips. Thus, we switched to nuts, readily available at the grocer. At the bottom of today’s post is a chart with the nutritional content of nuts.

If you take the time to read a profound scientific book written by Gary Taubes, “Why We Get Fat,” available everywhere, it explains the science of low carb and how the world has become obsessed with eating high carbohydrate foods, increasing the obesity rates and diabetes to outrageous proportions. 

A vital factor regarding eating low carb is to commit to it. Your body will only begin to burn fat stores in a totally low carb environment.  It’s not a “mix and match” environment. 

(In no manner am I attempting to provide medical advice nor am I claiming to be a medical professional of any type. Please refer to scientific studies readily available at many university websites and by medical professionals worldwide. I’ve spent well over a year researching this topic).  

If you have trouble finding information, feel free to contact me by posting a comment at the end of today’s or any other day’s post and I will post a list enabling you to do your own research.

Tonight, the amazing smell of our pizzas baking will be wafting through the air.  Add a lofty side salad or plate of coleslaw and a fabulous dinner is to be had.  For dessert tonight? Nuts, nuts, and more nuts as we’ll watch Iron Man 2!

Here’s the chart of the nutritional content in nuts. Refer to the “net carb” since fiber apparently reduces the absorption of the carbs (not proven as yet but being researched on the horizon):

Carbohydrates and Fats in Nuts and Seeds (1 Ounce Unshelled)

Cal Tot. Carb Fiber Net Carb Sat. Fat Mono Fat ω-3 Fat ω-6 Fat
Almonds 161 6.1 3.4 2.7 1 8.6 0.2 3.4
Brazil Nuts 184 3.4 2.1 1.3 4.2 6.9 0.05 5.8
Cashews 155 9.2 0.9 8.1 2.2 6.7 0.2 2.2
Chestnuts 60 12.8 2.3 10.5 0.1 0.2 0.03 0.22
Chia Seeds 137 12.3 10.6 1.7 0.9 0.6 4.9 1.6
Coconut* 185 6.6 4.6 2 16 0.8 0 0.2
Flax Seeds 150 8.1 7.6 .5 1 2.1 6.3 1.7
Hazelnuts 176 4.7 2.7 2 1.3 12.8 0.24 2.2
Macadamia Nuts 201 4 2.4 1.6 3.4 16.5 0.06 .36
Peanuts 159 4.5 2.4 2.1 1.9 6.8 0 4.4
Pecans 193 3.9 2.7 1.2 1.7 11.4 0.28 5.8
Pine Nuts 188 3.7 1 2.7 1.4 5.3 0.31 9.4
Pistachios 156 7.8 2.9 5.8 1.5 6.5 0.71 3.7
Pumpkin Seeds 151 5 1.1 3.9 2.4 4 0.51 5.8
Sesame Seeds 160 6.6 3.3 3.3 1.9 5.3 0.11 6
Sunflower Seeds 164 5.6 2.4 3.2 1.2 5.2 0.21 6.5
Walnuts 183 3.8 1.9 1.9 1.7 2.5 2.5 10.7

Getting our ducks in a row…

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Each day its cooler than the prior day.  More of these puffy clouds surrounded us yesterday morning. With the cool weather, we kept the windows closed all day.  The laundry on the drying rack required the entire day to dry.  It appears Tuscany’s days of hot weather are over.

The packing has begun. I’ve decided to use one of the unused guest rooms to lay out all of my clothing in neat piles, setting aside clothing for the one-day road trip to Venice and another set for the 17-hour flight.

Comfort is key in both cases including the half-day car ride to Venice. Dark clothing is vital for the many hours in the air and waiting in three airports in the event we spill something on ourselves. We’ll wear comfortable shoes and the compression socks intended for long flights and cramped spaces.

More low lying clouds with blue skies peeking through.

Ah, the preparations, so many. Attempting to communicate with a person at Turkish airlines who didn’t speak English on Skype was challenging to say the least. I believe we were able to arrange our seat assignments for the three flights in order to be able to sit together. I couldn’t understand the seat numbers and the aisle numbers. I don’t know any Turkish. We weren’t charged.

I had wanted to discuss my food restrictions with the airline for the meals that will be provided. If what they serve proves to be a problem we can eat at one of our two layovers. I plan to bring nuts just in case.

The thoughtful owner of the house in Kenya has arranged a driver to pick us up at the airport in a newer air-conditioned vehicle who’s already aware of our flight number and time of arrival. The driver will be carrying a sign with our name upon our arrival in the middle of the night. He’ll know where to take us.

The security guard at the house, Jeremia, has been instructed to let us in the gate and the house. The houseboy, Hesborn, is aware that he shouldn’t arrive at the house until after 12:00 pm the day we arrive. We’ll attempt to sleep for a few hours upon arrival. 

Upon awakening, we’ll need to arrange transportation to a grocery store, our first task in our new home. They’ll be no food awaiting us at the house, although the owner kindly offered to leave fruit and crackers, neither of which we can eat. I declined his considerate offer which he usually, provides for his guests, graciously explaining that I have a peculiar diet. 

This photo was taken from the veranda yesterday morning.  We spend most mornings on the veranda it was too damp and cool to venture outside. Today, its warmer and we’re sitting outside now as we write this.

We’ll be fine if we don’t eat until we return from the grocer loaded with a week’s supply.  The grocery stores appear to be larger than we are used to and seemingly well stocked from what we read online.  It will be fun to shop, especially the first time.

The packing? I should have most of mine in order and ready for the “suck bags” (as we call them) by Wednesday. This week, we’ll wash and wear the same tee shirts and shorts over and over to avoid disturbing the packed items. My 25-pound pile of shoes and clothing is ready to be donated. It’s hard to believe I can exist with so little clothing.  

View over the church.

At this point, I’ve let go of my desire to have a “mix and match” wardrobe with many outfits from which to choose. Those days are over. Although I’m keeping two pairs of high heels, each shoe is neatly stuffed with vitamin bottles.

As a matter of fact, our Africa boots are also stuffed with vitamin pills, all of which will be in checked baggage. We’d originally planned to wear the boots on the plane, but I can’t imagine wearing knee-high boots for almost 24 hours. 

I tried on two pairs of jeans in order to decide which would be more comfortable for the flight. It turned out that the lighter colored denim feels more pliable, although they aren’t “stretchy” at all. I wish I’d kept a few pairs of stretchy well-worn jeans. 

Last night’s meatball yet uncooked dinner, which was topped with homemade marinara sauce and locally made combination of finely grated cheeses. Before cooking, we also topped Santina’s tomatoes with the grated cheeses. The black spots are the peppers and herbs from the patio.

One more of the two missing prescription boxes arrived yesterday. Hopefully, the one remaining box will miraculously appear this week, but we’re not optimistic. Plan B will go into effect, have the missing box replaced at no charge (to which the online pharmacy agreed) to be shipped to our mailing service in Nevada. As mentioned in a past post, at some time in the future we’ll figure out a way to have it mailed to us.

Still, we have time to relax on the veranda again this morning. The weather is warmer than yesterday, although very cool. With socks on my feet, I’m comfortable, looking forward to another great day of getting whipped at Gin, watching the last third of the original Iron Man with Parts 2 and 3 already downloaded for our future viewing.

We’ll have another great dinner of leftovers, a fresh pan of the above photo. With no microwave, I always divide the meal in two, cooking one batch fresh each of two nights. This avoids using the oven to reheat already cooked food.

Life is good. Not a complaint in the world.  Looking forward to soon being settled into our new home. 

A stormy, stormy night…Date night that is…

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The puffs of clouds surrounding us this morning were a delight to behold.

When a couple is together 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (I never liked that expression, 24/7) we find it’s important to designate certain periods of time as “date nights.”

Sure, it’s pretending. But then, isn’t romantic in itself a pretense of sorts, making special times out of “normal” times?  Some may believe this is not important in a strong loving relationship.  For some, it may not be important, or so they think.

Sadly, power lines always seem to obstruct the view in the remote areas we’ve visited.

But, spend an evening freshly showered, wearing an attractive outfit (need not be fancy), preparing a carefully planned and executed quiet dinner, finishing off the evening with a movie befitting the taste of both parties and a romantic evening can be had. 

For the budget-minded, the cost is no more than any other evening at home. For the extravagant, the experience is as rich and fulfilling as a lavish night on the town with the end result being the same;  feeling loved, cherished, and fulfilled.

Last night was “date night” appropriately a Saturday night that even us retired folks still perceive as the time for extra fun (along with Friday nights). 

Beginning at 5:00 pm, our evening began when the bells from the church out our window began ringing prompting me to once again attempt to take a video, once again to do a poor job but I’m working on it. Taking still photos has been tough enough for me, as my family so well knows.

The church across the road with the bells only ringing on Saturday nights.

The delight we felt during the six minutes as the bells joyfully clanged began the tone of the evening. It was uphill from there. Since neither of us felt like eating all day (a phenomenon that occurs when one eats low carb-loss of appetite), by 6:00 pm, we were ready for dinner.

Planned as taco salad night (minus the bowl), I had chopped and diced all the accompaniments well in advance and had only to cook the grass-fed ground beef seasoning it accordingly. 

By 6:00 pm, an hour earlier than usual, we were dining at the kitchen table digging into our massive salads filled with meat, cheese, and vegetables from the garden especially those plump red tomatoes gifted to us by Santina on Friday.

More puffs of clouds.  As the morning wore on, the puffs dissipated as the sun struggled to appear.  The thick heaviness of humidity remained with the cool temperature making it tolerable.

Some may say watching TV shows or movies is not romantic. For us, it is.  Tom tends to chatter on incessantly during the show, something I’ve found charming. The laughter and conversation continue as we watch. 

Our show of choice last night during dinner, one that invites comments and observations, was “America’s Got Talent,” a mindless TV series that easily incites laughter and smiles.  Without commercials, the episode ended about the time we’d finished dinner.  I tackled putting away the leftovers (repeat tonight!) while Tom as always, washed the dishes.

It almost looks as if its smoke, rather than clouds.

By 7:15, part two of our evening began, spending time on the veranda overlooking the mountains, listening to the birds, and swatting off a few flying insects.  Once again, I put on the Africa pants to avoid being stung as a couple of flies buzzed around my head. Each time I wear the pants I’m surprised by how well they keep the bugs from biting.  I’ve yet to be stung once while wearing them, even without my arms or feet protected. 

As we often do, we moved my laptop to the coffee table in the living room, positioning ourselves in the uncomfortable 100-year-old sofa, and proceeded to watch a few more episodes of our favorite downloaded shows from Graboid:  season 3, episode 5 of The Killing, and season 1, episode 2 of The White Queen (excellent shows worth watching).

After the first show, we rousted up the big dishwashing bowl for the shells for the pistachios and peanuts, more out of fun than hunger. By 9:00 pm our shows ended, leaving only a few minutes of battery time on my laptop.  

From experience, we knew that by charging it for 45 minutes we’d regain enough of charge to watch a movie in bed. We busied ourselves in the kitchen as it recharged, Tom, checking email, and Facebook, while I read my latest book.

By 9:45 we meandered to our room, setting up a wooden tray to support the laptop on the bed (it’s a dangerous fire hazard to place a laptop directly on top of the bed) and crawled under the comfy covers to watch the movie, Linda Lovelace, (bringing back lots of memories of the ’70s) that we found disappointing. But for us, with Tom’s chatter, I was thoroughly entertained.

Once again, this bell tower is a focal point in our photos.  Most villages in Italy have such a tower, visible as one travels through the winding mountain roads.

By 12:30 am with the mosquito netted window wide open as a cool breeze wafting our way, we drifted off within minutes of each other with smiles on our faces.  Indeed, it was a delightful evening.

An hour later, deep in sleep, we both were alarmed by as an outrageous bolt of thunder and lightening permeating the area as the rain pelted the tile roofs.

It was no less than two hours, there was a relentless storm that hovered in this mountainous valley as loud and as bright as any fast-moving storm we’d experienced in Minnesota.  The difference here was the time it hovered as if it was caught in this valley with no way in which to escape. 

Although neither of us is fearful of the storms, we were entranced by its intensity, eventually forced to close the window as the wind whipped in its direction, pouring torrents of water into the bedroom at the moment it took for me to jump out of bed to hurriedly shut it. 

Tom had fallen back to sleep. I lay awake comforted by the fact that this 300-year-old house has most certainly survived centuries of such storms and was nonetheless still intact. Reading my book, an enticing Irish novel, until almost 4:00 am, I finally drifted off tucking my phone under my pillow.

As always, 6:55 am forced my bleary eyes open, only seconds before the 7 clangs of the clock tower next door to us. It’s funny how it never awakens us during the night. Not wanting to awaken Tom, I lingered in bed until he awoke at 7:56 am, moments later to hear the 8 clangs, as we both offered a groggy, “Hi, sweetie.” As always, upon arising together we made the bed, a habit we started years ago when arising at the same time.

Tom called out to me as I was getting ready to shower, beaconing me to the patio to look out at the mountains. These are the photos we took this morning, thrilled to see the clouds so low, lingering in puffs throughout the valley.  What a sight!

Date night turned into “date morning” as we were entranced by the view as if it was a parting gift from Boveglio for the 2½ months were lived in its midst (no pun intended).  Thank you, Boveglio. 

Internet was down for a day…

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We sure have plenty of tomatoes (pomodori) to last through our remaining eight days of cooking before we leave to travel to Africa. Yesterday, I had none and today, we have more than we can use.  After Santina left this morning, I discovered this glass bowl filled with tomatoes in the kitchen.  With the substantial batch, Lisa picked for us yesterday in the steep yard, we’re well stocked with tomatoes. 

It’s amazing how lost we are without the Internet, bringing to mind our dependency on technology to assist us through our days.  Would we ever have ventured out on this year’s long journey? I doubt it.

Tom is more wrapped up in being able to get online these days than I. Other than writing and posting photos here, banking and paying credit card bills, and responding to email, hours of being online is less important to me.

My interest began to lessen after leaving Minnesota on Halloween last year, after spending 8 to 10 hours a day for nearly a year researching our upcoming travels, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. In the future, I’m sure I’ll enjoy it again as the time nears to arrange the next leg of our journey.

For Tom, he busies himself looking up possible future cruises, reading stock information, managing our inventory, and reading an endless array of emails from old friends; some political, some funny, some disgusting and heartwarming, only a few of which he shares with me. I don’t care to read passed along jokes and stories unless they really touch a nerve. Tom knows which is worth sharing with me.

Most of my email consists of family and friends, readers asking questions, or making comments or statements from various financial institutions. With little junk mail these days, after unsubscribing on 100’s of sites, each email I receive warrants reviewing.

Yesterday while literally cut off from the world with the Internet, we played Gin, read our books on our phones, and watched the few news channels we’re able to receive in English on the outdated TV. 

Need I say again that Tom is slaying me at Gin?  Always priding myself on being a competent Gin player, I’ve suffered greatly in his hands (literally and figuratively). I can’t stand to lose! 

He’s so ahead of me at this point that I can’t possibly catch up. Thoughtfully, he’s agreed to start a new tally when we arrive in Kenya which hopefully will begin on our upcoming flight, providing we’ll be able to sit next to one another. (We’ll find out on the 26th when we call as instructed).

Yesterday, I packed a little, disposing of no less than 25 pounds of stuff I’m willing to say goodbye to, much to my surprise.  We’ll give it to our “people” here to keep for themselves, to donate, or to share with their family and friends. Tom will do the same over the weekend. The rest? We’ve decided to pay the excess baggage fees and be done with it. After all, we’ve spent so little money while in Italy, our budget’s slush fund is overflowing in the $100’s.

Yesterday, in perusing the budget, I determined that the cost of food in Italy has been the lowest anywhere.  Choosing the finest ingredients, much organic, we’ve spent an average of $22 per day during the 75 days in Boveglio. In the US, we usually spent anywhere from $800 to $900 per month at the grocery store, again seldom dining out.

We’d budgeted $30.66 a day for the time in Italy including dining out. This difference, to our benefit, should cover the excess baggage fees.  The savings are a result of not dining out and the excellent prices on food in Italy.  For groceries alone, we spent from $100 to $200 per month less than in the US.

With the distance traveling on the steep winding road without guardrails, the time it takes to reach any restaurants, along with my food restrictions inspired us to dine in. Enjoying each of our homemade meals caused us to realize how impractical it would have been to dine out in Italy, based on the high carb pasta, grains, starches, sugar, and the bread that comprise most meals in restaurants. 

In Kenya, based on the restaurant menus we’ve been able to find online, the food is more “continental” consisting of a portion of meat, fish or poultry, vegetables, and salads, all easier for us to enjoy. Of course, we’ll leave out the potatoes or starchy side dishes, bread and desserts. We shall see how that goes, reporting back as to what we’ll soon discover.

At this point, we’re ready to move on. Oddly, we don’t feel as if we’re going on yet another vacation as we prepare to head to a new location. Long ago, we anticipated that we’d experience the giddy excitement of an upcoming vacation.  With the experience of the potential for unknown events, we feel a bit anxious about getting the traveling part completed. 

Leaving on September 1st (with one overnight at a hotel in Venice) and scheduled to arrive at our house in Kenya around 6:00 am on September 3rd, it’s a very long haul. 

Traveling at night has always been hard for me, unable to sleep well sitting up while despising the feeling of lack of sleep as we must maneuver through three separate flights over 17 plus hours. It will be equally trying when we leave Kenya almost three months later to go to South Africa and again, three months later to fly to Morocco, all very long overnight flights. There’s no need to think about that at this point.
 
Reminding myself that this is the life we chose and that, once we’re settled these thoughts will waft away, allowing us the total immersion into our new lives in a new location.

This morning when Santina arrived to clean the house for the second to last time, I wrote the following in English to translate into Italian in Google Translate:

“Thank you so much for such a wonderful job you have done for us. Your kindness will stay in our minds and hearts forever. Next Friday will be the last time and then we will say goodbye.”

This translates in Italian to:

“Grazie mille per un lavoro meraviglioso che hai fatto per noi. La tua gentilezza rimarrà nella mente e nel cuore per sempre. Venerdì prossimo sarà l’ultima volta e poi ci dirà addio.”

She read my note while leaning over my computer at the kitchen table, smiling from ear to ear.  When done she placed her fingers to her lips for a kiss to toss through the air to me. I caught it, immediately returning it to her. 

As she left today and each past week we’ve kissed goodbye, one cheek, then the other with a heartfelt, “arrivederci” wishing we could speak to understand one another. 

Yesterday, when the produce truck hadn’t arrived at its usual 3:30 time and place, I was frustrating wondering where I’d get tomatoes for our planned Mexican dinner this weekend. I’d bought a few at the grocery store on Wednesday which we’ve since used. What was I thinking only buying a few tomatoes when I knew we’d need more? 

Would we have to forego tomatoes or once again make the 70 minute round trip up and down the treacherous mountain roads?

As I looked around the parking lot for the truck I ran into Lisa, the wife of the delightful owner pair of Lisa and Luca, as she spoke to a neighbor. Noticing my inquisitive look, she approached me inquiring as to my dilemma.  Asking her where I could get a few tomatoes (Pomodoro) nearby since ours on the patio have yet to mature.

Grabbing my hand she steered me to the backyard, asking me “quanti?” for “how many?” I held up my fingers for “two” while saying “due,” Italian for two.  She shrugged her shoulders, looking at me raising her eyebrows, asking “due?”

(Only two?)  I shrugged holding up four fingers while saying “quattro,” sensing she thought I was foolish for asking for only two.(As it turned out many of the tomatoes were rather small. No wonder she flinched at my request for only two or four).

At this point, I knew she was to find our tomatoes in the massive garden down several tiers which I hadn’t yet tackled with the uneven steps and no handrail. I handed her the cloth bag I still had in my hands when hoping to buy the tomatoes from the now missing produce truck.

Off she went (she’s 35 years younger than I) flying down the uneven steep steps to return minutes later with a bounty of ripe tomatoes nearly filling my bag. I couldn’t have said “grazie” with more enthusiasm. Here again, I wished we could have somehow carried on a conversation. Her warmth and thoughtful demeanor left me longing to understand her.

Lisa and Luca couldn’t have been more helpful during our time in Boveglio, responsive, and kind. They’ve literally jumped to our every need. Of course, we’ve never attempted to take advantage in any manner, as in my request for such a small number of tomatoes or our inquiry to stay one more night beyond our contract (for which they refused to accept payment when we offered to pay on multiple occasions).  So gracious, they have been!  Most assuredly, we’ll be leaving five-star reviews on their listing in Homeaway.

Our two missing boxes of prescriptions haven’t arrived. The company has agreed to replace them at no charge sending them to our mailing service in Nevada. When we can receive mail somewhere down the road, the mailing service will forward them to us. For now, we have an ample supply for the next 10 to 11 months.

Late yesterday afternoon, almost 24 hours later, the Internet signal returned. Almost time to make dinner while still entrenched in a fierce game of Gin, I decided to wait until today to write. Yes, he won again! 

Stay tuned folks. Thanks for reading our mindless drivel. Hopefully, soon, we’ll step it up a notch or two when we arrive in Kenya. 

Writing our blog…What it takes…What it does for us…What our readers mean to us…The interesting and the mundane…

Posted by worldwide-admin on with 2 Comments
Lizard in the house.

Writing this blog began on March 15, 2012, almost 18 months ago.  You can read the first post by searching the archives on the right side of the page.  This requires about three clicks as you go further back to that date.

As we put “pen to paper” on that date, we had no idea that it would grow beyond the scope of our own sphere of influence; family, friends, and co-workers.  Little did we imagine that we’d have unique visitors worldwide, including such countries as Uzbekistan, Croatia, and Taiwan.

How did they find us?  Most likely it was the keywords we’ve used that you see at the bottom of each post that are the words users enter in search engines, such as Google, Bing, etc.  Suddenly our webpage appears.

For example:  If right now, you go to Google.com and search the word:  “Boveglio, retiree” you’ll find that our blog pops up as the first five entries.  (This changes by the minute, so if it’s not at the top, scroll down and you’ll find it). Type the word “waftage” and you’ll discover the same phenomenon. In essence, in many cases that is how worldwide readers find us or find any site they research.

Another way others find us, is by sending the link, by copying and pasting, www.worldwidewaftage.com to a few friends or to their entire contact list.  Their contact reads the blog once or not and if it appeals to their interests they either sign up to receive an automatic email each time we post (few people seem to do this in fear of being bombarded with other emails, which is not the case) or they bookmark our site and visit it each day or from time to time to read the latest posts at their leisure.

For some, reading the details of the lives of a retired couple that they don’t know, traveling the world for years, is of little interest. Many people don’t travel and have little interest in traveling. That was us only a few short years ago. My, how we’ve changed!

Some readers have asked us how we manage to sit down and write almost every day. Actually, when we have interesting experiences, the words flow easily. When it’s quiet and we’re feeling a need to stay put, it becomes more difficult, similar to the times when we lived in the US when life was fine but not necessarily interesting each day. 

Let’s face it, none of us are interesting all the time. We all have periods where life is comfortable but mundane; enjoyable for us, dull to others. That’s how life is, giving us each the opportunity to experience pleasure with more gusto and passion as the mundane subsides for a period of time.

During quiet times, as these have been by our choice lately, we’ve continued to share those mundane details that we all experience. Some readers, based on our appreciated and continually growing readership, enjoy small details. It reminds us of the small details we tend to share with those in our household:  we visited a store, we went for a walk, we read the mail, we stubbed our toe, all minuscule in the realm of things.

Here in Italy most days, as we sit on the veranda, I write while Tom does research in the background, to hopefully ensure any facts that we share are from reliable sources and as accurate as possible.  At times, we falter in this area. Let’s face it; if we find information online, it’s certainly no guarantee that it’s accurate, even if found at reliable sites. 

How long does it take to write?  Without photos, usually under two hours.  With 12 photos or more, over two hours since photos are time-consuming to insert into the blog.  At times, when we’ve had over 20 photos, we’ve posted over a few days as Part 1 and Part 2.

Do we enjoy posting or does it feel like a “job?” It’s always enjoyable. My fingers literally fly across the keyboard, often with one of those sh_ _ eating grins on my face, difficult to stop.

In reality, we have added advertisers to hopefully defray some of the costs of maintaining this site over the long haul. Clicking on any of our links if you so choose, rewards us in tiny increments, more like small change than in dollars.  The price a reader would pay for any products they purchase through our site is the same price they’d pay going directly to that site on their own.  Readers can still use any coupon codes they’ve otherwise discovered online.

Photos?  We realize that readers love seeing photos and we appreciate this as we observe that readership skyrockets when we do.  Unfortunately, in this remote location, high in the mountains, it is unsafe to walk on the narrow roads (let alone drive) leading in and out of Boveglio. 

Our only photo opportunities while staying put, are any scenes we find appealing in the confines of our immediate neighborhood, some of which we’ve posted more than once.  Normally, we only post newly taken photos rather than those from past posts, although the scenery may be familiar.

What does it mean to us?  There are several layers to this answer.  Knowing that our family members always know where we are and can Skype us at any time, gives us peace of mind.  Knowing that our friends, old and new, can see what we’re “up to” avoids the writing of endless descriptive email messages about our travels when all are described here in detail. 

However, we love hearing from family and friends.  For example, Bruce, a co-worker and friend of Tom’s whom he’s known for over 40 years, sent an email yesterday, suggesting they Skype last night.  Tom couldn’t have been more thrilled when last night, he and Bruce connected on Skype, chatting for some time.  With the time difference of 7 hours, he was calling around 1:00 pm his time in Minnesota, which was 8:00 pm our time in Italy.

Nothing in the world thrills us more than seeing our family and friends on  Skype.  But, if we can’t connect, they can easily find our most recent posts for an update.  For us, the greatest benefit of the Skype call is that we get an opportunity to hear how they are doing while seeing their faces as well.  What a treat!

To look at the stats each day to see how many readers worldwide are visiting our site each day, each month, and collectively is a reward that nothing can describe. Honestly, it adds so much to our experience that I can’t imagine traveling without it. 

Every few days, a reader will post a comment by clicking on the comment link at the bottom of each day’s post.  At times, it is a question. At other times, it’s a suggestion or an observation. At other times, a weirdo makes inappropriate comments. Luckily, we have control over posting comments or deleting them. We see no reason to subject our readers to inappropriate or malicious comments. All others we do post, responding to the posted comments within 24 hours.

For this, we thank each and every reader for taking the time to share this journey with us whether family, friends, acquaintances, the many readers, we’ve met aboard our eight cruises and the thousands of readers worldwide who have stumbled across our site. 

So bear with us folks, the mundane will only continue for a short period and then, in 11 days, we’ll begin the adventure of our lives as we head to Africa, where we’ll live for almost a year, for me, a dream come true. 

Tom’s also excited about Africa as long as I don’t let any warthogs into the house or any zebras visit to watch him take a shower or swim in the pool.  We shall see…