Unbelievable road trip…Check out our new photos!…The day’s expenses…Many more photos to share over the next several days!

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Rambut Siwi Hindu Temple (Pura Rambut Siwi) in Negara, the largest of three traditional temples located in each town in Indonesia.

“RAMBUT SIWI TEMPLE (Pura Rambut Siwi):
This temple is about equidistant between Negara and Medewi Beach. Located on a low cliff top overlooking a breathtaking panorama of paddy fields and the mountains of West Bali National Park on one side and black sand beaches on the other. The temple itself was built by the 16th-century Javanese sage Dang Hyang Nirartha, also the creator of the Tanah Lot temple. According to legend, he made a gift of his hair to the temple. Hence the name Rambut Siwi, which literally means ” Hair Worship”.”

Wikipedia: “Bali is an island and province of Indonesia. The province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighboring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nusa Ceningan. It is located at the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. Its capital of Denpasar is located in the southern part of the island.  With a population of 3,890,757 in the 2010 census and 4,225,000 as of January 2014, the island is home to most of Indonesia’s Hindu minority. According to the 2010 Census, 83.5% of Bali’s population adhered to Balinese Hinduism, followed by 13.4% Muslim, Christianity at 2.5%, and Buddhism 0.5%.”

“Sightings on the Beach in Bali“

Sand crab running on the beach.  Amazing camouflage.

What a day we had!  We were a little hesitant when we were getting ready to leave. The flies were on a rampage and the heat and humidity were relatively unbearable. 

After wearing only bathing suits for 11 days and only wearing shoes when we went for a walk, I decided to dress as lightly as possible as did Tom, hoping we’d manage to stay cool in the AC in the van.  Good thing we did.  It was a scorcher especially when we spent considerable time outside the vehicle on our multiple stops.

The meeting hall at the Hindu Temple in Negara.

We accomplished all the shopping on our list; a SIM card for the phone (for emergency use) at IDR 31,000, US $2.32; passport photos at a local photo studio at IDR 50,000, US $3.75 (including a CD with the photos as well as a dozen photos printed each on photo paper); a visit to a pharmacy for two prescription refills (no written prescriptions required) at a total of IDR 610,000, US $45.74; a few groceries at IDR 384,900, US $28.86 and a stop at the ATM.

Even this gate caught our eye as we peered through it to see the exquisite grounds.

Our cost for the van and driver for the half-day trip was IDR 350,000, US $26.25. Of course, we’ll be tipping Gede and the remainder of the staff for all of their thoughtful and diligent service at the end of our stay. 

The trip to the “big” supermarket in Negara was a bit disappointing when we weren’t able to find some basic ingredients on our list.  Perceived as a “western” type market, we couldn’t find basic items such as unprocessed cheese, having no choice but to purchase locally made individually wrapped processed cheese (I won’t eat it but Tom will). 

Nor could we find sour cream (or a yogurt substitute without sugar and lots of carbs).  We’d hoped to find baking soda and Himalayan salt neither of which were available.  Next time, I’ll be more diligent and carry these items with us when we return for our next two-month stint. 

This red carpet is used for dancing during religious ceremonies.

Why would we expect another country to have our favorite products?  We shouldn’t. Of all the countries we visited date, finding basic food items has been most difficult here.  Even in Kenya, at the local Nakumatt market, we were able to purchase all of the above-mentioned ingredients.

If we weren’t able to purchase a single ingredient, we could easily manage the food the two Ketuts make for us.  Last night, after our prawn stir fry meal with salad, I found myself a little hungry for something. 

Nothing was spared in the design of the temple, as is traditional in Hindu architecture.

Normally, I’d have some nuts or cheese for a snack neither of which is available. When Tom expressed concern over what I could have for a snack I said, “There’s nothing wrong with being hungry now and then.”   I knew that in 20 minutes, the hunger would subside and it did.  I never gave it another thought.

Along with our shopping which took little time, we spent the rest of the time visiting points of interest.  Little did we know we’d experience such amazing sites and photo opportunities.

Gede explained this is the equivalent of a bell tower.

Gede was born in Bali and knows each area very well.  The ease with which he found his way to each location made the experience all the more enjoyable.  Also, he knew exactly which scenes would create the best photos.  We couldn’t have asked for a better tour guide.

After we returned “home,” put everything away, and had entered all of our purchases on the spreadsheet, the rains came along with more flies. With everything in the house wide open, the only haven from the flies is in the bedroom where we hideaway for a break from time to time. 

The spire on one of the structures at the temple.

Today is breezy and slightly cooler. At the moment, we’re under the cabana enjoying the balmy breezes that keep the annoying pests out of the way. With rain on the horizon over the next several days with more flies hatching we’re going to try dining upstairs tonight where there’s an oscillating fan at the dining table. 

In any case, we’re doing great today after a good night’s sleep. Today, we’re by ourselves when the staff is off on Sunday. Oh, we don’t mind them being around at all. They are quiet and gracious whenever they’re around. 

Closer view of the tower.

We do enjoy a little time to ourselves and even preparing our own dinner today; basically heating leftovers we’d kept in the freezer, veggies, and salad the Ketuts left for us for today. Easy.

Tomorrow, we’ll have more details on our photos and the sites we visited. Please check back again!

Be well! Be happy!

Photo from one year ago today, May 15, 2015:

The Kauai Path is well maintained with several restroom buildings and lifeguard vehicles with surfboards for aiding in water rescues. For more details, please click here.

Not a perfect day in Paradise…”Keeping it real”…

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This bird appears to be a Blue Kingfisher. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

“Sightings on the Beach in Bali”

Yesterday, Tom took this distant photo when he spotted this peculiar boat which appears “sunken” in the middle. We had no idea what type of boat this is.  Any comments from our Indonesian (or other) readers who may know?

As previously mentioned in other posts, most tourists traveling to Bali (and other countries we visit) are staying in a resort or hotel of some sort, not a private single family home. The conditions for comfort are very different. 

Also, they may ony stay only one or two weeks and challengingconditions may not present themselves during the shorter period. Today, is aday, where weather and other conditions are challenging, to say the least. 

The heat and humidity is as high as we ever experienced in Africa on the worst of days. On these hot and humid days and nights, especially after its rained there are lots of flies.

It’s too hot to shoot the wall of glass doors, but, with the many flies already in the house, even that would do little good. The only safe respite is in the master bedroom where we keep the door shut constantly, where’s there’s AC if we finally decide to hide away for an hour or two. 

At the moment, I am sitting outdoors, unable to get online due to the poor signal and there are dozens of flies hovering around me. I am covered with 30% DEET, the only possible product I can use to keep me from getting many fly bites.

And yet they still find a way to attack any unreached spot on my back or behind my legs. None of the “natural” repellents (I’ve tried many) actually repel flies or mosquitoes from biting me.  om, on the other hand, seldom gets bit.

With mountains in Java obstructing the final setting of the sun, we relish every sunset photo we see.

Since we couldn’t get online as I wrote this, I’m using “Live Writer,” a MS app that enables me to write and then, once able to attain a signal, I can upload it to the Internet.  Thank goodness for this option.  Otherwise, I could spend the entire day trying to get a decent signal. We’ll have only a few photos today due to the poor signal.

When the sun comes out, we’ll have a reprieve from the flies. They seem less bothersome on sunny days. We imagine the number of flies is certainly due to the rain we’ve experienced over these past several days.

We continue to spend time figuring out the visa situation for July’s upcoming cruise. It appears we can get a visa for Cambodia online.  But, on Viking’s Mekong River cruise documents, it states we cannot get and use an
e-visa for this particular cruise. We must use a service to apply which requires snail mailing our passports which we will not do. 

In the past 24 hours we’d been attempting to reach Viking but with the huge time difference and poor signal it had been difficult.There’s a 15-hour time difference. Finally, this morning, we got through on Skype before they closed for the day. 


Explaining our situation they agreed we could apply for the Cambodia visa online. Only a few online services offer this option, one we’ve used in the past, VisaHQ.com which is located in Washington, DC and is safe to use. 

I asked Viking to send us an email confirming they’ll accept the e-visa for Cambodia so we won’t experience any issues when we present the e-visa at the time of boarding in Hanoi. We’ve since received this confirmation email
Which, if necessary, we’ll present at boarding.

There are many visa companies out there in cyberspace that are scams.  One could easily be giving their personal passport information to a scamming visa app company. Please beware in doing so and feel free to contact us for names of valid companies we’ve used.

The reflection on the sea is particularly appealing.

Today, we’ll apply for the Cambodia visa and once we arrive in Singapore we’ll only have to apply for the visa for Vietnam (not available as an e-visa), a plan we can easily accommodate. If we’d had to apply in person for
both visas while in Singapore it could have taken a significant amount of time during the one week stay. Most likely, in this case we won’t lose more than a single day.

Enough about flies and visas. We share these details not only to express that at times, traveling the world is not as easy as it may seem but also for those who may consider this lifestyle, to use a little of which we’ve learned in the process. 

It’s easy to become stressed on hot, humid, fly infested days such as today when there are tasks we need to accomplish in the background that add to the frustration. Surprisingly, both of us remain calm and determined to figure out solutions.

Now, as the sun begins to peek out at almost noon, I’ve begun to feel confident that we may have comfortable day after all. 

May your day be comfortable and relatively easy.

Photo from one year ago today, May 12, 2015:

Locomotive and coach formerly used for tours at the Kilauea Sugar Plantation, now closed for many years. For more sugar plantation photos, please click here.

 

A bit of a worrisome situation we had to figure out…It all “goes with the territory!”

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We’re thrilled to be able to see sunsets from the veranda. The long stick to the right is actually the vine of a plant.

“Bali Sightings on the Beach”

With few tourists on the beaches here many interesting shells and mollusks remain on the beach which is nice to see.

We can only control so much in our lives. We try hard not to make errors when the consequences in planning our lives could result in added costs, time and undesired stress and frustration.

When we get into a “pickle” we reflect on what we could have, should have, done to prevent it. The lame excuse, “Well, I didn’t know,” doesn’t serve us well. We should have known every step of the way, especially as we become more experienced in traveling the world.

As we review the circumstances of our most current dilemma, in a quandary as to how to get a visa to Vietnam for the July 8th Viking Mekong River cruise, we can’t seem to embrace what we could have done differently.

The facts to accomplish this remain a hard reality: In order to apply for a visa for Vietnam with multiple entries in a 30-day period, one must send their actual passport to a visa service in the US or their home country or directly to the Vietnam Embassy.

As the sunset progresses, we’re in awe of its beauty.

How in the world would we allow ourselves to be in Indonesia without our passports in our possession, especially when in two weeks we have to drive two hours to another village to the Immigration office to extend the 30 day visas we have now, repeating this same action when we return in over three months?

Also, if we didn’t need to extend our Indonesian visas, we’d never allow ourselves to be without a passport in our possession while in a foreign country. What if one of us became ill and had to be airlifted out of the country or any of dozens of other possibilities? We’re never going to allow ourselves to be in such a position.

For citizens living in their home country, they can easily prepare the necessary documents, including their passports, mail them to a visa service and wait for the return of the packet with the new visa and their passport. 

Not us. Not only will we never leave ourselves in a foreign country without a passport in our possession but, we’re in a remote area of Bali. Receiving the return packet would take weeks to arrive, most likely never in time for our departure. 

Almost gone.

Nor would we have been willing to be without a passport while in New Zealand had we started this process earlier. Thus, we don’t blame ourselves for not starting this process sooner, two months generally is plenty of time to get a visa. In most situations, we’re easily able to acquire “visas on arrival” (VOA) at any given airport or cruise terminal.

Over the past several days we’ve made many phone calls on Skype: to Viking Cruise Line; to the river cruise representative at Vacations to Go; to the Vietnam Embassy in Vietnam; to the online visa company we’ve been using of late, CIBT. 

There is a such a thing as a “visa on arrival” at the airport in Vietnam through any of the dozens of unknown vendors online that provide a visa letter but the problem with this is twofold:
1.  Do we want to give such personal information online to what may be an unscrupulous company of which there are many? Of course not.
2.  “Visa on arrival” only applies to single entry visas for arrival exclusively by air travel at the airport. Our second entry will occur while we’re on the ship and the first visa would be useless.

The US State Department has considerable warnings and information about the difficulty of getting a Vietnam visa. Click here for details.

Me in the pool waving at Tom when he insisted on a photo. We spend lots of time in the pool, especially on days like today, hot, humid and many flies after last night’s heavy rain.

After hours of research, we came to only two possibilities:
1.  Take the risk on the “visa on arrival” single entry airport only arrival using what may prove to be an unscrupulous company and figure it out once we’re in Vietnam. Not an option.
2.  Wait until we get to Singapore on June 28th (late in the day arrival) and head to the Vietnam Embassy (a 40 minute drive from our hotel) the following morning, documents in hand and apply in person. A rush order takes three business days. Luckily, we’ll be within this window. 

The Singapore option provides us with peace of mind. No doubt it will have a bearing on our one week stay when we’ll certainly have a degree of concern over getting this accomplished. But, yesterday we called the Vietnam Embassy in Singapore and its sounds doable. They’re only open for visa applications from 9:00 am to noon weekdays.

We’re well aware of the fact that should we run into any unforeseen obstacles along the way, we could lose the IDR 92,989,424 (wow), US $6598, (plus the airfare we’ve already purchased) we prepaid at time of booking the cruise to take advantage of the “two for one/paid in full” promo at the time.

Yesterday afternoon, after we finally reached the Vietnam Embassy in Singapore, we sighed in relief knowing we had a plan in place. Once we arrive in Singapore we’ll stop at an ATM to get the appropriate amount of cash US $369, SGD 540 for both visas. 

Tom at the edge of the infinity pool while I took the photo.

Adding the cost of two round trip taxi rides to complete the transactions (returning in three business days to pick up the visas) which we hope to double duty to visit a few sites of interest along the return, its a much more expensive and time consuming proposition than we’d expected. 

As it turns out, Vietnam is one of few countries that makes it difficult for US citizens (and others) to obtain a visa which includes such countries as China, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and others. Click this link for more detailed information if you’re planning to travel or simply curious. It’s rather interesting.

The difficulty of acquiring certain country’s visa is totally predicated by reciprocal agreements between the two countries.  As a result, Vietnam is on that “difficulty” list.

In the past few days, we also applied and received the renewal of our one year visas for Australia where we’ll be in and out of over the next year on many occasions (only can stay 90 days per visit). 

The back of Tom while in the infinity pool at high tide.

Today, we’ll apply for yet another required visa for Cambodia (easy online application) again for the Mekong River Cruise  and then we can put this out of our minds until we arrive in Singapore in 48 days, except of course, for the upcoming trip to the immigration office here in Bali within a few weeks.

Gede, our houseman and driver is out of town for a religious holiday returning late Friday. We’re scheduled to go sightseeing with him on Saturday morning at 10:00 am. We’ll prepare and upload the post before we depart and look forward to sharing new photos the following day.

We hope you aren’t faced with dilemmas today. But, if so, we hope you find solutions that put your mind at ease as well.

Photo from one year ago today, May 11, 2015:

Could this Yellow Candle flower we spotted in Kauai be more exquisite with its white blooms? For more photos, please click here.

Improvising as we go…A constant in our lives of travel…

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The large expanse of the river one door from our home on the beach.

“Bali Sightings on the Beach”

This was moving in the river next to our house.  Must be some kind of peculiar fish.

It’s Saturday. The WiFi is slow today. It took almost two hours of trying off and on to download today’s photos.  With many workers off for the weekend, they may be spending time online having a serious impact on our ability to connect.

In the event you don’t see a post on any given day within three hours of the usual uploading time, please accept our apologies and know we’ve been unable to get online and will be posting as soon as possible.

As mentioned in yesterday’s story about the culling of dogs in Bali, life isn’t always as easy as it may seem living on a tropical island. Of course, we’re grateful for the conveniences we have, the wonderful staff, and the overall comfort in our everyday surroundings.


The mouth of the river close to our house which many locals use each day.
Compared to anywhere in the world, there are inconvenient aspects that one can’t help but notice; the mosquitos day and night; the flies, particularly while dining; and the constant heat and humidity. 
Bali is located 8.65 degrees south of the equator, which translates to 960 kilometers, 595 miles. As a result, it is hot and humid every day, raining occasionally, although it isn’t the rainy season at this time.
When most tourists travel, they stay in hotels often with air conditioning in many common areas and dining halls. For us, with no AC on the main floor, there is no air-con (other than in the master bedroom). As a result, we fully experience the heat and humidity.


Flowers growing in the yard.

We stay outdoors from early morning until after dinner when the two Ketuts close the glass and wood accordion doors to keep the dusk-time mozzies out of the house as much as possible. We keep the bedroom door and windows closed at all times for this reason.

Do we get used to it?  A huge portion of our travels consists of living in ultra hot/humid weather conditions for most days and many nights without AC in the bedroom, only a ceiling or floor fan to blow the humid air over us. 

Used to it? I suppose we are since we keep finding ourselves in similar locations, well aware of the weather conditions long before we travel to a new country. Oddly, we don’t consider it an obstacle or a sacrifice, certainly no more than the reality of the cold climate, we tolerated in Minnesota; for Tom, all of his life; for me, over 40 years.

Side yard at the house, lush and green.

In this past week since our arrival, we’ve lived entirely in swimsuits, handwashing them at night. The suit I washed last night at 7:00 pm, is still on the clothes rack, remaining soaked in the high humidity. Luckily, we each have enough swimsuits to get us through in hot and high humidity locations.

With no English-speaking TV, we have no reason to ever turn it on, other than to plug in the HDMI cord to my laptop to watch our remaining downloaded shows. Downloading more movies and TV shows is nearly impossible with a slow connection. 

In the evenings, we watch a few shows, but most likely will run out before we depart at the end of June. We’ll find other sources of entertainment once that occurs. As always, we’ll figure it out.

Fluffy white spring flowers beginning to bloom.

Some of our readers have written inquiring as to how we’re managing the food situation. Over two years ago while living in Morocco, we had a full-time cook, Madam Zahra, who adapted the starchy, sugary, grain-laden Moroccan meals to my way of eating.  

The cooking seems to be even easier here in Bali as the two Ketuts aren’t having any trouble adapting the meals to befit our diet. Since the house rules stipulate that all guests are served the same dishes at each meal, Tom is surprising me by eating everything they make. 

When we’re cooking our own meals, I often adapt items that he prefers within the framework of our dietary restrictions. Here, he has no such choices and we eat what’s put on the table, all appropriately modified for us.  It’s working better than we expected. The meals are comparable to those we’d discover in a high-end dining establishment. Need I say, we’re loving every meal.

The rocky end of a point while on a walk on the beach.

Tonight, I’ll finally take photos of our meal before we dig in. Other nights, we’ve been so distracted by the beautiful food put in front of us, I’ve failed to take photos. 

Tomorrow, we’ll post the photos along with the menu offered to guests (without dietary restrictions) from which they’ve improvised most of our meals.  Please check back for the exciting offerings.

Regardless of some necessary adaptations common in most locations, we are content and relaxed in Bali. The daily swimming in the pool is keeping us active and hopefully fit a degree. Once Tom’s sunburned feet are totally healed, we start walking again. It was a fluke that happened and it won’t happen again.

Today, we have several tasks to accomplish; booking future flights, applying for a visa for Vietnam (for the upcoming Mekong River cruise in July), and a new visa for Australia that soon expires (good for one year, which has almost passed). Hopefully, we’ll manage to accomplish these tasks online with the slow wifi. But, if not, we’ll save it for another day. 

Sometimes saving a task for another day makes sense, especially when we plan to accomplish these tasks well in advance. Keeping stress at a minimum is always our goal thus we avoid waiting last minute for anything (if we can help it).

May your day be low-stress as well!

Photo from one year ago today, May 7, 2015:

Tourists stopping to read a sign on the Kauai Path.  Notice the cross on the shore, most likely as a memorial to a swimmer’s death in the sea in this area.  Please click here for more photos.

There’s always an exception to the rule…I left out an important point in yesterday’s post…Making errors here…

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Any comments on the name of these gorgeous lilac flowers?  Notice the blue center.  Wow!

Whatever plans we may make, whatever thoughts we may enter our minds and whatever experiences we may have, there’s always an “exception to the rule.”  The expression is actually “exception that proves the rule” as stated in the following quote:

“Use in English

Henry Watson Fowler‘s Modern English Usage identifies five ways in which the phrase is commonly used, here listed in order from most to least correct.

Original meaning

The phrase is derived from a legal principle of republican Rome: exceptio probat regulam in casibus non exceptis (“the exception confirms the rule in cases not excepted”), a concept first proposed by Cicero in his defence of Lucius Cornelius Balbus.[1] This means a stated exception implies the existence of a rule to which it is the exception. The second part of Cicero’s phrase, “in casibus non exceptis” or “in cases not excepted,” is almost always missing from modern uses of the statement that “the exception proves the rule,” which may contribute to frequent confusion and misuse of the phrase.”


A path to the beach in Kapaa.

Yesterday, after proofreading the post, Tom reminded me of something I’d left out of the post of major importance in regard to our experiences with obtaining visas which was an “exception to the rule.”  Now, bear with me if you aren’t interested in visas.  This is less of a story about visas and more about an “exception that proves the rule.”

After he read the entire post while instructing me to correct sentence structure, nonsensical use of words all the while fact checking dates and events, he adamantly stated I’d left out a very important aspect to the story.

A lagoon at the Kealia Beach in Kapaa.

In yesterday’s post I implied, or rather emphatically stated, that we either obtained visas at airports, ports or call or at a train station’s immigration desks or online from a company that provides them.  This was stated incorrectly. He caught it.

We had one entirely different experience shortly after we first left the US, ending up in the country of Belize, formerly known a British Honduras (reminiscent of what we learned in geography class in grade school).  That particular country, unlike most others, requires that tourists obtain a new (or renewed) visa every 30 days.

This playful dog was with a family loving his/her time at the beach.

We posted the hysterical (to us anyway) story about the cumbersome process in order to renew our visas once a month, which was required to be obtained in person.  For our long time readers, humor me for a moment while I explain this “exception to the rule.”

This pale man and woman laying in the sand and sea must be tourists with their pale skin. Hope they took precautions in the heat of the Hawaiian sun. 

In February, March and part of April 2013, we lived in Placencia, Belize on a peninsula, four hours south of the capitol of Belize City.  The little village of Independence was home of the immigration office located a long way across the bay to the mainland.  As a result, we had to travel on a water taxi, humorously called the “Hokey Pokey” in order to get there to apply for our visa extensions. 


We surmised this line in the Kapaa Path indicated the beginning and end of the Kealia Beach.

In the event you haven’t read that story and seen those funny photos, please click here for our original post from February 25, 2013.  In looking back, we still laugh over that unique experience.  It is those kinds of experiences that add a depth of purpose and meaning to our travels that no tourist attractions can possibly provide.

Shallow lagoon at Kealia Beach.

Anyway, the Belize story was yesterday’s exception to the rule.  How I could have failed to mention this escapes me.  Sure, I could have gone back and changed it to include it.  But, once I upload a post, I’m done, other than to correct any of Tom’s bossy mentions of my errors. 

At times, he sounds appalled by an error I’ve made and even throws a jab of “overly grumpy” at me.  I always say, “You write an essay every day of the week, every week of the year with photos and never make errors!”  Ha!  How about that!

The Kauai Path has numerous pavilions for the enjoyment of visitors.  Once one embarks on the long walk, there are not seating area.  For those, picnicking or preferring to sit, its best to stay in the area closest to the multiple parking lots.

Oh, yes, I make errors and, dear readers, Tom makes errors in failing to find some of my errors. How could we not make some errors.  At times, they consist of sentence structure, spelling, punctuation and line spacing. It goes with the territory or perhaps I should say, “Its the “exception that proves the rule.”

Happy Thursday.  Today is 5% off senior day at the Foodland.  Hummm…
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Photo from one year ago today May 7, 2014:

Our time in Morocco was winding down as we were running out of photos ops when many of the shop owners and locals refused to allow us to take photos.  We took photos when the shop owners agreed.  On this date, we were only eight days from departure and we were excited to be on our way to Madeira, Portugal.  For details from that post, please click here.

What’s the deal about applying for visas for various countries?…

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Fisherman casting toward the huge surf.
Long ago, we applied for second passports, which basically consists of a US two year second passport with different passport numbers from our main passports. Most US travelers aren’t aware that a US citizen can apply for a second passport.

Why did we need a second passport? Two years ago, it was necessary to send in one’s passport to a consulate in order to get visas from some countries. We didn’t want to be stranded in a country without a passport in our possession while a visa was being processed through snail mail. 

Tourists stopping to read a sign on the Kauai Path. Notice the cross on the shore, most likely as a memorial to a swimmer’s death in the sea in this area.

Over these past few years, most countries have since begun issuing electronically produced visas for travelers to their country, making it unnecessary for us to send it in to acquire a new visa.

Over these past two years we’ve used these second passports for all of our entries and exits to about 40 countries, resulting in our main passports, which don’t expire until 2021, having no stamps posted as yet.

In December, the second passports expired. As a result of the use of electronic filing for visas, we decided not to renew it. When we soon leave the US, for the first time we’ll use our 10 year passports.

Tiny green balls growing along the beach appear to be some type of weed.
How have we been able to get visas in all of our travels to date? We’ve been able to acquire 90-day visas when we arrive at immigration at any airport, train station or port. The ease of this was surprising to us. 

This easy process doesn’t apply to every country’s immigration process. For some odd reason, US passport holders seem to be presented with an easier process to enter and exit most countries.

If you have a passport from any other country, please check with your travel agent, passport office, immigration or consulate for the country you’d like to enter to determine the process applicable to your country’s passport in regard to obtaining visas. This can vary from country to country.

The Kauai Path is an easy to walk path along Donkey Beach and other beaches.

Thus far, for us, its been a breeze. When traveling to multiple countries via a cruise ship, the immigration staff aboard the ship collects all of our passports. When we arrive at a particular port of call, an immigration officer boards the ship and processes all of the passenger’s and ship staff’s passports for entry and exit.  

Prior to reaching a country’s port, our passports are returned to us, in most cases which we bring with us on our tour whether arranged by the ship or a self guided tour. 

There’s never a shortage of roosters wandering about.

When arriving in a country, we wait in what is usually a long line at immigration processing, tell the agent how long we’d like to stay and as long as the stay doesn’t exceed their set duration of 60 or 90 days, we receive a dated stamp providing us with a visa which is stamped in our passports.

Australia, where we’ll be arriving in little over a month on June 11th after an 18 day cruise from Honolulu, Oahu to Sydney, Australia requires a pre-arranged visa before entering. If we arrived at our ship without processing the visas the cruise line wouldn’t allow us to board. 

The wind and waves were substantial on Monday which has since settled down. 

In reality, a more stringent process may be wise for most countries to follow for obvious reasons I won’t get into here. Here’s a quote from Tom:

“When we applied for our driver’s license in Nevada before we left the US, they asked me to take off my glasses when they took the photo.  I said that I needed to wear my glasses to drive. They said it’s not for that reason. This is a facial recognition photo. Why isn’t this technology used for passports?”

Good point! Why isn’t it?

Last night, we visited CIBT at this link. In less than 10 minutes, with our passports and a credit card on hand, I completed the online documents separately for each of us and our individual visas for Australia were processed, completed and confirmed at a cost of US $45 each.

This view at the Kauai Path is similar to the views we had from the two houses we rented on the Big Island in December.

(By the way, once we arrive in Australia, we’ll be entering all dollar amounts posted here in both USD and AUD (Australian dollars) as we ‘ve done in all other countries which use a alternate form of currency).

The visa process will be slightly more complicated for some of our upcoming stays including both Fiji and Bali.  We’ll report back the processes for those. 

The vast expanse of the ocean never disappoints.

Our Australian visas were issued last night for which we won’t need a piece of paper. It’s recorded electronically in the Australian immigration department’s system and will appear when we check in at immigration at Sydney.  The visas are good for one year until June 10, 2016. 

With our visa on file in Australia we’re allowed 90 day visits only and in one year we’d have to file again which may be more complicated the second go-around. Before we book more time in Australia, we’ll figure it out. At this time, we are only booked for 89 days in Australia (leaving one extra day for cancelled flights, etc.). 

Alternate view of the above fisherman.

We decided that we’ll investigate other options in Australia once we are there and get a feel for the “lay of the land.” Prices on vacation homes are as much as 100% higher than other countries in which we’ve lived, making it difficult to rent vacation homes to fit within our budget. 

We still have the over two month gap to fill beginning next June and have yet to decide where we’d prefer to go. We shall see what we decide and of course, report it here promptly. We’re attempting to stay somewhere in the South Pacific, if possible.

At certain areas, the beaches are less pristine as is the case here in the southern end of the Kauai Path.

With the imminent visa task handled for the moment, we’re now beginning to tackle the other items on our lengthy “to-do” list, found here.

We’re down to 17 days until departing Kauai to fly to Honolulu for one night. On the 18th day, we’ll board the ship. We’re excited, to say the least. We haven’t been on a cruise since this past September. Hopefully, we’ll have good weather as we travel so far across the ocean. If not, as always, we’ll just hang on!

Happy Hump Day!

                                              Photo from one year ago today, May 6, 2014:

Strawberries were small in Marrakech as shown here. They don’t do GMOs (or pesticides). As a result, the berries are small and unevenly shaped. When buying giant, uniform strawberries or other fruit, its easy to assume that nature alone doesn’t make them that huge, uniform and sweet. Remember the strawberries we ate as kids? They were tart and small. For more photos from that day’s post, please click here.

Exciting new location!…An exquisite private villa, exclusively for our pleasure!…Welcome to Post #700!..

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This is a view of the pool and the sea at the exquisite private home, we’ll be renting in 2016.

It’s hard for us to believe that today’s post is #700.  In some ways, it seems as if this should be #7000. We’ve experienced so much since our first post on March 14, 2012.  Click here to read, post #1 which is one of our favorites.

In the early days, we posted a few photos when we’d yet to own a good camera or know how to take a post-worthy photo. As time marched on after we left Minnesota on October 31, 2012, and later left the US on January 3, 2013, gradually we came to realize that photos were a vital part of this form of communication.

View of the house from the water.

It took a while for us to finally post each day and to include at least a few photos in each post. Now, we never miss a day or a day with photos unless it’s a travel day without Internet access, a rarity in this world.

The infinity pool.  Note the cabanas at the far side of the pool.  Perfect for after-sun relaxing.

Speaking of photos, today we’re excited to share the photos of our latest booking which may prove to be the last booking for a while when we’re set for the upcoming almost two years. 

Facing the house from the lawn. We’re unable to see the pool in this photo due to its infinity edge.

We’re going to Bali! We’ve rented a four-bedroom, four and a half bath villa, obviously more room than we’ll need but, without a doubt, we’ll treasure every moment while we’re there.

The only people I’ve ever known who have gone to Bali are ambitious newlyweds, young people with the patience and stamina for the long trip from the US, the costly airfare averaging at US $2000 per person, EU $1465.31, taking from 27 to 42 hours with two to four layovers, plus the cost of a hotel, meals, tips, rental car, and incidentals. 

There are multiple areas for lounging by the pool.

However, we’ll already be in Perth, Australia at the end of our cruise on April 28, 2016, and the round trip cost for us will be US $463 per person at three hours and 40 minutes, non-stop. How could we not go to Bali? When will it ever be this easily accessible?

The challenge was in finding an affordable place to live. In addition, we had to face the reality of getting a visa for Bali which is tricky. At most, we can get 60 days at immigration at the airport. However, if we hire a visa agent in advance, we may be able to get a retiree’s visa for a longer period. It’s too soon to apply for that now so we’ll wait until we’re closer to the time of our visit. 

Each day, we’ll have to decide where we’d like to lounge with many options by the pool.

Bali is an island in Indonesia with strict immigration laws. There’s no way we’d be interested in flying to Jakarta to extend our visas. Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia is overcrowded with some of the worst traffic in the world.  No thanks.

The dining table set for eight with beautiful dinnerware.

Unsure about being able to extend our visas at this point, we booked the Bali house shown here today for 59 days. If we’d known that we could have stayed longer, we’d have booked it for many more nights. 

The main floor lounge, one of two living rooms in the villa.

The glorious property, owned by a lovely couple who don’t permanently live in Bali, was one of those that kept me awake at night anxious to hear back if our rental terms were acceptable. When the owner didn’t receive my message accepting the terms, we thought all was lost when we didn’t hear back with a request for a deposit through PayPal. 

The main floor living room.

(Here’s the link to the Bali house listing from which we “borrowed” today’s photos).

One of three master bedrooms, all with king-sized beds, en suite bathrooms, and air conditioning.

Almost a day passed with no word. In my persistence, I wrote back again to later discover she never received the message. We were experiencing Internet issues as Portugal’s part in the World Cup was in full bloom with locals most likely online more frequently.

Bedroom two with another king bed.

Finally, we settled on mutually satisfactory terms. We were giddy. Once again, we’ll have a full household staff as we did in Morocco. However, we’ll be able to cook our own meals with the staff helping with all of the chopping and dicing if we so choose. Tom won’t have to do the dishes!

Bedroom three with another king bed. How will we decide which one we’ll choose? Here again, I’ll have a separate bedroom for showering and dressing so I don’t awaken Tom on the rare occasion he sleeps in.

However, in Bali with the pool and ocean at our door, we won’t feel trapped inside as we did in Morocco, unable to leave the riad unless we were ready to tackle the crowds in the souks. This will be very different. Walks on the beach, dining poolside, or at a cozy beachside bistro, shopping in quaint farmer’s markets will be the order of the day.  We couldn’t be more thrilled.

Bedroom four with twin beds.

No, we’re certainly not young newlyweds reveling in an exquisite South Pacific experience. But, us old-timers, may just settle back and pretend for a while that we are, from April 28, 2016, to June 26, 2016, in Bali, Indonesia.

                                             Photo from one year ago today, July 10, 2013:

Whether it’s mountains, hills, lakes, or sea, we love to have a great view from the veranda of our vacation homes, as was the case in Boveglio, Italy one year ago today. For details for that date, please click here.

A road trip today with photos….

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Us on the beach at the Lost Reef Resort where we stopped for lunch today.

Our delightful new friends and neighbors, also from Minnesota, invited us to join them to travel by car to Big Creek for all four of us to renew our visas, as opposed to riding on the Hokey Pokey boat and taking four cab rides.

Our Minnesota friends and Belize neighbors, Nancy and Roger.

Still recovering from our recent fall on the collapsing steps, it made more sense to ride in Nancy and Roger’s SUV than to bounce around on the 20 minutes boat ride each way. We jumped at the chance. 

The pool by the sea at the Lost Reef Resort.

Besides, we so enjoy their company, we knew the process of going to the Immigration Department (a two hour round trip drive) would once again be a delightful experience. It was.

This is our final visa for Belize: Once we disembarked the Celebrity Equinox on January 29, 2013, another only a few short weeks ago and the third and final today. Visas in Belize are extended for 30 days only. Based on our upcoming departure on April 9, 2013, there was no way to avoid a third visa. No exceptions are made at immigration.

Great photo of this darling couple, Nancy and Roger, who own the villa next door to us.

Leaving at 10:00 am this morning, we arrived in Big Creek at 11:00 am, behind a good sized line of others seeking to renew their visas as well. The tiny office only holds five tourists at a time, leaving us to wait outside in the 90 degree humidity. With little breeze, we anxiously squeezed into the tiny air conditioned space when our turn came up.

The immigration officer asked, “Why are you here so early when your visas are good until March 20th?” I giggled to myself. 

Guests relaxing at the Lost Reef Resort

Tom explained the time frames we are in Belize and she nodded in understanding, extending each of our visas inside our passports to April 12, 2013, when we’ll be long gone.

I couldn’t help but add, “Old people are always early,” in an effort to get a chuckle out of the overly serious immigration officer dressed in a military-type uniform. A wide grin spread over her face.  It worked.

Back in the SUV, Roger suggested lunch to which the three of us enthusiastically agreed that is on the way back to Placencia in the little town of Riverdale.  Owned by American friends, the Lost Reef Resort is a quaint, picturesque resort with an ambiance of relaxation away from the rest of the world.

 The restaurant at the Lost Reef Resort.

Often when dining out with my restricted diet, I tend to read and reread the menu looking for acceptable options.  No problem at the Lost Reef Resort. Their amiable chef was eager to please preparing a hearty grilled chicken salad with a wide array of fresh crisp vegetables. 

Nancy and Roger had what they described as delectable chicken wings and onion rings while Tom dined on a robust burger and fries (he “cheats” when we eat out).  Heir food was fresh, the service impeccable and the atmosphere charming. 

Lisa and her husband have owned a charming resort for seven years.

Lisa stopped by to visit our table, her warm demeanor, making us feel as if she’d known us forever. Seven years ago, she and her husband purchased the resort. He continues to work in the US splitting his time between the states and Belize, while Lisa stays behind running the resort. 

After lunch, we meandered out to the resort’s beach, only steps from the restaurant.

It’s not surprising that we’ve met several ex-pats that have found their way to Belize to begin anew in this land of white sand beaches, balmy ocean breezes, unique architecture, and friendly people. 

Unfortunately, for some ex-pats who buy or start a business in resort communities throughout the world, find themselves working harder and longer than they ever worked in their home country. The appearing idyllic life of “getting away from it all” is not always as easy a life as it may seem.  For others, it proves to be the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.

This adorable little guy stayed put allowing us to take this fine photo.

For us, we’ll stay on the move, making new friends, experiencing new cultures, and reveling in the gifts Mother Nature has bestowed on us all to savor each and every day.

More visas needed???…Check, check and recheck!…

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Our cruise company sent us this email message a few weeks ago:

“Dear Mrs. Lyman,

Thank you again for booking with Vacations To Go!

I wanted to send a quick email to remind you that one or more of the ports of
call, you will be visiting, will require a Visa.

If you are a U.S. citizen, U.S. permanent resident or a Canadian citizen
residing in Canada and have not contacted CIBT, to verify your visa
requirements for this sailing, please contact them as soon as possible.

All other, non-US or Canadian citizens must verify proof of citizenship, and
visa requirements with the embassy, consulate or immigration office of the
countries in their cruise itinerary.

Vacations To Go has partnered with CIBT, one of the nation’s largest passport
and visa services companies in the country, to assist U.S. citizens, permanent
residents and Canadian citizens in obtaining any required visas or a passport.
Visas may be purchased within six months of the start of the vacation but,
please be aware that for some countries it may take up to 30 days to secure a
visa.

If you are a US citizen or permanent resident and need to obtain a visa,
click here.

If you are a US citizen and need to obtain a passport, click here.

If you are a Canadian Citizen residing in Canada and need to obtain a visa,
click here.

For visa or passport questions, call CIBT customer service at 1-877-841-8602.
Be sure to identify yourself as a Vacations To Go customer and reference
account 45585. CIBT is available from 7:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. CST, Monday
through Friday.

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Sincerely,

Joaquin Contreras
Travel Counselor
Vacations To Go
jcontreras@vacationstogo.com“

We have total faith in our cruise counselor, Joaquin, and his company Vacations to Go for providing us with the most updated important information, superb customer service, and the best possible pricing.  I imagine, that the above letter is a standard letter sent to upcoming cruise passengers via the cruise lines on their behalf resulting in the “travel agents” presenting the information to their clients. 

Upon reading this letter, we followed the links to CIBT, a highly reputable visa and passport company per online reviews, the Better Business Bureau reports, and recommendations by VTG. 

Previously, we had used  VisaHQ, a company located on Embassy Row in Washington, DC in order to obtain our second passports (to find detailed information about the necessity of having a second US passport, please type “second passports” in the search box on our home page to go directly to our posts regarding the necessity of a second passport.)

With these links and information on hand, we proceeded to go to CIBT to set up an online account.  When asked, “what country will you be visiting?” I was stymied.  With four countries requiring a visa in our upcoming cruises through June 2013, my hope and expectation would be that we could apply for all four at once. 

Those countries requiring visas include Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates. The other dozen or more countries in our upcoming eight cruises in 2013 (two more scheduled so far for 2014) do not require a visa for stays under 30 days. 

The dilemma we faced after receiving this letter:
1.  To apply for a visa, one must send their passport to the processing company along with a stack of ancillary documents, based on each country’s particular requirements.
2.  To avoid paying extra processing fees, as much as $150 per visa, one may apply early to ensure the documents are received in time for the cruises and…to get one’s passport back with the documents. When we ordered our second passports they were sent to us by registered mail to our mailing service in Nevada which we picked up when we went to Las Vegas for Christmas.
3.  Thus, without having established an address here in Belize and the potential for slow transit from the US to Central America, it’s likely should we try to apply now for June, there’s a high risk of not receiving our passports and visas in time before we depart on April 9th.

After Tom and I discussed this at length, after confirming that we did in fact need visas for these four countries we’ll visit on our cruises from May to June, we came up with this plan:
1.  Complete all the paperwork while here using our portable printer and scanner.
2.  Begin the process of applying online while here, leaving out the mailing of our passports until we get to Miami on April 13th when our ship, the Carnival Liberty, docks at the Port of Miami for approximately 10 hours.  
3.  Grab a cab, heading directly to a UPS store near the pier, mail our documents registered mail to CIBT, pick up our forwarded awaiting mail and packages we’d pre-arranged to arrive on April 13th, mail our excess luggage to my sister in Los Angeles, get back on the ship and continue on to the next cruise.
4.  In the packet to CIBT, we’ll have requested the visa and 2nd passports to be sent to our hotel in Barcelona Spain, where we’ll stay one night, May 5th, boarding our 15-night cruise in the morning through the Suez Canal to see the Great Pyramids, Giza, Cairo, The Sphinx, and more (will post details later), where three of the four visas are required. 

Whew! This is cutting it very close…one night in Barcelona with documents being delivered in a very narrow window. Of course, the hotel would gladly hold the package for us for a few days.  But what if it didn’t arrive, or was lost? 

Suddenly, we both felt a twinge of stress.  Our only piece of mind would be to have them sent from the US to Barcelona, the quickest, most expensive way.  We were willing to bear this expense. And yet, there still was no guarantee.

Our goal thus far has been to keep stress at a minimum, avoiding that angst-ridden feeling one takes on in bed in the middle of the night, interrupting sleep, a familiar feeling from our “old lives”, a feeling that seems unavoidable in the hustle and bustle of daily life.  

Lounging on the veranda yesterday, creating a definitive plan we both could live with, a thought occurred to us simultaneously; let’s call CIBT explaining our dilemma and see what suggestions they may offer. 

Since we no longer have a cell phone plan, using Skype and SIM cards as needed, we knew we could call their toll-free number using Skype, incurring no cost at all.  We discovered much to our delight, that we can call any business in the US without incurring any costs, as long as they have a toll free number.  They answer on their regular phone systems while we call on Skype for free.  Nice.  Thanks, SKYPE!  

Dialing their toll-free number, we were connected to a representative within 30 seconds. The call was clear with a bit of an echo.  Explaining our dilemma to the representative, she asked us to kindly wait and she’d be right back.  Watching the clock on Skype, she returned in less than a minute asking us the names of the cruise lines for these two upcoming cruises.  We responded that the May 6th cruise was with Royal Caribbean and the second was with Norwegian Cruise Lines.

Again, we were on hold for a short time. She returned to the phone with glee in her voice, “I have good news for you!” We held our breath. “You will not need pre-arranged visas on either of your cruises. You’ll receive them on board your ship at the time you disembark to go on your excursions.  Both of these cruise lines have an arrangement with these countries to provide visas at their ports of call.”

We squealed with delight.  Tom, or shall I say, “doubting Thomas” wanted more verification of this, worrywart that he is.  Immediately, we contacted Joaquin, our cruise guy by email.  An hour later, we received an email confirming that CIBT is correct, we don’t need to obtain visas in advance for the four countries, not always the case, but in these particular two situations, we could relax.

Had we not “called” receiving this valuable information, we would have followed the procedures online, paying the expenses of upwards of $600, while dealing with the stress of the timing.

Who knows how to travel the world for 5-10 years or more, managing all the details, documents, financial and medical concerns?  We don’t.  But we’re learning, day by day in bite-sized pieces with so much more ahead of us.  We’ll flounder, we’ll make mistakes, we’ll trust when we shouldn’t and wrongfully mistrust when we should.

Lesson learned.

Visa extension day…sheer wonder!

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We rode on one of two identical boat across the lagoon to Mango Creek on the Hokey Pokey Water Taxi.

Initially perceived as a necessary responsibility laden experience, getting one of our two required visa extensions proved to be a fun filled day.  Having decided many months ago that creating an adventure out of what may appear to be mundane would greatly improve the possibility of a positive outcome.  Indeed., that’s true!

The hut where we waited to board the Hokey Pokey boat.

Only two and a half months ago while living in Scottsdale Arizona, preparing for our upcoming travels, Tom had to have his final dreaded colonoscopy and endoscopy.

As it turned out we ended up having a wonderful time, meeting the gastroenterologist in his office for not only great news on Tom’s results but a bird’s eye view of his wide array of photos he’d taken while on safari in Africa.  While admiring the quality of his photos, a lively conversation ensued that we’ll both remember for a long time to come….an otherwise unpleasant experience resulting in a memorable day.


While driving through the channel to the lagoon, we saw several of these houses on stilts, a common style in Belize with potential hurricanes and high tides.

His work inspired us to learn to take good photos along the way, a gift to ourselves and others who share in our passion of the treasures Mother Nature has bestowed upon us all, not only in exotic locales but in our everyday lives.

Today, was a venture out into our new everyday life…taking care of business.
Little camera in hand, our cab driver Estevan appeared at our door, promptly at 9:30 as planned to drive us the five miles to Placencia Village to the dock on the lagoon to the Hokey Pokey Water Taxi.

Estevan, what a guy!  Concerned that we might not get a knowledgeable cab driver, he started making phone calls, first to his wife to get the phone number for a cabbie he knows. “Vic” who works the Mango Creek pier was more than willing to  take us on the 10 minutes drive to Big Creek where the Immigration Department is located. 

Minutes later, he was talking to Vic, not only negotiating an equitable fare for us in advance, a mere $10 (US) round trip, but also asking that Vic would wait for us while we were in the Immigration office obtaining our 30 day extensions.  Wow!  Need I say that we were appreciative and impressed? 

Dropping us off at the tiny waiting area for the Hokey Pokey Water Taxi, Estevan suggested we met up in front of the local grocery store, The Ming at 1:30 so we could shop and perhaps find more available items.  A perfect plan.


The dock in Mango Creek where Vic picked up the five of us for the drive to the Immigration Department in Big Creek,

With Estevan’s phone number neatly tucked into my shorts pocket, we bought two one way tickets  US $6 for the boat ride to Mango Creek.  Scheduled to depart at 10:00 am, we waited patiently sitting on the wood benches in the shaded hut while more passengers purchased tickets. 

It was hot and humid.  We’d frozen two water bottles for the journey, later grateful for having done so.  As required we had our passports, ID, money and potentially required documents that we listed in yesterday’s post directly from the Belize Immigration office.  Based on comments from both locals and travelers, the likelihood of being asked for additional documentation was low. 

In our usual “be prepared just in case” way, brought along everything they asked for in their forms.  It’d be a shame to go all that way and expense to be asked for a document we didn’t have in our possession.  (When in line at Immigration, we observed that some others also had the myriad documents on hand). 

No, we weren’t asked for the additional documents.  In a month, when we return for the second extension, we’ll bring along the same package we prepared for today, just in case that we’re the one out of a hundred that is asked, we’ll be prepared.

Seventeen passengers were seated in the small boat with us which zoomed across the water with ease with its huge newer looking outboard motor humming along.  With such a load, the boat was low in the water.  We weren’t concerned as we enjoyed the cool breeze thumping across the massive lagoon to Mango Creek.

Sitting next to us, both in the hut and on the boat, was a delightful couple , Margaret and Fred from Switzerland with smooth as silk accents, whose daughter and grandchild lived in Placencia, visiting them every year.  They were not only familiar with the country of Belize but were experienced world travelers who’d spent considerable time living in Africa.  

Claus, Margaret, Jess and Fred, our newly met Visa Day companions.

The conversation with Margaret and Fred was enhanced by the four of us meeting yet another passenger, Claus from Germany, who recently moved to Placencia with his wife and young child.  They all asked if they could ride in our prearranged cab, Vic’s large van, for the ensuing trip through Mango Creek and onward to Big Creek, the location of the Immigration Department.

Arriving at the dock in Mango Creek around 10:15 am, Vic was looking for us.  Estevan, thank you!!!  Quickly agreeing to take the five of us, we were on the road for the 10 minute drive to Big Creek.  The conversation among the five of us made the time fly by not only along the ride to and fro but the 25 minutes total it took for the five of us to get our passports stamped.

We made it back to the pier in Mango Creek at 11:05 and thank goodness, the return boat had yet to depart.  Waving goodbye to our newly found “friends”, Tom and I took off on foot from the pier to walk along the busy main road of the village to for a stop at a local vegetable stand, to a bank to exchange US $100  money to Belizian money (Belize $1.98 for US $1.00) to eventually end up at The Ming grocery to hook up with Estevan for the ride back to Laru Beya, our temporary home.

The stop at the vegetable stand was more fulfilling than I could imagine.  With no marked prices on any of the fresh organic produce we loaded up all we could carry and use over the next 9 days until Estevan returns to take us grocery shopping again.  Imagine, we purchased all of these items for a total of $12!  Fresh, organic, Roundup free, vegetables in the natural colors intended by nature, not chemically induced to be darker and brighter.

  • 2 pounds of carrots
  • 2 large heads of cabbage
  • 3 pounds of green beans
  • 3 large onions
  • 2 medium size eggplants
  • 2 pounds of pea pods
  • 1 large zucchini
Tom in the vegetable stand bagging up our produce.  We couldn’t have been more enthusiastic about our loot, all for only $12

Fresh produce!!  We couldn’t have been more thrilled.  As we’ve discovered, with only occasional carrots, cabbage, onions and peppers in most grocery stores, our selection has been limited.  Without wheels and the cost of a cab into Placencia at $20 plus tip, we’d decided it greatly added to our otherwise ample grocery store budget of $800 a month (dining out adds another $700 a month). 

Thus, we’ve limited ourselves to canned vegetables and homemade home chopped coleslaw which we now have made as a staple in our diet.  With lettuce at the vegetable stand, we looked at each other wondering if we wanted lettuce salad, shaking our heads “no”. We decided to stick with our standby coleslaw using our homemade dressing.  I make it early in the day, to ensure its ice cold by dinner.

In the future, we’ll go shopping in the village which has a much wider selection than the few stores we’ve frequented in the past.  On the return trip, Estevan offered to take us to the village going forward for $15 round trip enabling us to select from a wider range of foods. We purchased enough food today at a cost of $190 to get us through until a week from Wednesday when Estevan returns.  Of course, we gave him an ample tip, appreciative for all that he did for us.

Back in our villa, we put the food away, content with our purchases and locked up our documents in our built-in safe.  I began preparing dinner for tonight, a fresh batch of coleslaw, a giant bowl of chicken salad using the leftover chicken from last night along with big plate of buttery steamed green beans.

We’ll go back on the Hokey Pokey by March 20th to extend our visa for the remaining 20 days until we sail away on April 9th.  Now, for our much anticipated vegetable laden dinner, a sense of satisfaction for another great day and an evening with a full moon. 

Humm…maybe we’ll get a few good shots tonight! Check back tomorrow to see!