An update from Matt

Here's an email we just received from Matt.

Hello all,

My apologies for the long delay. It's been a serious whirlwind the last week or so. I'm in the airport heading to Guadeloupe from Dominica. Everything is going very well. I'm extremely pleased with the images I'm getting. Probably the best work I've yet done. DOminica is an amazing island that has one of the largest remaining untouched rain forests on earth. 70% of the island is still untouched. The main highway is a dirt road in many places. A few days ago we visited a waterfall tucked up in the jungle. There were actually 2 falls spilling down a 200 ft. cliff, both separated by thick jungle. The fall on the left was hot (everything is volcanic down here) and the fall on the right was cold. At the base were numerous hot springs - some half hot, half cold - for soaking. It was surreal. After shooting, we soaked in an amazing pool surrounded by thick jungle with sunlight streaming in through the leaves. Tourism is in it's infancy here, so the experience is pretty authentic. The only downside being that the villagers can be pretty aggressive at times with begging. I paid for pictures yesterday for the first time. A fisherman invited us over to where he and his brother were cleaning fish, making gestures with his hands like he was taking pictures. We went to where they were working and started shooting a bit ( I did expect to give him a small tip) and when we were done he asked for 20 Eastern Caribbean dollars, or 10 U.S.! We had a little debate (he was getting pretty angry, actually), and settled for 6. I wasn't too happy about the deal, but oh well. The pictures are pretty nice. 

I took a break from writing this email to fly on over to Guadeloupe where I'm now sitting on the front porch of our guesthouse. It's expensive here - another French island - and the island is huge. Today we'll explore the capital and some of the beaches. Again, the contrast between this island and the last couldn't be bigger. Dominca was completely rural, and not much smaller than Guadeloupe, with vast areas of untouched rainforest and a population of less than 100,000. Guadeloupe has 500,000 people and is almost entirely developed, aside from the mountainous national park, with highways, 2 big cities, totally modern amenities, and resorts everywhere. I must say, I'm glad that places like Dominica still exist. So far it's the one island that I've seen so far that I could imagine returning to. I really hope the developers stay clear away from that one.

Martinique was amazing as well. We climbed an incredible active volcano called Mont Pelee. It erupted in 1902, killing everyone in the then capital of Martinique (32,000) aside from one man, a prisoner trapped in a dungeon safe from the noxious gases and scorching heat. Climbing it is an incredible experience. It's about 10 miles round-trip, with a side hike into the caldera, which is now a quiet garden-like rainforest with very unusual plants. Many of which I'd never seen before. The clouds are constantly swirling around the peak, so the views aren't very good. It was a little disconcerting when the clouds broke while hiking along a knife edge ridge and the ocean shows up 4,000ft. below on one side, and the sheer 400ft. cliffs into the caldera show up on the other. It made for spectacular and frantic moments while we tried to get pictures before the fog closed in just seconds later. What was especially interesting was how, since the clouds always sweep over the mountain from the south, the north slope is in a sort of eddy, and once there you can watch tremendous cloud formations spill off the upper slopes above you and sail thousands of feet down towards the Caribbean just a few hundred feet over your head. The scene was almost disconcerting. I hard a hard time getting my eyes to discern space and sky from the sea. We were exhausted, soaked (just from being in the clouds - no rain), and covered in mud once we got back to the car. 

The next day, once back in the little village of St. Pierre that was destroyed by the volcano, we happened onto an impromptu dance parade by the locals, which we followed around for about an hour in the sunset light. The pictures are awesome, with traditional dress, good light, and lots of color. The drum beats were both mesmerizing and moving.

Once I get some stuff edited, I send it out. I've been up since 3:30am, so getting pretty tired. It was a long, long drive through the jungle to get to the little airstrip for our 7:30 flight, and our driver showed up early. Being completely dependent on him to catch our flight we had to run out the door in the darkness so as not to miss him. To say I need some coffee is an understatement. "No rest for the weary" has become our motto down here in the Carib!!!

Love to all,

Matt

Cards

Yesterday we were asked by some friends if we play Court Whist.  I've heard of Whist but never played it and definitely never heard of "Court" Whist.  Turns out it is a fairly simple card game played with partners like bridge or pinochle.The big change is that there is no bidding involved.  The trump suit is determined and you don't have to trump if you don't have to.  So off we went at 7 last night to play Court Whist with 46 other players.  The fun part was that your partner and opponents change after 4 hands are played so you meet new people all evening.  And there are variations in how the trump card is selected and how each hand is played.  There are four hands where there are no trump and you try to lose each trick.  At the end you get your opponents score.  That was a tough one.  And of course my hands with the most high cards were during this segment.  Arghh.  Then there were four hands where you couldn't say anything at all.  If you did, you were penalized 3 points.  Someone at my table made that mistake.
Through the night each person keeps track of his or her score and the top five scores at the end of the night get a part of the pot (everyone puts a quarter in at the beginning).  Oh, and the loser gets his quarter back.  Val and I were neither the winners nor the loser.  But it really was fun and we'll be back next week.

And I'l leave you with an early morning scene from our rear window. 

Family updates

Here are a few updates on the family.

Val's sister Joanie is still in re-hab, but consciously moved her left arm for the first time just a couple of days ago.  That's wonderful!!

Emily is studying to be a real estate rental agent in Queens.  Mariam is her expert teacher with all the experience, so we're expecting great things.  Of course the several feet of snow doesn't help.

And Matt is in the Caribbean shooting the National Geographic travel book.  His girlfriend, Uliana, just arrived so they will travel together for the rest of the project.  Here's a picture he sent us today.  Sorry to see he looks so unhappy....

Plans for this year

West coast.  Alaska.  West coast.  Alaska.  It's a very hard decision.  We have several good friends who want us to travel to Alaska with them for the summer.  We have a west coast trip planned, much like the one we had to cancel last year, but it's tempting to take the plunge and head north.  Really far north that is.  It's been Val's dream to spend time in Alaska, but we thought we would wait a couple of years so that we had some RV experience under our belts.  This past year had its major set-backs, so we still feel a little unsettled about a trip that big.
There are so many things to consider.  Rig preparation is a big one.  We don't have a solar setup or large battery bank yet, so we would have to run the Honda generator if we wanted to boondock for any period of time. And I think we would want to boondock a fair amount in Alaska.  Another concern is family worries with aging parents, etc.  And of course there is the money aspect.  Another 6000 miles of travel above Seattle Washington adds just a tad to the fuel bill, especially with diesel prices going ever higher.  But then on the other side is the chance to travel to ALASKA!  With friends.  Right away.  Arghhh!  What to do....

King's Point

Another Saturday.  Another Pickleball Tournament.
This one was at King's Point and was a 15 minute timed round robin style.  It's been interesting to see the different tournament types since I'm used to a standard tournament with  brackets getting smaller until the winner is decided.  Either way, it was a fun but long day that started at 6:30 AM and ended after 8:00 PM.  Of course that included a dinner at Paul's, a local restaurant known for it's good and very bountiful food.  We had eaten breakfast there before (their $1.99 two egg, meat, hash browns, and biscuit deal) but never had dinner.  After playing all day without eating lunch, I got the jumbo top sirloin steak with 21 fried shrimp, soup, salad, baked potato, peas, rice .and bread.  All for $14.95.  Amazing.  The steak was huge and I brought 3/4 of it home. Val got the same sides with fried grouper.  What a great local place to eat when you're too tired to cook.

And in case you think we don't put a lot of effort into hitting the ball, check out our feet...

And getting back to the tournament, my partner Dean and I were undefeated but took second place because another undefeated team had won a few more points than us.  This left us a little frustrated since a quick match would have determined who was the best team (us!).  Oh well.

In women's doubles, Val's partner was sick so they substituted an 11 year old boy who really held up to the competition.  Matches were tough, but he and Val took third place.  Not bad at all.

In mixed doubles,Val  and I played together (fairly unusual for married couples, I wonder why...) and we won the first two out of three matches.  In our second match, we faced some friends that we know from Thousand Trails (and excellent players), but Val played the best pickleball of her life and we won handily.  It was great to see Val really relax and play to her potential.  Unfortunately, we came out a little flat after another hour wait and lost the last match which took us out of contention. But that was fine.  We were tired and hungry and ready to get on the road.  All in all a fun day.