Kernie and I were to go to Portugal, Spain, and France these last few weeks— a new trip that replaced a cancelled trip last year. On Memorial Day, I got a call from Vantage Travel telling me this rescheduled trip was CANCELLED. It was to start June 5. My read on this company is that they are going bankrupt.
I had built a lot of interest in this trip—it was unusual: a small ocean going vessel hops up the Western Coastline of Europe with daily stops and then ending in England. In the spirit of enjoying life, I offer up the itinerary and some perspectives and stories flowing through the weeks of non-travel in an effort to develop a perspective.
June 5, 2023. This was the day we were to fly to Lisbon. We had a ride to the airport arranged. We were going to be able to use the lounge in the airport. We had great seats—for Kernie, this was almost as good as the actual European itinerary.
On this day, I got a final email today from “Tom Spencer” asking that we sign off on the offer that we declined earlier in May. This was the second shady business I had touched in less than a month. Tom had reached out to me with an extraordinary offer: a businessman in Mexico wanted to get controlling interest in the the company I have a time share with in Puerto Vallarta. I was incredulous as AARP and the internet have peppered me with information that makes clear that my time share is not worth much money—to anyone. I am luckier than most in possession of a Mexican time-share. Kernie and I used a small inheritance in 1986 and bought into this company when our children were quite small. Subsequently visiting Mexico once a year as a family over thirty years turned out to be one of the best decisions we ever made. Given our age, we are traveling less and the offer being too good to be true led to a further discussion with Tom (in “Boston”) and another agent (the “escrow officer” in St Louis). The websites of both men looked legitimate as I googled those businesses. I sent a copy of my contract with the time share company and was offered more than twice what I paid for it. The escrow account “on hold” had our name on it and over $20,000, just waiting to be collected. All we needed to do was sign forms. I kept thinking, if it is too good to be true, it probably is. The clincher? One detail — to sell the property, I needed to be registered with the Mexican Government whose department dealt with international business. “The taxes must be accounted for,” was Tom’s point. They offered their lawyers to secure the license which costs about $4,000. I did not have to go that route; I could fly to Mexico City and secure the license or perhaps go to the Mexican consulate in Seattle but in that case, I probably, “should bring a lawyer.”
We declined noting that we still find use for the time share and continue to love Puerto Vallarta. I thought the request that we sign off on our decision to decline a few weeks later was a nice touch, especially when the news that day reported that eight Mexican Nationals were found murdered and dismembered in Guadalajara: they had tried to get out of their employment by a cartel which was in the business of luring time share owners from Puerto Vallarta to sell their properties and be relieved of their money in a variety of ways. I hope “Tom” is OK; he seemed like a pleasant good natured young man.
June 6, 2023: Lisbon was sunny and hot! Olympia’s weather was milder ie mid seventies. Kernie and I took a long bike ride and enjoyed the countryside. Too hot for weeding or gardening, I settled into a complex jig saw puzzle.
June 7, 2023: Lisbon city tour day. We have been to Lisbon twice before and love the city so much, another city tour was welcome (my photo on Facebook is with a main street and the harbor of Lisbon in the background). We had a surprise this day. Our friends the Knudsons, knowing that our trip was cancelled offered up a dinner at their house. Bob is a fantastic cook and when we arrived, I learned that he had researched and prepared a special Portuguese dish: a fish stew. It was fantastic and accompanied by no less than four choices of Portuguese wine. The dinner was excellent and the company quite helpful as we wandered over past travels, the state of the union, and again, the wonderful summer-like weather that allowed us to eat outside.
June 8, 2023. Kernie and I joined my friend John Merslich for a fine bike ride from Priest Point Park to Boston Harbor, Fishtrap Loop, and back. I was the slow man of the three of us.
This was the day we were to see the Queluz Palace and drive to Sintra and Cascais. I have never been to Sintra and hope I have an option some day. On this day, my news feed reminded me that no fewer that 500,000 foreign nationals (10,000 of them citizens of the USA) have been lured to live in Portugal which, according to advertising, is quite affordable, has a wonderful climate, a welcoming warm ambience, and relatively inexpensive housing. Retiring in Portugal is something I read about fairly often. Portugal has roughly ten million people, so 5% of the population in the last twelve years has been grown with foreigners. That influx has caused some tensions: real estate is increasingly scarce and getting expensive. People there do not reliably speak English and on this day, a featured American complained that her unusual eye condition diagnosed in the USA could not be taken seriously by her Portuguese eye doctor. With her inability to secure permanent housing, the video shows her surrounded with cardboard boxes, declaring that she is homeless, and heading back home.
Bless her little heart!
June 9, 2023. Porto can be rainy. My weather forecaster tells me that Porto reached the lower seventies with a chance of rain that day. Porto, visited once before, is one of the most interesting cities I have ever seen. The visuals, ambience, and walking were a reward in and of themselves. I will definitely find my way back there someday. For today, in Olympia, it rained more than expected and we made it a Costco day, meeting up with our friends the Smiths who invited us to their house for dinner the next night. This not going to Europe is working out dinner-wise! I had a Costco hot dog which would not have been available in Porto. I did have an expresso on arriving home to make up for that.
June 10, 2023. The port city for this day was to be Vigo (72 degrees with intermittent clouds and chance of lightening storms). This was the day we were to finally see Santiago de Compostela. This is an iconic city associated with the Camino de Compostela which is a pilgrimage dating back to the middle ages. This pilgrimage requires walking for weeks depending on where you start; I respect that. A previous visit to Fátima made my Episcopal upbringing react violently as I witnessed tired, thin, poor people climbing many steps on their knees and where one could purchase a wax effigy of any body part which was to be used as an offering with a prayer for deliverance from your very real diseased body part.
One can walk the Camino de Compostela officially (with documents stamped along the way) and the goal is to walk it and end in a contemplative mood in Santiago where St James is said to be buried. I have enjoyed talking to friends and patients regarding this walk and have aspired to it but am not likely to ever do it which reflects both the state of my body and of my lack of medieval spirituality. (Said with great humility, by the way).
We walk with Amber and discuss Semester At Sea—I used a diary from our 1994 trip and generated a volume of memoirs for both her and Darby this Christmas. She greatly enjoyed it and the change that trip brought her—We all see it as the story of the ugly duckling turning into the glorious swan that she became.
June 11, 2023. Oveido: weather there this day: mid 70’s. The dogs get another walk and we link up in the afternoon to play card games with Tres and Amber. My luck with the new games, SkyJo and SkipBo pretty much follow the pattern I had with Uno. I was bottom of the barrel despite my many years of education and innate intelligence.
June 12. San Sebastian; one of Europe’s best cities I am told.. Mid 70’s chance of rain. On this day, we bike hard! My smart watch tells me I pushed it hard enough to stand down for the next 56 hours. I had made a date and had lunch with friend Liz to catch up on health, grandkids, and old work acquaintances. We shared our vision of what planning is needed for the next ten years and while we have ideas in common, have no specific action plans. With my first Spanish lesson in two weeks, I do a translation on an article about the “Adelitas” of the Mexican Revolution and write a short paragraph in Spanish about why the heart is spared with respect to primary cancer—that is to say, primary cancers of the heart are exceptionally rare and there is a theory for this.
El corazón puede ser maligno pero es muy raro. Es tan raro que no hay investigaciones sobre la causa. Estos cáncers se llaman “sarcomas” y en otros partes del cuerpo, cuando son malignos, causan la muerte. De nota: el corazón es muy resistente al cáncer; hay una teoría que lo explica. Las células se diferencian temprano y después no se reproducen. No hay un ciclo para reproducir las células que mueren como las células de la piel o el aparato digestivo. Porque no se reproduce/reemplaza el corazón se esfuerza para curarse. Después de un ataque del corazón no hay tejido nuevo del musculo, sólo una cicatriz. Sin la reproducción de nuevo, las células no tienen la oportunidad de convertirse al cáncer. No puede sanar-no puede contraer cáncer—un equilibrium de vida…….
June 13 2023; cloudy and windy in Olympia. This was to have been the first of two days in Bordeaux, France where it is in the mid 80’s! I had a little fantasy about this part of the trip. My mother (Lethe) met a widower whose wife had been French and lived near Bordeaux. When he dated Lethe, he took her to France and the experience found her twitterpated. She fell in love with this guy in her mid seventies. Her little Coronado house had a few watercolors that painted a lovely picture of life on the Dordogne and surrounding hillsides. Forget the wine, I wanted to feel the source of twitterpation as it was a really nice change to see in her. I will hopefully find a friend(s) to help out on the missing Bordeaux wine experience. Reality check: I finish a complex jigsaw puzzle and reflect on how it, and social media really do have parallels with cocaine use…….
Having finished the puzzle, I embark on an independent move to cook dinner solo. One of vacation’s greatest rewards for Kernie, again, is not having to think about preparing meals. Trader Joe’s Korean Ribs, salad, and torta rolls fill the bill and are done in less than half an hour.
June 14, flag day. Lethe’s birthday! I am asked to lead the Pledge of Allegiance at Rotary and given the day, introduce it with the salute to flag day (all the flags out on Orange Avenue in Coronado were, as I was told in Kindergarten, out to celebrate Lethe’s birthday). All the business people in Rotary were impressed that I would know this! Spanish class ensues and then a walk with the dogs. This Wednesday culminates with a celebration of beer in downtown Olympia with retired friends. We cover when we first got drunk ( and with what exactly), Kentucky and Scottish whiskey tours, the electric car market and relative advantages and disadvantages depending on the climate you live in. How should roads be maintained if the gas tax revenues decline with more and more electric vehicles? The European model will be to check odometers and tax those. I object! This will require a large bureaucracy to manage it and there are simpler ways to fund roads. Consider taxing the curb weight of cars—that will get electric and get SUV’s /big trucks —and the weight likely contributes to road wear as much as mileage does. We talk about what to do for three days in Iceland (not happening any time soon). And of course, how are the wives doing these days?
June 15. Belle Ile: Sort of like a treeless San Juan Island I think. This was to be bike day enjoying the sights off Brittany. Weather? Low 70’s intermittent clouds. We biked (in Olympia) in nice weather and recovered enough to attend a charity dinner at the local community college where the students of cuisine prepared an outstanding meal that was paired with a variety of wines. I point out to Kernie that one of the perks of a nice vacation is not thinking of what to prepare for dinner. I recounted that easily half the days we would have been in Europe have found us not having to prepare a meal. She smiles. This was a singularly nice meal and the students were applauded at the end of the meal as we recognized that this was their graduation project.
Kernie mused over an article that found a woman complaining about the burden of having to feed the parents of the fifty kids invited to her child’s birthday party. I find myself seeing a parallel with our indigenous brothers who in the end saw the end to their way of life and that there was no going back……..we all must move on even knowing things are not as they should be.
June 16, Brest: 75 and sunny; Brest is in Brittany and best known to me for the siege that occurred there in WWII after the Normandy landings. It was the closest functioning port to the landing beaches and it was captured in mid September three months after D day.That had to seem like a long time to those on the ground. It was a Stalingrad-like, a house to house final battle. The city/port were totally destroyed. Famously when the German general surrendered, he asked his counterpart, General Canham for his credentials (those old school German Generals were certainly something else!). For a response, General Canham pointed to his infantrymen. “Those are my credentials.”
For our part a cloudy Olympia found us getting vaccinated for non-covid diseases and doing chores before the weekend.
June 17: Saint Malo and Monte Saint Michel: 70 Degrees with rain tonight. The image of Mt St Michele has danced before me since childhood and I thought this would be it. Henry Adams, eat your heart out! Not this time. At home in the clouds and coming rain, a reaction to the vaccine kept us homebound after a trial of walking the dog and a visit to the farmer’s market where our Olympia culture was true to form: a three piece band was playing an instrumental Grateful Dead tune. Trader Joe’s will save us at dinner time one last time. Waking up from a nap, Kernie laughed realizing that for perhaps the fourth year in a row we had forgotten. “Happy Anniversary,” she said as I gathered my wits.
#45. Monte St Michele……..
June 18: We would have awakened in Pool England and been bused to Windsor and then London. Kernie and I were fortunate to have been in London last summer and might have caught up on some of the sights that were closed secondary to the Queen’s passing. We will find a way back to say our proper good byes, sometime in the next few years.
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