TravelStream™ news feed for member passionfruit on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/passionfruit en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:23:46 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/tobago_2007/1185673860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/tobago_2007/1185673860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/tobago_2007/1185673860/tpod.html Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:23:46 -0400 Celebrating Jonines/Ligo/Jani in: Jaunkurzeme...Tobago. A land once owned by Latvian Courlanders in the 17th Century...

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Great courland Bay - Turtle Beach, Trinidad and Tobago

This is where the Latvian Courlander Gathering takes place every 2 years, celebrating the history of the 17th C. Latvian settlement headed by Duke Jakubas.  Several place names in Tobago are Latvian in origin: Courland Bay, Liepaja, Runnemede, Kursu Licis, etc.  There is a permanent exhibit at the Turtle Rex Hotel showing the artifacts and historical literature of that period.  The Turtle Rex Hotel is a great place to stay - right on the beach, where each night during turtle season, you will see at least one Leatherback Turtle coming on shore to lay eggs.  These turtles are a protected species and were near extinction a few years ago, but now are more in numbers.  Their size of shell length can reach up to 7 ft!  Their head is as big as a human head, and does not retract into the shell.  It is that primitive!  We couldn't photos while we observed them though, so I scanned in a postcard to show their scale.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/tobago_2007/1185723060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/tobago_2007/1185723060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/tobago_2007/1185723060/tpod.html Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:12:44 -0400 Celebrating Jonines/Ligo/Jani in: Jaunkurzeme...Tobago. A land once owned by Latvian Courlanders in the 17th Century...

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Jani - Jonines - Turtle Beach - Great Courland Bay, Trinidad and Tobago

June 23rd - the longest day of the year.  Not so much a big difference in the amount of daylight when you are in Tobago, because of it's closeness to equator.  The days of the year have pretty much the same sunrise/sunset time.  In preparation of Jani, we picked flowers to make our wreaths for the midnight festivities from farmland across the road from the hotel.  A farmer and his bull were curious as to why we were picking vegetation on his property - but all was well - he had a machete, but since we were harmless, no need to be alarmed. 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/haiti_-_2007/1194207060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/haiti_-_2007/1194207060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/haiti_-_2007/1194207060/tpod.html Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:39:48 -0500 Byenveni a la Republique d'Ayiti - The first black republic in modern world history.

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Jacmel, Haiti

We spent 2 days in Jacmel (Jakmèl or Yaquimel), a haitian beach town on the Carribean side of the island of Hispaniola.  On route, through the winding mountain roads, we saw people walking alongside visiting each other, chatting, exchanging goods, and bathing in the black water of the street gutter...The hotel we stayed at, Cap Lamandou, was a good place despite the power outages each night.  The food was great.  I had delicious pumpkin stew for breakfast made by Mimi. The other foreigners there were UN police officers and Christian missionaries.  The swimming pool here too was clean and refreshing from the heat as the day touring was building up a sweat! The beach below was not a private beach, and as such, it was a bit polluted with organic matter, so we didn't go past ankle deep to feel the waters.  The interests in town included a colorful haitian funeral parlor, artist studios, steelpan drum masks and wall decor, tasty goat cuisine, and voudou temples.  Because of our local escort Pascal, we were able to enter into these places and take few photos with permission. On the last night we were entertained by 4 musicians, as the lightning approached from the Dominican Republic.  We were told of a forecast for rain that night.  So I was hoping that at least the rain would hold off for our drive back to Port-au-Prince on Sunday, as mudslides are common.  The travel back was good - roads were clear.  Not until I arrived back to New York City late that Sunday, did I catch on the news that this rain - was really forecasted as a tropical storm "Noel" - later to become a hurricane!  Fortunately for me, my flight happened to be the last one out of Haiti.  Hours later the airport was closed for days.  I was relieved to hear my friends who stayed back there, survived the storm's mudslides. I made it to my first day at work as scheduled, but often thought about the people who died there, and how Kristina was now helping mudslide survivors.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/haiti_-_2007/1194206100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/haiti_-_2007/1194206100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/haiti_-_2007/1194206100/tpod.html Wed, 07 Nov 2007 19:35:39 -0500 Byenveni a la Republique d'Ayiti - The first black republic in modern world history.

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Petionville, Haiti

We stayed overnight in Pétion-Ville, a town in the mountains up from Port-au-Prince.  Our hotel, El Rancho, was a very nice accommodation, where ex-pats often stay.  Just down the road are street vendors selling various metal artwork and Vodon religion icons (where I bought a few!).  The trucks used for locals as taxis are called "Tap-Taps" - One was carrying passengers to a dinner, with their goats hanging upside down on the outside of the tap-tap - while alive...So it appears they prefer to eat fresh meat.  So although the goats were "ba-ahhhing" in agony, strung upside down, it was a normal event for locals.  That was probably the most upsetting thing I saw while in that town... Other than that, I was impressed with the UN presence.  Besides the handsome Croatian officer on my flight from NY, who took a suspicious bag off of our plane, in Haiti the officers, be they from Brazil, Montreal Canada, or Croatia were all very handsome...Too bad we couldn't socialize with them!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/haiti_-_2007/1194203280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/haiti_-_2007/1194203280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/haiti_-_2007/1194203280/tpod.html Tue, 06 Nov 2007 20:50:13 -0500 Byenveni a la Republique d'Ayiti - The first black republic in modern world history.

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Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Upon arrival and departure, we drove through crowded parts of the city, stopping occassionally to jump out quickly for a photograph.  Most of the photos you'll see from Port-au-Prince are taken from inside our vehicle. In order to get our attention for dollars, often times the local people, especially children, attempted to hang on to our doors while we kept moving. They also would attempt to jump into the vehicle if the door was opened or unlocked - even for a second. So we tried to be careful.  However, some locals got offended when they saw us take a couple photos from inside the vehicle.  It was important not to take any photos of particularily upsetting views so as not to offend them.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/haiti_-_2007/1194224760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/haiti_-_2007/1194224760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/haiti_-_2007/1194224760/tpod.html Tue, 06 Nov 2007 20:47:20 -0500 Byenveni a la Republique d'Ayiti - The first black republic in modern world history.

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My Place, New Jersey, United States

After I returned home, I found a niche in my apartment for Erzulie. 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/haiti_-_2007/1194208560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/haiti_-_2007/1194208560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/haiti_-_2007/1194208560/tpod.html Tue, 06 Nov 2007 20:46:52 -0500 Byenveni a la Republique d'Ayiti - The first black republic in modern world history.

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Mountains, Haiti

These are photos taken from the mountain-sides on Sunday October 28th, along the route back to Port-au-prince airport from Jacmel (approx. 3 hour drive).  Deforestation explains the browned landscape at higher elevations, a likely contributing factor for mudslides during rain storms.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/haiti_-_2007/1194206700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/haiti_-_2007/1194206700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/haiti_-_2007/1194206700/tpod.html Tue, 06 Nov 2007 20:45:23 -0500 Byenveni a la Republique d'Ayiti - The first black republic in modern world history.

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Roadtrip to Jacmel, Haiti

roadtrip!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/haiti_-_2007/1194224640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/haiti_-_2007/1194224640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/haiti_-_2007/1194224640/tpod.html Sun, 04 Nov 2007 20:04:51 -0500 Byenveni a la Republique d'Ayiti - The first black republic in modern world history.

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Port-au-prince, Haiti

PAP
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/catskills_ny_07/1194137520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/catskills_ny_07/1194137520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/passionfruit/catskills_ny_07/1194137520/tpod.html Sat, 03 Nov 2007 20:53:06 -0400 American Latvian artist gathering in the Catskill mountains of New York.

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Tannersville, New York, United States

Tannersville
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