26 Diciembre 2012 – Chitre : To, In, and Around
Ola —
We awoke in the clouds at Cerro La Vieja… and after a fairly good breakfast, we walked the grounds which are truly spectacular. This would be a fantastic place if they could get the food act together. I think the problem is that the chef leaves at 6 pm which is why they needed to know what we wanted to eat by 6 pm… although we weren’t going to come to the restaurant until after 8. He must cook it and then it sits around until you come to eat .. at that point the young server re-heats the meal.. and voila.. it appears at your table like a piece of rubber… At least breakfast was simple and freshly prepared.
After a nice stroll, with the sun coming in and out, we headed to the next adventure. We thought we’d take a small road (they are all small, but this was more of a dirt road) to see if we could circle back to Penonome in the opposite direction… toward Tubare and La Pintada (towns on the map, about which we know nothing since we no longer have the guidebook — left in Panama City on that black shelf and the Internet brings up just about nothing)… so we headed out on the dirt road, but as the road got increasingly difficult we asked some people if it was the right road, and no one seemed to be able to give us much information… Two people said to go the other way — back to Penonome and then to head to these towns.. So we decided to take the more direct route.. to Chitre through Penonome. By the way, driving includes going over quite old bridges that have unsecured small metal plates that bounce up and get out of place when you drive over them.
Along the way we saw a few life-sized stuffed dummies which looked a little like Richard Nixon.. with a Pinocchio nose.. carrying a full size brief case with a dollar sign. Naturally, I stopped to photograph and the people in the house came out.. I asked who it was and found out it was Martinelli, President of Panama — From what I have read, Martinelli ran for President in 2004 as the candidate for the Democratic Change Party and lost badly. But in 2009 he ran again and made promises to decrease corruption and violent crime.. He also spent about $35 million on his campaign (obviously learned a lot about elections when he was in the US where he went to military school and college). So, he won by double digits — defeating the ruling Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD)-People’s Party coalition. Their candidate was accused of having some affiliation with Noriega and was also called a Chavista (supporter of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez). I gather his popularity has declined significantly.. and thus a little protest is unfolding — way up in the mountains! Nice to see political involvement… and I gather the people I chatted with are left-leaning.
Eventually, we made it to Penonome.. and on to Chitre.. Not much to report on the drive or about Chitre… But we did have an interesting experience as we attempted to locate a restaurant that people raved about on the Internet — Bistrot Paname — GPS is only working intermittently on both iPad and iPhone.. so there’s a lot of “mmmmm… maybe this road..” and “maybe that one..” Fortunately all of these places are really small so generally you can’t stray too far afield.
We are staying at the Gran Azuero Hotel, which is not quite as grand as the name. It’s on the main drag.. and basically it’s fine. Our room overlooks the hotel pool and we are on the second floor. It’s fairly new. The hotel has three floors, but somehow they are only now installing an elevator, making the lobby area a bit of a mess, and also making it difficult to get to our room with our bags… But otherwise all is well.
We asked at the desk when we arrived about the Bistrot Paname (Internet descriptions rave about the food and atmosphere).. but they never heard of it. I showed them the location on my iPad, but they were unsure.. then we tried to call, but even in my poor Spanish I understood the recording to say it was a wrong number. We asked the desk to call, but they have no way to get phone numbers so they dialed the same number and got the same response.
After we toured Chitre… getting stuck in traffic and a maze of commercial streets, we decided to try to find the restaurant ourselves, to see if it would be open tonight.. Naturally we got very very lost but got a good sense of different neighborhoods here in Chitre. We thought we were following the blow up map of the city that Google Maps provided… but alas we got nowhere…
What makes things really difficult as I mentioned earlier is that there are NO street signs.. unless people make them themselves and hang them up, but that is pretty rare and also totally inconsistent, so it’s hard to know what a street sign would even look like (shape, color, size, font).. I think we’ve seen just two street signs all day (both handmade).. We sort of gave up… but when we got back to the hotel at about 5 pm decided to ask again at the front desk… This time the woman said while she didn’t know the restaurant she could explain from the Google map how to get there.. so she drew her own map with little local landmarks — a mosque, a store owned by someone from China, a school, etc. — and we followed that little hand-drawn map to a T… and lo and behold there was the restaurant.. or at least the remains of a restaurant. ..on a little residential street. Talked with a neighbor and apparently they moved the restaurant to Las Tablas.. a town about 30 miles from here.
So we will head to dinner at a little local hangout close to the hotel called Memories! We shall see.
Tomorrow we have the longest driving day of the trip… from here to Boquete, in the coffee growing region. The drive should be pleasant and hopefully it will be cooler than it is here in Chitre.
It’s evening now.. so I’m going to do a bit of work before dinner.. and then we have a long day.
Just finished dinner at Memories which was actually good, but we never ate so much meat in one sitting. Portions were huge.
The elevator installation people are back at work, along with the guy applying stucco to the wall. It’s 10 pm, so I assume union rules don’t go over too well here. Also OSHA watch out — His “scaffolding” is an empty paint can on which he is standing… no protection.. But lots of onlooking “supervisors”…
More tomorrow from Boquete, if there is Wi-Fi.
Fern
December 25, 2012 – Casco Viejo a Cerro la Vieja en las montanas
December 25, 2012: Casco Viejo a Cerro La Vieja en las montanas (Sent on December 26.. due to absolutely NO connection at Cerro La vieja)
Ola y Feliz Navidad de un locacion remoto (lejano) en Panama —
First — apologies to all Spanish speakers… I’m doing my best.. and I cannot find tildas or accents in my email program.. so .. le ruego me disculpe (??)
Today got off to a difficult start. Had breakfast at our W-wannabe hotel… stuck my toe outside the door to find it was about the same temperature and humidity as yesterday.. and quickly pulled my toe back inside. Actually, we needed to get on the road because we knew that today’s drive might be a bit complicated.. But first things first. My iPad was not connecting to any signal, although it showed a clear and strong signal on the screen. Blackberry and iPhone and computer all worked fine, but I was relying on the iPad GPS to guide us seamlessly (??) to our destination in a remote area up in the mountains about 20- kilometers from Penonome (which is like being 20 kilometers from nowhere)…So, getting my iPad back in service (it didn’t connect when I arrived in Panama City, but then after more than an hour on the phone with AT&T –voila!); worked and tracked fine on Monday morning, but I didn’t really use it after that.. so now here we are on Tuesday and — nada! So I called AT&T again, and if you can believe it… I got the same service guy that I had the day before (!!) which made things a hairline better because he knew that it had been connected and he knew that I was on the data plan for all these devices (Don’t start asking me why I travel with all of these communication devices… I’d be a real basket case on these trips if I was not connected… but that’s another issue.)
To make things just a wee bit messier, Mike has not been able to connect at all since he got here.. He can use his phone and text, but no email on his Blackberry. He was pretty pissed, so he had already decided that he was calling AT&T about his problem. So there we both were, for at least 75 minutes on cell phones standing out on the little deck of our room in Panama City… talking to some guys in “who knows where” trying to get connection. About an hour later, I was reconnected on the iPad, but Mike was still in limbo. (and a bit more agitated than at the start of the morning, when he had high hopes of getting online)..
So, late start to begin with… including the unbelievably slow service for all meals in all restaurants. Panamanians have a lot of time… Except last night at dinner when they “speed-fed” us our 13 courses.. because we were the last customers at the restaurant on Christmas Eve.. As soon as we sat down they hung up the “cerrado” sign… So they let us in, but they were anxious to get out for the evening.. Can’t say I blame them.
OK.. finally, around noon — on the road! Or so we thought.
Turns out that Google seems to have completely changed the map formats.. and plugging in our coordinates proved way more difficult than it had been just two days earlier… Once I got that little blue dot to function on the map we were way off course… So, lots of u-turns and more u-turns… and remember – no street signs, so it’s impossible to follow any kind of directions or even a print map. Eventually we were cruising… over a bridge and through national parks as well as through Panama style strip malls.. And on a road with views of the Pacific.. Everywhere there is construction — some that appears to be really happening… and elsewhere where it seems as if it’s been stopped for some time. And while billboards are infrequent, when they appear they are mostly advertising new condominiums that are popping up anywhere with access to the water.
The drive was supposed to take about three hours… After about 90 minutes we decided to stop for lunch and thought taking a side road to the beach would be fun. First try did lead to a beach, sort of. A real “people’s beach”… with lots of garbage.. and no restaurant. So a few miles further west we tried again… in a little area called Santa Clara. Again a “people’s beach” but far less trash, many more people, little thatched-roofed beach sitting areas, and a little open air restaurant. We had lunch – not exactly four-star – but decent (I had calamari; Mike had corvina (bass)). Service was very slow, so this set us behind a bit more… And then we were off to Penomone where we needed to find a small road to get to Cerro la Vieja. We had a faxed, hand drawn map sent by the “hotel”… and we could see that same map more clearly on the iPad… and we had the iPad’s own map which located the hotel through GPS… in a totally different place than where the hotel was… After a while, still on the main road, looking for the clues on the hotel map… (we knew that the hotel was 30 km from Penonome, and we needed to find a small road at the location of some hotel on the main road)… we realized we had gone way too far on the main road… Pulled over, talked to truckers and used the very helpful “retorno”… Ok.. retrace the steps and now the iPad was helpful since we could plot the name of the “hotel” where we would turn left.. to go uphill to our hotel
Forgot to mention that somehow one of us .. both of us .. (not going to mention who asked whom if “everything” was packed).. left the Panama guidebook in the Casco Viejo hotel.. which also didn’t help in guiding us to the region.. Mike says it was the fault of the interior decorator of the hip hotel, because the shelves were all black and there was very poor lighting in the room, so he never saw the book (although the cover was yellow!).
Did it.. and then stopped several people because again we could see we had made a mistake. No one knew Cerro La Vieja.. but people knew other clues on the hotel map. Eventually, about seven people later, we were fairly certain (not positive) we were on the right small road.. (The hotel map could use some help.. no scale, the points noted are all evenly spaced on the road but in reality they are of vastly different distances.) About 40 minutes later (fortunately just before it was getting dark) we were there!
Cerro la Vieja is delightful, although for me about 24 hours will be quite enough (and in reality we will only be here about 18 hours).. It’s high in the mountains, beautiful views of dense forest .. There are 22 rooms in bunch of cottage like structures.. and a main building where the dining and ping pong take place. No phones, no TVs, no nuttin’… We have a little deck off our room with a hammock .. and it is totally pitch black at night… Actually it is incredibly pleasant and a nice respite from Panama City and from the drive. Mike says he’s in heaven and can consider this for his retirement location (but he says that every time we travel anywhere).
We are headed to dinner soon. We’re not expecting much; maybe we’ll be surprised.
We had to make our dinner choices as soon as we came.. Maybe they need to go to the market or defrost things… Pretty basic choices.. Dinner is about $8 and glass of wine is $3.. so can’t really complain.
If you get this note on Christmas night (December 25) you’ll know that the Wi-Fi in the open air “lobby” works, since I cannot connect in the room. If you get this on December 26 you’ll know that it didn’t work. We had a power outage about an hour after we checked in.. but all seems back again.
No CNN; no connection on computer or iPad. This could radically change me as a person.
Best…
Hasta luego –
Fern
Nochebuena en el Cascl Viejo, Panama- Dec 24, 2012
Ola!
After our rather complicated first 4 hours in Panama, we slept at the Marriott Hotel, missed breakfast which ended at 10, ordered food to the room and decided to head to Casco Viejo (the old section of Panama City) to check into the room and hotel we never found the night before. We headed out around 1 (by the time we got organized, got the GPS to work, re-packed, etc.)… The route was much easier in daylight, although still a bit complicated — especially with all the closed off streets due to the construction of a metro, unbelievable amount of building construction, street repair, and one way streets… We laughed as we retraced many streets we had been to only hours before but now bustling with people and markets.. and cars.. So while it was easier to navigate, it was more complicated because there was so much congestion and traffic.
But alas, we made it to Tantalo Hotel (http://www.tantalohotel.com/) in the old section of Panama. It’s a rather hip little boutique hotel with a fantastic roof bar that looks out to downtown Panama City across the water. The room, too, is hip… concrete floors, black leather couch, sparse décor, orange wall, and minimalist furnishings… Obviously we got the last room since probably last night everyone else checked in before us. So we have big glass sliding doors that open to an interior walkway that overlooks the atrium lobby where the downstairs restaurant and bar are located.. All the other rooms face the streets with views to downtown. But it’s fine.. especially since now it is just for one night.
Once we settled into the room (about 5 minutes)… we headed out to stroll the town… starting out together and somehow losing one another within minutes.. and then catching up an hour or so later..
Panama City (like most Latin American cities) is a city of contrast — wealth and poverty; old and new; decrepit and shiny; crumbling structures and engineering feats — all within blocks of one another and often next door to one another. Casco Viejo stands as a testament to all of this. It’s the historic district and cultural gem of Panama City, and was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the late 90s. It was founded in the 17th Century by Spanish colonialists and the Catholic Church. It fell into decades of neglect in the 20th Century, but the streets of this section of town are filled with buildings that served as homes, churches, and government buildings for centuries and is comprised of diverse architectural styles. In recent years, some buildings have been restored quite well and are home to museums, restaurants, and what appear to be upscale residences. Next to them are buildings in total disrepair or remain as homes of poor families situated adjacent or across from exclusive properties for sale or occupied by people of a total different class. It’s hard to imagine how such a “neighborhood” can even think about the future together. Clearly if you come to visit five years ago, this will be a very different place.
One of the really stark views is from some of the most seedy parts of Casco Viejo where you are standing amid garbage and looking across the water to sleek high-rises that look as if architects were competing with one another to design the most engineering challenged and architecturally (ugly and) slick buildings. As you stand at those points you can literally see the hollowed out buildings in the foreground and the skyscrapers in the background.
Still, it was quite interesting to walk the area.. we headed to the water, walked along their “malecon,” and suffered in the unbelievable heat and humidity. Frankly, for me it was unbearable.. I held up ok for about two hours and then I thought I would die. I was never very good in Phoenix climate and this made Phoenix seem cool and breezy in August! The real problem is the humidity… which must have been about 99%. Anyway, Mike and I met back up at the hotel at about 5 and had some quite good snacks (grilled octopus and some eggplant thing) at our hotel in the lobby bar.. And then I set out to work (need to finish up the details of my Spring course — “Creating the Urban Narrative”) and Mike took a nap.
We had planned to find a church that held midnight mass and go there after dinner. We’ve watched midnight mass in many developing nations and it’s always a great cultural experience But alas, it seemed as if the Cathedral was closed and several other churches were not going to hold Christmas Eve ceremonies.. in spite of the fact that Panama is 77% Catholic. But we found out that the Iglesia del Merced would have a mass at 8 pm, and figured we’d stop by… But then dinner plans were complicated since many restaurants were closed and those open seemed to finish dinner at 9… So we decided to head to Iglesia del Merced for the opening part of the mass and then duck out to head for dinner. The church was populated by lower income families (and a sprinkling of Catholic tourists).. The music was great and they “played” the bells which are now located in the sanctuary (?) at the back.. huge bells that used to sit atop the 16th Century church… bells were about 4 ft tall…
Dinner was at Rene… where they serve a fixed menu of about 13 courses… we could only eat about half… food was good, but we thought we were going to die from the quantity… The meal was $22 each… Probably would have been about $200 in San Fran. Yo pondiento gordo (spelling?).. or maybe it’s Me siento gordo ??? In any case, I was feeling fat… as a result of that meal.
We walked back to the hotel around 10 pm… The air was great… a nice breeze, much less humid, and temperatures of about 75! This I can handle.
Oh — in case any of you are interested, it appears that many developers are converting old houses here in the Casco Viejo.. and turning them into condos and pitching to Europeans and Americans. Get your deposits in fast!
I think that’s it for today; we head to Penonome tomorrow.. Our trip is short and lots of driving, but short stints each day. So not a lot of time anywhere.. more like a big look at the country.
Take care — Christmas in Penonome tomorrow.
Feliz Navidad.
Fern
Trois jours de marche et de manger (et un peu de shopping)
Three days of walking and eating (and a little shopping)
Monday, 6 August
Bon soir
Had very conversational dinner last night (Sunday) at a small bistro in the 1st Ar on Rue Berger (A La Marguerite)… Paris is empty of Parisians in August — literally everyone is on vacation, traveling — leaving the city to tourists. It’s one of the few trips we’ve made to Europe in August… Usually we come earlier or later. In any case, we lucked out because the weather is quite pleasant… it’s overcast and remarkably cool for summer in Europe — and dramatically different from the heat we’ve had for the previous week in the south of France, Berlin, and Czech Republic. Dinner last night included friends from the Bay Area and their friends who’ve been living in Paris for more than two decades.
For the foodies — I had the salmon carpaccio for a starter, followed by turbot sitting on spinach… and ended the meal with some shared deserts. Mike stuck with the “raw” — moving from salmon carpaccio to beef tartare…
We walked to and from our hotel in the 9th Ar. to the restaurant in the 1st Ar. (about 30 minutes). We’re staying in a very basic hotel (using points, so it’s a freebie — nothing to talk about but has the usual amenities and staying for free in Paris makes it almost perfect!) I’ve never stayed in this area of the city before — essentially two blocks from Galeries Lafayette (Metro – Richelieu); it’s fairly central.
Today, Mike and I took different walking routes. I had no real destination; he headed to the Muse Branly (which I’d visited before). I did a very meandering 7 or 8 mile walk from the hotel around town — doing what I love to do best while in Paris — walk and explore neighborhoods. As it started to drizzle, I purchased one parapluie numerous due (umbrella #2)… (bought parapluie #1 in Avignon when it started to rain there, but naturally left it in the hotel room). I figured that more than likely if I had an umbrella it would probably not really rain… which it didn’t (only a short sprinkle).
Not much to report. Paris is always wonderful, although the proliferation of American chains is disappointing — what with a large number of Starbucks now peppering neighborhoods, and apparently busy and successful (??). One interesting feature about being here in august is the “plage”… where Parisians create a “beach” in the city.. and stumbled on a great sight — hundreds of Parisians watching the Olympics outside on a giant screen, in front of the Hotel de Ville sitting on bean bags, chairs, and lying on the giant orange colored “rug” that has been rolled out to cover the “plaza”.. Apparently this is happening for the entire period of the Olympics.
Mike and I met back up at the hotel around 7 pm — exhausted and hungry, and with each of us having a few hours of work to finish before dinner. And, we are currently renovating the kitchen and bathroom of the Seattle loft — complicated to “manage” from thousands of miles away (and some parts of the job are not moving along as well as planned — so that’s been a bit frustrating and time consuming.
Decided to go to a little neighborhood (not our neighborhood, since we’re not staying in a real neighborhood) restaurant — Le Petite Marche, which was quite good on rue Béarn north of the Place des Vosges where it seems like the local crowds gather at the outdoor tables… sort of a modern Parisian bistro with a bit of a pan-Asian touch. We started off with a great aubergine dish, followed by two dishes we shared: amazing duck with some kind of curry emulsion and mangos, and a scallop dish; ended with crème brulee. (Since we began our trip with lots of tartare and carpaccio in both Berlin and south of France — we decided to opt for mostly cooked food for these days… Walked back to the hotel… content, full, and having consumed quite a bit of really good French wine.
Oh — the one caveat… The French still smoke .. and with dinner… so I think they need Bloomberg to get over there fast and push for the cessation of smoking, but I guess it just wouldn’t be France. (But our California senses really kick in and it’s really hard to be surrounded by smoking when you are eating such great food.)
Tuesday
7 Aout
Walked from the hotel through numerous neighborhoods in the 9th, 10th, 2nd, and 3rd arrondissements… and connected up with Mike for lunch at Pramil — a tiny place in the 3rd Ar (sort of north of the Marais), near Place de Republique. Mike had gone back to the Branly since it was closed the day before and all he could do was see the building. Pramil is one of those special little finds. Lunch is three courses, with choices for each course.
I started with the squid “salad” which was done with cannelloni beans and a hint of some kind of peppery spice.. and Mike had something called a “cauliflower cake” which was incredible — looked like two slices of pound cake and served with a red pepper jelly. For the main course, I had the sweetbreads and Mike had a pork dish that came with purple carrots — Both were fantastic. We ended with a tarte framboises avec pomme granny-smith et crème Chantilly — a raspberry tart. Definitely a recommended spot.
After lunch I headed on yet another long walk and ended with a glass of wine at Place Colette and a stroll through the Tullieres.. and then back to the hotel to relax for an hour before heading out to dinner at 404, a cous cous place I’ve been to several times. Met up with our god-daughter (who’s been living in Paris for a few years) and her mother who’s visiting from NY. We shared a pastilla, several appetizer salads, and three different tagines (chicken and pear; lamb with peas and artichokes; duck with apples and prunes)… Dinner reservations were at10; we finished well after midnight and decided to hop a taxi rather than walk or take Metro.
Wednesday
8 Aout
Woke up a bit earlier than planned when a fire alarm went off at the hotel at about 6:30 am… and everyone had to run down the stairs… Amazing how disoriented you can be when you are awoken unexpectedly and need to throw on some clothes and head outside. Our room was on the 6th floor… but down we went.. As we approached the first floor the alarm went off… fortunately a false alarm, but a rotten start to the day. Took advantage of being up early so headed out. I decided to take the Metro to some areas I’d never been to, but sort of blindly walked. Headed to Faidherbe (12th?) and meandered without any real direction. Passed the famous cemetery Père Lachaise in the 20th arrondissement, supposedly the world’s most visited cemetery (which is probably true since there were dozens of tour buses lining the sidewalk) because it contains the graves of all sorts of famous folks — artists, authors, philosophers, politicians, etc. are buried. Those buried here include Apollinaire, Edith Piaf, Balzac, Sarah Bernhardt, Maria Callas, Jim Morrison, Ingres, Max Ernst, Chopin, Moliere, Proust, and more.
Eventually, I wound up at Place des Voges and strolled the Marais and Ile Saint Louis (I plead guilty to an addiction to Bertillon ice cream). Totally exhausted, took Metro to hotel to pack and get ready for dinner.
In addition to our god-daughter and her mother, our godson, his wife, and their three kids are also here in Paris and this was the one night we all overlapped so we set dinner. Given that Paris restaurants tend to be small .. I suggested La Coupole (a Paris institution since the 20s I believe) in Montparnasse, and the site of many notable dinners and where many writers and artists had “regular tables.”
The legend is that painters such as Léger, Man Ray, and Picasso were frequent visitors… and where Simenon dined with Josephine Baker; Henry Miller ate breakfast at the bar; Joyce drank whiskeys. When France was liberated, the restaurant was rejuvenated… and work was displayed by artists from the School of Paris. Yves Klein painted the obelisk blue; they claim that Camus celebrated his Nobel prize and also that Sartre left big tips and had a regular table.. In more recent days… Chagall celebrated his birthday at the restaurant in 1984 and in 2008, the interior dome (which apparently gets repainted by famous artists every decade or so.. ) was painted by four artists “to reflect La Coupole’s original spirit – nature, women, celebration.”
We were a group of nine, including one three year old (who seemed to be adapting well to late nights out, lots of travel, and hearing people speak another language. In any case, Harry seems to think Paris IS the Eiffel Tower, so whenever you say “Paris,” he says “Eiffel Tower.” La Coupole is accustomed to large groups so our table of nine was not unusual. Actually the food was better than I remembered (I ate there 11 years ago when I was in Paris with my mother, aunt, uncle, and cousins, and when serendipitously Mike’s brother, sister in law, daughter, and a friend were also in the city… so again we were a large group) and service was incredibly attentive. Naturally little Harry stole the show and the waiters showered him with all sorts of surprises. Started out with tuna carpaccio and then moved onto scallops; Mike had lobster and mango “salad”.. The kids had some unbelievable chocolate dessert.
Finished eating around midnight and opted for a taxi to the hotel so we could finish packing.
I’m on the plane now — headed back to SF (via Chicago) — when you get this, it will actually come from me in California.
Hope you’re all eating well!! I’d say that I averaged about 9 miles a day walking in Paris and thought I’d lose some weight.. but the eating just keeps going and so it’s a losing battle.
Best — Aurevois… That’s it for me for this trip.
Fern
PostScript:
Flight from Paris to Chicago was delayed, causing us to miss our connecting flight. Actually the delay was only 30 minutes and we would have made the connection just fine except that US Customs took 45 minutes.. the lines were incredibly long — and they were about 50% staffed. Once we got to the Customs official we asked what was going on.. and he was pretty quiet.. I asked if this was “federal cutbacks”… and said that it was a terrible re-entry… He gave us a complaint form and also told us that they were not doing any hiring.. and that a few months ago when a NATO meeting was in Chicago they were fully staffed for that week! (I suppose a combination of “image” and Rahm Emanuel’s capacity to move what needs to be moved when it needs to happen.)
Brno, CZECH REPUBLIC 8/4/2012
Hi –
It’s really August 5 right now, but this note is about yesterday’s activities.
Just arrived in Paris (drive from Brno to Prague was quite tame; only a very short amount of “invisible construction” which narrowed the road to one lane in each direction — dropped off rental car; flew on Smart Wings (mmm???) to Paris; train from CDG to Gare du Nord; taxi to hotel)… It’s raining, and we’re meeting friends for dinner in about two hours, so I thought I’d take the time to complete the travelogue about Brno from yesterday — probably the most interesting part of the trip for any of you.
Spent an hour or two at Jana and Jarek’s (absent Jana who was still at the clinic dealing with an unexpected flood); greeting the family, (Lallin’s sister/brother in-law and partner) and having limited conversation due to language challenges. They are all fluent in Czech, Russian, and German. Vera and Pavel (Lallin’s sister and brother-in-law) are retired engineers, with Pavel also having been on the faculty of the Technical University. Rudolph (Lallin’s partner) was a trucking foreman, and remains a total opera buff. After a few snacks and homemade apple strudel, we left to visit the Tugendaht House (the only UNESCO Heritage site in Brno).
The Tugendaht House was designed by Mies van de Rohe in 1929 for a Jewish family (Fritz Tugendaht was an industrialist) that had lived in Brno for many years. They hired Mies (Bauhaus) to design their family home on a really beautiful and large city site — about an acre, on a sloping site. They gave Mies full reign… It was to be his design and they were willing to forego any comfort to have that house. As a “work of art” the house is lovely, with huge expanses of windows (that operate electrically); everything is white (or exotic woods) — floors, walls, most furniture, etc. Almost no personal quality… apparently the family was told that they shouldn’t hang anything on the walls as the view was the art. But the house has quite a story. The family fled in 1937, in advance of the Nazis (mother and children left first and father and governess left soon after they packed up the house). Over the years the house saw many activities that were certainly not contemplated by Mies or the family: first the Germans used it as offices and stripped much of the wood to use as firewood; later the Russians kept horses inside the house during WWII — treating it as a stable and the building was truly wrecked. After the war, the Communists took over the building and first turned it into a dance studio (probably because of the large room, unobstructed by columns (due to the nature of the construction and design) and then as a physical therapy center for children with disabilities. It was at that time (1972) that Mike and I first visited the building. I remember it well because there were large mirrors on the walls everywhere. It was clear that it had been an amazing house and building but it was in terrible disrepair and the mirrors were just sort of glued on the walls.
In the1980s the Brno government did a half-baked rehabilitation, as a result of pressure from locals as well as the international community… professing that they didn’t have the funds to do any more than basic repairs. Apparently the family tried to get the house back under the Jewish Restitution laws, but they were unsuccessful since so many years had passed and also because they used a portion of the law based on ownership of a “work of art” and the government said a house is not a work of art — or at least this is how I understand the issue. In any case, the government, with help from EU and UNESCO did a very intense restoration and the building is now a major treasure of Brno… and at the moment (and from what we can tell) — the house will remain owned by the city of Brno.
A bit ironic — and good — that the treasures of the wealthy sometimes fall into public ownership, to be used by the many not the few.
From the Tugendaht House, we drove with Jan and Jarek to Lednice-Valtice another UNESCO heritage area in southern Moravia. Again, the treasure of the wealthy — now in public hands.. It’s the largest park in the country. Apparently Lednice was owned by the House of Liechtenstein since the 13th century. The palace was first a Renaissance villa, but in the 17th century it became one of the summer residences of the Prince of Liechtenstein. In the mid-1800s, it was rebuilt in a Neo-Gothic style. The park that surrounds the house is laid out in an English garden style… and has everything including a minaret (supposedly the tallest outside of the Muslim world at the time it was constructed in the very early 1800s), and an amazing greenhouse (which Jafek says was the first greenhouse in Central Europe)… and then we drove to a wine growing area in Moravia and walked up a hill for a view of Austria. We remembered this walk up the hill many years ago with Lallin, because at that time with travel out of the Eastern Bloc into any Western countries severely restricted… going up the hill to get a view of a western country was about as close as one got to “traveling.”
We meandered back to the city.. and joined everyone for a very typical Czech dinner (heavy) in a wonderful Baroque restaurant.. in a cavelike setting… underneath the old section of the city.. probably about 5 floors below street level. There are many of these kinds of spaces in Brno.
OK.. now you’re up to date, if you are following.
Not sure how much I’ll write from Paris, .. Take care
Fern
P.S. For those who asked. Lallin died about 6 weeks ago. Apparently his heart gave out totally unexpectedly… He was just walking in the apartment and collapsed. No warning at all. He had been the recipient of a heart transplant 10 years ago. Lallin was a planner — head planner for Brno and then the Moravia area.
From Berlin to Brno 8/3/2012
August 3 (actually already August 4 here in Brno, as it is nearly 1 am)
Brno, Czech Republic
Dobrý večer (Good Evening)
Began our day in Berlin where it was raining — actually pretty hard at times, and left for the Bahnhof around 11:30 am to get the train to Prague. The station is huge — about six levels and includes every conceivable chain store and eatery you can imagine. It was mobbed; people coming, people going, people waiting around, and people probably just taking shelter from the rain. After a bit of confusion, we found the correct car on the train, and our seats.. .. and wouldn’t you know it, we are seated right behind a couple from Texas! Fortunately they left fairly early for the dining car, so we didn’t really interact, but we heard the accent pretty quickly. Getting settled on the train was a bit frenetic as we got onto our car at the wrong end (not that there is a wrong end, but it was at the opposite end from where our seats were — and people board at both ends of the car.. so what with the narrow aisles of the train car, there’s a constant people/luggage jam in the aisle. Anyway, smooth trip, through the Erzgebirge mountains, and views of beautiful alpine river valleys, surrounded by rocky mountains. Over the past decades, we’ve been to Czech Republic and former Czechoslovakia at least five times and have never entered the country the same way… This was the first time we came by train and also the first time from Berlin. In the past, we’ve crossed in from Vienna, from Budapest, from the Tatra mountains, and from Poland.
Although the Czechs belong to the EU, they have not (as of now) adopted the Euro monetary system and thus still use crowns.
After disembarking from the train at a station at the edge of Prague, we hopped a taxi to get our rental car — a 10 minute ride… and then the fun (not really) began. First I need to tell you that they gave us an “upgraded car” and we are tooling around in a Mercedes! My how things have changed.. Some years ago we probably would have rejected such a benevolent gesture of giving us a fancy car. In any case, it’s a very smooth drive. The car doesn’t have a GPS, so we’re using my iPhone which is sometimes hard to follow… So we managed to drive in circles for about 30 minutes before getting on the right road. And then we were off and running.. sort of.
The first 30 minutes on the road was impressive. Totally new roads and tunnels as you leave Prague. Very different from former drives when the roads were terrible (sort of like getting out of JFK!) and there were so many potholes and obstructions that we learned the word “objížďka” (detour) because we saw it so many times
We called our friends in Brno to say that we were about 30 minutes behind schedule… but then after about an hour (it should be a two hour drive), traffic just slowed to a standstill for more than 10 kilometers. Apparently there is road work being done on the Prague to Brno route. This was Friday night. They closed two lanes in our direction and everyone had to merge into a single lane for about 15 kilometers, but there weren’t any workers anywhere to be seen. (Later our friends — who were non-plussed by it all — said… Oh yes, This is the Czech way… “There is construction going on, according to the government, but it is invisible construction! We never see anyone working on the supposed construction.”) So this set us back an additional hour. By the time we reached Brno it was 10 pm and we were to have met them at 8. So, at about 10:30 we all strolled from our hotel to the old center (actually our hotel is smack in the center of the old city)… for dinner (and of course, Czech beer!). We’d been to this part of the city many times on other visits, but we have not been here since 2002 — ten years. The center is quite hip now, and perhaps overdone.. But it was packed with young people, extremely lively, and there were many reference points for us from prior visits.
In case I didn’t explain earlier, we’ve come to Czechoslovakia several times because when we lived in Helsinki, many years ago, we made friends with a Czech architect/planner who had permission to live overseas for a year, and probably could have escaped at that time — but he didn’t. He, Lallin, was incredibly proud of his country and had great visions about the potential for its future. Because of the political system, he was demoted soon after his return and went from being a lead planner to a position as a draftsman. Anyway, we remained friends and visited him and his family numerous times over a 30-year period. The last visit was in 2002 after Lallin had a heart transplant. About a year ago, Lallin’s niece, her husband, and son visited us in California before heading on a trip to visit several of national parks in the west. Lallin’s niece is a pediatrician and her husband is a geologist. This trip was planned to see them all again. But Lallin died a few weeks ago, so our visit now is a little different than what we expected.
So, the hotel… the Barcelo Brno Palace (which was not a hotel when we visited last time)…
It’s a landmark building in the center of Brno, built in the middle of the 19th century and the original idea was to create a residential building with different sized rooms and a sophisticated system of staircases. The façade looks like a palace but the inside has a Romantic style .. but the recent interior renovation to turn it into a hotel appears to have been done by the brother or sister of a bordello designer in France!… more upscale, but back to the silver and black… and glass lamps… and all kinds of wallpaper… Not exactly a Fern and Mike design, but everyone is friendly and the location is fantastic..
Tomorrow we’ll walk around town and visit the University where Jarek teaches.. and visit Lallin’s sister and brother-in-law whom we’ve met many times before.. and of course spend time with Lallin’s partner. It’s a short visit. We only have tomorrow here; we leave for Paris on Sunday (having to brave the drive again from Brno to Prague airport). Hopefully those invisible construction workers will be even more invisible and leave all three lanes open.
A few things I forgot to mention — On our Brussels Air flight from Nice to Berlin, they charge for water! I think they are learning from and advancing beyond United Airlines! First class train from Berlin to Prague doesn’t provide any complementary drinks or food (unlike first class on Eurostar).
That’s it for me. I’m going to head to bed. More zitra (tomorrow)
Take care —
Fern
Tag einen und halben Tag (July 31 p.m. and August 1)
Berlin
August 1 …Guten Abend
So for starters, my German is nil! I actually studied written German when I was pursuing a PhD many years ago for my language requirement… I never spoke a word, and the course was totally how to translate written German into English. As I recall, all the other PhD candidates in the German course were scientists and engineers. So, now you know not to expect too much from me on this matter. And everyone from taxi drivers to workers to shopkeepers seem to speak English here in Berlin, so you barely have to extend any effort to be polite using German.
After our very very long day yesterday, we walked to dinner to Borchardt — a somewhat upscale, business kind of place that appears to have a lot of history and is probably very busy with business people for lunch. Food was good — much larger portions than we are accustomed to in California… and prices to match the size of the portions! I had the sea bass with tomato risotto and Mike had a veal dish. both were good… not great. We meandered back to the hotel (by now we had been up for about 20 hours.. and I had a bit of work to do, so tack on another two hours.
We were determined to sleep until we got up… and we did! Until about 9:30 am!! — nearly 7 hours.
Started the day at Einstein Café.. a sort of German Starbucks.. nearly a total duplicate. It was close to the hotel and really easy.
We then began our trek… having laid out a walking map for the first full day, last night.
Our total walk was more than 8 miles!! And we strolled lots of neighborhoods from the Mitte to Kreuzberg to a bit of Pankow.. saw the old and the new, artsy areas and totally business political zones and ended up at the Holocaust Memorial which was far more powerful than I anticipated, but more on that later.
The big impressions — unbelievable transit options (although we haven’t used any yet, since we only used our feet which are very tired at this point); lots of parks and green areas interspersed throughout the city; wonderfully defined sidewalks paved for bikes, pedestrians, café outdoor eating; tons of bookstores (which I guess I notice since the Bay Area is now so embarrassingly void of book stores.
It’s been really interesting to see the changes here. Mike and I were last here when the Berlin Wall was still standing (having driven all through northern East Germany (from Sasnitz to Berlin). We actually experienced Checkpoint Charlie (which was removed after the end of the Cold War and the reunification of Germany; as I recall, it was actually only a wooden hut in the street; today there is a small replica and this fake checkpoint Charlie is very popular with tourists who take their photographs in front of it.) We also walked for a while on the metal strip that was the base for the “wall”.. It’s lined with a fairly interesting set of historical photos of what the street looked like when the wall was still in existence.. Hard to believe! Tonight a taxi driver (we were too tired to walk to the restaurant we chose) told us that he was in the 4th grade in 1989 when the wall came down and he remembers that his class took a trip to the Eastern side and they were all told to bring chocolates as gifts for their East German hosts (because chocolate was a rare treat for those kids).
Other than the fact that whenever you approach broad boulevards with about six lanes for cars in each direction — and broad deep sidewalks (mostly treeless) — and bureaucratic looking buildings (remains of the old East Berlin), you really never know if you’re in the old East or in the West side of the city. Actually most of our day was spent in the old East Berlin side.
Eventually — through our very circuitous 8-mile route — (the hotel is actually just about a half mile stroll to the monument) — we reached the Holocaust Memorial. It’s located in the Mitte section of town… on a piece of land formerly known as the “death strip,” near the Brandenburg Gate — where the Wall once stood. Interestingly it is opposite the American Embassy (a new building). It’s a series of 2,711 rectangular solids, all somber gray .. The “pillars” or rectangular solids vary in height but are all the same width and depth and all are lined up in a grid like fashion that is slightly imperfect. The ground is also set at a mildly sloping up and down format.. and as you walk between the rows you are in a rather tight space.. probably about 3 ft apart. In some ways it’s a bit like a cemetery with monuments of varying sizes, all lined up, and based on the age of the monument some leaning. It was a contemplative way to end the day.
We went to a little place called Noto for dinner, in the Mitte… we ate outside on the sidewalk on folding chairs. Super relaxed; great food. We shared their special spare ribs with a slaw salad, and a beef tomato stuffed with barley and goat cheese sitting on top of a fennel salad. The staff was very friendly, and supposedly Brad Pitt eats here when he’s in Berlin. Guess he wasn’t there tonight.. In any case, it’s the kind of place that wouldn’t really do much even if Brad showed up.. It’s just really laid back..
OK.. I’m signing off as it is now approaching that 2 am moment.
Guten Abend..Aufwiedesien
Fern
FRANCE Summer 2012: Violes and Cairanne. 7/28/2012
I’m having computer problems so this note might have lots if typos as I’m writing on my iPhone which has that auto-correct feature Hopefully It won’t be too bad and I can figure out my computer and iPad connection problems by tomorrow.
Finished dinner last night in Avignon around midnight (oh so cosmopolitan ). Finally got to bed at 2. Woke at 4 because air conditioning went on the blink and it was stifling. It was over 90 during the day and it didn’t cool off much in the evening. Eventually slept after hotel brought up a fan.
Then I think the fact that we had been up about 40 hours straight sunk in and next thing we knew it was noon. (Check out time!). Dashed around. Showered. And left hotel around 1:30 to find “breakfast”. Settled into the bustle of July in Avignon.
People everywhere. It’s the annual theater festival. Street performers all over. Musicians on the street. Open-air markets selling old LPs and books. Strolled a bit. Had some food and then headed to Violes which is where we’ll stay—about 6 kilometers from Cairainne where Mike’s brother has a house.
We have a navy blue BMW hatchback with GPS!
Took about 40 minutes to get from Avignon and during that time dozens of emails were flying as to how to get Richard out of the house to be able to set up for the party. Finally the decision was that Emma, Hem, and Julia would bring Richard to our hotel under some false pretense of having a drink or something (without saying that we will be at the place for drinks). So we would still be the first surprise. They would leave saying they were preparing a special birthday dinner. Then we would bring him to the house for the surprise party. Sounded like a plan.
We arrived at the hotel (Chateau le Martinet), where we have never stayed before. Frankly, I think we have stayed at every bonafide hotel/inn within a 15 mile radius of Cairanne and still have not found a place we like. This place looked a bit like a “ruin.” Well let’s just say it could use a little work and must have been great in another era. But here we are and at least the AC is functional. So we won’t roast.
But when we arrived, no one was to be found at the chateau. No receptionist. No one. We sat on the front deck and waited about 15 minutes. Finally a rather frazzled woman appeared. She didn’t speak English but we understood that she had been doing the laundry. She showed us our room—up two long flights of stairs. The air conditioning was on, so we were happy campers. But the room looks like it was decorated by an interior designer who does bordellos. Silver puffy cushions. Black and silver print wallpaper. Fur pillows. Need I say more ? Definitely not my taste.
Well the double surprises went off well, and Richard was truly surprised. About 20 people. Everyone had some kind of US /North American connection although the group was mostly French and a few Swiss. Someone had gone to grad school in Texas. Someone had been on the faculty at UV. Someone’s son is a PhD candidate at Princeton. Someone’s daughter is a journalist living in Brooklyn. And someone’s son married a Canadian and they live in Vancouver. Guess it’s that 6 degrees of separation thing. The Americans: two couples- who now live in France — one full time and the other is here six months each year. One was an academic who taught at University of Rochester and did sabbatical in this area. Fell in love with this part of Provence. Bought a house 30 years ago and when they retired decided to make this home. The other couple—he’s a lawyer who was with DOE—they bought a house a long time ago too. They spend 6 months here and 6 months in DC. All in all, an interesting crowd.
By the way, when we left the bordello. … sorry, the hotel… the woman who had been doing the laundry was even more frazzled. Someone wanted bottled water and the phone rang. Needed to do two things at the same time… Oh so difficult. But she asked when we would come back and we said midnight. Oh no!! Mais oui!! Big problem. They lock the door at 11. So they showed us a back door and said that door will be unlocked. I should have figured out then, that there would be a problem when we returned.
We didn’t get back until 230 am
When we arrived the gate that you drive through to get to the hotel was locked. And it was pitch black out. With the car lights on we could see that there was a ledge on the left side that we might be able to climb up although there were rocks on top. But Mike thought they were not attached. Then we’d have to jump down. Ok so I do have the flashlight app on my iPhone but that was useless. Fortunately for some unknown reason Mike had his keyring in his pocket and last month he was a speaker at a conference and they gave everyone a little key ring flashlight!! So he “lit” the path. We climbed up to the ledge. Slid in between the big iron gate (10 ft tall) and the wall. And jumped down. Of course, the door that was to be left open was not open. So we didn’t know what to do. Figured we’d drive to Cairanne and stay at Richard and Elizabeth’s although their place was pretty full. Thought about sleeping in the car. Frankly mostly I thought about how we’d have to go back on the ledge to get to the other side of the high gate.
On the off chance that maybe someone would hear us we went to the front of the house up the stairs. And we saw one room with a light on. I wanted to yell up. But Mike thought we’d wake people up. We called on the phone but no answer. A woman stuck her head out of the window of the lit room. And in my best French I said we had a room. I think she knew. She said the door was “ouvert.” And we came inside. Found our key at reception. And here we are. Air conditioned and keeping eyes closed so as not to be distracted by the shiny silver decor.
Aurevoir.. Fern
Bonsoir (from Avignon)-
I warn you in advance — this is a very tame travelogue… nothing exotic. We’re headed to see Mike’s brother in the south of France (it’s his birthday and we are part of the surprise); then on to Berlin for a few days; from there to Brno, Czech Republic overnight to see the family of an old friend who passed away about a month ago (we were headed to see him on the 10th anniversary of his heart transplant surgery) and then he died unexpectedly; and then loop back to Paris for a few days of walking and eating.
Finally, we are now in Avignon.
Survived a series of incredibly intense and long days and weekends over the past two weeks, finishing several projects, getting caught up on others, managing to have a few surprise urgent projects with quick turnaround… and attempting to fit in as many films as possible at the always-wonderful San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.. so packing and our departure were a bit insane. But it was a little worse than a bit insane this time. I managed to finish packing at 2 am on Wednesday night (Thursday morning) and the alarm went off at 4:30 for the 5:30 taxi pick up. Mike never did finish so he just stayed up. Left SFO almost without a hitch. We had a strange connection — SFO to Houston; Houston to Paris (??) Getting to SFO at about 6 am, we stopped for a little petite dejeuner – American style – at the airport and then realized it was nearly time to board. Didn’t look closely enough at the boarding passes; we were leaving from Gate 96 … which I thought sounded a bit high, but headed to the end of the United Concourse (gate 90) just as we realized that Gate 96 is in the International Terminal… But we were going to Houston and changing planes to cross the ocean there… Anyway, as I always surmised, Texas is another country. And when you are going from the Bay Area they understand this and send you through the international terminal. Made the flight and tried to nap on the plane, but wound up watching Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (which I had already seen) on the screen.
Nearly missed the Paris connection, because there were storms over Texas (how appropriate) and we were told that we might land as much as two hours late (definitely miss the connecting flight) or just 5 minutes late. Landed about 35 minutes late which was fine except that the walk between gates and terminals in Houston is definitely Texas size. Fortunately we were upgraded, so the flight was fine.. arrived at Charles DeGaulle at 8:15 am Paris time (close to midnight body time, having been up by then for just about 40 hours. But we were not staying in Paris..
We were headed toward the Air France bus to take us to the train station (Gare Lyon) which doesn’t have direct connection from CDG.. to get to Avignon… when Mike said he was too tired to negotiate the bus and decided on a taxi, which he admitted halfway into the drive was probably a mistake. Those Air France coaches are pretty cushy. So we arrived at Gare Lyon with about three hours to waste… But then – Lara to the rescue. Our goddaughter came to the station to join us for coffee and we chatted so the three hours went quickly. At the table next to us a couple started a short conversation with us (they heard us speaking English). They are currently living in Florida, but had lived most of their professional lives in San Jose and were originally from Ohio. While the initial conversation was cordial (she hates Florida), a few minutes later they overheard our conversation with Lara about the status of the Presidential election — and she quickly turned and said — “Oh if you want to hear the other side, you should sit at this (her) table; “Our concern is that we don’t want to live in a country with a king and all his welfare people.” That pretty summed it up as a voice from America.
Took the TGV to Avignon… whre we rented a car at the station and found our way through the walled city to the Cloitre San Louis — a hotel that I stayed in this past February (without Mike). A 16th Century renovated cloister, with a new addition by Jean Nouvel. As Mike crashed into deep sleep oblivion, I showered and then took a walk around town — realizing just how much season matters. I was here in February for 5 days and it snowed and was windy and extremely cold; days were short; sun was non-existent. Today, we drove up to the hotel at around 6 pm, it was 80 degrees; the sun was shining and hot. In February, Carol and I were practically the only people out in the streets (temperature was about 30); tonight as I took a walk from 6:30 to 8, the streets were packed, cafes were all full (Unlike Mike who zonked out at 5:30 pm, just five minutes after we arrived in Avignon — I believe you need to stay up as late as you can to normalize your body and your psyche into the new time zone; that’s why I change the time on my watch to the new zone as soon as I board a plane).
So Avignon looks totally different than it did in February. In February, with things covered with flecks of snow and the wind blowing and the skies extremely blue — Avignon was like a precious gem without much life, given that there were so few people around — no tourists, only actual Avignon residents at work inside buildings. It sparkled. Now it’s fun and lively, full of people, markets, and street vendors.. noisy, a bit gritty, but totally lovely. Lots of tourists (or so I suspect because you hear a lot of languages) and people are literally lining up to get tickets to one of the many, many performances that are happening in dozens of venues — inside and out.
We’re headed for dinner soon (9:30 here in France); Mike has emerged.
Tomorrow after a somewhat leisurely breakfast, we’ll explore summer in Avignon again (Been here once before in June but only passing through) and then head to Violes which is about 7 miles from where Mike’s brother lives (in Cairanne).
The real story will unfold tomorrow.
Best –
Fern
Tunica, gambling, and more:: Mississippi. 5/5/12
Hi all
I started out early, but somehow arrived in Tunica really late for my morning meeting. Bridge closed and needed alternate route but GPS was obstinate. Accident on the one lane road. And then stuck behind trucks. Impossible to pass. Then needed gas. Anyway, finally got to Tunica.
Arrived at the “office” of Concerned Citizens for a Bettor Tunica Long narrow space-piled everywhere with papers and booklets and organizing paraphernalia. Barely room for the four of us to meet. Hadn’t been to Tunica before.
Once again, an organization that is very family-run. Mother. Father. Grown daughter. Every group I met with here in Mississippi had intertangled family running it. Siblings. Aunts. Parents. Grandparents and even exes. Someone’s daughter is on someone else’s board or staff. Someone’s spouse is employed by another’s board member. But it works and certainly eliminates the 9 to 5 problem. This work is definitely driven by passion. The groups operate on shoestring budgets and hosts of volunteers.
Again CCBT is focused on education reform, and redistricting, and accountability of elected and appointed officials.
Tunica — population 1,100 in the town and 10,000 in the county — is different from the other communities in a striking way. Tunica is home to 11 casinos. Until the 1990s, Tunica was considered one of the most impoverished communities in the entire country and was known for its open sewers. Now it’s the third largest gambling area in the US. While the casino funds have definitely helped the schools, it’s a pittance in relation to the earnings of Harrah’s and the likes.
But now the 29 sq mile area (known as “Tunica Resorts” — population zero) is looking into incorporating into its own town with plans for upscale housing and senior developments. If this is approved, the impact on Tunica schools could be devastating. At the moment, Tunica boasts fairly new, well-equipped school buildings and funds to pay teachers higher salaries to attract them to the region.
The issue of quality teachers came up numerous times, and residents in the Delta have some strong opinions about Teach For America which is sending many many young people to the Delta to compensate for their difficulty attracting teachers. Local activists don’t like TFA because they feel the young people are not culturally sensitive and that by the time they understand the community and culture (if they get to that point), they are ready to complete their two year commitment. I heard this again and again. They fell TFA gives experience to the young teachers but doesn’t help their community.
After meeting with Marilyn, Mel, and Ashley, we headed for lunch with the leaders from Duck Hill (population 746) where I had visited a few years ago. Lunch (to my surprise) was at the casino!! Buffets galore — Asian, BBQ, Southwest, Italian, you name it– I opted for the salad bar.
My quick assessment of who was on the slots would say a racial mix (and some of the organizers admitted quickly that they come to the casino often to play slots). So maybe a windfall will wind up helping these nonprofits bolster their coffers! I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Oh another interesting story. One of the really small organizations that works with youth was approached thru Ben and Jerry’s Foundation about doing a youth exchange with a small rural town in Vermont and they did it. Ten high school kids from the Delta went to Vermont…. and then, kids from the families who hosted them in Vermont, came to Mississippi. Apparently the kids are all still in touch. Delta kids were surprised there’s no paddling in Vermont schools and said classes were much more casual in Vermont, including one classroom that had bean bags instead of chairs!! That really shocked the Mississippi kids.
By 4 p.m., I was pretty beat; it was more than 90 degrees; and I still had to drive to Memphis. It’s a lot to absorb and these notes are just the tip of the iceberg of what I am seeing and trying to comprehend.
Best
I’m back in the bay area … Survived my week… no New York Times. No chai lattes. No Fed Ex drop-off locations.
Fern
