I am once again intoxicated by travel. After a one year hiatus I am on the road again and overwhelmed by the sites, smells, some of them not so good, and charm of the people in glorious Costa Rica. My journey began on the morning of the 27th of February, 2012. I am now in San Jose, Costa Rica for two nights shopping, gambling, and a little party making, before I head off to the land of the Revolution.
By Central American standards San Jose is a nice capital city. But make no mistake. There ain't much to do or see. Most people stay here on their way to or from somewhere else, usually in Costa Rica, just like I am. I entertained the idea of transiting to Cuba via the traditional routes, Mexico and Jamaica when I stumbled on a great business fare rate on Taca to San Jose which flies direct to Havana. Not much more than a Coach class ticket going this way if booked well in advance.
I was not expecting much from Taca. But I was pleasantly surprised. The flights were on time, comfortable and the staff hospitable. I had to change planes in San Salvador which was easy peasy. I got a look at Salvador from the window and now want to add it to my list. To the left of the plane were wide expansive beaches, while to the right are ominous looking volcanoes covered by dense jungle. I am even considering trying to spend a day there on my way back to get that ever so important new passport stamp. It was hot...and humid. But that's ok. I can do hot and humid.
Arriving in San Jose was a breeze. I never ever check luggage anymore no matter where I go. Too many lost bags and wasted hours. I travel with a large backpack where I carry my most important belongings; the cameras and electronics, and boy are there lots of them. I have to find a way to simplify it for the next time. I was considering the Mac Book Air but its just a waste of dough. So I still lug around my 5 year old Mac Book which I just super charged with a new hard drive and double the memory in anticipation of loading and editing a ton of photos on this trip.
The flight from LA to San Salvador was 4 and a half hours. The connection to San Jose is less than an hour. There is a direct flight but it's a red eye and only allows you 5 hours sleep which you gets you into San Jose at the butt crack of dawn, way before your hotel will let you in.
After considerable research I found a delightful small private Hotel with an older facade that contains a newly minted and massive sports bar complete with at least 8 monitors. Arriving on a Monday I found the place pretty quiet which was fine by me. I finally checked into my room around 10 p.m. I rented the suite which is a very very comfortable room. While its an older building the rooms have all the amenities you need. Ass kicking AC. Two plasma screen TV's; one in each room, a bar, a jacuzzi and an incredibly comfortable King Bed.
I didn't need all of this but for the price I got it for, it was a steal. A comparable room at your local Marriott would probably run close to 400 bux. Here? 139.00. Hotel Dunn Inn. Its in a rough part of town but its not a biggy. You just taxi at night. You aren't doing much here anyways. Free wifi, internet station a restaurant and a sports bar. I will be back.
San Jose is an odd town. There is a bit of a creepy element here. Very old dudes come here looking for very young girls. You see a bit of that. There are a handful of casinos so when I got unpacked I rolled to one of the local casinos, threw down a couple of coronas and promptly lost 100 bux at the tables.
Woke up today with a pretty stiff headache from the jet lag and the party making, but it was worth it. Had a blast. Made new friends as I always do on the road and headed off today to see what I could see and it wasn't much. There is a beautiful Beaux Arte Opera house built in the 1800s that might as well be in Vienna; an astonishing building. I took a tour and dozens of photos. I wandered the streets and parks and took in the warmth of the Costa Rican people. There is one museum which I ran through in about 30 minutes. Uninspiring.
This evening I treated myself to some nice local cuisine before getting lambasted at the blackjack tables again for an hour or so before calling it a night. It's Havana in the morning and I am giddy with excitement.
Yes I said giddy. As always, excuse the typos, crappy grammar and fragments.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Micky in Cuba 2012
For those of you who have come to know me post - college, you wouldn't know me by my ridiculous college nickname given to me for no apparent reason and has no real significance. However since the name Micky evokes memories of my earlier more jovial years, I prefer the pseudonym when I head off for one of my not so adventurous adventures.
After a one year hiatus, in thanks to a vicious South American nasty bug I picked up last year, I have shy'd away from the road since March of last year. I have finally overcome the fear of losing bowel control with no warning at any time, day or night, in a scary third world country where toilet paper can alternatively be used to sand down 2x4's,and with very little time to respond. Got the picture? Wasn't pretty.
I tepidly step back into the travel arena in two weeks when I depart for Havana via Costa Rica. I am travelling on a journalistic license so you can all stop with the whole, "you're gonna go to jail" bit. Got it handled. Actually there is no true travel ban for Cuba. The ban is a monetary one. An American cannot spend money in Cuba. So in theory, if you packed all your own food, slept on the beach and flew on in on a non-Cuban airlines, in theory you'd be good. That doesn't sound like much fun so I am travelling as a free lance journalist.
Its been over a decade since I have been here. When I was here last I went with two college buddies who shall go nameless since at that time we went through the back door. Oh screw it, it was Lodgen and Fleishman. A good time was had by all but this will be an altogether different kind of trip. No Mojitos. No Cigars. Just the pursuit of photographic joy. Who said bullshit???!! I heard that.
I have two weeks before I depart for San Jose Costa Rica. Using Taca Air and got a nice business class rate. Why do I have a feeling Business Class on Taca means an extra water, 2 more inches of leg room and extra rice? Oh well the rate was good and the flight to Costa Rica is direct non-stop. Taca also flies round trip to Havana as do many of the Central American airlines. Anything but Cubana Air, my one and only near death travel experience. More on that latter.
I will be attempting to post blogs and photos from Cuba but don't expect to be able to get much out due to reports of slow connectivity. Keep an eye out after 2/27. Adios Suckas!
After a one year hiatus, in thanks to a vicious South American nasty bug I picked up last year, I have shy'd away from the road since March of last year. I have finally overcome the fear of losing bowel control with no warning at any time, day or night, in a scary third world country where toilet paper can alternatively be used to sand down 2x4's,and with very little time to respond. Got the picture? Wasn't pretty.
I tepidly step back into the travel arena in two weeks when I depart for Havana via Costa Rica. I am travelling on a journalistic license so you can all stop with the whole, "you're gonna go to jail" bit. Got it handled. Actually there is no true travel ban for Cuba. The ban is a monetary one. An American cannot spend money in Cuba. So in theory, if you packed all your own food, slept on the beach and flew on in on a non-Cuban airlines, in theory you'd be good. That doesn't sound like much fun so I am travelling as a free lance journalist.
Its been over a decade since I have been here. When I was here last I went with two college buddies who shall go nameless since at that time we went through the back door. Oh screw it, it was Lodgen and Fleishman. A good time was had by all but this will be an altogether different kind of trip. No Mojitos. No Cigars. Just the pursuit of photographic joy. Who said bullshit???!! I heard that.
I have two weeks before I depart for San Jose Costa Rica. Using Taca Air and got a nice business class rate. Why do I have a feeling Business Class on Taca means an extra water, 2 more inches of leg room and extra rice? Oh well the rate was good and the flight to Costa Rica is direct non-stop. Taca also flies round trip to Havana as do many of the Central American airlines. Anything but Cubana Air, my one and only near death travel experience. More on that latter.
I will be attempting to post blogs and photos from Cuba but don't expect to be able to get much out due to reports of slow connectivity. Keep an eye out after 2/27. Adios Suckas!
Monday, June 6, 2011
D-Day at 67.
7 years ago today I was in Normandy, France participating in one of the most memorable experiences of my life; the 60th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in 1944. Attending this once in a life time gathering was no small feat. This was not something one could just show up for. Hotels were sold out up and down the Peninsula a year in advance. Tickets were issued and only a very small number were held for members of the general public. The majority of the tickets rightfully went to the Veterans and their families, many of whom were returning for the first and probably last time since they set foot on the beaches 60 years earlier.
I began researching this trip at least 8 months ahead of time. I don't recall how I got tickets but I did manage to score two for my fiancee and myself. Her brother and his wife also managed to get in, but she was a retired Army Doc. So she knew people. I want to say I convinced someone in government that I was travelling as a photojournalist which was in part true. In 2004 the United States was deeply involved in two wars. Both George W. Bush and Jacque Chirac were both attending as were many other world dignitaries. Security in the entire region was fully locked down. This was the last big reunion of the veterans and the Allied powers since most veterans still alive were in their late 70's and 80's. This was the last one.
We started this trip on the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel for my fiancee's brother's wedding. Like me, he too was a history junky and already had been independently was planning on being there for the 60th as well and it was his wedding we attended at a beautiful manor on Jersey Isle. Not to be confused with Jersey Shore, or the Real Housewives of New Jersey, there is in fact a stunning island called Jersey that is Guido free and is an easy boat ride to Normandy, France in the English Channel.
We rented a car on June the 4th in Jersey and took the car Ferry over to Normandy. We got off somewhere near Cherbourg. Ill have to fill in the blanks later because I just don't remember the town we landed in. We had no hotel rooms booked as everything had sold out, to my dismay, at least a year or more before the event. We had our tickets and went forward nonetheless.
We spent the first night in some god awful ancient French B and B about 90 minutes from the main town in Normandy, Bayeaux, where we were going to head to on the 5th, the day the events were getting started. I had been to Normandy two times before so I knew my way around pretty well and had a good idea where we needed to stay. On the morning of the 5th we buzzed off towards the town of Bayeaux, France. Bayeaux was the closest town to the American Beach Sector where we planned on spending the next two days and I had stayed there before.
We had an easy drive through Northern Normandy and had intended to stop and visit Mt. St. Michel. I had been once before. We got close enough to take some pictures from a distance and bagged it. Too much to see and do. Arriving in Bayeaux, an ancient and small Norman town, we found it invaded by tour buses and journalists. We thought we had not a prayer of getting a room anywhere near the Beaches. We had heard the closest available hotel rooms were some two hours away and that some people were having to drive in from Paris.
Undeterred we walked into the biggest and only tourist class hotel in town, the Hotel Lion D'Or, begging for a room. Our prayers were answered. They had a last minute cancellation and we scored. We were now in D-Day Central. Festivities were already under way on the 5th since the first towns were actually liberated by US and British Paratroopers on June the 5th, 1944. The first town liberated by US forces was the village of St. Mere. Eglise. Depictions of the liberation of St. Mere. Eglise were covered in Steven Speilberg's "Band of Brothers" and the epic film "The Longest Day" after the book of the same name by Cornelius Ryan.
Though the roads were choked with traffic we made it to the outskirts just in time to see members of the US Army conduct a paratroop drop just outside the town. The C-130's who dropped the soldiers then conducted several low level fly by's over the town to the cheers of the throngs of onlookers. It was a surreal moment. Photographs of the paratroop drop and festivities in St. Mere. Eglise can be found on the photography site of June 5, 2004.
From St. Mere Eglise we hustled our way to the beaches to see what was going on. I learned from my first trip to the region that the landing beaches cover a vast area. On my first trip I honestly thought I could walk the beaches. Wrong. From tip to tip I believe they are over 50 miles of beach. So you have to see it in chunks. Since the main American events were taking place at Omaha Beach on the 6th we made our way to the British Sector at Arromanche.
Arriving at Arromanche parking was stacked for about a mile up from the beaches. As we made our way down to the beach we we felt ourselves walking back in time. The British Army had parked about a half dozen modern landing craft on the beaches at low tide and stocked them with functioning World War 2 era military equipment that were roaming the beaches including a couple of US Sherman Tanks. What a site. We spoke to some of the British Vets, got some photos and crawled out onto to sections of the beached Mulbery that had been both on and off the beach at Arromanche since 1944. The Mulberry was an artificial port built by the Allies that still remain in pieces on the beaches in the British Sector. Photos of the Mulbery can be seen in the June 5 gallery. We made our way back at the end of the day to Bayeaux.
I began researching this trip at least 8 months ahead of time. I don't recall how I got tickets but I did manage to score two for my fiancee and myself. Her brother and his wife also managed to get in, but she was a retired Army Doc. So she knew people. I want to say I convinced someone in government that I was travelling as a photojournalist which was in part true. In 2004 the United States was deeply involved in two wars. Both George W. Bush and Jacque Chirac were both attending as were many other world dignitaries. Security in the entire region was fully locked down. This was the last big reunion of the veterans and the Allied powers since most veterans still alive were in their late 70's and 80's. This was the last one.
We started this trip on the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel for my fiancee's brother's wedding. Like me, he too was a history junky and already had been independently was planning on being there for the 60th as well and it was his wedding we attended at a beautiful manor on Jersey Isle. Not to be confused with Jersey Shore, or the Real Housewives of New Jersey, there is in fact a stunning island called Jersey that is Guido free and is an easy boat ride to Normandy, France in the English Channel.
We rented a car on June the 4th in Jersey and took the car Ferry over to Normandy. We got off somewhere near Cherbourg. Ill have to fill in the blanks later because I just don't remember the town we landed in. We had no hotel rooms booked as everything had sold out, to my dismay, at least a year or more before the event. We had our tickets and went forward nonetheless.
We spent the first night in some god awful ancient French B and B about 90 minutes from the main town in Normandy, Bayeaux, where we were going to head to on the 5th, the day the events were getting started. I had been to Normandy two times before so I knew my way around pretty well and had a good idea where we needed to stay. On the morning of the 5th we buzzed off towards the town of Bayeaux, France. Bayeaux was the closest town to the American Beach Sector where we planned on spending the next two days and I had stayed there before.
We had an easy drive through Northern Normandy and had intended to stop and visit Mt. St. Michel. I had been once before. We got close enough to take some pictures from a distance and bagged it. Too much to see and do. Arriving in Bayeaux, an ancient and small Norman town, we found it invaded by tour buses and journalists. We thought we had not a prayer of getting a room anywhere near the Beaches. We had heard the closest available hotel rooms were some two hours away and that some people were having to drive in from Paris.
Undeterred we walked into the biggest and only tourist class hotel in town, the Hotel Lion D'Or, begging for a room. Our prayers were answered. They had a last minute cancellation and we scored. We were now in D-Day Central. Festivities were already under way on the 5th since the first towns were actually liberated by US and British Paratroopers on June the 5th, 1944. The first town liberated by US forces was the village of St. Mere. Eglise. Depictions of the liberation of St. Mere. Eglise were covered in Steven Speilberg's "Band of Brothers" and the epic film "The Longest Day" after the book of the same name by Cornelius Ryan.
Though the roads were choked with traffic we made it to the outskirts just in time to see members of the US Army conduct a paratroop drop just outside the town. The C-130's who dropped the soldiers then conducted several low level fly by's over the town to the cheers of the throngs of onlookers. It was a surreal moment. Photographs of the paratroop drop and festivities in St. Mere. Eglise can be found on the photography site of June 5, 2004.
From St. Mere Eglise we hustled our way to the beaches to see what was going on. I learned from my first trip to the region that the landing beaches cover a vast area. On my first trip I honestly thought I could walk the beaches. Wrong. From tip to tip I believe they are over 50 miles of beach. So you have to see it in chunks. Since the main American events were taking place at Omaha Beach on the 6th we made our way to the British Sector at Arromanche.
Arriving at Arromanche parking was stacked for about a mile up from the beaches. As we made our way down to the beach we we felt ourselves walking back in time. The British Army had parked about a half dozen modern landing craft on the beaches at low tide and stocked them with functioning World War 2 era military equipment that were roaming the beaches including a couple of US Sherman Tanks. What a site. We spoke to some of the British Vets, got some photos and crawled out onto to sections of the beached Mulbery that had been both on and off the beach at Arromanche since 1944. The Mulberry was an artificial port built by the Allies that still remain in pieces on the beaches in the British Sector. Photos of the Mulbery can be seen in the June 5 gallery. We made our way back at the end of the day to Bayeaux.
June 6, 2011 D plus 67 years
Just finished putting together 3 galleries of photos of our trip in June 2004 that took us from the Isle of Jersey in the Channel Islands to Normandy by car ferry on June 4, 2004 for the 60th anniversary of the D Day Invasion of 1944. The last great gathering of the veterans and the nations. From Cherbourg to St Mere Eglise on June 5 to Omaha Beach on June 6 and into Paris at 2 am June 7, 2004. Best trip of my life. Hope to have time to write tomorrow.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
D-Day Anniversary 2004
In June 2004 I was blessed to be able to participate in the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy. My wife and i had found a tiny little hotel room in an ancient French town about 20 minutes from Omaha Beach where the ceremonies were to take place begining at 6 a.m. On June 6, 2004, 60 years to the minute of the beginnings of the beach landings.
We arrived in Normandy on the 5th which was the actual start of the Normandy operations. Anyone who saw Band of Brothers on HBO should recall that elements of the American 82nd and 101st airborne units actually began dropping into Normandy on the 5th. The first of these guys to land were a bunch called the pathfinders. These guys were the original "Seal Team 6" in terms of the level of danger of their job. If i recall there only a couple hundred of them. Most were killed. I somehow managed to meet two of the surviving members of the pathfinders on that trip. What are the odds?
So, in fact the actual invasion started on June 5th, 1944. To commemorate the paratroop drops the town of St.Mere.Eglise holds an annual commemoration of the liberation of their town, the first to be liberated in Nazi occupied France, by U.S. Paratroopers. Photographs of the festivities in. St Mere Eglise, that included a drop by current U.S. Paratroops that day are included on the site which i uploaded today. I met a number of veterans that day. So this brings me to the punch line of the story.
The night before we were to be at Omaha Beach at the crack of dawn, my wife and i were holed up in the tiniest of French Hotel rooms. My mind awash in dreams of 1944 France, asleep in a room that wreaked of the ghosts of Nazis past, at exactly 4 in the morning, my tiny French bedroom erupted in earth shattering banging and shouting as I lay dead asleep. This would have been the approximate hour that the skies over Normandy opened up with German anti aircraft fire, exactly 60 years ago to the minute. To say i freaked out would be an understatement.
I hurled myself out of bed in a dream like state thinking the invasion had begun and the Germans were opening fire! When I came to my senses I looked around the room and my wife was......missing. I could now identify the source of this massive assault of noise as coming from my bathroom. What I had thought were Germans opening up into the sky was actually my wife locked inside the bathroom of our Hotel room.....at 4am. And she'd been in there a full 20 minutes! I gently opened the door to see my frazzled and crying wife who had apparently somehow locked herself into the very tiny bathroom and had been sitting there before breaking into a full blown panic attack that manifested itself into the sounds of a German 88 opening up in my dreams.
Needless to say the door opened seemlessly from my side. And I didnt get more than 3 hours sleep over the next 24 hours.....More on the DDay Anniversary tomorrow. What a day of days.
We arrived in Normandy on the 5th which was the actual start of the Normandy operations. Anyone who saw Band of Brothers on HBO should recall that elements of the American 82nd and 101st airborne units actually began dropping into Normandy on the 5th. The first of these guys to land were a bunch called the pathfinders. These guys were the original "Seal Team 6" in terms of the level of danger of their job. If i recall there only a couple hundred of them. Most were killed. I somehow managed to meet two of the surviving members of the pathfinders on that trip. What are the odds?
So, in fact the actual invasion started on June 5th, 1944. To commemorate the paratroop drops the town of St.Mere.Eglise holds an annual commemoration of the liberation of their town, the first to be liberated in Nazi occupied France, by U.S. Paratroopers. Photographs of the festivities in. St Mere Eglise, that included a drop by current U.S. Paratroops that day are included on the site which i uploaded today. I met a number of veterans that day. So this brings me to the punch line of the story.
The night before we were to be at Omaha Beach at the crack of dawn, my wife and i were holed up in the tiniest of French Hotel rooms. My mind awash in dreams of 1944 France, asleep in a room that wreaked of the ghosts of Nazis past, at exactly 4 in the morning, my tiny French bedroom erupted in earth shattering banging and shouting as I lay dead asleep. This would have been the approximate hour that the skies over Normandy opened up with German anti aircraft fire, exactly 60 years ago to the minute. To say i freaked out would be an understatement.
I hurled myself out of bed in a dream like state thinking the invasion had begun and the Germans were opening fire! When I came to my senses I looked around the room and my wife was......missing. I could now identify the source of this massive assault of noise as coming from my bathroom. What I had thought were Germans opening up into the sky was actually my wife locked inside the bathroom of our Hotel room.....at 4am. And she'd been in there a full 20 minutes! I gently opened the door to see my frazzled and crying wife who had apparently somehow locked herself into the very tiny bathroom and had been sitting there before breaking into a full blown panic attack that manifested itself into the sounds of a German 88 opening up in my dreams.
Needless to say the door opened seemlessly from my side. And I didnt get more than 3 hours sleep over the next 24 hours.....More on the DDay Anniversary tomorrow. What a day of days.
Monday, May 30, 2011
New Website
I am excited to be finally launching my new website featuring my travel photography accumulated over the last 12 years. This blog will supplement the website as a means of telling the stories, both old and new, of my travels and the images that I have gathered from nearly 50 countries. It will also be a forum to discuss photography, history and some of the other issues that are behind the images which are just a small part of the journey.
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