Feliz Año Nuevo 2017

December 2017

Feliz Año Nuevo,

This year I can say I hope you've had a wonderful holiday season. I spent most of it in Mexico, having left the U.S. in late October and just making it back to LA to learn my nephew Justin just got engaged to Alie Caro the day before (yea!) and to spend Christmas with my 15-week old great niece, and of course her parents, Laura and Brian. I guess I'm finally having to admit I'm in that generation of "greats".

Luna was born auspiciously on September 11. My sister and brother-in-law Chris and Rick were there from the start, even when Laura's water broke. Luna was 7 pounds 12 ounces and 20.5" long. She started smiling consciously at two weeks, maybe because Laura and Brian are always so happy and laughing, and are now over-the-moon in love with Luna. Justin must have seen Luna's smile, meeting her in late September when on a business trip to LA. That was before her two urinary tract infections necessitated two 12-day hospital stays and numerous tests to rule out things like viral meningitis. Luna is now on antibiotics to avoid another UTI and hopefully to avoid surgery later on. I met her in October, but could not even touch her due to her vulnerable health so I really enjoyed being able to hold her and play with her over Christmas. She seems healthy now, weighing in at the 100th percentile.

I'm continuing my go-with-the-flow lifestyle. I returned to Indonesia last December to scuba dive in Sulawesi which I feel in love with prior to Laura and Brian's wedding in 2009. How fun to see my beloved cuttlefish, the big brother of squid, that change colors as they move over different terrain, and miniature seahorses and blue-ringed octopi. I was in my element. Some people spend Christmas downhill skiing, I spent Christmas scuba diving in a northern Bali Muslim community. A little weird, but very nice. I could never have imagined doing this years ago when I embraced the holidays with so much gusto, decorating every room in my home with holiday sparkle.

Being home for the New Year and being all bundled up is a switch from last year where I spent it in a small town in Vietnam's Mekong Delta. Before that, I enjoyed a few days in bustling Ho Chi Minh City, enthusiastic about the parks in which people congregate for morning exercise and evening strolls. Parks must be a favorite place for students learning English given the number of times I was stopped. The city had an old, worn feel to it yet with throngs of cars, bicycles and motorbikes, all with well-exercised horns.

The Delta was more old-world, showing little of the progress humans have made in the past fifty or more years. Homes were sketchily constructed, allowing one to see between wall boards. Floors were unfinished cement. Naked fluorescent lights cast harsh shadows everywhere. Toilets did flush and showers cascaded hot water. Platform beds cradled thin mattresses with course, sun-dried sheets. Multi-course meals--fondue, fresh fish, fresh fruit--were exquisitely prepared outside under cover, with the aid of a wood-fired stove. Laughter complemented the local cuisine as we tried to communicate in different languages.

The river markets were something to behold. This is where the restauranteurs shop early in the morning for the day's menu. From decrepit 50' boats one can buy many locally available fresh foods--bananas, oranges, coconut, and all sorts of colorful vegetables artfully arranged in plastic bins. From the smaller long-tail boats, one can buy a freshly cooked breakfast, soup, coffee, tea and more.

My attraction to boats and water took me on a tour of Halong Bay in northeast Vietnam. We transited between beautiful smoothed rocks that would dwarf those at England's Stonehenge. Excursions took us to pearl farms, beautiful vistas and caves. Vietnam has some phenomenal and huge caves here and elsewhere, some explored by boat.

In Hanoi we visited the central park, opera house, water puppet theater, a women's museum and Ho Chi Minh’s serene yet much regimented mausoleum and grounds. So much attention devoted to a man who wanted to be buried simply. His body is shipped to Russia for restoration every year for several months.

We traipsed through fields cleared of ordinance, visited a non-profit organization whose mission is awareness and avoidance of the ordinance, crawled through multi-level underground tunnels, many of which were dug out for the war with the French, and saw instruments of torture that rival those seen in England. The Vietnamese are very friendly to Americans, despite the ‘American’ war. Their attitude is 'the past is the past'. They live today with kindness and love despite constant reminders of the past.

I'm still into sailing, twice captaining weeklong trips between Key West and Cuba, teaching in the British Virgin Islands in the Spring and on Lake Superior in the Summer, and crewing with a former student/now friend in Mexico this Fall on his catamaran. We traveled in the Sea of Cortez where we hiked to vistas, snorkeled at almost every anchorage, and got to dance with sea lions in their natural habitat. The majority of our onboard dinners included fresh fish we caught. At the Cruisers' Thanksgiving in LaPaz we heaped our plates with turkey and the trimmings along with 200+ people. The second half of the trip had us on the west coast where our pace slowed down considerably, allowing time at one of my favorite stops, Isla Isabel, its magnificent frigate birds and blue-footed boobies with their newborn chicks on display. I enjoyed strolling the malecon in Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta, seeing a Mexican version of The Nutcracker, and getting to know a Mexican family Chris met 10 years ago.

It's been a rude awakening being back in frigid Minnesota, and thinking about sending out season’s greetings after the holidays. Writing about how I spent my year reminds me how fortunate I am to have such a life. If you've made it this far, I hope you've enjoyed living vicariously through my annual update.

May 2018 be generous to you in health, mind, and spirit. May you enjoy the love, kindness and laughter of friends and family throughout the new year.

Cheers,

Vicki