Chapter Three – Columbia (4/25)

May 13, 2025

Columbia,

Cartegena, Columbia 4/21/25

A black and white drawing of three birds with the name cartagena on the bottom

The Pope died this morning. A voice that held us together. Such an individual is the most powerful alive. Now he has become a wise person, deceased. Like an excellent reference book in a library. He can no longer speak in the present. His eloquent plea for the health of our planet, the encyclical for “Our Common Home” was an extraordinary recognition of Climate Change damage Worldwide and a plea for people to work together for remedies. He will be missed.

We decided not to venture into the city. We were docked at a huge shipping hub. Containers stacked five high and covering acres. Cranes moved about with slow precision into the night, then the whole area became a festival of lights. The city appeared even from a distance like any big city. Its delights are hidden or difficult to find. ($100 taxi ride per person for a one hour tour) The zoo was close by and magical.

So we went to the zoo. Instead of a people world, you are in a small protected jungle where the animals are in charge and uncaged. Scarlet macaws fly overhead, peacocks spread their fans and flamingos move about with slow deliberation and shockingly pink. A friendly little green parrot sat on Jeff's shoulder and talked to him in Spanish.

Their environment has been created by people who rehabilitate wild animals and abandoned exotic pets. Occasionally there are monkeys and we saw a sloth making leisurely way through the upper canopy.

They have shelter, regular feedings and medical care. (They are self educated.) Humans do this for fellow creatures but hesitate to do it for fellow humans.

Remember, money is a belief system. The real value is humanity and natural resources. Survival needs, food, shelter, education and healthcare can be provided for every person on Earth with a parallel currency. Such a currency cannot be invested and is destroyed when it reaches a bank. The question is not, “How much will it cost?” The question is, ”What do you choose to pay for?”

San Blas Islands, Panama 4/22/25

The native people here are Panamanian citizens. They call themselves Kuna. They are completely self governing and fiercely protective of their pristine islands. There are 378 islands, amounting to about 100 square miles. Forty nine are inhabited. Traveling through them on our way to the Panamanian coast in the pre-dawn took more than an hour. Here and there in a cove an anchored sailboat rested. Most of the islands were deserted, small bunches of coconut palms and shrubs poking above the water.

We travel to the main island, Carti, by tender from our anchored ship. The shock of culture is profound. Every flat surface has small makeshift buildings and chickee huts without a break between, a warren of worn paths snakes throughout the settlement. The grass is a soft green velvet texture. A young child looks us over as we disembark, with the same shyness and disbelief that we are looking at him. Two widely separated times have collided. The impression from our side is that their time stopped 1000 years ago. From their side, we have probably dropped from space.

We start to walk gently through their midst, keeping to the paths, trying not to be offensively nosey. There is so much to see and everything worth photographing. Mostly women and children line our way, dressed in distinctive costumes with beads around their arms and ankles. A few men are floating nearby in their handmade dugout canoes.

Slowly the display of molas begins. These intensely colored intricately sewn appliques of birds, lizards, insects and symbols that repeat and repeat form a narrative the women must hear in their dreams. Every turn of the path displays more walls of one foot square fabric stories. On and on like a colorful maze until your eyes are overstimulated and you can't concentrate on the beauty of any one piece. The artists are ladies of all ages. Some appear to be quite elderly, maybe 100 years. Cataracts film eyes that once sewed tiny bits of fabric with almost imperceptible stitches. Their close up vision is exceptional. The younger women have babies and children with them. The children hold their pets, a puppy, a little green parrot.

Their colorful garments are accented with molas. Finally you have come to the center of the maze, dizzy from the kaleidoscope of colored patterns, and find you must retrace your steps through the gauntlet of pleading vaguely suspicious eyes;

“Five dollars, twenty dollars.”

“Very beautiful, ola, thank you, adios.”

We pass out dollars and buy a mola. Three boys play their flutes and dance.

You feel guilty that you are so privileged. But maybe privilege is not so important. A young man we talk to, Adrian Lopez, assures us that he is happy and likes living on the island. It's “quiet, peaceful.”

The Panamanian government had given them some solar panels 15 years ago so they could run lighting, TVs, and small appliances. Education is free, healthcare is free, ( but not very good. Cataract surgery has not been introduced) they do some agriculture and lots of fishing. When asked if men do any of the sewing they laugh at the thought. Some ecotourism has started on the pristine uninhabited islands.

When we got back to the ship we contacted a friend we still know in the solar business and asked him to arrange a shipment of solar panels to the islands. They are so much more efficient now.

Panama Canal, 4/25/25

I have been looking forward to this passage. We have been through many locks on our own boats but this one is by far the most massive. Our President has not mentioned for a while his desire to own the canal, since China got in the way of a deal that would put ownership of several ports in the hands of a US company. Panama was not enthusiastic either. They are very proud that they own and run it.

The canal is not as massive as I had imagined. The actual locks and mechanisms are simple and use the traditional physics: fill the lock, raise the boat, empty the lock, lower the boat. The impressive thing is the size of the boats. Huge tankers and container ships, but not as many as I had imagined. I thought the whole route would be very busy with comings and goings and ships waiting their turn. Aside from 3 or 4 other ships traveling we had the locks all to ourselves. It cost $300,000 for our ship to use the Panama Canal locks.

It was dark by the time we were halfway through. We didn't enter the Pacific until after midnight. In the morning, water was all around. And our ship was seaming its way through a different ocean.

At Sea

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Chapter Sixteen – Japan Part 4

September 26, 2025

Japan Chapter 16, part 4, Looking back

Chapter Fifteen – Japan & S. Korea (8/25)

September 15, 2025

Japan Log, Part 3 General impressions, Japan and Jeju South Korea

Chapter Fourteen – Japan Part 3 (8/25)

September 9, 2025

I went to the Nagasaki Museum of Art. There was a special exhibit there called War in the Eyes of Artists; from Goya to several Nagasaki artists. Though I had deliberately avoided visiting the epicenters of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for reasons I have already expressed, seeing this exhibit at the museum was just as intense. For this log I am going to highlight a display I found most moving. I am including the youtube address where it can be seen and heard. Place address here The display starts with a poem and an illustration. Both commemorate the bombing of Nagasaki. After viewing the illustration and reading the poem you enter a small theater to sit down and watch an animation of the illustration set to music. All the children, adults, animals and Shinto like creatures that are in the illustration (in a huge tree) come to life and move to the rhythm of the music. A male voice sings overall, lyrics that may have to do with the poem, written by singer/songwriter Masaharu Fujiyama and entitled, “Kusunoki; Blown by the 500-year Wind.” The illustration is the work of an artist named Junaida. The lyrics were inspired by the Kusunoki (camphor trees), which survived the atomic bomb.

Chapter Thirteen – Japan Part 2 (7/25)

September 2, 2025

Shizuoka

Chapter Twelve – Japan (8/25)

August 25, 2025

We dock at Hakodate, Japan on the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That stands as a singular horror among the many horrors humans commit on each other and Nature and continue to commit to this day. There is no apology possible and unfortunately nothing may have been learned. We still threaten each other with nuclear weapons. No treaty has stopped the building of nuclear bombs. I wonder how the Japanese people keep the memory of this tragedy so that living can continue with some normalcy. Maybe it can be equated to a typhoon or earthquake, like a natural disaster having no morality or intention. It has influenced their imaginations ever since though, revealed in movies like Godzilla and in their Manga. Threatening creatures, imagined power that cannot be controlled or resisted. People can be like a natural disaster to each other. People can also be wonderful. We saw this as we left the city. A small group of dancers appeared on the dock to say goodbye. The dancing they did was so charming and touching. It was a traditional dance, maybe 15 dancers. About 8 people played instruments to accompany them, flutes, drums and other unique percussion. Watching from the top deck of the ship the dancers appear like exotical dolls. Three warriors pantomime their strength, emphasized with elegant gestures of their fans and their golden, brightly tasselled headdresses that bow and flash in opposition. Then the little children emerge, five of them. Their elders position them precisely and they wait for the music to begin. Their tiny movements are sweetly in time as they step then extend their fans to tap the air with it lightly, creating a feeling of certainty and control. Moving to one side with a gliding motion they unfurl their fan, flourish and close it, then glide to the other side and do the same. The dance continues with variations of these movements and some new ones punctuate occasionally. So intent and serious, each tiny performer dressed in elaborate traditional clothing, a magical, miniature display. The dance becomes hypnotic as it continues to the simple rhythms of the drums and flutes repeating and repeating an ancient significance remembered by a few. After they finish, our ship pulls away with several blasts from the horn. The tiny dancers wave goodbye, with their hands crossing again and again in front of their faces, for so long it seems as if they might continue until we are out of sight. Finally we are too far away to hear the children cry out. This experience was fleeting and very moving. A dancing gesture of dignity and friendship. People are not their military, they are not their government. They have to participate in their society but they are first of all human. They want to create understanding beyond language and country.

Chapter Eleven – Alaska Part 2 (7/25)

August 12, 2025

Alaska feels like a different country; not like one of the United States. Maybe its vastness and extreme climate have created this unique presence. People who adapt themselves to living half the year in darkness and half in light, in a lot of cold and rain with magnificent beauty all around, this has an impact. The unique environment of Alaska transforms people. The Tlingit were one of the aboriginal Alaskan groups. They crossed the Bering Strait from Asia, approximately 9,000 years ago. There are also some theories about individuals island-hopping from Polynesia. Both scenarios may be true. Nonetheless, they formed a highly complex social, legal and political structure along with extraordinary creative arts and oral culture. Before European contact their population reached approximately 20,000. Status was based on birth and wealth, creating a hierarchical social structure. There was a noble class (determined through hereditary) followed by medicine men and women, warriors, traders, commoners and slaves. The Clan House was home to three resident classes; nobles, commoners and slaves. The construction of the Clan House was a sacred event involving rituals for the dead. The two ritual groups (moiety) were Raven or Eagle/Wolf, and they were expected to marry outside their group (exogamous). Tlingit followed a matrilineal clan system. Children inherited the clan side of the mother. All rights were through the mother; these include fishing, hunting and gathering places, the use of certain clan symbols, totem designs, house decoration and ceremonial clothing designs. The Clan had spiritual, psychological and medical protection from a medicine man or woman. They were also known to control weather, bring luck, predict the future, expose witches and speak to the dead. They did not cut their hair in order to keep their power strong. Their power would pass to a younger relative when they died.

Chapter Ten – Alaska Part 1 (7/25)

August 4, 2025

Some context for this trip and log. The ship we are traveling on is the Villa Vie Odyssey. It is a small cruise ship with about 300 passengers and 300 crew. We have bought a cabin aboard. My plan is to document one circumnavigation. This will take about 3 and ½ years. So far this has been a record from when we boarded in Barbados, going through the Panama Canal, up the western coast of Mexico over to Hawaii then up the western coast of the United States to Alaska.The following is an account of Alaska. After this we will travel to Japan. Thank you for your interest. I was unprepared for the profound beauty of Alaska. The more you see, the more it astounds. How is it possible that people could hunt seals, foxes, wolves and beavers to extinction, log evergreen trees to bare brown ground - as if a massive electric shaver was used to mow the mountains- that grow back in patches and trails made for giants? Vastness is not endless. The harsh environment, remoteness and beauty did not protect them. Still, how was it possible? Only people caught in a frenzy of commerce could do this. The same frenzy that brought thousands of men with dreams of making fortunes in gold to remote outlands of Alaska. They became insane devourers. Luminous white water rushes from a cleft at the top of the mountain sliding in and out of evergreens to the river below, pinched along the way by grey rocks. This was the land of the Tlingit for at least 10,000 years. Theirs was a highly developed social structure equal to those found in Europe. Spanish contact in 1775 dropped their population by about 80 percent, with typhoid fever, scarlet fever, and measles. The Russian fur trade changed their lives even more. It began after Vitus Bering’s 1747 expedition and “discovery” of the Bering strait. Sea otter pelts were the incentive. Other fur was also sought but sea otter pelts were the most coveted. It is the warmest fur. It has the most hairs per square inch of any animal fur. An adaptation that allows it to live in the extreme environments of Alaska. Unfortunately for the otters its fur can be made into the warmest of coats. By 1799 the fur trade was thriving. It involved the forced labor of the indigenous people. Their local knowledge of the animals and their hunting expertise were essential. This industry brought significant change to the native communities, disease, dependence on trade goods and inter-tribal conflict. Russia traded furs to China and Europe. When competition for pelts and political factors involving Russia affected their ability to continue the trade, Russia sold Alaska to the United States. The US had been pressing westward and getting involved with trapping, fishing, mining, logging and homesteading. In 1867 the US bought Alaska from Russia for 7.2 million dollars. In 1788 the US entered the maritime fur trade; sea otter furs for Oriental goods. By 1801 the US controlled the fur trade at its height and Boston was at its center. When a major discovery of gold was made in 1896, Alaska became the gateway to the Klondike gold fields. Purple mountains are passing by my window as we glide to our next port. I can watch this ‘movie’ before I go to sleep. It stays light till around midnight and never becomes completely dark. The sun is up at 5:00. Locals describe the endless darkness of the winter months as depressing. “What do you do?” “Watch movies, watch TV.” Native people used the long dark Winters to create. The memories of summer beauty and important events, documented in beadwork, carved figures of animals from walrus bone, charms for hats and masks, hand made fur garments beautifully beaded with flowers, leaves and animals, scrimshaw pipes of bone, a crown for a baby beaded and decorated with carvings, two white pom poms hanging from thin leather strips on either side. The intensive summer hunting over, food dried and stored. Time for handwork, music, story telling and conversation. While the mountains and sky silently hover near in all their variety and beauty.