Culture

 Tamarac's annual multi-cultural event was held yesterday and as usual, Carol and I had to be there.

I also saw many other familiar faces from the Senior Center in attendance, yet somehow the crowd still looked a lot sparser than usual!

 I think it's the ICE effect, as Tamarac is a city of immigrants, yet even when people are in the USA legally, many seem to be nervous about going out. 

Maybe they are scared of harassment, since racial profile is the in thing now😡.

As usual, before going over to the big stage, there were cultural performances showcasing the countries represented in Tamarac.

Venezuelans

Thai

Mariachi band (Mexico)

Irish dancers

Then it was time for great music and the Lionel Richie band really delivered.

The Lionel Richie band

Their lead singer was really good and had us on our feet as he belted out Lionel's greatest hits.

These young people were however my all time favorites. 

They are super skilled.👏.

We had shuttle buses from convenient locations to the Tamarac Sports Complex where the show was held and they ran regularly.

Another well organized event.👏

Congrats to Mayor Michelle Gomez and her culture-loving team.

The lion queen

I don’t know where I got this cat thing! 😊 

But I always feel so at one with them, big cats or little cats. 

Maybe I was a cat in my past life. 

Seriously though, my first memory of this life is seeing cats all around my bedroom, and be they big cats or little cats,  I have always just wanted to cuddle them. 

Can you therefore imagine my absolute delight when I got the privilege of bottle-feeding a baby white tiger in Thailand?

From then, I lived for the day when I could do the same to a lion cub. 

It was not to be though. 

However, I did get the opportunity to take four lion cubs for a walk in Zambia, even holding their tales as we walked. 😊

And I got to caress their backs😊. 

I had to walk behind them though as the trainers say, if you go in front, they may think you are prey to be hunted.

These cubs have never been in the wild though. 

There were 2 females and 2 males from the same pride. They are around a year and a half old and will be exposed to strangers until they are three years old.

 Then they are retired and gradually rehabilitated to be with other animals in a secure environment. 

Their father didn’t like us though but I still loved him❤️😊

Yup, I finally made it to the 'big' catwalk 😊

Link; https://youtu.be/17z9wRtxOSM

Of Caving,Thai kids, Omens and, Claustrophobia

Entrance to Blue Hole, Westmorland

What I think will be the most memorable story for 2018, is what I dub the Cave Event in Thailand.

In brief, On June 23, 2018, 12 young soccer players ranging in ages from 11-16, who went exploring the six-mile-long Than Luang cave complex at a park in Northern Thailand along with their 25-year-old coach, went missing.

For ten nail-biting days parents and indeed the  entire world, anxiously followed the progress of searchers from that country plus numerous international volunteers, many of them experienced divers, as they braved the murky waters inside the flooded caverns, squeezed through narrow twisting tunnels, climbed sharp ledges at great peril to themselves, but despite not finding them for days, they refused to give up hope and just kept going.

All geared up to enter Green Grotto cave, Discovery Bay, Jamaica

 
Miraculously, on July 2nd, they were spotted by two British divers, fearful and hungry but thankfully safe, on a high ledge deep inside the cave.  

After feeding and giving them medical assistance, the rescuers were faced the awesome task of getting them out of the flooded caverns, a journey of some three miles, without even knowing how many of the stranded youth could actually even swim. 

This was a dangerous and staggering task that had to be completed quickly too, as the rescuers soon realized that oxygen levels were being rapidly depleted. Further, the rainy monsoon season was due to begin in days, thus further flooding the caves, despite the effort being undertaken to use a massive pump to get out the millions of gallons  of water already inside the flooded caverns.

Outside the Guadirikiri Caves in Aruba

At one point, it was even feared that they would have to keep the boys inside for months for their own safety as getting them out looked too dangerous. And it was indeed dangerous, as a former Thai Petty Officer,  Saman Gunam,  unfortunately, lost consciousness on his way out, after delivering air tanks inside the cave to facilitate the rescue.

Sadly,  Saman  Gunam later died.

Finally thanks to the skills and technology of  dozens of 

Engineers, geologists, military persons, health care volunteers etc from all over the world, assigning two divers to each boy and medicating the young people so they would not panic in the murky waters, all the boys and their youthful coach were rescued on 

July 10th 2018.

Inside Two Sisters cave, Hellshire

And would you believe that the pump that had been taking out the water from the cave to facilitate their exit, broke down almost immediately after the last person was rescued? This caused the water to start rising rapidly to the point where experienced divers who had gone back inside to recover the gear that was left inside, had to exit quickly to save their own lives!

Eerie isn't it?

Considering all this happened during the exciting  FIFA World Cup which was being played out in Russia and in which upsets have been the order of the day, I couldn't help wondering if this event involving the young Thai soccer players was some kind of omen. 

Marking inside the cave at  Cudjoe Hill, St. Catherine, made by the Tainos in Jamaica before Columbus arrived and wiped them out. Nanny's brother Cudjoe also hid out in that cave for months, when the British were trying  to capture and subjugate the Maroons. 

For example, could it be that in four or eight years, Thailand, a rank outsider in the soccer world, could become a world beater or this young soccer team would eventually represent their county at World Cup? 

I hope I will be around to find out if this was really a soccer omen!

While I know this drama held the attention of people all over the world for all sorts of reasons, for me it was especially eye-opening in understanding my own self!

For I am an enigma in that, although I tend to be extremely claustrophobic, I actually enjoy caving. 

Native Americans built fascinating abodes in the caves at Mesa Verde

However get this clear, when I say caving I do not mean I am a spelunker.

 No sir, I don't go into unexplored caves to study anything. I just like to go into well-established caves with professional guides to look and learn.

However, its is only since the incident with these boys that I realize that my love of exploring the underground and claustrophobia just cannot co-exist! 

For it has never occurred to me before that something like a flood or earthquake could occur while I was under the ground.... especially in my homeland, Jamaica, which sits on a serious seismic fault.

One of the caves along the Cuna Cuna trail in which Nanny hid for months

I cannot even conceive of how I would survive trapped underground for an hour much less 10 days. 

In fact, I have no doubt that I would actually go crazy if I was trappedn underground, anywhere.

This Thai drama has caused me to have a great deal of respect and admiration for those Thai youth who all seem to be in reasonably good spirits, despite being trapped in the dark, no bathroom, no food and not knowing if they would ever come out alive! 

What a terrible 10 days that must have been. 

This has also prompted me to have even greater respect for Jamaica's only female National Heroine, Nanny of the Maroons.

She led the Maroons in Jamaica to victory against the British in the early 1700's when they defeated the Spanish, captured the island and tried to re-enslave the former slaves who the Spaniards had transported from Africa to work on their plantations.

It was the complex caving system that the Maroons studied, which helped them in their struggles, as they were able to strategically select those caves which had water inside, in which they could hide for months on end while waiting to ambush and kill the  British soldiers. 

It was not until hearing about the Thai youth and seeing their plight in living color that I got a much greater appreciation for the suffering that Nanny and her people had to endure, as they hid from the oppressors.

As for me, will I continue going into caves? 

Maybe not right now. Luckily, I have been into all the interesting caves in Jamaica but maybe later if I am in another country and hear about a fascinating cave, who knows what will happen?

You have to ascend many steps to reach the entrance of Hato Cave, Curacao

Finding Marlis

I suppose you suspect that I got the title from finding Nemo and the answer is yes, but that is where  the similarity ends.

Marlis is a wonderful Swiss woman who along with her husband spent many years as a volunteer family hosting teenagers registered in an international exchange program from countries as far removed as the United States to Zimbabwe  Thailand, south Africa and of course Jamaica

Although we had only visited Switzerland once and very briefly too, my young daughter had been overwhelmed by the beauty of the country and when she got an opportunity to go on the one year high school exchange program ( a few decades ago) Switzerland was her first choice. That was how she met Marlis who became more than a mother to her, not only in looking after her welfare for a year, but teaching her great things including (horror of horrors) jumping out of a plane in the sport of sky diving.

Among Marlis' other  interesting attributes too was her hobby, training dogs to rescue injured people and take them to safety.

For decades therefore I have heard about Marlis and what a wonderful person she is, so when we recently decided do go to Europe for a vacation,  visiting Marlis became a must and it turned out to be a great decision.

To get to Solothurn  from Venice  we took a train to Milan, then Milan to Zurich then another to the final destination.

Actually, I have never traveled by train in Europe before and believe me it is a wonderful experience which I hope to repeat time and time again, due to the sheer efficiency of the integrated system. Also, the landscape was absolutely breathtaking in parts, what with the numerous well kept vineyards and mountains from Venice to Milan.

 However, I now wonder if it is possible to travel through Italy without some mafia influenced person trying to take advantage of you.

We had an interesting experience as we were about to board the train from Milan to Zurich. As I tried to put my quite bag on the train, a huge man (built like  a bouncer) assisted me to lift it. I was a bit impressed by his "gentlemanlyness" but became overwhelmed when not only did he lift it in but took it down the corridor and stowed it in the luggage section. Then although he did not have on uniform, he did the same for the other  two members of my party! It was only when he finished that the real motive became clear, for m,y son in law, thinking he was being generous, offered him a 3 euro tip, only to be menacingly told, he wanted 5!
Quite a shakedown.

Anyway, once started the journey to Zurich the incident was quickly forgotten as we started travelling through a series of pristine valleys that were absolutely to die for. It was as if we were forever accompanied by huge, calm blue lakes dotted with the sails of fun lovers on both sides of the rail and overpowered by the unending range of  variegated mountains of different  shades and sizes.  It left me concluding that it is probably the sheer beauty of the Swiss landscape plus of course the famous Alps, which accounts for that country being  such a  popular tourism mecca, for from my perspective, it couldn't be the weather!

At Solothurn there was Marlis patiently waiting to take us to her small colorful hamlet (population 300) nearby where tastefully laid out agricultural fields with potatoes, sunflowers and vegetables beside the green pine treed mini forests, gives the place the look of a photograph that had been that had been photoshopped!

A homely gem

Not only is the area beautiful, but it is very central, only half hour from Bern (capital of Switzerland) and one could even see Matterhorn (in the Alps) clearly from there.

The hotel that she booked us at too was a homely 138 year old gem which had once been a farmhouse. The only possible drawback there was that it was right across the road  from a church whose bell tolled from 8.45 to 9 am on a Sunday morning but then I have very little sympathy for people who like to lie around in bed!

The church across the street

What was interesting though is that although the bell tolled forever, the church remained closed (the Sunday we were there) for the Swiss, we were told, tend not be very religious people,which is probably why they are so peaceful, giving the country such a low crime rate! (Incidentally, the largest church in Switzerland was built in 1893 and is still  in operation in Bern but more as a tourist attraction than a place of worship.)  It is interesting  also that although Switzerland has had both internal and external peace for years, they take no chances and since 1990 it was legislated that every house built must have a bunker!

Although the weather had deteriorated quite a bit since we got there, the next day Marlis and her friend Rene were early to take us on a tour of Bern (established in the 1700's) which is not only absolutely beautiful with its historic buildings but it is modern and orderly as well, to the point that from the main road, you can tell if the underground parking lots have space without having to bother to enter, as the flashing board outside has all the information you could need. (Boy don't they think of everything?)

Yup, Marlis turned out to be everything my daughter had been telling me for years thus meeting her brought a wonderful European tour to a magnificent and memorable end.

Also, after visiting  Solothurn, Bern and Zurich this trip,  I am reminded that Switzerland is still a charming place to visit,  although socially, women seem to be still under the thumb of the men, for can you believe that up to 2014 there is still no law to guarantee equal pay for men and women who do the same job?. But then, I said the place is charming, not paradise on earth!
                       

                                           Memories.... A pictorial memorial of old Bern

The steepest railway line in Europe is in Bern

Old Bern with is cobble stoned streets

View of a section of Bern from the parliament building

JOAN WILLIAMS, moderator of Joan Williams on Line  broadcast on POWER 106, describes herself as an unapologetic addict to the Jamaican outdoors. A foundation member of FUN AND THRILLS ADVENTURE CLUB, she explores the island at any given opportunity cycling, hiking or swimming with that group, family, Jah 3 and anyone else who will have her. In 1995, she published the popular TOUR JAMAICA and the 4^th edition is now an ebook available at;

http://www.amazon.com/Tour-Jamaica-Joan-Williams-ebook/dp/B00EJWCSHS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389464644&sr=8-1&keywords=tour+jamaica+by+joan+williams

Contact; gratestj@gmail.com

Ps. Jasper died in September 2014. Walk good my friend. It was great knowing you.