Athens is beautiful, warm and laid back

I had often heard that the Greek were in general nice people, but in my book, they are not only nice, but the warmest Europeans I have ever interacted with.

Anyway, according to Gabby, myj Jamaican friend who is doing her master's there, they prefer to be considered Balkans, not Europeans, despite, Greece being member of European Union.

Off to Greece we go

 So maybe that's why they are the least racist too!

As I am a cat lover, I was delighted to learn, that in most of Greece, there are no decrepit stray cats around. For the culture is, the people adopt them all and each one is provided with beds on the streets and are fed and looked after daily.

 So they love all humans too.❤️.

A 'stray' cat sleeps peacefully in his bed on the street.

Athens,  (population 4 million) is the graffiti capital of Europe and I hear they wear that badge proudly.  Moving around the city, you soon discover that very few walls around escape the graffiti artists' brushes😊!

Incidentally, as you probably know, Greece is the birthplace of the Olympics, and yesterday the Olympic torch relay that starts off the 2024 Summer Olympics, was lit  in Olympia.

 It will travel throughout Greece, arrive in Athens then sail across the Mediterranean to Marseille on May 9, to resume the trek through France.

The French leg will end  at the Opening Ceremony when the Olympic cauldron will be lit. 

As we Jamaicans dominate so much of the Olympics games, we spent a lot of time touring the marble stadium which was built in 330 BC and can accommodate 50,000 people.

We Jamaicans are at the marble stadium.

I am no Bolt but can pose like him😁

A nude athlete's rear view

Original athletes competed nude and their balls and penises are prominently displayed on the statues.

In the royal 'boxes.'

I can't run but can still pose on the gold medalist's stand.

(Incidentally, the great Lenny Kravetz will be performing there in August this year. He is being highly anticipated.)

Acropolis at night

 After leaving the ruins, it was off to the Acropolis museum which is just as enchanting.

 The museum is actually built atop other ruins and you can see them through the glass floors.

The ruins beneath our feet at the museum.

Replicas of the Greek gods inside the museum 

Thankfully, as there was a national strike of taxi drivers today so the lines in the museum were not too long!

You have to take the cable car to get to this beautiful Greek Orthodox church.

As you know, Greece is the birthplace of democracy (6th century BC). Tourists gather a outside the new  parliament building to observe the changing of the guards. This ritual takes place every hour. The old parliament building is now used as a conference cente

Incidentally, another thing I love about Athens is that it's streets are undulating like San Francisco, so you are forced to be fit😊.

 No stress. 

Also, there are no unsightly high rises. Nothing over around 20 stories, it appears 

Misc.

With Maddy from Afghanistan. ( He lives in Italy)

And Harris from Greece.

Random videos.

Jamaica independent? Really?

Thanks to the performance of the Jamaican women's 4x100 metre  team on  Independence Day Friday 6th August 2021, we really had something exceptional to celebrate.

These ladies, Briana Williams, Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson also clocked a national record 41.02 seconds for Jamaica's first gold in that event since 2004. So, building on the other gold medals won  by Parchment and the ladies in the 100 metre, plus the silver and bronze medals brought home by the other star performers in the previous days, our athletes once again wowed the world and made us so proud.

What a wonderful gift for our struggling nation on the 59^th anniversary of our ‘independence’ from Britain!

While I, like everyone else, was overjoyed by the performance of those who medaled, I would like to take this opportunity to celebrate all the elite athletes who represented Jamaica at the 2020 Olympics, whether they medaled or not.

For just qualifying to reach the top of their careers by qualifying to compete in the Olympics is an outstanding feat. While we tend to only see the final results, their success did not come by accident but it took years of dedicated training and discipline to qualify.

 I am therefore personally proud and thankful for all our young athletes who mek Jamaica tek shame outta wi yeye as we celebrate another year of ‘independence’.

For apart from the prowess of these disciplined individuals year in year out, when one reflects on the counter-productive political shenanigans which landed us with economic disasters like FINSAC and the violence ridden society that we have built since independence, there is not much else to celebrate.

Look at the per capita income in US$’s of some other Caribbean islands which got independence after us; Bahamas- 23,671, Barbados-16,237, Antigua $16,176, Trinidad 15,459, Dominica 7,091, Jamaica $4,934.

Fact is, we have the lowest per capita income of all the former British colonies in the Caribbean!

So here we are, though blessed with a myriad of natural resources, yet we have really failed to gain a modicum of economic independence and social stability during those 59 years.

Apart from the economic and social failures, the question I keep asking is how can we be called independent when we, the first English speaking Caribbean country to declare ‘independence’, remain so steeped in mental slavery that we insist on retaining a foreign head of state?

And not even a good foreign one either, when we consider the brutality with which Britain treated our ancestors during slavery and colonialism!

This unacceptable situation remains although both parties, JLP and PNP, which have alternated in government since independence, have at one time or the other promised to enact the necessary constitutional change to correct that unsavory situation. But guess what they say is holding up the process?

The PNP wants an executive president while the JLP wants a ceremonial president. In the meantime, Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and soon Barbados, (once known as Little England) have not dithered on the issue.

One the other hand, as if to entrench this love for the racist British monarchy, our own prime minister Andrew Holness in July 2021, accepted appointment to the British Privy Council!

All this is the midst of Caricom now taking a decisive and cooperative approach in demanding reparations from Britain for their brutality, rape, murder and exploitation of or ancestors during slavery and colonialism and their continued oppression of our people during what is now proven to be the Windrush scandal!

My dislike of the current relations​​hip with Britain has nothing to do with the present queen who has been quite unobtrusive and benign. However, she will not live forever and the thought of a foreigner with Charles' reputation and character being the head of state of my country, is even more intolerable.

Anyway, regardless of who it is that sits on the racist British throne, 59 years is just too long for us to claim to be independent while that situation prevails. 

https://youtu.be/oCqHflj4SNE

KENYA: THE MOST AMAZING OUTDOORS

In my many decades on this earth and years of traveling, I have never seen more outstanding natural beauty than in Kenya, in East Africa. 

Majestic snow-covered Mount Kilimanjaro in the background (a Denis Bouillon photo)

Our Maasai guide and driver

In this featured photo, not only is the elegance of a giraffe in the wild captured, but in the background shines Mount Kilimanjaro (killi to local folk.) The irony is, according to our Maasai guide, if Tanzanians, in whose country this scenic mountain is located, want to get a  really outstanding view, they have to come to into Kenya.

 For while geographically, it is located in Tanzania, they claim this only happened because of British Royal politics. For when that empire was carving up Africa, the queen dropped that mountain into Tanzania as a favor to a cousin of hers, since Kenya already had Mt. Kenya the second highest on the continent. This may just be interesting folklore but the fact that the Kenyans have a much more graphic view, makes it believable.

Kilimanjaro at 5985 meters above sea level, (almost 20,000 feet) is the tallest free standing mountain in the world and Africa's highest. It is described as a dormant volcano, although the last eruption is recorded at 150,000 to 200,00 years ago! 

Anyway, back to the natural beauty of Kenya.

Thankfully, the government there is doing everything in its power to preserve its wildlife and environment for generations to come. This is a never-ending task, as poachers from all over the world are constantly trying to frustrate their efforts.

So now, all the parks which fall under Kenya Wildlife Service,  are patrolled by heavily armed rangers who are not afraid to shoot to kill. 

My host Denis, stands atop one of the piles of ashes

They also seize their illegal booty, which includes ivory from elephants and rhinos. 

These are then burnt to take the profit out of poaching. 

We actually visited one of these sites in Nairobi National Park. Here the tons of ivory are reduced to mere ashes. 

Also, no one is allowed to feed the wild animals or take any dead or alive from the parks. To ensure that human carnivores are not deprived, livestock farming in quite vast there, but these farms can only operate if licensed.

A lion relaxes in Nairobi National Park

Admirably, it is not only their wildlife that they are concerned about, but indeed the entire environment. So, for example, plastic bags are no longer used and one-use plastic bottles are not allowed in any of their parks or conservancies.

They also do a lot to encourage their own citizens to enjoy the natural beauty of their country, by establishing numerous parks and forests all over and while outsiders pay large entrance fees, residents normally pay no more than about 1/10th of what the visitors do, to enter those establishments. 

Wildebeests at Amboseli National Park

Kenya is a huge country of 580,367 square kilometers (224,081 square miles) with a population of 50-60 million. 

To tell the truth, it was never on my bucket list to visit immediately, for as a Jamaican who descended from slaves brought from Africa, my first choice had been countries in West Africa, from whence our forefathers were kidnapped and forcefully brought to my island, Jamaica and the west in general. 

However, when my Canadian friends Kelly and Denis, who are as enthralled as I am about natural beauty, started posting the breath-taking photos of Kenya and invited me to visit, wild horses couldn't stop me,

And its probably one of the best decisions I have ever made, for the parks and conservatories I visited during an all too short two week stay, defied my imagination totally.

Local Kenyans on a trek up the steep Ngong mountain 

The special wildlife areas visited were; Nairobi National Park and Orphanage in the middle of the capital city; Lake Nakuru National Park which borders the city of Nakuru, the third largest city in the country; Amboseli National Park near the Maasai conversancy of Selenkay; (I have to do an entire blog on this!) Lake Elementia and Soysambu conservancy.

Incidentally, Kenyans so love our own Usain Bolt, that they actually named a cheetah in the Nairobi National  Park Usain Bolt! 

A bus clearly owned by a Bolt admirer

I was really fascinated that they had such a large wildlife park so close to the city, although some power now seems determined to mar the vista of that park by constructing a huge concrete rail system right through the center. 

This rail system is being designed to straight through to Uganda.

Nakuru, Lake Elementia and Soysambu are all located in the famous Rift Valley, a fascinating place that I had only read about but never dreamt of being able to visit.

The huge concrete train line being constructed through Nairobi National Park

The scenery along the road to get there is lush with well laid out tea plantations, vendors' ware, forests and lots of animals roaming on the sides of the roads.

We also passed through a number of small towns which reminded me very much of scenes in Jamaica. For up front, there were huge open-air markets where vendors laid out large batches of familiar-looking fruits, vegetables and ground provisions.

Sheep and cow skins also displayed in a stall on the roadside

Once we got to the sanctuaries and parks, watching, buffalo, zebras, baboons, monkeys, rhinos, giraffes hippos, every type of antelope etc. in their own natural environment, was to die for.

To get there was a bit challenging though, for while the roads are excellent, for part of the journey,  we had to maneuver between the hundreds of trucks that use a section of the that route to transport goods from Port Mombasa to Uganda and Rwanda, which are landlocked.

This looks like a scene from any Jamaican village

Kenya also has 1300 different species of birds and at the Natural History museum in Nairobi, they have stuffed displays of every single one. 

We also saw quite a number of these colorful creatures in the wild, one memorable scene was seeing a daring kite bird trying to chase a juvenile eagle out of it nest!

Video of some of the scenery along the way to Nakuru.

On this trip too, I gleaned a number of fun facts about animals in the wild. A summary is below.

Some of the 1300 bird species on display at the museum

      

Link;   https://youtu.be/W13GpOB4v9E

FUN FACTS

The white rhino is the 2nd largest land animal in the world (average 4.5 tons). It is not actually white in color but was misnamed by a South African who mispronounced 'wide' in describing how it's mouth is different from the black rhino. Despite this, the black and white rhinos do not get along! 

The white rhino also performs the lengthiest sex act, much longer than zebras which are as well endowed as donkeys, but operates on the basis, slam, bam thank you maam.😂

A Denis Bullion photo

Male buffalo horns start in the center of the head while the females horns start  close to the ears.

Most antelopes operate in harems with numerous females being serviced by one dominant male. However the little Dik Dik is so monogamous that it stays with its partner for life. When its mate dies, it stops eating and mopes to the point where it becomes easy prey for predators. 

Many animal watering holes are made by the huge elephants wallowing in the mud during the rainy season. An elephant is also so adept at using its large trunk that it can easily pick up something as small as a blade of grass, to huge objects with it.

An elephant at a watering hole

Also, elephants walk on tiptoes hence, despite their huge size, they move around silently.

Lions rarely attack humans unless provoked.

The giraffe's tongue appears to be blue as its pink tongue and the green leaves it feed on, gives it that color.

And lastly, many acacia trees are shaped according to how the giraffes feed on them. 

This acacia tree is tall in the middle as the giraffes feed around the edges

Link; https://youtu.be/W13GpOB4v9E

SOME GREAT OUTDOOR PHOTOS TAKEN BY DENIS BOUILLON

Flamingos partially cover Lake Nakuru

Vervet  aka blue balls monkey

A monogamous Dik Dik

Link; https://youtu.be/W13GpOB4v9E