New Blog!

Please visit www.gypsyatlas.com to see what I'm up to these days!

- Madeline

Turtle Viewing at Carlsmith Beach Park, Hilo

Carlsmith Beach Park in Hilo, Hawaii is known for turtles that hang out in the shallow turquoise water close to shore. Visitors can walk onto the rocks and simply look into the water to see a turtle. These magnificent creatures abound in Hawaii. Interested in swimming with them? Just use a convenient ladder that leads swimmers into the water.

After your swim, be sure to stop at Hilo Homemade Ice Cream Cafe, 1477 Kalanianaole Avenue, for delicious local flavors like lilikoi (passion fruit).

Carlsmith Beach Park is located on Kalanianaole Avenue, near Hilo Airport, a 10 minute drive from downtown.

Rancho del Oso

Rancho del Oso's new Nature and History Center held a wildflower show on Saturday and Sunday April 28 and 29, 2 weeks after they opened their doors to the public. Rancho del Oso is part of Big Basin California State Park, located 17 miles north of Santa Cruz (past Davenport) at Wadell Creek.

The ranch got its name from the Grizzly Bears that once frequented the valley and who killed Mr. Wadell, Wadell Creek's namesake. They've got a sad-faced stuffed Grizzly in the visitors center. The park is lovely, with wildflowers, marsh, and ocean views. I visited with my 95-year-old grandma. It was especially nice for her since, she knew the woman who had owned the ranch before it was part of the State Park, Hulda Hoover McLean.

The new visitor center is open on Saturdays and Sundays 12-4. The drive up the coast from Santa Cruz is gorgeous, and there's plenty of parking at the park. Bring a picnic to enjoy at their picnic tables with a view.

1906 Earthquake and Fire Survivors Parade

1930s Fire Truck

At 5:11am the firetrucks and ambulances sounded their sirens.

Today is the 106th anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. I marked the occasion by waking at 4am to join the survivors parade and gathering at Lotta's Fountain on Kearny and Market streets in downtown San Francisco. It was still dark as night, but that didn't stop a crowd from forming around the shiny copper fountain, the center of old San Francisco. 

Mayor Ed Lee was there, along with Supervisor Scott Wiener, but what got me out of bed was the chance to see earthquake survivors. George Quilici, born April 26, 1905, Bill Del Monte, born January 1, 1906, and Winnie Hook, born February 14, 1906, all attended to commemorate the earthquake. Two of the survivors rode in an open-top historic car. They looked fabulous and had to share a blanket to keep warm on the chilly morning. By the end of the festivities, Winnie wore the blanket over her head. 

1930s fire truck

 The crowd dispersed shortly after 5:15am, some going about their day, others attending the Lefty O'Douls survivor breakfast, and others, including myself, making their way to Dolores Park to re-paint the Magic Fire Hydrant. The hydrant gets a fresh coat of paint each year on April 18th. This year, the organizers accidentally purchased silver spray paint instead of gold! The crowd mumbled about it, but it didn't dampen anyone's spirits.

Winnie Hook was the first to spray the hydrant. Next, descendants of survivors got their turn. Finally, anyone with a connection to the earthquake was able to step up, spray the fountain and tell the crowd a story. Each painter received a certificate for their help. As you can see below, the hydrant turned silver today, oops! The fire chief said that she would come back later today to repaint it gold.

Around this time, the sun was rising over Dolores Park. It was a fabulous way to start the day, honoring the survivors, and the memory of the victims and the heroes from that day 106 years ago.

We sang San Francisco at Lotta's Fountain. The tune can also be heard nightly at the Castro Theatre where the organists end their sets with the song right before the films begin.

San Francisco

It only takes a tiny corner of

This great big world to make a place you love

My home upon the hill

I find I love you still

I've been away, but now I'm back to tell you:

San Francisco

Open your golden gate

You let no stranger wait outside your door

San Francisco

Here is your wandering one

Saying "I'll wander no more"

Other places only make me love you best

Tell me you're the heart of all the golden west

San Francisco

Welcome me home again

I'm coming home 

To go roaming no more!

Ferrenafe Cemetery

Ferrenafe is not the town you imagined yourself visiting in Peru. Far from the Andes and the Amazon, on the northern desert coast, Ferrenafe is a small provincial town with one tourist draw, the Museo Nacional Sican, where elaborate gold funerary masks, pristine ceramics, impossibly pink Spondylus shells and jewelry of semi-precious stones from the pre-Colombian Sican culture are on display. Archaeologists continue to discover burial sites full of gold at the nearby Batan Grande dig site.

Most visitors view the museum and simply leave Ferrenafe. Spend another hour or two to gain some insight on more modern rural Peruvian funerary practices. Located a ten minute walk from the Sican Museum, the Ferrenafe Cemetery is a free attraction that will leave an impression.

 The cemetery is made up of hundreds of outdoor stacked brick sarcophagi, plastered and painted turquoise and white. Each features an alcove dedicated to the departed. The alcoves are precious jewel box art pieces, with original paintings, dolls, decorative gates, and fresh and plastic flowers (mostly in plastic Inca Kola bottles). Older sarcophagi have crumbled into piles of bricks, while some newer alcoves sit waiting to be decorated, with new cement with a name scratched into it.

To reach the cemetery from the Museo Nacional Sican, walk towards the cathedral and plaza on calle Batan Grande. The unmissable white cemetery gate will be on your left. Be sure to bring your camera!

Temple Ruins by Horse & Carriage

For less than it would cost for a taxi between bars in San Francisco, we rented a private tuk tuk and driver for the morning to visit the temple ruins of Wiang Kum Kam on the outskirts of Chiang Mai, Thailand. The ruins cover an area that is filled, not only with ancient and modern temples, but also family homes. We splurged on a private horse and colorful carriage with driver. Part of the thrill was voyeuristically peering into the patios of private homes from our carriage as we went from temple to temple.

The site is an oasis, where city dwellers can worship while marveling at the beauty of the ancient sculpture whose red and white brick is partially covered with green foliage. One of the most beautiful Buddha sculptures, of black stone draped in a saffron sash, was renovated through the efforts of concerned neighbors. Visitors can stroll in the park-like setting, but the site is not just for gawkers. We encountered a Thai family fishing in a pond that had formed inside a ruin. A shrine with fresh marigolds, cigarettes, bananas, recently burned candles and incense, and miniature sculpture overlooked the family as they fished.

The photo above was taken in a busy area of Wiang Kum Kam, where vendors sell offerings to worshippers and new and ancient sculpture and architecture exist side by side. Hire a tuk tuk and driver through your hotel in the old city. The tour takes less than half a day and is absolutely lovely!

Special Loy Krathong (Lantern Festival) strings attached to Buddha's hands

I'm not sure why lady cannot enter. This was the only sign I  saw like this in Thailand.

Ancient Amazonian Cities?

Amazon village, Iquitos area, Peru
photo by Madeline Horn

This article in the New York Times discusses the large earthworks discovered under the forests cover of the Amazon in Brazil and Bolivia. The earthworks consist of large shapes (such as circles and squares) connected by roads. Researchers have not found evidence of human settlement in or on the earthworks, leading them to believe they are ceremonial. This means that thousands of people could have been settled enough to build massive ceremonial structures in the Amazon. It also means that large sections of land , which is now forested, were once used for agriculture.

Amazon Clouds and Trees, near Iquitos, Peru
photo by Madeline Horn

The article sparks my curiosity by positing that there may have been towns connected by roads featuring large earthworks where thousands of people lived. This is a revelation. I love it when archaeology presents us with a new way of looking at the past. The earthworks were first discovered in the 1970s, yet scientists did not investigate thoroughly until the 1990s. What other ancient mysteries are out there waiting to be discovered?

Loy Krathong Lantern Festival

Monks helping people light their lanterns at a temple.

                Sarah and I planned our trip to Thailand to coincide with the annual lantern festival, Loy Krathong. It was hard to get information about the festival before arriving in Chiang Mai, but once we were there, we could not escape the festival had we wanted to (which we didn't). We saw lanterns in the air, floating down the river, and set up in parks, temples and plazas across the city.  The sky was filled with thousands of paper lanterns lit from within by flame. The effect is intoxicating. I first noticed the lanterns in the sky after walking into a temple complex lit by hundreds of small red clay candles with orange wax, placed on every surface, including the golden chedi, which reflected the lights beautifully as a black and white temple cat slept peacefully amongst the candles. A monk’s chants were amplified on a loudspeaker for Thais sitting on folding chairs facing the chedi worshipping and leaving offerings. The monk knelt in front of the chedi, his amplified chants lending eerie sound effects. 

As I walked out of the temple complex gate, decorated with palm fronds and colorful lanterns, I looked up and saw lanterns floating in the sky. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the sky as I weaved through the busy night streets, until a massive parade diverted my attention.

Thousands of people flood the streets to celebrate Loy Krathong in Chiang Mai. Massive lanterns decorate the city in the shape of dragons, elephants, cartoon characters, and people. Thais and tourists alike pose in front of these colorful lanterns with big smiles on their faces and fingers in the air in the universal peace sign. Thousands of lanterns hang in parks, on city streets, and on temple gates as well.

Revelers set lanterns into the sky from temples and on the banks of the Ping River, where kids of all ages let off fireworks in all directions. The white tissue lanterns, sold by monks and street vendors, unfold to wider than a person’s width and nearly as tall. It takes two, but most seemed to prefer 4-5, people to ignite and alight a lantern. Posing for photos with their lantern right as the lantern casts an orange glow on their faces is a highlight for most groups.          

                       The stars themselves have competition from the beautiful lanterns filling the sky   and temples bedecked with candles and lanterns on the nights of Loy Krathong. The date of the festival changes every year, as it coincides with the full moon in November. I can’t imagine a more magical time to visit Chiang Mai.  
 

The spots of light behind the white chedi are lanterns.

Loy Krathong parade!

Elephants are everywhere in Thailand.

Fish ball vendor near giant lantern display

Note the black and white cat sleeping at the bottom left.

These lanterns were EVERYWHERE!

Mango with Sticky Rice

Kao Nio Ma Muang

Mango with Sticky Rice
1 cup of steamed sticky rice
1/2 cup of coconut milk
1 ripe mango (peel, remove the seed and slice into pieces)
1-2 tbsp. of sugar (or wet palm sugar, available at specialty stores like Rainbow Grocery)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 vanilla bean (or padang* leaf, if you can get it)

Place coconut milk, vanilla bean, sugar and salt in a pot. Heat until boiling. Turn the heat off. Add steamed sticky rice. Mix together well. Let it cool. Serve with sliced mango.

*Padang is a dark green sturdy leaf that imparts the coconut with a distinct flavor that is similar to vanilla. I don't have a source for it in the U.S., but would be happy to find it someday.

recipe courtesy of The Chiang Mai Thai Farm Cooking School

Do you know how coconut milk is made?...by pressing coconut shavings!

Making coconut milk from shavings at the market

We spent a delicious day at The Chiang Mai Thai Farm Cooking School (www.thaifarmcooking.com), visiting a market in the countryside before touring the school's farm of fresh-as-can-be ingredients, including bananas, mangoes, galangal, ginger, kaffir limes, lemongrass, and more. We cooked a feast with ingredients from the farm, including red curry chicken (kaeng phed gai), basil chicken (phad kaprao gai), pad thai, and chicken coconut soup (tom kaa gai). Are you noticing a pattern? Gai means chicken! We made our curry paste from scratch, but you can see in the photo below that Thai cooks can purchase fresh curry paste in red, yellow, or green from the market in bulk.

Green curry paste for purchase at the market (thai cooks' secret)

Chili sauces and oil at the market

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the 20 baht (70 cent) bag of FRESH green peppercorns.
That's galangal directly behind the peppercorns.

Sarah and I had these little balls of delight in a very thin sauce with red peppers and lots of broth on our first night in Thailand at a street market stall, served on a skewer of chicken, pineapple, tomato, and onion. Oh how I would love to have access to fresh green peppercorns in California.

In case you're wondering how to make sticky rice...
First, you must purchase sticky rice grains. You can't make sticky rice by using regular rice grains. Next, soak the sticky rice in water overnight. Finally, steam the rice in a bamboo steamer until it is soft. Voila!

We learned a very important lesson at cooking school.
How to eat sticky rice...
1. Grab a ball of the rice with your fingers (half the size of a ping pong ball)
2. Roll the ball in the palm of your hands.
3. Flatten the ball into the shape of a blood cell.
4. Use your patty to scoop up bites of yummy Thai food.

Magic Gardens

Chedis (also called stupas in other countries) can be found in all Thai temples and are a solid structure, meaning you cannot enter it, as it's more of a monument. They are built to hold relics and other treasures. Thais kneel before them to pray and give offerings of incense, flowers and candles.

The chedi at Wat Lok Molee is practically in ruins. Bare brick is all that remains. It is massive and golden Buddhas sit on various levels. The base of the chedi is the height of a 2 story building and is covered in green plants growing. Three monks in saffron robes sat smoking behind it. The top of the base was wrapped in what I call "monk orange" fabric.


The main temple was made of very dark wood. In front of the temple stood a tree of gold and a tree of silver with 2 white elephants with red and yellow details. It truly was a magic garden.


The very shiny Chedi Luang was in a temple complex where, on Sunday evenings, food vendors set up stalls selling ice cream, sushi, noodles, thai tea (sold out of lemonade machines that keep it moving constantly), skewers of meat and fish balls, and rice dishes.

This reclining Buddha at Wat Phra Singh is experiencing Nirvana even though they've built a tiny little house for him, which seems too small. He could never stand up in this structure! Notice Sarah standing at his feet to truly understand how gigantic he is.

This peaceful Buddha looks out over the moat surrounding the Old City of Chiang Mai. Ruins of the old wall on the inside of the moat still stand. Thais use the ancient gates in the walls (used to enter the Old City) as landmarks and meeting places. We stayed inside the Old City.
Here I am standing at one of the gates in the wall surrounding the Old City. The pink lanterns were part of the Loy Krathong lantern festival.

Chiang Mai Temples

Arriving in Chiang Mai after 18 years away I didn't know what to expect. I was absolutely delighted to discover the city still holds a spell over me. The rhythm of the city is quite different than any other place I've been. On the one hand, traffic is intense and chaotic and sidewalks are ripped up with gaping holes in them. On the other, you happen upon ancient buddhist temples, oases in the middle of the city that act as public parks and places of worship.

Monks walk the streets of the city in the early morning carrying an alms bowl to collect food and other offerings for themselves and the temple. This photo was taken as the monks returned to Wat Phra Singh (wat means temple in Thai), just after sunrise, carrying their alms bowls.


Thai culture, including religion and their script, is influenced by India. You can really see this in this shrine on a temple compound in Chiang Mai's old city.

I made a donation in exchange for a Loy Krathong with my family names on it. I also cut a piece of fingernail and a piece of hair using the scissors and clippers provided by the temple to add to the little banana leaf boat. The boat was added to a larger boat that they floated on the river during the festival.