GPzMike Abroad

Had to go solo on the MHB as nobody seemed to want to go with me. Their loss.

OTOH, it allowed me to make great time and have loads of fun on the motorcycle. Belval Plaze (base), Leogane to downtown Jacmal: 1 hour flat. Stoop to stoop (Hotel L'Amite): 1 hour 20 minutes.

The terrible news is that my POV cam from Oregon Scientific is fried for some reason. Haven't even used it but a half dozen times since I lost the first one while going off the rope swing at Lake Francis. Looking at a replacement on Amazon. I'm of two minds: 1: don't really NEED it, 2: the one I'm looking at is a bit more expensive than the last two and I don't really have the $$ to pop for it. BUT: 1: to let this adventure go by and not record it would be shameful - and this camera is waterproof to 10 meters so it'd do snorkel stuff as well and 2: I'm not about to waste the money on another Oregon Scientific one even if they cost 1/2 of the Tachyon model - what good is a camera if it don't work? I've already bought the Tachyon once just by buying 2 OS ones. Stop mucking about and get one that will last...as long as I don't loose it again.

The alternative is to figure out how to mount the ipod nano but I'll be danged if I can see a way to do that with the limited resources we have on hand. Besides, I doubt that camera will be able to handle the speed of the action from the bike (not to mention it's not dust/waterproof).

At any rate, it was a fun ride and I do hope I get to record one of them so y'all can see how much fun that road is.

I'm trying hard to learn Creole. It's not easy. Well, let me rephrase that: the language is actually pretty easy to learn. It's a very streamlined language without many idiosyncrasies. My brain is having a hard time with memorizing the words. I feel like it goes in the ear canal and dribbles out the other side almost immediately. Age related memory deficiency? Am I now on that "he knew more than you'll ever know" side of the age scale? Regardless, soldier on I must. I hope that once I get the ball rolling it will build momentum and become easier as I go.

To that end, I talked with a nice fellow by the name of Bob this morning at breakfast. He took the time to help me with my Creole. He's the waiter here, and he charged me with ordering my breakfast from him in the morning in Creole. I'm pretty sure I got it down, but I draw complete blanks on words at any given moment.

Lunch is on the way: cheeseburger and coke. Yeah, we'll see. I'm not optimistic, but how could I at least not give it a shot, right?

Internet here is terrible. I have connection to the router, but from there it seems to go nowhere. Would really like to post some of this, and to check in with my email. Ah well.

The ocean is definitely colder this time of year. Not cold mind you, but brisk. More growth in it, too. Kelp like leafy vegetable matter. And more rubbly bottom than last time which makes me think there's more wave action and the rougher sand is on the beach as well as the cooler lower layers of the ocean. Probably talkin' outta my butt, but that's my theory and I'm stickin' to it.

Today spent sleeping and lazing in bed. Swam before breakfast this morning just to wake up. Felt good. Keep thinking about hopping on the bike and heading further out from Jacmel but I think I will do that tomorrow. I wonder what is further east of here. I know the road turns to dirt about 4 miles from here as I've gone that far before. Some very pretty coastline along there. Some of it looks like it would be fun to snorkel, but as I'm alone this trip I'm a bit wary of going out into unfamiliar waters solo. There are currents along this side of the island from what I have heard and since I sense more wave action this time of year I therefor further suspect that the currents might be more prevalent (I've never experienced them from my previous trips to this coast).

So short of finding a calm lagoon to flipper around in I don't know that I'm gonna go get all commando 'n' shit on this trip. Looking and pictures will likely have to suffice. Scouting for the next trip. IF I can find someone to go with me for the next trip. I should start sniffing around sooner than later for the next MHB.

Speaking of flipper-ing...I watched 'The Cove' last night. Pretty potent movie in some ways. 23,000 dolphins a year butchered for what appears to be no reason. The next time you think about going to Sea World or any other aquarium or park that features dolphins think about the fact that those dolphins were purchased in Taigi, Japan and that all the other dolphins that were captured that day were slaughtered by sticking them with a spear and letting them flop around and bleed out (but regardless of the method, it's terrible that they are being slaughtered at all). Mercury levels in dolphins are in the 2,000ppm range (safe levels are considered 4ppm (or was it 0.4?) so using them as a source of food is a very bad idea. They are at the top of the food chain similar to us humans. The guy who's leading this push to shut down this practice? None other than the very guy that trained and created the tv series 'Flipper' back in the 60's! He contends (and other reports I've heard report similar findings) that they are extremely intelligent possessing a sense of self awareness. There is no other animal on earth that shows signs of being self aware other than humans. And we are slaughtering them?

I'm sure that once we 'break' their language and find a way to communicate other than sign language (kinda hard for a dolphin given the lack of hands!) that this will all be quickly stopped. But why do we have to wait for it when the basic wrongness of it is so easily seen?