Moving between here and there

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moving-between-here-and-there-8Coming and going is always a strange phenomenon for me. You’d think after the amount of upheaval and change that has permeated my life from the very beginning that I would be a pro at smoothly moving through change. And perhaps on the outside it appears that way….but moving from a life that you are used to, comfortable in, to another life, another home, another place, always comes with the same feelings of panic and nostalgia and sadness and loss. I call it a change-attack instead of a panic attack…it’s a feeling so specific to changing my environment and the people around me that I feel like it deserves it’s own name. The feeling of panic usually hits first as a shock rushing through my body upon waking up, often from a nap (because everyone needs a nap after a big trip, right?). moving-between-here-and-there-2I open my eyes and in those first few moments of waking, when the world doesn’t quite feel stable again yet, when you still aren’t quite sure if you are really here, if everything around you is reality or still a dream, that’s when the feelings of nostalgia and sadness set in. I feel a tremendous longing for where I was and no longer am. Suddenly everything around me feels so wrong. Even if I’m in the most comfortable, familiar place — a place I missed terribly and had been begging to return to, I still get that feeling of loss and sadness for wherever I’d been.

Some of what I’m missing about my time on Easter Island…

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the view we love so much from our “home” on Easter Island

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enjoying “once” on the lanai

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a parking lot just for watching the waves…where one stops for a break on a lazy drive home

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the town “beach”

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enjoying guava ice cream after a day in the field

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renovations of the soccer field….prepping for artificial turf

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a stare down between car and cow….an everyday occurrence on the road

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gorgeous sunsets

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a new decorative rock wall on the newest addition to the family hotel

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Abuelita’s bucket cilantro garden

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take-out ceviche from Hetu’u

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waiting to board the plane….of to another home

So I’ve come to realize I just need to allow myself time to move through that stage of transition from one place to another — that place of sadness and loss for the daily familiarity of what was. I have to let myself trust that the comfort of an everyday routine with the people I see on a daily basis and with the places I inhabit, will return in this new location….and it always does. Within only a few days, where I was becomes a distant memory. Until I travel again, and the whole process starts anew.

Has anyone else ever felt something like that? It’s such a hard feeling to put into words.moving-between-here-and-there-6

 

Posted in: Easter Island (Rapa Nui), home, Islands, Love, our travels, Ruminations, Travel \ Tagged: , , , ,

Flight

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Flying and I have a love-hate relationship. I generally hate it. It terrifies me. But I love that it gets me somewhere breathtaking and new in a matter of hours. And, I love looking out the window. On a clear day, I am endlessly reminded of the beauty of our planet and am in awe that we can fly above it. It’s a step away from normal. Up there in flight I let myself be consumed by the wonder of the bigger things and worry less about the little things.

Some favorites from our past few years of travel…

 

Hawaii

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The Andes

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Easter Island

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The Rockies – Utah

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and more…. loving the texture in these.

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Vienna, Austria by night

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Turks and Caicos

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The North Carolina Coast

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(all photos by Pineapple Tree)

 

 

 

Posted in: inspiration, our travels, Ruminations, Travel \ Tagged: , , , , ,

Survivalist: Boundary Waters Fire Starter

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Heading into the wilderness, or heading to an isolated island, it seems that both help to reset our perspective on the world :

Life is simple if you get back to basics.

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During out last Boundary Waters trip, this sentiment really set in for both of us.  Every day was focused on 4 simple things: shelter, water, food, friends.  Tim Ferris writes in his most recent book, Four Hour Chef, about the Survivalist’s Rule of Threes; assume you can survive without the following things for the given amount of time.

Shelter — Three Hours

Water — Three Days

Food — Three Weeks

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We were far from having to rely on the Rule of Threes during our BWCA trip, but I did focus on honing my skills in surviving in the wilderness. Due to my recent man-crush on Bear Grylls, I decided to buy his fire starter  and test it out on trail. Starting a fire without matches can be tricky. I prepared for success by making tinder out of cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly (or Vaseline) to catch the spark. These babies last for a good 30 seconds to a full minute, which is enough time to catch small twigs or branches on fire. To prep these cotton balls, I put a pinch of Vaseline in a ziplock bag along with 4 cotton balls. Then, I massaged the Vaseline into the cotton balls. Presto! Great tinder with no mess.

starting a fire

To keep these cotton balls dry I kept them in an old film canister.  I could fit at least 4 in there. cotton ball with vaseline

The BG fire starter also has a hidden, waterproof compartment that can keep at least 2 of the cotton balls dry.

Bear Grylls fire starter

I was incredibly excited to try it out the BG Fire Starter when we first got on trail. There are two parts to this tool, a metal striker a ferrocerium rod that emits the spark.  It took a few tries, but I finally figure out two key points to sparking a good fire.

1. Keep the striker in place while moving the ferrocerium rod. This makes it easier to control where the sparks will land.  If you move the striker instead of the rod, your sparks will fly everywhere.

Starting fire with Bear Grylls fire starter

Starting fire with Bear Grylls fire starter

2. Scrape with the sharp area of the striker. Imagine shaving a pencil with a sharp knife, except you are moving the pencil instead of the knife. I was worried about breaking the rod or scraping off too much, but no matter how hard I tried, the tool stayed intact.

Starting fire with cotton ball and vaseline

Adding to this, our friend Adam showed us a technique used in Kenya to build small fires for heating a kettle of water.Kenyan style fire

The basic principle is to configure 3 rocks under your pot so that the fire in the middle can be fed through the 3 different holes. Make sure to place this fire in a well ventilated area, this way the 3 holes will fuel oxygen to the fire. You can then feed wood in through these holes to feed the fire underneath.

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The embers of the burning sticks will gather just below the kettle.

Kenyan style fire

In the end, you will generate sustained heat for a long time, instead of having a roaring fire for just a few minutes.

Kenyan style fire

Posted in: Move, our travels, outdoor adventures, tips & tricks, Travel \ Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Pretty Pictures of Rapa Nui

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Unfinished statues at Rano Raraku. Most people don't realize that these statues are half buried in the soil.

Unfinished statues at Rano Raraku. Most people don’t realize that these statues are half buried in the soil.

The statue in the foreground traveled to Japan as part of the Osaka Trade Fair in 1990. You can see Rano Raraku, the statue quarry, in the background.

The statue in the foreground traveled to Japan as part of the Osaka Trade Fair in 1990. You can see Rano Raraku, the statue quarry, in the background.

Ahu Tongariki, the largest ceremonial site on the island, stretches almost 300 meters in length and has some of the largest standing statues on it.

Ahu Tongariki, the largest ceremonial site on the island, stretches almost 300 meters in length and has some of the largest standing statues on it.

Rapa Nui 039 Rapa Nui 035 Rapa Nui 036The moai represented ancestor figures to the ancient people. They were not molds of the same, but each was unique as the person they represented.

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The cliffs of Poike with the islet Motu Marotiri nearby, where ancient ceremonies took place for children.

Rano Kau, the South Western crater of the island, is filled with rainwater and was used in ancient times by the town to gather drinking water.

Rano Kau, the South Western crater of the island, is filled with rainwater and was used in ancient times by the town to gather drinking water.

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Three islets seen off the South Western point of the island. Competitors of the Bird Man competition would have to climb down the cliff and swim to the farthest island to search for the first egg of the sooty tern.

A cultural presentation of a warrior about to "Haka Pei," an ancient sport performed by warriors.

A cultural presentation of a warrior about to “Haka Pei,” an ancient sport performed by warriors.

Takona performance. The use of body paint was and is still used to tell stories of the past.

Takona performance. The use of body paint was and is still used to tell stories of the past.

 

A young Rapanui figuring out which "helado" flavor he wants. International foods are now somewhat available on the island, which has sadly lead to health issues for many islanders.

A young Rapanui, dressed in traditional clothes, figuring out which “helado” flavor he wants. International foods are now somewhat available on the island, which has sadly lead to health issues for many islanders. Our documentary, Eating Up Easter, will focus on some of that.

 

Posted in: Culture, Easter Island (Rapa Nui), inspiration, Islands, our travels, Travel \ Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Express yourself

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derive - french

 

I often feel like words cannot truly capture the density, depth, or intricacy of my thoughts and emotions about the greater aspects of life. Words can lock in big complex sensations into terms that often feel too simple. But language and our use of it to communicate is quite incredible in what it allows us to capture and share with others. We have developed quite an array of symbols to describe the world around us and our perceptions of it. That is what makes language so fascinating to anthropologists. Our language is a reflection of the way in which we as a collective culture, sharing a common language, experience or perceive the world.

Aren’t these beautifully illustrated words from cultures around the world wonderful? See more here.

German

Italian

Inuit

Spanish

Hawaiian

FrenchAnd one of my favorites in Rapanui (the Polynesian language spoken on Easter Island) is the closest word (or phrase) they have for love: Mo more manava mo te hanga au kia koe e. Literally: The tightening / wrenching of the stomach that is made by my want for you. The Rapanui believe that a person feels with their stomach, not with their heart. This give that “gut feeling” a new meaning.

Yet, although we share a language with a group of people who often experience the world in similar ways, we each individually have our own understanding of the delicate nuances of a particular word. And therein lies a conundrum: can anyone really know you— really truly understand what you are thinking and feeling? Your own very individual experiences and background color your understanding of the world right down to what a word means or represents to you. Orenda - IroquoianBut still, some words do seem to come close to expressing those most complex of sensations or feelings. And looking at those words across languages gives us an incredible window into not only how different groups of people experience the world, but also the vast variety of emotions and perceptions we, as humans, experience and try to capture in our languages. I stumbled across this tumbler some months ago and love using it to discover some of that complex and colorful vocabulary we have developed around the world.

The feeling  I had before I found Easter Island….Sehnsucht And some more of my favorites….Annus Mirabilis - LatinSmultronstalle - SwedishNefelibata - Spanish Greek

 

 

Posted in: Culture, Ruminations \ Tagged: , , ,

Best travel lunch

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Best-travel-lunch-15In our very first post, Ta’u talked about our new love of bringing amazing food in collapsible containers when we fly. He had a few suggestions on what to bring, but here I want to share a recipe for the best salad for traveling. That’s a big proclamation I know, but its true. This salad tastes so light and refreshing – none of that fatty fried food or dry baguette sandwiches that most airport food places offer (although Minneapolis / St.Paul is leading the way with local restaurants in the airport….too bad we’re never on a layover at home….I would be so happy to eat at MSP).

This recipe takes a little prep time but it tastes even better the next day, so I always make it a day or two ahead of time and then have it all ready when we travel. The actual preparation is pretty simple, most of it involves waiting for things to cook, roast, or marinate.Best-travel-lunch-1Here are most of the simple, fresh ingredients in this yummy salad (Not pictured, butternut squash, olive oil, and goat cheese…oops).Best-travel-lunch-4Wash the kale and strip the leaves from the stems. Chop the kale into roughly 1 inch squares.Best-travel-lunch-5Mix the olive oil, white wine vinegar, brown sugar, lemon zest and add salt and pepper to taste…a few good shakes of each.Best-travel-lunch-6Add the minced shallots and mix.

Best-travel-lunch-7Finally, add the chopped kale and mix it up well so the liquid coats all of it. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours.Best-travel-lunch-2While the kale is marinating, prepare the beets and butternut squash squares in a pocket of tin foil and then roast them in the oven for 45 minutes.Best-travel-lunch-3Meanwhile cook the barley in boiling water for about the same amount of time. One timer, two parts of the salad done.Best-travel-lunch-9When both are finished, drain and wash the barley and set it aside to cool. Let the beets cool completely then peel and chop them into 1 inch squares or so.  Best-travel-lunch-11Now it’s time to mix it all together. Pour the barley into a large bowl, add the roasted beets and squash squares, marinated kale, and crumble about half a small log of goat cheese (or feta if you can’t stand goat cheese). I prefer goat cheese over feta because it is less salty and gives the salad a yummy tang that is stronger than that of feta, but either one works well here.

Best-travel-lunch-12Mix it all up add some rice vinegar and more olive oil if you like it (I prefer to keep the salad lighter with less oil while traveling) and more salt and pepper to taste.

 Best-travel-lunch-13There you have it – the best salad for traveling. It might not look like much but despite tasting so light, it is very hearty and will fill you up. Just add some fresh fruit to your container and you’re good to go! I got stopped in security recently for a bag check and the TSA guy was very impressed with my meal. I think he wanted some too. He also was jealous of the popcorn I had.

My other favorite travel food for long flights – Annie’s kettle corn. I bring a baggie of the stuff, get settled, start up a movie (all the flights on LAN to South America have private tv screens for each seat), and it almost, sorta, minus the cramped leg room and dry air, feels like home.

Kale Barley Salad with Roasted Beets, Butternut Squash, and Goat Cheese

Adapted from Bon Appetit

makes enough for about six large lunches – make it ahead and you will have lunch for a few days before you leave too, or divide the ingredients in half to make just enough for two to travel.

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 Tbsp white wine vinegar

2 tsp. packed light brown sugar

1/2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest (or orange zest)

salt and pepper

1 bunch Tuscan (flat leaf) Kale, de-stemmed, cut into 1 inch squares

1/4 c. minced shallots

3-4 medium golden beets, ends trimmed

1 c. of 1 inch squares of uncooked butternut squash (can be frozen)

1 1/4 c. pearl barley

4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled (or feta)

2 Tbsp + to taste unseasoned rice vinegar

Mix 2 Tbsp olive oil, white wine vinegar, sugar and lemon zest in a medium bowl. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste and the chopped kale and shallots. Mix well, cover and chill to let marinate.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375. Make a pocket with aluminum foil and arrange the whole beets and uncooked butternut squash squares on the foil. Drizzle with olive oil and salt, turning to coat the beets. Seal the pocket and bake on a cookie sheet for 45 minutes or until a fork can easily pass through the beets. Allow to cool completely then peel the beats and chop them into 1/2 – 1 inch squares.

While the beets are cooking, cook the barley. Add the barley to a large pot of water. Bring to a boil uncovered and keep at a low boil for about 45 minutes. Drain and rinse barley and spread on a cookie sheet or in a strainer to cool.

Mix the beets and squash, barley, marinated kale and goat cheese. Drizzle with 2 Tbps. of rice vinegar or more to taste. Add more olive oil if desired (I like it less oily so I don’t add any more). Cover and chill or pack into your favorite travel lunch container.

Can be made 2 days ahead. Often tastes better on the second day. Remove from fridge right before travel and eat within 4 hours.

Posted in: Eats, our travels, tips & tricks, Travel, we make \ Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ready Steady Roll!

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Back in May I took a log rolling class with two good friends (who have both since moved away…sniff). What is log rolling you ask? Have no fear, we will demonstrate for you in our epic log rolling video below. But before we get to that check out our instructor’s face in the bottom left of the photo above. Best photo capture of our experience (excuse the fact that the camera was wet, it just adds to the effect, right?).

Our log rolling instructor was a maniac on the log – he was even gone one of the weekends to compete in American Ninja Warrior. Hard core….we were in good hands. But as you will soon see, it’s not easy. Even with expert instruction, all we could do was try to stay on the log as long as possible. Which wasn’t very long at all….our best times were a whopping 10 seconds on the log. See our scores below in the lower right….Sarah and I both “rode the bull” (stayed on over 8 seconds) clocking in with record times of 8.25 and 10.63. Now don’t mind the 4 minute times in the upper left. Those were tiny tiny children, which obviously don’t count. Their tiny bodies don’t even make the log move. We watched the class before us, we saw how they roll. It’s like walking on land. Must be boring. 4 minutes, I mean I would have jumped off from boredom by then.

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We weren’t satisfied just being crazy good log rollers ourselves, we had to bring our husbands in to experience this with us….describing it in words to them just wouldn’t suffice. And as Ta’u loves trying any local cultural or traditional activity, this was right up his alley. Log rolling is a true Minnesotan tradition.

Jim Herron log rolling dressed as a woman

Jim Herron’s ” Grandma Log Rolling ” show

It began during the logging days in the late 1800’s when lumberjacks would drive the logs down rivers to transport them to the growing cities of the north. They guided the logs, trying to prevent log jams as they went around curves and across shallow areas. It was critical for them to hone their skills of standing on floating tree trunks. After working hours they would hold competitions at the logging camps. Two or three men would stand on a log and try to knock the others off until only one was left standing. The sport has been kept alive in various circles and competitions are held around the country each year (check out the US logrolling association). It appears to be making a big comeback in Minnesota this year, as we saw classes offered at all the lakes this summer, and saw logs tied to the roofs of cars as they passed us on the freeways.

So who wants to see our mad log rolling skills? I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Posted in: active life, Culture, Film, Move, our videos \ Tagged: , , , , ,

Babar’s Yoga for Travelers

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Babar's yoga for travelers-1Despite the fact that last year alone we flew on over 30 flights, I hate flying. Although luckily not enough to make me stop wanting to see the world. So flying and I, or well, being in transit in general, well, we need to come to some sort of agreement. Because I’m not going to stop. The most difficult part of traveling for me is letting go of control. I don’t know if the flight will be on time, and if it’s not, sometimes we miss our connections or our plans at our destination. I don’t know how long all the lines we have to stand in will take and I can’t make them move faster. Customs lines after long overnight flights are the WORST and always seem to take hours.

When I was 17 and returning from a summer in Italy with an exchange family, I missed my connection home because the customs line took too long. Ever since, I have flashbacks of that day when we are waiting in those lines: I see myself, a haggard, crazy-eyed child running through the airport dragging all her luggage, half of which busted open during the run and spilled across the airport hallway and is now hastily patched together with a belt, reaching the gate just as the door is closing and being turned away by the unsympathetic gate attendants. I only had to wait 3 or 4 more hours to get on the next flight home, but it felt like the end of the world to me. I hadn’t seen my family in 8 weeks, my grandpa had passed away while I was gone, and all I wanted to do was get home. I felt so alone and helpless, but I realized there was nothing to do but clean up, change my sweaty clothes, re-pack my broken bag as best I could, and wait. I would get there eventually, and not all that much later I did.

But that “disaster” has stuck with me and lead to an overwhelming feeling of anxiety when situations in airports don’t go my way. I’m learning, and so is my husband, on how to cope (he plops me down in a corner and hands me fruit ninja on zen mode…..endless cutting of fruit with your finger as a blade…calms me every time…but let’s not analyze that shall we?). My difficultly with instant flexibility and resiliency, especially when I’m tired and hungry, which for me is synonymous with travel, has made for some pretty challenging moments for us and those trying to serve us. Now that we are traveling more than ever, I’ve decided it’s about time I found some consistent coping mechanisms.

Babar's Yoga for Elephants (who travel)

Last year before we left for a trip to Europe a friend of mine shared Babar’s Yoga for Elephants with me. While it’s meant to teach yoga to children, it is also about staying calm in busy, crazy, challenging places and moments by doing yoga. I especially loved the delayed flight page where they are doing plow pose. While it might not always be practical to flip into plow pose in the middle of the gate area, there are plenty of other ways to incorporate yoga, or the idea of yoga into your travels. For instance, now, when I’m getting antsy standing in line and feel my anxiety starting up, I lift a leg into tree pose and feel myself relax, or I focus on my breath for a few minutes. It gives me something to do to take my mind off the wait or the unknown, and helps me get centered again.

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The book also has some wonderful illustrations of Babar doing yoga while traveling. Since we were going to France at the time, I even got to recreate one of the poses (please excuse my terrible form in down-dog. I was trying to do it as fast as possible before the guards nearby got too suspicious). 

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Does traveling stress you out? Do you do it anyway? What do you do to cope? 

Posted in: our travels, tips & tricks, Travel \ Tagged: , , , , ,

Another corner of home

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Rapa Nui Aerial

Photo by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

This weekend I’m heading off to another corner of home…..Easter Island, or Rapa Nui. One of the smallest, most remote inhabited places on the planet, it is nearly 2000 miles from any other populated land and it has a surface area of only 60 square miles – about the size of Washington D.C. But, unknown to many, it has a thriving population of over 6000 people, not to mention the 80,000 or so tourists that visit each year.

This is the first time in 10 years that I will travel to the island without Ta’u. I will miss his presence very much, but I’m getting excited to take on this new challenge. I’ve definitely let him lead the way with his huge extended family there – he’s related to most of the islanders which can get pretty confusing trying to keep them all straight and remember who’s related to who. Knowing who someone is there means knowing how they are related to you, so when you get introduced it’s not just, “this is so and so” but, “this is so and so, he’s your cousin, he’s the grandson of my father’s brother’s daughter.” You’ve got to learn fast, and as someone who’s terrible with names anyway, this is the ultimate challenge. When in doubt I know to smile and wave at everyone I see just in case they are family (which most likely they are) and try not to let on that I can’t remember who’s cousin’s wife’s brother-in-law they are. So being there on my own, I hope, will force me to learn by doing, shall we say.

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I won’t have too much time to see family, though, because for most of my visit I’ll be leading and guiding a tour on the island. They will meet me in Santiago, Chile, and then we’ll head to the island together where I’ll get to share the statues, or moai, in all their glory, as well as the less glamorous, but just as important everyday features like house foundations and rock walls. This group is all about lecturing and continuing education so I’ll be doing a lot of this fancy posing while I discuss the details of life in the past.

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I’ll also get to enjoy views like this. Oh, I miss this little island so much. I can’t wait to get there.

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We have some exciting posts planned for while I’m away, so keep checking in. One of them may or may not include an epic video about our recent log rolling experience, and we have a whole week of Boundary Water Canoe Area (BWCA)-themed posts including survival skills and gourmet food.

Happy weekend!

Posted in: Culture, Easter Island (Rapa Nui), family, Islands, Love, our travels, Ruminations, Travel \ Tagged: , , ,

What does the giraffe say?

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giraffe

I have a much younger brother and when he was about three and a half, Ta’u and I were asking him to make the sounds of animals. We went through a number of them. What does a dog say? “Bark bark” What does a cat say? “Meow meow” What does a cow say “Moo moo.” We exhausted all the domestic animals fairly quickly along with the common wild ones like lions and bears. This was one smart little guy. So, in an effort to try to stump him…I mean, he might be nearly 20 years my junior, but he’s still my brother, so I had to make sure he got his fair share of sisterly fun….we shouted out “What does a giraffe say?” With no hesitation, as if he was asked this everyday, he swayed his little head and body from side to side, mimicking the movement of the long neck of a giraffe, while murmuring “mmmmmm, mmmmm.” And that’s how we learned what a giraffe says. Like I said, he’s one smart little guy.

So when I saw this video last week, it made me think of my brother. I bet he knows what the fox says. Have you seen it? It was made by Ylvis, a Norwegian variety show group made up of two brothers. It’s totally weird but funny in that scandinavian humor sort of way.

Posted in: family, Film, Love, Ruminations, videos we like \ Tagged: , ,