Travelog for: Sportie

Today my mentor's collegue got married and we were all invited to the wedding. The wedding ceremony was at San Miguel town hall but the wedding party was at a restaurant called Mirador de la Centinela. Mirador is a view point and the view was absolutely great.

Unfortunately you can't appreciate it as much on photos..


There was this big decorated cross on a hill


This is me and Chip on top of the hill where the cross is


The newly wed couple's car


After the wedding we went out for a drink to a bar in Puerto Colon

We decided to go for a picnic today. We start driving about 2 o'clock in the afternoon and first drove towards Guia de Isora.



We couldn't find anywhere we liked in there so we headed towards Santiago del Teide. All the picnic tables were taken there.


Then we drove towards Icod and decided to turn back as it started getting cloudy. Then we thought about going to where there's a light house. The light house of Teno. We had to go there through the winding roads of Masca.

This is me with Teide on the background.


Here are some photos of the Masca valley. Unfortunately they aren't very good because you couldn't really stop anywhere to take photos and it was really difficult to take them because the car's turning all the time.




On our way to the light house we had to cross "forbidden" road. You could cross it but only under your own responsability. Then we finally arrived to Teno.

It was really pretty up there. The water was crystal clear.

There were lots of people sunbathing and swimming.


We had our picnic and also did some sunbathing for a bit.


There's the light house


These were taken on our way back home, on the "forbidden" road



Then in the evening to finish off the very relaxing day, we had a bath in candle light and also went to sauna.

We've been to Puerto de la Cruz for the weekend. I'm going to write the whole weekend's happenings on this one update so "when" should really be August 15-17, 2008.

We were staying in a really nice hotel called Monopol. There were loads of flowers and plants in the hotel and there was this flower woman who was replacing the droopy flowers every morning.


This is a small fountain in the hall room of the hotel.


There was also an old water filter system there on display.


Some lilys too


The hall room was really really green (sorry about the blur photo)


Puerto de la Cruz at night


Church in front of our hotel. I am on the photo too even though you might not be able to make me out


This was taken outside Lago Martianez (lake Martianez, a pool area)


This one's taken outside Lago martianez too


Some more flowers at the hall


This is the flower lady


The hotel


Sea


At a Finnish karaoke pub


The future port of Puerto de la Cruz

Today we had a barbeque with Chip and a new ToyVoyager who arrived a few days ago Stuart The Lion

I'm now on my way to Okinawa, Japan!

I've arrived! I'm at my host's home. Her name is Jayme. The first stop after the post office was the playground. Jayme said her kids had been inside for almost a week now because of the rain! That was fine by me, I could use some stretching...


But these monkey bars were a little big...


I also found some pretty flowers.


And wow! this is where I'll be staying. Way up on the 8th floor!


And here's the Shisa. Shisa are guardian lion/dogs who are always found in pairs. They're on most Okinawan homes and businesses.


Write more soon!
Sportie

Today I took a bit of a break from my normally active ways because we stopped by the library. I bet there's lots of books about sports here...


But we read one about Wild Things. I'd like to dance like that!


Hm... I'm going to have to search for some more sports related books. Write more soon!
Sportie

Today we got to learn a lot more about Okinawa. Though Okinawa used to be an independent nation it has been conquered by many different people. The latest in the early 1900's by Japan. Since then it has remained a Japanese prefecture. Today Jayme said we're taking a very special trip to learn about the island's history, but we have to prepare our meals first.

So we made bento boxes, these are toddler sized ones for her two children.


You can see they stack up to be carried easily.


I also had to do some that were larger for the adults.




Traditionally bentos has rice in them instead of crackers, but Jayme said we were in a bit of a hurry and she didn't have any cooked rice. Darn. But our preparations done, we were able to get on our way..

This very beautiful coast line is found at the edge of the Okinawa Peace Memorial Park.


Okinawa was caught in the middle of World War II's Battle of Okinawa.  During the battle Okinawa's large civilian population could not escape. Because of this they suffered many, many casualties. As a remembrance of this battle and the loss suffered, the Peace Memorial Park was put into place. There are many smaller memorials throughout the grounds as well as a cemetary, but you are not to take pictures of Okinawan tombs without the permission of the family.  We could take pictures of some of the Memorials though.



The most beautiful and sad part of the park is over this small bridge here.


In here are walls... so many rows of walls! With over 200,000 names inscribed into them of those who lost their lives during the Battle of Okinawa. Most of them were civilians, but there are also military from Japan, the United States, and Great Britain inscribed here. It is a very sad and amazingly beautiful site.


What an amazing place to visit and learn about! After our visit we headed home, but the children had been so well that we decided to stop half way to let them play a bit.


What an exhausting day... time to head home and take a little break!

Write more soon,
Sportie

Today Jayme said we needed to swing by the airbase. There really isn't much to see there, just many homes, businesses, and offices as well as the airport, but there is one neat park. There are many retired planes here from the 1950's onward.




Write more soon,
Sportie

Today we went to a neat place that's supposed to teach us more about Okinawan heritage. Its called Murasaki Mura. Here we are outside the front entrance.


Inside all the streets were old stone roads.


There were many things to see. Do you see how small we are next to this whale shark?


And here's a traditional Okinawan Building.


Here's another building


The lion/dogs you saw us with at the entrance are called Shisa. They always come in a pair, male and female. The male has its mouth closed to catch any bad spirits and the female has her mouth open to let the good spirits through. There were lots and lots of neat Shisa's here.







You could even paint your own! We didn't paint, but we watched Jayme's son paint.


And on the way out we found this neat prism thing were you could take your picture.


Write more soon,
Sportie

Today we decided to take a break and do something fun instead of educational To that end, we headed to Comprehensive Park. Comprehensive Park is near where Jayme lives and is the biggest park on the island! There's lots to do there. Our goal today was the fish pond. Once we got there, we paid for our tickets and got into the paddle boat! They didn't have life jackets to fit us, so we had to hold on tight...


Here's a better view of the bridge from this side.


Ohh and here's a box of fish food!


The fish followed our boat all through the water.


And we got to see some ducks too!


We headed back under the bridge towards the boat docking area.


And a little turtle came to visit


Finally we docked the boat then went to the playground for a bit to run off some energy.


And then headed home! Write about our next adventure soon,
Sportie

Today was a busy day! We had to start with running some errands. First was the post office.



Then we had to stop by one of the small stores on base.


While we were walking there was a helicopter over head. There are certainly a lot of those around here


After errands we went to another area of Comprehensive Park


There was a different playground here


There was also some field to play balls in


And a cool statue at one end of the field


A little further down the path there was a place to stop and rest and sit under this giant seashell looking thing


It was right next to the ocean. The tide was out, when its in you can't see any of the rocks


Write more soon,
Sportie

Well we were sitting around the house being a little bored so we did a puzzle (okay, Jayme's husband helped some!)


Then did some Halloween Decorating


And then found out we were going to a place called the Nakamura House. It was built in the 1400's and is a traditional home from that era on Okinawa.
Here I am in front of one of the sleeping rooms. There were many sleeping rooms, and one family slept in each.


And here's the storage room


This is a family room


You can kind of see the ceiling in this photo


Here's the kitchen area


And the horse stables


As well as pigpens


This used to be a well, but it was filled up and flowers were planted


And here's some of the many stairs around


And finally here's one of a few Shisa in the home


It was a very neat, though very small for so many families!

Write more soon,
Sportie

Today we took a very neat trip to a place called Okinawa World. Our trip started off in a cave, where we were supposed to be quiet...






This is a waterfall








It was a long walk! When it was all through we stopped for lunch and a walk through the village area. They had an area where glass was being made


We also got to look down at a brewery


Finally we got to the exit and the Eisa Dancers. Eisa is a traditional dance to Okinawa. It was a very neat show to see!




You can see a video example of Eisa Dancing here: Eisa

More adventures soon!

Love,
Sportie

Today we went to a place called the Pineapple Park. It was very neat. We paid for our tickets then went to get inside the pineapple carts


Here I am inside the cart


Those little red things growing behind me are pineapples!


There were also lots of other plants related to pineapples




When we got out of the cart we went inside to a small seashell museum


Then we went to the pineapple store. They had pineapple everything! Even pineapple wine!


We got some wine and went to relax on the beach after our day out.


Write more soon,
Sportie