#restlessspirits

We’re approaching the two year mark since we left Boulder on our world travels.  I understand that all good things must come to an end, but that doesn’t make it any easier to accept.  Ben and Charlie are getting closer to school age and are ready for more regular interaction with other kids.  Our business has been thriving without us around, but the industry is evolving and it’s important for us to remain current and competitive.  As much as I have enjoyed almost every day of our travels; I’m getting bloody sick of packing and unpacking.

Rather than take the predictable and simple option of going back to live in our lovely house in the foothills of Boulder where we would be close to friends and work, we have decided in true Brad and Karen fashion to move to Hawaii.  Only time will tell if this is the right move, but it feels right, and we were somehow able to justify not only to ourselves but to our banker who gave us a mortgage to buy a beautiful house in Kihei on Maui. 

The kids have been in preschool since we arrived in Hawaii in September.  We all love the school and the boys have really adjusted well.  I’m not so sure that we’ll feel the same way about the public schools on the island but we’ll navigate our way through that in the future.  The lifestyle on Maui is so incredible - sunshine, views and so many outdoor activities to enjoy.  I don’t know if it’s a decision we’ll stick to forever, but we’re going to give it a shot for the next few years at least.  If all goes as we hope, we’ll kick out our CO renters in the spring and list our home there for sale.

The time change from CO is only 3 to 4 hours which has been very manageable.  It means starting work a bit earlier, but also means that we can pack it in shortly after lunch and get in a nice kite session before picking the kids up from school. 

Hawaii is windy year round and it still blows my mind that I can just throw my gear in the back of the car and get in a good kite session virtually any day of the week.  I’m not sure how long it will take for that novelty to wear off, I’m still so in love with the sport I think it will be awhile.

Before we settle into to a life of routine with all the comforts of home we have one more trip to play out.  We booked a cruise departing from Florida with a route through the Panama Canal, ending in Santiago, Chile.  Friends of ours; Lowell and April as well as their two boys are joining us along with Lowell’s parents. 

Brad was already on the mainland attending to some business so I travelled on my own with the boys to meet him in Florida.  I gave myself a twenty four hour buffer before the cruise was scheduled to sail to be safe.   I really didn’t’ anticipate any problems since I was connecting through Dallas which I assumed was southward enough that there wouldn’t be any winter weather issues.  We took a red eye from Hawaii, landed in Dallas at 5 AM on Friday.  I honestly thought the pilots made a mistake and had instead landed in Detroit when I looked out the window and saw 3 – 5” of icy slushy mess on the ground.  We disembarked and saw sleeping bodies spread out in cots around the terminal, we were very lucky that we even got into Dallas, I wasn’t so sure if we were going to get out.  Thanks to the automated re-booking system at American Airlines I got a voice mail telling me I had been rebooked on a later flight and would be arriving in Fort Lauderdale at 8 PM on Saturday night.  Considering that our cruise was set to depart at 6 PM this news did not sit well. 

In addition to that wrench in my plans, I was scheduled to sign the closing documents on our house in Florida on same Friday.  The bank had arranged a travelling notary to meet me in Florida to finalize everything before I left the country for a month.  Trying to handle the situation as efficiently as a jet lagged mother travelling with 2 small children could, I got our names on a standby list for an earlier flight to Florida and arranged to sign the documents at a local bank in Dallas.  I had no warm clothes for the kids so I went to the airport lost and found and convinced them to loan me some clothes to put over the kids.  We looked like a bunch of vegabonds waiting for a taxi in the cold but unfortunately my efforts were in vain.  There were not many cabs out due to the condition of the roads and I just couldn’t make it work.  My kids are incredible travelers, so patient, and able to entertain themselves.  After making them wait for a cab in the cold, they were at the end of their rope and not at all happy with me.  I felt so guilty and defeated, it was just a bad day from beginning to end.  The saving graces were the American Express lounge at the airport that had a kids room for our use and the American Airlines staff who got me on the Friday night flight.  We boarded and sat on the tarmac for a number of hours, but finally arrived in Florida 30+ hours after we started.

On Saturday, after signing a power of attorney to have a friend sign for the house; we boarded the Celebrity Infinity.  We steamed southward and made our first stop on Cartegena, Columbia.  Other than the recent US Secret Service scandal, Cartegena is known for its magnificent fortresses and city walls that were built to protect their treasures from pirates.  We grabbed a cab and headed to one of the largest fortresses.  The boys had so much fun running through the tunnels scaring each other and themselves in the darkness.  From there we had lunch in the Central section of the old city.  It was charming with Spanish architecture, lovely balconies and flowers everywhere.  We took an open air horse ride through the old town to take it all in.  Hayden and Conner speak fluent Spanish so they were quick to teach Ben ‘rapido’ to make the horse go faster. 

The following day we stopped in Colon, Panama and were floored by the heat and humidity when we got off the boat.  We hadn’t booked anything in advance and unfortunately weren’t really able to take in any activities.  There were multiple boats in port that day so everything was quite booked up.  The boys re-boarded the boat, while I trekked around town to get some laundry done and pick up a few things.

Our first few weeks on Maui Brad and I spent as much time on the water as possible.  We are loving the conditions.  There are plenty of kites on the water, but it is not overly crowded.  There are big waves, however the reef is far enough off shore that there is a nice area of flat water on the inside.  The new moves I’m working on perfecting in Hawaii are my ‘chicken jibes’.  If I’m heading out to jump a wave but as I get closer I realize it is a bit too big for me, I quickly turn my kite in the other direction and head back for shore – chicken jibe.  Even though I’m still working up my confidence the waves here are great so far.  They are big, but don’t seem to have a lot of clout, they roll and fade, but don’t really crash down so even if I got caught under one, I don’t think I’d get into a lot of trouble as long as I keep my kite high.  The period between the waves is close to 20 seconds, so there is plenty of time to recompose between waves. 

Kimmy managed to squeeze in a last minute trip over her birthday so we covered all the tourist destinations when she was around.  We watched the sunrise on Haleakela, drove to Hana and back, hiked in Lao valley, SUP’ed in the cove, snorkeled off of McKena landing, attended a lau and poached pools in K’aanapali.  This island is incredible and there is so much to see and even more to do.  I heard someone on the beach say ‘this is a terrible island to live on if you have a fear of missing out.  You would drive yourself crazy trying to fit everything in each day’.  In my eyes a perfect day here on Maui would be a sunrise SUP, breakfast with a strong coffee, afternoon kite session and a sunset on the beach.  The crazy thing is that you can do that here almost 365 days per year.  The weather is consistent, the water is warm and the views don’t stop.

I really expected the island to be more developed than it is.  There are a few main resort pockets as well as the residential corridors but considering the size of the island, the population of 130,000 fits in well.  There is a Costco a Kmart and a Sephora in addition to the dozens of surf shops.  We can get our hands on anything we need, but don’t really feel tempted to buy much more than that.  You can’t spend money on the water so we have easily been staying on budget here.

We are definitely sports enthusiasts both to watch and participate in.  One sport that Brad and I are very intrigued by is the Ironman triathlon.  The amount of dedication and commitment it takes to train for the 140.6 mile race to even partake in one of those races is mind boggling.  After each race the very top few competitors are offered a place in the World Ironman Triathlon in Kona, Hawaii.  Since we love the ‘vacation within a vacation’ we decided to take a quick island hop over to the Big Island to watch the World championships in Kona in the middle of October. 

Our first impression on landing on the Big Island was how completely different the landscape was from Maui.  There is so much lava rock everywhere, and the contrast between the black lava rocks and green grass and infrastructure is almost unsettling it is so dramatic.    We enjoyed five nights at a beautiful Marriott hotel thanks to my stockpile of points.  We took in the race at different points along the course throughout the day.  It was everything I expected it to be.  The sport oozes of determination, drive and success.  It has become a huge platform, Ironman has also become a place where athletes can raise awareness for charitable organizations.  From Team Hoyt (http://www.teamhoyt.com/) to the first para athlete completing Kona there were many inspirational moments.  My personal favorite was witnessing the Blazeman roll to remember Jon Blais a powerful athlete who completed Ironman Kona after being diagnosed with ALS. 

As if we weren’t invigorated enough after watching the race, we decided to take a helicopter ride over Kilauea, the world’s most active volcano.  It has been erupting daily since 1983 and has added over 500 acres to the island.  The eruptions ebb and flow changing daily as new lava cones form and old ones are blocked.  The new acreage added to the island flows right to the sea and has blocked some beach access on the Big Island, an island that already has limited access to the ocean.  Lava flows have run across the state highway which has been rebuilt 3 times since the 1983 eruption and is presently in a state of disrepair.  There are neighborhoods that were taken out that have now been rebuilt.  In general the lava flows quite slowly so many of the residents have their homes on wheels so that they can move them out if the lava gets too close again.  The land is scorched with no vegetation however I guess these people have decided to live in the shadow of the volcano for life.

With our schedule Brad and I had a bit of a gap in our plans that we were trying to fill.  He decided to head to Canada to catch up with his brother so that the boys could spend a bit of time with their cousins.  He suggested that I go to Colorado so that I could have a few uninterrupted days of work and catch up on a few errands.  I was able to convince a few partners in crime to meet me in Vegas on the way home, so I stopped there for the weekend for some long overdue girl time before heading to Colorado. 

One of our employees is renting our house, and she was nice enough to let me stay there while I was in town, so I was able to spend some time in my own home.  It was a bit surreal walking in the door after 14 months away.  We have left our furniture in our house, so it really felt like I could have only been away on a short holiday, not a trip that has lasted for 60% of Charlie’s life. 

It was wonderful to be back in Colorado, to catch up with friends and to enjoy the beauty of the Rockies but I have to say the visit made me feel that I don’t need to rush back to Colorado anytime soon.  The house looked wonderful and is in great hands with Kym and Rob.  I went to the office each day, but with the majority of our staff working from home, I really didn’t see too many people so although I knew it, the trip really exemplified that it doesn’t matter where I work from.  Things seem to be very under control at work, we are busy, we are dealing with similar struggles we have always dealt with concerning time lines and keeping customers happy, but even if Brad and I were in Boulder at all times, we would continue to deal with these issues.  Overall it felt great to be home, but I realize that home will always be there, and once these kids start school we’ll have plenty of time at home to enjoy all that Colorado has to offer. 

The boys had a whirlwind trip to Canada, Brad threw them out in the snow and put their poor little tropically tanned bodies into shock, but having Canadian blood they quickly acclimated and loved their time up there.  They ended the trip with a visit to Great Wolf Lodge with their cousins Taylor and Austin and from there made their way to Bahamas.  I have to mention that on this leg of the trip Brad travelled on 6 different airplanes through five countries, 12 time zones travelling over 2,000 miles.  He did great with the boys while I was able to enjoy a similar length of time on my flights reading, watching movies and sleeping.  This definitely makes up for my voyage to Australia with Charlie on my own.

A few days after their arrival I made my way to Treasure Cay, Abaco, Bahamas.  Brad’s parents spend their winters down here and I have introduced it to my parents so we were all able to meet up.  In addition a few other family members joined us – aunts, uncle, cousin, brother, SIL, niece.  The weather wasn’t great for the vacationer’s, it was a bit cold and windy.  I was of course happy to see the wind, but would have been happier if they got some heat to thaw out from the cold Canadian winter they were fleeing from.  The boys were thrilled to see some familiar faces and were spoiled rotten by their grandparents and everyone else.  Our niece Clara was here and it was so cute to see her interest in the boys and the way that they interacted with her.

The last two weeks on Boracay were very similar to the first two weeks, kiting daily for as many hours as we could possibly squeeze in.  The sport is so addictive, even after a month at it I just want more and more.  It’s just so FUN.  It’s wonderful to look on the bay and see everyone cruising along the water, it was like a giant playground out there.  Our hangout was a school/shop called Ocean Republic.  For a nominal fee we were able to store our gear there, use their compressor and enjoy the services of some very competent kite caddies.  On top of that, it was a hangout for many travelers so we met some great people with common interests from all over the world.  There are many facilities like this along Bulabog, but some of them seem to focus more on projecting the cool image, but don’t seem to have the same quality of service to back it up.  I loved Ocean Republic because it was a cool fun vibe, but they took safety very seriously so I felt that we were in good hands.  We were spoiled by the caddies, they would blow up our kites, walk our lines and launch and land us.  The beach is very slim at high tide, and with an onshore wind it can be tricky to land a kite safely.  They were very attentive and always ready for me when I came screaming into shore at high tide, keen to get my kite out of sky safely.

As with most places we visited, the longer we stayed in Boracay, the more we enjoyed it.  We got into our routines and found our hangouts.  We were forced to switch accommodations a few more times that I would prefer, but it allowed us to see the island from different viewpoints. 

As in many of the countries that we visited, poverty is a way of life for most residents of Boracay.  From the outside it looked like many people had electricity, but running water was not so common.  In the few places I visited in the Caribbean it seems that poverty is hidden behind huge cinder block walls surrounding five star resorts and kept out by armed guards to pretend it doesn’t exist.  In the places we visited, Boracay included, the shame and stigma of poverty didn’t seem to exist, and the local lifestyle was out in the open.  I felt much more comfortable in this situation, and even though I was staying in hotels or homes that were similar in standard to those in North America, we were neighbors with the local population.  We spoke to them on the street, our kids played with their kids, and we frequented their shops and restaurants.  Of course I would prefer to see no one living in poverty, but living so close by to it made it appear very livable and quite normal rather than hit me with the feelings of intense guilt I’ve experienced in other parts of the world.  These people don’t have much, but they live their lives happily with what they do have.  They seem to be very content and have a great culture.  I think our travels there put money directly in their pockets rather than in those of huge corporations with a nominal trickle down to the residents.

We have spent most daylight hours on the water on our kites while Boracay.  There are dozens of lessons going on each day; on top of that there is upwards of a hundred of people on kites in the small bay.  The really good riders love to put on a show for the spectators on shore so there is essentially a runway down the front of the beach where you can see perfectly executed back rolls, dangle passes, dark slides, Jesus walking and many other tricks I can’t come close to describing.   In other parts of the world I feel like it’s good enough to be a girl on the water holding her own with a kite, but here the girls are amazing – riding unhooked, flying high etc.  The paparazzi are out every day taking pictures of the pros on the beach, or getting magazine photos of the tricksters.  To say I was intimidated our first few days here is an understatement.  As soon as I launch my kite I just try to ride upwind to get out of the traffic, but that in itself is a pretty big task to navigate around the minefield of riders. 

The sport is very gear intensive.  There are so many choices of kites and boards, and finding the right combination for the wind and wave conditions is crucial to having a good session.  We have three kites.  One of our kites has twelve different ways that you can set it up so between our three kites and two boards I have over seventy options to choose from!  Brad loves the technical side of the sport; I on the other hand loathe it.  The worst thing is if I choose the wrong set up on the kite, I need to navigate out to the open water and feel it out.  If it’s off, I need to navigate back in to reset it.  There is consistently wind in Boracay but the wind speed is ever changing so it’s very easy for me to ride all three kites in one day.  I had a number of off days with my gear, I really hit a plateau and was finding I wasn’t improving at all and to top it off I had a beginner knock my kite out of the sky forcing me to eject the safety and get tangled in a knot of lines on a busy bay.  I was getting so frustrated with the sport.  It was to the point that I didn’t really want to go out on the water.  I think this is typical of so many things in life; it’s so tempting to just give up when things get difficult.  I’m so happy that Brad was patient with me helped me through my frustration and watched the kids for days on end so I could get my mojo back.  Well it came back with a vengeance, I have totally broken past the plateau, and gotten more confidence on the water particularly around other riders and I’m just having so much fun out there.  At the end of the day I’m beaten and battered and starving, but can’t wait to get some sleep and get back out on the water.

We are in the Philippines until the 25th of February.  We have been tempted by the photos of beautiful beaches and tropical islands and would love to do some island hopping but there is unrest in other parts of the Philippines, there is the threat of malaria on some islands and taking the ferries here is very difficult with two kids and all of our bags in tow so we have decided to stay on Boracay for the duration.  I can’t believe I still have two more weeks of kiting, hoping to see big improvements before I leave.

Many people from the Philippines have emigrated to Canada for service oriented jobs.  They are so lovely and cheerful that they make wonderful nannies and many of them are nurses as well.  At our hotel the ladies will babysit for the kids on their days off.  When we get back to the room the babysitter will be in with the boys as well as 2 – 3 other ladies from the hotel just playing with them.  The boys love it and at $2.50 per hour mom and dad love it too!