Big Turnaround!!!!!!!
Emoceans. :)
Human (n.): a pretentious monkey. Humans have pretentious tales instead of prehensile tails.
The frustration's killing me! I know intellectually it's not that big of a deal. I'm guessing it won't be that much time until the borders reopen. Nonetheless, I find it annoying to want to travel, or leave this island for that matter, yet not have the ferries open.
One of the search strings going to Worlds O Wisdom: "why does my iguana run from me". :)
Iguanas are fearful animals. They're herbivores, somewhat like cattle, even if iguanas look scarier.
Exercise more confident control of your own mind, while also allowing through more information!
Venezuela looks like it was a super nice place before socialism. Beautiful hotels, gorgeous geography.
Oil can destroy a small economy.
While looking for info on the ferry that may run from Trinidad & Tobago to Venezuela, finding a bunch of forum results from around five years ago, ten years ago, fifteen years ago (did they even have the internet back then?!).
Just came across this in a news piece from earlier this year:
But in the past two years, the 80-kilometer (50-mile) stretch has become a watery grave for more than 100 residents of the state of Sucre and its capital, Guiria, a city of 40,000 people.
Many perished while fleeing Venezuela's floundering economy and political turmoil, hoping to find a new life, while others were making the treacherous journey simply to buy food.
Just last month, almost 30 people drowned when their boat -- which had space for eight passengers but left Guiria with 41, according to authorities -- sunk in the Gulf of Paria.
Guess I'm going to Guyana.
There's a whole big world out there that I want to see!!!!! :)
Please kill off the COVID idiocy!
I'm sick of wasting precious time over the COVID BS.
Annoyed at the COVID BS even if it's been beneficial for me. :)
I guess it's normal for there to be these idiotic situations. I'm old enough now to expect this as the old and new normal. :)
Looks like they're starting to reopen the ferries!!!!! :)
They have some quarantines and other things, so I may wait a few more weeks/months to go. Exciting!!!!
What a relief. I've been increasingly annoyed at being stuck in Guadeloupe. The ferry hasn't run since March 2020!
Maybe I'll go in January?
I want to ensure that I can go to Dominica then leave safely. Other than that, I'm ready!
I can feel the life coming back into me!!!!! :)
Somewhat scary, but better to do scary things than to waste away.
I'm thinking, go in November or December if the quarantines and the entry into Dominica and Martinique are feasible, or else in the first few months of 2022.
Looks like it's a gradual resumption of service. I think I'll wait out the initial few ferries, but go soon.
Suddenly I feel much less like a prisoner!!!! :)
Or at least like a prisoner whose sentence is coming to an end soon! :)
Remember to take some risks! Not stupid ones, but… :)
I think/hope I haven't become too old or lazy over the COVID for adventure travel! :)
I think I'm going to have way more stuff than I want to carry. I'm going to aim to leave as much of it behind as I can.
Each gray hair a reminder to do as much as I can, see as much as I can, while I can!!!!! :)
I feel like another huge turnaround!
Each of which seems to have an inflection point yet take some time to process.
I have a lot more reminders now than just a few years ago!
A lesson: taking risks can bite you in the butt, but so can not taking risks.
How many more shopping trips in Capesterre? 0? 1? 5?
I think that a lot of my travel lessons from starting out remain valid, for travel now and for life in general.
Try/aim/work to have a positive attitude/actions regardless of the negative words/events/feelings!
I could probably technically go this week!
Looks like it may take a vaccine, plus have other restrictions, so I'm not entirely sure that I will go this week, but I like the idea! :)
Worlds of new possibilities are opening before me! :)
I feel like I've fairly exhausted the activities in Capesterre. I've seen each street multiple times, I've met the people, I've tried practically all the foods in the shops.
Life's too short to stay in the same small town! :)
It feels great to leave your apartment, town, country! Do it if you can!!!!! :)
Keep on working through the difficulties!!!!! :)
They're there anyways, so just go for the goals! :)
The frustrations increase the drives!
I wanna go ASAP!!!!! :)
It's so constraining to stay in one small town when there are whole huge continents to explore!!!!! :)
There've been times during this idiotic COVID that I've considered whether it would ever end. Even now I suspect there'll be long-lasting travel difficulties and other fallout.
Fits within the usual issues, though. These things happen. Then you move ahead.
Given that I didn't have a choice in this COVID thing, it's worked out quite well. I'm now looking to travel as soon and as much as I can!!!!! :)
I'm even looking forward to some of the annoyances and discomforts of travel, at least for the first little while. :)
I've been through a lot, and I'm going through a lot more. At least, that's the plan!
Both of the ferry lines that reach Dominica are going back into service! One of them also goes to Saint Lucia, a country I want to visit soon.
Now spending some time deciding when to go. Apparently there's a "state of emergency" in this country (Guadeloupe). I think it makes sense to give it a bit of time to settle, but not too much!
With a vaccine, there isn't necessarily a quarantine, but maybe there would be if you test positive on arrival for "Coronavirus". I'm going to put that in quotes given how widely misrepresented it is.
It feels surreal to plan travels again after like two years in Guadeloupe!!!!!
Woah, crazy. Violent protests over the stupid COVID vaccines in Guadeloupe. At least some people have enough sense to see through the COVID politics. Looks like there are also protests in other countries!
What's this "health pass"? Official permission to go to certain locations?
Looks like the "compulsory" vaccinations that they're protesting are for health workers, so at least that wouldn't affect me directly.
Europe and Australia are protesting against the COVID idiocy.
Tens of thousands of protesters within a single country. Millions of individuals affected by nasty politicians.
Mandatory vaccinations for regular people?! Like sheep.
Hehe, France sent "dozens of elite security force officers" to Guadeloupe. Over a cough!
Capesterre Belle-Eau made the international news! For destruction of some electrical infrastructure nearby by COVID protesters.
Looting jewelry stores. Burning buildings to the ground. Potential for serious conflict.
This COVID has to be one of the stupidest things I've seen. As I wrote before I don't find it that surprising, but I do find it that stupid.
The COVID deprivations seem like the sort of abuses of people that have produced revolutions and killings.
Looking through some media coverage of COVID, they largely seem to fail to grasp the situation. Some are obviously politically biased, while others just seem kind of ignorant.
Hey, they've got some decent verbiage:
La détérioration du climat social n'est que le résultat du pourrissement volontairement orchestré par l'Etat, avec la complicité des élus et des médias aux ordres.
So with the state of emergency, I'm holding off for a slight while longer. Maybe in a week, maybe in a month, or maybe somewhat more!
I prefer caffeine to alcohol. Makes you feel up instead of down. Makes you productive instead of destructive. Generally good for your health instead of bad for your health. Caffeinated beverages often taste better to me than alcoholic beverages. Some exceptions to all of the above. Not sure that I felt this way a few years ago.
Another gotcha: even if the ferry's running, if Dominica's still only allowing people on "managed stays" then I'm not sure that I'd want to go yet.
Looks like that may only be for the unvaccinated!!!!!
I think they've loosened those restrictions. Before, I think anyone traveling from Guadeloupe to Dominica had to go to their quarantine program with tight restrictions. Now I think it's considerably more free for the vaccinated.
People give up their basic freedom over a cough. It makes sense that dictatorships have often prevailed in human societies.
The COVID shutdowns are a giant interference, like if a meteor struck Earth. We have to work around broken politics.
Morning after finding out the ferries are running, feeling ecstatic, yet annoyed at having to remain somewhat longer! :)
Mainly excited to go on to other destinations!
Another explosion. Same conditions as last time. While cooking rice on the stove. I think the butane may build up then combust? This time I saw the explosion, and it left a somewhat sulfur-y smell. A medium flash of light.
Around two years of my life, in Guadeloupe. Far more than I wanted to spend here, but at least the timing's worked out that I was here while I was exhausted and had a consistent series of useful things to do. Plus it's a scenic place with French cheese! :)
In locations with really dismal weather, do they have gray postcards with clouds? :)
I'm now thinking of myself as actively working to leave, given that I technically can. With the state of emergency in Guadeloupe and the somewhat severe restrictions in Dominica, I'm not leaving right yet, but soon.
Roseau, here we come! :)
I wonder how many people have lost their jobs, businesses, lives over the lockdowns. Those would be the real statistics. Not the false epidemiological stats.
If there weren't the state of emergency and travel restrictions, I think I'd go next week.
I think that many people just listen to what they hear on the news, or what they hear from their friends who heard it on the news. Take it for granted, without awareness of the systematic political bias behind it.
Also, a fair number of people have their own political bias, the people supporting the political lies.
When will I go? I don't yet know. I'm thinking… maybe January/February/March 2022.
Aiming for sooner if feasible, i.e. November or December, but that may not be practical.
Probably won't be before January. At least a week while they've shut Guadeloupe down. Then at a minimum two weeks after a vaccination, if they even have the one-shot vaccine. That already pushes things to around the turn of the year, when it may be difficult or infeasible or undesirable to travel.
With the ferries just starting out again, under constrained capacity, it may also be difficult/infeasible to buy a ticket.
Maybe in the new year there'll be fewer restrictions, anyways.
People often rely on low-quality information. In many cases you have to, as that's all that's available. Nonetheless, people often blindly trust low-quality information instead of thinking for themselves, or looking for alternative sources.
I think the sentence structure is the big differentiator in Kreyol versus French.
I think Kreyol grammar is noticeably different than French. Maybe somewhat like English, but also not the same as that.
Pwochen mwen planifye pou ale Dominik. Mwen te vle ale pou kèk tan, men ak Coronavirus la ferry yo pa te kouri.
Thinking of doing a small ride to a nearby island. The island is in Guadeloupe. I didn't want to go before the ferries to Dominica reopen. Then I'd risk getting stuck there, and I'd rather stay on the main Guadeloupe island than that smaller island. Also I'd been receiving mail at this address and busy working. Now I've collected my mail and done those projects, and the ferry to Dominica is open.
It would give me an opportunity to practice touring again, as well as to see the island which I think is quite nice. I've been feeling cooped up here.
They've taken the map feature out of the Airbnb app, weird.
There are also a couple of other very small islands nearby, within Guadeloupe, which I may visit.
There are definitely some difficulties in travel that I'm not as excited about! Going through some of the process to prepare for leaving, I'm reminded of some of the frustrations of the road. I guess there's some sacrifice for whatever you do.
You have to take on the difficulties if you want to make it anywhere.
At least the Airbnb web app retains the map.
So exciting to have this turnaround!!!!! :)
Looking forward to traveling again soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)