Farsighted Fly Girl

2018 was really some kind of year! It was filled with unexpected situations as well as familiar scenes and there was a clear pattern to the year's travel. I embarked on new, unforgettable journeys to countries that start with "G": Greece, Guadeloupe and Ghana.  And I returned to beloved, familiar destinations; St. Lucia, St. John, Tobago and Montreal, for a whole new perspective. "The Year of Return" is also the theme for Ghana's year-long commemoration of 400 years since the first enslaved African arrived in the U.S.. A celebration of the resilience of the African spirit, the 2019 Year of Return welcomes all the Diaspora to return home and re-connect. That's exactly what I did during my life-changing trip to Ghana. From the time I stepped onto the streets of Accra, I was welcomed like a daughter returned from a long trip. I cried during most of my time at Cape Coast Castle , shown above, the site where thousands were imprisoned and then shipped...

Despite the stereotypes, African food is as varied and amazing as the continent itself. I'm lucky that I live in a city that offers an array of West, East and North African cuisine so I arrived in Ghana expecting to enjoy classic dishes like waakye  (black eyed peas with rice), banku  (fermented corn and cassava dough formed into balls to accompany fish or meat) and heaps of fresh fish. What I wasn't prepared for was the sheer variety and complexity of Ghanaian cuisine . Yes, there were the classics that I was familiar with but there were also variations according to region and city as well as modern interpretations and fusion meals. I was overwhelmed with the culture and history that I experienced in Ghana and I was also overstuffed with food every single day of my travels. I ate a lot.  I discovered that my favorite was palava sauce , a  savory sauce made with kontomire  greens that are little like mustard greens and bitter melon seeds, served with fish. H...

I don't discuss it too often but I'm kind of, sort of, a healthy food fan. I don't drink coffee or anything caffeinated, don't eat meat and rarely indulge in fast food. I'm basically a pescatarian who sometimes eats poultry. So aside from my love of sugar (which has lessened over the years) I try to keep it healthy. On most of my travels, I like to sample the local cuisine while keeping it as fresh and wholesome as possible. While I was in Turks and Caicos,  that meant fish, veggie patties and salad since I wasn't able to try the national dish of peas and grits . But I was lucky to discover another local specialty; kombucha in exciting tropical flavors was being hand crafted by the owners of my Airbnb. Kombucha or booch, as locals call it, is fermented tea with loads of probiotics and health benefits.  As a tea connoisseur, I love drinking kombucha as an alternative to my regular teas. Regina and Jack run Island Raw  to create juices and kombucha from loca...

In Turks and Caicos , it's all about the beach. Beach culture and water sports  are the main focus for travelers and there's no beach more significant than Grace Bay.  Famous for being listed by various travel publications as one of the world's most beautiful beaches, Grace Bay is a pristine, three-mile strip along the northeast coast of Providenciales .  Every day during my stay on Provo, I walked a 10 minute path to Grace Bay. I stepped along the gravel road in front of my villa to get to the nearby beach access. I quickly discovered that flip flops aren't enough support against the sharp rocks and had to switch out to sturdy sandals to walk the road comfortably. This small sign marks the beach access path, which runs through a small grove of trees and bush. I loved walking through palm trees and plants, even though I heard lizards rustling in the distance every time I strolled by. At least I hope they were lizards. There were also different sized co...

I didn't realize just how confused people are about the Turks and Caicos islands.   Before I traveled to Providenciales,  the most developed of the eight main islands, I promised my blogging students that I would discover enough about this island nation to explain exactly where it is and what it's like. But it wasn't only my students that didn't know. When I tried to put a travel advisory on my credit card, the customer service confused Turks and Caicos with Turkey. And that was after I spelled it! Very few of my friends and family knew where the heck I was going so here it is: The Turks and Caicos islands consist of a group of 40 islands and small cays, with eight of them inhabited. The country is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and located southeast of the Bahamas and East of  the island of Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominican Republic. ) Currently, the Turks and Caicos is a British Overseas Territory.  (Although the American dollar is the official currency.) T...

Where in the world is Turks and Caicos ? That's the question I often get when I mention this island nation of eight main islands and 40 smaller islets and cays. Some people also confuse it as a Bahamian island. Well, Turks and Caicos is located Southeast of the Bahamas but it's a separate country. The country was self-governed until 2009, when former premier Michael Misick resigned in the face of corruption charges . It's is now a British Overseas Territory.  Turks and Caicos is famous for swoon-inducing beaches, most notably, Grace Bay , pictured above, which is consistently listed as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. I will be investigating the appeal of Grace Bay during my stay in Providenciales next week. I'll also be discovering more about Turks and Caicos, including JoJo the Dolphin, the wild ,Atlantic Bottlenose dolphin who freely interacts with people as the official mascot of the island and symbol for marine conservation and Cheshire Hall ...

Barbados is an island noted for upscale dining and luxury hotels but there's another side to "Bim.". I ventured out of the busy capital of Bridgetown and took a hiking tour of the untamed East Coast of the island. I immediately noticed a difference between the hilly landscape of the East Coast and the South Coast, where most of the hotels are located. Nature grabs all the attention here. There are few hotels or even people to distract from the beauty. Everywhere I looked, spectacular views of the Atlantic commanded attention. The East Coast is where Barbados agriculture is centered and I spotted fields of bananas, passion fruit bushes and almond trees. The panoramas of lush green and sparkling blue ocean waves really made me think I was on another island. Barbados is famously flat so I wasn't expecting all the hills I had to hike under the unrelenting Caribbean sun. The tour is called Hike, Grill and Chill,  so I was really happy to relax in the shade...