A Delightful Ordeal

PROLOGUE

SAUDI ARABIA: The world’s largest oil reserves have changed this ancient land into one of the world’s richest countries. Still ruled by one of the world’s last absolute monarchies (the Saudis), the country clings to its past while building the most modern facilities money can buy. Women can’t drive a car, must walk behind their husbands, and cover their faces in public, but their homes, clothing and jewelry are luxurious beyond comparison. The national sport is camel racing but you drive to them in cars unaffordable to most Americans. Only 60 years ago, you could still buy a slave in Saudi Arabia to drive your new air conditioned Cadillac! It’s a land difficult for Westerners to understand.

BALI AND JAVA: These two very different islands of Indonesia host centers of Hinduism and Islam respectively yet are adjacent to each other by an overnight cruise. The people are absolutely beautiful physical specimens with a charm indigenous to their culture, but continuing economic problems lead to such aggressive salesmanship that tourists feel assaulted rather than welcomed. They’ve come a long way from Captain Cook’s description of total innocence reinforced by the famous musical "South Pacific" with its still popular song "Bali Hi"!

EMERGING FROM FOREIGN INTERVENTION - NICARAGUA: After a decade of devastating civil war, this tiny Central American country is now open to visitors once again. Its history of exploitation by foreign interests since its very inception boggles the mind, but U.S. military intervention since 1902 is particularly disturbing. Such chronic intervention has protected American property interests in Nicaragua, mainly through propping up one right wing dictatorship after another, but at terrible costs in human rights and economic suppression. As it struggles once again to be a free country, you’d think Americans wouldn’t be welcome given our history in this defenseless country. But they certainly are and the coffee plantations, beautiful riding horses, scenic mountains, and absolutely charming people, plus unbelievable great tourist buys, make a visit here well worth considering - especially if you like places relatively unspoiled by previous tourists.

WARSAW AND ITS SURROUNDS: Warsaw, the capital of Poland, was practically obliterated by the end of World War II. Out of the rubble of a six-year Nazi occupation, it was slowly rebuilt by its Soviet rulers over the next 30 years in a massive monolithic architectural style pleasing to Stalin but few others. One of the first Eastern Bloc countries to rebel against the communist economy demanded by the Soviet domination, Poland is now a struggling independent country valiantly trying to make a new democracy and traditional capitalism work together.

MADAGASCAR & OTHER ISLANDS OF THE INDIAN OCEAN - COMOROS; MAYOTTE; AND THE SEYCHELLES: When we think of oceans, we generally think of the Atlantic or the Pacific, but the Indian Ocean connects the two and contains some of the world’s most exotic locales and cultures. Madagascar, the fourth largest island in the world, is home of the lemur, and, although very close to South Africa, is more Indonesian than African. It’s a tragic lesson in ecological devastation and what happens when a government doesn’t function very well. Even more exotic are the tiny archipelago islands of the Comoros. Here is where people look like walking ghosts because they wear a whitish paste on their dark skinned faces. Your perfume ‘base’ came from here until just recently. The French Foreign Legionnaires, posted in Mayotte as a ‘punishment’, are so good looking they become a tourist attraction in themselves. The Seychelles, long the playground of wealthy Europeans, features the most photographed beach in the world as well as some very unique plants, including a nut so big it will kill you if it falls off the tree on your head.

CHILE: Chile is one of the longest, yet narrowest, countries in the world, resting between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean in an area prone to frequent earthquakes. It’s also one of the few countries in South America with a stable economy, a decent standard of living, and its interesting people are among the best educated on the whole continent. As such, it’s very different from other areas of South America, although its history is similar. One-third of the population lives in the capital; fish, paper pulp, phosphate and copper (but not gold) have built the country; and the climate can be anything you want, dependent on where you choose to live - everything from Antarctic cold to desert hot.