Prelude to Mr. and Mrs. Bang's Wild American Honeymoon
----The Husband's Tale
Chapter 1: Off to America
"You don't suppose...we could postpone our trip by a day, do you?" asked my wife.
She'd been working right up to the last minute, and apparently was a wreck as a result. So I called the travel agency:
"Excuse me, but can we change the departure date on our tickets?"
"I'm afraid that's impossible. You'd have to buy new tickets"
"Just out of curiosity, how much would that cost if we were going to America?"
"About 300,000Yen (approx. US$2400) per person, one way."
In the end, we made up our minds that we were going, come hell or high water. At that point, however, our flight was taking off in about three hours.
I was panicking, but she was quite calm about it:
"So long as we check in at the Tokyo City Air Terminal in Hakozaki, the plane won't take off without us."
Sometimes I don't know whether to be impressed with, or just pissed off at, her nerves of steel.
With our carry-on baggage and a single trunk between us, we left Mizonokuchi for Hakozaki, and finally Narita. I promptly dozed off, and before I knew it, we were at the airport.
Narita Airport on a weekday is a ghost town. We breezed through immigration, bought cigarettes at the Duty Free Shops, and boarded our plane.
Our feeling was, "Now that we're here, it doesn't matter what sort of work may still be waiting for us!"
American Airlines Flight A026 thundered down the runway.
Once in the air, we had some beer and some whiskey, and fell asleep.
Never having been to America, though, I was equal parts anxious and nervous, and so slept fitfully at best.
About nine hours later, we touched down in Washington State, at Seattle's Tacoma Airport.
"How are you doing?"
Mrs. Helen Stanger, my wife's American mother, met us when we landed. A forty-minute drive later, we arrived at Mrs. Stanger's home, in the beautiful natural surroundings of Moss Island, where we were her guests for several days.
The climate isn't much different from Japan, but it's so much more natural there. There are all kinds of birds, and I even saw squirrels in the yard. Bill Gates's new mansion is here too. While we were there, I saw nearby waterfalls, the Pacific Ocean, downtown Seattle and shopping malls in the area.
Chapter 2: Los Angeles
Some days later, we were back at Tacoma Airport, this time in the domestic terminal. That was the day we were off to Los Angeles, to visit a friend of mine named Sakamoto. He works as action director on the popular "Power Rangers" series. But we couldn't get in touch with him beforehand, so we were basically dropping in unannounced. We flew Alaska Airlines--the one with the Eskimo chief on the tail (^_^).
We arrived in LA about four hours later. Now neither of us knew anything about the area, so of course we had no hotel reservations. So we figured we'd start off in Chinatown. The wife is a fan of Hong Kong cinema, and besides, we figured that fellow Asians would be able to point us in the right direction.
We got on a shuttle bus running between the airport and the city.
"We'd like to go Chinatown."
"Why do you want to go there?! Well...I can go there after Beverly Hills and Hollywood."
"By the way, do you know any good hotels?"
"Hmm, there's one place that comes to mind."
We saw palm trees swaying in the breeze, as well as a Hollywood which was far and away smaller, narrower, and cheaper-looking than it looks on TV, before arriving at Chinatown. There we stayed at a motel called the "Dragon Gate Inn".
The town was absolutely dead. The reason was that the next day was the Chinese New Year, and the town was absolutely quiet. Furthermore, we still couldn't get in touch with Sakamoto.
"Oh well, if we can't see him, we can't see him," I said.
The next day, we went to Universal Studios. Man, there were Japanese everywhere we looked. It was disugusting.
We still had a very good time, though, especially on the "Back to the Future Ride". It's set up so that you take part in a sequel to the movie, and it's real fun. Before we knew it, we'd ridden it twice.
The day after that, we finally hooked up with Sakamoto. He arranged for us to go on a tour of the studio, and had a car ready to drive us around. We even managed to prevail upon him to get us staff T-shirts from the Power Rangers Movie, as well as publicity stills as souvenirs.
That night, wandering along Hollywood Boulevard, we saw the Star Wars remake at Mann's Chinese Theater. It was a real party atmosphere, what with everybody clapping and screaming. We were pretty well blown away by the time we got back to our motel.
Next day, we flew back to Seattle. This time, Helen wasn't able to have us over, so we stayed with a different host family, a doctor from India named Kumahl, who was an acquaintance of my father-in-law. Mr. Kumahl proved to be a very entertaining person:
"Is Seattle cold?" he asked.
"Yes, it sure is," I replied.
"Well, in that case, let me warm you up. Here!"
So saying, he gave me a hug.
"This is called 'instant heat'," he added.
He was quite a character, he was (^-^). My English is very poor, but he talked to me like a child, and thus we were able to make ourselves understood to one another. He also had Indian musical instruments and even a piano in his home; I spent each night learning the sitar.
The doctor's wife, herself an Army medic, made us authentic Indian cuisine. It was very good indeed. Their son Rajeesh took us to see the downtown area surrounding Washington State University. I even had a brief conversation in Thai with a former kickboxer at a Thai restaurant. Heh heh.
Finally came the day of our departure from Seattle. The doctor saw us on our way as our flight took off for Miami. We had an overnight layover there before the next leg of our trip.
One piece of luggage didn't make it: a classic case of lost baggage. We searched for it for a good two hours, and still couldn't find it. We were finally reunited with it in South America, where we learned that it had apparently been back to Japan in the interval. At any rate, we checked into a cheap hotel near the airport, totally exhausted.
Dinner was at a local bar, with me having a steakburger and the wife a dolphinburger.
"Dolphin is really pretty tasty," she said.
Finally, we were ready for South America.
Chapter 3: Rockslide in Ecuador
Five hours after taking off from Miami, with the wife sound asleep, the plane the plane is preparing for its final approach to Quito's Maria Sucre International Airport.
But it didn't actually land. It just kept circling and circling.
The captain came on the intercom: "Due to bad weather, we will be restarting our approach."
Oh brother, I thought. Then, 20 minutes later:
"Due to bad weather, we will be restarting our approach."
Hey now, this does not look good. And the plane just kept circling. Finally, after another 20 minutes, the captain says,
"We will make one more attempt to land. If this pass doesn't succeed, we will land at our neighboring alternate site, Guayaquil Airport."
Now just a minute!!!! "Neighboring"? It's a good ten hours by car! I was in a panic. After all, the doctor who would be hosting us in his house was waiting for us at Quito. I was also not looking forward to being in a place like that in the middle night. I'd taken a quick look at my copy of "Walking the Earth", and the Guayaquil section said that the city wasn't very safe. Captain, don't fail us now!
With a screech of tires, we were down. It wasn't a terrific landing, but it was good enough. We'd managed to arrive at Quito after all.
"Nnnh...are we there?" said the wife.
When I had filled her in on recent events, she replied,
"It'll make a nice story to tell when we get back."
Quito sits some 2800 meters above sea level, and some visitors come down with mountain sickness as a result of the altitude. While we waited in immigration, I was anxiously awaiting the possible onset of this condition, one which I had never experienced before. But nothing happened. Well, what do you know? I'm fine, I thought. (^^)
We breezed right through customs, only to find ourselves mobbed by people on the other side. In the midst of all the people come to meet arrivals or grab customers for taxis, a voice was calling our names!!
"Welcome to Ecuador!!"
It was Dr. Hinojosa, our host for this leg of the trip, smiling at the sight of us. With him were his wife, Marta, and son Sebastian. We piled into the 4WD Chevrolet which they'd just recently bought, and were off to the doctor's residence, only about 5 minutes from the airport.
Next morning, the doctor and his wife took us sightseeing in Quito. It was when I saw the old Indigenas walking up and down the streets that I first felt, this is really South America. We visited Chimborazo, which at 6310m is Ecuador's highest peak, national parks, Otavaro, the Indigena city, and Islim's famous street, Ibarra.
It was Carnival season in South America at this time, but except for such famous sites as Rio de Janeiro, tossing water on people is the typical way to celebrate. Just smile and have a good time, no matter who splashes you. Now here we were out in front of an ice cream parlor in Ibarra. And just as we were getting into the car, another car came alongside, and someone inside lobbed a water balloon at us. The wife was bullseyed!! With no place way to let out her anger, she just stood there and laughed, mixed emotions playing over her face.
On the way back to Quito, it was completely dark, and the doctor drove carefully over the mountain roads. But the darkness closed in, and on one side of us was sheer mountainside, while on the other, there was valley, with no guardrail. Not only that, but the fog started rising too, and the doctor's wife, a native speaker of English, got dizzy from her husband's curious use of the language (for those who don't know, Ecuador's official language is Spanish).
Now, no sooner do we come around this one curve than the fog hits us with a vengeance. But there was something odd about this particular fog. As the doctor slammed on the brakes, we could see that a huge boulder had fallen across the road. Oh no, a rockslide!! As the dust hung heavy in the air, we got out of there as fast as we could. Another second earlier, and that would have been it for us.
Chapter 4: The Cruise Ship
In the domestic waiting lounge at Maria Sucre Airport, there were these little kids all wearing identical red jerseys, just swarming over the place. This was the day when we headed for the Galapagos, the main reason for this trip. The doctor, who was sending us there, had made all the arrangements, and I had a halting conversation with his mother, who came along to see us off, in halting Spanish. Whew.
Soon came the time for our departure. But...15 minutes...30...minutes...an hour eventually passed before the gates opened. So this is what it's like to be on South American time, I thought. Anyway, we finally got on board the plane, only so did the little kids we saw earlier. Not only that, but they seemed to find us very unusual, for they all said, "HOLA!" to us. Being friendly is nice, but this sort of thing gets exhausting.
The plane finally took off, but we barely had time to drink some incredibly sweet coffee before we landed again. We changed planes at Guayaquil, arriving at the Galapagos some two-and-a-half hours later. I had never seen an ocean as green and beautiful as that which was visible from the plane on our way there...
There was one thing, however, which I was secretly worried about. You see, I have this weakness: I get seasick. And only the two islands in the Galapagos chain with airfields have residential facilities, which means that the only way to see the entire archipelago is by ship. In short, aside from time spent on the various islands, we would be staying on board ship. Four nights, five days' worth, at that. Unlike my wife, who had been dreaming of coming here since she was a little girl, and felt uplifted being here, I was breaking out in a cold sweat, despite being just south of the Equator.
All visitors to the Galapagos must have a naturalist as a guide. Our guide was a charming, bearded naturalist named Carlos. Following his lead, we took a bus to the harbor, where we boarded our ship.
The ship's name was CORAL 1. It looked like it could hold maybe 20 passengers about five or six crew. When the launch took us from the harbor to the ship, we were greeted by a very well-appointed interior, including salon and dining area, all with smooth wood fittings. Soon after we were settled in, we had a meeting. The ship was already underway, headed for our first port-of-call.
Many of those on this cruise were people with leisure time, and some degree of discretionary income (neither of which condition applied to us), including some retired couples. Naturally, we were the youngest passengers, and the only Asians, there. Everyone else was from the U.S., England, Australia, Algeria, Spain...oh, it was a regular United Nations.
About four hours out of port, just as I started to feel nauseated, we reached our first stop, Isla Bartolome. The first things we saw we sea lions rolling around on the beach, right at the point where we landed. They were adorable!! Moving further inland, we saw lizards roaming about, big crabs, and an incredibly beautiful sunset. The wife wouldn't budge at the sight of those lizards (^-^).
The ship moved out that night. After an early supper, we both took sleeping medicine and dropped off.
Next day, we visited two points on Isabela, the largest island in the Galapagos. I tell you, we were really lucky, because we got to see several land iguanas, which "you just don't get to see much anymore". We also saw elephant tortoise as they came on land. Carlos said, "It's been over six months since I last saw them. " We were both excited at this turn of events. But as if it were a present to manga artist Akimoto Osamu, we took a picture of an elephant tortoise alongside the medallion we received at the party commemorating the 1000th installment of his long-running series "Kochi Kame ("kame" is Japanese for turtle)".
Night came early on the Coral 1. After all, at the ages that the rest of the passengers had reached, lights' out by 10PM is pretty much the norm. I couldn't sleep, though, so I was drinking in the salon, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw this guitar in a corner of the room. And an Ovation (a very valuable make of guitar), at that. I never should have touched it. Its owner, the ship's bartender, just said, "Play it."
"I'm a songwriter, it's true," I replied, "But I can't play guitar. I'll bring a piano with me next time. You play it," I finished as I handed it back to him.
Whereupon the bartender played some pop songs which were popular in Ecuador at the time. With the sound of the ship's engine, the crew coming around, and perfectly off-key singing...This Sabat Ritual (^-^) went on every day for the rest of the cruise.
On the fourth day of our island wandering, we went to Santiago, which is where the sea iguanas can be found in the largest quantities. The wife was looking forward to it so much that she couldn't stand it. So we get to the island, and sure enough, oh man, there they are, all over the place!! There're also sea lions and red-footed geese.
She looked like a little girl, staring at the animals as she snapped picture after picture. "This is so cool!"
"I want to see more," she said as she clicked the shutter.
"What you mean," I retorted, "is, 'if we take a small one, they'll never know,' right?"
"Gulp!!" was her only reply.
Mother-in-law gave me the following warning before we left on our trip:
"Make sure she doesn't do anything funny to the animals, or tries to bring back something she shouldn't."
When a sea iguana gets near something else, it warns it off by spraying water from its nose. It sprays all over. Just when I'd gotten thoroughly accustomed to the scent of iguana, it was time to move on. We went snorkeling on a little island called La Vida. We got excited here too, because there were fish everywhere, and sea lions rolling around on the beach as well. When we went swimming, the sea lions lined up and went swimming with us, slipping around us and between our legs. Now I know what it's like to be a fish...(^^)
That night, we dropped anchor in Puerto Ayora, largest harbor in the Galapagos. Finally on the last day of the trip, we visited the Darwin Research Center on Santa Cruz. This is where they take care of George, the famous giant elephant tortoise, as well as breed and raise other turtles. Also, as a general rule you're not allowed to touch the flora and fauna of the Galapagos, but you can touch the turtles here, just a little. This couple went around touching turtles like little kids touching E.T.
Before we knew it, the cruise was over, and we were on our way back to the airport. We got a Galapagos commemorative stamp in our passports, and then it was a straight shot back to Quito...or was it? What do you mean, there's too many passengers and we have to wait for the next flight? Oh brother, talk about laid back...
Chapter 5: North and South and Back Again
Somehow, we made it back to Quito. But the doctor was nowhere to be seen, since our flight was delayed. Just as we were about to give him a call, however, he showed up, having been delayed himself. So we went back to his place.
There, things seemed in a real uproar. There were a lot of people around. Turns out that the doctor mother and father and their friends and relatives had gotten together to do some gambling. I tell you, swearing in Spanish is really something to hear.
Next day, we continued sightseeing with the doctor. After seeing this huge crater, we visited a monument marking Latitude 0 degrees, 0 minutes, 0 seconds, the separation of Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Like all the other tourists, we straddled the Equator (which was, in fact, red, just like its Japanese name, "sekido"--literally, "red path"--would suggest) and took photos. We'd traveled further than I'd imagined.
That night was our last in the doctor's home. While enjoying the doctor's own cooking, we chatted with Marta, Michelle--who, at only ten, spoke four languages--and Sebastian. Tomorrow, we were off to Bolivia.
Next day, after saying our farewells to the doctor, we took off for Bolivia at last. Boarding an airline I'd never heard of before, Liyoido Aero Boliviano, we headed for the country's capital, La Paz, with a stopover in Peru.
It was here that I was likely to have problems. The city stands 3800 meters above sea level, with the airport at over 4000 meters. I had made it safely through Quito, but you can see why I was worried about this. The wife had been here many times before, but every one of the friends who came with her on those trips invariably came down with altitude sickness.
"I'm sure you'll be fine, Poppa," she said to me.
Encouraged by her warm smile, I threw myself into that leg of the trip wholeheartedly. There was a nice surprise waiting for us on the plane: the chief purser brought us a bottle of champagne from the first class cabin.
"The stewardess informed me that you were on your honeymoon..." he said by way of explanation.
And come to think of it, the wife had just been talking with the stewardess, hadn't she.
"You're the first honeymooners we've had on this route. We'd like you to have this, on behalf of the captain and all the crew," he continued.
All right, Aero Boliviano!!!! This really made our day; the six-hour flight was a breeze. We touched down in La Paz, got our carry-on bags, and deplaned.
No sooner said than, what the??? I started tripping over my own feet, I felt lightheaded, like I was drunk. Heh heh heh. You guessed it: these are symptoms of a bonafide case of mountain sickness. Somehow, despite this discomfort, I managed to get through immigration, and after the very self-important customs inspector went through all of our baggage, we piled into a taxi. Naturally, we didn't know where we were staying, so we gave the driver the name of a hotel in "Walking the Earth". Oh man, but that dizziness just would not quit. We finished up that day by checking in to our hotel, having ramen at a mysterious Chinese restaurant nearby, and going to sleep. There were hills everywhere, and I was soon out of breath. Also, beer was dangerous to drink, because it would go through the bloodstream faster at that altitude. Mountain sickness tends to vary from person to person in its effects, but some common symptoms are intense headaches, vertigo, and nausea. In really bad cases, difficulty in breathing, popped eardrums and burst capillaries can also apparently result.
The next day, we went sightseeing, but I was still out of it. It would take about a week, I was told, to acclimatize myself to this altitude. The wife tried to spur me on, saying things like, you're gonna get hit with pigeon droppings, or, it sure is hard walking around on all these hills. Man, was it rough. Not even eating some mysterious Indian vegetarian cooking didn't make me feel any better. Just as I was about to head back to the hotel and go to sleep, she spotted a cart on the street.
"He's selling coca leaves," she said to me.
Say WHAT?! Coca leaves, are of course, _that_ stuff, but chewing the leaves like gum supposedly eases the suffering of mountain sickness. I promptly bought some.
"Quant questa (How much)?"
"Dos Bolivianos (about 60 Yen)."
Talk about cheap!! Here you go, sir, one plastic bag full. (^^)
I crushed it in my hand, put it in my mouth, and chewed. Made me feel kind of like a bug.
After chewing for a bit, my tumb started to get nung--I mean, my tongue started to get numb. A little more, and I felt much better, and my body began to work like it was supposed to. Oh yeah, coca leaves are really terrific. I was still feeling like this when we bought our tickets for our flight tomorrow, and then went on the town. I completely forgot about the altitude, and had myself a beer, heh heh heh.
Next day, we got up early to see the nearby ruins of Tihuanaco, then it was off to the airport. We were flying to the town of Santa Cruz. The wife had come here a number of times on volunteer aid missions, and had lots of friends there. As a result, we stayed with a number of families while there. And the instant ramen we had brought as gifts had expanded due to the change in air pressure, only to shrivel up now...
Final Chapter: Back to Reality
In Bolivia, we were well taken care of, by a very wealthy family. Every day, they showed us all sorts of places, and fed us very well. In between sightseeing outings, we went to the Japanese immigrant area known as Okinawa Colonial, where we had some very special experiences.
The best part was sitting in on the regional Okinawan People's Council meeting. They'd just made mountain goat soup, which, as those who've had it before will likely understand, gets a taste all its own from the meat, and you either like it or you don't. There's no middle of the road. Now, it's easy to prepare: just butcher a live mountain goat, boil the organs and blood in a pot, season to taste with salt and ginger, and eat. I somehow managed with Japanese mountain goat soup, but the meat we had in Bolivia was just too fresh, and my stomach was not exactly thrilled. I did eat it, though.
Then came the party. I left my flabbergasted wife to sit by herself, and sang Okinawan folksongs and got blasted on the local alcoholic beverages.
If you want to know more about Bolivia, I recommend the dojinshi "HOLA! BOLIVIA", by Ippongi Bang and Dodogumi.
Finally, our long journey came to its end. American Airlines flight 027 out of Vil Vil International Airport took us nonstop from Santa Cruz to Miami. There we checked into the same motel we had stayed in on our way South, having dinner in that same bar. We caught an early flight the next morning back to Japan via Seattle, arriving home safe and sound. Customs, which we had been worried about, waved us through without a check, and we rode the damn crowded Den-en Chofu subway line through damn cold Japan back to our home.
It's been several months now, and I still haven't completely readjusted to being back here (big laugh).
With thanks to all our friends in the U.S., Ecuador, and Bolivia.
Mr. Ippongi Bang
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