Bonnie and Bluebeary's Excellent Adventure

Bonnie and Bluebeary's

31 December 1998

22 January 1999

Excellent Adventure

Some months ago, due to the criticism of many unnamed Attic collectors, Bluebeary escaped to my hideaway, La Atlántida (Atlantis, The Lost Continent!), on the Island of Tenerife-- with the help of my legendary Great Great Grandmother Ima, who as you may remember, drove him to JFK in her old Nash.

For the first time in over 3 years I was able to return to the Island with a view to working on the place and seeing how my Attic friend was coming along. This time I would be accompanied by Bonnie, on another leg (no pun intended!) of her travels.

I left a cold and partially snow covered Trenton on 31 December 1998 headed for an adventure of my own. Bonnie met me at JFK, on a connecting flight from Missouri. The flight left JFK at 18:10h, and at "local" midnight, I was located over the North Atlantic at 46 degrees 03 minutes 08 seconds of N latitude and 38 degrees 31 minutes 09 seconds W longitude-- somewhere South of Prince Christian Sound and 670 nautical miles NW of the Azores. Thanks to Phyllis, a flight attendant who had taught in New Jersey, champagne was served to those who were still awake-- Bonnie slept through the entire flight!

The BIG European announcement was the beginning of implantation of the EURO as the new Pan-European monetary unit. [PIC]

Friday, 1 January 1999 - arrived in Lisbon at 5:40h, leaving at 8:11h for Barcelona. Arrived at 9"27, leaving at 12:10, finally, for Los Rodeos (= Tenerife North Airport), arriving at 14:20h [PIC] Horacio, a friend and former student met us at the airport, but Bonnie decided to fly the few kilometers to my place-- she was excited to meet her very close friend Bluebeary after so many months. It was over 70 degrees and started drizzling as soon as I got into the car. The Island had not had rainfall for months and Island the water supply was at a low point.

After having something to eat at Horacio and his wife, Ima's, apartment in the University town of La Laguna, I took a nap for a couple hours. He then drove me up to La Atlántida, where Bonnie and Bluebeary were waiting anxiously for me at the peep hole in the main gate

It was the first time that we met since Bluebeary left Trenton many months before, and he were delighted to see me again!

The house was basically the way it was when I left in 1996, with some new cobwebs, dust and humidity, which is common in that area about 850 meters (about 2,250 feet) above sea level in one of the relict Ice Age floral areas on the Island. [PIC] The rest of the Island is arid volcanic soil with many volcanoes, including El Teide, the highest point in Spain. The inside temperature was sort of stable at 56 degrees.

Bluebeary had the run of the place since he arrived. He loved the garden, with its exotic endemic plants and cacti, and he already showed Bonnie around. They especially enjoyed the tasty oranges picked right from the trees [PIC] [PIC] [PIC] Bluebeary gave Bonnie the typical straw hat that the local women wear and Bluebeary liked Bonnie's blue checkered bonnet and frequently wore it with the front flap up!

They spent time reading the many books I have there, about the history of the Islands, the plant and animal life found on land and in the Atlantic, art and fossils. They often rode the metal dinosaur sculpture I have among some fossils and rocks [PIC]

They wanted me to take a photo of them among the figures of the Nativity that Bluebeary set up. Mary and Joseph wear the typical Tenerife clothing, with palms and cacti in the background.

Saturday, 2 January 1999 - RAIN - Horacio and Ima took me to the Puerto de la Cruz, one of the main tourist enclaves on the Island, to visit his sister Ana, whom I had not seen in many years. We all went to eat at a Peruvian restaurant near where Ana lives. [PIC] (left to right : John, the Danish husband of Ana's daughter, Olga, Ana, Ima (partially hidden) and Horacio-- Bonnie and Bluebeary went with us also)

Sunday, 3 January 1999 - RAIN - Manolo, my neighbor, invited me for dinner-- the largest and most delicious paella I ever saw, with mussels, octopus, chicken, beef and pork, accompanied by the local wine. It was one of his grandson's birthday. Christian was 7 years old. [PIC] His birthday cake was the most colorful he had ever seen! I gave him Esmerelda, and he liked it so much that he sleeps with it!

Monday, 4 January 1999 - RAIN - Bonnie and Bluebeary wanted to spend some quality time together, so they stayed home. I got a haircut near where Horacio lives-- my usual Spanish military cut! Got some green tea and almonds in bulk at the Mercado in La Laguna. Lunch with Ima & Horacio at an Venezuelan place-- arepas-- had not had them in years!! We went to dinner at a really great Chinese restaurant in La Laguna [PIC]

Tuesday, 5 January 1999 - RAIN (60 liters / square meter!) Bluebeary said it had not rained for months!!

Wednesday, 6 January 1999 - RAIN - FEAST OF THE THREE KINGS (LOS REYES), when the Spanish exchange holiday gifts. Until last night, the VERY narrow sidewalks of La Laguna were packed with last minute shoppers, just as here in the States!! Bonnie and Bluebeary accompanied me to Horacio's. I gave him and Ima a small collection of turtles made of wood, different minerals, silver, the retired Beanie Speedy, some t-shirts and two Maglite flashlights. Horacio has had 3 turtles for several years-- he raised them from those small ones we see all the time in pet shops until they are now about a foot long [PIC]. I love it when we are eating in their dining room and the turtles look over the top of their fountain rim at what is happening! They now have a quite large aquarium to call home, with 2 levels. Bonnie and Bluebeary jumped into one of my friend's holiday arrangements [PIC] and both of them seemed very lovey dovey all evening [PIC]

I gave the neighbor's kids some t-shirts, a set of Maglites, and a bunch of Beanies and Attics to the grandchildren. They liked Colby the best-- as do I!!

Thursday, 7 January 1999 - RAIN - GAWD, did it rain, another 130 liters / square meter!! And the winds reached over 110 kilometers / hour!! The lights were out all night and one of my front gates blew off!! Bonnie and Bluebeary hugged me all night long!! [PIC] Trees were down along the road to Santa Cruz, the Capitol city, cars got washed into the sea, beach homes and many crops (including the local banana plantations) were destroyed.

Friday & Saturday & Sunday, 8-10 January 1999 - RAIN - Bonnie and Bluebeary were happy playing all day inside the house. [PIC] [PIC] I had a lot of inside painting to do, but due to the high humidity and constant rain, the paint dried over days instead of hours!! I could not do anything outside because of the weather. And it got colder inside the house-- down to 52 degrees-- I was sleeping with 3 woolen blankets on the bed and often completely clothed!! I lit the fireplace for the first time and that warmed the place up somewhat.

Monday, 11 January 1999 - RAIN - After dinner it seemed to stop raining and Horacio took me to a discount home supply store and I got a butane heater for the house. [There is no city gas, so I have to use tanks of butane. City water only got up to La Atlántida about 4 years ago-- before that I depended on large tanks of collected rain water as my sole water supply!] As soon as we got back into the car it started pouring again-- this time with a lot of hail!! Along the roads it looked as if it had snowed!! The temperature in La Laguna that night was only 37 degrees Fahrenheit, even colder up at La Atlántida!! Bluebeary and Bonnie were already under the 3 blankets I had on the bed.

Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday, 12-14 January 1999 - RAIN - the house was slowly feeling a bit more comfortable, and the temperature went up to 68. Ima & Horacio surprised me on the 14th (my birthday) with a birthday cake, a scrumptious cheese cake with fruit topping, and Bonnie & Bluebeary enjoyed a piece also.

Friday & Saturday, 15-16 January 1999 - RAIN - Saturday evening the large bottle of butane was empty and the heat went off!! I had to wait until the next day to replace it, BUT we went to Horacio's overnight so that we could get to the flea market in Santa Cruz-- they did not have one when I lived there.

Sunday, 17 January 1999 - NO RAIN !! - left about 11h for Santa Cruz and the flea market. The day was mostly clear, and the Sun was shining in Santa Cruz, FINALLY!! The temperature was 26 degrees Centigrade, about 79 degrees Fahrenheit-- it felt HOT!! The flea market stretched several streets from the about the container port, up to the central market [PIC]. Many African vendors selling either t-shirts or the usual tourist type African wood carvings. Many stalls of clothes and miscellaneous stuff. One guy had some old things in nice shape, old wind-up record players, English Staffordshire and something that struck my eye as soon as I saw them

Two big old jointed mohair teddy bears in seemingly great shape, one with a slight humpback and the other with an enormous hump! I had never seen (or held !) bears this old before -- from England and rather reasonable even before asking what was the best they could do on them!! Their ears were larger than any bears I had seen before, and their arms seemed longer. I guesstimated that they would have dated from about 1910, and the seller, a delightful British guy, David, married to a Spanish woman, Carmen, from Leon, in Northern Spain, said that they were from that period. They live in the South of the Island and sell to the few antique shops. Of course Bluebeary and Bonnie had to pose with the bear pair!!

Stuffed toys are sort of expensive there. The smallest ratty ones costs some 550 pesetas-- equivalent (at the exchange rate while I was there-- it varies a lot though) to about $3.90. Very few jointed ones, and they would be in the 3000-5000 peseta range (about $21-36). Bears are NOT that collectible there. I checked into some sewing/pattern stores and they do not carry bear making supplies of any kind. Loads of embroidery patterns-- Ima does a lot of really kewl things with embroidery! What some kids do collect are stamps and anything having to do with soccer.

On the way back to their car I took a photo on the Avenida Maritima [PIC] with the mountains in the background, and one of the Concepción, the church that Evelio liked to paint [PIC] .

We had dinner up the mountain in the direction of La Atlántida. Weekends the places are packed with people from the larger towns. Appetizer of cheese and sausage. Had my usual pork steak, which is a VERY large slab of meat grilled to perfection. Papas arrugadas in mojo sauce, salad with tomato, lettuce, corn, shredded carrot and avocado slices. Fresh country rolls, great wine and French fries. We then went to see the piece of land they bought to build a greenhouse, plant fruit trees and grape vines to make wine, and eventually a small get-away bungalow. Immediately when we got there it started raining again!!

Monday, 18 January 1999 - RAIN - got a new butane tank for the heater. The paint I did inside was not dry yet!! Went to La Laguna to the Market to get some bulk green tea to bring back with me, and almonds-- but the almond vendor was closed already. Found a female Siamese kitten (Yakshini) to add to my breeding stock. Met David and Carmen to talk about bears. They invited me to snacks and beer at a local bar and we talked for hours about how they do business, politics and sundry other things. I love going to Europe because people enjoy conversation and we sit for hours chatting about everything imaginable. VERY RARELY do I ever talk as much in the U.S. as I always seem to over there.

Tuesday, 19 January 1999 - RAIN (GAWD, what a surprise!!)

Wednesday, 20 January 1999 - RAIN showers - Horacio picked Bonnie and me up, we said "adios" to Bluebeary, who was sad to see us go!! I shall miss him also!

We had something to munch on at his place, took a shower, then one last walk through La Laguna, took Yakshini to the vets to get the necessary customs papers, then off to the airport. The place left at 19:50h, arriving in Madrid at 23:50h. I now, for the second time on a return trip, had to spend the night, somehow, in the Barajas airport in Madrid waiting for my connecting flight back to JFK. Luckily I had my large suitcase put through to JFK from Tenerife, so I would NOT have to lug it around with me. Yakshini was exceptionally quiet in the rucksack I had her in, probably because Bonnie was with her telling her stories about the gold paved streets of New York. I also kept the normal sized carry-on with wheels with me.

There was only one other person at the National Departures section, asleep in a sleeping bag across 3 chairs, and a friendly cleaning woman who saw Yakshini and stopped a couple times to pet her. At this point the kitten was becoming much less lethargic and wanted to get out of the bag and walk around, so I let her-- on my lap. Then she jumped to the floor and started walking across the room to the vacant check-in counters. I figured that I had better see if I could take her to the mens' room and let her run around a little to tire her out. Found a handicapped rest room. Nice and clean granite floors and polished travertine walls-- so I locked the door and sat with her until 1h.

Thursday, 21 January 1999 - now I was dead tired and decided to stay with Yakshini until somebody knocked at the door. Bonnie was still asleep in the rucksack! I took off my jacket and bundled it up, lay on the floor and tried to sleep, but could not. [PIC] Finally left at 5h!! Went back to where I was before. The guy, a 20 year-old from Kennebunkport, Maine was up and eating some peaches out of a large can and the cleaning woman was just ending her shift and wished me a good trip.

Matt, the guy in the sleeping bag, had been on a waiting list to get back to the U.S. for four days already, and today was the day he finally got a ticket on some airline or other!! He would stick his large bag in the Consigna, then go off to Madrid to buy food and pass the time until the evening, returning to the airport to check on available flights. He had traveled a lot to many European cities and towns and had loads of stories to tell. We went for some coffee and a croissant at about 6h, exchanging stories of our adventures in Europe-- mine somewhat before his-- like many years before!! [PIC] We chatted until about 10h-- my eyes were closing already-- and we went back to the check-in counters. Got my boarding pass rapidly and went to the departures section. Yakshini did not have to pass through the X-Rays!

My plane was late getting off the ground due to traffic-- Matt's flight left before mine did. Finally, at 12:10h we started moving. Yakshini was getting rambunctious again (and poor Bonnie was so tired she was still asleep!!), so I let her sit on my lap-- the stewardesses all had to hold her! Naturally I could not sleep on this flight either. We landed at JFK at 14:27, slightly later than scheduled. As usual I did not declare anything (did not have anything anyway, except the kitten!) and they did not bother to ask me what was in my knapsack!

Bernar was outside waiting for me in his car. Straight home-- left Yakshini out of the knapsack and had to wake Bonnie up--I can not believe that she slept all those hours. Saw the stack of bills waiting for me!! GAWD!! Also some payments from eBay customers who were slightly late getting them to me before I left!! Piles of emails, many of which I simply deleted, hundreds yet to sift through.

A SUMMING UP

This was my first trip back "home" to La Atlántida for which I had virtually NO $$ to take with me-- whatever I spent, which was only the necessary, I charged to my credit card! Did not even rent a car this time to save money, which was a great handicap in itself. Thanks to Horacio, who picked me up and brought me back home, and to the neighbor's son who took me to the neighboring town, La Esperanza, when he went to work at 9h, to catch the bus to La Laguna, was I able to get out at all!

Work wise, I accomplished little other than some small inside painting jobs, some of which were not dry even when I left! No TV or phone there-- listened to the radio while sitting at my desk, half bored shitless!

I ate VERY little at home. Thanks to Horacio and Ima who always had loads of food on the table for me and invited me out to eat several times, did I NOT starve to death! I just hope that I did NOT overburden them in any way!

At least there is no longer a water shortage on Tenerife!! And the plants are green, with the first Daffodils blooming at home. Bonnie and Bluebeary love plants. I brought a couple small sprouts of typical plants from my garden to grow here, so Bonnie would remember her trip.

What I could see of the few towns I was able to visit was basically the same thing as when I left over three years ago, with loads of new building and some places that are no longer there. Prices are still VERY reasonable.

Small computer shops are sprouting up all over, and cell phones are really cheap-- and you can call anywhere in the world with them! Nobody has Apple computers. The Internet is excessively expensive! The Telefónica has been a monopoly for dozens of years and is slow to relinquish its tentacles on the medium-- although this coming November a couple new pioneers are supposed to offer other options. If you call the person across the street on the phone, you are charged by the minute. Thus, if you can get on the Internet, you also pay for the time you are connected!! GAWD, it would cost me a fortune!! Lucky are the ones who work for the local governments or schools which are connected, allowing the students/professors/workers to surf the WEB.

Yakshini seems to be adapting quickly to her new feline family-- she has already been up on the monitor, and is now resting on my left wrist as I write this!

My new additions to my non-descript Arctophile collection also seem happy in their new home

About 34 cm long, from head to foot (= about 13 3/8"), black glass-like eyes, shaven nose slight hump, arms basically to hip, stuffing unknown but it feels sort of hard

Approximately 49 cm long (= about 19 1/4"), from head to foot, black glass-like eyes, surprisingly pronounced hump on back, extra long arms to well below hip and extra long legs, large ears, stuffing unknown but sort of feels hard-- like wood shavings (?)

If anyone has any information which might help to identify these bears, please contact me at BEARS.

I still DO NOT know what new TY Beanies and Attics were released this year! Not that it really matters in the general scheme of important LIFE events!

I did get 2 critters that I saw in a shop window and liked-- simply because they are so dumb looking. They are from the HEYE CRAZY ZOO collection, patterned after the comic strip characters by Mordillo. The camel was just too cute, and the smaller Capricorn-like creature was attractive to this old sea goat!

It was really great to get back to La Atlántida after so long an absence, and to help reunite Bonnie and her best friend, Bluebeary! GOD willing, so much time will not intervene before our next, hopefully more fruitful trip back to the lost continent of ATLANTIS!!

And guess what? It has been RAINING here since I got into Bernar's car at the airport!! You figure it out!! If there is any country experiencing a long-term drought and could use some precipitation, please do not hesitate to send me a round-trip plane ticket-- even tourist class would do-- and I can promise you some positive results!!

OK, Bonnie, get off my camel already! I have to take you to the airport for the next stop on your childrens' cancer charity tour!! Hopefully you will at least see the Sun in Colorado!!

For more adventures of Bonnie, click the banner below

P/S : If you would like to join the Attics and Beans Newsgroup, click on LIST. It's FREE and loads of fun! Tell them Bonnie sent you!

For Other Kewl Bonnie News Go To

TY-ING ONE ON IN BALTIMORE -- Sluggy-Bonnie report - 1999

Party Bonnie -- Bonnie does the Baltimore Convention - 1999

Bonnie loves the islands -- meeting Bonnie again in Tenerife - 2002

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