Posts Tagged ‘Travel’

This morning TV brought the first images of the devastating powerful earthquake in Italy’s Abruzzo mountains. Epi centre is the town of l’Aquila where Jillian and I spent a full week covering the regions beauty for Dutch travel magazines. The main story was just about to go to press, but developments in the coming hours as the news breaks, will tell us about the state of the emergency situation there. There are no reports at this time about the destruction of other villages that litter the mountains.

The City of l'Aquila in the Abruzzo of Italy before the Earthquake

The Piazza del Duomo, before the Earthquake struck l'Aquila in the Abruzzo Mountains of Italy

200 Kilometers south of l’Aquila we visited Pasetta, a colourful mountain man who is the grandson of the last wolfhunter of the Abruzzo. Based in the medieval village of Barrea he runs a camping La Genziana. When we called him this morning to check after his health he answered: “Everything is OK here, there is no damage in Barrea. I was doing a pipi this morning when the tremour started, It is not uncommon so I went back to bed.”

Pasetta, grandson of the last wolf hunter of the Abruzzo mountains in Italy

The Riverman: John Ruskey of the Quapaw Canoe Company of Clarksdale Mississippi is the only commercial paddler who braves the currents of the Mighty Mississippi River. Jillian and I joined him on a 3 day trip.

The big old river is known to the locals as ‘off limits’. The currents, whirlpools, eddies, its almighty power of a high volume river, not to mention 2 meter large Alligator Gars that will eat your body once you have drowned in its murky waters, have put the fear of god into the people. This is starting to sound right up our alley!

John is trying to educate the people and show them that if you know what you are doing the river is a beautiful goddess rather then a devils toiletbowl. As long as you have respect for the river it will treat you well and you get to enjoy exploring the sandbars, islands and bow lake swamps full of wildlife. Wild boar, coyotes, beavers, rover otters, deer, ducks and geese are among them. We camp on soft silky sandbars, watch the full moon rise out of the campfire, while John is preparing his favourite blacked Catfish dish over the open fire.

After 2 nights camping in relatively good weather, a storm blows in from the south. Before it can do real harm we get to our landing spot where I come eye to teeth with a ome meter long  Alligator Gar. The juvenile has been caught by a fisherman and left on the bank of the river. No respect for nature! A day later we read about three fishermen who disappeared on the river, never to be found, the day we got out. You’ve got to respect the river and treat her right.

Check out this multimedia slideshow with sound about our trip, You will find out that John Ruskey is also a gifted Blues Musician

It is a gray winterday when we arrive in Clarksdale, first real stop for us on the Delta Blues Trail. We only have one night here so we are trying to get the best out of it. The first big surpise is the Riverside Hotel. The old wooden building was once the only hospital for colored people in the region. Since 1941 however it has been transformed into a hotel by its owner Frank ‘Rat’ (“you are thinking of a rodent! right?”) Ratcliff. Rat has had the cream of the crop of blues and rock ‘n roll artists stay at his place. Proudly Rat shows us around the Riverside hotel. Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Ike Turner, JFK Junior, The blind boys from Alabama, Sam Cook, they all stayed in one of the cosy rooms filled with furniture from Rat childhood till present

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Rat sure knows how to make people feel at home. In the corner of his ‘office’ stands a guitar for general purpose use. When joining him on the old couch, he tells stories about times long gone…. or are they? Recently Clarksdale started to climb out of recession as tourism is slowly starting to pick up on the great number of Juke Joints and blues bars.

from thursdays to sundays, every place in town has live music. It is Saturday night so we dicide to paint the town. First is the well known Ground Zero Blues Bar, owned by Morgan Freeman, who obviously next to affinity with Clacksdale also saw the possibilities to do something here. Ground Zero has managed to attract big names as well as local talent  to perform life. Tonight is quiet, although there is nothing wrong with the quality of the band. A group of young women are dancing while others play a game of snooker or chat at the bar.

At 1130 we decide to check out Red’s bar. This is a real Jukejoint: The dark place where the band is lit by the neon light on the wall, and with only 2 meter to spare between the band and the bar, you are immediately surrounded by the blues. 50 people would probably more than fill this place up to the brim. Red, owner of the club, has been drinking tonight and decides to give everybody shit. Most people just ignore him and enjoy the battle between the guitar and the harmonica.

Here in Clarksdale, the heart of the Mississippi Delta, the blues became big. It was here on the crossroads of Hwy49 and 61  that the legendary  Bluesman Robert Johnson sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for his gifted guitarplay. It was here, where Muddy Waters Grew up in the cottonfields to become one of the biggest heroes of the Delta Blues. It is here, where the Blues tradition is passed on to the next generation. It is in their veigns and part of their DNA. Being in Clarksdale was a unique experience and I know for sure that I will be back here some day.

The best way to get rid of a jetlag is to dive into the nightlife. And that is exactly what is expected of us. So we scour the clubs on Beale Street for new young talented bands, who compete for the title of ‘Best BLues Band’. In BB Kings BLues club we find a Trio of Poles, named the Boogie Boys, listen for yourself……..The Boogie Boys from Poland

A great performance to get us into the mood for the rest of the trip. This video is taken with Jillians new Canon Powershot G10. Think of the difficult light situation in which this was taken and watch in High Quality to hear the great sound  that comes out of this little cam. I am pleasantly surprised with the overal quality of the camara. Did you see jillian dancing at the end of the vid? Look again!