Lots of interesting people out there. . .

I've written in the past about my volunteering as a guide at The Kampong, the former home of the renowned horticulturist, Dr. David Fairchild.  We do walking tours at The Kampong and I never know until I arrive who will be in my group, where they come from, or anything about who they are.

My group today was truly memorable.  It was listed as The Pedro Pan Society and it consisted of eight very elegant women who were exceptionally bonded together.The bonding was understandable, because as they explained to me when we were initially introduced, all eight of them arrived as teenagers in Miami in 1962 as part of the Pedro Pan exodus from communist Cuba.  The shared experience created a very special friendship that has lasted for more than fifty years.

We talked a bit before we started the actual tour and the women were fascinated to hear that I spent a great deal of time in Havana before the revolution and represented the Tropicana Nightclub here in the U.S.  I will love them forever for questioning how could I have been in their country before the revolution of 1960, since I obviously would have been much too young to be working that many years ago. When I assured them I was very much an adult then, and am now a great-grandmother, they wanted to know my secret.  I told them "good genes", but to be honest, it's more like denial, especially since I have a birthday coming up next month.

The ladies loved The Kampong, asked lots of questions and didn't seem to mind that tramping through the garden, still quite wet from last night's rains, was playing havoc with their very fashionable shoes.  I took pictures of them with their cameras as well as with my iPhone.  It was close to 90 degrees out and almost all of them were wielding fans as we  walked along. 

One of the delights of being a guide at both Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden and The Kampong is the ability to meet the most interesting people from literally all over the world.  I remember very well hearing about the arrival of the Pedro Pan children, young and alone, without their parents, who sacrificed so much to keep them safe.  It was a pleasure meeting these eight ladies today and having the opportunity to tell them about this wonderful garden.
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The Pedro Pan ladies keep cool.

I have a complaint. . . .

I'm losing my favorite tram driver at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden starting this week and I'm not at all happy about it.  Ted Weiss has been my driver-of-choice for the last three years for the tram tours I narrate every Friday morning. He knows me well.  He understands I am incapable of getting the top off the water bottle.  I return the favor by filling a cup with little pretzels that we share throughout the morning.  Most of all, he knows where during my tour I like the tram to go slow and where it's hurry up time because I have nothing more to say.  Lastly, when my mind is starting to go blank on the third tour, he throws me the name of those funny looking Bald Cypress knobs that I keep forgetting.

In short, Ted is a great part of my Fairchild volunteer experience and I shall miss him.  I told him he had no right to go have a hip replacement when I needed him to drive for me on Fridays.  He absolutely agreed and promised to come back after the first of the year.  I'm holding him to that.

I know I write about my Fairchild experiences fairly often, but I never cease to be slightly awed at this remarkable place and consider myself lucky to be even a small part of it. To give you some idea of its international identity, here's a look at our tram passengers this past Friday morning.

On the 10am tour I was introduced by one of our members to his guest, a young man from Egypt.  I made sure to point out the Egyptian geese when we got to the Lowlands.  At the start of the 11am tour, I welcomed a couple who were visiting from Austria.  And on the 12 noon tour, one whole car of the tram was occupied by a perfectly delightful group of mature ladies and one gentleman who were visiting from Surinam, a tiny country on the northeastern coast of South America.  (Ted had to remind me that it used to be a Dutch colony. See, I told you, I need him.)

My favorite tram driver

If you have never visited Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, I urge you to do so the next time you're in this area.  Come on a Friday morning and I promise you an interesting tour.
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The beauty of Fairchild