Baja Camping @ El Salto

6/8/2010

San Diego, California

We got up early, before the Las Vegas heat hit and sped down the highway straight to Loma Linda, California. When we arrived ], Jim was outside his apartment and showed us where we could park. After warm greetings we spent some time swimming in the hot tub and lounging around the apartment. We all went out to a nice dinner with Jim's old time friend. We headed out to Palm Springs to visit Shiela, Jim's friend, for the day. We had a great time picking lemons, going to the mexican market and eating some delicious food. On Sunday Jim took us down to San Diego, our new home!

We spent our first week at my great Uncle Jerry and Aunt Yoshi's house. We had a fantastic turkey dinner our first night, and I got to re-meet all of my extended family out here in San Diego.

Our first weekend in San Diego, we got invited to a Couch Surfing camping trip in El Salto, a small campground about 1 hour south of the border. Octavio (a couchsurfer) told us that he would pick us up on the other side of the border, at McDonalds. We jumped on the trolly, took it all the way to San Ysidro/Int'l Border, and crossed on foot. Back inf Mexico! It felt great, street tacos, loud "Banda" music, fantastic! We waited for Octavio at the McD's and then headed down with him to his house to wait for a friend. While we were staying at his house, we got to talk to his mom, who turned out to have a cake baking/ decorating hobbie on the competetive label. Laina and her hit it off immediately, rattling off in spanish different ideas they both have, and how they can make their cakes.

Eventually, we left and headed down to El Salto, a pretty drive down the northern Baja. With minimal directions, we finnaly made it, and arrived at the camping site with about 10 couchsurfers already there. Everyone greeted us warmly, and we all got comfortable and started sharing stories. As the sun started setting many more couchsurfers showed up, at one point, i believe we had 30 people around my "asado-style" fire, with a spot to drag out hot coals, so we could cook while continuing to keep a fire going. The party went late into the night, with multiple rounds of food cooked on the grill, and some really good conversation.

Morning brought a hot sun, and a fun group around the now cold fireplace. We somehow continued the vigor of the conversation last night, and once everyone was ready we headed into the canyon and the water fall. Hiking into the canyon was beautiful. the rock was black and smooth as polished stones. The hiking was ideal for the barefoot. There was so much to climb too, all the rocks were steep with many cracks and ledges for foot holds. When we finally got to the waterfall, you could climb down almost 150 feet on these rocks into it. Our big group was almost all barefoot, and we brought a drum. Some were singing, others playing drum beats, some climbing, others swimming, and that was how we spent the remainder of the morning. Once back in camp, everyone was hungry. We packed up, and then headed to a little town "La Mision" which was holding a festival that weekend. We walking in, watched some of the folkloric dances, and then to the food stand. Prices were great, as we expected ,and we got an assortment of delicious homemade mexican food.After this quick stop, we headed further south, to Ensenada, home of delicious "Mariscos" Seafood, in all different forms, and all delicious. We had such a great time, a big table for 18 or so people, we all ordered different things, and everyone shared. On the way back home, we made a quick stop in Tijuana, which turned out to be a really long stop.

After giving Carolina a call, she told us there was a big movie presentation in town that night and we should all go and see it. Once we figured out how to get to her house, and then making the necessary home calls, we went over to her place to change clothes and then we hit the road again to see the movie. When we were in the parking lot, it dawned on me, that I had no idea what the movie was about. Carolina said the movie was for the bicentennial 2010, 200 years of Mexican Independence. The Mexican government was funding a nation wide showing of a documentary/national pride movie, that weekend, and we all got to see it.

The movie starts 20,000 b.c., in tropical yucatan, showing all the nature flourishing, and so on. It is done in an interesting style, not quite cartoon, and not quite real footage. Eventually the time scale moves up to the different cultures of native mexicans, Toltecs, Mayans, and then to the Aztecs, where there is a model Tenochtitlan, and the huge pyramids, and sun stone. Then comes the huge bolt of lightning, and the date: 1519. The year Hernan Cortes first landed on the shore of Mexico. From there the screen became darker and grey, with many violent scenes, and louder music. After this, there was footage showing the formation of New Spain, and the different stages of growth. Then there was a lot about the rebellion against the Spanish, and in 1810, the independence of Mexico. Another interesting part was shortly after, where there was a silhouette of Mexico, with the states of California, New Mexico and Texas breaking off and the mexican flag falling to the ground. Then more footage of the beginings of the formation of Mexico, and the begining of music, art and culture. The winning of the world cup, protests in Mexico city, Frida Kahlo and more. Once these scenes ended, there was a very dramatic singing of "Mexico Lindo y Querido" by a very famous Ranchero singer, which brought many spectators to tears.

The next morning, we woke up and shared a delicious breakfast Carolina had made us (we couchsurfed with her and her family). We then headed back to the US, and waited in line at the border crossing for 2 1/2 hours!!

Red Rocks

5/20/2010

Las Vegas, NV

We skipped town last Friday, after a 6 week stretch of subbing and packing in Boise. Right now we are on our way to San Diego, our prospective new home, with a few stops along the way.

The first stop on our road trip was Pocatello, Idaho. We are going to Laina's aunts house, where we will cast our wedding rings. We made the drive in a little over 3 hours, driving across the south of Idaho and following the Snake River for most of the way. We had good weather, made good time and arrived before sunset. It was really nice to see Beany and George again, and we quickly got to business in the studio downstairs, sorting gold and getting the torch ready. Beany had already made us our wax molds of the rings that we saw a week earlier, and then made a plaster cast of those molds, which she had in the kiln the morning before we arrived. With the mold ready, we heated the gold up with a torch until it was liquid, and then set the centrifuge to send the gold into the cast. Once the gold went into the cast, we dropped it into water to cool, and then broke apart the cast to see the rings! They were beautiful!

We left the next morning and headed to Capitol Reef National Park, drove south through Salt Lake City, and continued all the way down to the red rock landscape so typical of southern Utah. Getting into Capitol Reef was amazing, huge red cliffs on both sides of the highway, and as far as you can see on the horizon. Our first night, we set up camp in the Fruita campground, and then took a short hike up the reef and enjoyed some red wine during a spectacular red sunset. We made some friends in the campground, heated up some chili and potatoes on the fire. The next day we drove aound the scenic route, hiked grand wash, some other narrows, and then went to see Capitol Dome. After another cold night camping, we jumped in the car and headed to Bryce Canyon.

Driving to Bryce Canyon, we drove through some fantastic scenery. One part of it, "The Devil's Backbone" had a road on a ridge, with drop-off's on both sides at least 300 feet. We continued over a 10,000 foot summit pass, and then down into Bryce territory. Bryce Canyon National Park is at 8100 feet, and is spectacular. It looks somewhat like a coral reef, thousands of pillars and spires, all with similar striations giving it an eerie blurry look. From the park, you look down into the canyon, from many different vistas, and paths. We only stayed in the park for 2 hours, because we wanted to camp at the lower elevation, hence warmer, Zion National Park.

Arriving into Zion, I couldn't stop saying how incredible the views were. We entered from the west entrance, and from the first 200m my jaw was slack from the sights. The beginning of the park was amazing, you are driving on top of and in the slickrock. Once you drive through this area, you see the checkered slickrock hills, and they are so close you cannot see anything else. Then you go through a mile-long tunnel and when you come out on the other side, the whole canyon opens up in front of you. You can see across, down and far away, the canyon is huge, majestic and red. We got a campground, spent a fantastic night with our fellow campers, Texans and Portlanders, and then toured the park for the whole next day. Our last night in Zion we camped outside the park, at a BLM campsite. I jammed with a mandolin player from Fort Collins, CO, and chatted late into the night with a couple from Steamboat. The next morning we headed Las Vegas way, stopping in a failed attempt to swim in lake mead, and then got stuck in construction for a double failure! We finally did get into Las Vegas and met up with our CS host, Mark. After much needed showers, we headed to the strip for food and fun. After a few 99 cent beers, and Chipotle, we started our tour of the casinos. We saw them all! We were most impressed by the Venetian and Bellagio. I decided the bathroom in the Bellagio was the opposite of the bathroom at the bus terminal in La Paz, Bolivia. After a long night of much walking, we wound up back home for some chatting and much needed sleep.

Waiting for Spring

It's May 2nd, and waking up to 40 degree weather with 70% humidity is not my favorite weather in "Mid-Spring". Every morning I run my little starter trays to the back patio with bare feet stinging on the brisk, and sometimes wet tiles. They have been growing well, the tiny cherry tomatoes definitely doing the best, the long romaine and asian greens also growing well. The basil didn't make it, I don't know why, they sprouted, and didn't grow much past that stage.
Our last few weeks have been something in between pandemonium and productive busyness. Our pre-marriage counseling classes have hit the mid-point and now we are heading towards the last two weeks of classes. The wedding planning have gotten a little ridiculous, we have a four page, double-sided list with approximately 500 things we need to do between now and the wedding. We are also trying to pack up to leave Boise by May 14th, so we can get down to California. All of this while subbing full time in the Boise school system.
Subbing this spring has been sort of a roller coaster of work, some jobs being duck soup, and others leave me practically exhausted. Some jobs: Band teacher, Orchestra are really easy, and sometimes incredibly boring (when the band is out at a concert and you have 2 or more periods without students). On the other hand, most of my jobs are rather difficult, and require lots of classroom management, and some old-fashioned discipline. For example, I had taken the job "detention monitor" Thinking it would be cake. It wasn't. Long story short, the principal got involved and took the student away.
My favorite jobs are the full classroom 1st graders. Reading to them, teaching spelling, cutting and pasting, recess... 1st grade is the best. If you can quiet a whole class by threatening to not give them a shiny star sticker, sign me up. Besides that, 1st grade also offers students that have better behavior then kindergardeners, and are still so small and fun that you don't get burned out like with middle-schoolers.
Laina is having her wedding shower this morning. She is very excited, and has been spending the morning in anticipation. I am not invited.

Four Layer Wedding Cake

4/18/2010
Boise, Idaho

So we've been back in Idaho for almost a month now. Once we got back we started immediately working on our endless list of things to do for the wedding. Other then that, we've been subbing, gardening and going to a premarital counselor.

Gardening has been a blast, I have four starter trays inside, I am growing 2 types of lettuce, chiles from Oaxaca, tiny cherry tomatoes, and spinach. Outside I have green onions, broccoli, strawberries, basil and purple sage. I am really excited to watch the garden grow as the weather warms up here.

Subbing has been great too, I've taught everything from high school band to 4th grade classroom. We hope to keep subbing the rest of our time in Boise to make some money to make the move to California.

We have also been going to a premarital counselor out in Eagle (~25 min drive). The class has been interesting and valuable. We are going through some books, quizzes, and worksheets, and a lot of discussion.

Here in Boise there is a small couchsurfing (CS) community that is actually very warm and friendly. We started going to the monthly potlucks, whenever we are in town. The old CS ambassador, Abby, used to host them, and now Dan, who owns that house, he has started hosting them with his CSer roommates. On saturday, we decided to bring our trial wedding cake the party, and share it with fellow CSers. Laina made a five layer wedding cake a little while before we headed down to mexico, and subsequently froze it and let it sit while we were traveling, with hopes to return and make a giant cake. Our big question was, "where in the world are going to find the 80+ people it takes to finish this cake?". After we got back we decided CS was a good solution to having many, many people indulge on it. We joined up with Dan's potluck, and announced it to everyone, and told them to come ready to eat cake. The day of the party Laina got really sick, and she was not able to frost the cake, let alone be 20 feet from the bathroom. So I frosted the whole cake for her (how sweet...literally) which really ended up being an all day thing, the kitchen is still dirty. After the frosting I added tulip petals, red and yellow and a big shell to the top. It was ready to go to the party. I showed up about an hour into the party, so everyone could be salivating as this 20 pound monstrosity made its way to the den of Dan's house. As it turned out, Everyone was hungry for cake, it was only on display for 5 minutes and then disassembled and cut up. A CSer name Kyme came up to me and asked if I knew how to cut a wedding cake, I didn't, so she helped. Kyme is a semi-pro wedding cake baker and experienced at serving them. After a minute or two I was wound u pin conversation with a couple from Tahoe city, where the wedding will be, and then I was sitting down on a couch while Kyme had totally taken over serving the cake. She seemed very happy, and in her "zone", so I let her finish serving the cake. I also spent a large portion of the evening out at the bonfire in the backyard chatting about CS and sharing stories. In the end, about half of the cake was eaten, Which was actually a lot of cake. We split up the left overs, and headed home for the evening.

Mazunte a Coyoacán

Mexico
3/9/2010
Agama Yoga Center, Mazunte
We left Oaxaca with two backpacks only half-full. We were lucky to leave most of our stuff at our friends house, right next door. We grabbed some tamales and then headed over a few blocks to catch a camionetta that would take us down to a small city called Pochutla. After a little wait we got onto the van with only the driver, his friend and us two. After a six hour drive across and down the Sierra Madre mountains with a short stop for tamales and bananas, we ended up in Pochutla, a warm weather, slightly inland city. The road down from the mountain was thick with vegetation, and we saw many steep coffee fields, Cacao trees (chocolate), bananas and fruiting mango trees. The streets of Pochutla were bustling with Mexicans, travelers, buses, collectivos, and taxis. This city seems to be a crossroad for many of the beautiful beach towns lining the pacific coast of Oaxaca. Once we got off the bus we waited curbside until we saw a pickup truck with a blue tarp on the back, with "Mazunte" written in soap on the windshield. In the bed, there is a tall frame, with two benches on either side, and covered in the tarp. We flagged him down jumped in the back with a Spaniard from the north of Spain, and started towards the beach. Traveling in the back of a pickup truck is truly traveling in style, wind in your hair, 360 degree view, it's very interactive. Once we got to Mazunte, a small sandy beach town, we started looking for "El Neem Resort", where we will be couchsurfing at the Agama Yoga Center. When we saw the sign at the top of the hill, we got out and paid the 10 pesos (we were overcharged, it should have only been 8), and walked into the yoga center. The Agama Yoga Center is set on the top of a tall hill in between Mazunte and San Augustinillo. Walking up the steep driveway to the top of the hill, the center is comprised of two large outdoor patios with giant palapas (palm frond roof). The giant square patio looking out over San Augustinillo's 3 beaches is the yoga hall, square with and uncovered porch surrounded on two sides by the ocean. The other patio is on the land side, right next to the yoga hall. This is the common area and kitchen. It is a circle, roughly 50 feet diameter, no walls. The whole center is open air, and is something very close to paradise. I said on two seperate occasions, that I would like to copy this house but a little smaller for my own. When we showed up the afternoon yoga class was currently going on so we headed to the common area patio and set our bags down. Everyone in the center was silent, all with welcoming smiles. We whispered to some people, and made some french friends, and then walked down to the beaches in San Augustinillo. We helped a group of fishermen push their boat back into the water, and then walked all the way to the end of the beach. The water here is cool and refreshing, but warm enough to swim. In the evening back at the yoga center as we were walking up the stairs we got a major whiff of delicious foods cooking. The smells of ginger, garlic, onion, and mushrooms were in the air, and I was definitely ready to cook some dinner. We made lentils and rice, an easy dish to travel with and cook anywhere. As we started eating dinner, a tall man, startlingly resembling Gandolf walked into the yoga hall and set up his equipment and started to warm up on his very different-looking instrument. The whole center started to fill people, because there was a concert tonight! Istvan Jeszenszky was the tall Gandolf look-alike, and instrument he was playing was called a "Sarod", a traditional Indian string instrument (up to 19 strings!). After everyone entered the yoga hall he began his concert. It started with the very elaborate twangy sound of the Sarod, a similar sound to the sitar, but more bass and deep, and different melodies accompanied by his very talented voice singing in Sanskrit, as well as other Indian languages. After a little while he changed his technique to a strum of the strings, rather then a finger-picking style, and really took off with intricate singing. While singing, he started emitting a very strange sound from his throat, the closest way to describe the sound would be that it was very similar to the sound of one of those long tubes that resonated when I swung over my head as a kid. The style of singing is called "Throat Singing" and has an amazing sound because he can make the sound while singing other things, there is a sort of "double sound" coming from his mouth. He continued to play a few other songs, I was very impressed with his talent and then he switched to a classical guitar and kept on playing. At the end, he got the whole crowd singing along with him, they were all singing a sacred yoga chant to the beat of two drums. Throughout the whole evening there was a very comfortable on-shore breeze and with the combination of the Copal incense, we really had an enjoyable evening.
I woke up about 20 minutes before sunrise the next morning to the sound of the Frenchman's bare feet stepping across the cement, walking towards the edge of the porch to meditate as the sun rose over the distant mountains. As we were breaking down the mosquito net and folding up our bed, Istvan started to play a soft melody on his Sarod. He had already set up his equipment and was now playing as everyone was waking up during the sunrise. We all moved into the yoga hall where he was playing and sat in a circle with Istvan at the front. He led us in the daily morning chant and added many of his own riffs on Sarod as well as the 7 chakra tones and chants. We sat in the circle for the first two hours of the morning until the 8:30 yoga class started which Geoff (he runs Agama) invited us to participate. Marybel came in and we all got into our yoga positions within the classroom. The class was very enjoyable, one of the best yoga classes I have ever taken. Once it was over we ate some breakfast and then headed out to the next town over, Zipolite. On the beach in Zipolite we met up with Zac and Antionette the Aussie/Kiwi couple we volunteered with in Oaxaca. After we swam a little, we headed to the local bar, "Barracuda" to watch the Real Madrid vs Lyon futbol (soccer) during the championship league in Europe. WE went back to the beach for a swim when we ran into the two Argentine girls we first met at the temescal in Xoxo! It was fun for all four of us to hang out on the beach and swap stories. Walking out of town, we caught the collectivo back to El Neem and settled in for a vegetable soup dinner and watched the stars while Istvan played his second night of the patio concerts.
The next morning when we woke up Istvan was already playing his Sarod as I was waking up and while my brain was becoming conscious, I heard the rich sounds of the instrument. This morning he did not use his amplifier or microphone, and it was just the natural sound and volume of the tinny-sounding Sarod that woke me. Since today was our last day couchsurfing at El Neem, we skipped the morning chant and yoga and headed down to the beach for sunrise. Our plan was to move over to Zipolite, we found a room for 80 pesos per night. We wanted to explore Mazunte first, so we walked into town first and then down to the beach. The bay, is crecent shaped with the best swimming towards the western end. We met another American and spent some time talking to him about his travels. In the 70's he started the import of organic black teas from Asia to the US, and into health food stores. Interesting. Heading back into town we got some bananas for lunch and went over to the Internet cafe. A couchsurfing host in Mazunte wrote us back! Sweet! She had put up directions for us at a bar at the entrance to town, and said we could come by anytime! We wrote down her name and the name of the bar, wrote her a quick reply, paid the 5 pesos for the Internet time, and hit the road to find her house. Since Selva wrote to us, and wants to host us, we decided to not move to Zipolite, and stay with her. The first part of Selva's directions to her house said to go to the bar "La Otra Cosa" and look for the paper she pinned up for us. We walked to the beginning of town and found "La Otra Cosa". Closed. It was 11:30 am.
There was a man sweeping the floor so Laina asked him if he knew Selva, he pointed up the hill and told us to go ask the people up the in the house. We went up the stairs behind the bar, up the hill and knocked on the porch of the house. Two Mexican women came out and we asked them if they knew Selva. They did, and since one of them owned the bar, she took the directions down, since they were put up a few days ago, and she didn't want random people to see them. Then she subsequently lost them. Enthusiastically, both her and her friend pointed and told us the directions orally with lots of gestures and sounds. After a few minutes of only partial comprehension and multiple repetitions, we gave them a big thank you, and walked back down the hill to the street. Laina says, " You understood that right?" I reply, " I thought you did!" Laina laughs and rolls her eyes and we put the pieces together we each understood and made an approximate plan. Crossing the street, we walk uphill on a smaller street until it dead-ends, then we follow a little foot path way up into the hills above Mazunte, separating the town from the coast. "you've gotta be joking." I said after five minutes on the trail. After a little the trail hits a dirt road, wide enough for a car. An older man of unknown race, and a woman come walking up the road. We ask them if they know Selva, or the Casa de Karla Magna, the woman who owns the house. " Karla Magna?" the man says, and warmly smiles, turning up the hill and waves to us to come with him. He introduces himself as Guido, an Italian who has tanned to the color of a walnut! The woman is a Californian who has been living in Texas, however, we continued to speak in Spanish, at least for the practice. They pointed at the house they thought was the Casa de Karla Magna, and said it would be best for us to go ask a neighbor exactly which house it was. He pointed to Pablos house and told us to head over there and ask him. Once Pablo saw us and we talked to him, we found out he did not know Selva, or where she lived. As we were talking to him two neighbors, both Québécois, from Montreal said they knew the house and brought us back to the first house Guido pointed at, and they said that it was the house for sure. We walked down the driveway and up the stairs to the two palapa huts, one open air, one brick. We met Silvana, Selva's roommate, a Peruvian that lives in Canada and is now travelling through Mexico. Silvana was in the middle of painting a meditation aid that was comprised of a sun with 9 triangles interposed within it. We hung out for a while and then headed out to Zipolite. We walked down the main road and caught a collectivo to the next beach down, Zipolite.
Eventually we met our host, Selva, a German girl with dreadlocks that are about half the length she is tall. She is super friendly and we hit it off immediately with some fun conversations and good food. Later we met up with Ant and Zac again and headed to a little town a short ride from Mazunte, called Ventanilla, "small window". We were searching to confirm rumors we heard that there was a crashed airplane on this remote stretch of beach. When we got to the town, we walking from the road alongside a lagoon that had a large population of crocodiles. When we got to the beach my first thought was "California!" The beach was massive. As far as you could see to your right here was beach, and to the right, rocks. The beach has the grandiose power that you find on N. Cali/ Oregon coast beaches. We started down the right side of the beach towards a spot on the horizon that looked like something sticking out of the sand. After walking towards a group of school kids, there was nobody on the beach. We walked about 3 kilometers and then we were upon it. The first part we saw was the tail section on its side with the rudder flush with the ground and the tail wind sticking straight up like a sail, the other must have broken off. There was no rust, or what looked like strong corrosion anywhere on the plane, and many of the circuits and wires on the inside were still intact. The second part of the plane was 300 feet further down the beach 1/2 buried in the sand. This part was the fuselage with the wing still attached.. The fuselage was mostly buried but the left wing was sticking up out of the sand at a 25 degree angle. Low enough that you could walk up it with ease, and bounce on the end like a diving board. You can see this wing all the way back the the beginning of the beach 3K back it stick so far out. After we snapped a few photos, Zac told us that he heard a story about the plane. The plane was supposedly a drug smuggling plane and the police got notice of it and subsequently shot it down. The price to salvage the plane off the beach would be way too expensive, and since it was on a remote stretch of the beach, so far from the tourist beaches they just left it. Still, it's a nice tourist attraction. After we walked back, we got a quick meal, hitchhiked back back to Mazunte, and spent a nice afternoon swimming and tanning on a beautiful beach.
Surprise! We spent the next day swimming, tanning and eating ice cream, not a bad way to spend the day. After out goodbyes with Zac and Ant (they are going to Guatemala), We headed to punta cometa the large peninsula that sticks out far from the beach. There, we saw a spectacular sunset and then gazed at stars with Selva, Kaitlyn, and the other girl from Colorado. We saw new constellations as well as old ones, Elephants, crazy dragons breathing fire, and also the usual, Orion, Ursa major, and some more.
On Monday we woke up and headed to the natural Jacuzzi that is part of punta cometa. This Jacuzzi is a small pool that has limited access to the ocean so the water really is not directly effected by the waves. They splash over the rocks and come in through a small channel to fill the pool. When one splashes in violently, the whole gets a big disturbance and you go flying from one end to the other. We hiked out, beached it up and then returned for another spectacular sunset.
We took a trip to the national turtle museum, a nice facility designed to help the locals generate income fro the turtles without exploiting them. We got to see many species of freshwater and saltwater baby turtles! My favorite part was seeing the tank of week old baby green sea turtles all pitch black, tiny and very cute.
Our last night in Mazunte there was also a final ceremony for all the yoga students who just finished their five week course. We all gathered at El Neem, just like our first few nights on the beach. There was a nice ceremony with a Mexican shaman and all of our friends. After the ceremony we had tamales and vegetarian enchiladas. We said our goodbyes and walked back to Selva's house to hector and Caleb and the rest of the yoga crew.
Our next two days were a blur of long bus rides, bumpy collectivos, and speedy minivans. With a quick overnight stop in Oaxaca at our friends house we caught the second-class bus into Distrito Federal, Mexico City.

Coyoacán
3/24/2010
It was great to be back with Ahmed and Bronson. We got back to their apartment 36 hours after we jumped on our first collectivo in Mazunte. They quickly invited us to their friends barbecue at a nearby condo. Changing our clothes and hurrying out the door less then 40 minutes after getting there, we found ourselves on the rooftop of the Capitol Park building. We met John and Alan, as well as many other people. on the roof there is a heated pool, picnic tables, and a barbecue. We had a blast chatting, eating grilled steaks,and chipotle tortillas and stayed up late. Waking up the next morning to a terrible stomach ache, I was unable to leave the bathroom. It was probably that whole
"altitude sickness plus barbecue-associated beverages" thing (Mexico city is at 7300ft). Laina and Bronson went out but I was left behind to relax and try to feel better. Once I was feeling better, we all went out to "Mama Conchita's" a local restaurant with cheap fixed 3 course meals. There we met Carlos and Stephanie, as well as Alan and John again. Alan and John moved down to Mexico 5 years ago from the US. We made plans to meet up with Alan tomorrow, john had to work. We all walked into the northern Roma district, which is very Bohemian and beautiful, got coffee and continued walking around Parque Mexico. We went back to their place and had salad and drinks (naturally, I abstained).
We met Alan the next morning and headed to the Zocalo. We explored cathedrals, markets and spent the day wandering around the east side of the center. Laina bought some beautiful fabric for the wedding, and I got a cool straw hat. The next day we got together again and went to Coyoacán, my favorite part of Mexico City. Supposedly Coyoacán is where Hernan Cortes lived when we took over the city, since the center was so badly destroyed. Coyoacán is like a small quaint city within a giant city. All the streets are small cobblestone and narrow. The central park is very old with lots of arches and pretty benches. There are old book stores, old candy stores, and tons of old buildings with beautiful architecture. Many of these old buildings have been restored into modern cafes and the such. We went to the Frida Khalo Museum, but did not have the time to go in. Getting back to the apartment, we had a small party with strawberries, mangoes and cream, chips, more food, and fun friends. We learned a lot about how to teach in Mexico city at the American schools and how rewarding it could be. We gave our sad good byes to our new friends hoping to see them again. The next morning we left Ahmed and Bronson with hugs and promises to return, and headed to the subway to begin our trip back home.

Chilies Rellenos

Mexico
3/8/2010

For the third time in my life, I was covered from head to toe in mud. The first was in Hawaii, during my first semester, and then again while we were in Cartegena, Colombia, at the mud volcano. This time we were in a traditional native American (Aztec/Mayan/Zapotec) sweat lodge with many of our Oaxaqueño friends.
We met up with our friend Kaitlyn at the Italian Coffee Company in the Zocaló, and quickly our other friend, Paco met up with us and took us down the street to his friends house. From the street we saw him yell down at us from a few floors up, "¡Ahorita!" (in a second!). When he came down to meet us, I was surprised, he looked like me! Well, at least for long hair and a beard. Introducing himself as "Spartaco". We learned that he was from Italy. His roommate, Alibaba, who was an American fro Iran, also came with us. We waited at the corner for Spartaco's friend, Vasco, who is also from italy. While we were waiting four others showed up, three Argentineans: Carolina, Mayra and a friend, and also Carolina from greece. Vasco showed up in a big pickup truck, the kind with double tires on the back wheels. The licence plate read, "Texas, the lone star state". How an Italian who didn't speak English is driving a truck in Mexico with Texan licence plates, I will never know. We all piled in to the back and took off. We are headed for a little country town called Xoxo (pronounced gHo-gHo) to meet some friends on a small ranch for the afternoon. The ride was slightly dangerous because we had 7 people in the bed and there was no tailgate. I felt slightly safe until we hit a big bump at speed, but thankful for momentum, I did not fly off the back, however I did hold onto the sides a little bit harder for the rest of the ride. Arriving at the ranch, we pulled in and jumped off the back of the truck. We walked to the back part of the ranch, and I got a whiff of a familiar smell, "GOATS!" there were two pens with about 10 goats. I was very excited. In the middle of this small backyard, was a big traditional sweat lodge, a Temescal. Temescal is the Nahuatl (Aztec language) word for teme, to bathe, and calli, house, and together the are the traditional sweat lodge. People were busy all around, chopping up logs, building up the fire, sealing the top of the temescal and putting the lava rocks into the fire.After about 1 1/2 hours, the stones were hot and we were ready to enter the sweat lodge, First we asked permission from the earth gods and then we crawled through the very small opening one by one. We fit 15 people into the lodge and it was quite full. Once everyone was in, Paco brought the red-hot lava rocks in from the fire and put them in the pit in the middle of our circle. As each rock was added the temperature in the room rose. It was very dark in the lodge, the roof was only 3 feet high. When the rocks were brought in, the glowed a deep red since it was so dark. Once 10 rocks were added Paco came back in and closed the small door. Many songs were played with drums, shakers, and a small clay ocarina. During the songs the main leader splashed abalone shell after abalone shell full of water onto the red-hot rocks. The water vapor was significant, and billowed up to the low roof, and spread around. The temperature spiked. After a few more songs, we introduced ourselves, and said a few words. Once the second set of hot rocks were added, and more water vapor made, I was absolutely covered in sweat and hot steam. So much so that water was dripping off my nose at a constant interval. My legs and hands were caked with mud and sweat. However, it was after a half hour later during the third addition of hot rocks and vapor, when I was overwhelmed by heat and sweat, and I laid down and got covered in mud. After a few more songs, it was time for the fourth and final addition of stones and vapor and by this point the leader was throwing cool water on everyone to keep them from overheating. Everyone was laying down, since the dirt floor was slightly cooler then the hot air above and offered a little comfort. It must have been over 120 degrees in there. When the last set of water was poured over the stones, and the last song was over, people started to crawl out of the lodge, and I was covered in mud. Upon exiting, I had a immediate shiver, even though it was 75 out, the temperature change was so great, it felt cold. Everyone lined up next to the huge pottery bowls full of water to wash themselves off. I had a 5 minutes of feeling really sick, but once it passed, and I washed off, I felt much better. We spent 2 1/2 hours in the temescal. After about an hour of cooling off and washing up, we all piled in to the back of the pickup truck for the ride home. After all the goodbyes, a small group of us went out to get tlayudas at the street corner. Tlayudas are a giant tortilla with refried beans, tomatoes, guacamole, onions, a large thin slice of steak, and tons of cheese. We sat on the curb of the street, eating while talking about Italy, Greek food and the temescal.

Walking down the side street, as we have for the last 7 weeks when going to Casa Hogar, we saw Chino and a friend right outside the door to Casa Hogar de Hijos de la Luna. They were both holding guitars, and as we got close, Chino handed me his, and bullied me into playing "Para Siempre" by Vincente Fernandez, a song I learned before heading down to Mexico. I am no expert at the song, and since I forgot most of the words, I handed the guitar back to Chino and talked him in to playing it. He has been playing guitar for 5 years and has quite a skill at playing Mexican music. He did not know how to play the song, but after a quick demonstration, we was playing it very well. Chino showed me the proper technique for strumming the strings to mariachi music, a vital part to making the music sound right. After this both chino and his friend played many songs for us, I was grinning from ear to ear because of how well they played and how good Chino's voice was. They played "Sabor a mí", "Mariachi loco" and a bunch more great traditional Mexican songs. Chino is a big fan of Mexican "Bolero" and older style of Mexican music, and is trying to combine it with modern lyrics and rhythms to make his own "Bolero". I swore that when I returned, I would bring my guitar and start to fulfill one of my life goals of becoming a mariachi. When we entered the kitchen, it was a frenzy of chilies, cheese, eggs and picadillo ( a type of shredded chicken w/ tomatoes, onions, basil, and more). Alejandra, America and Lupita were making us Chilies Rellenos for our last day working at Casa Hogar. Chilies Rellenos is a very important and traditional dish in Mexico. Translated, it means "Stuffed Chilies" and it is absolutely delicious. On wednesday, they asked us what kind of chilies we wanted for the meal. We picked 3 different types, Chile Passila, Chile de Agua, and Chile Poblano. Chile de Agua and Chile Passila are specialty chilies, only grown in the state of Oaxaca. The Chile de Agua, the spiciest of the three, is a long green chile with great flavor, and you buy it fresh. The Chile Passila is a dried red chile, the second spiciest of the three, and I have only seen it dried. The third chile is the Chile Poblano, which has great flavor but is not spicy at all, and is similar (in look but not taste) to our bell pepper. Chile Poblano is often bought fresh, and when it is dried, it is called Chile Ancho (the main ingredient in most chile powders in the US). Once you have all the all the chilies together and are ready to cook, you first need to "Asado" or roast the chilies. You do this by placing the chilies straight on the burner flame, and turning them slowly until the whole outside has been burned and then place them in a plastic bag to peel all the skin, so all you have is the soft flesh of the chile. After peeling, you need to remove the seeds and veins. Slice the side of the chile carefully and cut out the veins, and remove the seed carefully, leaving the stem intact. You should use caution while doing these steps with spicy chilies because you can damage your skin, even on a poblano because of the capsaicin levels in these parts of the chile. In the kitchen, Laina was put in charge of stuffing the chiles and I was in charge of whipping the egg whites in to meringue with a large fork. After the chiles were stuffed with cheese or picadillo, they were then battered in the meringue (which Alejandra finished, her technuque was much better) and then dropped into very hot oil and fried on either side until they were a beautiful golden-brown. Once all the chilies were fried, and after spending time playing ball with the kids and cradleing the baby, we all sat down outside around the table and had a delicious meal. Doña Coco, Andres, José Maria, Maestra, America, Kaitlyn, Laina, Chino, myself and even Joff showed up to see us off. 4 chilies later with delicious refried beans, we headed in to wash up all the dishes. Chino took out his guitar with Andres, sat underneath the pomegranate tree in the beginning of a beautiful Oaxacan sunset and sung different Bolero songs while some kids played on the playground. Giving our goodbyes all around, big hugs and kisses, as well as promises to return, we left on the side street we walked in on, with a warm crisp breeze at our backs. We sure will miss them.

Monte Alban

Mexico
3/2/2010

So we convinced Arianne to come with us to one of the classes we were trying out at a different community center called "IMSS", it is closer to our house. Around 5 in the afternoon we headed out and towards the center, when we got there we quickly headed into the cooking room, the one with the stove, oven and sink. Today we are planning on taking the cooking class. The maestra of the class quickly let us know that the class today was "Reposteria" which means, "Baked goods and Pastries". Besides Laina, Arianne and myself, there were three other women in the class: Maestra, the inexperienced baker, and the grey haired woman. The first thing we did was flatten the previously bought pastry dough into the tart cups, and also into the pie tins. While the maestra was cooking up the custard cream, we three took to slicing up the fruit for the filling. It was a while we were cutting up these fruit before I realized that not all the ingredients were shared by all, and that certain fruits belonged to inexperienced cook and others to the grey haired woman. So as we were cutting up the fruit we ow started separating it by whose fruit it is, which is very different to the other cooking class we are taking, where we share all the ingredients, and split the cost. Once Maestra was finished cooking the custard, she and Laina started cooking up the cheesecake, but first they mixed the ingredients in the blender. Then we baked all the tart crusts in the oven and then piled them up on the table. When we where making the tarts I forgot again that we needed to separate the different women's ingredients. So at first we were making the tarts for the grey haired women, we made ten, filled the crust with custard, topped with pretty fruit and then set to cool. Then the inexperienced cook woman started working on hers while we finished cutting the fruit. Finally the question arose, " what are we going to do with these tarts?" we asked. "Sell them, of course!", was the reply. "where are you going to sell them?" "En la calle." (on the street). How surprised we were, you should have seen Arianne's face! We are sitting here making the tarts that we see all over the side of the road in class cases for sale! We thought it was so funny, and even better if we had the opportunity to go sell the tarts with them! After the short conversation, the inexperienced cook woman gave each of us one of us a tart. They were still warm and very delicious! We topped them with kiwi, peaches, strawberries and grapes, and they looked beautiful. After a few minutes, we finished them and the grey woman returned to the room and then offered us one of her tarts, she hadn't seen that the other woman gave us each one. These tarts are are not something that you can really eat two of, they are quite big and very rich. After Arianne turned the second one down, Laina and I decided to split it. I had to smile, I was getting very full on these tarts and I am sure that these ladies should have been selling them instead of giving them to us. Then the discussion of price came up, " How much are you going to sell these for?" "10 pesos per tart." replied the maestra, and the inexperienced cook woman smiled at that, clearly excited to make some money. She then asked how much they would make if they sold all of them. Quickly counting the maestra says " 48 tarts at 10 pesos per tart..." and in over one minute of silence in highly concentrated thinking, "480 pesos." at that number the inexperienced cook woman lit up with a delightful grin.

Monte Albán is a large archaeological ruins of the Zapotec culture who lived in the valley of Oaxaca. If you look at the back of the Mexican 20 peso bill, you will see an illustration of the site. After our other cooking class on Sunday, we headed to the zocaló to meet up with a fellow couchsurfer, Travis, who we met the previous night at the theater, to head up to Monte Albán. Walking towards the tour guides section part of town, we were immediately surrounded and offered many different options to head up to the ruins. the going rate was 35 pesos($3), round-trip. However, the bus was not leaving for 45 minutes. We knew that people lived near the ruins, so therefore, there must be a bus or some kind of public transport to get us there. Once the saleswoman realized that we were not going to buy the tour, we asked where we could catch the local bus to the area. She smiled and pointed to the corner and said to look for the bus that said "Colonia Monte Albán", the name of the neighborhood closest to the ruins. After a short wait we got onto a big green bus with bench seats, paid our 4.5 peso fare, and headed up the 1,300 foot climb to the top a mountain with the ruins on top. I swear the bus driver had to turn the wheel almost 7 or 10 full rotations to make some of the hairpin switchback turns up to the neighborhood, just south of Oaxaca city. All the other riders had gotten off, and the bus was still flying up the road and making the sharp turns at high speed. We were sliding to and from on the smooth bench seats. Finally, the bus pulled into a dirt parking lot at what seemed like 1/2 way up the mountain. The driver and his friend said that the ruins were just a 30 minute walk up the road that we were just on, no sweat. From there the three of us got on the road and began our trek up the second half of the mountain. It was a beautiful day, with the sun it was quite hot, especially on the road, with no shade. Walking the opposite direction, down there were groups of indigenous families, with some of their handicraft souvenirs heading home. After about 45 minutes we made it to the top and got our tickets into the site. Monte Albán is the premiere archaeological ruins near the city of Oaxaca. Also, they are in very nice condition, since they are only about 1300-1500 years old. Entering the site you walk up some stone stairs cut into a giant hill, and then on the other side you look down onto a giant lawn, with beautiful temples, walls and stairs. On the far side of the law there is an immensely tall set of stairs, and in the middle is a square set temple. We spent much of the next four hours talking, walking and taking pictures with Travis. During out explorations, a couple asked me to take their picture. After a few pictures, and a make-out photo, I spotted their Maté gourd sitting on the ground with the typical silver thermos. I asked them if they were from Argentina, which they were, and then shared some of our travel stories with them of our time down there. They offered to share some Maté with me, and I happily accepted. The Maté was a nice flashback from Argentina and I remembered how how fond I was of the grassy, bitter, tea-like drink. We continued to walk around, talking about Cambodia, Peru, Europe, and other travel stories. Right before close, we went and checked out the indoor museum. Inside there were many immaculate stone carvings, and even some skeletons. The place closed down shortly after, so we decided to hit the road back down and catch the bus. Less the one minute on the road, a big white pickup truck passes us and I instinctively stick out my thumb, trying to catch an easy ride down. The truck slowed down and pulled over. Travis ran up, and opened the door, and guess what!? It was the Argentine couple! We told them we just needed a ride down to that dirt parking lot and we would catch the bus from there. We jumped into the bed, and set off down the mountain. Very quickly I saw that we were headed down the mountain on a different road then we walked up. Well, there goes the bus, I thought. After a little while we were flying though the city of Oaxaca, heading east. From the back of the truck, I did not really know where I was, but then I saw the A.D.O. bust station, and realized that we were very close to our house, in the north of Oaxaca. The window to the cab opened up and the Argentine yells, "where are you guys going?" At that time, we really didn't have any plans, so i asked, "Nowhere really, where are you going?" he replies, "Veracruz!" I was like "Veracruz?!, that 7 hours away, and the sun is about to set!" he said, " I live there!" We all really wanted the free ride to Veracruz on the Gulf of Mexico, but we didn't have our bags, money or our passports. Also, the ride would probably be miserable, 6 hours at night in the back of a truck. We told him we'd get off here, and have a safe ride to Veracruz. We walked into town, got some tacos, told some good stories, and then headed home.

Como Agua Para Chocolate

Mexico
2/14/2010

"¡Nieve, Nieveeee!", you would have heard Chino and me yelling, in between laughs and other jokes, today at the Feria in El Llano, a park in Oaxaca. Casa Hogar had a stand in the middle of the festival and we were selling two types of marmelade, both made by Joff and Joy, as well as small jars of habeñero infused olive oil and cups of nieve (ice cream). Our jokes and shoutings were funny because in México and many other latin american countries there are various street sales people who will walk/ride/drive around the towns and cities shouting out whatever it is they are selling, and often in a rythm or song. For example we were shouting,"¡Nieve, Nieveeee!", and were imitating the local ice cream vendors who ceaselessly walk around town at all hours of the day shouting the same thing we were in the same manner. We were also shouting "¡Pasele, Paseleeee!" (Come, Come) which is very common to hear while strolling around the market, each vendor trying to drag you to their stall. We had a lot of fun and laughs while taking turns shouting out these phrases to the festival crowd, much to the amusement of Doña Coco and the rest of the Casa Hogar family.
Today, "El Dia Del Amor", St. Valentine's day, as we know it, the streets of Oaxaca are filled with balloons, roses, candies and thousands of paper hearts. Last night in the Zocaló, there were thousands of people, most watching the complicated and humorous dances on the stage, others talking , buying flowers, kissing, dressed up nicely on their way to go dance and some just walking sround town. The dancers were on a stage backlit by the towering cathedral. They were wearing very colorful dresses and twiriled around in a flurry of cloth, color and stomping heels. The dances were mostly folkloric with fast guitar and soft flute. Looking around at the crowd you will see many volkswagen beetle sized clumps of red balloons floating about 10-15 feet above the crowd making their way above the crowd, tugging at their strings which are attached to the vendor below, walking through the packed audience.
"¡Niñas!", our Maestra called us at our weekly Cocina Méxicana class, "Corta la cebolla en ruedallas" she orders me and I quickly assemble a cutting board and a knife and slice the onion into thin circles. Today we met an hour early, at 9 am, to prepare breakfast. As I cut the onions, I see at the end of the table, Laina is learning how to dry a one-kilo chunk of mole coloradito of it's grease, and then getting ready to mix it into the already boiling tomato sauce that had just been made minutes before. Our breakfast is going to be "Enchiladas" and Hot chocolate. In México, the word "Enchiladas" is used for a variety of dishes that are covered in different types chili sauces. This meal is will be fried tortillas, covered in this coloradito mole chili tomato sauce. After adding the mole coloradito chunk to the tomato sauce it is mixed until smooth and thick. Meanwhile, on the other burner, one of the other students is frying the folded tortillas in a very healthy portion of very hot oil. Once thouroughly fried, these very shiny tortillas are placed into the coloraditio sauce and set to cook for about 10 minutes. During that time we reheated some very thin grilled steaks on another burner. Soon enough, our breakfast was ready. After giving José a quizical look, our maestra says, "¡Necesitamos auga!" Jose replies, "Aqua? ¿Por qué?", "¡Auga para la chocolate!" she says through laughter, implying "like, duh!". I smile after this conversation, it bringing back some memories of the book, "Como Agua Para Chocolate", or "Like Water for Chocolate", and all of its mouth-watering recipes, as well as romantic stories told from the point of view of a mexican kitchen. In no time, we are all sitting around the table with hot Oaxaqueño chocolate and plates of tortillas bathed in coloradito enchilada sauce covered in queso fresco and parsley, with a piece of grilled steak. What a breakfast! After I finished off my plate, I could barely move. Curiously, as soon as a cheesecake-like dessert came out, I had an appatite again! In the end everyone was very content and impressed by the breakfast. I would like to say that even though I watched the whole preparation, and even spent alot of time helping out, I am always socked at how good the food actually tastes. This coloradito sauce was so delicious and the steak was smoky and rich... "¡Que rico!"

Tomatillo Salsa

Mexico
2/11/2010

"Hey, whats up dude!?" was how an enthusiastic Arturo greeted me this afternoon after I had been helping clean the kitchen at Casa Hogar. "¿¡Que onda wey!?" was my equally enthusiatic response, which has about the same meaning as his greeting here in México. Arturo is the second youngest (one month yonger then me) of the four men that regularly spend their time helping out at the child care home and is more commonly called "Chino", the spanish word for "curly", a nickname that comes from his hair. Chino was in a good mood because in his university english class today they were reviewing greetings in english, his teacher used "Hello, how are you?" and asked the class if they knew any others. Raising his hand, Chino said,
"Hey, whats up dude?!", his teacher gave a big smile
"Where did you learn that?"
"I have a friend who taught me."
"You know that is a very American greeting, not too many other countries use it."
It turned out his teacher was impressed and Chino was very excited to since I had taught him my most common greeting a week earlier. After talking about other things he went over in his class, and how much homework he had we lined up all the kids to wash their hands, and then went about the usual chaotic routine of and attempt at an orderly lunch.

Febuary 7th was our last day living in the center of Oaxaca. Our friend Arianne helped us find a mexican family to move in with. Manuel and Margarita, are two mexican parents of three kids, two older then us, and one younger. We moved into their comfortable house in Colonia Reforma, a neighborhood in the norther part of Oaxaca. Neither of them speak english, and so our last week has definitely been fun having conversation in good (and not so good) spanish. They have been hosting foreign exchange students for many years, and are quite comfortable to be with. They help us with our pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. One afternoon, after coming back from Ariannes, we walked into the house to the smell of roasting tomatillos and sound of mexican television. Heading into the kitchen, Margarita give a us a warm "¡Buenos Tardes!" and in her right hand is a small frying pan with 6 green tomatillos, and some white and purple ones too. She then picked the stems off of some Chilies Pasillas, a type of chile only grown here in Oaxaca valley, and started telling us about her recipe for "Salsa de Mil Tomates" (thousand tomatoes). First, you need tomatillos, white or purple tomatoes, then you roast or "asado" then on a frying pan, until hot, with burned spots on the skin. You need special chilies for this recipe, so you may need to take a quick trip down here to pick some up from the market. Into the blender goes 3 big Chilies Pasillas, 1 big bay leaf "laurel" in spanish, 4 cloves of garlic, 1/4 cup of water, and a big pìnch of salt. Blend these ingredients first, and then add the roasted tomatillos one at a time, and blend each until smooth. Once all the tomatillos are in, blend for a quick second, not too much, you still want a nice texture.
Once the salsa was done, Margarita used a spoon and dropped some onto her palm, a method of tasting soups and salsas very common in México, and when it touched her tounge, she immediately replied, "Ow! Muy picanté!" Her son, the 27 year old boxer in training reaches his left hand around her, and casting aside the spoon tasting ettiquitte, her dips his index finger one kuckle deep into the still warm salsa, licks it off, and right behind his mother's back, rolls his eyes and shakes his head "No es picanté." (it's not spicy), she replies, "¡Si! Es muy Picanté!",a smile and a shake of his head varifies the difference in abuse their taste buds are used to. "Él come mucho picanté", "¡Es pica!" she says. After a short discussion, Margarita hushes us into seats at the dinner table, and gives us each a small homemade taquito to eat with the fresh salsa. Crisp and still warm, the small rolled up chicken tacos smothered in "Salsa de Mil Tomates" was a nice treat after a humurous cooking lesson.

Cocina Méxicana

Mexico
2/1/2010

Ok, I hope to capture this story well, and as funny as it was for me. As I said in the last blog, we "thought" we were enrolled in the Mexican cooking (Cocina Méxicana) class. The reason I said this was because when we first visited the Casa de Cultural de Oaxaca, we met with the woman who coordinates all the classes and enrollment, and during the course of our conversation we understood two things, one: we cannot sign up for the class or pay, and two: she wants us to come in on Sunday to see the class. The rest of the conversation was not quite understood, and we did not have the impression that we got into the class, but that we could come in on Sunday and try it out.
Arriving to the Casa de Cultural, we hurried up to the top floor and into the kitchen (did I mention this building is beautiful? As you enter there is a large courtyard with big fountain, and the building has two floors, and the second floor also opens up to the courtyard with beautiful terraces. There are colorful flags, and painting, and there are music students everywhere playing an arrangements of instruments, from guitar to flute, and even some Mexican-Spanish-I-don't-know-the-name-but-looks-like-a-cello-lute-hybrids.) In the kitchen we arrive early and make some small talk with another student, a oaxaqueño high schooler, and wait for the rest of the class. After a little while, a few more students enter, including one girl we met at Casa Hogar, Ana, a 19 year old Swiss girl, who is not fluent in English, but quite competent in Spanish. After greeting her, the maestra (teacher) comes in and starts unlocking all the cupboards, and taking out cutting boards, knives, and other assorted kitchen items. We approached her, and after the usual courteous greetings (Hola, Buenos dias, ¿Como Estás?), we explain to her that we are not enrolled, and that we are very interested in taking the class if that was possible, if there was any space. She was very nice and said, "we are very sorry, but since the deadline has passed for sign-up, you cannot sign up, or pay for the class." We said" "But can we still take the class?" ,and she said, " Si, si, claro que si!"(yes,yes, of course!),and we responded "But we don´t need to pay?", "No, because the sign up has already passed". But something was in the air, we knew there was something we were missing. "Solo triga una sartén." We were like "what?", and our friend, Ana, seeing that we were having trouble understanding something, came over and asked the Maestra to repeat what she had said. "una sartén"... Ana turns to us and says, you need to donate a frying pan next time. As soon as she said "frying pan" I almost fell backwards, I was laughing so hard. I couldn´t believe it for a second, and then it all made sense. There was so much paperwork and bureaucracy in their system, that we couldn´t pay or sign up, but since this is Mexico, all we need to do is donate a frying pan next week, and we can take the class. Of course! A frying pan! Whats so weird about that?!
After about 5 minutes where I couldn´t stop smiling, during which all the students got out the food, and started preparing it, I started cutting up tomatoes for a sauce, to a dish which I had no clue what we were making. On the table and in the pottery on the stove was an assortment of tomatoes, chilies, onion, garlic, corned beef, potatoes, eggs, coliflour, lettuce, avocados, and fresh cheese. After about an hour of delicious smells, and many different preparations I have never seen, we finally had our final dishes. Our first dish was "Croquetes de Coliflor" which is deep fried cauliflower that has been stuffed with fresh cheese, and covered in a thick egg batter, and fried until brown and crunchy. It is then topped with a slightly spicy tomato sauce, made from scratch, of course. Our second dish was called "Tinga" A beef stew-like dish of shredded beef, tomatoes, onion, chilies, and potatoes, is poured over lettuce, and topped with avocado cubes, and eaten with tortillas or rice, al gusto ( as you like).
Our cooking class was great, and it was an awesome opportunity to speak Spanish with Mexicans who really want to get to meet you. I made many new friends, and can´t wait to go back next week, with our frying pan donation.
Today at Casa Hogar, we had a great time. After the first hour with the kids, I joined some of the mothers in the kitchen, and helped make 100+ Tomales de Pollo Mole. At first I just shredded the chicken with my fingers, but once I finished, I started making the tomales as well. In case you don´t know, a tomale is a corn husk shell with a corn flour mixed with a meat and spices. Our tomales were made with chicken, and mole (Moe-lay) sauce. Mole is an interesting sauce made out of chocolate (giving it it´s extremely dark color), 8 types of chilies, bananas, peanuts, apple, bread, and more. It was a very complex flavor, and is extremely rich. To make the corn part, you mix corn flour(masa) with lard, water, and chicken broth. After mixing it up, you should have a pretty liquidy mixture. Once all the ingredients are ready, take one spoonful of tomale mix, scoop it into the corn husk, spread it around, ad a big scoop of mole, and sprinkle some chicken in. Then, roll up the corn husk carefully, and fold the bottom over, so none leak out. Once you have made all of them, put them in a big pan, with a steaming tray, and steam the tomales at high heat for an hour. If you are at Casa Hogar, dish them out to the kiddos, and then sit down for a fun meal with the family on the porch listening to the rainstorm, comparing words for "thunder" and "lightning", and gossiping about other things.

Casa Hogar de Los Niños de La Luna

Mexico
1/29/2010

"Said (Sai-eed), Said! Lavarse los manos!" I find myself saying on a regular basis, at Casa Hogar, the child care center Laina and I have been volunteering at for the last two weeks. The little house which is home to about 23 kids under 6, is a colorful charismatic Mexican home, and a great place for these under privileged children. We really feel like we are part of their family when we are there, after all the niños have been served their lunch, and we´ve cleaned up, Laina and I sit down with the rest of the family and share a delicious Mexican meal, over the loud and often really funny rancor of the family's jokes, stories and comments. I understand enough Spanish to understand and contribute much of my own to the humor, and when we are done for the day, I always leave with a smile. If you are interested in this center this is the link, http://hijosdelaluna.org/
During the first few days, we felt overwhelmed with chaos, but rather quickly we got into a routine that is quite nice, and despite the ongoing chaos of 23 kids under 6, we are very comfortable and have managed to have some control over the situation, and are now able to organize games! On a regular basis, we will head over to Casa Hogar after our Spanish classes, and when we first get there, all the little kids will run up to us and hug us, especially the ones that we have been assigned to. Said and Angel are my two niños that i watch out for the most. they always run up and give me high five, and a tight hug around the knees. Often I will make a basketball hoop, a table on its side(as a backboard) with three chairs facing away from each other (if you can follow that) up against the table, with their backrests making a square. The kids love it, and will play for however long it takes until someone sits in the chair, and refuses to move. Then they will all go sit in the chairs, and climb over each other, and quickly forget about the balls. After about 2 hours of play/ lessons, Laina and I will move into the kitchen and help on of the 4 sons cut vegetables/peel potatoes/ fry meat/ or some other kitchen task. Then one of us will line up the kids in front of the sink and they will "Lavan los manos!" (Wash their hands!). "Un brazo de distancia!" (on arm´s length apart!) we will shout as all the kids push each other and try to cut in line. After sometimes a chaotic hand-washing session, they will all sit down and then we will come out and serve them their meal. Meals typically have three parts. They start with a soup, or beans, and then move onto a meat/rice/vegetable dish, and maybe a fried banana for dessert. After the meal, they all line up for aguas, not water, but the Mexican word for juice, that has been made with water (ex. Aguas de Limón (limeade) Augas de Papaya (papaya juice mixed with water) and Aguas de Avena (Oat juice mixed with water...I know I´ve never seen it before either)). Once the whole meal is eaten, the atmosphere definitely calms down a few notches, and some kids fall asleep, and others just sit down and relax. That's when we get to eat. After the very humorous meal, we will help clean up and then take off for the day (it is now after 5 o'clock), and catch our bus home, and often take a quick siesta.
The night of the last time I wrote, we headed to out to enjoy a night in the town, we had a great time, found a fun salsa bar, danced salsa, cumbia and merenge until too late, and then headed back home, for a fun filled weekend. We met another traveler, Arianne, from the Netherlands, she emailed us through couchsurfing, she was very interested in volunteering at the Casa Hogar. We had a great time, got some coffee around town, and made plans to take her along with us to Casa Hogar so she can see how it works. On Sunday, Joy and Joff invited us to go to a small town 40 kilometers away from Oaxaca, called Mitla for the day. In the morning, we caught the second class bus, 15 pesos, for the 45 minute ride out of the city and up to Mitla. Surrounding the High on both sides are "Fabricas de Mezcal", Mezcal factories, this region of Mexico is well known for its quality Mezcal. Mitla is a small town, that happens to have 5 sets of wonderfully preserved Zapotec ruins. The Zapotec's are a culture of Native Mexicans (Pre-columbus) that still exist today, but have a large history in this part of Mexico, especially here in Oaxaca. We toured 3 of the ruins, and got to see some beautiful architecture. The first 2 were Elite or king palaces, with beautiful patterns etched deep into the trim on the insides and outsides of all the buildings. The patterns are beautiful, and in the grooves you can sometimes see a type of red laminate, that has even smaller exquisite patterns as well. I can´t believe the camera broke! Well Joff took some great shots, so hopefully i can borrow them. We sat down for a delicious and cheap taco lunch, and then headed back to town. Laina and I have really stepped up our Spanish studying, so we spent most of the rest of our weekend studying.
This week we visited the Casa del Cutura de Oaxaca, and I think we might have gotten enrolled in the Mexican cooking class (emphasis on "i think"), We´ll see this Sunday. We have spent a lot of time looking at universities in the US for our teaching certificates, and also have been spending a lot of time at Spanish class, and meeting out teacher and her friend in the afternoon for "inter-cambio", (language exchange) for an hour or so.
In addition to our already very busy day, on Wednesday, we headed to Arianne´s house for a birthday party for one of her roommates. We showed up early, and got to meet everyone, they are mostly from the US, with one from Austria, and one from Netherlands. The house started to fill up with more and more people, until Mexicans were a majority in the house, and the language spoken switched from English to Spanish, more and more Mexican came until the house had around 60 people, and at least 80% Mexican! It was awesome. I got a lot of practice speaking Spanish, and also got to make many new friends. Some of the people who attended the party were highly talented performers, there were some fire dancers, a Arabic belly dancer, and finally two older men, who are famous here in Oaxaca, and they took out a guitar, and started singing and playing many very good, very fun songs. Two songs I remember in particular, "Guantanamera" and "Chan Chan" by Buena Vista Social Club. Everyone was dancing, singing and sipping their respective drinks (mine was Mezcal). We caught a ride home, very late, and got ready for an early morning at the university.
Tonight we are going to have dinner at Joy and Joff´s and then Arianne and her roommates will come into town and we will go out dancing again! Then for this "Fin del Semana" (weekend) we will take out studying into high gear with our new 4 hour schedule of various assignments and translations!

Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico

Mexico
1/22/2010

Oaxaca, pronounced "Wah-hak-ah" , is a small colonial city in the far south of Mexico. We are going to spend at least our next six weeks here. Oaxaca is very pretty and charismatic, there are many cobblestone streets and lots of colonial style buildings with whitewashed walls and beautiful arches. In the center called the Zocaló, there is a huge plaza de armas with a fountain in the middle and surrounded by coffee shops ice cream shops and many street food vendors. one whole side of the Zocaló is dedicated to balloon toys and more balloons, when you look down that side, all you see is every color of the rainbow overflowing the sidewalk and filling the air space in front of your eyes. there are many vendors selling tamales in the morning, vendors selling shave ice and corn in the midday, and vendors selling hot dogs, hamburgers and pizza in the evening. at almost any hour this center is bound to be full of people eating, socializing and selling things. I would also say that 90% of the people around the Zocaló are Mexican, and not tourists, which is nice, because there is a legitimately nice "Mexican" feel to the city especially during the last hour of sunlight, where there are long shadows, and the street start to get busy again.
So we left our place in Mexico City, and arrived in Oaxaca about 6 hours later. Arriving on Sunday was nice, since there was no traffic or much commotion. we caught a quick taxi ride to our apartment, 40 pesos, and met our friends, Joy an Joff, from England, for the first time. We had been communicating with them over the Internet for the last two weeks, we got in touch with them through the people at the program we are volunteering with. Joy and Joff are a fun couple, we quickly hit it off, unpack some of our things and have a cup of tea, exactly at 4, you know how those Brits are. Later we headed through town to the local supermarket. This was our first time in the city, and walking around at night is beautiful. Oaxaca is loaded with streetlights, the old fashioned looking ones, and all the beautiful painted colonial building really look great, plus the fact that the streets are packed with Oaxacans looking for friends and some street food. After the super market, Laina and I got hot dogs, "Pica?" I asked, "spicy?" and he added some diced jalapeños to mine! Awesome.
Joff and Joy really hooked us up with a sweet place. Walking four blocks away from the Zocaló, at a very nondescript brown door right next to the arab-mexican restaurant, you enter through into a courtyard with a tall deliciously fragrant orange tree, and then up a stair, through a gate, and to the left is our apartment, a big room with a bathroom with hot shower, a sink, and a really nice full size mattress. However, no kitchen, but the price is right, 500 pesos for a week, 40$ for two people! thast 20$ per person, less then 3$ per night! We can definitely do that.
Our first day in Oaxaca we head out with joff and Joy to go to Casa Hogar de Los Niños de La Luna, the child care center we will volunteer at during our time here. We grab a local bus to Sta. Rosa, about 10 mins, get off after the yellow bridge, and walk through some side streets to the Casa. Walking into the house you are surrounded by sounds of little kids yelling giggling laughing and screaming. There are about 24 kids here, ranging in age from 5 months to 5 years old. The other kids are in school. After meeting Doña Coco, the wonderful woman, whose house this is, and who took in all these kids, whose mom´s could not afford any child care, she put us in charge of our various tasks during our time here. I was immediately put in charge of four Niños, Ramses, Angel, Luis-angel, and Said (sai-eed). These little guys were my whole life for the next 5 hours, and there was no down time. We played games, ran around, and other things you do at preschool. Laina was put in charge of the Chiquiquitos (small, small ones), and she was definitely having her hands full. After a long day, we headed home and started our search for a Spanish school to start taking classes. We search far and wide, and finally picked the University Autonomio here in Oaxaca, but we will only go for a week to try it out. We spent the rest of the week going to Spanish lessons from 9-11 getting lunch and then to Casa Hogar for 12-4:30. Whoo, what a week, and I have so much more to write! I{ll wait for next time, I think we are going to go out dancing with our neighbor, Claudia, and get to see some Oaxacan nightlife!

Blackout, Piedra del Sol, Mescal, and a loss of an old friend.

Mexico
1/21/2010

We woke up to another beautiful day in Ciudad De México! Heading down to the local bakery, La Speiga, I picked up some fresh baked bread, some croissants, and also a danish. The air is crisp and the the sun is nice and warm. Today we are going to head out to the Museo de Anthrolopogia (Anthropology Museum). Keep in mind that we are in the heart of Aztec M;éxico and the potential for anthropology is amazing. Unfortunately as we were walking around the city, I tried to take a picture, and the camera opened but didn't load, and then would not close, and then broke!! oh man! Right at the beginning of our trip, our camera brakes!! We walked to the market, bought some bananas, Maracuja (passion fruit), and then headed to a local restaurant, where we bought the Comida Corrida (Plate of the Day) for 40 Pesos (3.50$US about). The food here is soo good! I got the Pollo tacos Dorado, but the meal comes with sopa de cameron(shrimp soup), then Tallerines de crema (noodles with cream and cheese), and then Pollo Tacos con Salsa verde(chicken tacos with tomatillo salsa), as well as a giant pitcher of juice, and then bananas in sweetened condensed milk for postre(dessert). That's a lot of food for 40 pesos. After our almuerzo(lunch), we headed to a local Spanish language school to see if that is where we want to attend for our two months here. The school seemed nice, however, it was not quite what we wanted.
After checking out the school, we split up with Bronson, and we headed to the museum. Like I said before, the subway system here in México city is so extremely easy to use, and so cheap that you can travel clear across town switching lines three times, and get to where you are going, many miles away, for 24 cents, and almost no confusion! Getting out of the subway, we headed to the museum. Approaching the museum is amazing, for about 5 minutes of walking before the museum there are many ruins that you can see, since the museum itself is many many acres large. there are big buildings, temples and other cool looking things. Once we got into the museum, we went to all the different exhibits, our favorite being the aztec exhibit, and then the lowland Yucatán exhibit. The Aztec exhibit, right in the center has a huge circular stone, which many deep engravings. the stone was originally thought be a calendar, but then was finally discovered to be a stone a huge significance! IT is huge, and very big. I believe that when it was used, it was laid down flat and warriors fought to the death on it, and were sacrificed to the sun god. The rest of the museum was very interesting including a small to scale representation of the old city of Tenochtitlan.
While we were at the museum, the wind picked up and the closed off the outside section of the park. When we were walking from one exhibit to another i realized that the wind really picked up and I was surprised at the sound of the gust, it sounded really strong. Walking back to the house, there were leaves and twigs and big branches that fell down everywhere. We jumped on the subway, and headed back to the house to see what our couch-surfing friends were up to. Getting to the house, we noticed that the whole block was dark, however loaded with people, and that traffic was at a standstill! Then i noticed the traffic lights were not working, and that everyone was beeping like crazy. We walked through the hamburger place, and up the stairs to the apartment. we were greeted by the two lovely cats, and then noticed that the power was out in out place! it didn't last long at this point, but we realized that this side of town has had no power for most of the day. After watching the news, we heard that the winds were very powerful and 80 trees got knocked down in the city, and 17 people got hurt. We headed out and our friends want to take us to the local Mescaleria! We head a few blocks behind the apartment, is an extremely beautiful area called Parqué México, lots of trees, sort of neo-bohemian, with lots of kids our age, and beautiful old buildings. Once we got to the mescaleria, we got some Victoria Cervesa, and we each picked out a different Mescal to try. Once, I had my first sip, I realized that Mescal is not what i expected it to be(i expected it to taste like tequila). Mescal is distinctly different, it has a smokey flavor and is quite stout. I definitely added it to my list of new things that i like, and tasted everyone else´s. At our mescaleria, there were over 30 types of mescal you can try including ones that taste like goat and ones that taste like chicken. However as you may or may not expect we tried to order the goat flavor, but they were out, and we got the chicken flavored mescal. Another big discovery I made was that Tequila is a type of mescal, like Merlot is a type of wine. Tequila:Mescal as Merlot:Wine. Get it?
After another round of Victoria, and a few more tastings we headed back to the apartment. Man it is not that warm here! at night it drops into the 40s! We need to go somewhere warmer! Our last day in México City, we spent packing visiting local cafés and buying some groceries for our bus ride to our next destination, Oaxaca! In the morning, we say a sad goodbye to our new friends, who we will definitely see on our return trip before our flight home, catch the subway to the bus station, and get on out bus out of town!
Hasta Luego, Ciudad de México!! A new favorite city!

Tenochtitlan

Mexico
1/15/2010

Tenochtitlan, the old name for the city now know as Ciudad de Mexico. We woke up late this morning, spent some time with Bronson and then headed out into the city. The first thing i noticed was the extremely comfortable climate. It was about 74 in the sun and very crisp mountain air. I guess the city is extremely polluted, but to be honest with you, I almost couldn't tell. Our place is on the street, Insurgentes Sur, we headed a few blocks north and went into the Mercado Medellin. Much like many other markets we have traveled into, there were stacks with beautiful flowers, buckets filled with durazno(peach) branches with fresh blossoms, and other flower arrangements magnificently arranged at about 4 feet tall. further back in the market there are tons of fruit including my favorite Maracuja(passion fruit), and Cherimoya. We picked up some bananas, and then headed back to the house because we were overdressed. Now, after taking off my long underwear and down jacket, I really got to feel the nice comfortable air.
The subway here is dirt cheap. I want to say that they are cleaner and more comfortable then the subway in new york, but since i have not been there in some time, i think it may be unfair, but you get the point, they are very clean. Also, the subway station here is very nice, it is all marble floors, and sparkling clean. They also have mini domino's pizza stands where you can buy a personal pizza for MEX$17 or US$1.34, not bad. I bought a ball of tamarind pulp covered in chili powder and then doused in hot sauce. It was delicious, but my if you know anything about at least 2, if not all three of those last ingredients, you should know, that it is an all out assault on your mouth. We took Linea 9 to Chanbaco, and then transferred to Linea 2 and took that to Zocalo. Zocalo is the main center of town where the old Templo de Quetzalcoatl used to be. now there is a fantastic cathedral and a massive plaza doubling in size of the biggest we saw in South America. There is also a humongous Mexican flag in the middle, and placed against a blue sky, is absolutely beautiful.
We walked around the plaza, and headed down the way the turibus (open air tour bus) goes through this part of the city. During our trip we saw many beautiful building, a very crooked cathedral(it is sinking into the ground) and then the famous Parque Alamaeda. Inside the park we bought a small coin purse for a our money, and then head back to the main plaza. about 1/2 way back we stopped at a small restaurant like so may in Latin America, that poured out onto the sidewalk, tables umbrellas, chairs and food. On the other side of the street(a walking street) there was two kids playing music, one on saxophone, and one on bass guitar. we ordered cafe con leche, and started studying common phrases out of our Spanish dictionary. Pretty soon we ran out of coffee, and then 4 more musician joined the two kids, so we ordered some food. We shared the "Comida Corrida" loosely translated, "daily special" which consisted of three courses, vegetable soup, tortilla with lettuce and cheese, and then 3 enchiladas verde (with a green tomatillo sauce). Absolutely delicious. it also came with a tall glass of juice, and a coffee. The musicians really started to get going at this point, and it was fun because they were kid of goofing off and see what each other could play. there was now a xylophone played by two people, a guitar and some other percussion added to the mix. They were all smiling and laughing while they played, and it was quite amusing to watch them. about 1 1/2 hours later, and MEX$70 spent (about US$6, for all that coffee and food!?!) we let go of our table, and tarted walking around again. Even though this area seems to be very touristy, we were barely hassled and only saw about 4 or 5 groups of obvious tourists. In the shade it is starting to get cool, around 60, but in the sun it is nice. We head back to the main plaza, take a sit on the ground in front of the cathedral, under the giant flag, like so many other Mexicans around us, and warm up and make a plan. After a little we jump on the subway and head back to the couch surfing house. Getting back onto their side of town, we decide to pick up a bottle of wine and maybe some food to make for dinner. We somehow get lost in the block behind Insurgentes Sur, and find a street named Amsterdam, which is so unbelievable beautiful we can't believe our eyes. Calle Amsterdam is an old horse race track, but you would never guess that from the looks of it now. Similar to Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, the street is loaded with tropical trees, standing 30 feet tall, and many vines and other tropical underbrush. Behind all this vegetation, you will see bright orange, start white and other colorful houses of Spanish architecture (flat roofs, stucco paint, and other very cool looking features). We eventually gave up looking for a grocery, and headed back to the house. Once back we got proper instructions, headed out got food wine, and even a kilo of delicious mandarins from a street vendor for US$1.
Back at the place we make up a delicious dinner of salad, macaroni and cheese, wine, bread, and good company. After all the food and drink is gone, all of our old couch surfing stories start to come out, from both parties. the clock ticks by the hours, and eventually Ahmed brings out his bottle of Cachaca (do you remember from the old Brasil posts?) and a glass of quartered key limes. The stories continue over the sugary rum-like spirit, while the general atmosphere starts to peter down to sleepiness(sueno). Another great day in the Ciudad De MExico! Tomorrow we hope to check out Spanish school and see more of the city!

Viva Mexico!

Mexico
1/13/2010

Wow, so we are on the road again! We just got into Mexico City (DF) This morning, and we right back in the thick of culture shock! Before I get too far, I'll let you know what we've done since our last post in... St. Croix (that was a while ago).
After we left St. Croix, we headed back to Idaho after 9 months on the road. We got to travel around the mountains, do some fly-fishing, and a few road trips, one in the Pacific Northwest, and a Christmas trip to California. We also traveled to Boston, and saw my family in Connecticut. In Idaho we worked at the costume shop as temporary seasonal during Halloween, and also had lots of success substitute teaching in Boise. After a few months of winter we decided to continue our Spanish language learning, as well as do some volunteer work, and head down to Mexico.

After waking up at the ungodly hour of 4:30 and taking a rather enjoyable flight directly south to the tropical latitude of 19 degrees, we passed through customs, and finally got our first whiffs and heard our first sounds of Mexico City(DF)! I would have to say my first observation was that DF smells very similar to my university chemistry lab. Walking down the mile-long airport, we jump onto the metro(subway) in the direction of our couch-surfing hosts, Ahmed and Bronson. The metro costs 3 pesos (24 cents) and it takes us clear across the city. We get out of the subway in the Zona Condesa, a nice young, hip and friendly part of the city. Looking down the street you'll see lots of US cars, taxis, street vendors selling chicharones, Cheetos and other assorted candies. There are lots of people on the streets and in general everything is clean, and in good condition. (sidewalks are no broken, same with railings and street signs) The traffic is pretty loud, and there seems to be some type of very organized chaos.
We have some time to spend before our hosts get off work so we head into what looks like a "Dennys" called Vips. For US$10 we got two meals and a cup of coffee, they have filtered water here so we go ahead and get some glasses. Laina got black beans and rice, and I got some weird rolls with re-fried beans and melted cheese, they were delicious. We spent some time here, during which we both got major stomach aches, why? we don't know.
Getting to Ahmed and Bronson's put a smile on my face. Walking a few blocks away from the restaurant we pass a dress store, which Laina was drawn to like a magnet, and then we see a small restaurant which we need to go into, walk to the back and go upstairs to get to their place. Both Ahmed and Bronson are very friendly and welcome us into their home. We get to meet some friends, make a pasta dinner and settle in to watch some Mexican news. What a long day!

St. Croix

U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Croix
5/30/2009

Well, we made it out of South America, and after 5 months of fun, I definitely have a good impression on the continent. Now we are in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, where we will make this our home for at least a year. Getting here, we moved in with my mom's friend, Jeff, a cool guy who decided to move here 20 years ago. St. Croix is somewhere in between South America and the US. They drive on the left side of the road, and there are lots of tropical plants everywhere. It seems to be a pretty low-lying island, with some tall hills, but nothing like the Andes or Hawaii. As it turns out, St. Croix is not volcanic! It was pushed up from the bottom by the force of plate tectonics. That alone gives this island a different feel then anywhere else I have been. We head to the dive shop where we will spend of our time, since we now work there. Meeting all the employees, we realize that we fit right in, since everyone are travellers! There's Ross from New Zealand, Stina from Denmark, Donald from Iowa, Molly from Alabama, and so many more! Hanging out at jeffs house is a blast since he has 5 animals! He has two dogs, Jethro and Lobo, they are big black dogs, very puppy-like, An African grey parrot, Goose, who likes to start up conversations, often, and two cats, Calvin and Stimey. Since we arrived we've gone scuba diving 15 times, I got my Advanced Scuba Diver Certification, and we both just finished our Rescue Scuba Diver Certification. Over the next few weeks, I plan to do 35 more dives so I can start my Divemaster Certification, which will allow me to take customers scuba diving, and get paid for my boat time. Since we have been pretty much scuba diving every day since we got here, let me tell you a little about the diving here. St. Croix has three big attractions, The Wall, which is a huge reef wall that drops down to between 3000 and 13000 feet. The Wall has big pelagic (open ocean) creatures that visit, and lots of relief. There is also Fredriksted Pier, which is loaded with corals, sponges, octopus, rays and moray eels. And finally there is long reef, which is supposedly the longest continuous barrier reef in the caribbean. Between these three places, there are 80 or so moorings designated for scuba. Just today we were diving on the wall, and I saw a nurse shark, turtle, two barracudas, stingrays, tunicates, and many more cool things. So pretty much we are going to hang out here, get some diving experience, while getting certified, and try to make some money. I will probably be writing these blogs a lot less, maybe one a month, since we dont have internet very often. However, we are doing well, and under the water!!

La Candelaria, Bogota

Colombia
5/12/2009

Well I've gotta say, that I love the city of Bogota, it is most likely my favorite city we've come across on this trip! Our last stop in South America, Bogota, is a high mountain city, at 2600 meters(8500 feet) filled with color, cobblestone streets, and a very warm vibe. The air here is crisp and cool, and looking at the mountains surrounding the city they are covered in tall trees, and mist. The city has a young and hip feel, with many cafes, and old buildings that have been renovated for new restaurants. If you thought that Bogota would be hot and dry (from the movie "Mr. and Mrs. Smith) you are wrong. Everytime we go out, Bogota has a Portland, Oregon/ Seattle, Washington feel, a nice reminder of home, so far away. There are lots of museums, plazas and colorful, colonial buildings lining the streets.

Our first day in the city we strolled around "La Candelaria" the old-town part of Bogota with many cafes, flags and street food stands. We headed into the Gabriel Garcia Marquez exhibit,with many weird, almost scary paintings. Like I said earlier, since all the streets are cobblestone, and the buildings old colonial, the streets are very warm and friendly. We stopped into a restaurant that was just screaming our names. La Quinoa y Armaranto, an old fashioned style kitchen, and as we entered, there were two table in the entrance just overflowing with green lettuce, spinach, arugala, as well as spices like rosemary, basil, bay leaves and more. The restaurant had two floors and distinctly smelled like pesto and olive oil, a very nice combination. We were ushered to the warm upstairs and all ordered the pesto pasta with italian salad. Looking into the kitchen downstairs, all the cooks were women who looked Colombian/Italian, and definitely knew how to cook some delicious smelling food. The salad was great, arugala, lettuce, spinach and basil, with balsamic, the best salad of the trip, and followed by a delicious pesto covered spaghetti! Leaving the warm, delicous and homely smelling restaurant, we headed to the Museo del Oro, the Museum of Gold. This three floor museum was filled with gold from pre-colombian times(before 1492) and was just jaw dropping. There was so much gold, and some of the pieces were so intricately worked, I was very impressed with the skill of the Native Colombians and their gold working skills. It made me think of how much gold artifacts were destroyed within the first 20 years of spanish colonization. I've heard that the spanish often melted all the pieces into bars to be shipped home.

Leaving the gold, we walked around the markets and vendor stands, and headed home for dinner, before our big salsa dancing night, to celebrate my birthday. Back at Alegria's hostel, we gathered up two Argentines(it was cool to hear their accent, after all this time without it) and headed to a Cuban bar, a Club Havana type deal, for a fun night of good music, and fun dancing. The night life in Colombia ends significantly earlier then both in Argentina and Brasil. I think we were in the cab home by 3:30 or so, when in the latter, it would have been 5 or 6.

The next day we strolled around town, and went into an interesting art museum, where I saw my first Pablo Picasso original. While he has lots of very impressive pieces, the works at the museum were not that great. However, the museum had a great atrium courtyard, where we sat and smelled the fresh air. After the museum, we headed to a restaurant called Cistrola, where they only had two menu options, I got the Paella, and Laina got the chicken breast. With my meal, I got a glass of sangria, which the house refilled three times. It was so delicious! It reminded me of the days we used to make mulled wine, around christmas time, back in Hawaii. Really loving the restaurant, I found that Bogota has so much to offer, and great food to eat. I would highly recommend Bogota has an awesome starting point to anybody's trip. On our last day in town, our friend Benedicte, from PSF in Pisco, showed up and we spent the day together and went our for a great lunch, and later, for dinner.

It seems we have reached the end of the trip (I am writing this in the hostel, waiting for our taxi to the airport) and we have had such an eye-opening and fantastic time. Thank you everybody, for reading the blog, writing comments to keep us updated, and traveling with us.

I apologize for any grammatical/spelling errors I have done over the last 5 months. Just kidding!