Vienna

After an amazing week touring through England, we left for Vienna. We arrived at night, and by some stroke of luck managed to mumble the correct words in a very rusty German to the bus driver, and got a ride from the airport to the Westbahnhof, right by my grandmother, Oma’s, house. We spent the next few days touring the inner-stadt (city center), hanging out with Oma, and I had an interview for a position as an English teacher, at a small private English center. After a few days, and a few class observations, I got the job! Great!
Vienna is a beautiful city. The building are all very magnificent, old and rich with history. Even outside the center of the city you will find plenty of buildings that you can’t help but stare at in awe. The Schönbrunn, a castle further away from the center, is an absolutely fabulous area to spend an afternoon walking around. There are gigantic gardens, a huge hill overlooking the city, countless statues, and an epic statues scene of Neptune and the Tritons overlooking a fountain. The whole area is so ornate and well manicured, you can’t not think you are back in time, and walking around as if you were from the 17th century.
We are absolutely loving it here, and as things calm down, expect more blogs especially about some very important thing I need to catch up on!

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.