Mobile Testing 123

I am leaving for China in a little over a week and am testing the ability to post to my neglected little blog from my magic phone. For the few people that are stubbornly still following this blog my apologies for a content-free blog post. Here's a picture of my adorable niece whom I shall see in less than two weeks as a taster of what is to come, should this techno magic actually work.

Good to be Home

My last days in Mexico City were just right. Did some shopping at the big artisan market for family presents (and very weirdly ran into a couple of friends from London who will be getting married tomorrow in Acapulco!), hung out at a local cafe drinking coffee and reading, went out for a couple of delicious dinners (Califa - Best Tacos Ever). My B&B was in a great neighborhood, quiet but with lots of cafes and trendy shops and fabulous restaurants and taquerias. (The Red Tree House - highly recommended for anyone needing a place to stay in Mexico City). The flight home was fine, had my row to myself so it was quiet, even got to see a movie in English which was nice (Marley & Me, totally cried at the end. I'm such a sap).

When I finally got through immigration (nearly an hour, ugh) I emerged in Seattle to rain and cold, it was great to be home!! Next day woke up to sunshine and my brothers flowers are all blooming and the fruit trees are all in bloom and Mt. Rainier was out today. Best of all I've been spending lots of time playing with my niece Tiara; she's changed a lot while I've been gone! It's amazing how much growing a 2-year old can do in 2 months. We are having conversations now!

So, happy to be back! But missing Mexican food. It's the first time I've come home from a trip (especially one that long) and haven't been totally sick of the food. Also missing the friends that I made while down there and generally just readjusting to life in the US. It is very quiet here! I'd gotten used to the cacophony of birds, the church bells, the constant blaring of horns and traffic whizzing by, the loud music blaring and the people yelling everywhere. Mexico is a very loud country! It also feels strange not to be in motion, getting ready for the next big bus ride.

It was a good trip, I learned a lot and saw a lot and now know how much more I want to see the next time I get to travel down there! But for now I am hanging up my backpack and am going to settle down a bit. I am very lucky that I have been able to travel as much as I have in the past year. It's been wonderful and frustrating and exhausting and amazing and now I think I'm done for a while!

Thanks for reading (if indeed anyone has survived this long), and until next time... hasta luego!

peace.

One More Day

Greetings from Mexico City!

It is monday afternoon and I fly out on Wednesday so I only have one full day left in Mexico. I'm pretty psyched to get home, I miss my family and my little niece and am looking forward to unpacking the pack one last time and sleeping in my own bed. In the meantime I have some more traipsing and wandering and shopping to do! and a bit more catching up on the past week.

Last wednesday I caught an early bus up to a village in the Oaxacan Sierra Norte. It is called Llano Grande and was reported to be a beautiful mountain village in the midst of a cloud forest. I wanted to see what the mountain area was like up there so I booked a night and a guide for a hike through the forest. Llano Grande is one of 6 (maybe 7?) villages that have joined together in a coop type organization to try to preserve the natural surroundings and stand together to resist developers and try to share their culture and environment with tourists instead of giving way to resorts and other destructive options for income. It's a pretty cool arrangement. They've been very successful and the eco-cabins that they built (at least in Llano Grande) were beautiful. Very basic but modern and very tastefully put together. No heat or AC but a huge fireplace where they built a fire for us at night which was wonderful. I was there at the same time as a Portugese woman so we hung out a bit. I was on my hike alone though. It is required to have a guide when hiking, mostly because none of the trails are marked and there are no maps. It was a pretty 5 hour hike up into the mountains with gorgeous views from big rock outcroppings scattered amongst the forest. I'm not sure about the cloud forest, my guide didn't understand when I tried to explain in spanish, but it was a lot like hiking in California. We ate a tiny little family restaurant (basically their kitchen with some tables and you eat whatever they happen to be preparing... that night delicious chicken mole). If I come back I'd love to arrange a trip where you hike from village to village and stay in the cabins at night. More ideas for next time!

Next day I booked on up to Mexico City then up to San Miguel de Allende to spend the weekend with some friends of mine who live there. He was my photography teacher from the first National Geo. course I took a few years back and their family have been living down here for almost 3 years now. It was great seeing them, they had other friends visiting as well so Saturday night was a big fiesta with lots of other ex-pats from the area. Quite an amazing group of people all with really interesting stories and lives. Sunday we went to La Gruta - a local hot springs and just lounged about at the pool for the morning then had a lazy afternoon. Last night was a delicious italian dinner at a huge hacienda up in the hills. All in all a fabulous weekend and a nice respite from being a tourist and trying to speak spanish! This morning found me on another bus back to Mexico city where I'm staying in an awesome B&B, a perfect end to the trip. Right now I'm off for some coffee and street wandering and probably some tacos later!

Temezcal

Okay, where was I?

Oaxaca...buying pottery on Monday!

Tuesday I chose to chill out and wander around town until 4pm when I had arranged an appointment for a Temezcal. A Temezcal is a pre-columbian traditional steam bath or sweat lodge kind of thing that is used for healing or religious purposes or just for bathing. I had read about these and was hoping to have a traditional one out in one of the villages but that didn´t work out so I was referred to a local healer/shaman who does them out of his house in Oaxaca. I wasn´t quite sure what to expect and almost backed out from nervousness and having to wander into some random guys house alone, but in the end I decided to be brave and adventurous and go for it.

I rang the bell and a short sturdy man with a big beard and a towel around his waist ushered me in. He gave me some tea and we talked a little about the tradition and what to expect. He then had me take my shoes off so he could do the preliminary healing ritual. He had a bouquet of healing herbs, some smouldering copal (type of wood native to the area= and a small glass of mescal (a type of tequila). I closed my eyes while he chanted and swatted me with the herbs. My feet, legs, arms, hands, back, belly and head. Then he took sips of the mescal and blew it on me in the same places (this he did not warn me about, it scared the crap out of me then I had to stifle a giggle). Then he hovered the smoking copal around behind and in front of me while chanting. Then held my hands and chanted more.

Next stage is the steam bath. I stripped down, wrapped myself in a towel and crawled into what amounts to a man-made square stone cave. It was only about 4 feet high inside and probably 6 feet by 8 feet in size. In one corner was a pile of hot volcanic rock with two pots of water, one hot and one cold, each with more medicinal herbs soaking in them. We settled in and he let down the rug that served as the door and it was pitch black. He threw some of the water on the rocks and I was engulfed by steam flavored with rosemary and all sorts of other smells. It was wonderful and crazy hot. I laid down as much as I could in the cramped space and was able to breath better down by the ground. We pretty much sat there and sweated for a while. I started to get a bit dizzy so he had me put my head by the door and opened it a bit so I could get some air. After a little while longer, out of the blue, he threw cold water on me and started swatting me with the herbs again. After the first shock of the cold water it felt great. The swatting was a bit harsh but I´m just rolling with it at this point. Eventually we exit and he has me lay down on more rugs and covers me with a big rug and has me rest for a while. Once my body has recovered a bit I have more tea then he gives me a massage, but not the gentle spa type of massage, a pretty aggressive fast-forward kind of massage. Then the phone rang (!) and he left the room and let me rest again for a while. Then a cold shower and I´m done.

It was all a bit surreal. A very interesting experience all in all. I defintely felt more relaxed and centered for the rest of the night but I think because of the urban surroundings and the immediate switch back into normal tourist mode it wasn´t quite as profound or spiritual as I think it could have the potential to be. In hindsight I should have skipped the urban version and should have been more organized ahead of time and been able to arrange a longer stay in one of the villages and be able to spend more time talking to the local shaman to learn more about it and what they do.

This trip is turning into a research expedition for the next time I come down. Lots of things I´d hoped to do and hoped to be able to organize once I got here and I´ve only ended up with contacts and information for future trips. But it´s a start.

Okay, I know I have a few more days to catch up on but for now I´ll have to sign off and write more later!

Winding Down

Hello from Mexico City! This is just a one night stopover on my way up north to visit some friends in San Miguel de Allende. The past few days have been a mixture of much activity and lots of wandering around aimlessly. I only have a few minutes on this computer so I´ll give a quick rundown then give more details on a couple of things in another post, hopefully this weekend!

My last 2 days in San Cristobal were relaxing, mostly shopping and wandering. I did go see the Museum of Mayan Medicine which talks about indigenous methods of healing and medicinal plants. Very cool. Also saw a Jade Museum which was a bit of a yawn.

Then I had a 12 hour overnight bus trip to Oaxaca. Time for a side note on buses... Bus travel between cities is either second class or first class. Second class means clunky buses, maybe air conditioning and more importantly, many many stops along the way which means a very slow trip. First class usually means direct, airconditioned (sometimes way too much) and reasonably comfortable seats, like airline seats: comfortable but not much space for people over 6 feet tall. When booking the 12 hour marathon bus I noticed one that was a bit more expensive than the others. "That´s Luxury Class". There's more? Well, it turns out there is an Executive Class which means more room, headphones, a free drink and separate male/female bathrooms), and Luxury class which is all that but with much more room, and seats that recline almost all the way back. It was only $6 US more to upgrade and for a 12 hour overnight trip it was so so worth it!

So, I arrived in Oaxaca at 7am on Easter Sunday. I dropped off my pack at my hotel and wandered the very quiet streets for a while. Finally found a cafe that was open, right on the zocalo and had breakfast and coffee while watching the city wake up. I couldn't check into my hotel until later that afternoon so wandered around more, went to the market a bit then finally back to the hotel to crash for a while. I decided I wanted to take a trip up into the mountains where there was supposed to be a beautiful cloud forest and some wonderful small villages. Monday morning I planned to stop by the tour operator office, organize something then have the rest of the day to explore. Well, of course it took all morning to get something organized but by about 1pm I was free to explore.

Oaxaca is well-known for its artisans. There are many villages in the area that specialize in one type of craft or another and purportedly you can go out to the villages and talk to the artisans and see how they work. Sounds awesome. So I hopped a bus to San Bartolo de Coyote to see how the famous black potter of Oaxaca is made. Turns out it was just a bunch of shops and a makeshift market selling zillions of similar looking bits of pottery. Not much of the actual craft going on, just people trying to sell it to you. It was a bit disappointing but still an interesting experience. I did fine one kind of unique piece from a very interesting old woman who has been doing it her whole life. I think. She didn't really understand my spanish and I didn't understand her too well either.

Oops, running out of time....more later!

On The Road Again!

Hello! Currently writing from an internet cafe in San Cristóbal de Casas in Chiapas, Mexico!

Last saturday was my last day in Mérida. It was predicted to be 111 degrees so my friend/classmate Erica and I decided to head to the beach. We went up to Progreso, the "local" beach which is about an hour north of town. We splurged for some actual beach chairs which were rented out by a bar on the beach and proceeded to spend the next few hours luxuriating in the sun with margaritas and swimming in the ocean when it got too hot. It was an awesome day (except for the wicked sunburn). Went out for drinks that night and said goodbye to all my newfound friends!

Sunday was a 2-hour busride to Campeche. I called for a taxi at 10:30 am and the person asked when my bus was. I said "11:30". She said "It´s 11:30 now." Shit. Stupid daylight savings time. Then she started trying to explain something about my ticket and I just wanted her to send a taxi and I couldn´t understand what she was saying and I knew I could switch the ticket when I got there but she wouldn´t send it and I kept asking her to slow down and she kept talking fast and finally she gave in and sent the taxi. Not an auspicious start to the trip. But I got there and was able to get another bus (had to pay more money of course) and was finally on the road.

I was only in Campeche for one night, and it was a sunday night at the beginning of Holy Week which is basically two weeks of spring break where there is no school and everyone goes on holiday. In otherwords, the town was totally dead... a wonderful change from hectic Mérida. It´s a pretty colonial town with all the buildings painted bright pastel colors. Erica and Karen (my former housemate from when I first got to Mérida) nicknamed it "Candyland" which suited it perfectly!

Monday was a 5 hour bus ride to Palenque. Because of the holiday I had a hard time finding a place to stay and ended up in town at a hotel right on the main square (as opposed to the hotels out near the ruins). The guidebook did not have many nice things to say about the town of Palenque and I completely agree. Tiny, very noisy, lots of construction, most of the restaurants and shops were on the extreme end of touristy. boo.

BUT... the ruins of Palenque were absolutely awesome. Like Chitzén Itza but in the jungle, and you can climb up onto some of them so you can get a view of the ruins, the area and the valley bellow. Just when I thought it couldn´t get any better, there were waterfalls. Beautiful cascading waterfalls hidden in the jungle! I love waterfalls. I heart Palenque. Totally awesome day. Went to dinner that night at the place my guidebook said was "deservedly the most popular place in town". It was packed and I ended up sharing a table with an older guy from LA (late 50s), his Guatemalan girlfriend/new fiance (he proposed that day on top of one of the pyramids) and her brother. It was a big awkward at first but we managed! She is bi-lingual, LA guy doesn´t speak spanish and her brother doesn´t speak english. Conversation was a bit wierd but after they had a few tequilas and I had a couple of beers everything was fine! I practiced my spanish with the brother and he gave me some tips on San Cristóbal and then said if I come back to Chiapas email him if I need info or help. Yay!

Next day was a 6 hour busride to San Cristóbal. By the time I got to my hotel (and after climbing 80 steps up the hill to my room with my massive pack and camera bag) I was tanked. It had been a busy few days (few weeks actually) and I was ready to stop for a while, but there were things to be done. After a quick nap I headed into town to book my ticket for Oaxaca (12 hour busride - looking forward to that one) and figure out what kind of tourist mischief I could get up to while here. I decided on a boat ride down the Sumidero Canyon which by all accounts was supposed to be amazing. So once I booked that I was ready to relax so I grabbed a chair at the cafe in the middle of the zocalo (main square) and pulled out my book and finally stopped moving!

As I sat there I finally started feeling like I was actually on vacation. The first 6 weeks here were all about school and work and even though it wasn´t full time it was still everyday so I never seemed to just stop and chill out. Except maybe for that margarita day on the beach. There was some serious chilling out that day. But I digress. I have a tendency to always be thinking about the next thing I need to be doing, whether it´s studying or working or making sure I remember to send that email or whatever. I´d like to say I´m going to slow down and enjoy the ride but I´ve promised myself that many times and still I just keep moving. I will try again, however, now that I´m back on the road and not working. Still need to be studying though... hrmph. See what I mean?

ANYWAY, went on the canyon ride this morning. It was pretty cool (we saw spider monkeys! from a distance, but still, how cool is that!). It was kind of like a very miniature grand canyon without as many cool colors.

Now I´ve got 2 days here in San Crisóbal. I decided not to do another tourist run in the hopes of getting some down time. Lots of little cafes here that are perfect for whiling away the afternoon with a book. Lots of markets and artisan stuff as well. If anyone is interested in amber jewelry let me know, this is amber jewelry heaven.

okay! that´s the latest! kind of a long one today, lots to catch up on though! I´m off to find a cafe and do a little bit of nothing.

thanks for reading if you´ve made it this far!

Mini Adventure

Two posts in one week! Hoot!

I just had to share my little adventure yesterday. I went to Izamal for the day, a beautiful colonial city built on top of a former Mayan city. Much of the main part of town is painted in a soft egg-yolk yellow with white trim which is very pretty, especially in the afternoon light. There are small Mayan ruins dotted about the city and it's also known for its artisans. Many of the local crafts people have their workshops open to the public. You just show up and have a chat with them and see how they work. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect but when I went to the first one (a guy who makes jewelry from henequin spines and coyocal seeds) I spent well over an hour there talking with them and getting a full rundown of the whole process.

It was a bit out of the way so after a 15 minute or so walk (in 105 degree heat) I arrived dripping with sweat and probably bright red. Javier welcomed me and had his helper bring the big fan into the room and point it directly at me. Yay! We chatted for a little while with the usual "where are you from" "do you speak spanish" and he showed me some of the jewelry which was really cool and reasonably priced. He asked if I wanted to see how it was made ("of course!") so we went in the back where his father was talking to some other tourists. We went in the back and walked around the garden, he showed me a henequin plant (a version of agave used for fiber instead of tequila. it used to be a huge industry here until plastics arrived then it went bust) and a coyocol tree (basically little tiny coconuts!) then how they were breaking up the coyocol shells so they can be refined into pieces for the jewelry. Then he asked me what I do for a living and we got into a long conversation about movies (this happens alot. Mexicans always ask "where are you from" "how old are you?" "are you married" and "what do you do?". Usually in that order and long before they ask your name. This is when they meet anyone, not just tourists. That's just the order in which they want to know things! And when they find out what I do it usually turns into a long conversation about movies and what parts are real and what parts are digital)

By that time the other tourists had left so we went back into the workshop, he showed me the tools and pieces of jewelry in progress then went up to the front to look at the jewelry again. Then his dad came out with a big smile and asked if I was the Shrek person. Yup! Then asked if I speak Mayan. Umm.. no. sorry. "Do you want to hear a Mayan song?" "of course!" So he sang me a song in Mayan, then in spanish. It was awesome! Then he taught me some words in Mayan: "ma'alob" means "esta bien" in spanish which is basically "it's all good!" "I'm content!" That's the only one I remember, but it's a good one!!

After that the sun was starting to set and I wanted pictures in the afternoon light so I didn't get a chance to visit any other workshops but I'd go back in a new york minute. Too bad I didn't make it out there earlier in my trip so I would've had time to plan a weekend there, but I've already booked a bus tickets onward. At least I know about it now and can come back someday!

Wonder of the World

Last sunday I spent at Chitzen Itza, one of the "New Wonders of the World". And it is, indeed, pretty wonderful! I took an early bus out there (left Merida at 6:30am) and was in the site by 8:30am which was perfect. Way before most tour buses arrived so it was quiet and peaceful, perfect! The ruins are spectacular. It is sprawled over quite a large area with the big famous Castillo pyramid in the middle. I was able to wander around and enjoy them and contemplate these people who lived here more than 1500 years ago. I wish I could jump back in time and be a fly on the wall to see what it was really like.

Around 10:30 the tour buses start arriving from Cancun and Merida so it got really crowded and the hawkers were pretty intrusive so that wasn't as enjoyable but since I was there all day I could wander away from the main area for a while then I retreated to the restaurant for a mid-day break from the heat. Around 3 it started clearing out again and the sun started setting so the light was beautiful! It was in and out because it was kind of cloudy (and happily not as hot) but the effect was still beautiful. At sunset on the spring and autumn equinox the shadow of the main pyramid creates a serpent effect, connecting the serpent head at the bottom to the tail at the top. Very hard to explain, google it and you'll see what I mean, but I was there just a week after the equinox so the effect was still there. Cool!

One other very cool thing is that if you stand in a certain place on the plaza and clap your hands the echo off the Castillo comes back as an eagle cawing. Very bizarre but also very cool. It also meant that all day people were wandering through and randomly clapping their hands. Very entertaining.

I'm doing a little bit of volunteer work this week for Ninos y Crias, a local non-profit that do environmental education for children. They have presentations this week at a particular school and a puppet show on friday and I am their staff photographer for the week!

Other than that, I am planning for the next leg of my journey! I head south on Sunday to Campeche for a night then to Palenque, another huge mayan ruin, this time in the jungle!! Yay!! Then onward into Chiapas and eventually up to Oaxaca and then north back to San Miguel de Allende to visit some friends there.

I have mixed feelings about leaving Merida. I've made friends here and have gotten comfortable in a way, but it's been a struggle and I'm ready to move on as well! It's always sad to leave a place after settling in. Looking back I wished I'd spent more time doing spanish classes and not done the volunteer work since it ended up being way more hassle then helpful but, hindsight is always 20/20 and life is an adventure and always a learning experience!

Falling into a Routine

It's amazing how fast one falls into a day-to-day existence routine. Here I am 'vacationing' in Mexico and I find myself getting off work and thinking how I need to go the grocery store and do laundry then make sure I find an internet cafe soon so I can pay my bills back home. Then I need to study study study. It turns out my brain has developed a few holes where information goes in then falls out if I don't keep pushing it back in. I wished I'd done this new language thing 20 years ago! But I'm getting the hang of it. Sentences are coming easier but half the time I realize later that I said the sentence totally wrong. Well, at least I got my point across (hopefully!)

I'm doing volunteer work in a day care center. Not too romantic but it's fun to be with the kids. They find my accent hilarious. Whenever I speak (English or Spanish) they fall over in stitches. I makes it kind of hard to teach them anything but at least I am entertaining them. There's a possibility of doing other work with a local environmental non-profit later this week which would be cool but I still haven't heard back from them. They are on Mexico time like everyone else. It will happen when it happens if it happens.

Since I last wrote we've had a couple of other "field trips". One was to Dzibilchaltun (a Mayan ruin nearby with an above-ground cenote) then to Uxmal, a much bigger ruin which was amazing! We had a guide too then a lecture about the Mayan cosmology and how they were able to track seasons and sunrise and sunsets and built their pyramids and other buildings according to the movements of the sun and moon. Pretty amazing for 2000 years ago. I've also seen some local culture, a dance performance in the main square and the sunday market in the same square. Plus a couple of trips out to the local beach (Progresso) where they have an excellent bar where you get free snacks if you buy beers. Yay! Free snacks! There is a drink called a Chelada which is basically limeade in the bottom of a salt-rimmed glass and a beer that you pour into is. Delicioso! Perfect on a hot day of which there are MANY down here. Typically the air temperature is around the same as your body temperature which is painfully hot, at least for me! Shade is very important, if I cant find shade while I'm waiting for the bus I'm usually melting by the time one comes.

Overall it is all going well, better than it was going a couple of weeks ago! I'm starting to plan the end of the trip. I leave Merida in about 2 weeks and have 2 weeks left to explore other parts of Mexico, probably Oaxaca then back up to San Miguel de Allende (to stay with some friends) then back to Mexico City and home on April 22! I am looking forward to being home where I'm not always on the watch for cockroaches and needing 3 showers a day. Water pressure here is very bad as well so showers are a bit of an overstatment. It's all part of the experience though!

Okay - I'm off to the bus station to check out the schedule for Chitzen Itza, the big fat grandaddy of Mayan ruins. It's only about an hour and a half from here so it would be silly not to go at some point. The equinox was this weekend where the shadows of the pyramid turn into a serpent which sounded cool but apparently there were 10000 (yes, ten thousand) people there so I passed. I'll go on a weekday afternoon where it is a bit more quiet.

Until next time!

Still Here

Well my white blood cells are still all present and accounted for and I am feeling much better now!

Technically I finished up school last week but my volunteer work has gone through a few bumps so I'm continuing classes until it gets sorted out. Initially I was supposed to work with an organization doing work with the Mayan communities and villages but that turned out to be way disorganized and a bit dodgy so at the last minute we decided to switch to a bio reserve (Kiuic) in the southern part of the Yucatan but they haven't been able to get a hold of the guy so now it looks like I might be working with children here in Merida. It won't get me out into the Mayan community like I'd originally hoped but it seems like that wasn't meant to be. I also think I had a pretty romanticised (I'm sure I spelled that wrong) view of the Maya villages and now that I'm here and see a bit more about what their life is like I doubt I'd get the type of cultural exposure that I was expecting. I am learning a lot about the culture through the classes and being here so I'll take it all in in smaller steps instead of jumping in head first and possibly hitting my head on a rock (with my luck this trip I'm sure that's exactly what would happen).

Since I last wrote I've basically been going to classes and hanging out with some of the other students. There are only about 6 or 7 of us, mostly American. There is one Japanese guy who doesn't speak any english so it forces us all to speak spanish around him which is good for us to practice. My spanish isn't quite as good as I'd hoped it would be by now, mainly because when I'm with the American students we speak english. Duh, we know better but we're at the cusp where we can kind of converse in Spanish but not quite fast enough when you want to get a thought out.

We did take a trip to the Cenotes last week. AWESOME. They are underground caverns filled with water where you can swim. Mayan legend is that they were/are entrances to the underworld. You climb down either on steps or a ladder and inside there are all sorts of stalagtites hanging from the ceiling and tree roots growing down and perfectly clear water. Very very cool. I have some pictures but it's pretty dark down there and impossible to capture the whole environment and experience. I will post lots of pics to flickr when I get back to my beloved little laptop.

I also learned how the Mayans counted. It might sound boring but the math geek in me was fascinated. We use 10 digits and count by 10s. They count by 20s but only use 3 symbols. If I could draw here I would but if you're intrigued then you should google it. Very cool.

I've moved from my cozy homestay into the "student residence" which I thought would be a hostel kind of place but turns out it's my own apartment. By Mexican standards it's pretty nice but it's not as nice as my homestay. But it is my own little 2-bedroom. It's a bit more lonely since I don't have roomates or a house mom to feed me but it is nice to be a bit more independent. When I got there I noticed a can of bug spray in the bathroom. Hmmm... that's not a good sign so I proactively sprayed it around the bathroom in kitchen just in case. Next morning I had a large dead cockroach in the bathroom. GGEEAAGH yuck yuck yuck ew blech gross. Luckily it was dead thanks to my insecticide forethought. I got rid of it and haven't seen any since, but I will keep spraying diligently!!

Okay, classes are about to start so I will sign off.

Adios!!

In Recovery, Hopefully.

Well, my chest cold blossomed into full-blown flu. I even developed a fever which is pretty rare for me. I figured it was an infection somewhere so my house-mom called the school to find a doctor for me. He came by the house and listened to my lungs and prodded my throat and asked a zillion questions and said I had an infection in the throat, not the chest. Either way he gave me a script for some antibiotics, some cough medicine and an anti-inflammatory fever medication and said I should be feeling better in 24 hours. This was last Thursday which was spent entirely under the covers in my room. By Friday I was indeed feeling better but still completely wiped out. Today is Sunday and I almost feel normal but still tired. I got online today to check out if the fever medication has any weird side-effects and oh dear. I find out that this medication is banned in the USA. Yep. It is an illegal "potentially lethal" drug still commonly used by the latin american community. WTF?!?? After some mad googling it turns out that this medication (Neo Melubrina, or metamizol, for you doctor types out there) can, in "rare cases", cause agranulocytosis which seems to mean your bone marrow is damaged which causes a severe decrease in white blood cells. Fabulous. Potentially Fatal were the big fat words that jumped out of the page at me. I'm assuming that if I haven't reacted yet I'm probably okay but I'm still freaking out a bit. As for trusting a Mexican doctor, not so much anymore. I'm sure the doctor was reputable since he was referred from the school, but if I need a doc again and get a prescription for something I'm not familiar with I will definitely google first, then partake. Lesson learned, hopefully not the hard way.

If anyone medically inclined out there knows anything about this med I'd love to hear from you, whether it's reassurance or get your stupid overly-trusting butt back to the states now to get checked out.

Needless to say I haven't done much in the past few days so not much else to report. I did manage to get out yesterday and meet up with a friend of a friend who lives here in town which was nice but I didn't make it very long before wanting to crawl back into bed.

Back to the business of learning Spanish tomorrow.

I will continue to keep you all posted on the status of my white blood cells!

Back to School

Well, the honeymoon is over. I'm settling in now and things are improving but since my last post I have had a string of bad luck that made me think that someone was telling me to bag this whole thing and go home.

Soon after my last post I buggered up my iPhone and it is now disabled until I connect it to my laptop which, of course, is sitting in my room in Seattle. I brought the iPhone specifically so I wouldn't have to lug my laptop around and now that I'm here... I have neither. Deep breath. People have been traveling for centuries without an iPhone or a laptop so I can survive. But it means no music and very limited access to email. Hrmph.

Next, something went haywire with my little photo viewer hard drive which, for a couple of hours, translated to not having a way to store my photos. I jigged it so I retrieved half the space so it works but I still have to be careful not to take more than 20Gb of photos. Hopefully I can manage this.

Then the TV in my room broke. Seems small but after all the other electronic failings I was wondering if I was in some sort of magnetic warping mystery spot. I switched rooms hoping things would improve.

Then (after I got to Merida) my guidebook disappeared. Like a puff of smoke. I was going batty turning over everything in my room for a couple of hours then gave up hoping I'd wake up and the elves would have magically put it back on my bed. My housemate was the elf. I had left it in her room and it had ended up under some stuff so I didn't see it when I searched *her* room in my madness. Okay, one mystery solved.

Many smaller things had gathered and now I also have a cough which feels like it is turning into bronchitis and in general I'm still feeling kinda sickly and not used to this new place and all this strange food.

BUT things are feeling better tonight, despite the sickliness. My spanish is already much improved just by being forced to use it so I don't feel as uncomfortable trying to communicate with people.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Now that I've vented my woes, here is the tale of the last few days:

Second day in Mexico City I was too tired to go out to Teotihuacan so I decided to explore the city instead. I went to the local artisan market then down to the "zocalo" which is the main square in the center of town. Big cathedral, beautiful government buildings, lots of people. Quite cool! I was about ready to take the Metro back to the hotel when it started to rain, so EVERYONE headed to the Metro. Holy crap. It was like being in Oxford Circus during rush hour when there is a bus strike. I'm so glad I lived in London because had I not been used to the tube crowds I'd be lying in a heap in the corner of the Metro station still trying to figure out what happened. Being the tube pro that I am (ha!) I shoved my way on with the best of them and got where I needed to go. Phew! One adventure down.

Sunday I flew to Merida and was met by some people from the school who took me to my host family house. For the first two weeks here I stay with a host family. They feed me and house me and generally be my parents for a while. I've only met the husband once, but my "host mom" (Susan, or Suzie) is wonderful. They are retired and their kids are all gone so she seems to have a great time mothering us students. My housemate is from Texas and she just graduated and has been in Merida for a couple of months. She's been showing me the ropes and showing me around a bit. All the streets here are numbered, each "Colonia", or neighborhood has a similar set of number so if you say "51st Street" it could be anywhere in the city. All the north/south numbers are odd, east/west are even. It's confusing but I'm told it gets easier once you figure it out. But I digress.

Yesterday we had no classes so all the students (about 8 in all) went on an "excursion" out to Calcetun which is a flamingo reserve! Yay! Lots and lots and lots of very pink flamingos. We took a bus out there then piled onto boats to ride another hour or so out to the reserve then stopped at a spring on the way back to go swimming. Awesome day and it was really cool to meet the other students in that kind of environment.

Today was the first day of school! We got up and our house mom had made me a peanut butter sandwich for lunch which I tucked into my backpack and we headed out the door to catch the bus. All I needed was a big yellow bus for it to be high school again. Once we got there it wasn't exactly high school. There was only one other person in my class (another new person) and it turned out her spanish ability was quite a bit less than mine so I was worried I'd spend the two weeks waiting for the teacher to explain stuff to her that I already knew, but then they moved her to the lower class and now I have a one-on-one class! Great but scary. I need to study!!

Speaking of which, I've blathered on enough for one post. Thank you for reading if you got this far! Next time hopefully I will only have good luck to report on!

hasta luego!
-t

South of the Border

First night in Mexico City! It feels good to be traveling again. Landing in a (somewhat) new city, struggling with language and exploring my new environs! It´s always a bit upending; transitioning to pre-trip craziness "I know I´m forgetting something" to plane-ride "Crap, I forgot that" to arrival and the quiet realization that the planning is finished, time to start enjoying!

The airport shuttle picked me up at 4am this morning (eeg) and 11 hours later I was in my hotel room looking out over the city! Traffic here is nuts. LA and London seem like a cakewalk compared to this! Luckily my taxi driver flew through it all with nary a honk or scratch. The hotel is great for the price, one of those fancy-on-the-surface-but-a-bit-worn-around-the-edges places. I took a quickie nap when I got in then followed the Rough Guide advice which led me to a local taqueria which was exactly what I needed. Fast, cheap, close and yummy! Now with some tacos and a beer in my belly I am ready to catch up on some much needed sleep!

Tomorrow is the big Anthropological Museum then Saturday I will head up to the ruins of Teotihuacán. Sunday I fly down to Mérida and start school on Monday!

Welcome to my new adventure!

London to Seattle

The last week has been a bit of a whirlwind. Our last few days in Scotland were spent in Glen Coe (where we finally caved and got a B&B for a couple of days - glorious!) then a night of camping in Loch Lomond (it's all about balance). Lots more beautiful valleys and mountains and lochs but many more tourists than we'd been seeing before so I still prefer the remoteness of the north highlands.

We then stayed at a cool little hostel on the southern end of the Yorkshire Dales and spent part of the next day in York, mostly at the York Minster, the largest gothic cathedral in Northern Europe. It was pretty amazing and just oozing with history. Sadly we didn't have much time to explore the city as we had to hit the road to get down to Oxford, home of the most expensive hostel on the planet. Oh, there's a university there as well. I actually really loved exploring Oxford. It's a really beautiful town, and all the colleges are designed inwards so it leaves the onlooker constantly curious as to what life is like inside those walls. I did tour a couple of the colleges... Magdalen, Pembroke (alma matres of Eugenie and Nici respectively) and of course Christ Church with the big famous cathedral and formal dining hall. All in all a really cool day, and we had eaten at the Eagle and Child for dinner the night before, the pub where C.S. Lewis and Tokien would meet to banter ideas about back in the 40s and 50s.

The next day was our last day to get lost trying to find highways and once again we fufilled that expectation in spades, but finally made it to Heathrow and dropped off the little Ford Escort. Some quick calculations came back with a total of about 2400 miles driven in 2 weeks. Needless to say I was very happy to be trading in the keys for a bus ride!

I got lucky on Thursday and was able to spend all afternoon leisurely having lunch and coffee (the traditional burrito and flat white!) with Nici due to a power outage at work. Then, despite said power outage that should've sent everyone home, I had a wonderful gaggle of friends show up for my "hello again goodbye" drinks dinner drinks night. It was a really really fun night and it was quite hard saying goodbye to everyone. Thanks to all those reading who were able to come out that night!

Up stupidly early the next morning to catch my flight back to the states. The first leg to LA was as pleasant as an 11-hour flight in coach class could be. My flight from LA to Seattle took off right as the sun was going down. I was on the left-hand side of the plane so I was treated to 2 hours of amazing sunset. The horizon was a beautiful blend of deep red, orange and yellow to dark blue that slowly got deeper and deeper over the flight and finally got dark as we were approaching Seattle. Perfect timing and a fitting end to a long journey back to Seattle!

It's wonderful being back. I spent the weekend playing in the sun with my adorable little 2-year old niece, eating plums and pears out of my brothers mini-orchard in the back yard and generally just enjoying the idea of not going anywhere anytime soon. On that note, this will probably be my last post for a while. I promise to pick it up again when I start traveling again, or if anything exciting happens in the meantime!

Until next time, peace and hugs!

Heading South

In Fort William right now at Fort William Backpackers - free internet! woohoo! We've been staying at hostels most of the time, usually in private rooms but occasionally we've had to stay in dorm rooms which has been universally a bad idea. Couples snogging, people snoring, squeaky beds, one chick was blowing her nose over and over. I think I'm too old and grumpy for that now so I've put my foot down on the dorms. I'd rather camp!

The highlands were stunning. We stayed in a wonderful remote hostel on the beach (Achmelvich Beach if anyone is googling) for a few days and one day drove all the way up to Durness at the very tippy top of Scotland. Very wild and remote... wonderful!! We then diverted over to Isle of Skye and shortened our stay there when we realized we miscounted and only had 6 days to get back to London, not 8 ("Isn't it Monday today? What? It's Wednesday?!?"). We'll wander around here for a couple of days then take two days to power south, stopping for some culture and history in York and Oxford.

We've been pretty much driving and gawking and stopping for lots and lots of photo ops. I'm still hobbling on my stoopid bad hip and my traveling partner has a bad knee so much to my dismay, no walks or hikes. I intend to come back when I am healthy and park up in the highlands for a week or two for a much more of a quiet walking holiday instead of speedy shooting holiday. We did stop at a whisky distillery though so now I know all about making whisky!

It looks like a beautiful day out so I'll be off to do more gawking!

Thanks for reading if you've kept up with me so far!

Wandering the Highlands!

I have 3 minutes left on my internet card so speed is of the essence! The scottish highlands are spectacular!! I've tried haggis (yeeeuck!!!) and had some scotch with the locals (yum!) have driven up down and all around and are now heading down towards Glen Coe. We're in Isle of Skye at the moment and looking forward to more awesome scenery and photo ops in the days ahead. "kay - out of time!

Lord's and Liverpool

Well I survived London getting my errands done and was able to spend some time watching the last of the Olympics and having some pints with a couple of Andrews. Saturday night found me with Andrew C. at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese for a pint and some proper british pub grub and Sunday I got all dressed up in a fluffy princess skirt and heels and met Andrew W. up at St. John's Wood for a day of cricket at Lord's. I'd never been to a cricket match before so we decided to do it in style in the Pavilion! It was a very fun day and Andrew was very patient explaining all the finer points of the game!

Monday I loaded up the backpack once again and headed to Heathrow to pick up the rental car. It's a peppy little Ford Focus Turbo Diesel... very fun to drive! I'm now in The Wirral where I'm spending a few days at the home of my good friends Craig and Kathy. Tuesday Kathy and I went to the Tate Liverpool for some modern art and culture then yesterday we trundled on over to Wales to go to the Conwy Castle, a beautiful medieval fortress that's amazingly well-preserved! I'm moving on today, heading up to the Lake District for the night then meeting my friend Marty in Glasgow on Friday! Scotland here I come!!

Last Night

Tonight is my last night in Switzerland. Boo! I'm flying back to London tomorrow then hitting the road to explore the rest of the UK on Monday (after my first cricket game on Sunday at Lord's!). I definitely want to come back here, especially if I can get healthy enough to do some serious hiking and climbing! I will miss having mountains in the distance where ever I go. I'll also miss the little chocolates they give you when you order a coffee! I'll miss the chocolate in general actually. I've gotten quite spoiled here. I've been at this hostel in Gryon for a week now and it's got such a great vibe and really cool people that I've come to feel at home here so it will be sad to leave. Several people who are here have come for a few days and ended up staying for months. Megan and Kevin from Canada have been here for a year. It's that kind of place. We had burrito and mojito night last night (soooo good) then watched Return of the Jedi. Lauren, who has been here for 2 months and leaves on Saturday has never seen Star Wars so they are attempting to get through all of them this week. Three more to go!

Today I took the train/bus up to Les Diablerets which is a quiet ski village in the next valley. From there I took a little ski cable car thing up to Isenau and wandered around, took pictures, took a nap in the grass and generally admired the view of the surrounding mountains. Other than the other hike the rest of my days here have been lounging about on the deck, reading, playing cards and (yesterday) shopping for burrito fixins. It's been a good week.

It's taken the full four weeks down here to really start chilling out and relaxing and not feel like I'm constantly needing to do something somewhere. It'll take all of my Jedi powers to keep a calm mind once I get back to London and have to run around for errands on Saturday.

That's it for Switzerland blogging. My next stop after London is the home of my friends The Michaels in Wirral near Liverpool where I'll spend a few days next week. Then Scotland! But for now, a bientot Switzerland!

Glaciers and Mountains

Hello! Back in the land of the internet after camping for a week. Last we left our intrepid explorer I was in Zermatt enjoying some glacier gawking. I did indeed head up to the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise the day after I last wrote and it was indeed beautiful. Different though since we were high above everything in the area and the view was of all the Italian Alps to the south and the surrounding mountains in the distance. It was also summer ski season so lots of snowboarders and skiers on the gondola. Wierd. At the top I met Ondrej, the only other solo traveler toting a camera. We took each others picture with the Matterhorn in the background then struck up a conversation (he spoke english!). He is from Slovakia and we ended up hanging out for the day, taking pictures and exploring the glacier. It was fun to spend the day with someone after so much time traveling alone!

Next day I was in a rush to catch the train and managed to drop my camera and now the lens (my 50mm) won't focus closer than 3 meters. #&^$*#^&!!!!! and I missed the train anyway. I was heading to a campsite and by the time I got there it was pouring rain so I had to set up camp in the rain and ended up eating a cold dinner in my tent and trying to sleep through a crazy thunderstorm thrashing my tent. Not a good day. But, woke up the next day to an absolutely gorgeous view and what turned out to be a killer campsite. I was in Arolla, a leetle tiny village up at about 2000 meters nestled in amonst mountains and glaciers with a view down the valley. I wandered up to the village for a coffee on the terrace of a little cafe then just wandered about the trails in the woods and explored. Met my tent neighbors that night (Ying and Ynke from Holland) who told me about a cool hike so the next day I hoisted the backpack and camera (with the other 24mm lens) and headed out to Lac Bleu (Blue Lake). It was longer than I expected but when I finally got there it was, of course, gorgeous. It was a small lake but it was deep glacier blue and surrounded by little hills with trees and lots of cows and quite a few other hikers. Lots of trails came in to the area so it was a natural stopping place for lunch. I was tanked by the time I got back and so spent the next day lounging about the campsite in the sun with my neighbors. I didn't have a stove so had planned to head down to the restaurant for dinner but they invited me over to eat with them at their campsite. They had a pretty elaborate spread for a campsite so we ate and chatted and had some wine and enjoyed the mountains. Yay!

After a few days there I'd planned on heading to another nearby campsite but decided to head to warmer climes for a few days and went up to Valle de Joux and found a campsite by a lake. Very pretty but it was much more of a family campsite so lots of kids running around and a playground just below. My second day there it rained from noon on through the night so I was tentbound for hours on end. After that I was very ready for a real bed but I had two more days in that campsite before I moved on. I did a couple of hikes, one that was up to a "Chalet" up in the mountains which turned out to be a snack bar on the side of the road next to a wildlife park. Oi. Still, it was a pretty hike and I was able to have a bison hamburger which was, um, interesting. Second hike was much prettier and much steeper so I only managed about 1/3 of it before my aging hip and knees gave out and I headed back down. Time to move on!

Now I am in Gryon at a hostel called Chalet Martin. Very excellent hostel if anyone manages to be traveling around here. I've got a room with a view to the mountains (yay!) and the people here are very laid back and mostly canadian/american/australian so it's all english speaking. A great place to park my hat for a week. I went for a hike yesterday and am spending today resting, catching up on internet and lounging on the deck in the sun enjoying the view! I wish I could be posting pictures with these posts but y'all will have to wait until I get them up on flickr.

phew! epic post... thanks for hanging in if you've read this far!
peace

Climbing the Riffelerg!

Hello from Zermatt! Home of the Matterhorn. I decided to splurge a little for this part of the trip and I booked a room at a nice hotel and chose one that faces south with a view of the Matterhorn. It is SO worth it! I have a little balcony that I can sit on and just stare at tje mountain. Pictures don't do it justice, it realy is kinda mesmerizing! The hotel and room are fantastic too, very homey and friendly and they offered me a glass of champagne when I arrived as a welcome drink. How cool is that?

Anyway, arrived last night and today decided to head up the Gornergrat Bahn Matterhorn Railway. It is "Europe’s highest open-air cogwheel" and it chugs up into the mountains stopping at various places along the way and ends up at about 10,000 ft. But I'm getting ahead of myself. I recently read Mark Twain's book "A Tramp Abroad" which contains an account of his mountain climbing adventure to reach the Riffelberg Hotel above Zermatt. If you haven't read it I highly recommend it; very comical with classic Twain wit. Well, today I climbed the Riffelberg!! Yes, I followed in his footsteps and climbed from the Riffelalp Hotel to the Riffelberg Hotel which are two of the stops along the railway. It was all of about 3.7km and took about an hour, quite the adventure! But in all seriousness it was incredibly beautiful with views down the valley and up at the Matterhorn, sadly clouded over today, but you could see the surrounding mountains which were lovely. The best part was that I had gotten up kinda early so had the trail entirely to myself. Not a single other soul until I reached Rifflelberg. So cool! :)

At Riffelberg I hopped back on the train and chugged up and when I got to the top and wandered out onto the viewing platform I was gobsmacked. Holy Cow. Mountains and glaciers all over the place. The tops were clouded over but it was still a truly awesome sight. That kind of view is really why they invented the word "awesome". I tried to take some pictures but, again, I'm sure they wont do it justice. I wandered about a bit then settled onto the patio with a hot chocolate and some apple streudel and just kinda gawked. I was hoping the clouds would burn off. (So were a couple hundred other tourists milling about just waiting and gawking. There was even a mall up there which was a little wierd. But I digress) Eventually wandered about some more exploring the area. Down the back side were more views and more glaciers and couple more mountains and paths wandering down and around for people to walk down into the other valleys or out to the glaciers. The clouds never did burn off so I finally started walking down then caught the train when I was getting tired and chugged back down to Zermatt.

Tonight, steak and a couple of glasses of red wine rounded off my adventure perfectly! Best of all the clouds have burned off and the mountain is out in all its glory. Tomorrow weather depending I may head up to the Matterhorn Glacier Something or other (highest gondola in Europe? something like that. Stay tuned)