Andi's Anecdotes

Civil Ceremony Seattle

2011-03-14T22:37:00.000-07:00

Boda Mexico

2011-03-05T22:28:00.000-08:00

Mexico

2011-03-03T22:33:00.000-08:00

Gabo in Seattle for T-Day part 2

2010-11-29T20:02:00.001-08:00

After Thanksgiving, we did some hiking. Even though the temperatures warmed up, there was still snow at Mt. Si. We went in trail runners thinking there'd be a little snow on top, but there was snow from the parking lot all the way up! Brrr! That chubby little bird was a part of the bird gang that tried to make off with my sandwhich, knocking it into the snow! Feisty! And probably a result of people feeding them. The last day we actually had sunshine and took a stroll through St. Edwards park and along the water. We celebrated Gabriel's birthday with my family a few days early that night.

Gabriel in Seattle for Thanksgiving!

2010-11-26T22:38:00.001-08:00

Hola!! So happy to be able to share the Thanksgiving tradition with Gabriel in Seattle this year! The day after T-day we headed downtown to check out the Olympic Sculpture Park. We then walked along the waterfront to the aquarium. Then on up the hill to Westlake for the Christmas tree lighting (along with music and fireworks). Last stop was the Seattle Art Museum to see the Picasso exhibit. Fun day!

Gabo in Seattle for my birthday!

2010-09-21T13:29:00.000-07:00

My birthday happens to be on Mexican independence day, a holiday for Gabriel, so he came on up for a visit! We had a great time mountain biking at Duthie Hill, hiking at Deception Pass and Ebey's Landing on Whidbey Island, hiking at Wallace Falls, exploring Leavenworth and hiking to Lake Stuart - spectacular alpine lake with peaks all around and a glacier! Nice!

Gabo in Seattle- Part 2!

2010-05-23T14:35:00.000-07:00

For the 2nd half of Gabriel's visit we did some biking. We took the bikes on the Fauntleroy-Southworth ferry and biked to Port Orchard all along the coast line. Nice ride with views of the downtown Seattle skyline along the way. We lunched in Port Orchard and then took the water-taxi across to Bremerton where we caught the ferry back to Seattle. From there we biked back to West Seattle, around Alki to Fauntleroy (Lincolon Park) where we left the car. Nice loop!
Saturday we caught a Sounders game at Qwest field and had a good time, in spite of the Sounders not winning!
Sunday morning we did a little rainy day hike with Dad at Rattlesnake before Gabriel had his flight out in the afternoon. We had a great visit!!

Gabo in Seattle!

2010-05-20T22:23:00.001-07:00

Gabriel came to visit me in Seattle and we have been packing in as many northwest activities as we can. Today we went to Rainier to snow shoe and he got to see his first snow. So stoked! Yesterday we got to do a city day and went to UW, the Space Needle, Alki Beach, Underground Tour and the Market. Fun!

whirlwind...

2010-04-20T14:00:00.001-07:00

Long time no blog...but my life has not been very blog worthy of late. Pictures of me sending out resumes? Not so intereting. Anyway, on a quick interview trip I had the opportunity to see my family briefly and give Nate a Chivas cap for an early birthday present. He looks great in it! And I got to see the quilt mom made for Nate. Nice! Hard work! And we had a good family dinner out before I was on my way again. I passed through Portland for a few hours and popped in on Nicole and Lily for an hour... and a prego Kim popped in on us! Good timing! 3 for 1! Lily was hamming it up and fun to watch. Such a happy little girl!
Next stop was Cali for a baby shower for good friend Kristen over the weekend. I hadn't seen her in over 3 years and didn't tell her I was coming. And her loving sister Shannon kept mum! Good job Shan. Surprise!! Based on the screaming, I think she was surprised! What fun we had catching up - the old Sacto crew! And Kristen looks great sportin the baby bump! And then in the same whirlwind fashion that I arrived...I was on my way again back to Guadalajara.

Baja

2010-02-26T18:14:00.001-08:00

We went to Baja to do some whale watching...one of my "must sees" in Mexico. Unfortunately, this first photo is a picture of a picture and NOT what we really saw. It's what we wanted to see! What we actually saw is more like the second photo...a whale tale in the distance. We saw 5 of these whales in 3 days. Not exactly the whale petting boat side that they promote, but still pretty cool! We also enjoyed the yummy local food - fish tacos and Pacifico beer! Delicious! On one of our boat rides we stopped at Coronado Island and hiked to the top of the volcanoe for some excellent views of the bay below.

San Luis Potosi

2010-01-03T11:22:00.000-08:00

On our way back from La Huasteca to Guadalajara, we stopped at the half way point, the capital city of San Luis Potosi. We stayed right in the heart of the colonial center. This night view of the main plaza with "Feliz Navidad" in the distance is the view from our room the night we arrived. We really enjoyed this colonial city with lots of beautiful cathedrals and architecture and nice museums...mostly free on Sundays! One museum had a neat exhibit of U.S. photographer Edward S. Curtis photos of Native Americans.

Rafting and Las Pozas in Xilitla

2010-01-01T10:56:00.000-08:00

We decided to ring in the New Year with a rafting trip! Here's a couple a photos before we set off down the river. Unfortunately we could not afford the super expensive action shots the rafting company wants you to buy afterwards, so this is it! The next day we headed 2 hours south to a town called Xilitla where Sir Edward James (reportedly the illigitamite grandson of King Edward VII), a patron of the arts and the surrealism movement, built Las Pozas "the pools". Las Pozas are over 40 acres of jungley garden with a river running through it, a waterfall and pools on one side and crazy cement structures and sculptures throughout. Many of the stairways and bridges are high up, no railings...kinda freaky/thrilling.

Python!

2009-12-31T10:43:00.000-08:00

On the way back from canoeing, we nearly ran over a python snake (they told us) that was sunning itself in the middle of the highway. He was a big snake and they said he had recently eaten and was warming up in the sun, which is what made him so lathargic. Our guide Memo decided to move him off the street so he wouldn't get run over. This entailed holding down the back of his head with a big stick while grabbing his at the head (so he wouldn't bite) and tail. He did try bite, but couldn't...they aren't poisonous though, they just try to strangle their pray! Memo through the python into the sugar cane off the side of the road. BTW, he was a very stinky python...Memo's hands reeked of a foul odor like rotten fish. Stunk up the whole van!

La Huasteca-Tamul Waterfall

2009-12-31T08:06:00.000-08:00

On New Year's Eve we were in La Huasteca region of the state of San Luis Potosi. We went canoeing along the river to reach Tamul waterfall. The river is an amazing turquoise blue color. We hopped out of the canoe on the way back to float the rapids. Fun! We also stopped off at a water filled cave for a swim.

Paracutin Volcanoe

2009-12-28T19:30:00.000-08:00

The Paracutin Volcanoe errupted very slowly along time ago, allowing the nearby townspeople to escape, but covering their town in lava, which left only the church tower showing above the lava field! You can see it in the distance in one of the photos. We hiked up to the top of the (still smoking) volcanoe. Great views!

Monarch Butterflies

2009-12-28T19:19:00.001-08:00

Every year millions of monarch butterflies migrate down from great lakes area to Mexico along the state border of Michoacan and Mexico state to winter and mate. The males die shortly there after and the females fly back to Florida to lay their eggs among the milk weed and then die off. The newly born monarchs will fly to the great lakes area and the migration repeats every year. We hiked up approximately and hour and a half with butterflies swirling all around us. When it warms up in the day, the butterflies come down the hill in search of water (thus the swirling). Then as the day cools off, they return up higher to roost, clumping by the thousands onto trees. They almost look like the leaves or needles themselves. I visited last year too and it still amazes me!

Happy Birthday To Me!

2009-09-16T19:19:00.000-07:00

Hola! Here's some photos from my birthday last week. They had a yummy cake for me at work. Then Gabriel took me out for a nice birthday dinner (wearing a blouse and jewelry I got from my family!). And then the post birthday celebration at the beach, where Gabriel's friend Alex joined us. Fun!!!

Summer Time....

2009-07-26T22:54:00.000-07:00

Summer time and the living is...boating! New toy of summer 09 is the wake surfer. Everyone seems to pop up OK on the board, but the trick of the surfer is that you actually surf the wake....no rope required. So, we keep looking for that elusive "sweet spot" where the board surfs and you throw the rope back in. All the other people on the lake make it look so easy! Morgan celebrated her 13th birthday by inviting 8 friends to go boating. What could be better than 9 teenage girls on a boat??? Putt putt golphing with my nephew! BTW, he beat me by 10, was 5 under par and had 2 hole-in-ones. Can you say "Tiger Jr.?" Meanwhile, the bald eagles hang out lake side and wow us with their fishing skills.

Quito, part 2

2009-07-18T14:54:00.000-07:00

On our flight from Loja up to Quito we flew past many of the volcanoes along the Andes Cordillera, including this one that I snapped a photo of from the airplane. We were above the clouds, so finally we had a clear view! We even saw the elusive Cotopaxi volcanoe. On our last day in Ecuador, we looked around Quito. We took the gondola back up to over 13,000 feet to hike around. Then in the city we went to the gothic cathedral, which is actually from the 1920's. We climbed up inside the towers, crossing one of the church naves on a not so sturdy wooden walk way and climbing up several metal ladders. We also climbed up the clock tower, higher than the first tower. No one was around to be concerned with the liability of it all and our hearts were racing as we climbed higher and higher. On the outside there were no gargoyles, but animals from the Galapagos, including birds and iguanas. The views were pretty and the thrill factor high!

Vilcabamba, Ecuador

2009-07-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

Vilcabamba is the southern most part of Ecuador that we visited and it's not too far from the Peruvian border. We went to enjoy the great outdoors and to check out the spa resort Madre Tierra. Many years ago my friend Kristen, who was a volunteer in Ecuador, told me about this wonderful place and the amazing massages and I've been dreaming about going ever since. Vilcabamba is a very small town surrounded by hills. Our first day there we took a rest from all the extreme hiking we'd been doing and simply indulged in a full body massage. Heaven!

On day 2 we did a mountain biking, hiking, waterfall jumping, swimming tour that took us by a sugar cane processing factory. Their transportation system (donkeys) is pretty lo-tech, but gets the job done! The donkeys even know the path from the field to the factory...no driver necessary. They know the sooner they get to the plant, the sooner they'll get unloaded! At the plant they peel the outer layers of the stalks (and later use the discarded peelings as fuel for the fire) and grind the cane to extract the juice. The juice is strained and then boiled (with the fire underneath) and then poured into forms where it will cool into sugar blocks, for re-sale in the local shops.

Our guide was a young guy called "Chino" (he's not Chinese) and the neighbor boy also came along for the ride. When crossing the river one time with his rubber boots on and the kid on his back, he fell over into the river and got all wet. So then he just decided to take his jeans off and hike in his underwear and rubber boots! No modesty issues here, as you see him proudly posing for the photo.

On our last morning in Vilcabamba before we flew back to Quito in the late afternoon, we did the hike from town up to 2 crosses on top of the hills (called Mandango).

Parque Nacional Podocarpus, Zamora

2009-07-15T13:57:00.000-07:00

Having visited the high altitude part of Podocarpus National Park the day before from Loja, we decided to go down to 600m and visit the same park from Zamora, the tropical side. So we went from cloud forest to rain forest! Lots of waterfalls, giant fern trees and rain! Gabriel brushed up against some nasty stinging nettle type plant and ended up with a cluster of welts on his knee! Some potent plants growing in that jungle!

Parque Nacional Podocarpus, Loja

2009-07-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

The main reason we came to Loja was to visit the Podocarpus National Park. From Loja you can access the cloud forest part of the park and we actually hiked up to the highest point of the park on a ridge trail at almost 12,000 feet. This hawk we saw near the trail head must have been injured or a rescue bird because he made no attempt to fly away.

As we started up through the forest heading towards the ridge, the views were hit and miss as the clouds blew through, but it wasn't too windy (yet) as we were protected by the trees.

Once up on the ridge, the crazy weather kicked in with wind gusts probably at least up to 40 mph, enough to knock you off your step and make you want to hug the ground! Sometimes the ridge trail had drop offs on either side and since we were walking in a big cloud, you didn't really know what was below! You just hoped the wind didn't blow you down there. Scary!! It was super steep in some places and required climbing. Definitely very strenuous....to give you an idea, it took us 4 hours to hike 3.1 miles and we were trying to go fast to get off that windy ridge! BTW we were also soaked to our undies from walking in a cloud and muddy from slipping and sliding down the trail. Extreme stuff!

But we survived, saw a nice big bird on the way down and by the time we got to the service road, the sun had come out and we had made it! Wooooohoooooo! The 8km walk out to the main highway was just a walk in the park!

Loja, Ecuador

2009-07-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

We came to Loja to access the national park, but it's a nice town itself. We especially liked the university park just outside the park, where we did a nice ridge trail. And we also liked the botanical gardens across the street. We ended up sleeping there 3 nights to acess the park from both sides and then 3 days later flew out of the airport near Loja back up to Quito.

Parque Nacional Cajas

2009-07-12T21:17:00.000-07:00

Cajas National Park is about an hour from Cuenca. We had a gorgeous blue sky day to go hiking, which was a good thing because otherwise it's pretty chilly up there. We first had thoughts of hiking to that peak behind us in the photo. But when we made our way around the lake, hunting for the trail up, we never found it! Instead we were on a nice loop trail that took us past many waterfalls, lakes and some llamas! It was a nice 3 hour loop!

Cuenca, Ecuador

2009-07-10T21:03:00.000-07:00

After Gabriel flew in to Quito, we flew straight down to Cuenca, which is a lovely colonial city, the 3rd largest in Ecuador after Guayaquil and Quito. We loved all the colonial architecture, museums and the river running through the city with a nice river walk. We also loved the proximity to Cajas park and we both thought "I could live here".

Otavalo, Ecuador

2009-07-08T20:49:00.000-07:00

Otavalo is about 2 hours north of Quito on the Pan-American highway and known for its huge indigenous arts and crafts markets. Saturday is when the market is huge and people (locals and tourists) come from all around to buy and sell (and pick your pockets). We happened to arrive on a Wednesday and found the market to be large enough to get lost and feel slightly overwhelmed. Imagine what Saturday market would have done to us!

Besides the market, we also got out and did some walking around to some lakes, a waterfall...can you spot the heart in the mountain below?

Mindo, Ecuador

2009-07-05T20:36:00.000-07:00

Mindo is also about 2 hours away from Quito, but NW. It's known for its butterflies (these we visited in a reserve) and the outdoor beauty. We stayed in a nice cabin right on the river and did a waterfall hike right from our place. First we had to cross the river in a "tarabita" (cable car). This one was a small one, low to the river and hand powered, pulling the cable (or rope) on a pulley to get across.

Here's the small tarabita and our cabin on the river (as viewed from the trail up above).

We hiked for over an hour up, up, up to the main dirt road where we walked down (and got in the back of a pickup for part) 3km to the BIG tarabita. Now this one was several hundred feet above the river valley below and motor powered. The kid hopped on the back of it to accompany us....and his little sister came along for the ride too. That made me feel better...if she's going, it must be ok!

It was pretty jungly in there with lots of giant leaves, mosquitos and waterfalls. When we arrived at the destination waterfall, we had to climb up some stairs (knotched out in a giant log) to get to the falls. Neat!

Quilotoa Loop

2009-07-01T23:20:00.000-07:00

After Banos, we went an hour north on the Pan-American highway to Latacunga and from there 3 hours on the bumpy Quilotoa Loop road to the town of Chugchilan, where we stayed at an ecolodge called the BlackSheep Inn (BSI). Quilotoa is the beautiful crater lake on the southwest part of the loop, which we would later visit and hike around. The area was lovely and relaxing and we did some nice hikes. The BSI ecolodge was a nice place too with great views, wood chip composting toilets, recycle everything and organic meals. But in the end we decided the whole thing was quite overpriced. We paid $60 per person to stay in 1 room (quad) with meals included. (Doubles are $80/pax/night or $ 320 for the 4 of us). That's a $240 per room per night, which was cool in a eco-cabin way and had a great view, but it would not be described as spacious except for maybe in the 2 sinked bathroom. It had a loft with double bed, another double bed on ground floor and a bunk bed. All beds were within about 4 feet of each other. Breakfast consisted of eggs or fruit and granola and juice and coffee (let's say $2). Lunch was 2 small roll veggie sandwhiches with cheese, a fruit, 2 cookies, carrots and popcorn (call it $3). And dinner was a vegitarian meal like pasta, veggies and desert (max $5). Coffee and tea free. Ok, so if meals cost $10 total, thats $40 per day for the 4 of us. We're still paying $200 a night to be in one "quaint" room. The other thing was that for $200 a night, you'd think they'd throw in a few perks, like free internet use, soft drinks or juice, snacks in the afternoon, maybe a guided hike. But no....they really nickel and dime you there too. Want a cookie in the afternoon, 50 cents! Popcorn, $1. Want to hot tub? $15. Not kidding. Apparently with an eco-lodge you can save the world and nicely line your pockets. Upon arriving we asked the owners how they wound up there and they wouldn't tell us! They said we had to read it in the handbook. And then, there was the lovely "volunteer" couple Paul and Sara. They had been trying to work there for 2 years and they finally got hired, but had to pass a probation period which entailed 5 weeks of work without pay. That's 5 weeks, 7 days a week, 7am to 10pm, no breaks. Let's just says Sara and Paul lasted less than 2 weeks. The day we left, they escaped on the 3am bus!
We left on the July 3rd and that evening at dinner as the owners were telling us about the July 4th celebration they had planned they said they would be celebrating their "independence from America", which many of the guests (mostly American) found to be somewhat offensive. My opinion, Quilotoa Loop is lovely, you should check it out, but if you don't have money burning a hole in your pocket, I'd check out some of the other hostals in Chugchilan that are more in the $15-$20 price range and also includes breakfast and dinner. There' s Hostal Mama Hilda and Hostal Cloud Forest both in Chugchilan and listed in the Lonely Planet guide book. And there are likely more local places if you have the time to look around.
Ok, enough hotel reviews...let's get to the good stuff! Hiking pictures! Mom, dad and I went for a little ridge hike on our first afternoon there. It was listed as "easy" on their map, but with no traction shoes (mom) and a steep ridge, easy can quickly turn to challenging. But we survived. A little warm up for the hike we did on day 2!

The first evening some local girls from Chugchilan came by the lodge in their traditional costumes to do some tradtional dancing. They even had us dance with them. It was cute and entertaining, but the girls were most pleased with the tip we gave them at the end, which seems to be the reason they come by every Wednesday. Everybody wants a piece of ya. Photo? $1.

On day 2 we went out for a "medium" hike, which went down into the river valley on one side and back out the other side... a loop trail. We came upon a wood worker, who was oportunely awaiting us on the trail. We was nice enough to show us the look out to the valley below and then his workshop, where he sold us 3 carvings at $15 a pop. Yep, what luck that he "happened" to see us on the trail.

Shortly after the wood carving place, the medium trail got steep and slippery and the happy faces turned into falling down and sliding on your butt. Knees started aching...but we were only in the first quarter of the hike. By the end, some would be near tears with exhaustion on this "medium" hike.

Pictures of these kiddos, $1. Three dirty little faces, priceless.

The stuffed animal turtle is my aunt Deb's and her grandsons often fight over him. So Mr. Turtle made the trip to Ecuador to surprise the boys. He had many photo opps throughout the trip. This is our lunch spot down on the river. Then we had to hike out of that big valley we just came down.

This suspension bridge was not the sturdiest or most stable. I decided not to cross it completely, for fear of ending up in the drink. I stopped at about 5 steps in!

Here's some pictures of our room, bathroom (see box of wood chips on right to "flush") and the grounds. There were some resident llamas, which they use as pack animals in the high country. A couple times they pulled their stakes right out the ground on were on the loose. It was funny to see one walk by our window.

On day 3 we went out to Quilotoa Lake, which is the jewel and namesake of the region. It's a deep, turquoise blue lake and it was really windy and chilly on the crater rim. Dad and I did the 4 hour hike back to Chugchilan with a guide and a nice German couple. Mom and Deb (after the previous days' hike) opted to bus it back. The funny thing was this "difficult" hike was actually much easier than the "medium" hike we did the day before. We did them out of order!

These kiddos asked us for chocolate or caramel. I did have some candies I gave them. Their parents insisted on, you guessed it, $1, for the photo.

Our lunch spot about half way through was a nice view of the valley below. Afterwards we hiked down the canyon on a narrow gulley trail. This would be the most challenging part of the hike, but still was not difficult compared to the day before!

On our last day, as a mentioned, we wanted to see the Cotopaxi Volcano that was somewhat on the way back to Quito. So we paid the big bucks to get the transport there, but the dang volcano was shrouded in clouds the whole time. If there's a way to check the weather, you should, cause it sure ain't worth $100 to see a bunch of clouds. Our driver said it's usually cloudy there, except in August. The clouds moved just a bit and I took a photo of the snowy base. The other photos are what it was SUPPOSED to look like! Would have been nice!

Baños, Ecuador

2009-06-28T22:55:00.000-07:00

After we got back from the Galapagos, we overnighted in Quito and then headed about 3 hours southwest to a town called Baños, which technically is still in the Andes Cordillera, but is far enough east that it is known as the "gateway to the Amazon". It's also in the foothills of volcanoe country, so it has natural hot springs there too, thus the name Baños. We did some rainy morning soaking there. We were told at least 3 times by the bus people to hold on tight to our backpacks... apparently there's a lot of bag snatchers on that route (???), so we did as instructed had no issues.

Baños is also known for its handstretched taffy, which they do all over town...notice any rubber gloves on that guy? Me neither. I'm sure he washed with anti-bacterial soap right before though. I kept telling myself that as I knawed on the taffy we bought. It was tasty! The first afternoon we arrived it was blue skies and sunny...but day 2, when we wanted to bike ride, brought wind and rain. We had to break out the "emergency poncho" (plastic bag), which elicited many laughs from the locals as they inflated with the wind.

We really liked Baños as a town and it had lots of good restaurants to choose from and all reasonably priced. Good stuff.

Finally at the end of the day, the rain let up and the streets started to dry out. I convinced dad to do a hurry up bike ride with me along the waterfall route, down to the El Diablo (the devil) big waterfall, viewed from a suspension bridge that you hike out 15 minutes from the road. It was a race against the sunlight and by the time we came out from the waterfall hike, it was dusky. By the time we rode back to the highway to catch a bus back to town, it was definitely dark! The bus picked us up though, threw the bikes in the luggage compartment below and away we went. It was a very low-ceiling bus though and dad did not fit without crouching or banging his head against the ceiling as the bus threw us around. Good thing he had left his helmet on!! There was one spot where he fit, with his head in the opened air vent! The bus guy kept telling everyone to move back in the full bus to make room for more. Finally I told him that we couldn't because that what the only place my dad's head would fit, which illicited much laughter from the locals on the bus!

Dolphins in Galapagos

2009-06-25T17:48:00.000-07:00

Ok, one cute sea lion and lots of dolphins! Fellow yacht mate Jenny took great underwater photos and great dolphin photos (and my photos were bad to non-existent!). So all these photos are hers and spectacular! You get a sense of the feeling we had being surrounded by a sea of dolphins jumping and playing. Dolphins are like monkeys to me, you just never get tired of watching them! I was in awe watching them in the sea all around!

Galapagos Islands (part 3)

2009-06-25T00:14:00.000-07:00

We had the opportunity to see many blue footed boobies, particularly on one island, but unfortunately never really got to see their full on mating dance. Just a few foot lifts and head cocks, which gave us an idea of how silly a full-on dance might look. Apparently the male will spread his wings and lift and stomp his blue feet to show them off and earn the female's attention. The color of the blue feet is so intense and varies in shades between the different birds, as you can see with this pair. The male or the female can be seen sitting on eggs, usually 3 or 4, but only 1 baby will survive. They make their "nest", a ring of white poop in the dirt, and any baby who steps outside the nest will thereby be neglected by his parents and eventually will die. The stronger babies will actually work to force the weaker ones out. Sometimes the weaker ones will feign to be dead, tricking the stronger ones and then try to force them out. Survival of the fittest...

Black and white Nazca boobies, still got that crazy look in their eyes.

Pile of iguanas anyone?

Here's Peter's photo of the Frigate bird stealing food from a baby booby. It was a very traumatic scene that unfolded and I was so caught up in the moment that I didn't even think to take a picture. Luckily, Peter did!! So we were all watching the mama Blue footed Booby cough up a whole fish from her throat to feed her baby. As she passes the fish to her baby, out of NOWHERE swoops in a thug Frigate bird to rob the baby booby of his meal! He easily over-powered the young, weaker booby baby. And as we witnessed the sweet feeding scene unfold into a meal snatching attack, many indignant gasps were let out. Definitely not the Disney version!!!

The young sea lions are a very curious bunch and often would follow you or try to sniff your shoe, like in this photo where I started to put my foot up on the rock and then pulled it back when the sea lion approached to check me out. In this darker photo, there's a young nazca booby on the right who was on the rock stoop first up above us. The young sea lion came along and tried to claim his stake on the rock and he went after the booby. But the booby faught back, pecking at the sea lion and ran him off the rock. Here the sea lion is pictured defiantly trying to hold his ground as the booby has his beak out in an agressive stance. Too funny!

We saw many mama sea lions with their babies and some were nursing. One teeny tiny baby sea lion we saw by himself could barely lift his head up and roll over. He couldn't have been more than 2 weeks old (our guide told us). He was waving his little flippers around at us.

The Galapagos Hawk has no predators and therefore easily approached us. We saw 2, this one who walk right up to us and another one that was perched on a rock.

On Española Island we ran into many Waved Albatross birds, the largest birds endemic to the Galapagos at 8 pounds and with wing span of up to 7.4 feet! Because of their size, they have trouble taking off to fly from the ground, and thus have to waddle out to the cliff and drop off while opening their wings and taking flight! Luckily we got to witness the mating ritual, which involves an intricate dance of coordinated and mimicking movements like beak raising, head weaving with a swagger and tapping bills which kinda looks like they're kissing.

We went by one of the few islands that has inhabitants to visit the giant tortoise reserve. In town where the fisherman came in with their haul, the sea lions, pelicans and blue footed boobies were all begging for scraps! Too funny!

The Galapagos Giant Tortoises are in fact ginormous! They can be up to 4 feet long and weigh over 660 pounds! Also they can live to be up to 150 years old! I was reading Darwin's travel journal (Voyage of the Beagle) where in the 1830's the sailors and pirates thought the toroises were good eating! The sailors would bring them on board alive where they could survive up to a year and still provide them fresh meat. Darwin also talked about riding on their backs! Of course these animals are all now protected and eating them nor riding them is permitted! We saw one unique species, the green coated rubber booted tortoise, that exists no where else in the world!!

We had to get out of our tour bus for a tortoise crossing, which (with an average walking speed of 0.18mph) took quite a while! Meanwhile, we made our way down to check out a giant lava tube!

Here's a video of an albatross pair dancing. It was kinda windy, so you hear the wind, but if you leave the audio on you can also hear the sound of the beaks clicking and them honking.

Underwater Photos

2009-06-23T20:20:00.000-07:00

Update! My fellow yacht mate Jenny emailed me some photos from her digital underwater camera and they turned out SO way better than my crap disposible camera. Remember, we were snorkel buddies...so imagine me right by her side whilst snapping all these lovely photos of penguins and white tip reef shark!

Well, we didn't invest in a real underwater camera, just a disposable one...and it seems you get what you pay for! Every single photo has red blobs of light in it. So, here's the best I could find.

A Galapagos penguin actually kind of looks like a small duck when it's swimming above the surface. I swam along this one for quite some time and he didn't seem to mind to much. I later saw another one hunting fishies under water and they swim SO fast! Just a flash of penguin would go blowing by.

We saw many sting rays swimming along the sea floor or burrowing into the sandy bottom. I saw a white tipped shark on several occasions. You can just barely see the outline of one in this photo. They looked to be about 5 to 6 feet in length and very shy. They would just swim on by the bottom.

The young sea lions were very playful and friendly and would swim right up to you, sometimes startling me if I took my head out of the water and then when I put it back in was face to face with a sea lion!

Galapagos Islands (part 2) - The Characters

2009-06-22T23:31:00.000-07:00

I was traveling with my parents and my aunt, 2 of us per room. Our other 16 yacht mates were traveling mostly in pairs of 2 and from the US and England. Hugo, the barman on board, who was infamous amongst the guests for his serious nature, would always crack a smile for me with a little chit chat in spanish! Our guides Alexis (left) and Pepe (right) spoke excellent English and knew their stuff, even if their excitement seemed somewhat feigned at times, it was nice that they pretended to still be excited about seeing dolphins and the such. And of course the chef and kitchen crew kept us well fed. Soups, fresh fruit, juices and post outing snacks were the best!

Allow me to introduce our yacht mates: Hal (front left), Tim (back left) was Uncle Hal's nephew and a marine biology major on his graduation trip. They were a great pair...Tim was the scientific straight man to Uncle Hal's emotional reaction to nature's harsh ways. At one point, having seen a dead animal, Uncle Hal asked for the "Disney version", which made us all laugh! Dr. Jenny (back right) is working on her residency in emergency medecine at Stanford (can you say "smartie pants!") and was kind enough to hook me up with some cipro on board in my time of need. I think she'll make a great doctor and I told her so! Andrew (front right), Jenny' s husband, is a funny, quirky guy who works at Apple as a programmer and was always rockin' some crazy hair. He also has a serious coffee addiction. Jenny and Andrew were my favorite snorkel mates! Together we saw white tipped sharks, sting rays, Galapagos penguins and swam with sea lions!

Chris (front left) and Pat (back left) are 2 long time friends from Kansas City and really nice people. One of the crew members asked if they were wives, to which one responded, "I keep asking her to marry me, but she hasn't said yes yet!" Maureen (back right) and Peter (front right) were a nice couple from the London area. Peter was always good about letting me download pictures on his laptop and sharing his great photos with me!

Richard (back left) is originally from Cuba and had some interesting stories to tell about life there and escaping. He and his wife Christine (front left) now live in Miami.

And finally we have "The Brits" (although technically Maureen and Peter are Brits too). Claire (back right) and George (front right) were pretty personable and funny. Sandy (back left) and Tony (front left).

Galapagos Islands (part 1)

2009-06-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

After a day in the capital of Ecuador, our first full week was spent in the Galapagos Islands. We booked an 8 day tour from the US with a company called Ecoventura, which was not the cheapest, but definitely was first class! They have an excellent reputation for being eco-friendly (non polluting), having yachts in good condition, knowledgable, English speaking guides, good service, delicious food and includes wet suits, snorkel gear and all the soft drinks and snacks you can consume. They took care of everything from the Quito-Galapagos flight, to $100 park entrance fee. This was full service and did NOT disappoint!!

From the moment we arrived on the pier awaiting the zodiac boats to ferry us out to the yacht, there was sea life in the form of sea lions all around and they were not one bit scared of us! Our yacht was called Eric and had 10 rooms on 3 floors for the 20 of us tourists. We were in what we affectionately called the "dungeon"...the cheap seats, down in the bottom of the boat...somewhere near the engine room. Anyway, we decided for the same service level, food, guides, etc. we only used the dungeon to sleep in and use the bathroom. Unless you have money burning a hole in your pocket, in which case you can spend an extra $1000+ to sleep upstairs!

Some of the first birds we saw were red footed boobies, recognizable for their red feet and blue beaks. Boobies, so called for the goofy look they have about them and the clumsey way they move and waddle about, always have kind of a crazy look when they stare at you straight on. We really were as close as the pictures appear and they did not scare a bit, even with babies in the nest.

We also saw small grey mocking birds running up close to us. They are known to be very precocious and get into your back pack or water bottle if you leave anything unzipped or unguarded!

Frigate birds are black with a red "waddle" (ref: Ally McBeal) under their chin that inflates into a big red balloon when they are shopping for a mate. Frigate birds are kind of thugs...they don't actually hunt for fish and food, they steal from other birds who have hunted their meal, as we would later get to witness first hand. Bad bird! But I guess that's nature...survival of the fittest. And definitely not the "Disney" version. There are 2 types: Great Frigate Birds with dark green feathers down their back (get it, Great=Green) and Magnificant Frigate Birds. What would you rather be called, Great or Maginificant?? Their babies come out with fluffly white feathers until they mature and get their black feathers and red waddle balloon.

The endemic gulls are quite pretty (more so than regular sea gulls) with their red feet and the red ring around their eyes. Nazca boobies are black and white with a yellow beak and still have the crazy look in their eye.

Sea lions and iguanas were abundant. This young sea lion followed us around on our sight seeing. They are curious animals. But stay away from the bulls (adult males head of the colony) when they are defending their beach and harem. We had the misfortune to cross a beach that a bull had been defending against another male, so he was already all fired up. By the way, adult males can reach up to 800 pounds! Not small animals! I was dilly-dallying around in the back of our group of ten, taking pictures, etc. when I noticed that everyone was sneaking past the angry bull sea lion (meanwhile the guide was fending him off in a matador style using his shirt as a cape). As the last one in line, I tried to skirt around the angry bull as the rest of the group had done, but by the time I made my way by, the bull had circled around behind us (no longer behind the safety of my matador guide) and was bearing his teeth and barking up a storm. The guide screamed out "RUN!!!" and the whole group (already in safety) took off running. And the guide screamed again "NOT YOU, HER!" (meaning me) and hearing the panic in his voice, seeing him running and the bull sea lion growling I kinda freaked out and took off running (while screaming!). Once we were off his beach (although only a few feet away), he calmed down and left us alone, but my heart was still palpatating for a good while!

Can you spot the short haired owl camoflauged amongst the similar colored rocks? Right in the middle of the photo. He's waiting for lunch...a small bird to fly into it's rock hole nest. There were also some leggy grey herons, similar looking to the great blue herons we have in the northwest.

Iguanas were nearly everywhere. Sometimes they were so abundant, you had to be careful not to step on them on the beach when walking. The black marine iguanas are the only iguana species in the world that swim in the sea (quite a site!). To regulate their body temperature, they must lie around in the sun for hours to heat back up after a short swim in the cool water. Thus the lathargic piles of iguanas on rocks. There was also a species of iguana with a scarlet red coloring. And the land iguanas are much bigger (males) and orangey-yellowey brown in color and also disguise well in the reddish clay dirt.

Yellow warbler

Here's a natural rock bridge that formed above an inlet...some said we looked like the Beatles (Abbey Road album cover)

Sally-footed crabs were abundant on some of the islands. They have really nice blue coloring on under side of their bellies and legs and sometimes around the eyes.

We came to a fresh water pond where we came upon 3 Galapagos flamingos eating some teeny tiny small shrimps.

One afternoon motoring to our next destination, our yacht came upon hundreds and hundreds of dolphins in the open sea. They were jumping all around and playing along the boat bow as we cruised. It was truly a sight to see dolphins jumping everywhere you looked. I never managed to get a nice photo (just water), but Peter (a yacht mate) was kind enough to donate some of his great photos.

Quito, Ecuador

2009-06-20T22:38:00.000-07:00

Our first day in Ecuador! We had a day to look around the capital, Quito, before we headed out to the Galapagos. We stayed in the heart of old town at the colonial Hotel San Francisco. Great location and colonial architecture, but sucky service (can you say "cancelled reservation" oops!). The historical center of Quito has a lot of nice, restored colonial buildings and is easily walkable if you stay in old town. We also took the gondola (teleferico) up to over 13,000 feet for a lovely view of the city below. The air was quite thin up there and we were all sucking wind as we went for a short hike.

Firsts...

2009-06-11T15:27:00.000-07:00

Hola! Well, I had to go to Queretaro again...you know, the place where I spent 3 months in training (house arrest) under all sorts of rules and regulations. And you know how I feel I about rules....kinda left a bad taste in my mouth. Although I'm sure Queretaro is a lovely place to the first time visitor, this was definitely not my first time around! Anyway, I was there to do my annual checkup, because you know in Guadalajara, a city of 5 million people, we don't have doctors and dentists! Any way, what's wasting a few thousands pesos on travel, lodging and food when your program is completely broke...apparently nothing to some bureaucrats. Soooooo....the cathedral picture above is my day trip to nearby Tequisquiapan, which was a nice break from Queretaro at least!

Enough my about my firsts, after Queretaro I went to Gabriel's nephew's first communion. Mass was pretty entertaining with all the kiddos running around, answering questions to test their first communion knowledge. A bit like jeopardy, only more churchy. Anyway, more entertaining than your average mass...although, I'm pretty sure that no mass is designed with my entertainment in mind. Antonio (the nephew) was pretty excited though, maybe for the presents and lunch to come...

Tere, Gabriel's sister and Antonio's mom, definitely undersold me on the "little lunch", which turned out to be a fabulously huge, yummy, meal at an Italian restaurant, complete with a great band (like the street groups who walk around in velvet, puffy outfits in Sevilla, Spain). The funniest part is when they pulled out their boda bag full of red wine and squirted it into people's mouth, to the sound of music and while everyone in the joint was counting how many seconds you gulped wine. I only got to 10 and then had a red wine stain on my white shirt! Gabriel got to 15 or 20, more than all of us! I'd like to think I somehow contributed to his new-found drinking prowess :)

Afternoon on the Lake!

2009-05-22T08:18:00.000-07:00

Hola! We had some nice weather in Seattle and headed out on Lake Sammamish to enjoy it! Morgan and I did a little tubing, which doesn´t require getting into the cold water as long as you stay on the tube! Then Curt and Morgan tubed and decided to jump in the water after!! Then I worked up the courage to wake board (which involves a little time shivering in the water!). And I got to see Morgan get up on water skis. She rocked it! Awesome! I´m sure she´ll be doing trick skiing by end of summer! Mom, Dad, Jamie and Nate saw us shivering and decided the toasty sun on the boat was more appealing!

Good to be home part 2

2009-05-17T08:23:00.001-07:00

Still kickin' it in Sea-town! The weather turned nice and I did a little kayaking with mom on the lake. And after seeing Morgan hoop it up on the basketball court and Nate's game getting rained out during the week, I finally got to see Nate play baseball! Both the kids have developed into quite the athletes! They must get that from their aunt :-) If Morgan (nearly 13 years) appears taller than me, it's because she is!! Dang! I still have a few inches on Nate though...for a couple years, maybe! I tried to look my tallest next to my sis Jamie. Who looks taller?

Here Jamie is dancing to some classic 80's rock and Nate is LOVIN it as you can see by the expression on his face. Who doesn't love their mom to dance funny to old music?! Morgan is modeling her lovely new star earrings (because she's such a SUPER STAR), straight from Mexico!

Good to be home...

2009-05-13T15:53:00.000-07:00

Hola! Well, with all this swine flu business, tix were cheap to-from Mexico. Go figure! I took advantage of an excellent price to be home in Seattle for Mother's Day and see the fam. I especially wanted to see my niece and nephew in their various activities. And as a bonus I get to see a few friends and their kids. Good to be home!!

Las Águilas

2009-05-07T10:39:00.000-07:00

Hola! Well, after several days cooped up and avoiding the swine flu, we started to get a little stir crazy! One day we ventured a couple hours from Guadalajara to "Las Águilas" (the eagles) a.k.a. Stone Hedge of Mexico, according to at least one author! The eagle part are the 3 predominant rocks that (supposedly) form the body and wings of the eagle. The rest of rocks standing on end all around us were pretty impressive too! We had fun hiking and climbing around! We lunched in a nice little town on the way back that afternoon...of course, most everything was closed due to the flu!

Artesanias Porochi and Maguarichi Nursery

2009-04-30T16:25:00.001-07:00

Hola! I went back to visit 2 projects in the moutainous part of Chihuahua and home of the Tarahumara indigenous people. First to the arts and crafts project in Porochi where this group of women weaves waris (baskets) out of pine needles and a cactus-like plant called sotol. They are truly beautiful works. I've been working with them to help them calculate the true cost of their work including their time (collection, cleaning, weaving, walking for hours and selling) and raw materials. And from there determine a fair price that the tourist is willing to pay and also allows them to make a living and put food on the table.

This arts center they built by hand using localling found stone. Quite a feat! And it turned out really nice! The idea is that the artisans can sell their works to the center and then the center sells to the tourist. This allows the artisans, who sometimes live many hours walking from the main road, access to the tourist market.

The second project is a nursery project to grow vegetables for the local market and plants for reforestation in the region. This project is also by the women in the community. They've got one structure of the nursery up and are working on the other structure. I'm also going to be helping these women determine their cost and pricing structure.

Copper Canyon

2009-04-30T15:45:00.001-07:00

Hola! I was recently in the copper canyon area of Chihuahua working again. Since there's no public busses that reaches some of these communities and I was on my own I got to (had to) take the train. It's called the Chepe (Chihuahua Pacific). They say it has "408 miles of railroad tracks, 86 tunnels and 37 bridges, this route is regarded as one of the most important in the world and one of the master pieces of Mexican Engineering." And lucky for me, there's some beautiful canyon scenary along the way too!

The local indigenous Tarahumara women (like the ones I work with) sell their "waris" (woven baskets) along the way.

In between the train cars, there was an open air window, where I spent a lot of my time snapping pictures along the way.

Quick Visit to Comala

2009-04-12T17:53:00.000-07:00

Hola! We made a quick visit to Comala in the bordering state of Colima to see Gabriel's family and jammed in lots of activities. The Fuego (Fire) Volcanoe is visible from the lake nearby. And no trip to Colima would be complete with out sliding down the Slippery Rock, which legend has it that you will return to Colima again one day once you take a slide. Colima is also conveniently close the beach, complete with pool and waterslide at the beach front restaurant! For easter here in Mexico, they catholics re-enact the Jesus's death, carrying the cross through the streets. It's pretty intense. I asked them if they knew anything about the Easter Bunny and hiding eggs and candy...nope Easter is nothing to do with chocolate bunnies here. Bummer! All and all a great, if short, visit!

Bici para Todos!

2009-04-02T15:48:00.000-07:00

Hola! Every first Thursday of the month we try to make it to Bici para Todos (Biking for Everyone)! It's a group of bicyclists who meet up at 9pm in downtown Guadalajara and set out for a 15km route through the city. The route changes every week, but usually involves a tunnel, a passover and always involves stopping traffic as they wait for the hundreds of bikes to pass...part of the thrill! We guess there's about 500 bikers, but it's really hard to tell. We see blocks of bikes in front of us and blocks of bikes behind us. There' s usually a theme...this last time was Birthday, since they were celebrating 1 year of Bici para todos. We threw some Happy Birthday banners on our helmets and backs, there were a few with party hats on...but this was tame compared to the couple who rode in diapers (1 years old) and had balloons. All in fun! There are families with kids who come out, old people, young people and lots of good energy.

Hiking-El Diente

2009-03-28T15:35:00.000-07:00

Hola! The first time we went to El Diente (the tooth) on the fringe of Guadalajara was for my birthday last September. Gabriel and I headed back on a Saturday to hike around and explore the the other side of the rocky hills. Some climbing involved...couldn't quite keep up with spider man Gabriel who just walked up the rock walls! Wild life sightings consisted of a turkey vulture, who let us get pretty darn close for a photo...