29 December 2009
Happy Belated Christmas, everybody.
05 December 2009
Quickie update
18 October 2009
New photos and videos
We also uploaded new photos from the past couple weeks: Our day at the Suwon Fortress with Young-min, yesterday at the Incheon Festival with Grace, a couple recent photos of Jay's class, and the newest addition to our family: Esther the Dragon Slayer. Enjoy!
04 October 2009
Photos from South Korea are up to date
27 September 2009
Photos online and quick update
In the time since we last posted, we've taught, re-organized our apartment, re-visited a palace in Seoul with Cynthia (our other foreign co-worker), seen a traditional market, read a ridiculous amount of books, gone hiking, shown my mom around Seoul (she visited for a long weekend in September - wonderful but way too short), taken our students on a field trip to a farm and recreation area in Yongin, and travelled to nearby Chuncheon. We took taekwondo classes for a few months, but since the schedule doesn't work out too well, we're probably replacing that time with running and biking (we found wonderful bikes on Craigslist)... Other than that, things are pretty normal. Of course, in Korea that means hectic, busy, and crazy but in a good way for the most part.
I'm currently working on getting all our photos from our Latin America trip online (Facebook and SmugMug). Currently, all photos from Argentina, Belize, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico are up, as well as the photos from Steph and Mike's wedding. Click on the link to "Photos" at the top of this webpage to view all the albums. Photos from Panama, Peru, and recent photos from South Korea are in the works. Thank you for your patience, there are a lot of photos to sort through :-)
In the meantime, don't worry - all is well. Have a wonderful Sunday!
-J&J
12 July 2009
Nearly a month in, and it feels like a year. In a good way. Mostly.
(Clearly I've had enough time to do the new layout for this site though... Or was that just a form of procrastination? Most likely. I hope you like the new layout. It should make it easier to access photos and videos.)
As for our jobs, we've settled into our classes and schedules now, though they tend to change without a lot of notice. Summer session means random new classes that tend to come out of nowhere. We're definitely tired by the end of the day and exhausted by the end of the week, but our kids and co-teachers are amazing, so we are really enjoying it here. And of course, there's so much to do that we don't tend to use the weekends for down-time.
At the end of our second week, we went out with our co-workers to Lotte World, a huge indoor-outdoor theme park in Seoul. It was really fun, and a welcome change to the responsibilities we're supposed to have in class. Five "adults" running around a theme park like little kids? Yup, sounds like a good Friday night.
Photos: Lotte World
Video: The carousel
Video: A preview of the Bungee Jump ride
Video: Jessie, Cynthia, and Ms. Lee on the Bungee Jump
Video: The view of Lotte World from the balloons
We've also had some other adventures: we ventured to Yongsan and (despite Korea's affinity for shiny new things) successfully found Cynthia a Super Nintendo (now called Blanche), had a wonderful day with the wonderful Lino in Bundang, played video games with co-workers, had an amazing lunch that Young made for Cynthia's birthday, went running a few times, made kimchi, and returned to the Coex aquarium and mall in Seoul. As I said; less than a month, but it feels like much more :-)
Here are some more photos and videos from the past few weeks:
Photos: Around Bundang
Photos: At school (updated): Gym time and Clara's birthday
Video: Potato sack races at gym time
Video: Tug of war at gym time
Photos: Making Kimchi
Photos: More E-mart
Photos: Coex mall and aquarium
Video: Beaver spinning in the water at Coex Aquarium
Video: The water tunnel (and sharks) at Coex Aquarium
Additionally, because of the summer rain, the river overflowed. It flooded the paths at the sides and nearly reached the roads!
Photos: Tancheon (new images: overflowing river)
That's it for now - it's time for bed and tomorrow is another Monday morning :-)
Be well!
-J&J
24 June 2009
Our first week in Bundang
Time\Day | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri |
9:30-9:50 | Prep for classes (the kids play and dance) | ||||
9:50-10:50 | Kindergarten class | ||||
10:50-11:00 | Break | ||||
11:00-11:50 | Kindergarten class | ||||
11:50-1:00 | Lunch (we normally leave for lunch, though there is a cook who cooks for the kids and the teachers) | ||||
1:00-1:30 | Kindergarten class | Yoga | |||
1:30-1:50 | Break | ||||
1:50-2:20 | Kindergarten class | ||||
2:20-2:30 | Break | ||||
2:30-3:20 | After-school class 1 | ||||
3:20-3:30 | Break | ||||
3:30-4:20 | After-school class 2 | ||||
4:20-4:30 | Break | ||||
4:30-5:20 | After-school class 3 | ||||
5:20-5:30 | Break | ||||
5:30-6:00 | After-school class 4 |
Cynthia (the 3rd full-time foreign teacher) teaches the six 7-year-olds (6 outside of Korea, since Koreans consider their children to be 1 year old at birth), I teach four amazing 6-year olds (really only 5), and Jay has four 5-year-olds (4). His kids just started taking classes a few weeks ago, so their level is very basic, but the older kids can communicate quite well. We teach the same group all day, and the classes include phonics, reading, singing, science, math, and games. We have a huge amount of freedom over the curriculum (the only requisite book is the phonics book, which Jay's kids don't even have yet).
12 June 2009
Our last few days in the States and a note on the North
We've signed year-long contracts with a school in Korea. We sent our documents to Korea for the school to initiate the visa process. When their half was finished and they sent us our visa issuance numbers, we drove overnight from Mt. Shasta to Berkeley, slept for a few hours, dressed up all nice and took our passports and paperwork to the San Francisco consulate. Despite the hassle of new procedures that weren't necessary a couple years ago (background checks that must be notarized and have an apostille, in-person interviews at the consulate), we were surprised by the speed with which we received our visas. Although interviews are technically required now, since we were not first time applicants and we apparently didn't look murderous, the woman we spoke to simply told us to come back in 2 days to pick up our visas. No interview necessary. I'm not sure if it was our appearance, our experience, or the fact that we'd used some hangeul (Korean writing) on our applications... But we certainly weren't going to complain!
We are in the Bay Area now and pretty much packed - all our suitcases are maxed out at 50 pounds each (United Airlines' maximum allowance for free luggage) and we've just left a few articles of clothing out for our last weekend here. On Sunday afternoon, we'll fly out of SFO and (after crossing the international date line) arrive on Monday evening in Incheon.
Because of some attempted sabotage earlier in our job search (we worked for such lovely people...), we're not willing to post information about our new school or location until we arrive, but we're very excited about it and we'll hopefully post updates in the next week or so. We've been in contact with a current teacher there and it sounds like a good fit for us (though a lot of work). But hey, after a 10-month vacation, we should be plenty rested!
At the moment we're working on studying some Korean and getting ready to teach and live in Korea again. We're excited to return and see old friends, explore a new area, enjoy Korea, and get back to teaching. Of course, after such a long break, we're also a bit nervous about getting back into the classroom. Luckily, since we're arriving late on Monday, we probably won't start teaching until the next Monday, which would mean nearly a full week of observation. If we do in fact start teaching the day after we arrive.... We'll be too surprised to get nervous :-)
On a more serious note, I know that the Koreas have been in the news a bit recently. The North is (as always, it seems) being a bit impulsive, and the former South Korean president committed suicide last month. We've received a few concerned e-mails and calls from worried friends and family about returning to that region of the world. In response, I would like to point out a few things. First, North Korea was launching test missiles before we first went to South Korea in 2007 and yet our year there was uneventful. In fact, the South seemed relatively unperturbed by the launches. Second, North Korea's closest allies, Russia and China,joined the other members of the UN Security Council in unanimously imposing sanctions on North Korea after their recent nuclear test.
In addition to an underground nuclear test, missile launches, and the capture and sentencing of 2 American journalists to 12 years in labor camps, the North routinely threatens to attack anyone who does not bow to their demands. The escalation of their rhetoric and actions is most likely a response to the new South Korean government's harder stance against (and discontinued aid to) North Korea and the ailing health of Kim Jong Il. It's a country of millions of people who are, for the most part, starving. The government clearly has no diplomatic tact whatsoever, and threats are a childish response to a difficult situation. However, childish and wacky as Kim Jong Il and his family may be, we do not believe that they are suicidal or stupid. They know that attacking South Korea would put them in an immediate war against South Korea and all its allies (including the U.S.). That's why they haven't attacked for years. Now more than ever, at a point where even their closest allies are disapproving of their actions, any attack against the South would be short-lived, disastrous and costly for the North, not to mention idiotic. More likely, they are just vying for attention and posturing in order to gain some sort of leverage to demand more international aid.
We don't think that traveling to and living in South Korea is any more dangerous than it was a few years ago. In fact, given some of the crazy and scary things that have been happening in the U.S., it may be safer than staying here. To tip the scales a bit more, there are people in Korea that we love, places that we miss, and an amazing culture that calls to us even in our dreams (I may be so deeply in kimchi withdrawal that it affects my sleep).
So, dear friends and family, don't worry. Things look crazy in the media. They always do - it's how newspapers sell, after all. Bad things happen all over the world, but it's not a reason to hide out at home. The actual risk of going to Korea is far lower than the risk involved in visiting many other places (some of which we have been to in the past few months). We'll keep an eye on the situation and we'll keep you updated as much as possible. Also, if you want to come see things from the other side of the pond (no, the other pond. The BIG one), we're always happy to introduce people to Korea :-)
We're excited to continue our Korean adventure - Part 2 commence!
-J&J
19 May 2009
A quick update
25 March 2009
Where we are now (an internet cafe in David, Panama)
After visiting Tikal and spending a few days in Flores, we got bored of our lovely little island and took a bus to Rio Dulce. The ride was long and uneventful, apart from the constant kicking and hair-pulling courtesy of the 2 kids sitting behind us. (New rule that we propose: When traveling with children, please notice what their hands and feet are doing to other passengers). We hopped off and made our way across the bridge to Hotel Backpackers, a decent place with a great idea: They donate their procedes to their partner, Casa Guatemala (an orphanage and school). We got a private room with a shower, although the privacy is questionable, as the walls were made of mesh wire and we could see the people in the yard from our room and the kitchen from our bathroom. Plus, we ended up bunking with quite a couple mosquitoes. Gotta love spring in the jungle. :-) Aside from the bugs, we enjoyed the few days we spent in Rio Dulce - gorgeous views from the bridge and a generally relaxing few days.
We'd decided that we were both feeling tired and travel weary so, instead of traveling slowly through Central America as we'd planned, we instead booked a bus to San Pedro Sula (Honduras, just across the border) to catch another bus direct to Panama City. When we arrived in SPS, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that the bus stations that apparently were once scattered around the not-terribly-safe city were now consolidated into a single, huge terminal that doubled as a mall (food court included). We headed to the Tica Bus counter to buy tickets for the 5:00 bus in the morning but, because it was Saturday afternoon, the attendants had already left.
Asking around, we discovered that they wouldn't be back until 4:00 AM. We contemplated going to a hostel, but since the terminal never technically closed, we instead decided to spend the night in the station. We had lunch, used the computers in the internet cafe, and crashed on a bench in front of the TicaBus counter, taking turns sleeping (okay, I drifted in and out of sleep and Jay stayed up all night), occasionally glanced at by the security guards that prowled at night.
In the morning, people started arriving to check in for their already-reserved tickets around 4:00. The attendents told us that there was no room on the bus and we'd have to wait to see if someone didn't show up, so we sat, desperately hoping that someone had changed their plans, until the bus driver came in, told us that there were in fact tons of seats, and helped us with our bags. Relieved, we climbed in for the ride. The bus left SPS at 5:00 AM and arrived in Managua, Nicaragua in the late afternoon. For the duration of the bus, this was the only overnight pause and, as Managua is considered a rather dangerous city (especially near the TicaBus station), the company had a hotel in the station itself. We gladly booked a room, as they were very cheap and the next leg of our trip left at 6:00 AM.
Hungry and reassured by the Ticabus attendents that it was pretty safe to walk a block over for food while it was light, we went out in search of food. After getting our menus, the 2 tables of teens near us seemed to have some sort of disagreement that resulted in two of the boys beating the crap out of each other, scattering chairs, customers and tables in the process. We picked up our menus and stepped aside for a couple moments while they figured out their issues, and then returned for our meal. Lovely. We ate pretty quickly before heading back to our hotel for the night and a early start to the South.
The rest of our trip was uneventful - we stopped in San Jose, Costa Rica for a few hours before continuing on to the border with Panama. This one was the only difficult crossing, as we arrived before 5:00 am (despite the San Jose pause) and the Costa Rican exit border crossing didn't open until 6:00. Once across, we had to jump from window to window on the Panama side to buy a tourist card, get a sticker, and get our stamps before lining up in a room to have our luggage hand checked. Luckily, the Ticabus attendant basically held our hands and led us through the whole process.
Once we were approved for entrance to Panama, we headed on towards the capital. Here again, the bus terminal was amazing. I've read that the Panama City bus terminal is the most modern in Latin America and I believe it - it's the best I've seen in the Western Hemisphere! Similar to the terminal in San Pedro Sula, it's large, clean and modern and attached to a mall. Additionally, this one has left-luggage services, great restaurants, and a movie theater. We were ready to move in, but we checked our luggage for the rest of the day, bought tickets to Almirante, and had a nice walk and an amazing lunch of gormet salads and crepes with (as always in Central America), amazing fresh fruit juice (passion fruit and pineapple).
At night, we picked up our luggage and boarded our overnight bus (the last for a while) to Almirante in the Northwest along the Atlantic coast. From there, we caught a taxi to the water taxi service, which took us to Bocas del Toro, on a nearby island. We spent almost a week there, enjoying the sunny beach (for the first and last days), delicious cheap food, and general relaxation. We did not bother to walk to the internet cafes, so that's why we've been out of contact for the past week.
When we finally tired of island life this morning, we retraced our steps to Almirante, and then took a short bus (another mini-van, similar to the one in Guatemala) to David, where we are sitting right now in an internet cafe. Tonight we'll take our last forseeable overnight bus back to Panama City in preparation for our flight to Bogotá and then back to the States. Photos from Rio Dulce and Bocas del Toro are on their way. In the meantime, enjoy the recently uploaded photos and updates and take care!
-JJ
11 March 2009
Tikal, Guatemala
On Wednesday we took a shuttle bus from Flores to the Maya ruins of Tikal. Before our tickets were even checked, we were held up by a huge group of monkey-like creatures walking across the path. Nice way to start the day!
When the spectacle of the monkeys had passed, we walked for about 30 minutes through lush jungle foliage and small remains of an old empire before arriving at the gran plaza, the location of the majority of the temples (and tourists).
After exploring the area and climbing a number of exessively-tall steps (I refuse to belive the Mayans were any taller than us, so they must have had some incredible thighs), we continued north towards Templo V through a quieter path, occasionally egged on by howler monkeys, until we reached the temple.
While almost all of the verticle temples in the gran plaza had been off-limits to climbers, this one had a wooden ladder allowing people to climb to the top (as many of the original stone steps had eroded). Flipping the bird to his fear of heights, Jay made his way up the ladder to see the view from the top.
I stayed safely on the ground for documentation purposes.
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Tikal, Guatemala |
09 March 2009
Arriving in Flores, Guatemala
We took a taxi to the border and passed through, paying the official departure fee from Belize and the questionable 20Q to enter Guatemala. We ignored the border taximen, offering overpriced transport to a nearby city, and found a little restaurant nearby where we sat down, had a couple sodas, and enjoyed a bit of shade. We then asked for advice on how to get a collectivo to Flores, went around the corner to the station they told us about, and waited. What came was neither a bus nor a taxi, but a tiny mini-bus no bigger than a VW bus packed full of peopl e. My “seat” was a 4-inch wide stool shoved in the space between 2 other seats, and Jay shuffled in next to the other people in his row.
We drove for a couple hours, letting off some and picking up others. Although there was never an empty seat, the driver didn’t turn anyone down – at times the assistant hung out the sliding side door to allow more standing (crouching) room for new passengers. In this manner, we sardines made our way to Santa Elena, disengaged our limbs from the pile with the other passengers, collected our luggage from where it had been tied on the roof of the van, and hopped straignt onto a tiny tuk-tuk taxi that took us across the bridge to our destination: the tiny island of Flores, Guatemala.
Having no idea of the available accommodations, we asked theh driver for a hostal in the center. He took us to “Los Amigos Hostal” – an amazing place with lots of animals, hammocks, flowers and a restaurant that served incredible custom-made fresh smoothies. We got a private little cabin and a hammock outside, where we sat and enjoyed the late-afternoon sun, birds, and flowers before venturing out for some late dinner.
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Flores, Guatemala |
08 March 2009
Horseback riding through the jungle: San Ignacio, Belize
Our horseback ride was amazing and yet, at the same time, rather surreal. Natalie, Trip, Jay and I mounted our loyal steeds of the day and followed Charlie, a blond, exuberant Swedish woman in her 50s or 60s who’d been living in Belize for decades. She led us out of the town and into the jungle, where she occasionally had to pause to hack a path with the machete she carried at her side.
Natalie and Trip had relatively normal horses... but ours had personality! My horse, Niño, enjoyed lagging behind and swiping mouthfuls of whatever plant he could find. When we fell too far behind, he cantered smoothly to catch up and then proceeded at a snails pace again to enjoy the scenery and scope out the culinary options. I loved it! Time to take pictures, plus the opportunity to canter? All right!
Jay was not quite as pleased. His horse, Niña (strangely, Niño’s mother) sensed from the start that he was inexperienced, and she also tended to lag behind. Everytime she had anyone but Niño behind her, she threw a fit and anytime Jay tried to speed her up, she turned and gave him a withering glare before continuing to go at whatever pace she damn well pleased (I thought she was great!). So we stuck together in the back of the group, with one exception: water.
We had to follow the other horses closely when crossing water because, despite the sun and heat, both Niño and Niña were incredibly hydrophobic. If not directly following another horse, they would not cross. Even when they could see the other horses, and even when it was just a trickle or a muddy patch, they would balk, pace, try to find an alternative and finally either trudge bitterly through (Niña) or, far more exciting and yet rather whiplash enducing, jump (Niño).
In total, we spent about 8 hours, taking a break near a river for lunch and another by an old Mayan arch and steps to admire the ruins. The day was amazing and, although we were sore for days afterwards, completely worth it.
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Horseback riding near San Ignacio, Belize |
07 March 2009
Santa Elena and San Ignacio, Belize
We spent the next day wandering around San Ignacio and its neighbor city, Santa Elena before scouting out a good restaurant to eat pupusas. We’d planned to rent bikes, but, although all the hostels and travel agencies used to offer bike rentals, one had problems with “destructive tourists” so they all stopped. Instead, we washed our clothes in the hotel’s backyard (with a washboard! Very exciting!) and hung them up to dry while 2 wide-eyed parrots chirped happily at us. We then booked a full-day horseback riding trip for the next day and bought food for the ride before crashing.
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San Ignacio and Santa Elena, Belize |
06 March 2009
American School Buses in Belize: The ride from the Palenque to San Ignacio
Alternating between shade and sun at every turn in the road, we coast by broken-down houses and auto-body graveyards with our bags between our legs. We pick up more passengers, we move on... and then our tiny bus (that we picked up before crossing the border into Belize) breaks down and we shuffle our belongings - followed by Belizians, Mexicans, and a few random Dutch – onto the Belizian form of public transit: An old US public school bus, painted white. The seats are cracking at the edges and from our spot midway towards the back (between the tough kids and the nerds), we can read 3 signs in the front: “no smoking”, “All American”, and “Your Children’s SAFETY is our Business” and I can’t help but wonder: At what point exa ctly do U.S. public school districts give away their buses? And, to distract myself from the worries brought on by THAT question, why to Belize?
The ride to Belize City takes a couple hours, then we hop off and head away from the bus station to find an ATM, as we still have only Mexican Pesos (apparently useless as far as neighboring Belize is concerned). On our way, drivers stop to roll down their windows and state that the bus station is the other direction. We stand out a bit, being the only white people in the area, and the bright backpacks probably don’t help either.
We get out money (with more helpful directions from locals) and head back to the bus station to find not schedules or ticket counters, but a few rickety school buses with drivers mumbling their destinations before leaving. We search around and wait for the magic mumble “San Ignacio” before boarding. The bus drives for a couple hours, picking up some people and dropping off others until we reach the capital city of Belmopan, where the bus loads up with so many passengers that some have to stand to fit. This is apparently illeagal (though clearly noly enforced at official stations), as the driver and assistant tell everyone to sit down until we leave the station.
Many of the school bus seats (made to seat 2 children) are holding 2-3 adults, some with luggage. We have our backpacks between our knees and our side bags on our laps, and yet are joined by another passenger as we try to nonchalantly edge our way out of the station. Apparently, we are not altogether convincing. The security guard boards the bus, glances down the aisle, and tells everyone who doesn’t fit in the seats to get off the bus. This in turn leasds to a yelling match between the driver and the guard, some departures, some furtive last-minute squeezes, and one woman pretending to not understand any English. The guard repeats the request in Spanish (the woman, clearly Hispanic, continues to feign ignorance), then he directs her towards the door, barking orders at the other standers and still in a yelling match with the driver.
To add more entertainment, every time he turns his attention to the driver, a cacophany of inslulsts, hises, complaints and curses bursts out from the safely-seated passengers. He yells some more at everyone (“I am a police officer!”), turns purple, and finally writes a ticket for the driver before getting off the bus. The driver exits the parking lot, the assistant yells an obscenity at the guard, and we pick up the standing passengers a block or so down the road.
Another couple hours of lush grasslands and trees, colorful and ramshacle houses and road, and we arrive in San Ignacio. We will never look at a school bus the same way again.
P.S. Here are late photos from Palenque and Oaxaca, Mexico:
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Palenque, Mexico |
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Oaxaca, Mexico |
05 March 2009
Moving on: Our last week in Mexico.
Huatulco was meant to be a short stop to change buses and head on for another hour or so to Mazunte (aka calm beach) but, as soon as we boarded our second bus (at about 7:00 AM), we were informed that the main road was blocked no buses could leave. We went to eat breakfast, then came back and waited a few hours in the station, hoping that the road would clear and we'd be able to continue to the water (about which I'd been fantasizing for weeks). No dice. Additionally, I was getting impatient from having gone on 3 overnight buses with no shower in between. So, around noon, we gave up and headed off to find a hotel.
We were lucky to find an available, clean and cheap room nearby. Additionally, the owner was extremely friendly and happy to practice his English on Jay (who in turn used the hotel owner as his own Spanish practice). We unloaded our bags, took much-needed showers, and washed our clothes before heading into town to wander, eat, and find an internet cafe to study in.
We spent the next day in Huatulco as well, and took the night bus back to Oaxaca when the roads cleared up. Another day in Oaxaca, another night bus - this time to Palenque, the city, from which we visited the amazingly beautiful ruins of the same name. Lush, jungle surroundings, beautiful buildings, pretty waterfalls, and really sunny weather. Plus, there weren't actually that many people. Way better than Machu Picchu on my oh-so-objective-ruins-scale. Photos to come.
Currently, we're back in the city of Palenque, having just returned from the ruins. Tonight we have another night bus (hopefully the last for a while) to Chetumal at the border of Belize. From there we'll take a series of short buses into San Ignacio and enjoy the jungle of Belize. Internet availability might be more scarce, so if you're wondering where we are, we're probably having wildly amazing jungle adventures or being intimidated and held in custody by border patrol. You never really know. :-)
All the best, and stay tuned! -JJ
For now, we only have updated photos from Tlaquepaque uploaded. Photos from Oaxaca, Palenque and (soon) Belize will be up as soon as we get the chance.
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Tlaquepaque, Mexico |
18 February 2009
An update from our weekend in Guanajuato; a language ramble; and photos of Guadalajara, Tlaquepaque, Guanajuato, and San Miguel de Allende
On Valentine's day, we went to Guanajuato with Joanne and Silvia (other students in our program). We got up absurdly early on Saturday to meet up at 5:30 and catch a taxi. When we walked into the dining room, Silvia (host mom) had left us bowls, cereal, and bananas all laid out very sweetly to make sure we ate before leaving! We're kind of spoiled here...
We walked towards the center to meet our travel partners, caught a taxi, and headed off to the bus station where we purchased tickets with ETN, the fancy-schmanzy bus that has headphones (so that you don't HAVE to listen to the movie), huge comfortable seats, and onboard WiFi.... Though I'm pretty sure we all just slept the whole way there.
Upon arriving in lovely Guanajuato around 10:30, we wandered around in search of breakfast and lodging before exploring the alleys, plazas, and general beauty of Guanajuato. The self-titled "Capital of the Kiss" was a great place to be on Valentine's Day, although apparently (and quite ironically) the government of the city is seeking to outlaw PDA (specifically, kissing in the street)... but that law is still in progress, so no jail for the couples on "el día del amor y amistad".
We went to the Callejón del Beso (Alley of the Kiss), where the alley is so narrow that people on the second floor balconies on either side are close enough to kiss. According to local legend, this is where the young lovers Ana (some stories say her name was Carmen) and Carlos met. Ana was the daughter of a Spaniard, and Carlos was a local, relatively poor miner. Ana lived in the house on one side of the alley and, to be with her, Carlos moved into the house on the other side. At night they would meet each other on their balconies and talk all night. One night, Ana's father (who intended for her to marry a wealthy friend in Spain) caught them and warned them never to see each other again, as he would not accept their relationship. Ignoring his warning, the two continued to see each other secretly from their balconies until Ana's father caught them and, furious, stabbed Ana in the heart with a dagger. Carlos, helpless to do anything, kissed Ana's hand as she died.
In memory and recognition of the tragedy, the Callejón del Beso is a place frequented by partners. According to local superstition, if you go there with your partner and kiss on the steps, you will have good luck in love and happiness for 7 years (at which point I suppose you have to go back to renew). If you go with a partner and don't kiss on the stairs, you will have bad luck for 7 years. If you go without a partner, you aren't affected either way. ...We got in line with all the rest :-)
Afterwards, we all went to a lovely French restaurant near the University. They had a set menu of cream of mushroom soup or salad, pasta with salmon, and chocolate fondant or fruit and ice cream. When we walked in and admitted that no, we didn't have reservations, they explained that all the tables were reserved, but we could have the VIP room instead for no extra charge. Um... okay! The room was beautiful, with photos on the wall from various places in Paris, and 3 mini-tables with individual table settings perfectly decorated with little candy hearts for the occasion. It was lovely, the food was delicious, the wine was great, and we had it all to ourselves for evening. Nice!
When we finished dinner, we wandered towards the hotel and stumbled upon a live salsa (and bachata and cha cha) band playing in the plaza. We watched couples dancing (at first a few die-hard dancers, then more joined in) and danced for a few songs, and finally called it a night. The next day we woke up mid-morning to head off to San Miguel de Allende.
Although the architecture was beautiful, San Miguel de Allende has far more foreigners living there than it does Mexicans, and we were rather overwhelmed by it. After lunch, Silvia and Joanne headed off to shop and we took a few photos (see below), ate some ice cream, and hid in an internet cafe until it was time to meet up and head home.
In our defense, (1) we DID take photos first, (2) it was really hot to be outside, (3) seriously, tons of Americans and Canadians, and (4) I had to study my Italian.
...Speaking of which, Jay wants me to share my online-language-addiction with you, and I've already organized it all nicely for a couple e-mails, so here you are. All sites are free or at least the services that I'm commenting on are free.
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Courses
http://www.livemocha.com/ : Lessons structured for multiple languages, with text and audio submissions evaluated by native speakers. Language exchange available. progress tracked ... *best feedback for focused writing and speaking, structured lesson plans*, offers courses in Icelandic, Russian, Hindi, Mandarin, Japanese, German, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, French and Italian.
http://lang-8.com/ : Write a blog or online journal or note in a language you want to practice, native speakers correct your mistakes. (French, Russian, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish, Japanese, Chinese) *best opportunity for free feedback of creative writing*
http://lingq.com : Lessons based off of conversations, songs, and articles of varying levels. Includes native speaker's reading (downloadable), and words highlighted as unknown are translated and saved as flashcards (they are automatically removed if you correctly identify them twice in a row). Time with a tutor is available for points (money or contribution). Better after you have a bit of exposure to the language (at least beginning words). GREAT for advanced work on vocab and accent. Allows you to download mp3s of article/story/song/conversation for free. *best resource for reading/audio materials for new vocab and on-the-go audio practice*
http://www.mangolanguages.com/ : (French, Spanish, Dutch, Braz. Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Russian, Greek, German, Italian). VERY similar to Pimsleur, with repetition and explanation, plus written form of what you're learning, at your pace.Slideshow format, with audio and textual explanations, breaking down phrases, and other tools to build vocabulary naturally. Downloadable to mp3 format. *best grammar explanations, best on-the-go lessons*
http://en.babbel.com (only spanish,, german, french, italian) uses word, image and sound, memory devices leading up to writing entries that are then uploaded for correction/feedback. Collects vocabulary that you're working on in one section (takes a couple minutesto refresh?), language exchange. You can pick your lesson by theme, no cronological order. Many possible images for each word (you can force it to show you another one). built in dictionary and special characters at top of page. Emphasis on vocabulary. *best vocab builder*
Dictionaries
http://www.wordreference.com/ : Multilingual dictionary
Vocab builders
http://www.internetpolyglot.com/mainMenu.html?locale=en : (English, Spanish, French, Chinese, German, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Russian, Portuguese, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Latin, Hindi, Polish, Swedish, Romanian, Turkish, Czech, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Amharic, Norwegian, Estonian, Bulgarian) Learn with written word, image, and sound clips. Has games and memory tests, and an ability to manage your own lessons. vocabulary builder
http://www.ingolingo.com/ : (German, Dutch, Spanish, French, Chinese, ) goal is to learn 3000 words per month. Images and text and repetition, but no audio, may be slow or may be just this computer... vocabulary builder
Language exchange, user-designed courses
http://www.italki.com : Has wiki-style lessons in all languages (text explanations), language exchange, Q&A...
http://www.palabea.net/ : videolectures (stories, movies, lectures), language exchange, online study resources
http://www.wordchamp.com/ : flashcards, audio recordings of native speakers, webreader (read foreign site, with pop-up translations as needed), vocab and grammar drills, language partners
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I'm currently eating through the Livemocha Italian 101 lessons, but Lingq is pretty amazing for vocabulary building, listening and reading practice...
That's it for now. I'm going to go work on my languages and we need to try to figure out how to ship a guitar to the States without losing our minds, since we just have one week left!
And here are our photos. We're all caught up now! (Until tomorrow, when we go back to Guadalajara...) Enjoy, and have a great weekend!
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Guadalajara, Mexico |
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Tlaquepaque, Mexico |
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Guanajuato, Mexico |
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San Miguel de Allende |
Third week!
Nuestra familia aqui es fantastica, especialmente la madre y el hijo menor. Tambien tenemos una "language exchange" compañera, se llama Nayeli, tiene diez y ses años, y es muy muy simpatica. Ella practica su ingles con nosotros, y yo practico mi español con ella, y Jessie practica hablar, pero no hay muchas nuevas palabras para ella. Conocimos su familia también, y acábamos de cenar con ellos en un restaurant que a ellos les gusta mucho. Despues, preguntaron a nosotros, si hay un lugar en Guadalajara que quieríamos conocer mejor. Respondí "el centro", y el padre dijo "Bueno, cuál día y a qué hora quieres salir?" Wow. Okay. Entonces, a domingo a las diez, vamos a ir con la familia al centro de Guadalajara. Yay! Para nosotros, estadosunidenses, es un poco difícil aceptar tanta hospitalidad, pero estamos haciendo lo que podemos.
Y ahora este párrafo en ingles:
And now for that paragraph in English (maybe)
For three weeks we have been in Tlaquepaque, and damn, I like it a lot. I am learning a lot, and every day there are new people to meet and speak with. Right now
I'm in a new clas - on monday, I had a private class (yay!) but afterwards there are two more students. It's cool.
Our family here is fantastic, especially the mom and younger son. Also, we have a "language exchange" partner, her name is Nayeli, she is 16 years old, and is very nice. She practices her english with us, I practice my spanish with her, and Jessie practices speaking, but there aren't many new words for her. We met her family as well, and just ate dinner with them in a restaurant that they like a lot. Afterwards, they asked us, if there is a place in Guadalajara that we would like to know better. I responded "the center" and the father said "Okay, which day and at what time do you want to go?" Wow. Okay. So, on sunday at ten, we will go with them to the center of Guadalajara. Yay! For us, americans, it's a little difficult to except so much hospitality, but we are doing what we can.
That's it for now. Jessie's going crazy learning Italian on livemocha.com (I'm sure she'll write all about it when she gets a chance) and I'm busy eargasming over Lamb Of God's new album on youtube.
Good luck to all of you in the states, sounds exciting with all the news, but also a bit scary. I hope Arnold knows what he's doing. Likewise Obama.
-Jay
**Note** Jessie helped with the spanish spelling, because I still really suck with accents and the natural placement of vowels. But other than that, ¡estoy muy animado por aprender español! ¡Con un keyboard hispaña, tambien!
16 February 2009
10 February 2009
Photos from Chapala and Ajijic, Mexico
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Chapala, Mexico |
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Ajijic, Mexico |
09 February 2009
A few photos...
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Teotihuacán, Mexico |
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Paracho, Mexico |
Tequila, Mexico
First, Tequila is made from blue agave plants. This is a type of cactus that takes 10 years to mature (when it does, it sprouts a single flower in the center). The plant's leaves are then sheared off and the center (which looks like a pineapple) is baked for 40 hurs in batches in huge ovens, causing it to become naturally sweet. (In fact, Agave is also used as an alternative to sugar). The "pineapples" then need to be picked apart by hand and are pressed to extract the liquid (the remaining fibers can be used for clothes and paper). The agave is then fermented in huge vats with some salt water and yeast before it is distilled. Legally, it is required that the factories distil the alcohol twice before selling it as tequila, and from the giant fermenting vats, only about 10% of the liquid makes it through the 2nd distilation. (Some types of tequila are distilled an additional time after that).
The pure resulting tequila is called Tequila Blanco, which in its best form (and from this distillery) is made from 100% agave and bottled directly after distillation. It's completely clear, and burns a bit when you drink it, but it tastes very crisp. Alternatively, tequila is also placed into wooden barrels for various amounts of time to soften the bite, adding flavor and color. Tequila reposado has spent 2-11 months in a barrel, is slightly softer and darker than tequila blanco, and tastes slightly sweeter. Tequila añejo spends 1-3 years in a barrel, is smoother still, and darker. There is also another type of añejo that spends 3-5 years in a barrel, and another name entirely for tequila that ages even longer than that, but I don't remember those names and we only tried the first three types.
Apparently, the correct way to drink tequila is to simply swallow the first taste (or shot, depending on the person) without pausing - "Don't think, just drink" as our guide explained. This is to open up the throat and allow you to enjoy the other tastes more. After that, you should put the tequila in your mouth, move it around a bit for a few seconds, inhale, swallow, and exhale. This leaves the taste very strongly in your mouth (though, with the blanco and reposado, it does burn a bit). The custom of drinking tequila with salt and lime (salt to build up saliva to help with the tequila, then lime to soften the taste) comes from a long time ago when the tequila was much stronger, and is still used today for crappier tequilas (the ones you don't WANT to taste). Apparently, with 100% agave tequila, you should drink it alone or else you kill it by mixing in other flavors.
Are you an expert yet? There's more. For instance (not trying to shatter your worldview), tequila never has a worm. That drink is called Mezcal and is made from a different type of cactus, although it looks similar to blue agave. Also, you are about to discover how tequila was discovered (or the legend thereof). Originally, the natives who grew agave used the leaves for all sorts of things (including roofing of their houses!) but, upon trying the bitter raw agave, decided it was not useful for anything and thew it away. One day, there was a storm and a bolt of lightning hit the agave plant. The people came out to see where the new, sweet smell was coming from and they tried the new, cooked, agave. They loved it! They began to use it as a sweetener and to make drinks from it. Well, one day some dingbat left the agave water out for too long and it fermented. He tried it anyway, and it's been party-time in Mexico ever since...More or less.
We tasted some of the very sweet flavored liquors as well and bought a bottle for our host family before heading back into the town of Tequila for lunch. All in all, a fascinating, educating, and slightly intoxicating day. But now that we both understand the process and history of tequila (a drink that neither of us had ever liked before), we appreciate and enjoy it much more. That's all for now until I can get more photos up... much love to everyone and *cheers*.
A week (and counting) in Tlaquepaque
The program at the school offers almost-daily excursions and outings including dance classes, tours of Tlaquepaque and Guadalajara, wrestling matches, and trips to nearby cities. We tried the salsa class but didn't like it (more flair than partner dancing); went to Chapala, Ajijic, Guachimontones and Tequila (yes, THE Tequila); and this week we will probably see a wrestling match, go for a hike, and take a weekend trip to Guanajuato and/or Queretaro.
We're also getting to know Tlaquepaque and the people in our program a bit better. It's amazing to see the age range of students - within the regular group classes, we're the youngest and the oldest couple right now is somewhere between 60-70 years old. Though most are from the States or Canada, there are a couple Japanese girls who came today, a girl from Holland, and 2 girls who take private lessons (and are studying ceramics with our host family!) from England and Australia. I say "girl", but again, there's a large range of ages with 19 being the youngest and the oldest maybe late 20s or early 30s. Everyone comes from a different background and it's fascinating to learn more about the travels and experiences of our classmates.
One week flown by, 3 more to go. Many more updates (and photos!) to come, but I'll add information about Tequila in another entry... Jay will tell you about the other trips.
Our excursions
We didn´t have much time or space to explore the city properly, but Chapala has a lovely beach area with a small plaza and an excellent walking area. There was a bit of construction going on near the docks, so due to the noise Jessie decided to spend most of the time napping on a bench near a central fountain. After an hour or so of leisurely relaxation, we hopped back in with Miguel and ended up in Ajijic, another small town where, honestly, I can´t even remember what we did. There was, however, a great resort-ish area with a restaurant, lots of awesome buildings and native-looking structures (for example, a sauna in the top of a faux-ancient giant wooden head). Lots of stairs, too. We all retired to the restaurant for a few drinks and just chilled. It was nice, relaxing, and mostly uneventful in a good way. We got a chance to talk with our fellow students and have a small change of scenery and pace.
The next day after classes, we all boarded up with Miguel again, this time to Guachimontones, an archelogical site showing the Teuchitlàn tradition, which is, according to Wikipedia "a complex society that existed from as early as 300 BCE until perhaps 900 CE." We went to a small museum first which explained a bit of the history of the culture, watched a short movie (where I started and completed much of my homework for the night) about the restoration of the sie, and then headed out to actually see the stepped pyramids. The area is relatively small, and not exactly grandoise, but very very beautiful (with a great view of the city below) and extremely telling of the culture. There were a couple restored pyramids, with the largest one being about 60 feet high, and our guide had a lot of information. One thing that really stood out was the Mesoamerican ballcourt, where the losers of the game were sacrificed. Funsies. We asked a bit about this, and apparently (Jessie correct me if I´m wrong), there are two types of games.
1) A personal challenge, between friends or enemies, wherein the challenger and challengee each bring their own team (however the judge makes the ultimate decision of who can play), they all duke it out, and the winner gets to say "lo, take this loser and cut off all [or only some, if he´s nice] of his limbs, and spread them far and wide so that he may forever remember how he has lost to me."
And 2) The time of the sacrifice has come, the players volunteer themselves, and the winners are sacrificed. Willingly. Like, they play harder so that they may be the chosen ones. So at least they´re ready for that one.
Saturday we went to Tequilla, which rocked hard (Jessie will tell you all about it).
And our most recent trip has been to take a Tapatio Bus Tour around Guadalajara on Sunday. It´s a double decker bus with an open top, where tickets cost about $110 pesos (roughly $8 USD) and we receive an orange wristband which allows us to get on and off at any of the designated stops. Buses come every 30 minutes or so, so the tour can last anywhere between 2 hours or all day. The interesting thing at the beginning of the day for us was that, being Sunday, the local road to Guadalajara, where the bus normally picks people up, was closed off for bikes. Apparently this happens every Sunday. Which rocks, but damn it, that was our bus street. So we asked around (the locals are exceedingly friendly and used to tourists), walked about, finally found the bus, and enjoyed the scenery. Photos forthcoming of that.
We got off at two seperate points, and by the time we wanted to get back on at the end, the Tapatio buses had stopped running. We ended up again asking la gente de la calle y la ciudad for help, they accomadated us con mucho gusto, and we made our way back without event. Oh, except the first city bus broke down in the middle of the street without warning, so we all had to transfer over to another, which was fun.
The next trips planned are (maybe) a Mexican wrestling event in Guadalajara on Tuesday, a small historical walking tour of Tlaquepaque on Wednesday, and a weekend trip to Guanajuato and/or Queretaro as Jessie has said.
Thanks for the time! Love to all :)
-Jay
01 February 2009
Mexican health clinics, crafstman guitars, and our new home for a month
Worried that it might be something very serious, but not in any mood to spend time in a hospital, we went to a pharmacy in central Coyohuacán for a cheap (about $1.50) consult. The doctor was the sweetest person I have ever seen in a health clinic - she talked with us about our travels, commented that Jay looks very Mexican (sigh), and, additionally, clearly knew exactly what was happening as soon as I mentioned Doxycycline. Her remedy: Stop the doxycycline for as long as possible (at least 10 days), take some fun new medicine to fix my stomach lining (pharmacy next door), and not eat any spicy or greasy food for three days.
...Hm. As to the first two, we'd been 4 weeks out of a dangerous malaria zone, so we were okay to stop the pills for a while (until entering Guatemala), and I am fine with the new pills... but no spicy food? No greasy food? And we'd just arrived in Mexico. So I've been quietly watching Jay down large quantities of delicious, spicy, greasy (deliciously so) food while I timidly munch away at.... cucumber. And tomatoes. And the occasional agua de horchata. Oh well. At least we've taken two things away from this: (1) Cheap Mexican health clinics are amazing, and (2) doxycycline should be consumed with food and lots and lots of water.
The next day, reassured that I wasn't dying, we headed to Teotihuacán, a site of Aztec ruins near the city. We spent a good deal of time observing mere mortals from the tops of huge pyramids, and we saw an Isaac look-alike. (Photos to come later, but seriously, he was identical except for the speaking Spanish). A good day.
We then boarded an overnight bus to Uruapan, where we dropped our stuff off in a hostel and headed to Paracho, a center of classical guitar-makers. We browsed, "ooh"ed, and "aah"ed at the pretty nylon-stringed instruments, sampled a few, and ended up talking for at least an hour with the (40-something) son of a guitar-maker. He practiced his English, Jay practiced his Spanish, and many band names were exchanged. All the while, Jay was playing away on one of the pretty guitars. Upon entering the store and noting the higher quality of the instruments, we were pretty sure it was going to be out of our price range, but the guitar ended up being well under $100, with a sturdy case included. We took her home and named her Sally 23 (in honor of the absurd number of Korean students who have adopted the English name Sally, and the fact that Mexico is Jay's 23rd country to visit, not to mention our current age).
So yes, we have a new guitar. She's very pretty. And she sounds nice. (These are my professional observations on the matter... I think Jay could be a little more descriptive).
That night, after spending the last night on a bus and the day wandering around in the sun, we crashed early, but were woken up first by fireworks from the nearby plaza (WHY does EVERYONE need to celebrate our arrival? These little celebrations seem to follow us...), and then by a band. A loud one. With distorted guitar, bass, and a drummer who may or may not have been on speed. Turns out there was a Metallica tribute concert next door. Starting at 10:30 PM. Ending at... I don't know, but when I woke up at around 5:00, I was surprised by the silence.
And now we are in Tlaquepaque, a district just south of Guadalajara. Did you notice the slight change of plans? The school in Oaxaca finally got back to us about homestays and it turned out that I had a family with 3 family members and 5 foreign students... and Jay had a separate, similar situation. That's not a homestay, that's a hostel. We asked for a single family for just the two of us, and the program director said she'd get back to us...but we still haven't heard (seeing as the classes were supposed to start tomorrow, we aren't holding our breath). In the meantime, we researched options in other cities, and found a school here that has a similar program, but with better homestay options. We met our family just a few hours ago - Silvia, the mom, is the main person in charge of foreign students. We are the only two staying, and we have our own area of the house (in fact, the entire Northern half of the ground floor) for studying and sleeping. Silvia is incredibly sweet, as is her younger son Jacob, who learned English in school and is happy to practice with either language. The father (Eduardo?) and older son are a bit more reserved, so we haven't really had a chance to talk to them yet. The family also runs a ceramics business that they inherited from Eduardo's father (who started it over 80 years ago). Their workshop is attached to the house and takes up half the entire block. Right now they're working on sink basins for a 5-star hotel in Chihuahua. Hand painted and everything!
They also have canaries in the patio, a few stray cats that they've sort of adopted, and a purchased cat that hides upstairs. The younger son is still in school, and the older son runs an internet cafe on another side of the house. (But we found a cheaper one near town center :-))
Ah, and in addition to the house being a 3-minute walk from school, we also found a Taekwon-do/Hapki-do/Kickboxing studio right down the street from the house, so we'll go in tomorrow (after our first day of classes!!) to see if we can sign up for a month. Plus, Silvia is a great cook and, upon learning that my birthday's on Tuesday, she's making tamales! We're pretty excited.
That's all for now, I have to go take my medicine and we need to go settle in.
Much love to everyone and remember. When stuck in Scrabble with too many Qs, "Tlaquepaque". (If you can slide a proper noun in.)
27 January 2009
Thoughts
We´re currently in Mexico City, where the food is ridiculously amazing, the city is surprisingly clean and safe (we commented to ourselves while walking around that it feels on par with Seoul or any of the South American cities we visited), the metro system has nice little icons, and there is Korean food. We could definitely return and work here.
We´ve been attempting to find a movie theater here that shows The Spirit, as I really want to see it (along with Watchmen, which I can hardly wait for), but so far to no avail. Which is ironic, because there are signs and adverts for it up all over the city.
The days thus far have been relaxing and explorative. In the morning, we jog whenever possible, which is especially easy in our current hostel, as literally right down the street is a park designed for joggers, paths laid out and a vendor selling fresh fruit refrescos right at the gate. We´re currently up to a straight 28 minute jog, with the goal being 30. It´s a bit insane, going out and running almost every morning (especially while staying in Valparaiso, on top of quite a steep hill and next to a really smelly ocean), but results are starting to show in that we´re not completely winded by the end anymore.
In addition to the small park, the area we´re staying in has some amazing restaurants only a few blocks away, and this internet cafe I´m typing from that we´ve frequented every night since our arrival. Our hostel is Coyote Flaco Backpackers, which, if any travelers are reading, we heartily recommend.
It´s winter here, which is funny, so the locals will often bundle up in scarves and a light sweater, while we roam the city in our t-shirts and trusty chocos wrapped around our feet, happily chugging our bottled water and squinting into the sun.
I´ve been researching options for recording my music, and am currently getting a bit antsy to start trying them all out. I´ve decided to try and have a CD written, recorded, produced and mixed by the end of our next year in Korea, so we´ll see if I can accomplish that. Here´s hoping!
That´s about all for now, really. I have a few specific topics I´d like to write about, which I will, but all in due time. For now, just a last note to say we´re loving the city, I´m extremely glad we decided to travel to this region of the world after a hectic year in Korea, y aún es mi español muy mal, pero trato a aprender la lenguaje y usar con la gente, Jessie, y yo mismo tambien.
Mexico City is glorious
More updates forthcoming (i.e. the elusive Jay will post as soon as he stops looking at music sites).
For now, photos! The "Mexico City" has been updated to also include my photos from the first day (before only Jay's were uploaded), and the Chapultepec album is from today. Also, please note that a new link has been added to the right-hand navigation: direct access to all the albums on Picasa so you don't have to find a specific post to get to the photos. Enjoy!
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Mexico City, Mexico |
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Chapultepec Park, Mexico City, Mexico |
26 January 2009
Santiago, Valparaiso, and nearby areas in Chile, plus our first day in Mexico
When we'd had our fill of Chile's very European city, we headed west back to Valparaíso to spend a wonderful near-week with my host family. During our time there, Carlos and Andrés took us to Limache/Olmue, and a laguna near Valparaíso with koi fish big enough to devour a small person. Carlos introduced us to the newest members of the family (baby chickens!), Jay shaved his beard off, we saw pupeteers in central Viña, Bobi (the dog) bumped into people and walls because of the cone he had to wear around his head, Adela beat some Spanish knowledge into Jay, Andrés treated us to his movie and music collection, and much food was prepared and eaten. It was relaxing, natural, and absolutely wonderful to stay with them again, and Jay was able to communicate quite a bit, which was pretty darn impressive.
When it was time to leave, Adela, Carlos and Andrés got up at 4-something in the morning to drive us to the airport in Santiago and insisted that we must come back to Chile again soon (they've decided that 2011 would be good).
Sad to leave but glad to travel, we boarded our plane to Bogotá´s airport (which, by the way, blows US airports out of the way as far as intimidating security) for a few hours, and then to Mexico City: Third-largest city in the world, 1st-largest in the western hemisphere. Flying in just before sunset, we saw the whole city just sprawl out into the horizon without visible boarders... it's pretty intimidating!
We took a taxi to our hostel (dorm-style bedrooms, but huge, clean building in a great location next to a park and near metro and lots of restaurants in the Coyoacán area), dropped off our stuff, and went out to eat.
Wow. What a change from meat, potatoes, palta (avocado) and bread. I love my host family, and I do love Chile and most of the other cities we saw in South America, but the only time we really got varied or spicy food was in Santiago´s one Korean restaurant and at my host family's house. On our first night in Mexico, for about a dollar per dish, we got quesadillas (corn and flour tortillas to fulfil Jay's long-time cravings), tacos of cactus (nopales) and cheese, horchata (a milky-watery-cinnamon drink), guacamole, and a minitower of salsas and dips for our chips. We are in culinary heaven.
The next day (today), we walked around the historical center, exploring the cathedral, the national palace with its murals and botanical garden, and random sidestreets in the area. We're still working on final details with our Oaxaca language program, but for now we'll be staying in wonderful Mexico City, enjoying the absurdly-cheap and far-reaching metro system, and sampling lots and lots of fabulous food.
More details and photos to come, but for now...
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Santiago, Chile |
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Limache and Olmué, Chile |
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Laguna, Chile |
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Valparaíso, Chile |
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Mexico City, Mexico |