wanderluster

roadtrip

2007-06-04T19:08:00.000-07:00

we just got back from our birthday roadtrip up the coast, through the Pacific Northwest. it was so beautiful, i had to include images i found online that remind me of what we saw. once we have our photos downloaded, i hope to post them too.

Avenue of the Giants:

Trinidad, CA:

Redwood National Park:

Patrick's Point-Wedding Rock-Agate Beach:

Heceta Head Lighthouse:

Portland Japanese Gardens-Rose Test Gardens:

Mount Hood-Trillium Lake:

Pike's Place-Seattle:

Stanley Park-Vancouver:

because it's my birthday

2007-06-04T18:59:00.000-07:00

i'm 29 and rex will be glad to hear me admit that it is no longer my birthday. i believe everyone should get at least two straight days to celebrate and take advantage of their birthday. maybe even three days, don't you agree?

mochi/manju

2007-04-02T17:17:00.000-07:00

today, i had the BEST mochi/manju i have ever tasted -- out of this world good, strawberry manju from Benkyodo Co.

while i was shopping for poki ingredients in japantown last week, i remembered reading about some place that had rave reviews for their peanut butter and strawberry mochi. i was curious to see what all the hype was about since my previous mochi experiences had always been with the ice cream mochi i would eat during my college days, or with the overly sweet red bean kind that i would end up eating all of the mochi and throwing out the filling. in order to take advantage of my rare trip to japantown, i had to call up johanna to look online for the name and location of the place. too bad Benkyodo closes at 5pm because it was too late for me to experience them that day.

but today, my luck changed!

after paying for the peanut butter manju you have to buy in packs of three, i debated trying other flavors. i am so glad for my often excessive ways, as i got to try the strawberry manju! it has pieces of fresh strawberry in the middle. so so good! i am craving one right now and kicking myself for only buying one. sorry roomie and boyfriend, you will just have to hear about the delicious treat until i go there first thing tomorrow morning (they open at 8 am, should i?!). the peanut butter is also good with crunchy pieces of peanuts inside and i think it would be even better if i had some tea to wash it down with.

but it is the strawberry mochi i am currently feenin' for!!!!!!!!!!!!

next trip, i also want to try other manju - the Age which is donut like, Yomogi with whole red beans, and Chofu, pancake wrapped sweet rice.

we all scream for ice cream!

2007-03-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

when we were little kids, my brothers and i would consume tremendous amounts of ice cream. our parents would end up buying a 5 gallon tub of the stuff from the navy commissary, and store it in our extra freezer located in the garage (you know your family has that second freezer filled with max-pack sized meats!). with limited flavors in that commercial-size, we would usually end up eating chocolate marble vanilla ice cream or rocky road. we didn't care so much about the flavor as long as we could have our big bowls of it all day long. also the more ice cream, the more milk shakes and banana splits we could make. mmm... the good ol' days before carb-consciousness and slowed-down metabolisms.

it's been a long time since then. now all i need is a little of the high quality stuff. okay, i lie. if i could get away with eating the good stuff without adding to the junk in my trunk and increasing my credit card debt, i probably would! recently, i've had some addictingly good artisanal ice creams. these are uniquely flavored ice creams made in small batches. so far the caramel flavors have stood out...

try Bi-Rite Creamery where the ice cream is oh so soft and creamy. salted caramel is the most popular and my favorite. i went to this place two days in a row because of this flavor and brought home a pint of it. it has that great sweet and salty combination with the saltiness being very subtle. other yummy flavors include honey lavender ice cream and blood orange sorbet.

in berkeley they have another addicting caramel ice cream flavor at Ici. The flavor is burnt caramel and it tastes like the burnt sugar in leche flan dessert and it reminds rex of cracker jacks. Ici has other flavors like honey almond, rose pistachio, meyer lemon, stout... They also make their own ice cream cones at Ici!

not an artisanal ice cream spot, but a must, is of course Mitchell's. i love their ube ice cream!!

also not to be forgotten is Fenton's Creamery. i love their black and tan sundaes with all toasted almond ice cream, please. it takes me back to the good times during college. it's perfect during the summer in the east bay.

fyi- i am going to a cupcake cooking class today! i will try to report back on what i learn.

fun

2006-12-13T00:55:00.000-08:00

Your Birthdate: June 2

You may watch someone from afar before you finally decide to make your move.
It takes a long time for you to develop an attraction to someone.
Generally, you prefer to pick who you love. Anyone who tries to rush you is in for some heartache.

Number of True Loves You'll Have: 3

Number of Times You'll Have Your Heart Broken: 4

You are most compatible with people born on the 2nd, 11th, 20th, and 29th of the month.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean For Your Love Life?

my oaklander was born on may 29!

firsts

2006-12-12T23:40:00.000-08:00

it seems like lately i've been writing about a lot of firsts: my first big game, my first santa clara gift exchange... and yesterday i made my first batch of cupcakes from scratch. YUMMY!

i have been craving my favorite cupcakes- Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Vanilla Cupcakes from new york. during my last trip to nyc, that lasted a mere 24 hours, i made sure to get half a dozen to take home to sf. there is something special about these darn cupcakes. they taste homemade, are not too sweet and don't taste like cake mix from a box.

well, i found a recipe for them online and got to baking. i made 3 dozen.

it's evil in my apartment, carb hell.

i brought some to work and now i think i'm going to bring them to a holiday party this weekend.

maybe i can become a cupcake caterer :)

my first scu holiday party

2006-12-10T01:51:00.000-08:00

tonight was my first santa clara gift exchange party! to go with our 2-buck-chuck bottles of wine, rex and i baked/fried some popeye's style chicken to take to the party :)

for the gift exchange we ended up giving a mojito set and getting an interesting jar of cinnamon sugar cookies from starbucks.

my first big game

2006-12-08T03:31:00.000-08:00

this is bear territory!

like ro and liv...

2006-12-08T03:10:00.000-08:00

it is time to blog again... i miss reading friends' updated blog postings and writing my own. lately it's celebrity gossip all day.

is it true... nicole richie and joel madden?

Sevilla

2006-07-10T04:29:00.000-07:00

long overdue... estoy en Sevilla y estudio espanol por cuatro dias solo. i think i´m finally getting use to the spanish accent and i´m catching on to the vosotros form. i am thrilled to be immersed in espanol once again.

let me work backwards...

today is my first day of class so of course it is hectic. the school is an accredited international house offering many different language classes, so the professors are excellent and the school is impressive, but the large amount of students makes it a bit chaotic. there are a lot of high schoolers here.

yesterday was a long and overwhelming day. it started at 5 am with 2 hours of sleep. rex and i went to the train station to see if we could change our train tickets to Sevilla because i really wanted to go to Rota- the place where my parents were married and the place where i was born and baptized. what an adventure! we took an earlier train ride to Sevilla, then another train to Puerta Santa Maria ( this is where Columbus set sail from) then took a bus to Rota. mind you, Rota was not covered in my Let´s Go Spain y Portugal book, so we had no map and no information of this region, but we finally made it to Rota and it was worth it. what my parents had described as a small town with little to see 28 years ago, has become a resort town complete with a Ben and Jerry´s and Manila Bar. there were so many people at the beautiful beach and i was so happy to get in the cooling water (it´s over 100 degrees here) . after, we searched for the church where my parents got married. i bought a phone card to ask my parents the name of the church, but i couldn´t get in touch with them. there are 5 Catholic churches there... we went to the main church and i hope it was the right one! we rushed back to catch the last bus ride back to the train station so we could get to Sevilla.

Sevilla is known for its flamenco and tapas which originate from this region, Andalucia. Sevilla is also one of those cities that you get lost in, with small one-way, winding streets. it was a bit difficult when we had to find the place we are staying in, but i love the cobblestone streets and cafes.

i am staying in this residence that i share with other students. they are from japon, ingleterra, alaman, y italia. when we arrived tired and hungry late last night it was challenging to respond in spanish to the five other students that were awaiting, but it was a good feeling to be forced to converse with people in spanish, instead of the broken phrases and short answers i´ve been using to navigate through spain.

more to come about my adventures in europe- seeing gary in londres, how i love paris and the rush of running with the bulls in pamplona.

ciao

beautiful santa barbara

2006-03-07T22:07:00.000-08:00

the santa barbara airport is the cutest- unbelieveably small and charming. you land between the beach and the hills. i am staying at the holiday inn in goleta. not posh, but they've got a bowl of free apples in the lobby and a huge swimming pool. i had italian for dinner at a restaurant in a strip mall.

traveling for work beats 8 hours in my cubicle.

tomorrow, my first presentation! eek.

all over the place

2006-02-21T23:50:00.000-08:00

just a brief blurb of randoms in my head about all that has been happening with the move to sf... i'm delirious.

my brother and dad are great for driving me up to the bay. i hydroplaned on my drive to the bay. it was raining. the move was exhausting. i have been rushing to get my home space in order before work travel makes it difficult to catch up. i will be traveling every two weeks. building my dresser was a difficult puzzle. don't buy the ikea hermes dresser; it was a nightmare to assemble. my apartment is nice. my room is the size of a closet. i love my neighborhood! i love the city. i took muni to my first day of work today. the tenderloin baby! the weather has been cold but oh so lovely. i can't wait to go for a bike ride or walk. i took my brother past alamo square, you know where the opening of the tv show full house takes place. it's like 5 blocks away from the apartment.

i'm in la for work now. i have a three day hiv training that i am attending and taking notes so i can facilitate the same training in a month. i'm staying at the standard hotel in downtown la. i was fully prepared for a bestwestern, but it's swanky. http://www.standardhotel.com/ check it out, especially the roof.

also, i saw dave chapelle, mos def and erykah badu in concert last night at the warfield and saw every pilipino i know there. that was an in my face, i'm back in the bay moment.

d is for denial. where am i? when am i going back to sd? and d is also for delirium caused by exhaustion.

another d could stand for desires- i want to settle into my apartment, stain my new bed frame, hang my full length mirror and go grocery shopping. simple domestic desires. double d. like i said delirium.

san diego peeps, i miss you.

FROM DIEGO TO THE BAY...

2006-02-17T13:44:00.000-08:00

i had a going away thingy last night at the prado y bar dynamite. i have great friends in san diego!

more toby

2006-02-17T13:38:00.000-08:00

my baby

2006-02-16T13:55:00.000-08:00

toby
tobias
tobs
toby dalugdugan

birthday: dec 7
sign: sagittarius

i'm going to miss my cat. he knows i'm leaving and is starting to act out and spend more time with me. he IS the cutest cat in the world and i'm not even a cat person.

favorite game: chasing dark colored shoe strings

hobbies: trying to go outside to eat grass, napping on my bed, playing with bottle caps (he finds water bottle caps and kicks them all across the house until they somehow get stuck under the couch. i vacuumed under the couch and there were 10 under there!), sitting in boxes, bringing me dark colored shoe strings to chase, leaving me dark colored shoe strings around the house in pathways where he knows i'll cross (example: when i wake up there will be a shoe string between my bedroom door and before the bathroom. he leaves them at the top of the stairs, on the way to the kitchen, by my computer... )

i love my gordito gato.

fat cat, fat cat, what am i feeding you, it's not your fault...

tank tops

2006-02-16T05:38:00.000-08:00

yo tengo demasiadas camisas sin mangas! i'm a sucker for tank tops and skirts. I narrowed down approximately 60 skirts to 20. i'm proud. now if i could just figure out what to do with the tank tops!!

i'm almost done packing my clothes. i have demasiado. demasiado= too much, too many... help me! hello, my name is jane and i'm a clothes pack rat.

triage

2006-02-15T20:36:00.000-08:00

i'm in the process of picking the skirts i'm going to be bringing.
they are being divided into-
have to have it,
a basic,
sassy but not worn often enough/seasonal/whimsical/it's too cold for that/to be reconsidered if there is more room,
and the last category is "let it go"...

reminder to self- there's h&m, zara, anthropologie to make room for

happy v-day!

2006-02-15T20:35:00.000-08:00

stop the violence against women and girls. www.vday.org

motivation, procrastination

2006-02-13T23:28:00.000-08:00

i need a good kick in the arse... i'm doing anything and everything but packing. help me :) i've watched seasons 4 and 5 of the west wing... so good and so addicting. i've been really busy... i've uploaded all my pics from my camera (that's a big deal for me!) and tackled things that have been on my to-do list since arriving in sd. jeans hemmed, vintage shoes fixed and polished, central america pics printed, planning my high school reunion, installed my palm pilot, 60,000 mile car maintanence check,... i guess this is all part of preparing to leave. but packing? i'll save that for later.

i'm not looking forward to those tough decisions... to leave behind those great vintage skirts, and downsize my sock collection. how many shoes do i need? accessories? also organizing bills, tax documents, and real estate crap is not fun!

i need to get to it!!

diniguan

2006-02-11T00:25:00.000-08:00

Dinuguan: pork and blood stew that challenges even
the toughest tastebuds

Which Filipino Food Are You?
brought to you by

gelato is better for you

2006-02-08T02:50:00.000-08:00

i finally remembered the name of the place where i had the best gelato i have ever tasted. vivoli in firenze, italy (nov 2003). the best pistachio ice cream EVER!! i ate gelato almost everyday in italy and no other place could compare. tdf- to die for, this gelato alone is worth a trip to florence.

-----------------------------

Gelato is an Italian frozen dessert made from milk (or also soy milk) and sugar, combined with other flavourings. The gelato ingredients (after an optional pasteurisation) are super-cooled while stirring to break up ice crystals as they form. Like high end ice cream, gelato generally has less than 35% air - resulting in a dense and extremely flavorful product.
Gelato has become a generic Italian word for ice cream, though true gelato contains no cream. The same word is commonly used in English speaking countries to refer to "ice cream" that is prepared in the Italian way. Gelato comes from the Italian word "gelare" meaning "to freeze."

Dairy gelato is made with whole cow's milk and contains 4–8% fat depending on the ingredients (nuts, milk, or cream would increase the fat content). North American-style ice creams contain more fat than gelato, ranging from 10% to 18% since more cream is used. Like high-end ice cream, good quality gelato combines high quality ingredients with milk and cream, soy milk, or water. Gelato is usually made with whole milk which is 3 - 4% butterfat - and often cream is added to raise the fat level. Unlike ice cream, gelato ingredients are not homogenized together, and the result is a thinner consistency than ice cream as the product melts.

cookies and gator

2006-02-06T22:05:00.000-08:00

florida... i ate 10 freshly baked chocolate chip cookies a day. yummy!
and i tried gator. i ate fried cajun gator-tots, gator-nuggets, gator-tenders... like chicken, they say. undercooked, it tastes more like fish.

i love the southern drawl. i was sorta in the backwoods of the town called kissimmee.

i forget florida is part of the south.

misc... went to citywalk and this club/bar called bob marley's, saw the paris club,

orlando last minute

2006-02-02T16:08:00.000-08:00

never been to orlando before. disney world? nah. show me to the beach, please! i hear 80 degree weather. time to catch up with my old roommate who is living there. if it all works out, i leave tomorrow morning. spontaneous trips are always so much fun! crazi-fun!

ha... finishing the south beach diet in florida. fitting.

sf this time

2006-01-30T19:10:00.000-08:00

so... i got a job with api wellness center! i will be a california statewide education program (CSTEP) coordinator. i will be coordinating a statewide hiv/aids training program. the organization does really great work... reproductive/sexual health focused- check, sex-positive/lgbtqiq- check, working with communities of color-check, grassroots/community/client centered org- check...

yep. i'm wandering my way back to the bay. i have mixed feelings/concerns... am i ready to move back to the bay, i miss san diego friends and family already, how long do i see myself in the bay, living in sf vs. oak, non-profit salary... but mostly i'm feeling really excited. i'll still be doing real estate part-time, but i'm so ready to be working in my field again.

wow.
i'm moving back soon. start date 02/21... craziness. wander-ful.

the rice cooker question

2006-01-19T16:23:00.000-08:00

someone always shares this question... how does a rice cooker work? how does it know when to turn off? no matter how much rice and water you put in it- it knows... i have looked this question up before and i wanted to share.
-------------------------------------------

From http://home.howstuffworks.com/question35.htm

There are a number of appliances that "know" when they should turn off. A rice cooker is one of them. All of these appliances use the same principle. If there is water in a heated container and the water is boiling, the container will maintain a constant temperature.

At sea level, the boiling temperature for water is 212 degrees F or 100 degrees C. As soon as all of the liquid water has evaporated (or, in the case of the rice cooker, as soon as all of the water is absorbed by the rice), the temperature inside the container immediately rises. The appliance has a thermostat that can detect when the temperature rises above 212 degrees F in the container, and it turns itself off.

scrabble, literati, text twist...

2006-01-06T18:22:00.000-08:00

ask me how i spent new years eve. playing scrabble! i hadn't played for years. i suck at it, but it's so much fun! let's play...

visiting the bay, again

2006-01-06T17:36:00.000-08:00

i was asked to continue on for a second, panel-style interview for a job in sf. which means i will be back in the bay. i was just there 3 weeks ago, but i am excited because i will be able to enjoy "dine about town," luka's, jo's birthday weekend, david will be reading some of his poetry at a book release, ... and anything else i didn't get to do last time.

one mo 'gin...

come back d'angelo.

on repeat

2006-01-06T02:41:00.000-08:00

amos lee... over and over.

http://www.amoslee.com/

groupie

2006-01-02T16:03:00.000-08:00

The Very Best of Lisa Loeb, including the new song "Single Me Out," will be released January 24.

yes!!

johanna was just in san diego for the new year. while riding in my car and going through my cd's she asked sarcastically (of course!), "how many lisa loeb cd's do you need?!!" i had about 5 in my car.

i can't wait to get the "very best of" and for her to go on tour. last time, i went alone to see her perform at slim's. that was my second lisa loeb concert and now i consider myself sort of a groupie.

there haven't been many performers/artists/celebrities that i have enjoyed enough to obsess :) over...
i think margaret cho is hilarious, have bought most of her comedy movies, have seen her perform and went to her movie release in sf. lenny kravitz and common are the hottest. i own and rewatch west wing and sex and the city dvds. i went through a new kids and nsync phase (pop rocks!), but that's about it... i'm harmless.

mi hermano

2005-12-28T17:54:00.000-08:00

i always forget to not pronounce the h in espanol. it's silent. me ermano... i've been spending time with my brother randy who is visiting for the holidays. it's nice to have the whole nuclear (pronounce the e) family together.

the butchershop
we've gone shopping, stopped by the jazz club downtown, watched lots of videos and he had to drive me around town since i lost my driver's license. we also ate at this local steakhouse in chula vista called "the butcher shop." i have always been curious about this place that seems to have been around forever. often there are people waiting outside and when driving by, you notice that the building is completely red with signs that say "voted best prime rib" or something. so my brother and i ate there yesterday and it is such a dive-y kind of place. the place is just as red on the inside; all the walls are red. still stuck in another era, there are pictures of sinatra everywhere and old celebrities. there's a blown-up old pic of clint eastwood dining in the restaurant next to the owner, a pimped out italian guy. it feels like old vegas- the lights and mirrors, and the waitresses wear these super short red vegas girl skirts. it was a fun experience. oh, and the prime rib is a good deal.

knitting
i'm obsessed with learning to knit. i started following directions from online 2 days ago and i swear i have arthritis or i've obviously been knitting way too much. i have started and undone making myself a scarf at least 5 times. each time i realize the scarf is too wide, or i try a new stich or something isn't quite right, and each time i undo my day's work and start over. i'm determined to finish a scarf by the new year.

job interview
tomorrow, i have a phone interview with the api wellness center in san francisco. the job is for an hiv specialist position i applied for in october. i would coordinate and facilitate these statewide trainings on hiv. it would require traveling one weekend a month to different sites in california. hmm... i'm excited and nervous about an interview, the job itself though... not sure. but i'm not sure what i want to do in general... hmm...reproductive health- yes, hiv- sure, working with providers and adults- different from last job and that's a plus, training/education- not sure, developing curriculum- yes. hmm...

85 degrees

2005-12-21T21:25:00.000-08:00

it's sunny and hot in san diego. 85 degrees.

the waves are like 20 feet high, a surfer's dream.

jealous?

yay

2005-12-20T14:57:00.000-08:00

i just got back from a visit to the yay... me encanta la bahia :) thanks goes out to david and olivia for letting me stay at their beautiful homes.

I AM A FOOD SNOB
my time was filled with my fave foods/restaurants/places...
CLEMENT (the real chinatown)- burma supa star (tea leaf salad, samosas),
BERKELEY- for the best indian food... viks (more samosas, chai, chicken kabob something),
4th ST. BERKELEY (such pretty holiday lights)- bette's oceanview diner (soft scrambled eggs, oh so creamy!), peet's coffee (rocket fuel of coffee)
GLENVIEW OAKLAND/PARK ST- diggory inn (David's feta, spinach, tomato, and gyro omelette was good), i didn't get to eat at blackberry bistro (shrimp and grits breakfast is the bomb!)
LAKE MERRITT- mijori (lion king, double eagle, y2k, island sushi rolls! ro and ot, i like mijori better than sushi house. maybe because it's just down the street from where i used to call home)

my mouth is watering... umm... so good! i am such a food snob. the bay spoiled me with yummy cheap eats. i miss the restaurant culture, trying to always eat at a new restaurant and finding that hidden gem. i love good food!

I SHOULD BE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING
beside eating like crazy, i also went shopping like crazy- for myself. h & m just opened in san francisco and so did zara. i had a fun time shopping in downtown sf. i enjoyed union square and all the lights and the christmas tree. i acted like a tourist and made someone take my picture next to the tree. i also ran into marjorie and eric who were shopping for our gift exchange. i made them take a picture with me on the street- like tourists. fun!

GIFT EXCHANGE
board games, potluck, wine, kings, presents... all my favorite things! this year we added a gag gift portion to the gift exchange. i ended up with all the gifts that eric brought- a walking hula doll and massage chair pad. i brought good vibrations erotic dice (lick nipples, tease, blow, toes, body... so many different combos. you're welcome ro and chris!) and i also gave a flash drive that alan ended up with.

I love the bay. I love my friends.

P.S. it's freezing in the bay. it's all sunshine in san diego right now!

random pictures

2005-12-12T13:05:00.000-08:00

all pictures are from alex's camera... thanks, i'm too lazy to download my own pictures.

*that's magnus in the first picture. we went to bar d and met up with alex and his friends.

*i recently went to the sapient christmas party. fun times with peace signs.

*picture with jen, novette, and heila. taken at onyx room when i first got back.

emailing politicians is FUN

2005-12-09T10:54:00.000-08:00

HERE'S A COPY OF THE EMAIL I RECEIVED FROM THE OFFICE OF THE TERMINATOR :) RE: Tookie
----------------------------

Thank you for your correspondence regarding Stanley Williams.
There is a court order currently in place that calls for Mr. Williams to be
executed by the State of California on December 13, 2005, and Mr. Williams has,
through his attorneys, expressed his desire for the Governor to grant him
clemency in this matter.

Capital punishment is an issue about which many people hold strong and
impassioned views, and Governor Schwarzenegger appreciates you taking the time
to express yours with regard to Mr. Williams. Your correspondence will be given
due consideration during the clemency process.
Thank you again for writing.

Sincerely,
ANDREA LYNN HOCH
Legal Affairs Secretary
--------------------------------
They're required to write you back. I think sending snail mail would be funner.

invierno

2005-12-08T12:13:00.000-08:00

winter... it's getting colder and darker. that can make me blue during this season, but staying busy keeps me sane. yoga, real estate, spanish and galavanting :)

yoga- i want to be a yogi, but it takes a lot of discipline to go to class everyday. the whole process takes me like 2.5 hours. 15 minutes to secure a good spot in class, 90 minute class, 15 minutes meditation, 30 minutes to and from class. yikes, i have things to do. forget about time for the gym and cardio. but i always feel so accomplished after class. it really is about making time for self.

i met another high school acquaintance in yoga class and we have so much in common. yoga, she recently started working for the same real estate company and has been hoping to run into me, she previously was doing social work and got burnt out, ... she feels lost and alone doing real estate. it was kinda nice feeling like i actually knew more about the business than someone else for a change.

real estate-i have finished putting together 2 files, 1 file should be closed any time now, i'm becoming familiar with the ins and outs of the office, and i actually have a mentor. yeah! when do i get my pay check?

spanish- i finished up my intermediate class and i'm starting my advanced class tomorrow. no puedo esperar! i found a spanish conversation group off of craigslist that will probably start up around christmas. que divertido!

i received my cuba postcard in the mail! yeah!
i checked out a salsa class at the culture shock dance studio (yah, the culture shock founder started this studio) they have breaking and popping and locking classes. hmmm... i've always wanted to improve my b-girl stance :)

i can eat a whole box of ak-mak whole wheat stone ground sesame crackers, pesto all day with everything, ohh and pumkin butter-que rico!

my parents are in the philippines. they left me with a lot of responsibility. while they are gone i have official power of attorney and have to finalize a lot of their real estate transactions, pay all their bills and take care of the random monkey business my mom's involved in. it's actually stressful because there is a lot going on. power of attorney... that's heavy. i could sell their assets if i wanted...

but while they are away, it's my chance to clean the house and throw out all the junk that they can't let go of, without them knowing. my mom has a big problem; she grew up dirt poor so she can't get rid of anything especially food. so i emptied out the cupboard and freezer of all the five year old leftovers. this is a huge deal. i had like 5 trash bags full of crap. next project- throwing out all the non-partnered tupperware!!!! living at home is not free!!
ha ha ha. welcome to my world.

tookie

2005-12-01T01:54:00.000-08:00

support clemency for TOOKIE. write arnold an email.

http://www.govmail.ca.gov/

learn about Stanley "Tookie" Williams. http://www.tookie.com/abtook.html

he co-founded/created the crips, but his intention was to protect his community. the crips ended up turning into something else.
ya'll, he was nominated for a nobel peace prize because of his work to create peace on the streets since imprisoned.

he's scheduled to be executed on dec 13th

magnus y mi postal

2005-12-01T00:39:00.000-08:00

i spent this past week with my friend magnus. magnus is from sweden and we met in cancun at our spanish school. we went to cuba together. it has been so good to be reminded of my trip and speak spanish.

he left today, but when he was in san diego he spent thanksgiving con mi familia y we went to sushi deli, seaport village, bar dynamite, and all the bars downtown. skal y salud! (cheers in swedish y espanol) i am curious to visit sweden now. in the north of sweden they have a hotel made entirely of ice! it's only during the winter months, but that's crazy!

also, in the mail today was a postcard i sent my family a month and half ago! at least it arrived. i wonder if my other lost postcards will randomly appear in the mail.

misc: i went to the fiona apple concert! my parents went to the philippines for 3 weeks.

que paso

2005-11-22T13:02:00.000-08:00

que paso (con acento)? what passed? hmm... randoms...

the holiday season is here! i love the fall colors and especially everything pumpkin. pumpkin gelato, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin spice lattes... yummy!

it has been warm and dry here in san diego- we've had santa ana winds.

i went to lunch with a girl from one of my programs at girls inc. she was in the peer education program i coordinated and just started college at ucsd. i am so proud that she is using the sexual health info she learned and is sharing it with her college dormmates. she showed me her dorm and all the condoms and health brochures she has on display. i am starting to miss working and doing health education.

i went sake bombing with novette at one of our places called sushi deli. cheap and tasty sushi and sake bombs. i always have a good ol' drunk time whenever i go sake bombing.

i found out i went to high school with one of my yoga instructors. weird. i have officially started the process for planning my high school reunion. crazy!

one of my classmates from cancun is in tj. i think we are going to meet up, but i'm not sure which side of the border. i'm so excited!

i am going to close two real estate transactions before thanksgiving! yikes.

i am looking forward to visiting the yay area soon. i can't wait. i keep thinking of all of the things i want to do, all the food i want to eat- naan n curry in the tenderloin, chez panisse, mijori, yuet lee's, arizmendi... wine tasting in napa! i can't wait, i can't wait!

Garurasana

2005-11-15T23:35:00.000-08:00

the name of this pose is Garurasana. it's my favorite.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

confession:
the truth about diamonds by nicole richie... i was at borders and started reading this book out of curiosity. i ended up reading 8 chapters. i could never bring myself to buy the book, but it's an easy read. two more visits to borders and i should finish it :)

conexion

2005-11-09T17:27:00.000-08:00

tengo dolor en mi garganta. yo pienso que estoy enferma. yo creo que tengo gripe. no puedo ir a yoga hoy. me gustaria ir a yoga todos los dias en este mes.

hoy, he estado en mis pijamas todo el dia. yo trabaje a real estate en el telefono y en el computador. necesito hacer algo afuera... el cine? no se, pero yo estoy cansada. y necesito estudiar espanol por mi clase manana.

ayyy, yo estoy enferma!

i am a bigger baby/brat when i'm sick and i feel like i'm coming down with the flu, which is no sorpresa porque todo esta enfermo.
-----------------------

i am so stoked that i have randomly been in touch with some people from my travels and work.

one of my classmates from cancun that i also went to cuba with, magnus, added me to msn messenger and we im-ed. i'm so thrilled that i finally got in touch with somebody from mexico. i've been so worried about people because of the hurricanes. he told me that he still does not have electricity in his home and the phones were all down before, that's why i couldn't get in touch with anyone. he told me that most of the damaged and craziness happened after the hurricane, when all the looting and crime happened. he was able to get out of cancun and went to merida.

the other day, one of my former peer educators that i use to work with at girls inc randomly called me. nicole is now in college and has so much going on. she came to me for some guidance and help. it feels good to be a resource. she informed me that one of "my other girls" is going to school at ucsd. i'm suppose to take nikolitsa out to coffee or dinner next week. it's so good to reconnect. i need to get back to doing work in my field...

mas musica...
orishas "mistica" musica espanol y hip hop

so so good

2005-11-06T14:46:00.000-08:00

i just started doing bikram yoga. i love it! i sweat so much... sweat drips down my legs and my clothes get soaked. gross, but... so so good. who would have ever thought contorting your body in 105 degree heat for 90 minutes could be so pleasant. :)

mos def's previous concert in san diego was a dud. i don't remember the last concert i left early besides that concert. but mos def redeemed himself last night with talib. it was so so good... they were so so good together.

Umi Says...
Sometimes I get discouraged
I look around and, things are so weak
People are so weak
Sometimes, Sometimes I feel like crying
Sometimes my heart gets heavy
Sometimes I just want to leave and fly away
Fly, fly, fly like a dove
Sometimes I don't know what to do with myself
Passion takes over me
I feel like a man
Going insane
Losing my brain
Trying to maintain
Doing my thang
Sometimes I don't want to be bothered
Sometimes I just want a quiet life, with
Me and my babies, me and my lady
Sometimes I don't want to get into no war
Sometimes I don't wanna be a soldier
Sometimes I just wanna be a man...
---------------------

music that is so so good...
so so melancholy- bright eyes "gold mine gutted," "the movement of a hand," "this is the first day of my life," "sunrise, sunset" ...

so so cool name for a band- clap your hands and say yeah "sunshine and clouds (and everything proud)," "in this home on ice," "the skin of my yellow country,"...

being back...

2005-10-31T14:48:00.000-08:00

what i miss...
plantains
la idioma! espanol
nature, the outdoors- walking, swimming
not needing a car to get around
the heat and humidity
new friends
reading
not having a television or cell-phone

what i enjoy about being back in the states
flushing toilet paper. it clogs all the toilets in central america.
home-cooked pilipino food. i'm taking a break from rice and beans.
diverse foods
shopping
familia
my bed
tobey, mi gordo gato

y mis cosas favoritas (random)...
color: hunter/forest/emerald green
musica: rock y electronica
beck- saw him in concert. he's so funky, eclectic!
fiona apple- her lyrics...
rjd2- "hidden track" song. i have it on constant repeat. aqualung- i'm like a year behind. cursive- "the recluse"
drama songs- cure "pictures of you," beck "everybody's got to learn sometime," bill withers "ain't no sunshine"
makes me want to dance- kylie minogue "love at first sight," bjork "big time sensuality," guster "amsterdam," portabella "covered in punk"
please oh please get bep's "my humps" out of my head. novette was so right when she said that it would get stuck in my head. my humps, my humps, my lovely little lumps...

trying new things-
bikram yoga- half-naked people doing yoga in a 105 degree heated room. sweaty and intense. i am so sore!
cooking- learning more about vino. made yummy bruchetta that i've been eating for 3 days. i love french bread and pumpkin butter. dark chocolate bon bon's rock. all day, drinking lemon ginger tea by yogi... la dolce vita!

other happenings:
looking for a public healthish job ANYWHERE . please keep an eye out for me.
still doing real estate. showing new homes downtown and in the boonies. anyone know where hemet, california is? didn't think so. fyi-it's an up and coming retirement community.
-------------------

OH, FIONA...

"Parting Gift"
I opened my eyes
While you were kissing me once more than once
And you looked as sincere as a dog
Just as sincere as a dog does,
When it's the food on your lips with which it's in love

"Red Red Red"
I don't understand about complementary colors
And what they say
Side by side they both get bright
Together they both get gray

But he's been pretty much yellow
And I've been cryin' blue
But all I can see is
Red, red, red, red, red now
What am I to do

I don't understand about
Diamonds and why men buy them
What's so impressive about a diamond
Except the mining

And it's dangerous work
Trying to get to you too
And I think if I didn't have to
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill myself doing it
Maybe I might not glisten so much for you

I've been watching all the time
And I still can't find the track
And I wanna know is it okay
Is it just fine
Was it my fault
Is it my lack

I don't understand about
The weather outside
The harbinger to the words
That somebody lied

There's solace a bit for submitting
To the fitfully cryptically true
What's happened has happened
What's coming is already on its way
With a role for me to play

I don't understand
I'll never understand
But I'm trying to understand
There's nothing else I can do

dia de los muertos

2005-10-31T13:40:00.000-08:00

for halloween this year i am a pirate! arrgghhh...

halloween es mi favorito dia de fiesta! me encanta halloween. the costumes, the candy, the little kids...

on saturday i went to a halloween party downtown. there were some really great costumes- rainbow bright, strawberry shortcake (i thought the costume was little miss muffett), bat girl (chessa). there was this group of guys dressed as a penis, vagina and sperm. they were hilarious- passing out condoms, pantyliners, and other appropriate items.

hoy, i am trick or treating with my little cousins. que divertido!

ya en san diego

2005-10-20T13:23:00.000-07:00

san diego... it is so cold here! i think i'm coming down with a cold because of the huge climate change. i was sleeping with a fan every night because it was so hot and humid in mexico.

it's still sinking in that i'm in san diego... i think the ten weeks caught up with me. i'm so tired! and i'm jet-lagged so i get tired early at night.

so far in san diego, i showed a condo that i'm working on selling, i signed up to continue taking spanish classes twice a week! i start next tuesday.

i miss the language and traveling already, i'm kinda bummed to be back. the weather is so gloomy! but it's good to see my family an eat pilipino food.

habana vieja

2005-10-20T13:14:00.000-07:00

cuba

2005-10-17T20:11:00.000-07:00

fui a cuba! what an experience... i spent two days and one night in cuba and most of my time was dealing with immigration and at the airport. but despite all the drama, it was worth it. habana vieja was amazing. the music, the dance, the people, the architecture, the old cars... i'm so glad i went.

mi viaje was full of craziness... going out with a bang. i went to habana with two other spanish students. one of them did not get up in time and missed our flight, but the flight was full anyways. all cubana airlinea flights are overbooked and you will most likely not get on your flight. at the airport i ran into immigration problems. it seems that when i crossed the border from belice into chetumel, mexico they did not stamp my passport. without proof of when i arrived into mexico, i was basically screwed. i had no proof that i was not an illegal immigrant. to make a long story short, when the immigration official said "cerra la puerta or close the door" i knew what was going to happen. i had to pay off an immigration officer over $50 to leave mexico. thank goodness this happened early, when trying to enter cuba, instead of today when returning to the us.
after that experience, the cubana airlinea avion, (i forgot the word airplane! just now) was falling apart which was no big deal except that i read that they don't have the best flight record!

i thought all my immigration problems were over after bribing the mexican official, but i ran into problems in cuba as well. the friend i was with had absolutely no problems passing through the immigration check right before me. it took me an hour. and then more questions in customs, where again my friend did not get any questions. it was funny because at one point when they were finally starting to be cool with me, they had a good laugh passing around my passport to show all the officials. here i am- this obviously pilipina/asian, with an american passport, that says i was born in spain, i am speaking to them completely in spanish, and i am staying in cuba for only about 24 hours. 20 minutes was spent explaining why my classmate, nick, was not my boyfriend, whether he could understand the spanish we were speaking, and if i wanted a cubano boyfriend. depues, while in a taxi ride to the hotel our taxi driver crashes into the curb! will this drama ever end? no because when returning to mexico my flight was overbooked and i had to take another flight on another airline in order to get to cancun before my flight today. i had to take a flight to mexico city and fly back to cancun from mexico city. i spent over 14 hours at the airport/airplane! but i made it back in time for my flight today back to san diego. it was another 9 hours of traveling today.

cuba... i had dinner at this beautiful restaurant in this cathedral plaza. there was a cuban band playing, there was a wedding going on in the plaza. after i walked around taking in all the statues and buildings in habana vieja. visited the capitola building, basically a replica of the white house. drank pina coladas, mojitos, cuba libres... went to a dance, music joint... watched the stars and lighthouse from the embarcadero... slept for two hours to wake up and eat breakfast, return to old vieja for an hour to quickly see what i had just seen a few hours before, but during daylight. i went straight to the airport to spend most of my time waiting for my new flight and figuring out what type of cigars to buy at the airport.

cuba....

cuba hoy?

2005-10-14T05:46:00.000-07:00

es mi ultima dia en mi escuela.

yo pruebo a ir a cuba hoy, pero tal vez si o no. vamos a ver. me gustaria voy a ir a cuba antes de perdiremos de fidel castro. vamos a ver....

ESTAR

2005-10-12T11:26:00.000-07:00

ESTAR=to be (temporary)

presente- estoy, estas, esta, estamos, estan

preterito- estuve, estuviste, estuvo, estuvimos, estuvieron

imperfecto- estaba, estabas, estaba, estabamos, estaban

futuro- estaré, estarás, estará, estaremos, estarán

gerundio- estando

part. pasado- estado

¡muchos verbos uso son irregular!

....... la semana estaba muy dificil para mi. mi clase es bastante dificil. me gustaria cambiar mi clase para una clase mas facil pero yo tengo dos dias mas solamente.

hoy, me quise llorar porque yo tenía mucha fructracion. al contrario, me quise ir a la casa.
¡dos dias mas de la escuela! ayyyyyeee... yiii.... yiiii....

i´ve hit a wall with my spanish. my brain is shutting down. i´m in a class that i feel is too advanced for me. all the people in my class have been taking spanish classes in their respective countries and lived in latin america for an extended period of time. i feel like the slowest kid in my class. it feels sucky, but i know it´s good for me. i´m learning a lot and i can speak better, but i still have a hard time understanding almost everything people say. despacio, por favor! there are so many new words and verbs to memorize. it´s tough, for reals...

i have 3 hours of grammar a day and after i have two hours of conversation class. conversation class is tough. we read stories of mayan and mexican history way too advanced for me. after reading these stories we have to answer opinion type questions or create our own stories. i have a whole notebook full of new words.

por ejemplo hoy, yo escribe en mi cuaderno...

la hoguera- bonfire
las chozas- shacks
el ladrillo- brick
la receta- prescription
pecador-sinful
sacerdote-priest
caña- fishing pole

sabiduría- wisdom
sastrería-tailor
papiro- papyrus
forastero-outsider, stranger
forajido- fugative, outlaw

tirar, lanzar, arrojar, echar- to throw

despuestas alrededor, suministraban, abastecian, proveían, desempeñado, desarrollaron...

what? i´m really suppose to know all these words? because everyone else did! that´s not even a tenth of the words written today in my book of new words!

i´ve spoken only spanish pretty much the whole time i´ve been here. but today, i just want to stop talking. mi cabeza esta muy cansado. yo pienso sobre mis ultimos dias en mexico y me gustaria ir a la playa y cuba. no me gustaria estudiar y hacer mi tarea. pero yo tengo miedo que perderé mi español cuando yo regresaré a estados unidos. i don´t want to lose the spanish i´ve already learned and have worked hard to learn.

comicó- en clase, yo no pude recordar palabras en ingles y cuando hablaba con un estudiante nuevo en ingles mi ingles era muy malo. i talked english today with a new student and my ingles was broken and out of order. crazy beautiful that i was actually thinking in spanish first and translating into english. the other night i had a dream partly in spanish! ¡que bueno!

conjugacion

2005-10-10T12:43:00.000-07:00

un verbo muy complicado y irregular es SER= to be (permanent).
es un verbo muy importante y usa mucho.

infinitivo- SER (to be)

presente- soy, eres, es, somos, son
(i am, you are...)

pretérito- fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fueron
(i was, you were) one moment in time

imperfecto de indicativo- era, eras, era, éramos, eran
( i was, you were for a period of time

futuro- será, serás, será, serémos, serán
( i will be, you will be)

gerundio- siendo (being)

participle pasado- sido (been)

there are like 10 other ways to conjugate each verb! hay como dies otro formas por cada verbo!

mi ultima semana!

2005-10-10T12:10:00.000-07:00

yo no puedo creer esta es mi ultima semana en mexico...

el fin de semana estaba bastante. yo fui a chichen itza con mis campaneras de escuela. chichen itza tiene un piramid muy steep :) y me gusta el castillo porque es possible ir al adentro y subir el piramid. hay un parte se nombre viejo chitzen itza. un observatorio tiene arquitectura muy diferente que otro ruinas. las historias de maya son muy interesante. es comicó porque mucho no sabe que la maya vive todavia. mucho piense la maya son muerto. además me gusta un parte de las ruinas se nombre ¨un mil columnas¨. hay un mil columnas, tantas columnas....
y tambien, chitchen itza tiene el grande juego de pelota.

el sabado, yo fui a una discoteca, coco-bongo. yo fui con mi campanero de clase y con sus amigos. coco bongo era loca. hubo muchas personas. normalmente, la cuesta es cuarenta dolares, pero mi amigo conoce un hombre y nosotros pagamos veinte dolares solamente. tenía muchos shows todo el noche como acrobatas y imitadoros. tuve un show como spiderman, matrix, y imitadores como lenny kravitz, elvis, jlo y michael jackson...

el domingo, yo fui al parque se nombre xel-ha. es un reservacion de naturales. yo iba esnorkeling y tubing y nadando . vía muchos peses y tambien tezones y iguanas.

además, yo fui al cine por una pelicula de mexico. el titulo es ¨siete dias¨. todo la pelicula era en español. yo intendía un poco de la pelicula!

hasta pronto!

mas español

2005-10-07T12:03:00.000-07:00

mi cabeza esta llena a nuevas palabras. Necesito recordar y aprender muchas verbos y sustantivos. yo estoy en la clase intermedio, pero esta muy dificil para mi. yo seinto como tonta porque los otros estudiantes tienen mas grande vocabulario que yo. escribía cada otro palabra porque no sabía muchas palabras y frases. y tambien buscaba las palabras en mis dicionarios. yo aprendía conjugacion en preterito, imperfecto, futuro y presente de indicativo, participle pasado y gerundios. pero es mas difícil cuando estoy hablando.

cancun es mejor que antigua porque yo podía practicar mas. los estudiantes en mi escuela y en mi casa son alaman o swisa. es muy interesante porque mas estudiantes hablan en alaman y no intiendo. yo hablía en espanol casi todo mi tiempo en cancun.

hoy, yo hice un leyendo. iba muy difícil porque no recordé un cuento. yo dije el cuento de goldilocks en español. ¡que difícil! tambien, hoy yo aprendé comparitivos y impersonal oracciones.

mi español era muy feo...

por el fin de semana, voy a ir a chichen itza y xel-ha y una discoteca`coco bongo'. coco bongo es una discoteca muy popular por las turistas. es muy cara - cuesta cincuenta dolares por entrada. pero un viajero dije ¨si su dinero ultimo, pagó por coco bongo.¨ el club tiene un show con acrobatas y actors. el fin de semana proximo, yo iré a cuba.

hasta en una semana!

my clothes are still at the cleaners!

2005-10-02T20:52:00.000-07:00

i didn´t make it to cancun yet. there was a tropical storm today, but the real reason is because my clothes are still trapped at the cleaners. i was hoping to get them today as i hunted down a person who knows the owner and tried to go to their house yesterday to tell them i needed my clothes, but they were not home. i will miss my first day of classes, but hopefully i will have all of my clothes with me. which actually isn´t much considering i only have like 10 pieces of clothing.

i can´t wait to burn the clothes that i have been wearing for the last couple of months. actually its been nice to simplify and accept the fact that i look like a scrub, a real life backpacking scrubette. but it´s been tough lately in fantasy world, italian designer, posh playa del carmen.

what should i wear today? hmm... let me chose from my one skirt, one pair of shorts, or my orange or blue pants with one of my 3 tank tops. my tennis shoes or my flip flops? blue or green bandana? all of my underwear is the same- 6 pairs of black sweat wicking material. and one bra is all i need since all my tanks have built-in sports bras. and to make me look even cooler- i have one of those safari, fisherwoman khaki floppy hats! hilarious.

loredonna y roman

2005-10-01T18:54:00.000-07:00

lights out in playa

2005-10-01T18:32:00.000-07:00

the power goes on and off in playa porque la lluvia es muy fuerte. it has been raining all day. and i chose the one computer in this whole internet cafe that is on a regular power source so i lost everything. what i wrote...

partying at the hottest spot in playa called blue parrot. they had a light show and everything. i visited cozumel the other day for a few hours. it was alright. the tulum ruins were cool because they are right off the beach. i spent more time at la playa que las ruinas.

i wasn´t planning on spending a week in playa, but my italian friend loredonna has me set up in this sweet situation. i´ve had an apartment right next to hers, she works in the tourism industry so she has all the hook ups and knows all the right people. i´ve met so many italians and i´m learning more italiano then español. 13 percent of the people living in playa are italiano. they own everything.

i leave for cancun tomorrow. voy a salir en la mañana y voy a comenzar mi clase de español a lunes. i start classes on monday. unfortunately, i brought all of mi ropas clothes to la lavanderia hoy, the laundry place today. i was suppose to pick them up before they closed. i couldn´t get back in time y i thought i could pick them up tomorrow. they are closed tomorrow! i only have one pair of underwear, two tank tops, tons of bikinis and a few socks. i think that´s funny.

tulum y la playa

2005-10-01T09:32:00.000-07:00

where oh where did my 1000 pesos go

2005-09-28T15:08:00.000-07:00

i am missing 1000 pesos or 100 dollars. my guess... the police confiscated it during a search of the vehicle and my purse (twice) when traveling into mexico. i was distracted by all the questions they were asking me and i was worried because i had just gone to the atm. hopefully, i have misplaced it. whatever happened. it´s gone. :(

and i need to stop thinking about it and just be more careful, as i have been a little careless like not always locking my stuff. but it still sucks. :)

playa is a lot bigger and touristy than i thought it would be. i am afraid of what cancun is going to be like. i´ve heard such bad things about the place being too americanized and commercialized.

playa was a fishing village. playa has only been developed over the last 15 years, cancun 30. that it crazy! playa is now overrun with hotels and shops, but supposedly nothing in comparison to cancun. but if you´re into amazingly blue/clear waters, white sands, resorts and luxury- come to mexico. it´s great. not cheap, but the waters are breathtaking. best beaches i´ve been to!

swimming with sharks off la isla bonita

2005-09-26T22:09:00.000-07:00

i am so thrilled! i had the best day yesterday. i continued my adventures in the water. i went to caye caulker and ambergris caye aka la isla bonita aka san pedro.

Last night I dreamt of San Pedro
Tropical the island breeze
All of nature wild and free
This is where I long to be La Isla Bonita
(madonna)

i went on a full day snorkling trip off of the two cayes! it was wicked!! we did three dives. the first dive i got to swim with sharks!! i actually touched one. whaat? the fish were so huge! the sharks even bigger. the second dive was off of the barrier reef at this place called hol chan. it´s where there is a break in the reef. the coral was so cool to see. i felt like i was living a discovery channel/nova program on underwater life. there was brain and fire coral, baracuda, yellowtail.... the third dive we tried to see manatees, but there weren´t any in the water, but while in the boat we saw dolphins!! bellisima.

i say bellisima because there were these two italian women on the same tour. they were so much fun and it turned out that they live in playa del carmen, mexico. guess what my next destination was supposed to be? guess where i am and how i got here? i am now in playa del carmen and i got here by hitching a ride with sara y lori. i was actually planning on leaving for playa on tuesday. i had already bought a bus ticket and everything, but i couldn´t pass up their offer. it also turns out that sara is moving back to italia tomorrow. they were spending her last weekend in caye caulker. she has an apartment in playa del carmen that is paid for until the end of the month. guess where i will be staying tomorrow until the 30th? at sara´s super nice condo. sweet!

the only bummer was that my camera was busted for the last two days, so i have no pictures of the cayes. but it´s working properly now. also, i posted a few new pics sent to me by another volunteer. i will also post new pictures soon because they can burn my pics onto disk here.

i can swim!

2005-09-24T20:45:00.000-07:00

waterfalls and more waterfalls... today we rented a van and went to big rock falls and five sister falls. after this small repel down to big rock falls, i thought "i'm so gonna be kawawa because i'm afraid of the water." i never really swim in water where i can't touch the bottom. i was sitting for 15 minutes next to the pool of water near the waterfall while everyone was swimming and diving. i finally got the courage to get into the deep water with the encouragement of one of the volunteers who was a lifeguard in a past life. and i was swimming!! i didn't panic. i was so proud of myself for conquering my fears that i decided to dive off of this rock!!! this is huge for me, you don't even know! it's only the second time i've dived into the water. the first time was part of my final exam for a beginning swimming course i took in college, but it was off of a regular plank right on the pool. i dived off of a pretty high up rock. i still can't believe it.

after big rock, we went to five sister falls. it is this amazing place with 5 plus waterfalls that all lead to one pool of water. it was so dope! i used the momentum from the last waterfall to challenge myself to climb the rocks so i could sit right under one of the falls.

woo-hoo!! i'm really proud of myself. eventually, i may feel comfortable swimming in the ocean...

speaking of ocean... i am leaving cayo, san ignacio and heading to caye caulker and san pedro, la isla bonita tomorrow morning. i'll probably go snorkling. the barrier reef here is the second largest in the world. i miss the beach. i miss the waves.

wadda gwan?

2005-09-22T10:45:00.000-07:00

wadda gwan, gaal? i don't know how you spell it, but that's how people say 'how are you/what's up?' in creole. 'am straight, boy,' is how you reply. i've mastered saying 'wadda gwan'...

yesterday was belice's independence day. what's funny is that belice's flag is red, white and blue, so independence day here looks like fourth of july. on the eve of independence day, people celebrate downtown and fireworks go off at midnight. people are ready to party!

during the day there was a parade. i helped put together the cornerstone foundation float for the parade and decorate t-shirts for the children to wear. i got to march in the parade with the cayo aids committee and pass out condoms and candy to the crowd in the sweltering heat. it was fun. we ended the parade in the park where i ate tacos!! taco truck like tacos that were the bomb.

when we were marching, we were behind these huge speakers blasting punta music and aids public service announcements. punta music is the local music and punta is the local dance. punta is the shaking of the ass! just the ass and hips, super fast. i mean super-duper fast! it's tough and tiring! little girls can control their individual butt cheek muscles to move in different ways. gringas like me look hilarious trying to punta, but i think i might be starting to catch on.

today, i'm going to a local school to do an aids presentation. tomorrow, i'm going to try to go to the ruins close by. saturday is a trip to some reserve with waterfalls and rivers to swim in. sunday i leave for caye caulker and the beach. then a few days after that i'm off to mexico.

the green house

2005-09-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

i live in "the green house." it is the volunteer house that is actually GREEN. there are 5 girls... lisa, from sf and she totally reminds me of eileen (so errie, doppelganger errie!); diana from michigan (learning about natural healing remedies), emily, a physical therapist from austin working with people that have disabilities; nicole from amarillo texas (relief and aid) and michele from new jersey (a teacher). the gals are great. they remind of types of women i have met before. there are other volunteers that have been here for months already and don't live in the house- dominick (this peace corp guy, 15 months), libby (new yorker, 5 months). there are long term volunteers 4mos plus and short-termers like me who stay for 2 or 3 weeks.

there are so many volunteers in and out of the organization that it initially seemed like people were a little too apathetic about my arrival. when i first arrived, it was after a huge wave of summer volunteers left. i think like 16 girls left before i arrived. after crossing the guatemala border and getting to the house, people were just like 'hey'. period. wanna eat? period. then i saw the back house i was suppose to sleep in (let's call it the shed with bunk beds!!) luckily, because there are not too many long term volunteers, i was moved into the front house, the green house. i get my own room, and it's been fun living with all the girls. but my time is flying by in belice. before you know it, i'll be back in the states! i'm trying to squeeze in a three day trip to cuba before i get back!!!

Atun Tunichil Mukal Cave y Rio Macal

2005-09-20T11:03:00.000-07:00

this weekend i went to the Atun Tunichil Mukal Cave. about an hour outside san ignacio, (the town i'm staying in) i hiked 45 minutes in the jungle, across two rivers to get to this cave. it's partially underwater and inside the cave i had to climb, swim, and crawl for 2 hours! the caves are amazing. they are full of mayan artifacts, skeletons, rock formations, stalagtites, and bats. i'll just call it batman's cave. it was so crazy. the caves are so dark. so dark you can't see ANY light, you can not even see your own hand if you pass it in front of your face. we had helmets and headlights to use, but during part of the tour, our guide made us turn off all the lights and find our way through the cave, imagining what it must be like for mayans to venture so deep into the caves. they performed human sacrifice and different rituals in the caves. it's crazy to see pots and artifacts intact and untouched. only a few guides are allowed in the caves and they have only been open for 7 years to the public. soon they will probably close down the caves to protect the artifacts from looting and destruction. it was an intense experience. probably the most adventurous thing i've done.

on sunday, i canoed the macal river. 4 hours of canoeing upstream, 13 miles! and on the way downstream it started pouring and the wind made the river current go backwards, which meant basically going upstream again. my arms were tired! i got to see a toucan, visited a blue morpho butterfly farm and museum.

volunteers rock

2005-09-19T11:42:00.000-07:00

dangriga is a part of belice where mainly garifuna people live. (it's a three hour bus ride away) it also has one of the highest rates of hiv/aids in the country. on friday, unicef and city officials declared dangriga the first hiv friendly town to helped end stigma of hiv positive people. i went to dangriga with a few other volunteers to pass out info and do activities with the youth at the event. same health education stuff i would do in the states.

and today i volunteered at a local family planning clinic and did pap smear, breast exam and contraceptive presentations including a condom demo for the women in the waiting rooms. AND i did them in spanish! well as much spanish as i could manage with the help of some women who translated words i didn't know. pecho is breast. tezo is nipple, matriz is uterus and la boca de la matriz is the cervix! and i had to remember to say sida y vih instead of aids and hiv.

oh, i'm paying a local woman to teach me spanish a few hours a week, so i'm starting to learn to conjugate in the PAST tense and future tense!! woo hoo.

oh, more about belize- i'm getting eaten alive by mosquitos!!!!! like all over. i'm so itchy and scratching ALL the time. it's terrible!!! and it's so HOT here!

belice

2005-09-14T10:51:00.000-07:00

my arrival at my volunteer site was interesting. i walked into the house where i was going to be staying and they were just like "oh hi," no big deal. they get so many volunteers in and out of the place, it's no big deal. i introduced myself to everyone and started to eat lunch with the group. i just tagged along with other volunteers the whole day, volunteered with special needs kids, walked around town, bought groceries, checked out a spanish class... and i just got my orientation today. the volunteer work is really self directed, you get what you put into it and you have to be very independent and initiate everything. which is just fine by me. it was just not the introduction i expected. the last few days have gotten easier, as their getting stuff together to orient me and other women are arriving to volunteer as well. i'll tell you more about that... there's too much to write about.

belice is not what i expected. it's more diverse than the other countries i've been to, lebanese, chinese, creole people. everyone speaks creole. it's french creole, which reminds me of hawaiian pidgeon. all the words are connected and shortened and spoken with carribean accents. i try to talk to people in spanish, but they like speaking in creole or english. i've met a few people i'm making talk to me in spanish and they say my spanish isn't bad.

more luego... boo-hiss, my college posse is off to chicago without me. i planned that trip! have fun my peeps!

hasta luego guatemala

2005-09-14T10:28:00.000-07:00

my last days in guatemala were bitter sweet. my host family threw a party for me and another girl who was leaving. it was also a family friend's birthday. we had a pinata, drinks, bbq, and dancing. i went out with my housemates to a salsa club for my last night. i had about 2 hours of sleep before my shuttle picked me up at 4am the next morning to take me to the airport. i flew to tikal, where the mayan ruins are because it's a 9 hour drive. it's one of the biggest sites for ruins. i hear it's difficult to go to other ruins after seeing tikal. part of star wars episode I was filmed at tikal. it is so indian jones like. there are huge temples, and areas where the mayans would sacrifice humans to the gods. the mayans had it going on with science and technology.

i met a really cool swiss girl named carine. we were the first ones at the airport in guatemala city before it even opened at 6am. she speaks some english but prefers spanish, so the whole weekend we hung out and i talked primarily spanish with her. it was great to practice my spanish! i was okay. the hotel we stayed at was set right next to the park with the ruins and in the jungle. the hotel is made up of cabins and does not have electricity after 10 pm. all night you hear all the animals in the jungle right outside your window- howler monkeys are loud. it was kind of scary, cool.

the next day i stayed in this little town of flores. right off of this lake and close to the buses. i stayed at this hostel that cost me 25 quetzales, between $3-$3.50, to sleep on a bunk bed. completely different than the jungle lodge with pool where i had my own room. i figured it was a good way to get back on budget and meet other travelers. the hostel was set up well, had a cool little restaurant and decorations, but i was too old for the crowd. lots of israelis, they travel after their mandatory service in the military, and australians. they all were like 21 and just wanting to party and drink. not my scene after sleeping the night before in the jungle at 10pm. i'm old. :)

the next morning i took a shuttle bus across the border into belice, into the town of san ignacio. it took about 4 hours and i didn't get sick! i take dramamine all the time now! i was most concerned about this part of my trip because i had heard of buses getting hijacked in guatemala. it was totally fine.

mochila

2005-09-08T17:45:00.000-07:00

blogger issues

2005-09-08T17:27:00.000-07:00

i keep losing my blogger postings when i try to post pictures... i've spent the last hour typing out stuff and i lost it. this is the second time this has happened! when will i learn to save!

recap... i leave sat for the ruinas de tikal. i saw a motorcycle run into a car, 3 yards from me. my spanish is starting to come along, i have to prepare a speech for the whole school in spanish tomorrow because i get a certificate, my house is having a fiesta manana por yo y mi otro campenero de mi casa. we will have a pinata, the students are preparing drinks and dessert... it's also pedro, a family friend's birthday... i'm sad to leave! i helped my roomie with a presentation that was similar to the work i use to do and it went really well... it will be job application time when i get home... job in antigua? hmmm.... i walk the streets a lot slower, taking it all in. this last two weeks has flown by!

i'm sick, flu season, possible sinus infection. i'm taking 5 different types of drugs. thank goodness for foreign farmacias that don't need perscriptions! i was so loopy, goofy today in spanish class. i almost fell asleep. darn blog issues. my other posting was much more entertaining and detailed. next blog...

santiago zamora

2005-09-05T12:50:00.000-07:00

last week i went to this puebla called santigo zamora. i got to make tortillas, weave textiles and baskets. they also prepared a traditional meal called, pepian. it´s this spicy sauce that´s difficult to make and you serve it with chicken, rice y tortillas.

self actualization

2005-09-04T19:54:00.000-07:00

i found out about new orleans the other day. i am so disconnected from the rest of the world... it felt bad to know that i was so oblivious to such a huge disaster.

but it made me realize that i am truly happy and living a dream. i realized that for the last few weeks, i have had no worries, no stress, no self-doubt, no funk, no overthinking, no fear about the future... it´s weird to realize because last year was so difficult for me and right now i feel like i haven´t been happier. i feel like i´m just being me. be. no questions about what i´m suppose to be doing, who i am suppose to be, no questioning my choices, no doubts or regrets or fears. you know what i mean... because i feel like i´ve talked a lot about twentysomething crisis stuff in the last few years and it has been weeks, feels like lifetimes, since any of that stuff has been on my mind. and it´s more than just being on vacation and in another country. i feel like i´ve grown so much. corny.

like... this weekend traveling with my housemates at lago atitlan made me realize that i love traveling alone. i´m confident that i can travel by myself anywhere and i prefer it in a lot of ways. not that i´m against traveling with other people, there´s just something special about it. i feel really good about how i´ve handled challenging environments and situations, navigating with little language skills, not getting hustled, not being afraid, and having so much fun no matter what i´m doing. i feel like i can do anything... things i never thought i could do or would even want to do. and i feel like i can make fufilling connections with people that are so different than me... i don´t know it´s that self actualization stuff. blah blah... i can´t believe it´s only been 4 weeks!

hasta luego mis amigos

2005-09-04T19:45:00.000-07:00

the students that i got to know best this week, spencer y nikki, left antigua. it was like the end of summer camp because we were all kinda sad. we had really clicked and spent so much time together. so last night, we all went out to a salsa club to practice all that we had learned in class. it was fun, but also sad. weird, since i´ve only known them for a week. i´ve been meeting such great people during my travels. people that i would actually like to keep as friends.

lago atitlan

2005-09-04T19:28:00.000-07:00

went to lago atitlan for the fin de semana. i was amazed by the natural beauty... lago atitlan is a lake surrounded by 3 plus volcanos. i think the lake is actually a volcanic crater or something. touring the lake and the surrounding traditional pueblos was like being in a movie. everything is lush green and the volcanos/mountains are enormous. there are markets to bargain for typical guatemalteco souvenirs. the country is known for its textiles. i bought some stuff that i don´t know how i´m going to get them back to the states.

we went to these thermal pools (spas) today and i had a massage for 10 dollars! yesterday we went to these truly natural thermal pools, water naturally heated by the volcano. the water was pouring out of the rocks, and there were mayans washing there dishes and taking baths in these pools.

we almost missed our shuttle back to antigua tonight. we got lost on these tiny paths through corn fields ( i always end up in fields of corn!) , it took us forever to find the right dock that would take us back to the shuttle back to antigua, then the boat drivers tried hustling us into taking a private boat or paying to make the boat leave before the 12 min passenger limit was reached. we had a 30 min boat ride back to our shuttle and we only had 15 min. we were so late. luckily, when we got to the other side of the lake and were hurrying to find the shuttle it passed by, about to leave without us. when we got home to antigua, we found out our host family was called when we didn´t show up to the shuttle on time. they were so worried about us especially because we´re girls.

scared shitless

2005-09-04T19:26:00.000-07:00

funny... i went to this pagan worshipping ritual. where you are not allowed to take pictures (people have been killed), witches burn black candles to wish bad luck on people, shaman tell your fortune and cleanse your body, chicken are sacrificed... it was so interesting... but i was scared to get my fortune read. scared is miedo in spanish. i said, ¨yo mierda¨. mierda means shit! i shit.
me encanta. antigua, antigua, antigua... i´m living a dream!

pictures!

2005-09-02T15:58:00.000-07:00

i found an internet place that could download my pictures from my camera and put them on cd! i started with nicaragua, but they take so long to download, i'll do the rest later. and i'll learn to rotate them!!
pictures tell the story better than words...

me encanta

2005-08-30T17:28:00.000-07:00

i'm in love with antigua. put it at the top of your list of travel destinations! it has that spanish colonial charm- cobblestone streets... , mayan indigenous culture (7 out of 8 of all of the indigenous people of central america live in guatemala)- everywhere mayan people walk the streets in their traditional clothing and carry huge loads on their heads, latin american culture- espanol, musica, salsa, ... it's so modern and developed- diverse food, cute cafes and shops everywhere... , yet at every turn there are ruins and buildings have their original architecture and structure, plus there are volcanos and lush green mountains as scenery. me encanta mucho!

yesterday was my first day of spanish class. it was intense. my mind feels like mush. because it is off season and there are not that many students i have a private tutor instead of group classes. three hours straight of non-stop spanish. i feel tonta or stupid and i get tongue tied trying to pronounce spanish words. there is so much for me to learn! plus i have mucha tarea or homework and lots of school activities and i'm taking a salsa dance class. i was exhausted yesterday. i went to sleep at 9 pm! mi horario or schedule: i have breakfast with my host family at 7 amish, class at 8 am, done with class at 11 am, today i did my homework until 1 pm, at 1 pm i have lunch with my host family, today at 2pm we hiked this hill that overlooks all of antigua, after i got helado or ice cream with my classmates and then we had an hour of salsa class, now i'm emailing and i have dinner in 10 minutes, at 8:30 there is this student outing ( that{s why i had to do my homework earlier) and then i still havemore to study and sleep... the days are so full and i love it!

my host family is so full of life. they are always cracking jokes. there are more people in the house than i originally thought. there are 4 students including me. one from belgium, one from denmark, and one from oregon. it's hard not to speak english because we all speak it and our levels of spanish are so different. there is so much to get to know about each other so we end up speaking english. (so much for immersion because it's the same deal with the other students at the school. we all speak english to each other but we're going to try to stop) anyways, mi casa... my family is actually a grandmother, her daughter, her son and their 3 kids. in addition, there is a guatemalan architecture student who lives in the house, and during the day the house doubles as a tour agency and the tour worker is practically part of the family, as is a local police officer. they are all in the house! the house, like most others, has an open patio in the middle of it. it's completely open. all the homes and stores are connected. they all share walls, so the middle of most stores and buildings are open. and antigua is cold! the altitude is so high that i have two wool blankets at night.

my classmates are fun. there is this guy from nueva york, and this girl from boston that i always hang out with at breaks. we all started classes together on monday...

i have so much more to tell you, ( salsa class, people, culture, ) but it's time for dinner. i really wish you could be here. or i could show you my pictures... i will write more soon. i'm having the time of my life!

"not all who wander are lost..."

chinita

2005-08-28T18:41:00.000-07:00

*warning_ my keyboard isn't working properly.

i left costa rica today. i just arrived in guatemala. my real spanish adventures are just beginning. i start spanish classes tomorrow! i am staying with a host family of 5, including 3 kids. they are also hosting 3 other students in their home. i only met one girl from oregon and she has been staying with my family for one month. my family pretty much took my bags, showed me to my closet size room *this other girl's room is twice the size of mine* boo hiss* and gave me a key. sweet, but i'm on my own. they cook me meals from monday to saturday, and since today is sunday i ate at a cafe/bookstore/restaurant around the corner. it was candle lit with an outdoor patio and live musica... maravillosa.

i was nervous about guatemala because of all the danger warnings, but guatemala is more than i expected. very developed, beautiful, hilly, green, clean,... antigua is charming and colonial, so much character with every turn. i love it already... i'm going to really try and not speak english unless i absolutely have to. i've been looking up words like crazy on my electronic dictionary...

comico- i can't pronounce post office correctly. la palabra es correo. cor-rey-o... i say kor-E-o... basically korean. which must be funny for the spanish speakers since my official name in latin america is chinita! chinita, chinita, chinita.... it's okay because they call otro personas blanquita, gordita,... whitie and fatty...

love,
chinita morena

jane of the jungle

2005-08-27T19:12:00.000-07:00

we decided to take a tour of the bribri indigenous/indian reservation near puerto viejo. the tour included a hike to this waterfall. on the way you can see the panama jungle. in order to get to the waterfall we went off-roading, crossing two rivers by car, and taking these obscure paths. we finally parked the car and our tour guides strips to his shorts, no shoes, no shirt. that should have been a hint for what was to come. we had to hike the rest of the journey. we had to cross two more rivers by foot and my hiking shoes would not do. he told me to take them off. luckily, i brought slippers with me, but those wouldn´t do either in the water. so barefoot, i hiked through the jungle! it was worth it as we got to this amazing waterfall and pool. and i hiked barefoot back through the jungle. note to self- watershoes and teva looking shoes are cool!

after, we went to an iguana farm. there were more iguanas than i´ve ever needed to see.

also, the next day we biked 14 km to punta uva. another great beach with no waves and is perfect for swimming and floating. can you ever get tired of the beach and relaxing? i´m ready for antigua... i fly out of costa rica tomorrow... pura vida!

motor-scooter diaries

2005-08-27T18:57:00.000-07:00

we rented a motor scooter our last full day in puerto viejo. we took it to manzanillo about 30 km south of puerto viejo. it was a hilarious ride. neither of us had ever driven a scooter/motorcycle and you could tell. debbie was the driver and i was che guevara! ha ha... we had these funny helmets like the ones that mental patients need to protect their heads. we were going so slow because parts of the road are rocky and bumpy. wind in our hair, bumping helmets and bugs on our sunglasses... it was tons of fun! on the way through the jungle, we saw howler monkeys and their babies. when the road completely ended we were in manzanillo. there are beautiful beaches and coral reefs all along the carribean side of costa rica, but manzanillo felt untouched. we went snorkling and there were crazy fish everywhere! even close to the shore, in 6 inches of water, you could see schools of those yellow and black fish, these long skinny fishies ( don't know what they are called), and coral.

tico buses

2005-08-27T18:44:00.000-07:00

the buses in costa rica have been impressive. i thought they would be like the rickety chicken buses (old us school buses) i took in nicaragua, but they are more like charter buses. the bus ride i took today from puerto viejo to san jose was crazy. it took forever... first, we were stopped by the tico policia who made us all get off the bus, had to thoroughly search the bus and our belongings and check all passenger id. an hour later, we stop the bus again because traffic isn´t moving because a semi went off the small road and was blocking traffic. we had to wait for it to be towed. finally things are going well for a few hours, until the bus emergency alarm goes off... i don´t know what happened- we either ran out of gas or over-heated. we had to wait for two other buses to take us the rest of the way to san jose. it took us 6 hours!

not malaria

2005-08-27T18:30:00.000-07:00

it´s true what they write in the travel books about people staying longer than expected in puerto viejo. the town is very relaxing and there is so much to do. people don´t want to leave. debbie and i were suppose to see all the turtles laying their eggs in tortuguero on thursday ( it´s turtle egg-laying season!), but i got sick. so sick, i was scared i might have dengue fever or malaria... i was throwing up, on the toilet, had a fever and chills (crazy since it´s so hot here). i saw a local doctor who told me that i didn´t have malaria and probably not dengue fever. whew! he basically prescribed me pedialyte, immodium and some anti-vomiting pills. i feel better now, but sometimes food makes me a little quesy. that´s what i get for joking around about parasites being positive for helping weight loss!

puerto viejo

2005-08-22T15:42:00.000-07:00

i met my friend debbie at the aeropuerto yesterday... it's so good to see someone familiar. she brought me gossip magazines and more insect repellent!! we traveled 5 hours to puerto viejo, on the carribean side of costa rica, really close to panama. we are having wonderful carribean food and the beach is beautiful. it's so much more colorful on this side and there are black people (there are no black people in the rest of costa rica). people speak less spanish and instead some carribean dialect, and reggae is always playing. i rented an old school bike today and have been biking all around puerto viejo today. we're going on this tour of a indigeneous reservation, iguana farm and waterfall tomorrow.

good people

2005-08-20T12:19:00.000-07:00

here are some stories about the great people i have met so far...

some stories were left out before because i wasn´t sure if my parents were reading my blog... :)

i have met some really nice people during my travels. they have been so helpful and kind. i started my trip to centro america meeting a young woman named beth. she´s from texas but was visiting her father in managua. she was so concerned for me because we were going to be landing in managua at midnight and nobody was picking me up at the aeropuerto. she and another woman warned me that taxis are not that safe because anyone can have a taxi in nicaragua. they freaked me out with their concerns and warnings. here i was starting off my trip trying to feel confident and they confirmed some of my fears. she offered to see if her padre could drive me to a hotel for the night so i wouldn´t have to take a taxi. when we got to the airport and i met her dad he insisted i stay at their house. what? they seemed like genuinely nice people, but all the rules say not to trust strangers. but my instincts told me it was safe and probably my best option as he also offered to drive me to my bus terminal the next day... they took me to their beautiful house and i tried sleeping on their couch. i woke up the next morning to the maid who made me gallo pinto y huevos. when we parted ways beth gave me a bible. did i tell you there are a lot of missionaries that go to nicaragua?

david was my nica bus escort. who helped me not get hustled by the taxi and ferry drivers along my way from managua to ometepe. he also hiked around the island in circles with me trying to find serena´s house... my directions were- la casa de serena atras del estadio de futbol. serena´s house is near the soccar field. there is more than one field. i ended up hiking through barbed wire and corn fields to finally find her house.

jersey peeps... recently, in playa samara i was starting to get antsy. i thought samara was what i needed,rural and peaceful, but it ended up being too small of a town. i would try and go out and walk around town and i would be done in 10 minutes. playa samara is a place you go to lay out on the beach, solamente. because my travel book is a central america book covering every country, the blurb on samara was so brief. i asked this couple on the beach, that were each reading costa rica travel guide books, if i could take a look at one because i didn´t know what there was to do in this town. they felt the exact same way. they invited me to dinner with their friends that night. nicolea (nick), carla (born in venezuela), meg and carlos (born in argentina) are from jersey and are such fun. they have great stories to tell.

we all decided to stay the following day in the neighboring town called playa carillo to check out something new. we found hotel rooms, went to the beach where they taught me how to dive under waves instead of letting them crash on me, and had a fabulous dinner at this argentine couple´s restaurant. best food. we ate great meat, had dessert and coffee, drank wine and closed the place down. i took the bus to san jose with meg and carlos today.

motion sickness

2005-08-20T12:03:00.000-07:00

i took a 4 am autobus from playa carillo to alejuela, the town the airport is in (even though the airport is called san jose). 4 am! it was better to leave early because public transportation tends to get crowded, hot and people have to stand on the bus. i had to hike with my pack to get to the main road in playa carillo to flag down the bus. the bus was actually really nice, like a charter bus, but the trip was 4 hours long and i get car sick. so even with my motion sickness wrist bands and my late attempt to take dramamine, i puked on the bus! so gross especially since i had one of the best dinners the night before- argentine ojo de bife (rib eye), papas fritas, ensalada y mucho vino. gross! but thank goodness i was prepared. i had read somewhere that ziplock baggies are the most useful things on a trip and are great for an experience like mine on the bus. so i just puked into a ziplock baggie and endured the disgusted and sympathetic stares. i felt better after and slept the rest of the bus ride.

it´s raining, it´s pouring

2005-08-18T14:31:00.000-07:00

i was walking along the beautiful beach about a mile from my hotel (my hotel is on the beach)and then i got rained on, big time with no place to take cover... soaking wet! but it was warm and beautiful and the perfect time to go swimming. but because of the rain and the sun setting so early, i read and write a lot... i´ve finished harry potter, kite runner, and i´ll be done with the handmaid´s tale soon. i need more books! they have a book exchange program (weird traveler needs) in samara but i will be leaving soon. my old coworker debbie will be meeting up with me in costa rica and we will be traveling the carribean side of costa rica. i´m asking her for more books... read kite runner, it´s painfully good.

costa rica

2005-08-17T15:33:00.000-07:00

i left nicaragua yesterday... i wanted to fly out the day before, but the flights to costa rica were booked. so i stayed at this nice hotel next to the airport. it was the first time i´ve taken a hot shower since leaving! and they have a nice pool. i had to justify spending 70 bucks on a hotel room which is equivalent to how much i´ve spent total before that. i´m staying on budget. i eat for like 2 dollars and drinks are like 50 cents!

now i´m in costa rica. when i first arrived i was bummed because it was gloomy and raining hard. i was a afraid my whole trip (12 days) would be like that, but i arrived in playa samara today and it barely rained. the beach is beautiful. the town is very quaint... just what i wanted. i think i´m going to pass on jaco and go to the beach next to it. i hear bad things about jaco. it´s a party town filled with what they call "wanted/unwanted" americans, prostitutes and drug dealers. who knows, maybe i´ll stay in playa samara... wandering is fun...

cumpleanos

2005-08-14T16:57:00.000-07:00

feliz cumpleanos... to savier, a local boy who turned 9. he is so cute and sweet. we went to his birthday party. he had a pinata and as part of the game you have to dance while blindfolded between hitting the pinata. the pinata was a purple teletubbie thing. we got him this spiderman backpack, cap, notebooks, stickers and candy as a birthday gift. we also gave all the little kids sticks and candy. it was a great experience to feel like a part of the town. the woman i am staying with, serena, has been coming to ometepe for about 10 years and everyone knows her. serena, vickie, raheema and david have been great travel companions!

random... nica tacos are fried rolled tacos, sorta like san diego style but they put ketchup on them!

i´m going to try to switch my flight to costa rica for tomorrow.... adio nicaragua... (nicaraguans shorten their words, like southern drawl) yo soy triste to leave this great pais.

granada

2005-08-13T17:40:00.000-07:00

took the 2. 5 hour trip to granada. i was really looking forward to staying the night... but when we got there i was ready to go back to ometepe. granada has a colonial city vibe and is one of or is THE oldest city in all of central america... it has this parque central and mercado and there was this festival/parade that was going to be popping, but it reminded me of a colonial revolucion in tj. too loud, too much going on... i missed ometepe... the cows, horses, chicken, ... peacefull vibe. it´s like the barrio in the pi. so we came back here and i will finish reading harry potter!

escuela

2005-08-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

i had the best time this morning visiting the local school in our town of moyogalpa. the students are learning english and they had a singing contest that we got tho judge. it was so fun... they were singing one of olivia, johanna and my fave songs, backstreet boys- i want it that way! :) other songs included i just called to say i love you (stevie), eternal flame (bangles), right here waiting (richard marx), a guns and roses song, i´m still in love (sean paul)... the students were so cute! we helped them with their pronunciation and then WE performed for all the children. ha ha. what a sight.

i think tomorrow i will be going to granada, but there is still so much i want to do here on this island.

sleepless night

2005-08-12T11:25:00.000-07:00

last night was a tough, roughing it kind of experience. the city girl came out : ) there are bugs, lots of them. and they would land on my face while i was trying to sleep. plus, you hear all of them wanting to mess with you... i turned on the light to find one of those huge stick/twig looking bugs on my bed, a flying cockroach and this other huge moth/bee like thing in the room... for those of you who do not like bugs, like spiders, or other animals like geckos or mice, you would freak out! i think i've been good at roughing it, but last night i had to switch rooms and i did a little shrieking when they would fly on my face. besides that, it's good times. i only have one spider bite, and i got two mosquito bites this morning. not bad, ehh? i'm going to buy a mosquito net today...

nicaragua

2005-08-11T16:42:00.000-07:00

sorry i can't post as much as i want to. internet is sooo slow. i am having an amazing time! so many great experiences... yesterday david and i tried to go to a part of isla ometepe called playa santo domingo, known for it´s beautiful beaches... we took bikes (fyi- the last time i went biking was when i owned a yellow huffy with a banana-boat seat) and hitched (yes, hitched) a ride in the back of this old military truck full of sawdust, camoflauge in color and the cab had a tank like opening in it´s roof. post-sandinistas or contra? i know, hitch-hiking is not safe but this island is very rural and everyone is friendly and helpful. well on the hour ride through rough roads our truck ran out of gas and had to back up down the hill! david and i stayed the night where the truck broke down and we went to the beach. very warm water. i´m talking 80 degrees. and on both sides of the beach are the two volcanos on the island- concepcion y madera. concepcion erupted the day before i arrived on the island! (one reason i was warned durng my travels)

we also hiked through a field of banana trees to get to the most gorgeous spot called ojo de agua. it's this pool of fresh water hidden in the forest. so clear and warm and so refreshing after our bike ride and hike. it was magical. you can float on your back and look into the trees...

yesterday, i also rode a horse to this place called punta jesus maria. it's a tiny isthmus off the island. you can walk down it as it disappears into the water and you appear to be walking on water. the waves crash on both sides of you! i wish i could show you pictures to better explain.

randoms- i´ve seen vultures, large frogs, i watch fireflies put on a light show as the sun sets and night falls, i have fallen asleep on hammocks, read, eaten amazing comida- pescado, gallo pinto, ... the popular beers here are victoria and toña... isla ometepe is located in lake nicaragua. it's one of the largest lakes! it's one of the few places in the world that has fresh water sharks and the first lake with waves i've swam in.

arrival

2005-08-09T15:37:00.000-07:00

hola! i am in nicaragua at isla ometepe. getting here was quite a journey. i wanted adventure, new experiences, challenges... i have some stories to tell!

my flight was delayed for a few hours in houston because of rain. during the extra time i met a few of the other people on my flight. they scared me with their concern for my well-being because i was traveling alone and we were going to be arriving into nicaragua at midnight.

but i arrived safely and have had quite the adventure getting here and getting to this island. i will fill you in soon...

ready?

2005-08-08T02:26:00.000-07:00

i am almost finished packing... well, i'm working with just my travel backpack so there isn't much space to fill. it's just making sure i don't overpack, yet don't foget anything i will need for the next 10 weeks.
i don't think i have ever been so prepared for a trip before. compression bags to make my stuff take up less space, first aid kit, ziplock baggies and cable ties for who knows what, every type of travel lock and spanish resource.
i'm sort of taking my time because i can. not good, because i should sleep soon. usually i would pull an all-nighter because i procrastinate and so i can sleep on the plane, but i want to read my travel and spanish book during the flight.

so my flight is at 9:40 ish today and i fly from san diego to houston, have a 3 hour layover, and arrive in managua at 9pmish. i don't have a hotel booked for the night, but it shouldn't be a problem. then tomorrow i take a taxi to the mercado where i can shop and find my bus that will take me to a ferry to la isla ometepe to meet up with david and his friends. one of them owns a house on the lake. there are volcanos and ancient petroglyphs (from my book) to explore on the island. i'll be happy to just start reading a new book and eat some good comida.

FUNNY, i realized some of the random things i will miss... that new inxs rockstar show- so good. some of the performers are so talented! and tabloid gossip... i just discovered daily dish and the new vanity fair comes out after i leave and i wanted to read the interview of jennifer aniston. I'M SO BAD! :)

my itinerary

2005-08-02T14:09:00.000-07:00

i finally have most of the details of my trip figured out. good thing, because i leave on monday! i'm nervous, stressed and excited. i took my first anti-malaria pill today...

Aug 8-16 Nicaragua- Isla Ometepe
Aug 16-28 Costa Rica- Jaco and the Caribbean Coast
Aug 28-Sep13 Guatemala- Antigua, Lake Atitlan, Tikal Ruins
Sep 13-Oct 2ish Belize- San Ignacio, Caye Caulker and Ambergis Caye
Oct 2-Oct 17 Yucatan Mexico- Cancun, Merida, Isla Mujeres

come for a visit!!

2005-07-28T10:49:00.000-07:00

my travel blog...