Semana Santa 2012 – talk about a good Friday.
Last year’s Easter week was in town during training and I kept myself occupied exploring the cultural side of the festivities in a very Catholic country. So, I didn’t feel the need to do that again, and I was hoping for a climbing trip. I was feeling frustrated that everyone seemed to have exciting plans […]
The steaming river, epiphytes, orchids, and bromeliads
After my weekend in San Blas and Isla Isabel, I went to Guadalajara for “a series of work meetings.” Haha, a bit of a private joke there, but I did work some. I also had a really nice week relaxing and exploring a bit. The highlight of the week was the visit to the Bosque […]
San Blas and Isla Isabel
I finally made it to the beach – the charming beach town of San Blas where two volunteers are stationed and the amazing migratory marine bird reserve at Isla Isabel, about 3 hours off the coast. I will write more later, but I’ve been working on the photos for days and want to get them […]
Sun Stripes = More Cake
I generally find it better when people correct my Spanish mistakes, but I understand why someone would choose to let a repeated mistake pass. I have done the same in English many, many times because I understood what the person was saying and for a host of other reasons. So these days, I try to […]
Solar Oven Workshop Goodness
It was my second time participating in the solar oven workshops, and the first workshop in round two of the series, but actually workshop number 4 so far in total. As long as we are all clear now… Where the first workshop was general information and data collection, this workshop was the hands-on session. The […]
The problem when it’s not your camera…
… is that you don’t have any of the pictures to work with after the trip is over. Instead, I’m at the whim of my guy to choose and send me some. Still, what is worse is arriving home at 11:30pm to an apartment where the power has been cut because the power bill did […]
January Cultural Leftovers
From the Down the Street on a Friday Night post, here are some of the other images I captured at the stumbled upon cultural event in the next neighborhood over from mine. The costumes were amazing, and I wish the pictures weren’t so blurry. My good lens still couldn’t quite handle the combination of low light […]
It’s not ever really 3-dog night cold here…
…in Mexico, but it certainly has been 1-cat cold. So, I had to get a cat. Of course. Since meeting the effervescent Dulce, I had been considering getting a cat, but I was firm on wanting to rescue one. What was saving me was that I didn’t know the words in Spanish for “animal shelter”.  Then, […]
Surprised, Scraped, Smacked around, but still Smiling
I was totally unprepared to be climbing well on the tufa-filled caves of Guadalcázar. I had either been avoiding or unable to join the group on the previous trips for the 3-hour drive up north into San Luis PotosÃ, but I’m very glad that I did join them this time. It is a beautiful place, […]
Local Crag Sunday (Issue #4)
In which Sarah and I get up early to meet our ride to the not-so-local, but very nice-for-a-change crag, Billie romps and holds her own with a host of other dogs and discovers the joy of tuna-water*, and Sarah and I rediscover our love for the pure and simple joy of top-roping [portfolio_slideshow size=large autoplay=false […]
Return to the Winter Bouldering Grounds
Just like the monarchs returning to Mexico in Winter, some things are seasonally determined, like a Ticino bouldering session if the weather allows in December. Until the clouds dissipated and the full sun came out there was less activity to be seen, but also like with the monarchs, the activity level really picked up once things warmed up a bit. […]
Monarchs: the rest of the story
Although it is very nice to be back in Switzerland for the holidays, and the mountains are beautiful, I am still amazed as I edit the monarch pictures. Three of us went to one of the monarch winter nesting grounds near Valle de Bravo in central Mexico. We aren’t allowed into the state of Michoacan […]