Yucatan Peninsula – Day 3 – Cobá

After really relaxing into the vacation in Punta Allen, we headed inland for the Mayan ruins portion of the vacation. Our first stop was Cobá, where the site has not been cleared of jungle around the ruins and you can climb to the top of the tallest pyramid (in the whole Yucatan). The town of […]

Yucatan Peninsula – Day 2 – Punta Allen

Step 1. Leave Tulum heading south. Stay on the coastal road. Step 2. Drive to end of road. Step 3. Once in town, drive to end of road. Step 4. Stay in beach cabana on practically private beach. Requirements: faith that the town really exists at the end of the road and bug repellent. Snorkel […]

Yucatan Peninsula – Day 1 – Tulum

My guy and I spent a week in Quintana Roo and the Yucatan and successfully achieved my goal of not spending a single minute in the city of Cancun. The airport is conveniently located well outside the city. Instead, we did a wonderful tour which included a mix of beaches, birds, and ruins. Being low-season, […]

Superhero or SNAFU?

You can either ignore the pile of dirty laundry in the background or see it as an indicator. I leave it to each of you individually to decide as you see the events of the week unfolding. Holy crap it’s only Tuesday. It better not start raining. I need to go for a run. There are […]

One bird at a time

After the fair in Puebla last Friday, I joined the local birders on a day trip to the La Malinche National Park. We had a nice walk through a wooded barranca. Wooded was the key word, and even with the big lens I didn’t end up with so many good pictures. The flowers and butterflies […]

Have solar oven, will travel

Although the climate in the state of Puebla is significantly cloudier and rainier than where I live, I packed up my solar oven and took it with me to a science fair this weekend in a small community there. The fair was organized by another Volunteer for the children and parents at the school where […]

Almost a complete set

After climbing in Salamanca, Guanajuato yesterday, I think that I’m just missing one of the “local” crags – those within say an hour to an hour and a half away – before I have the complete set. The missing locale is an old crater and supposed to be nice, but we’ll have to see how […]

Wish they all could be California birds

After travelling all night and trying to jump back into work yesterday, I might still be a touch grumpy, which is the usual state upon return to Mexico after visiting M. in California. We had a few great days together with a lot of birdwatching around Lake Tahoe and in the Bay area. This time, […]

Not quite a project…

…but quite the eco-condo. The three of us from the solar oven project had the opportunity to go and look at an eco-condo and organic chicken farm that have been built near town. We met the designer, builder, entrepreneur-owner at the solar cooking festival. He has done some amazing work on his plot of land […]

After the Big Check… the Weighty Certificate

I like coming up with witty titles too much to not in this case, but actually it was quite an honor to attend and receive a plaque in recognition of the work we having been doing with the solar ovens during the solar oven festival today. The real shame was that Sarah couldn’t be there […]

Niños y Niñas BIG CHECK day

Micha and I write emails back and forth in Spanish most often, but we kept referring to the BIG CHECK as just that. It doesn’t translate well into Spanish, and is more amusing this way. While neither of us are much for ceremony, it felt like the right thing to do in this case, especially […]

Planta Madre

Planta Madre is a group committed the conservation, cultivation, replanting of cactus and medicinal plants in the Bernal area of the state of Querétaro. The work in the protected area of the Peña de Bernal and have a large production greenhouse in San Antonio de la Cal. The group has been in existence for 6-7 […]