Category: Post

Local Crag Sunday (Issue #5b)

In which Sarah and I meet a new climbing crew (go blog power!) and have a bush-whacking backtrack adventure before getting to the pretty, pretty routes. Karen has a power lead day, albeit on nothing harder than probably a 10b, but still has a great day on lead even through another blazing hot day probably over […]

(Pre-)Local Crag Sunday (Issue #5a)

In which it really is just too hot to climb properly, but Sarah and I have a great time biking our way out to the local crag and nearly kill Billie the dog. Billie is a trooper though, and recovers while Sarah and I suffer through a few routes. All is well though, and really we […]

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 […]

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 Potosí, but I’m very glad that I did join them this time. It is a beautiful place, […]

Late night banana-cart chronicles

It was late. Not so late that the streets were empty, but empty enough for a lone roasted banana-cart salesman. From outside my front window, I heard a screaming whistle that impelled me to the front window to investigate. Looking down to the street I immediately recognized the source, but it was still a strange […]