Toledo--the Paris of Ohio, or so they say......

Port Isaac, Cornwall aka the Home of Doc Martin

2012-01-29T12:06:00.000-08:00

If it's not enough that I like Agatha Christie, I'm also obsessed with Britcoms (from the 1970's on to today). One of the prettiest, although not my favorite, is a drama called Doc Martin which was a spin-off of a movie called, "Saving Grace (with Colin Ferguson)".

Doc Martin (yes like the boots) is set in a quaint seaside fishing village in Cornwall called Port Wenn. Imagine my surprise when I learned there is a real-life Port Wenn, only called Port Isaac.

I drove the hour or so from Land's End and as if a precursor of things to come, my GPS F'ed up. Basically, I ended up driving through 20 miles of cornfields, one lane roads with high hedgeroes on each side (if an oncoming car approaches, one of you needs to find a lay by and pull over...or reverse until you find one and yes, this happened to me), and cow fields.

Convinced I was going the wrong way, I finally headed down this steep tiny cow path and all of a sudden, the village appeared.

I thought driving with other cars coming at you along the hedgeroes was bad. I was completely unprepared for what you do when another car comes at you and you are cemented in by two 13th century buildings.

After a long stare down, the other driver must have figured out I had absolutely no idea what to do so he gave way. Thankfully, this was almost opposite my hotel, The Old School (which is used in the Doc Martin series as the village school). Unthankfully, I had just passed the hotel, so I had to somehow turn around, among hordes of tourists and oncoming traffic. I just managed to turn around and nearly took out a sandwich board sign announcing the daily specials at the deli across the street.

Port Isaac is beautiful and isolated and amazing. But one night is just about enough. There's not a lot to do there as the beach is a working beach for fishing boats and not suitable for swimming and there aren't any museums or shops except tacky souvenier shops.

So, I drank. And walked around. And then drank some more Cornish cider.

I met some local people who were nice enough to hang out with me and tell me a little about the town.

Apparently, the town is completely dividied over Doc Martin. Half love the show because it brings in tons of tourists (they told me tourism went up 90% since the show. Especially with Australians who apparently come there in droves to see where Doc Martin lives. When I was there I met a father/son team from Richmond, Virginia who came because of the show).

While the other half hate it....I'm actually not sure why...I guess the added tourists and the annoyance of having to deal with TV crews.

I hung out at the Golden Lion, which is a pub but also a nice restaurant. (damn hyper link isn't working but it's a beautiful place right downtown...google it).

On an odd note, one of the regulars stopped in. He's a guy in his late 20's, early 30's and he had no freaking bottom front teeth. And this didn't apparently bother him or anyone else (I'm pretty sure he had a girlfriend). He looked like a 5th grader who had just lost their bottom teeth and are proud of it (except this guy was shaved bald and pretty rotund).

What is it with the English and teeth? I'm sorry but sometimes stereotypes really are true....

Land's End, Cornwall

2012-01-22T14:56:00.001-08:00

One of the other places I really wanted to visit in England was Land's End. Just the name alone is romantic. Land's End lies at the most westerly point of England and there really is only one hotel to stay at...the appropriately yet perhaps unimaginately named Land's End Hotel.

(see hotel at far right)

It's about 9 miles south of Penzance (yes, that Penzance..again a big thank you to Andrew Lloyd Weber or whoever wrote that damn thing). The closest other village is Sennan, which by calling it a village is very generous.

It consists of a bar, post office/general store, small grocery, mechanic and one other bar which is a long climb down a cliff (well, maybe more accurately very steep hill). It is however, very famous for surfing and I was told that in the summer it's insanely packed (like a 2-hour wait for dinner in the pubs...apparently Land's End is a very popular family/teenager vacation spot).

To get to Land's End, you literally follow the road until it ends. The hotel/tourist center is the only thing there and you can pay for the day to park and explore or stay the night.

Caveat: There isn't much to do here but that definitely adds to the mystique. I had thought there would be a small town or something but Sennen (at a mile away) is the closest. So what is there to do? Walk, hike and birdwatch. All of which are fun but for 1 night at most. I unfortunately had booked 2 nights.

Night comes early to Cornwall (and the gray marine layer which adds to the dusk) and I pretty much just hung out at the restaurant on site and in my room. Not to future self: Do not drink too many Cornish Rattler ciders (damn that shit is super strong!) and accost other hotel guests.

The village of Sennen does have an interesting old church (complete with a plaque of the names of all the villagers who served in World War 1 and World War 2).

The most interesting thing to me was the First and Last Inn which is one of the 2 aforementioned bars in town. Depending on your viewpoint, it would be the first or last inn you would see. It apparently was a haven for smugglers and other ne'er do wells back in the day.

I just found it full of chatty old men (who for some reason had an obsession with watching Judge Judy reruns) and a bartender from Sheffield who was on the run from the law). Go figure.

Torquay, Devon, England

2012-01-16T13:03:00.000-08:00

After leaving Watership Down, I drove for about 6 hours to my next destination: Torquay (tor-kee). All I really knew about it is that it's where Fawlty Towers was supposed to be set and Agatha Christie had lived there (yes I like Agatha Christie and yes I know this ages me by about 50 years).

For me, it was mostly a breaking point to my destination in Cornwall. But it was a pretty little seaside town. They have been trying to market the area as the English Riveria for decades now. Not sure if they've succeeded since I've never been to the French Riveria but I suspect that they're not since the first I had heard of this moniker was when I did my Internet research (seriously wtf did people do before the Internet?)!

Overall, it was a cute town but I think much better explored with friends. I walked around by myself for a long time (it was Sunday so a lot was closed or had limited hours). One thing I learned this trip is that there is very little all day food places (except fast food). Most pubs/restaurants close between 2 and 5 for food. Which I guess I should have known since I did a work abroad trip to London when I was 19 and worked in a bar that totally closed during those hours but I thought it was just a peculiarity of that bar.

I was repeatedly offered Sunday roast which is basically beef swimming in fat and gravy, mashed potatoes, veg (ugh what an ugly word) and who knows what other awfulness. I definitely reconfirmed my position that British people can't cook. I ate more cheese and tomato (tomaaato) sandwiches in that week than in my whole life and only about 2 were decent. One actually had mayo on it and another had oil (not sure of what variety) dripping out the end of it. Shudder.

I'm also not so much into the beach. I love looking at it but I can't be assed to spend the whole day just laying out (hello wrinkles, crows feet and cancer) or actually swimming (rule #1 don't swim in anything you can't see the bottom of). So maybe Torquay is not so much for me.

But the owner of the B and B I stayed at was from London and he said after moving to Torquay, he would never go back to London. This was said while at the same time mocking the local radio station which for some reason kept playing El Debarge songs during the mornign drive time hour. What decade do they think it is down in Devon? lol.

Although it was weird because somehow Leo had gotten one of El Debarge's songs stuck in his head a week or so before my trip. Coincidence? I think not.

I stayed at the Cleveland Hotel which was clean and the couple who owned it was very nice (in fact they accidentally charged my 5 pounds too much and the owner came running out to catch me before I drove off). A nice B and B but it was about a 15 minute walk to the water. There are plenty of hotels closer, but I'm not sure how much they charge and most of them seemed pretty janky.

Watership Down, Hampshire

2012-01-16T11:25:00.000-08:00

I went to England a few months back to accomplish some "bucket list" things. And yes, I know I'm old if I reference a bucket list.

There were 2 places in England I specifically wanted to see. One of these was Watership Down, which is an actual place and not just a book (which I had previously thought). The book (of the same name) is a epic journey type story but told through anthropormophized rabbits. It can be read as a children's book or as an adult book (kind of like Harry Potter). The author, Richard Adams, lived in the area and used to make up these stories to tell his children and eventually started writing them down. There is also a movie version of the book.

It lies in Hampshire which is about an hour or hour and a half drive from London (I hit a detour though so maybe it's shorter). I also had the disadvantage of learning how to drive on the opposite side of the road (I had done this once before in 2003 but it never really gets any easier).

There is limited accomodation in the nearest village of Kingsclere which doesn't really surprise me because I learned that the British don't really think the book is that big of a deal and are a little surprised that people come from so far away to look at a hill. (I know I'm not the only one..I did Internet research). In fact, no one I asked (who didn't live there) knew where Kingsclere even was or had even heard of it. Some people I talked to in the village had never even been to the hill even though they were life long residents.

The hill (or down as the English call it) is however, a popular place for walkers and cyclists (and apparently thieves since there were signs posted everywhere not to leave valuables in your car....sigh....a sad juxtaposition of rural tranquility and urban reality).

I stayed at the George and Horn which I thought was great. It's a 16th century inn with a pub downstairs. Granted it's not 4 stars but I don't have a 4 star budget. There is a parking lot in back and they serve food which was convenient. I got to meet some of the locals and they took me to my first rugby match. Granted, it was a local game of 15 year-olds but it was interesting to see what people do in a rural village in Britain.

It is true...the pub is the center of life in England. It was Saturday night and the whole village was out and they all know each other. English people always say that they aren't like Americans in that they go to the pub to socialize, not to get wasted (like Americans). All I can say, is bullshit.

The pubs do close early but the majoroty of those people that night were out to get off their heads (and nearly all suceeded).

We checked out the other pub in town, called The Swan. I had read about this pub/inn and it had gotten good reviews but these must have been from people in their 90's. It was Saturday night and there was no music on and people were reading newspapers. It was near dead silence in there. Trust me, I'm not into clubs or crazy bars but this was ridiculous. If you want to be quiet and read the paper, stay at home for chrissakes. I think if you had even tried starting a conversation with one of your friends in there, all the other patrons (who really were about 90..except for a lone group of teenagers...umm super weird) would have given you the serious stink eye.

The next day I went up to see the hill. I got good directions but it's still tricky to find. You have to go through the village of Ecchinswell and I use the term village loosely since it consists of 1 pub and a bunch of houses. Although I was told every year they re-enact witch dunkings in the river behind the pub. Oh those crazy English.

Unless you're a fan of the book, the hill is really no big deal. A nice place for a walk (which I did) but nothing to write home about. Although I did see Andrew Lloyd Webber's house (yes, that Andrew Lloyd Webber, he of Cat's fame) and apparently he's a real asshole...at least that's what I was told. Personally, not being a fan of musicals, I could care less. Unless maybe to call him a douche for writing so many of the damned things.

There are tons of rabbits running around on the hill (and plenty of rabbit poo so tred carefully) although there weren't any signs marking it was Watership Down, so who knows? I might have been staring at just some dumb old hill.

There is apparently a walking path but it's about 10 miles so I skipped it. On the path you can see other things in the book, like Nuthanger Farm. I'm just not that ambitious.

So that's at leat 1 thing crossed off my bucket list. (Did that term even exist before that Jack Nicholson/Morgan Freeman movie exist or did they make it up?)

Puerto Rico Baby

2012-01-08T16:27:00.000-08:00

In late June of last year, we got a call in the middle of the night that Leo's mother was sick and in the hospital in Puerto Rico. This was a Monday night. By Tuesday morning, we were on a plane from Detroit to San Juan. The airlines have this thing called "bereavement flight" or something like that, where if there is a death or sudden illness in the family, you can fly at the last minute for a (somewhat) decent price.

As we descended into SJ, the pilot said over the intercom, "Wwwweeeellllcooommmeee to Puerto Rico!" and alot of people clapped. Leo told me it's a tradicion when people land in PR. A lot better tradicion than flights I've taken from Mexico where people pray and make the sign of the cross upon take-off.

The first thing I learned is that Puerto Ricans love them some parades and getting in their cars, blocking the streets, waving flags and shouting. And apparently they love traffic jams. What we learned had happened was there was a basketball player (originally from PR) who plays for some team that had just won the whatever big basketball contest and was returning to the island. You would think the guy was a king the way everyone was so excited. It took us an additional 2 hours to get out of that mess.

According to Leo, all Puerto Ricans love a celebration...they celebrate their own holidays and the mainland US's. And any other they can think of.

After we got Leo's mom sorted, we walked around old San Juan, which wasn't that exiting to me since it was very touristy although we were there in the hurricane season.

One day, we drove the MIL to her hometown in the center of the island,a little town called Comerio (River eater is the best translation I can think of). Apparently, year ago a little boy got caught in the river's tide and called out that the river was eating him.

It definitely isn't a tourist town so that was what made it so interesting. We walked around the downtown, hung out around a church plaza and went to a hippodromo (horse betting track bar) that the MIL's cousins owned. Weird to say but it looked like a divey corner bar that could have been found in any Midwestern town. Old arcade games, smell of smoke, TV's in every corner and cheap beer.

I also learned in Comerio that Puerto Ricans have a special word for OJ. In other Latin American countries, it's called jugo de naranja but when I asked for this in the store, the teenage boy working there just looked at me until he had an epihany and he's like, "Ohhhh, jugo de china" which means Chinese juice. I have no idea how orange juice would have anything to do with China but that's just how the Puerto Ricans roll I guess.

One other trip we took was driving along the top of the island to reach the "Surfing Capital" called Rincon (or corner). Apparently it's a world famous town but not being a surfer I had never heard of it.

It was a cute little town but if you're not into surfing, I didn't think it was worth the trip (it took us about 3 hours) because it's a regular 2 lane road with stop lights the whole way there. There is an airport there though so if this is your destination, I highly suggest you fly.

What finally made the trip so memorable though it that we helped the MIL clean up some stuff around her house and since it's in the tropics, the breezeway to the car port/garage is an open wrought iron gate.

Leo and I were moving some bags and we were like WTF smells so bad? We couldn't figure it out, we smelled everywhere until finally, I was like, "Ok, it's me...it's my shirt." Turns out a stray cat had gone through the garage and sprayed all over the bags (I had carried them to my chest while Leo had just picked them up which was why my shirt reeked).

Leo was like, " El gato hizo pipi" and laughed. Nice. This was how we spent our 6th wedding anniversary...getting sprayed by stray male cats.

Memorable at least....

Plaza de Armas y Paseo Ahumada, Santiago, Chile

2012-01-02T15:44:00.000-08:00

This was the best video I could find about the "tourist track" in Santiago. The Paseo Ahumada is a pedestrian only walkway which was great for people watching, although I it is contrasted with the most abject poverty I've ever seen.

Of course, there are panhandlers/beggars or whatever you want to call them but I saw 2 men who were laying on the ground, shirtless and with their cups out for spare change. What was different about them though were both these men were hunchbacks.

Like hunchbacks so bad they couldn't stand up straight. This was something I never thought I'd see. I don't know anything about the Chilean medical system so I don't know if these men get free medical care and they are just begging for money for booze (this is one case where I can definitely see being an alcoholic) but it was very disturbing and sad.

And yes, I did give them money.

Santiago, Chile

2012-01-02T15:14:00.000-08:00

I returned to Santiago by bus from Valparaiso. Santiago was actually a pretty cool city and I wish I had budgeted more time to visit. I only spent about 2 days there.

The subway is the extensive and very cheap and there are quite a few vegetarian restuarants. I've always heard people from Argentina are supposed to be so attractive but I thought the Chilean people were much better looking on the whole (and not a man bun in sight).

I rented an apartment which is definitely the way to go if you're going to be more than a few days. I recommend Inmoba Apartments which are located in the Providencia section of town. This was the area I liked best, although Barrio Bellavista was also great--this area is full of cafes, restaurants and bars. While I like travelling solo, I'm not a fan of eating by myself and as a female, I don't really want to chance going to a bar solo in a foreign country.

Which is why I like renting short term aparmtents. You pay the same or less as a hotel and you can buy your own food/wine. I love checking out grocery stores in different countries (did you know that in England they call eggplants aubergines? Learned it in a grocery store. Oh snap.)

Then I climbed to the top of Cerro Cristobal, which wasn't entirely intentional. I was wandering around and saw all these people heading up a walking path so I decided to follow. When I saw the zoo (it's at the bottom of the hill) I knew where I was but if I had known how high that freaking hill is, I probably wouldn't have attempted it.

It's a pretty gentle incline but it NEVER ends! You cant take a funicular (they have these in Valparaiso too) but I was too far in for that. There are benches along the way to take a break so it wasn't really too bad.

The day I went, there was some kind of religious festival going on (how many religious festivals can one person get caught in in Latin America?...I was hotel bound for 3 days once in Costa Rica because of Easter Week where everything shuts down. Did not know that before I booked the trip).

There is a church and HUGE statue of the Virgin Mary at the top of the hill. As well as refreshment stands selling this weird drink of peach juice with huge wheat kernels in it (mote con huesillo). I wasn't brave enough to try one.

The view from the top of the hill was definitely worth the trek although the smog kinda kills it.

Vina del Mar, Chile

2011-12-23T18:12:00.000-08:00

Vina is a short subway ride from Valparaiso. You can catch the train at Estacion Puerto and you have to buy a subway card. The ride is only about 25 minutes and Vina is a world away from Valparaiso. Where Valpo is working class, Vina is the Chilean version of posh.

I exited at Estacion Vina which is near the Parque Quinta Vergara, a nice park with horse drawn carriages. I chose this exit because it was the closest to the Corporacion Museo de Arquelogio e Historia Francisco Fock (or the Fock Museum). The Fock Museum is quite small but focuses on the inhabitants of Easter Island (Isla Pascua) and actually has a Moai head outside. It was surrounded by a by a bunch of bushes and I had heard that people had vandalized it. WTF?

Anyway, it was a great little museum and it also featured a section on Shrunken Heads (not sure why) but very informative.

Vina is also famous for a Flower Clock (Reloj de Flores) but it wasn't that exciting to me.

Overall, I much prefer Valpo to Vina...it just seems more alive.

Valparaiso, Chile

2011-12-17T15:45:00.000-08:00

The first time I ever heard of Valparaiso was Valparaiso, Indiana. I thought what a weird name---little did I know years later I would read some Isabel Allende novels.

After I read Daughter of Fortune and Portrait in Sepia by Isabella Allende, I fell in love with the idea of Valparasio. A port town built on a hill, full of adventure and excitement, longing and heartbreak.

The real Valparaiso lived up to it's expectations. I took a bus from Santiago (about an hour) and ended up at the downtown Valparaiso bus station. I stayed at the Da Vince Hotel which is located on Cerro Alegre.It's close to everything. And the owner was lovely....he actually gave me a hug after I left.

Be forewarned, to live Valparaiso is to have super strong calf muscles. They aren't joking when they say there are a lot of hills. I mean it's a workout just to get to the store. But it's so worth it.

I went to a couple vegetarian restaurants (who knew there would be so many?). I went to Bambu, where there was this super cute little kid in a Ramones T-shirt. And also went to Jardin del Profeta where they made the best pumpkin soup.

There was a lot of walking around since Valpo isn't high on museums (although the poet Pable Neruda had a house there). But it was just amazing walking all the hills. It really put San Francisco to shame.

This city reminded me of Guanajuato, Mexico.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanajuato,_Guanajuato

I hope one day to be able to go back. There was a fabulous walking path that encompassed the who port and it was amazing. This is one of the towns you dream of but I'm not so sure I'd like to live there, Did I mention how steep the hills were?? It made it difficult just to run to the local market.

Crossing the Andes by bus...

2011-12-17T13:52:00.000-08:00

It's actually fairly easy to catch the bus from Mendoza to Santiago, Chile although I was a little apprehensive since we had to cross the Andes Mountains (aka the mountains where the Uruguayan soccer team crashed and had to eat each other, aka the movie Alive).

You leave Mendoza from the bus terminal (there are plenty of companies offering this trip and you can buy tickets the day of but get there before 10 a.m. because the buses only leave once a day in the morning).

The Argentinian part of the trip is a fairly gradual ascent and you pass by vineyards on the way up the mountains. I went in early November (the beginning of summer there) but I think they close the pass in their winter.

After about 3 hours, you get to the Los Libertadores border crossing. There are tons of cars, buses and trucks all waiting to cross the border (having grown up crossing the Detroit/Windsor crossing to Canada it was nothing new to me but a lot of people seemed bored/annoyed/in urgent need of a restroom.

You have to go through the exit visa line from Argentina, then go to the enter Chile line and then get everything searched and then they put everything back on the bus (BTW, the people who load your bags back on to the bus expect/demand a tip (una propina). They don't work for the bus companies so I guess this is free enterprise at it's purest.

It reminds me of Danielle's story about the guys in Brazil who, for a tip, watch your parked car and "guard" it against thieves. Yeah, right like they're going to risk getting jacked up from some car thieves for a $1-2 tip!

The Chilean side is much steeper and there were a few times I actively cringed but it wasn't as scary as I thought...a few hairpin turns and tipping to one side precariously....no worries.

You arrive in the downtown Santiago bus station which is a bit dodgy so definitely take a cab.

All in all, it was much preferable to flying (again with the Alive scenario) and I'm actually not sure if there are flights?

Mendoza, Argentina

2011-11-25T15:58:00.001-08:00

Wine country!!! I thought I'd be right at home but I didn't enjoy Mendoza as much as I thought I would. On first glance, (taxi from the airport) I thought it looked like California...dusty, warm, dry. And I guess it is, what with all the vineyards and olive oil production, but something was still lacking.

Although I would love to give it another chance because I feel it could grow on you.

It's a sleepy town with not much else to do besides tour/bicycle the vineyards. I didn't see a building higher than two stories. A big change from BA.

I did a wine and olive oil tour. Also walked around alot. It is a nice city for walking and I stayed at two different hotels. Ibis Hotel when I first got there---great hotel but not near the city center and Argentino Hotel which is adjacent to the main plaza, Plaza Independencia. The plaza has a small museum, a nice fountain and tons of market stalls. I bought some fernet as a gift for a friend. For some reason, Argentinian people are obsessed with this drink. It tastes basically like Sambouca, which is iffy at the best of times.

The town is a little sleepy but I wouldn't mind going back and checking it out again. I went there in order to be able to take the bus to Santiago, Chile and avoid the $140 airport fee if I had flown into Chile. Plus I wanted to be able to say I had taken a bus across the Andes (aka the mountains where the Uruguayan soccer team crashed and had to eat the corpses to survive).

You can take a bus across these mountains very easily and very cheaply, although they weren't nearly as big as I thought they would be. In fact, I felt a little jipped. But it still was beautiful scenery and hairpin curves at points. You go through customs half-way and as is usual, you are expected to tip all the bag handlers. Travel time to Santiago is about 5 hours or so.

La Boca

2011-11-18T08:00:00.000-08:00

One of the obligatory tourist stops in Buenos Aires is the area called La Boca (the mouth) which was the original port. This is the area of brightly colored tin sided houses you see in all the postcards and photos.

The area surrounding La Boca is completely dodgy but the main tourist street La Caminita is ok. I've read some reviews of this area where people were told they could walk there and were promtply mugged in the middle of the afternoon. Seriously, don't walk here. If you want to go the economical way, take the subway to the last blue line stop, Constitucion and take a cab the rest of the way. Even our cab driver warned us how sketchy the area is, but it is pretty.

Known as the birthplace of the tango, there are plenty of couples willing to demonstrate outside of restaurants and shops. If you take your picture with them you have to tip but little did Danielle and I know that even if you sat at the restaurant and didn't have anything to do with them, they will still expect tips. Although it was worth it watching the guy dancer having to pick up every overweight tourist and pose with them in his arms.

All the shops just sell tacky tourist crap and as you walk down the street, you will be accosted to come in to whatever restaurant you happen to be walking by. We decided on one which had a guy who was sporting the famous Argentinian man bun. See below.

Obviously that's not the real pic of the guy we saw but when I google imaged "man bun" I learned there's apparently a whole sub strata of women who dig this 'do. They should just go to Argentina...just about every guy down there is rocking the man bun.

I know it sounds like I didn't like La Boca, but it is pretty and I had a good time. Will I ever go back? No. But it's a place you should definitely see if you're in town.

Ushuaia photos

2011-11-06T12:06:00.001-08:00

Ushuaia, Argentina...The End of the World

2011-11-05T11:12:00.001-07:00

Danielle and I took another side trip from Buenos Aires; this time to Ushuaia which is the most southerly city in the whole world and the jumping off point for Antarctica. Port Williams, Chile disputes Ushuaia's claim, as technically P. Williams is farther south but apparently it consists mostly of a military base and the few stores that services said base. Ushuaia's argument is that does not constitute a city.

It truly is "El Fin de Mundo" or the End of the World.

It is about a 2 or so hour flight from BA and not too expensive. If you go, I would plan on spending 2, maybe 3 days.

A taxi from the airport to town is cheap (you definitely don't need a car here) and we stayed at Hotel Austral which was one of my two favorite hotels in South America. It's a good price and very near the downtown area.

One of the things we were most excited to do was do a penguin rookery tour. We used Pira Tour, which is the only tour that is allowed to let passengers out on the island where the penguins live. Others have to moor off-shore. You can book this tour at the pier, although space is limited and it is popular so you may want to book in advance or online.

The tour begins with a 1.5 hour bus ride to an estancia (ranch) where you board a boat to go to the penguin colony. DRESS WARM! It is seriously freezing and the boat is open air. The winds that come off Antarctica are serious and face numbing.

But when you get there and get to walk among the penguins (penguinos in Spanish) it is truly amazinfg (although a bit stinky). You can get about 3 feet away from them and Pira Tours really emphasizes conservationism. In Spanish they say, "Tocamos con los ojos no con los manos"--We touch with our eyes not with our hands.

During the tour, you also get to stop at the famous bent tree that's in all the National Geographic photos and postcards. See what I mean about it being windy. Look what it did to that poor tree.....

At the Visitor Center you can also get your passport "officially" stamped with an Ushaia stamp.

We also did the Beagle Channel tour (yes, it's named after the ship Charles Darwin made famous); you can book this tour at the pier. This tour isn't as cold as the penguins because the boat is enclosed with outdoor viewing areas. On this tour you'll see a colony of sea lions, the "lighthouse at the end of the world" which isn't really the one Jules Verne wrote about but everyone thinks it is and also a really smelly bird colony. Come to think of it, the sea lions were pretty stinky too.

You also get to get out on of the islands and the guide explains about the indigenous people and also about the plant and animal life in the area as well as telling you some of the history of the area. We did ours in Spanish but they speak English.

Back on dry land, Danielle suggested we check out the Yamana Indian museum, which I didn't think I was really going to like but it was fabulous. The Yamana are the original people of that area and they gave the area it's name. Because it's so freaking cold down there, the Yamana would always have a fire lit (even a small one in their fishing boats) so European settlers, who saw all these fires from their boats, named the region "Tierra del Fuego" or Land of Fire.

The Yamana also didn't wear clothes which seems at odd with the harsh environment, but we learned that if they wore clothes while fishing, the clothes would get wet and freeze. So the Yamana would cover their bodies with animal fat and grease, thereby water-proofing themselves.

The last thing we did besides drinking alot of beer in the 2 Irish pubs there was to go to the Tierra del Fuego National Park. Foreigners have to pay while Argentinians get in free which is kind of weird. But on the van ride there, we were offered a drink of mate, which is the national obsession there. This doesn't sound weird until you realize everyone drinks out of the same metal straw that is attached to the cup. No one there thinks this is weird. Apparently there are no germaphobes in South America.

The park was really nice although we couldn't do the hike we wanted. Trails were not marked all that well and we were nervous about getting lost and dying in the Argentinian wilderness.

Ushuaia is the farthest I've ever been from home and if you can do it, I highly recommend it. It's amazing to me that people can survive and adapt to such harsh conditions (the town has a population of around 64,000).

One thing that was interesting to me was how angry the Argentinians still are about the Falklands War with Britain in the early 80's. While largely forgotten in England, the Argentinians still have banners proclaiming, "Las Malvinas son Argentina" --the Falklands are Argentina. Kinda strange but we also happened to be there on a local holiday and saw a parade in which trucks had been shrink-wrapped with the same slogan.

Tigre, Buenos Aires Argentina

2011-10-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

Another popular day trip is to Tigre, which is a seperate town about 17 miles north of Buenos Aires. To get there, you take a local train from the Retiro subway station. It takes about an hour but is super cheap, like $1.50 each way cheap.

Danielle and I got off the train and walked around a little and then the smell hit us. We were walking across the river (the Parana Delta) and it was just a wall of stank that assaulted us. It smelled like a cross between rotting garbage and a backed-up toilet. Eventually, as we made our way down to the river side, we saw what it was. There were hundreds of dead and dying fish flopping around on the banks of the river and along the jetty. I have never seen anything like it before. Andth e dead ones were rotting in the sun, hence the stench from Hell.

I asked a local man who was just kind of hanging around what was happening with the fish and he said it was because of the government, that they don't care about the pollution in the waterways and that's what was killing the fish. It seemed a cop-out answer but it was all we had, so who knows?

Other people I know went there after we did and they say they didn't see any fish (and they were pretty dang noticeable). Maybe it was just an off day for Tigre?

We walked alot but there's not much of interest in the town. There's an outdoor market (which was only functioning at half capacity when we were there) but they were selling old trinkets and junk you could get anywhere.

If you walk along the river (which is a muddy brown) you will get harassed to sign up for a river cruise. We contemplated it, but it's pretty steep price wise and at that point, I think we were done with Tigre.

While I had a fun day out with a good friend, I really don't understand why people like this place. It's super popular (even Madonna and brood took a river cruise during her split with Guy Ritchie--thanks Wikipedia).

Who knew?

Colonia del Sacramento

2011-10-30T11:43:00.000-07:00

One of the most popular day trips from Buenos Aires is to Colonia, Uruguay, which is Uruguay's oldest city and was founded by the Portuguese. Danielle and I decided to check it out, if for nothing else than to add another stamp to the old Passport.

I recently read that only 30% or something of Americans even have a passport---neither of my parents do--while mine is one of my prized possessions. We do live in a freaking huge country, but c'mon people!

On a side note, living near Canada as we do now, they offer a half-price passport (which is more like a driver's license) that will allow you to travel to Canada and Mexico but that's it. Not sure of the point of this...I say spend the extra $50 or whatever and get the real deal.

To get to Colonia you will have to take a ferry. There are 2 types of service: fast (about 1 hour) and slow (about 3 + hours). You will be crossing the Rio Plata, which is one of the widest rivers in the world. In fact, it may be the widest...I'm just too lazy to look it up. Suffice to say, you can't see across to the other side so it looks like the ocean rather than a river emptying into an ocean and the Argentinians will sunbathe and hang out on the banks just like at the beach.

Buquebus is the ferry service and you catch the ferry at Puerto Madero in BA. The terminal looks exactly like an airport and it can get very crowded, so you may want to buy online or in advance. Definitely take the fast ferry...to save a few dollars is SO not worth being stuck on a ferry all day (although the ferry is huge and super modern, complete with duty-free shopping).

Uruguay is 1 hour ahead, so factor that into your plans. And don't forget your passport.

Unfortunately, it started raining after we got there, which put a damper on our plans to rent scooters and cruise around the city and countryside. Instead, we opted for covered golf carts!

Yes, that is a Uruguay shweatshirt I'm wearing...did I mention it also got pretty cold. That dang sweatshirt cost like $50 and ended up getting holes in it a few months later and had to be given to Goodwill. Still pissed.....

We cruised all around, went down 1-way streets, made illegal U-turns and pretty much made road nuisances out of ourselves but it was SO fun and really recommended. Walking can get pretty blinking tiring after awhile.

We also checked out some museums on the history of the town and the Portuguese influence.

While I had a great time, Colonia for me was a one trip only kind of place. It was cool to see another country (and it's much closer than Montevideo the capital) but it wasn't that exciting that I'd want to go back. You can definitely see everything in 1 day and probably still have time before your ferry is due to depart.

Recoleta Cemetery

2011-08-03T17:36:00.000-07:00

This is one of the top rated things to do in Buenos Aires and everyone seems to love it, but for me it was just ok. I'm not into Evita which is why most people seem to go. And I've seen above ground cemeteries before (they have them in New Orlean, Louisiana but they warn you not to go in there since they are a breeding ground for petty thieves).

Alas, Recoleta was no different. My friend Danielle came down and someone tried to snatch her purse while we were walking around the outside (the entrance is very hard to find). Three teenagers walked past us and one of them made a snatch and grab at her purse (Danielle had done everything right in that she had looped her bag across her shoulder and I think it was under her jacket) but they were just stupid teenagers looking for a thrill.

We were both shocked but I managed to yell some English curse words at them until I remembered Spanish and managed a, "Pendejos!!" which according to whoever's translation you trust means, alternatively jerks, idiots or as my mother insists, pubic hair.

We took it in stride but as everyone notes, just be careful. We didn't look like rich tourists, ummm because we're not. But I will say other than this isolated incident, BA was very safe and I took many a cab inebriated and also walked home by myself late at night on quite an occaison (by late at night, read 11 p.m. Sorry I'm old---actually here it's not so much that I was safe but rather than no one else was out yet partying).

First days in Argentina

2011-07-10T12:47:00.000-07:00

Again, in the informative vein of trying to help any other travellers, I wanted to finish the rest of my trip to South America. I also want to keep this as kind of an electronic diary so I won't forget the trip.

When you first fly into the Buenos Aires International Airport, you will have to pay a $140 "visa fee" if you are American. Check for other nationalities. You wait in the customs line and when they see your American passport, they will direct you to another line where to pay. They do take credit cards at least, and no, I don't know of any way around this fee.

When you exit customs, my advice is not to take a cab (especially if you don't speak the language). They have several booths right outside customs where you can book a private driver or get on a bus. I used Manuel Tiendo Leon exclusively. When I first stumbled off the plane at 6 a.m., I booked the private driver, which at about $60 was a bit pricey but I would recommend it until you get your bearings. I also got fabulous views of the city waking up. Later, I would only take the bus (a nice Greyhound style bus) to the airport (about $10) but until you know where you're going, shell out the extra $50 and get a driver.

I rented a studio apartment in the Palermo district which is very close to alot of museums and touristy stuff, as well as the Subte (subway--which at less than $.50 a ride can't be beat).

I used the rental agents ByT Argentina and have nothing but great things to say about them. They speak English and you can do the rental contract in English as well. I met the owner of the apartment I was renting and we chatted for awhile before the rep came to sign the papers.

The apartment was in a 12-story building and there was a cafe/bar on the ground floor. I can't remember the name but it's a super popular (and pricey) chain. They give free wi-fi so that was the main reason I went there. There was also Spring, one of the handful of vegetarian restaurants down ther street. The only thing I don't like is that it was buffet and kind of heavy on cheese, but a nice option.

Renting a studio or an apartment for an extended stay is definitely the way to go. I compared what I was paying with a girl in my Spanish class who was living in a hostel in not so good an area of town and we paid almost the same. Plus, you have your own kitchen and can go to the grocery store, which is named Disco, so not sure why.

You do have pay cash up front, which is the norm in Argentina but it was still scary carrying over $2,000 in cash on me from Panama!

The only downside was the superintendant lady for our building was this crazy troll who wouldn't let you hang out in the hallway (I was trying to get wi-fi) and she would give you the stink-eye when you came in. When she kind of yelled at me and friend Danielle, who had come down to visit, I had enough and complained to ByT who told the owner of the apartment. They had some words with her and she calmed down. But she would still pop out of the basement when she heard people going up the stairs, lol.

My first few days, I just settled in. BA is really a beautiful, modern city but beware the dog poo! Apparently, the idea of curbing your dos hasn't really caught on in Argentina.

I did live very close to one of the biggest shopping malls in the city, Alto Palermo and while I'm not super into shopping, did make for a cheap lunch at the food court

It's so funny when I hear people complain they don't have $ to travel and yes, I know it does cost money but there are so many ways to travel on the cheap. I don't know why people think you have to go to expensive restaurants and stay at expensive hotels. One of my coworkers is considering letting 2 weeks of vacation go to waste (we have a use it or lose it policy) because he has no one to travel with and ,he says, no money. For shame! I'm planning a trip to England in the fall and none of my hotels are over $60---many are much lower. You just have to do research.

Panama City and Drug Tests

2011-05-08T13:08:00.001-07:00

I know I’ve been absent for a long time, but I recently spent 2 months in Argentina and Chile and benefited greatly from blogs written about the places I wanted to see. So I thought I’d pay it forward and maybe help someone else out who is planning a trip down South.

When I last left this blog, I was in Boquete, Panama. I was in the process of getting a background check down by the government for a federal job. I got a phone call that they wanted to do my drug test and they could Fed Ex a urine collection kit to a hospital in Panama City and I could do the test there.

I took the bus from David (Panama’s 3rd biggest city and pretty much a dump—avoid if possible) to Panama City (traveled the Pan American Highway the whole time. This is the world's longest road but there is a big gap between southern Panama and northern Columbia. I was told this is to prevent drug trafficking) and booked a room at Hotel Santana near the historic center (Casco Viejo which literally means old helmet—not sure why?). All in all, it was ok for me (being about $40 a night or so). But it’s in a pretty rough neighborhood. If it was my first visit to Panama City, I would have been scared. But it was a clean hotel and near the touristy stuff so you have to make that call yourself.

Here are the Trip Advisor reviews:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g294480-d1598607-Reviews-Hotel_Santana-Panama_City.html

I will say, my last day there I was sitting on my bed watching TV and a huge black scorpion crawled out from under the dresser and scuttled under my bed. After I jumped off the bed and went screaming to the front desk, they came up and “broomed” it out the door. Pretty par for the course for the tropics I guess since no one seemed bothered.

They also have free Internet access and a decent breakfast.

Also, if you’re a fan of history, it’s very close to the Coca Cola Bar, which I believe was a hang out for Che or Castro…can’t remember which. It looked a little creepy to me so I didn’t go in.

I had 2 days to explore so I walked around the old town, which is ok but I’m not a huge fan of this town. I had done the Panama Canal before which is pretty cool to see once, but unless you’re an engineer, once is enough.

However, I did see something new this trip. San Jose Church has the Altar de Oro (Golden Altar) which was the only thing saved when Welsh pirate Henry Morgan (yes, "the Captain Morgan" of college-age debauchary rum fame) sacked the town in the 17^th century. According to legend, the monks painted the altar with mud to make it appear made out of wood or worthless. I had recently read a historical novel about Panama, which was god awful by the way, but it had a description of the event so it was interesting to see the altar in person.

The Panama City airport is nowhere near the city (although it’s not so bad to sleep in as I later discovered), so you will need to catch a taxi. I think it’s about 20 or 30 bucks.

Having gotten the drug test down (I learned a lot of new Spanish words that day), I caught my flight to Buenos Aires. Copa Airline has the monopoly on air travel out of Panama which sucks but what can you do?

Piropos--or the Latin man´s version of a "compliment"

2010-09-28T07:18:00.000-07:00

Piropos are the noises a man makes at a woman as she´s walking down the street here. They can range from a noise somewhat like "pppssssstttt" or can be anything from "Hola, mi amor", ¨"Que rico", "Bellisama" or a simple "Buenos Dias" said in a particularly leering manner.

Usually these don´t bother me too much but I got one guy who went right up in my face this morning and let me say that the guys who do this kind of thing are not cute, not young and usually not thin.

By all accounts, everyone says to just ignore them but sometimes I´m tempted to stop and say in Spanish, "All right, let´s go. I´m ready for a hot date with you. In fact, I´ve been waiting all day for a stranger to proposition me in the street."

I´m not quite sure what kind of reaction I would get with that though and I´m not sure I want to find out.

I don´t think I´m all that and this is something special for me, it´s a part of the culture (although I haven´t figured out if it´s the kind of knowledge that´s passed down from generation to generation or it´s the kind of thing a kid learns on the street---my guess is the latter).

I´m pretty oblivious to them, but it gets a little tiring when it´s 8.30 in the morning, you´re dodging past excrement (hopefully dog´s), sidestepping bones (presumably chicken) and shooing away flies. Ive been in Panama City for the past 2 days and it´s not the cleanest of cities---although I´m staying in a kind of sketchy area.

It´s called Santa Ana and it´s about 3 or 4 blocks away from the tourist area of Casco Viejo (the old Spanish settlement).

I´m going out to take pictures this afternoon and walk around, but for me, Panama City isn´t very exciting as a tourist destination. There isn´t a whole lot to do and it´s more humid than Florida in August.

Ok--the Crocs are Out Forever!

2010-09-25T12:44:00.000-07:00

I knew my love affair would come to an end one day, I just didn't think it would be exactly how it was.

I had already promised my Mom the Crocs (again, they suck but they are the perfect shoe for the rainy season here) but I went to put my foot in one this morning and felt a mild tickling underneath my sole.

It took me a second to place it, but then I was like, "Cockroach...AAAHHHHH............So gross..........Get it off! Get it off Get it off!!!"

As I yanked furiously at the shoe, I finally realized that the ankle strap was stuck and I couldn't get it off (all the while the cuckaracha was fluttering his nasty wings and trying to escape).

Finally I got the damn thing off, flung it to the floor and hopped onto the back of my Mom's loveseat.

So not how I want to spend my Saturday morning.

My Own Little Peyton Place

2010-09-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

While the actual Peyton Place was in New England, I think I've stumbled into my own little corner of it down here in Central America.

If you're not familiar with the 1956 novel, here's a link. It's basically a "fictional" expose of a small town in New Hampshire. And while I haven't discovered any of the incest, abortion or lust of the novel there's plenty of murder, thievery and people running from the law down here.

Or as my Mom puts it, "It's like Peyton Place but without the sex."

Making the social rounds with my Mom, I've heard much of the same "bochinche" (Panamanian for gossip) over and over again--although I'm still looking for the Internet expose of the Ex-pat community in Vulcan.

So far, there's been everything from the extreme:

The US Marshals coming to Boquete last month to extradite a Wisconsin man who had been fleeing for years from a child sex abuse conviction
The recent capture of "Wild Bill Cortex" near the Costa Rican border. Apparently, he and his girlfriend, both avid weigh lifters and white separatists, have confessed to killing at least 5 people in order to steal their property. Property laws are much different down here--basically whoever has the deed owns the property even if there's no bill of sale. Ol' Wild Bill rented a house that one of my Mom's friends later bought and there are some mysterious lumps in the back yard near the ocean. It's kind of a morbid inside joke that she might have bodies buried on her land.

To the mundane:

One American absconded with $8,000 in checks from another little old American lady he went into business with
The Canadian handyman who works for my Mom was cussed out and called a thief by another drunken Canadian after she blacked out and forget she lent him the car
Two old lesbians spent half the night telling me about their past lives and their energy fields
One young American couple I met confessed to me that they weren't monogamous and that she was a burlesque dancer back in the States (what is it about being abroad and having people tell you TMI)?
One old lady, who is a friend of my Mom's and who is a major shopaholic, bought 40 bras at once and has now decided she needs to get rid of them. She asked me what size bra I wear right after I met her and then promised me some. I don't think I'm going to hold her to that promise.
The Canadian handyman who works for my Mom told me he had been on a diet and tried taking that Herbal Chinese Diet tea but it made him get severe diarrhea when he was driving and the only thing he had to wipe himself with was his friend's shirt which was in the backseat. Needless to say, said shirt was thrown out along the side of the road. Again with the TMI!

A Luxembourgian, a Welshman and a Rockette walk into a bar...

2010-09-15T09:28:00.000-07:00

For such a small community, Boquete, Panama certainly has it's share of foreigners. I've met more nationalities in 2 weeks here than in 2 years in the States.

Each week, local bar Zanzibar hosts a charity quiz night. Owned by a couple from Luxembourg, this is a North African themed bar.

The first night I went, I met the owner's daughter who is married to the Panamanian who owns the language school I go to (Habla Ya), a girl from Manchester, England (whose parents live here), 2 Americans (one who lives here and one who is a Rockette back in NYC) and a Columbian.

So random.

The next week, I met this horrid 25-year old Canadian dairy farmer, a Scottish girl (who is one of the only Scottish people I've met who I could actually understand), a gay Welshman and an Australian guy (not to mention the people I'm volunteering with--an American woman from DC, a guy from Essex, England and a Belgian girl).

I've also started Spanish lessons and 4 hours a day (5 days a week) of conversation is tough.

I'm in the advanced class and there's only 1 other girl in my class (a German lesbian who has been living in NYC for 5 years with her Puerto Rican partner), but trying to have a 4-hour conversation in English is difficult enough, let along another language.

But we manage.

Today we get a new student--a guy named David from California. Hopefully he's decent.

I've also been volunteering. I spent a morning at a recycling center helping to sort materials and helped to paint a literacy center way up in the mountains.

I teach an English class 3 mights a week, which I love. Teaching really is so fun, but this group presents some serious challenges, since they are extremely low. Like some of them can barely manage "Hello" and "Thank you". There also aren't really any materials. Remember this is a free class run by volunteers, not a language school.

Luckily, the Canadian handyman/English teacher who works for my Mom let me use one of his beginner's books.

Tomorrow, I have a vocabulary competition planned and grammar about location prepositions. They all want conversation but they don't have the words yet, so I'm going to focus on vocab building. Also, they've only done the present and past tenses, so maybe we'll work on the future.

They are all at different levels and some have had absolutely no English, but others have had at least 4 years in school and are still really low.

I have to speak to them in Spanish for part of the class, but I make them repeat it in English afterward. I know there are people who say that you should only speak in English, but I think it's better to at least understand what someone is saying to you and then learn it in English.

For example, if they don't know the word for cow in English, I could spend 10 minutes saying things like, "It's a big animal who lives in the fields. Usually it's black and white and it gives milk...blah blah blah"

Or I could just say, "vaca".

I brought a lot of ESL material with me to donate, but it's all WAY too advanced. Although I did bring a Bingo game that is used to review the past tense.

The 67-year old housewife in my class is excited about that at least.

Tips if you want to visit Panama

2010-09-12T08:06:00.001-07:00

If you've ever wanted to visit Central America but weren't sure where to start, Panama is a good place to begin your travels.

Obviously I'm writing this from an American perspective, but I think the info still holds true to most other nationalities.

First of all, Panama is in the Eastern Time Zone (although they don't observe Daylight Savings Time) so no jet lag!

American dollars are the currency here (they do have their own coins called "Balboas" but those are minted in Colorado) so there's no confusion about the exchange rate.

Many people speak English. In Panama City, almost everyone will speak some, if not fluent, English and in the smaller towns, like where I'm at, they are the nicest people when foreigners at least make an attempt to speak Spanish. My Mom and her friends have survived here for years and they know very little Spanish. In the surfer's paradise, "Bocas del Toro" almost everyone speaks English since it's on the Caribbean side and was settled by many Jamaicans.

The water (except in Bocas and some rural areas) is safe to drink.

Because of the building of the Panama Canal, most Panamanians are used to foreigners of all kinds and are very tolerant (except for Columbians and the indigenous people, but that's for a later post).

Panama is one of the few countries left that truly likes and welcomes Americans. This is because we helped them gain independence from Columbia and built the Canal (which we later turned over to the Panamanian government). Yes, there was that little snafu over Noriega, but that seems to be forgotten.

Transportation is very good, whether you take a plane, taxi or bus.

Panamanians don't use lard or meat in their beans like Mexicans (which is good for vegetarians)

Because there are so many ex-pats here, you can find many products that probably aren't available in other Central American countries.

The standard of living here is quite high for Central America, so you don't see so much of the heart-wrenching poverty as in other countries.

The country is very diverse. From the megapolis of Panama City (called the Miami of Central America) to the jungles and mountains in the North to the laid-back beach culture on the Caribbean side, there's something to do for everyone.

There's no Visa fee or reciprocity fee (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and others charge over $100 for Americans to enter the country). Panama used to charge $5 but they did away with this last year.

Now before you think I was hired by the Panamanian government to do PR, there are a couple downsides.

The rainy season. Enough said. The best time to come here is January through July.

85% of the time you can't flush toilet paper. The rule of thumb is that if there's a little basket by the toilet, you're supposed to throw the "used" TP in it. Which works for #1 but I'm not so cool with this practice when it comes to #2's.

If you want to watch English-language TV, be prepared to sit through hours of old "Law and Order" episodes, "The New Adventures of Old Christine" and "Two and a Half Men". These shows are on like 8 times a day. However, at least they stopped showing "Joey", that horrible "Friends" spin-off. This was all the rage when I visited 2 years ago.

The Hispanic conception of time--this doesn't only apply to Panama but in Latin America, you're considered to be "on time" if you're less than an hour late. As a short-term tourist, the only time this will probably affect you is when you go to a restaurant, which leads me to my Number 1 tip.

DON'T go to a restaurant if you're really hungry. The first time this happened to me, I was starving and after the first hour had gone by with no food and my stomach felt like it had pushed itself against my spine, I almost cried. Another hour later and we finally got our food.

Let me give you a recent example: A group of us went to a local restaurant for dinner. The waitress came over after about 8 minutes (this is quick for Panama but it went downhill from here); she took our orders. We wait for 20 minutes with no drinks. She then comes over with one person's food and their drink. We wait another 10 minutes (in Panama, the rule is to eat as soon as you get your food, since you never know when everyone else's will arrive). She brings over one other person's food but no drinks. 5 minutes later, we flag her down and ask about the drinks. She comes back a few minutes later with 1 other person's drink (this leaves me and 1 other girl without our drinks). Finally, she brings all the food and we ask her again about the drinks. 5 minutes later, she brings my drink but not the other girl's (we were all finished eating at this point). Finally, 10 minutes after we were all done, she finally brings the last girl's drink.

This story is funny now, but ridiculous when it was happening. I know when you go to another culture, you have to deal with the way they do things, but this restaurant is owned by a guy from New Jersey and only ex-pats eat there. They need to tell the waitresses that a different level of service is expected if your only clientele are foreigners. Sheesh.

This experience was an aberration, but seriously, don't go to a restaurant if you're starving (or go to a cafeteria).

Hope these help! I'm sure I'll think of more......

Early Morning Stroll through Boquete, Panama

2010-09-10T17:30:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted many pictures of the town I'm staying in, so I thought I'd remedy that with this post. Here are some pics I took last Sunday morning when I walked into town.

This is the road into town from my Mom's house. Many of the indigenous people who live up the mountain walk this road into town everyday (as do many Panamanians and myself). From my Mom's house, it's about a 20-minute walk to downtown.

This is my Mom's dog Daisy (Margarita in Spanish) who loves walking into town.

This is a view from the fairgrounds. Every January, there is a huge coffee and flower festival. Coffee is one of the main exports here.

Here's the Caldera River (which flooded a few weeks ago) and floods at least once a year. The bridge by my Mom's house has been washed away twice so far and the government won't rebuild it, which means we have to go the long way into town.

This is the local chicken shack by day, disco by night. Don't ask.

Local supermarket by my Mom's house. Panamanians love them some chicken.

Another view of the outskirts of downtown.

Hopefully, I've given you a small idea of what life in Boquete is like. More to come!

A Day Trip to Volcan, Panama

2010-09-04T13:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we decided to take a day trip to a little town called Volcan. It's not much of a tourist destination and I wouldn't really recommend going out of your way, but it was a nice trip.

From Boquete, it's about 1.5 hours driving each way (even though it's only 7 km and a popular day hike) but there's no direct road there. However, the drive is beautiful and at times, vertical, since you're going around a volcano (hence the name of the town).

Driving in Panama is crazy because you'll be out in the middle of nowhere and you'll just see an old man walking along the side of the road. I'm talking miles from anywhere.

Or you'll see a teenager sitting on a tree stump along side the road (again out in the middle of nowhere) and he's talking on a cell phone!

At one point we passed a cow that was running down the middle of the road and got caught behind a herd of cattle on the way back.

When we finally arrived there, we went to an organic restaurant/commune called, "Valle de la Luna" (Valley of the Moon).

It's run by an American couple and it's absolutely beautiful (although hard to find--you have to turn left at the big red octoganal restaurant, then bear right and turn onto the gravel road and it will be half a block down on the left).

There isn't a menu because everything's made fresh that day so they use what's in season. I ordered coffee and they brought out a mini-French press accompanied by a mini alarm clock timer so I'd know when to press the coffee down. So cute.

We both ordered vegetable soup and salad. However, when the soup came it tasted like warm honey or caramel--it was that sweet. It was inedible, so I asked the waitress who asked the cook. The cook came out and said it was sweet because of the carrots and that they never put sugar in their soup (it tasted like someone dumped a 5 lb bag of sugar in it).

She must not taste her own food, but we were like whatever, it's fine.

10 minutes later (nothing happens fast in Panama), the waitress comes out with 2 new bowls of squash and pumpkin soup and told us she tried the other soup and didn't like it either, lol.

Overall, a really cute restaurant and I hope they succeed. If they do, it will only be because of the small ex-pat community there, since the vast majority of Panamanians can't afford organic food.

Which is sad, because this area is known as the bread basket of Panama and we could see all the farmers in the fields (they farm about 50 feet up the side of the volcano) and you could smell all the chemicals they use on the produce. The smell literally turns your stomach. It was worse (although not as pungent) as a dairy farm if that helps give you an idea.

Speaking of the ex-pat community, it's not nearly as big as Boquete, and according to my Mom, since there's nothing else to do, there's a lot of infighting and back biting. There's only 1 main street and it's not that exciting.

In fact, one ex-pat got in a huge fight with everyone else, and wrote this scathing 5-part expose on everyone in town and posted it on the Internet. It caused quite the scandal apparently. I searched for it, but couldn't find it.

It really is a beautiful area though and there's even a small town they call "Nueva Suiza" (New Switzerland) which has A-frame houses and thick foliage. It's like you stepped onto the set of Heidi or something.

Since it was raining, this was typical of the shots I got, so I stole one from the Internet to give you an idea how pretty it can be (in the dry season of course).

Somebody Shoot Me! I've been reduced to wearing Crocs and I think I like it....

2010-09-03T14:21:00.001-07:00

Let me just say this is my last doom and gloom post (even though it hasn't stopped raining since 10:30 in the morning).

Part of why I've been so cranky is that I was attacked by a rogue band of coffee flies. Apparently, some people have a terrible allergic reaction to them and I was one of the lucky ones.

My feet looked like I had leprosy for almost a week and a bite on my arm turned my left forearm bright red and was hot to the touch (and hard at the bite mark).

Gross I know. That's why I'm sparing you pictures.

I spent the better part of the morning on Tuesday at the doctor's office. However, how they conduct appointments here is entirely different than the States.

Here, they don't really make appointments. Rather, they tell everyone to come at 10 a.m. and they allegedly take you in the order you arrive.

However, the doctor didn't even arrive until almost 10:30. I was about the 4th or 5th patient in line and I swear to God, everyone before me must have had the plague, syphilis, or IBS or something hard to diagnose because they took FOREVER!

Maybe they were all just chatting in there, who knows? It's definitely different than the assembly line mentality in the States. Although, the military's health care I've always thought was great. Much better than civilian.

A $15 doctor's charge and $32 in pills and cream later, I was on my way.

I'm getting better but they still itch like crazy and since it's the rainy season, there are a million more bugs out than normal. Lucky me. This is the worst rainy season they've ever had apparently. Usually, September and October are the worst so I only have more of the same to look forward to.

If there's one lesson to be learned here, it's don't come to Panama from August until December.

On to why I'm wearing Crocs and loving it.

The only pair of sneakers I brought here are suede (which will get ruined in the rain) and my flip-flops get my feet all dirty since it's so muddy here (and I think that's how the bugs were able to feast on the tops of my feet and toes so much).

Plus, it hurt to put too much pressure on the tops of my feet.

I spied Mom's Crocs one night when we were getting ready to go to dinner and waffled. I've always hated Crocs. They're an, no make that THE, abomination in footwear.

I don't care how comfortable people say they are--they're hideous. (They also make a high-heeled version but that's another entry entirely).

Once I slipped them on though, I was hooked. They are perfect for the rain. They dry immediately, they have a decent amount of traction and who cares if they get ruined? Plus, they're loose enough they don't kill my feet.

Yes, they're disgusting and I'm slowly slipping into the senior lifestyle down here, but hey, they're comfy and I'm not looking for a date.

The best thing about them?

They're black padded "pleather" Crocs. lol

Sunday at the Panamanian Spay/Neuter Clinic

2010-08-29T16:27:00.000-07:00

aMy Mom helps take care of a 21-year old handicapped girl down here (she has cerebral palsy and her family won't/can't really help her out).

So yesterday, we picked up the little dog--Estrellita "Little Star" to take her to the low cost spay/neuter clinic run by a local volunteer group.

The clinic started 5 years ago and has fixed about 5,000 dogs. They have 2 vets, a Costa Rican and an American, who volunteer their services. When they first started, it was only foreigners bringing dogs (either stray or their Panamanian friend's dogs) but today it's about half Panamanians bringing in dogs. Which is a nice thing because it shows their attitudes towards pets is changing and they realize it's not so nice having packs of wild dogs running the streets.

My husband grew up in Puerto Rico in the 70's and he's told me some horror stories about all the street dogs and how horrible their life was.

Today, the group did about 70 dogs, including Estrellita.

I know this is going to sound terrible, but I really want to tell the handicapped girl the dog died on the operating table and smuggle the dog back to the States.

Now I know there's a special circle of Hell for people who steal dogs from handicapped people, but this girl has a history of not taking care of animals.

She got a kitten and she almost starved it to death. My Mom had to take it away.

She got a rabbit and let the neighborhood dogs kill it.

She can't look after herself without assistance, so I don't know why she thinks she can look after a dog.

My mom figures the dog has only eaten rice it's whole life and it had ticks on it when we picked it up.

If you still want to condemn me, just take a look at her picture.

She's too, too cute!

I know there's no way I can keep her, but I made Mom promise to check up on her every week.

I would hate myself if something happened to this cutie.

2 airplane rides, one 8- hour layover and a 6-hour bus ride later...

2010-08-27T14:27:00.000-07:00

After a grueling 24-hours of travel to get to Boquete, Panama I arrived yesterday morning around 6 a.m.

The trip involved a 6 a.m. flight from Detroit (forcing us to get up at 3 a.m. to be there by 4 a.m.), an 8-hour layover in Atlanta, a 30-minute taxi ride from the Panama City airport to the bus terminal; a 2-hour wait until the midnight bus to David (Panama's 3rd biggest city) and then a 6-hour bus ride through the Panamanian countryside and up into the mountains. Crazy! But I made it.

I thought the humidity in Toledo was bad, but in Panama City it's ungodly. You step outside and there is literally sweat dripping off your face within 2 minutes (and down your back which is especially icky).

I thought I could wait in the bus terminal's waiting room, but it was like an Indian sweat lodge in there. Although, I seemed to be the only one bothered as everyone else was taking it in stride. I guess people can get used to anything.

5 minutes later (and 3 pounds of water weight lighter) I had had enough. I remembered I saw a bar in the terminal that had it's doors closed (which meant A/C).

Stumbling over with 3 bags in tow, I was greeted by the 2 bouncers.

Remember, this is a bar in a bus terminal so I don't really see the need for bouncers, but whatever. Apparently, it's quite the destination nightclub in that part of town.

It was pretty crowded in there (also remember this is 11 p.m. on a Wednesday night). The bouncers told me they don't normally allow luggage in the bar, but this time they would make an exception.

Silly me. I hadn't realized I'd stepped into such an exclusive place. I guess it all depends on your perception. But it was nice to finally get cool.

One bus ride later, Mom picked me up and we went out for breakfast and bought some groceries.

Then for the 30-minute ride to Boquete.

I managed to survive 2 airplane flights and a long bus ride, only to almost be smeared on the side of a Panamanian country road by my mother.

Deciding she wanted to pass the truck in front of her, she pulled out into the other lane.

However, she didn't accelerate enough and then tries to downshift into 3rd gear, but missed and almost put it in 1st gear. By this time we have no acceleration and the guy coming at us at 50 mph isn't slowing down.

Seeing my life flash before my eyes, she finally swerved into the ditch, narrowly missing the guy that almost creamed us. And he never slowed down. Nice.

I think I'm going to suggest (read insist) that I should drive from now on.

One thing my mom had neglected to mention is that we're currently in the rainy season. Which means it gets dark at 1 or 2 p.m. and then rains the rest of the day. Not the nicest time to visit.

They had a pretty bad flood here last week because of all the rain. It washed out a couple bridges and ruined quite a few businesses in town.

My mom had 8 inches of mud in her driveway and a couple inches in her house.

This is what Boquete looks like when it's back to normal.

I also signed up for 4-hours a day of Spanish lessons, so hopefully I'll finally be able to understand direct objects and indirect objects.

I don't think I even understand those in English...

T Minus 2 Days Till Panama!

2010-08-22T14:46:00.000-07:00

As you may remember, my "reward" for having to quit my job and move to Toledo, Ohio for 4 years was a 2 month trip to visit my Mom in Panama and brush up on my Spanish.

Well, I leave in 2 days and should I be packing?

Yes.

What am I doing?

Juicing. That's right juicing.

Our "bought on an impulse, used once and threw in the cupboard never to be seen again/housewarming present" from my Dad was a juicer.

Which I love although it is a bitch to clean. I wavered about buying a juicer a.)because they're so expensive and b.) because it takes away all the fiber.

But I rationalized the second point by realizing I wasn't eating enough veggies anyway, so I might as well be getting at least the minerals and vitamins from them if not the fiber.

This is what they want you to think the juice looks like.

It actually looks a lot more like this.

But depending on what you put in it, it really does taste good. I tried raw garlic once and don't think I'll be doing that again.

Fennel is good, as well as apples to sweeten it a bit. A handful of parsley's always nice and celery and carrots are pretty tasty.

I'm also writing little notes to Leo on how to work everything around the house. I once caught him trying to turn on the burner and it wasn't cute.

However, the big news is that I got a job with the federal government!

This is what I've wanted for about 5 years now because I'm oh-so-over having to move to a new city, research employers in that city, put together your resume, apply, interview and get used to a new job again.

As soon as you say you're a military spouse to a civilian employer, it's like you've just said you've got leprosy since they know you'll likely be leaving in a few years.

I just have to pass this massive background check, which I'm sure I will and I'm good to go.

Luckily for me the background check takes a long time, since I really didn't want to cancel this trip. It's been the only thing keeping me sane for the last few months!

Next time you hear from me, I'll be in Panama--hanging with Mom and her crew of senior citizens. Where we'll talk about how cheap everything is, how Panama is like the US was in the 1950's and start Happy Hour everyday at 4 p.m.

(Not kidding about the Happy Hour thing--those oldies can really knock it back).

Road Trippin' USA

2010-08-13T12:08:00.000-07:00

So we left San Diego on the last Friday in July and began our week-long cross country move. I had wanted to take the more northerly route so I could hit some of the states I haven't been to yet (one of my goals is to see all 50). This route would have taken us through Nevada, Utah (never seen), Colorado (never seen), Kansas (never see), Nebraska (never seen), Illinois, Indiana and on to Ohio.

However, since we were caravaning and Leo had to tow a huge enclosed trailer, we (read he) decided to take a less mountainous route through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and then Ohio.

The only new state I got to see was Missouri and we had a fight right before we got to St. Louis, so we didn't even stop to look around. I did get to see the famous arch though, which was pretty but I wouldn't go out of my way (although it really was huge). Apparently you can go all the way to the top but if you suffer from a fear of heights like me, this is something you definitely won't want to do.

I did get to see a few interesting things though. Like Cadillac Ranch, a public art installation/roadside attraction in Amarillo, Texas.

Amarillo also boasts the largest cross in the western hemisphere. I don't know if this is true, but all the signs along the highway claim it's the largest.

I also learned that the panhandle of Texas is apparently the only place where 90's Swedish rockers Ace of Bass are still popular since they played their two Top-10 Hits ad nauseum on every radio station.

I also found out that Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me" is way more popular than I ever realized. I heard it about 10 times through 6 different states. Interesting.

I learned that Gallup, New Mexico was about the most depressing town I've ever seen. Everyone there looked super glum. Places like that you can see how people become meth heads. I don't think there's anything else to do.

A couple "historic" things happened in the states we were in. We were in Arizona when the controversial new immigration law "took effect". I'm still confused on the status of this thing. I know some parts of it were overturned by a federal judge. We were also in Arizona when 3 inmates escaped from prison. To date, one of them is still on the loose (with his fiance and cousin who helped them escape--gotta love that incest).

We were in Missouri when voters there (symbolically) voted to reject the Obama health care law.

Then, we make it to Michigan (we stayed with my parents for 2 nights since our furniture hadn't arrived) and there's a serial stabber on the loose.

Apparently, he had stabbed 15 people and 4 of them died. His MO was that he would go up to men late at night, on the street, ask them for directions or help with his car and then just stab them repeatedly. Weird.

They actually just caught this guy yesterday in Atlanta (he was boarding a plane for Israel, where he's from) and they're extraditing him back to Michigan.

Now, we're just setting up the house and enduring a Great Lakes region summer full of humidity and little breeze. Ugh. I had forgotten about the humidity here.

Things I have learned in San Diego

2010-07-25T18:45:00.000-07:00

This is not an exhaustive list and I'm sure there are many things I've forgotten, but I thought I would record for posterity a list of things I've learned in San Diego.

Each year (except for 2008--just lazy I suspect) Leo and I make a list of goals. Many of those goals and some extra's I have accomplished while living the last couple of years in SoCal.

In no apparent order, here's what I've learned:

Spanish (I've always wanted to learn this but when your husband/significant other/etc speaks it as a first language it always gives you the boost to learn it. Most Americans don't speak another language (neither do most Brits--a benefit of having your language the universal language) and while this is unfortunate, most Americans simply don't have anyone to practice with. For example, while I think learning Spanish has changed my life, if it weren't for my husband, I wouldn't be assed with Spanish. Who would I practice with? As it is, Leo switches back to English before I do. I would like to learn German, but who am I going to talk with? Maybe I can infiltrate some Amish community in Ohio.....
Self-confidence in public speaking. This comes from Toastmasters--a wonderful organization that I just can't say enough about.
A business Master's degree (in Management and Leadership thank you very much)
How to make stained glass. See entry here about the stained glass mafia I encountered.
More of a world view. California is a very diverse place and I met a lot of people from all over the globe (I also taught English as a Second Language for a year and this may have contributed). Even though I had lived in Atlanta, Philly and Boston (all big cities) I met more people from Europe/Asia/etc in CA than I had previously.
To value myself more. I've always been of the type (unfortunately) to downplay my achievements, skills, etc. Because my boss and I are so close, she let me in on the hiring process for my replacement. I vetted resumes and was in on the interview process. I learned so much during this time. I saw how other people sold themselves and talked big and I need to do more of that. I also saw how much people bullshitted....
Big Brothers/Big Sisters. A great organization and I'm so happy I got involved in it!
That hillbillies exist everywhere. I used to think that hillbillies were an East Coast thing until we went to our office Christmas party 2 years ago. The receptionist and her husband brought a cooler of beer that they kept guard over the whole night. Everyone else had brought a bottle of wine to share but they were like eagles over that Budweiser. They also wore blue jeans and sweats while everyone else was dressed up. As soon as we left, Leo was like, "That''s the CA version of a redneck" and he was right.
That it's ok to be different. In other cities I've lived in, the people who look different are the weirdos. Here in SoCal, the people who look normal are the weirdos. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Dog Attack!

2010-07-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

I got off work last Thursday and decided to take my dog for a walk. I had seen what I thought was a stray running up and down the street (he looked really dirty and junkyard dogish) but figured I would call animal control if he was still there after I got back from my walk.

I put the retractable collar on Maude and walked outside. She ran about 7 feet in front of me and I turned around to lock the door. That's when I heard Maude wimpering and crying. I turn around and see junkyard dog on top of my dog attacking her.

I ran over, cocked back my leg and gave that dog one hell of a kick (unfortunately I was only wearing flip-flops, one of which flew off and hit the wall of the house), I was screaming as loud as I could and trying to hit the dog in the face with the hard rubber part of the leash.

My dad's a veterinarian and I remembered him saying most people get bitten in dog fights because they try to grab the dogs by the collars to pull them apart. So I knew I should kick the dog in the face.

Thank God it worked and the dog let Maude, who was frightened out of her wits at this point, alone but it bared it's teeth at me and looked like it was going to attack me.

I was still swinging the leash around and screaming at it, so it must have thought better than to attack the crazy lady because it left.

I grabbed Maude, afraid the dog was going to come back, and got to my door only to discover I had locked it. I managed to get it unlocked and got Lil' M inside. She seemed ok and didn't seem hurt, just shell-shocked.

I went outside and my across-the-street neighbor came over, said she saw the whole thing and that the dog is always loose and that as soon as it saw Maude, it made a "beeline" for her to attack her.

The neighbor told me whose dog it was and I went over to confront that person (who shall now and forever after be referred to as ghetto neighbor). I shouldn't have gone over as angry as I was, but I was really shaken up about it.

She wouldn't come out at first, but when she did she basically told me she didn't care and wasn't going to do anything about it (did I mention she is super ghetto?).

Since we're in military housing, I called the property manager's office and told them what happened. They're really concerned, especially since she lives across the street from the playground, and asked me to get the names and addresses of my 2 neighbors who saw the attack so they can get their witness statements.

The next day, I get a call from the property manager saying that ghetto neighbor's (GN) statement is completely different from mine but that the witnesses are backing up my story.

GN said that I was walking my dog past her house and that she and her son were out on the lawn with their dog who was on a leash and that the 2 dogs sniffed each other and that was it.

I asked the property manager if GN had described my dog since she has never seen it because the attack happened on my property, out of her view.

GN described my dog as a 20-pound beige dog. Lil' M is a 14-pound black and white Chihuahua mix. There is absolutely no way the woman has seen my dog before.

What a liar! When I told my immediate neighbors about it, they said GN's house is so dirty that the property manager makes official visits once a week to make sure they are cleaning. It's so dirty that GN got rats (which meant their 2 immediate neighbors got rats too).

What a ridiculous saga.

The Elusive Philly Bread Squeezing Bandit

2010-07-11T13:28:00.000-07:00

I have no idea why I was thinking about this guy the other week but there really was a Philly Bread Squeezing Bandit.

His reign of terror lasted for over 3 years! I was living in Philly at the time and it really was hilarious. Anyway, I found this old article and ended up crying because I was laughing so hard.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Bread Squeezer 'Kneads' Help, Judge Rules

Judge Tells Convicted Bread Squeezer to Seek Treatment

The benefits of not having children....

2010-07-08T20:18:00.000-07:00

First of all, let me say this is not a rant about children nor am I anti-children. Some people are made to have children, God bless them, and some people aren't.

It's just such a sensitive issue to everyone but me I think.

My childless friends here always complain that they get asked a million questions by people who have children and they feel that even though they are successful, they are downgraded because they don't have children.

Then the women who have children often say they feel they lost out career-wise because of children.

This issue came up today at my work because (to spare you the details) we had a disciplinary hearing for a receptionist who has verbally assaulted everyone in our small office, including me this past Friday and I refused to take it (this isn't the first time she's freaked out on me).

Anyway, her only comeback of why she attacked me was that I'm a "chatterbox" and that she doesn't want to hear me talk to my work friends about how much fat is in veggie burgers, where we are getting our next haircut and where I'm planning a trip next.

I've been blessed to have a job that has flexible hours and a generous vacation policy, so I've been traveling a lot more than normal.

But, I also know I've been able to travel precisely because I don't have children.

Children are freakin' expensive and they take all your time. They become your first priority, while is the way it should be. Maybe I'm selfish but there's so much out there I still want to do and see. I want to know how to do everything.

I want to always keep learning and don't want to have to talk about diaper changes and teething (although in all fairness, I think I've subsumed this maternal instinct into talking about my dog and what she's up to throughout the day..)

I feel sorry/shocked when my friends (both single and married) tell me they are questioned for their decisions whether it's to have kids or get married.

Nobody really asks/harasses me with these questions although I was a little bit salty when my aunt by marriage told me I got married "later in life" because I waited until I was 30 and completely sure rather than marrying my 24-year old boyfriend, quitting my career and popping out kids like her daughter did.

But only a little salty.....besides, I'm off to Panama, Chile, and Argentina in 2 months. Oh yea, and Toledo, Ohio (which my husband just informed me that Betty White in the new sitcom "Hot in Cleveland" refers to as the Paris of Ohio!)

Hell, Michigan

2010-06-29T18:53:00.000-07:00

We just got back from our official "house hunting" trip to Toledo, Ohio (more on that later). We stayed with my parents at their place in Michigan and drove down every day.

On our one day where we actually got to do something fun (instead of tearing our hair out worrying if we were going to find a place to live) we went to Hell, Michigan.

I grew up about 20 miles from here in Ann Arbor, but had never really heard about it until it was featured on "Extreme Towns" on the Travel Channel.

When they say it's a town they're stretching it because there are only about 74 people but there are plenty of tourists!

The "main strip" of Hell consists of 3 buildings, a bar called The Dam Site Inn, an ice cream/souvenir shop called Screams Ice Cream and a pizza parlor/part-time post office called "Hell in a Handbasket" (can you tell they're really working the theme?) where you can buy postcards officially stamped from Hell.

While small, the area is also in the Pinckney Recreation Area and sits on 11,000 acres of state park so there is plenty of hiking, canoe rental (available at Hell in a Handbasket), and horseback rentals (the nearby Hell Creek Ranch) but most people come for bragging rights.

There's also a mini Putt-Putt and children's area.

And for the really adventurous souls (or those of the white trash persuasion) there's a small wedding chapel where you and that special someone can tie the knot.

And how did the town get its name you ask?

Well, there are apparently 2 theories to that little conundrum:

First: The town's founder, George Reeve, ran a mill/general store and moonshine operation back in 1838. When the farmers would come to grind their grain and stop to set a spell, they would often "forget" to come back home again. So when asked where her husband was, the farmer's wife would often reply, "Oh, he's in Hell!".

The 2nd theory is that the ever cantankerous Mr. Reeve, when asked what they should call his town replied rather peevishly, "They can call it Hell for all I care!"

And the name stuck.

Sneakers! and more of

2010-06-17T18:33:00.000-07:00

Shoes--simple things you put on your feet, right? But the sheer number of different names I've heard the humble tennis shoe called in the last few days is mind-boggling.

I'm watching a British television show and they call them "trainers"

I'm in Canada and they call them "runners"

I'm in Philly and they call them "kicks"

I'm on the East Coast and they're "sneakers". This particular moniker provoked a lot of West Coast scorn when my professor from Pennsylvania said it.

I'm on the West Coast and I'm guessing they call them "tennis shoes". I'm not 100% sure about this one though. You would think since I've lived here almost 4 years I would, but I don't. I just know you get mocked if you call them sneakers.

They are also known as "tennies" or "sneaks".

Then you get people who just call them "Nikes" no matter what the brand. Kind of like how they call everything a Coke in the South even if it's not. (Don't get me started on the whole pop/soda debate. I can't wait to move back to the Great Lakes Region and be near my people again who call it pop).

I pity the fool who calls them "athletic shoes" but that's another story.

I read an article recently where they found the oldest human shoe. It was a leather lace-up thing. However, when I tried to find out more information about it and googled "shoes" somehow a disturbing entry from Wikipedia entitled "foot thongs"appeared. Not sure what to make about that.

So many names for such a simple thing....high tops, low tops, slip-ons, Chuck Taylors, rubber shoes in the Philippines (according to Wikipedia and which sounds wrong on so many levels).

Things I will (and won't) miss about San Diego

2010-06-16T17:15:00.000-07:00

While I'm sad to leave San Diego, a place I've called home for almost 4 years, I'm excited to begin a new adventure in an old familiar part of the country.

In thinking back on my time here and all the things I've learned, I've realized there's going to be a lot of things I do miss and some that I won't so much.

Lets start with what I will miss:

All the beautiful flowers and foliage that come with the weather

The "anything is possible" attitude--I know so many young people (both local and relocaters) who have started their own business--I love that in So Cal people feel they can be and do anything

All the wonderful vegetarian/vegan food--it's so nice to have an option other than grilled cheese at a restaurant

The (for the most part) open-mindedness--not always, but it's mostly live and let live out here

The grassroots movements--in CA regular citizens can get any initiative they want placed on a voting ballot (as long as they get enough signatures). I was involved in a Humane Society initiative and while it wasn't fun asking strangers for signatures, it was a great lesson in civic responsibility

Yelp and Cragislist (apparently these aren't popular in Toledo. I've been on the Toledo Yelp site and most of the far too few reviews are from out of towners. I'm going to have to change this

San Diego winters (which we're still currently experiencing. It's been 65 degrees and gray for 3 months, except for a mild heat wave last week where it made it into the 80's)

The beach (even though I rarely use it--too much traffic and too few parking spots)

Learning that appearances do count. Not that I was a slob before but I've learned that it's nice to spend some money on yourself and get a pedicure (although I do have them use my polish so I can touch up the nail as it grows out and extend the life of the pedicure. I credit my Scottish genes for this one.

Hearing so many different languages spoken and seeing so many people from different backgrounds

Being close to a military base (did I hear free gym and no sales tax?)

What I won't miss about San Diego

The fact that there are no seasons. It's almost the same weather year-round. Which sounds nice in theory, but the 4 years here has been like one big amnesia trip. Everything blends together. Ask me what I did last Thanksgiving, Halloween or Memorial Day and I likely won't be able to tell you

The traffic and congestion. It takes me 30 minutes to go 9 miles in the morning. 20 minutes of that is simply trying to get on the highway with the rest of the I-5 morning crew. My exit backs up almost 2 miles on the drive home.

The really, really bad drivers. Like driving 80 mph in the slow lane, passing people, while there are 2 fast lanes wide open. Like motorcycles which are allowed to drive in between 2 cars on the highway. Like people who don't do the "wave" when you let them cut in and act as if you're lucky that you got the privilege. Like people who refuse to let you merge onto the highway even though the lane next to them is empty. My LA-born and bred coworker insists that it's not that people are being rude but that they're just not paying any attention. Hmmm, I think that makes me actually feel worse about driving here.

May Gray and June Gloom (see entry here)

Uber casual business attitude. Our receptionist at work is mad because my boss won't let her walk around the office with no shoes on. There's no follow-through in any business related activities here--it's like, "Oh, I'll call you...." For instance, when I called to turn on the cable when we first moved here, the salesman was like, "Ummm, can I just call you back?" and he NEVER did. I thought those guys worked on commission?

The fact that we're SO far away from everything. We're in the farthest Southwest corner of the country. It's expensive to fly out of here and to catch an international flight, you have to fly or drive to LA

Too many Paris Hilton wannabe's. I (guess I can) see this if you're clubbing, but at 9 a.m. on a Sunday in Trader Joe's????

Oh yeah, Trader Joe's! The nearest one is an hour away in Ann Arbor, Mich.

So many things and I'm sure I've forgotten some. Anyone else have any?

May Gray and June Gloom

2010-06-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

In San Diego, there's a certain payback that's due every year for having a frost-free January and February.

It's a little thing called May Gray and June Gloom. Basically, it's exactly what it sounds like. For 2 months, there is little to no sunshine and everything is gray and dreary.

It's hard to wake up in the morning, it's hard to get motivated, it's hard to deal with it in general.

This is an actual photo taken in mid-afternoon in June.

It's also cold. I'm talking 60 to 65 degree weather at the coast in June (while the rest of the country bakes in heat wave after heat wave).

The cold doesn't bother me (yeah right---I just turned on the heat and the windows are all closed) but it's the overall gloominess.

The first year we moved out here, my stepdaughter visited in June, thinking she could go to the beach. Yeah, that didn't work out so well.

Mexico City!!!

2010-06-02T19:14:00.000-07:00

So, I spent my Memorial Day in Mexico City. Not the most traditional of choices, I agree, but you can't beat a round-trip ticket and 4-night hotel package for $314 flying out of Tijuana.

I highly recommend this to anyone who is flying in Mexico (and probably Central and South America as well) and who lives in San Diego. It's actually quite easy. You take the trolley or get dropped off at the border, walk across and take a US $12 or $18 peso taxi ride to the airport. You can do this even if you don't speak any Spanish.

However, there aren't the many people in the TJ airport who speak English, so if you don't speak any Spanish, be prepared to mime a lot. But on the way out, I met a young American couple who were going to La Paz and they had done ok with not knowing Spanish, so it's definitely do-able.

Flying into Mexico City was a little disappointing. It's like the 3rd biggest city in the world, but there's hardly any skyscrapers. It's definitely not like Sao Paolo, Brazil which actually took my breath away.

I had arranged for a driver to pick me up at the airport ($35 round-trip. Thanks Cheaptickets!) but I now realize you could probably take the subway as long as you don't have a lot of luggage. You can print off a map of the subway and it goes right to the airport.

After I checked in to my hotel, I walked around for a bit and ended up eating the most expensive meal of my life. (not intentionally, of course). I was so tired and the only restaurant I could find was this fancy Japanese fusion restaurant. Nice to find out the next day that if I had only walked about 2 more blocks I would have found tons of restaurants.

I ordered vegetable tempura, read my book and listened to this teenage jazz band they had playing. While the food was just ok, the service was fabulous! I understand a little bit better why people go to super fancy restaurants.

Anyway, a few beers (Sapporo of course) and some tempura and sushi later and I get the bill, which is about 500 pesos. Which comes to about $50. With a tip, it came to about $70. I was so tired, I didn't even care (although I obsessed over spending so much money the rest of the next day). However, it was a super nice restaurant and everyone deserves a splurge now and then.

They packed up the sushi/rice and tempura which I figured I could somehow save, but I saw a homeless guy on the street and ended up asking him if he likes Japanese food. He said yes (must be a bum with a sophisticated palate) and gave him the rest of the food. He seemed happy. I seemed happy. So I figure it's money well spent.

I have somewhat of a problem giving homeless people money (especially when they have signs like, "Need money for pot" or "Why lie? I need beer". It's kind of funny, but are you really doing these people any favors by giving them drinking/drug money? I figure you can never go wrong with food.

Anyway, the next morning I had arranged a city tour and I met a really nice Venezuelan girl and Brazilian guy on the tour. We saw the President's Palace and the Diego Rivera murals, the Cathedral (complete with some "Aztec warriors" posing for tips, and the Zocala, which is one of the largest public squares in the world. However, when I visited there was some sort of permanent squatter camp/political protest going on and there were tons of people camped out there.

That afternoon, I also went on the Pyramid tour. This was one of the things I really, really had wanted to see. Technically, it's called Teotihuacan but I think most people refer to it as The Pyramid of the Sun and The Pyramid of the Moon. They are pre-Aztec pyramids and one of the most important archaeological sights in Mexico. You have to have a driver to get there.

One thing are my research agreed upon. Driving in Mexico City: Just Don't. I can't agree more. There are tons of huge boulevards and roundabouts. I think the drivers may be worse than NYC.

It's pretty cheap to hire a tour to go to the pyramids (like $35 or so) and we stopped off at the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe . This is the most important religious site in Mexico (if you click the link, you'll recognize the picture immediately). There are actually 3 churches here. The original, then a newer one (which is actually sinking into the soft soil below--kind of like the Leaning Tower) and then the 3rd, which was built in the 70's or so and definitely looks like it.

They had the actual "miracle" painting/cape there. It's the original image that supposedly appeared as a symbol on someone's cape and apparently has been shown that no human hand c0uld have created it.

How they had it displayed was very interesting. They had 3 sets of moving sidewalks (ok, I know that's a Beverly Hillbillies description of it but I don't know what those things are called--they're the things in the airport that are like escalators but flat and they help you walk faster).

So you could view it one way, get off the moving sidewalk, step 1 foot in front and onto another one going a different direction, zoom past it again, get off, step 1 foot in front and zoom past it in the other direction. No gawking allowed!

This day was the highlight of my trip as the next day was a real let-down. I had really wanted to go to Xochimilco, which is considered the Venice of Mexico. I figured I could do the subway myself and didn't need to pay for a tour. Which is true. The subway was easy to figure out and only cost about .25 cents (30 pesos) one-way. The whole trip cost me about $1 US (you have to pay for a transfer).

Maybe if I had been with a group it would have been fun. But you have to walk down many small, dirty streets to finally get there and when you do, you have to walk down a small passageway filled with people selling open-air food (complete with flies and e. coli) and then you get to the canal and it's dirty and brown.

You can then rent a boat which has a guide who paddles the boat (like a gondolier) but I could definitely see it's more fun if you have a big group because there are long picnic tables in the boats and you can eat and drink (people come up to you in boats to sell food, soda and beer). As I was on my own, I didn't want to tag along and be the third wheel to a Mexican family having a nice Sunday afternoon out, so I just took the subway back). The subway was easy and I was proud of myself that I could do it, but if you're traveling alone, I think I would recommend the tour so you have people to sit with and talk to on the boat.

The next day, I just walked around and chilled in my hotel room, watching bad dubbed sitcoms and Mexican soap operas. Part of the reason I went down there was to practice my Spanish and see if I could survive. Most people were very nice, however, I did have a minor altercation with a teenage counter person at KFC (I hate American fast food but hey, I didn't want to get Montezuma's Revenge).

Other than that, I had complicated conversations about international phone calls, complaining about everything in my room because nothing worked (ie, the fan, most of the lights and the refrigerator--I never got the last one solved), I listened to whole tours in Spanish and even protested when I got short-changed at Oxxo. Which I am proud to say, I successfully got my 50 pesos back. We never covered that in Spanish class!

The main street in Mexico City is Paseo de la Reforma although I think most people call it Avenida Reforma or Calle Reforma (I know I did when I asked for directions and people understood me). My hotel was on this street (Imperial Reforma) and many important sights including the Angel of Independence which I learned from a very rude and very mustacchioed female guard can only be climbed on the weekends.

There was tons of anti-Calderon graffiti (really explicit stuff, like Death to Calderon, etc) and other squatter camps. I don't know if this was the feeling of just a few disgruntled people or how most people felt. (I also just love being able to work in the word disgruntled whenever I can).

Some people say Mexico isn't safe, but I felt perfectly safe the whole time I was there. I watched my purse, just like I would in any big city, but most people I met were pretty friendly (again, the smaller the town, I think the nicer people are). But aside from KFC guy and the female mustached security guard, everyone was pretty nice.

However, be prepared for guns. It's funny that foreigners think the US is a gun culture. I counted 11 police officers in just one stretch of block and they all had semi-automatics. Not to mention, all the cops/security guards outside businesses like banks and sex shops (I have no idea) who stood guard on the doorstep with automatic pump-action shotguns.

Small Talk

2010-05-24T19:55:00.000-07:00

One thing that drives me nuts is small talk. Yes, we all have to do it and I actually have to do quite a bit of it for my job but that doesn't make it any the more enjoyable.

Case in point. We recently went to a social function where we knew only 2 other people. We met a (seemingly) nice guy and were chatting with him for quite awhile. People were grilling and I've learned from long experience to always bring my own veggie burgers.

Anyway, we had been talking to this guy and I had gotten the sense that he was quite a bit of a wannabe macho guy (I think it had to do with him being all of about 5 feet tall) and as I got my veggie burger he looks at it and says, "What's wrong with good ol' American beef?" First of all, it was rude as I never comment on what other people eat (except for my husband when I tell him to eat more veggies, but my husband eats meat for crissakes). It's nobody else's business what I eat or don't eat.

If someone has a dietary restriction due to religion (which is concerned with morality as is my decision not to eat meat) no one says anything about that. I've never heard of anyone cornering a Jew or Muslim (or a Catholic on Fridays) and demand to know why they don't eat certain food items.

Out of a BBQ of 10-12 people, 3 were vegetarians so I'm not even so much in the minority anymore.

I've learned to shrug it off over the years and most people forget that I don't eat meat. While I fully support animal rights and have worked on political campaigns, I dislike the "shout in your face" tactics and morally superior attitude some vegetarians/vegans have.

But I digress. It was just something about this guy's sneering tone that got to me. Not to mention, he had just been chatting with me and the hubs for 15 minutes or so.

I just looked at him and in my coldest voice said, "Really? Are you trying to start an argument with me?"

That shut him up and sent him on his way.

One down.

Another lady came over to chat with us. Did I mention this was a group of people who all know each other through scuba diving (which Leo and I don't do) so our topics of convo were a little limited from the start.

Running out of topics, I asked her what she did. She got all squirrelly and said she worked in IT but wanted to find a new field. That was it. She didn't ask what we did. She just kind of sat there. I thought the rules of conversation were kind of tit-for-tat.

Asking about someone's work isn't an out of bounds question (I think) and I figure if you don't want to talk about your work, you can just answer vaguely (which that lady did) and then steer the convo to what the other people do.

Strike 2.

Leo had gone off to chat with some older guy and as I walked over. Leo introduced me and before the other guy said his name or shook my hand, he said really loud, "Are you in the military?"

Put out, I just gave him a strange look and said, "No. Are you?" What kind of question is that? Especially when you shout it at someone. Although maybe he was deaf, who knows.

I just hate it when people go out of order. I don't mind if he asks if I'm in the military but at least tell me your name first and shake my freaking hand!

It's like when I was a waitress.

There's a certain order to the whole process. I come up to the table, say hi and take your drink order. I come back with the drinks and I take your food order.

It drove my nuts when people went out of order.

The one table that absolutely sticks in my mind for this was when I was working at Bennigan's (yes, Bennigan's) in Philly.

I came up, asked what they wanted to drink and the guy starts asking me about what kinds of soup we have.

Ok, I can roll with the punches as well as anyone but this was a slammed Friday night and I was in the weeds.

I told him. He hems and haws. I ask him again what he would like to drink. He doesn't answer. I ask him again and he orders soup.

He'll order a drink later.

While this might not sound like much, the life of a server depends on a reliable system. If you get one step out of this system your whole world can crash and burn in a second.

And this guy was seriously messing up my system.

Back to the BBQ.

We did meet a few nice people though so that redeemed it. And this night was hardly unique. I use it as an example because it happened recently.

I mean, I'm not a small talk Nazi or anything, but c,mon there are some rules that have to be followed.

Moving and traveling to South America

2010-05-22T16:37:00.000-07:00

In my previous post, I wrote about us moving to Toledo, Ohio and I said there was a reason I wasn't so upset about it. The main reason is that I get to take a 2.5 month study vacation to central and South America.

But, in reality, I'm more of an East Coast girl and miss being close to friends and family. Not to mention, with all the earthquakes we've been having, I think it's high time to get outta Cali. We had a 5.8 this morning.

But back to my plans. I told Leo that if we were going to have to move and I was going to have to give up my job, I wanted to take the first couple of months in our new place and study Spanish rather than sit on the couch waiting for someone to call back about a job interview.

I did that when we first moved here 4 years ago and it sucked. I ended up taking a waitressing job just to have something to do while I waited. Although I didn't feel so bad about it when I met up with a girl who I used to work with at a public relations firm in Philly. She moved out here too and ended up taking a job at Sea World shucking oysters while she waited to find a job in PR. So I wasn't so bad off. But I digress.

My plan so far is this:

Leave late August and spend a month with my Mom in Boquete, Panama where she retired a few years ago. I'm going to Spanish classes in the morning and then volunteering in the afternoon. I'm sure I'll end up teaching English, which I have experience in but I'm thinking it may be nice to branch out. We'll see. This flight is already booked.

Then, I travel to Buenos Aires, Argentina for about a month and a half. I already booked my apartment but haven't booked a flight yet.

When I'm in BA, my friend Danielle is going to come visit. Our plan is for her to stay a week or 10 days or however long she feels like staying. We'll go to Montevideo, Uruguay since it's only a 3-hour ferry ride and then we'll both fly to Porto Alegre, Brazil where she'll fly back home and I'll fly back to BA.

I figure I had to pay about $280 for my Brazil visa last year and it's good for 10 years, I might as well use it. I found flights for about $300 so you can't beat that.

I have 2 other trips planned. First, to Ushuaia, Argentina which is in the Tierra del Fuego (Earth/Land of Fire) region and claims that it is the southernmost city in the world. There is 1 city in Chile that is actually more southerly, but it's a military base and doesn't seem so equipped for tourism. So, I"m just going for this one.

Apparently, it's the jumping off point for Antartica. Alas, this will have to wait for another trip.

The other trip that I'm going to take is to Santiago, Chile and Valpraiso, Chile. I've always wanted to see Valparaiso ever since I read Portrait in Sepia by Isabelle Allende. I'm a little scared flying over the Andes, since isn't that where the Chilean soccer team crashed (aka, the movie Alive) happened? I'm just kidding, but for real I hate flying and have to have at least 3 cocktails even if the flight is at 9 in the morning. Thank God for airport bars.

Anyway, if anyone out there in blogland has any advice/tips/recommendations on cheap hotels/things to do/travel advice/etc about any of the above destinations I would be forever in your debt.

I know if have an ambitious travel schedule, but it's so far away that I may never get there again so I want to take as much advantage as I can. BTW, this isn't a Spanish post but Spanish has a verb that is so useful.

Aprovechar=to take advantage of.

Usually, Spanish is so much longer than English, but in this case they have us beat for succintness.

Moving!

2010-05-17T20:25:00.001-07:00

I didn't want to post this until I had told my boss (since we are FB friends and all and she could actually find this blog) but we're moving August 1.

When you move in the military (called getting orders or PCS'ing--Permanent Change of Station) there is a certain system that is followed.

There is someone called a "detailer" and this person basically controls your destiny. He is the person who can tell you what places are open for your job and your rank to transfer to. Everyone is always sucking up to these guys, as they are just about akin to God. If the detailer doesn't like you or if you're competing for a place against someone the detailer is friends with, forget it. You're probably going to Fargo, North Dakota or some other really hard position (billet) to fill.

A lot of people do back-door deals with the detailer to get the duty station they want.

Alas, for whatever reason that wasn't an option for us and so we got stuck with Toledo, Ohio.

And we had to fight for it which makes the whole situation pretty Twilight-zoney. I grew up in Ann Arbor and Detroit, Michigan and have only been to Toledo twice in my life. Both times to go to the Art Museum (which is amazing fabulous, BTW).

So this is how the process works.

The military only lets people stay at the job for 3-4 years and then they force you to transfer. The hubs says this is so you don't always have the same Commanding Officer and you experience different leadership styles. You're not supposed to get loyal to one person, rather it's all about the mission.

Personally, I think it's so you don't get too entrenched in a community that when they ask you to go to war/go to Guantanamo Bay for a solo 1-year tour/go to the Philippines/etc, that you don't want to go. Saying that your softball team needs you to play in the state championships is not a good enough reason for the military not to send you to Iraq, lol.

You can transfer within the same city, but that didn't work out for us.

About 6 months before you're scheduled to leave your job, the detailer sends you a list of places that you can transfer to. My husband is in a specialized job, so there aren't that many places to choose from in general.

About 3 or 4 months ago we got our first round of "choices". Let's just say they weren't good.

The only one I really recall was Buffalo, NY which we immediately vetoed because of the year-round snow.

We waited a month to see what new joys the detailer would bring.

This time Memphis, TN and Camp Lejeune, NC popped up.

We debated about Memphis for awhile. It's actually a pretty nice city and much more cosmopolitan that I thought (although we only spent a half-day there when we drove out to the West Coast). It doesn't seem so veg friendly though, so that was a negative.

As for Camp Lejeune, I've had Marines tell me they would rather go back to Iraq then go back to Camp Lejeune. Apparently, it's a very swamp, humid area where the whole town is military (from the cashiers at Wal-Mart to the taxi drivers). Having lived in Norfolk, VA I remember how tiring this can be.

I've never been to Camp Lejeune, but I've heard it's like all heavily military cities. Basically, a 21-year old males dream. Crappy sports bars with cougars on the prowl. Fast food and Denny's everywhere, used car lots and pawn shops, as well as divey strip bars.

No thanks.

So we decided to roll the dice and see what came out our final round. You only get 3 rounds (1 per month) and it's a gamble since other people can take the duty station you want. The general rule of thumb is that if you see something you want, grab it because it may not be around the next time.

On the final spin of the great fate wheel, Dover, NJ was still one of our choices but it came down to a choice between there and Toledo, OH.

However, the BAH (Basic Allowance Housing) was more expensive for Dover than for San Diego (something I never thought was possible) because it's about 30 minutes west of Manhattan. This sounds great until you realize that it's basically a bedroom community for NYC. Not so exciting.

As my brother put it, "How many times, really, are you going to go to NYC? Dover sounds like hell on earth. At least Toledo is a city."

Since I'm not 24 and into clubbing all hours of the night, I had to concede that he had a point.

Plus, my parents are 1 hour away from Toledo and it would be nice for them to get to know Leo, since we met in Philadelphia and got married in Norfolk. I still have some friends in the area, so it seemed like a good fit. Although I have to admit, I cried, mostly out of shock when I first learned that was our best choice.

So we decided and then the detailer calls Leo at 5 p.m. one night and leaves a message saying, "Call me back. It's about your duty station." And that's it. No other info. I hate when people do that because then you're left wondering all night. Which is exactly what happened to us.

The next day, the detailer tells us it was a mistake and that Toledo shouldn't have "popped up" and our only choices were Dover, NJ and Billings, Montana which just popped up.

To make a (very) long story short, Leo was like, "No, this is your problem. You have to fix it. My wife's parents think we're coming. We've mentally prepared to go to Toledo. This isn't my problem."

Well, do you remember how I mentioned about back-door deals? Well, we ended up kind of making one of our own.

The only way we could go to Toledo was if the other corpsman (medic) there was willing to leave and take one of the open options (ie. Dover or Billings).

Whether it was luck or whatever, the corpsman in Toledo is a Haitian guy from NYC so he was happy taking the Dover billet.

So after all that, we're going to Toledo, Ohio.

However, there are a couple good things about it which I'll put in my next post since I know this is hella long.

Pedro Picapiedra (aka Fred Flintstone)

2010-05-10T21:36:00.000-07:00

One of the things I liked best about teaching English as a Second Language (besides the for-the-most-part-awesome- students) was learning new things about your own world.

Case in point. Spanish speaking countries repackaged The Flintstones cartoons and renamed them. This came up with some trivia I had given the students. If I remember correctly, it was that the first TV couple shown in bed together were Fred and Wilma Flintstone. And no, I was not that kind of teacher. It was a fact list of Americana.

Well, the students from Spain had absolutely no idea what I was talking about.

It went something like this:

Me: So Fred and Wilma Flintstone were the first couple shown in bed together.

Spanish Student (SS): Who are Fred and Wilma?

Me: What? They didn't have this cartoon in Spain? It's about the Stone Age and there are 2 couples who are neighbors. Fred and Barney work in a stone quarry (although to be fair, there's no reason they should know the English words for stone quarry).

SS: No, I don't know this program.

Me: C'mon! They had a baby dinosaur named Dino and Fred drove a car that was powered with his feet. You must know it. It's super famous.

SS: Ah, you mean Pedro Picapiedra (Peter Stonecutter) and Pablo Marmol!!!! (Paul Marble--there's apparently no Spanish equivalent of Barney)

Me: What? Who? What are you talking about?

That's when I learned that Spanish basically repackages most/all American movies and TV and gives them a Spanish name.

Another case in point--we were all talking about Die Hard with Bruce Willis (don't ask why. We often got off point and I just ran with it). Again, another SS was like what? I have no idea what this movie is.

That's when he finally realized, oh you mean "La selva de vidrio!". (aka The glass jungle). That's what they called the movie in Spain.

I'm not 100% sure of the logic that goes behind importing an American movie and then changing the name so that everybody outside of Spain has no idea what movie you're talking about, but then again the Spanish Department of Culture doesn't consult me on these matters so I'll just have to be content with not knowing.

However, the Flintstones example is one of my favorites. I love that I have a new way to think about a childhood favorite.

Now, I just need to find the Spanish version of Nick at Nite and catch up on my Pedro Picapiedra and Pablo Marmol!

Strange Fruit

2010-05-01T13:09:00.000-07:00

One thing I'm addicted to right now is Brazilian Crystal Light.

Yes, you read that correctly. Instead of saying the whole words Crystal Light they just shorten it to Clight.

Which I assumed was pronounced with a hard C (like see) but which my good friend Danielle, who currently lives in Brazil, tells me is pronounced Clight, like rhymes with tight. To me, that sounds too much like a crude term for a part of a woman's anatomy so I'll just stick with calling it See Light.

It was when I was visiting Danielle last year that I discovered and fell in love with Clight. Granted, I love American Crystal Light too but Clight has SO many cool flavors that we don't have.

Such as:

Caju (cashew). I just learned from Wikipedia that the English cashew actually comes from the Portuguese word caju.

Pineapple with Mint. My absolute favorite.

Lime ice tea

Tangerina (tangerine)

Pessago (peach). Not peach ice tea, but actual peach "juice"
Kiwi

Maracuja (passion fruit)

What's strange about the passion fruit one is that I just tried the actual fruit the other day. A colleague's boyfriend grows them on his ranch, but they go for about $2 each in the store.

Just a warning. They are probably the weirdest/ugliest/slimiest things I've ever seen. Kind of like a cross between a dinosaur egg and caviar. But they taste really good! If you can get over the whole slime factor.

Brothels in Lucerne

2010-04-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

So according to Sitemeter, at least 5 different people have found this blog by googling "Brothels in Lucerne".

Why you wonder would my blog pop up?

Well, I wrote an entry about my trip to Lucerne, Switzerland and I've mentioned a brothel exactly 1 time (I believe) on a trip we took to Idaho.

Not sure what to make of these people searching for brothels and finding my blog. But I'm guessing they were disappointed. lol

BTW, the other big search terms that people find this blog are

1 million pounds of trash
bum camps
phrasal verbs
cameron que se duerme que lo lleva la curriente (the shrimp who sleeps gets carried away by the current, or in English, you snooze you lose)

Geezer Bandit Strikes Again!

2010-04-21T17:43:00.000-07:00

So the so-called "Geezer Bandit" has struck again and knocked over his 7th bank in San Diego county. I gave an earlier shout-out to this retirement age rebel a few months ago but thought that would be the end of his Ensure fueled reign of terror. Was I wrong.

Authorities are now offering a $16,000 for this octogenarian baddie.

However, a spokeswoman for the FBI was on TV this morning and they think they've caught a break since this time the geriatric ne'er do well used a day planner to conceal an automatic handgun with which he threatened the teller.

She didn't really explain why this was a break. Maybe they're trying to supersize the still photo of said day planner to read any contact info The Geezer Bandit may have been imprudent enough to have written in.

Who knows? She did say that one of the reasons he's so successful is that he blends in with the rest of the crowd both when he's in the bank and when he shuffles away with his loot after the hold-up.

Interesting theory. Now every bank teller in San Diego is on the lookout for old men who might try to rob them.

All I have to say is Go Geezer Bandit, Go!