I didn't have any good pictures of the two of us, so I had to use this one. Here dad is doing his favorite thing--cleaning the snow off the driveway!
17 June 2008
Late Fathers' Day
I didn't call my dad for Fathers' Day until Monday, so it's only fitting that I'd wait until Tuesday to post this picture. Have I ever mentioned that my dad is the coolest guy in the world? Love you!
I didn't have any good pictures of the two of us, so I had to use this one. Here dad is doing his favorite thing--cleaning the snow off the driveway!
I didn't have any good pictures of the two of us, so I had to use this one. Here dad is doing his favorite thing--cleaning the snow off the driveway!
15 June 2008
Costa Rica Recap, Part 2
Our last day in Arenal we went on a canopy tour of the jungle. They strap you into a harness and you go from tree to tree on zip lines. It was really cool, although you move a little fast to be able to really check out the wildlife around you. Here's a picture of me doing a 'superman' with one of the guides, Antonio.
After the canopy tour we cleaned up and headed out for what everyone assured us would be a 3 hour drive to Quepos, on the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica. With traffic, crazy roads, 3 road signs (total), and general distance, the trip took closer to 8 hours (including our time at the cevicheria where we stopped for directions and a snack).
When we finally found our hotel, we found our room to be partially unfinished--there was an unpainted wall, outlets and light switches to nowhere, and an electrical box in the bathroom with no cover. There was a minor problem with having no water that night, but we were assured that it would be fixed by the morning. I woke up to Jenna standing in the bathroom door, dripping soap because the water had shut off in the middle of her shower. No shower for me!
We spent the day tooling around Quepos, finding a great little local coffee shop where we proceeded to eat all of our breakfasts there. We still didn't have water at the hotel that night.
The next day we hiked into Manuel Antonio national park. We went on a small tour group and hiked in the back way with a guide. We saw so many cool animals: monkeys and sloths (even one coming down to take his weekly poop) and a jesus-christ lizard (which can run on water). The walk in was through the jungle, really awesome. The tour ended at the beach, which is considered by many to be the best beach in Costa Rica.
After awhile on the beach, we hiked back out and found a restaurant where we could get some lunch and a beer. Apparently, though, it is illegal in CR to sell any type of alcohol on Good Friday. But the restaurant would sell 'sodas' to us. This is Jenna with our 'sodas'--light beer with lime juice and a salt-rimmed glass.
Here are a couple pictures of the rain that hit us while we were hanging out at the restaurant. It was ridiculous!
The next day we were back in the car on our way to San Jose for the night in order to fly out on Sunday. We stopped at this awesome overlook (near Jaco beach) and took some pictures with some other random tourist-types.
While we were enjoying the view, we were burgled by the 2 guys in this car (The picture shows them speeding away).
Here's the story: We had just walked back to the car after taking some pictures, and Jenna switched the lenses on her camera. For the first, and only, time on our adventure, we left the car doors unlocked. I walked toward the ocean and was approached by a guy I'd seen drive up. He was trying to tell me that there were some birds out on the ocean I should take pictures. When I corrected him that the birds were, in fact, in the trees in the opposite direction (toward the car), he started talking about dolphins. About this time Jenna came over to see what was happening. I told her that apparently there were dolphins, but I couldn't see them. I was now bored and turned back to the car. I saw the second of the guys walking between our car and theirs carrying a backpack that looked suspiciously like mine. I checked the car, and sure enough the dude had my bag. I yelled at him (using many choice words that are not appropriate for a family blog) and tried running after him. His friend realized that the gig was up and raced toward the car. I realized that there was no way I'd be able to keep up with them/catch them, and was smart enough to take a picture of the car, in the hopes of turning it in to the police.
Jenna came back to the car, I told her they had my bag, and she responded: "Which way did they go?" We took off after them and I started listing what was in my bag: an empty journal, address book, 2 cell phones that don't work in CR, a fairly old iPod, and a bag full of random crap. Oh, and about 140,000 Colombian pesos which aren't worth the time it would take to exchange them there. I felt a little vindicated, in a way, that the jerks didn't get away with anything too valuable, but then I just got madder as I thought about the principal of the thing.
We found their car parked at a hotel about 5 minutes away. Jenna parked directly behind the car (so they couldn't drive off again) and jumped out yelling at anyone who would listen. Someone from the hotel was able to figure out what I was yelling about and explained it to the rest of the people there, who immediately jumped up in pursuit of the guys who had run away when we drove into the parking lot. They never caught the guys, but I found the car unlocked and stole back all of my stuff. We had a beer to calm down and continued on the drive.
We spent our last night in San Jose, which we'd heard wasn't much to write home about. The people at the hotel told us where we could go to hang out that night, which turned out to be this small, walled-in plaza that had a bunch of different clubs. We ended up drinking too much and staying out all night. It was a good thing all we had to do the next day was sleep on the plane.
That's it for the trip. Sorry it took so long to tell you about it. I guess I can blame it on Colombian time, again.
After the canopy tour we cleaned up and headed out for what everyone assured us would be a 3 hour drive to Quepos, on the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica. With traffic, crazy roads, 3 road signs (total), and general distance, the trip took closer to 8 hours (including our time at the cevicheria where we stopped for directions and a snack).
When we finally found our hotel, we found our room to be partially unfinished--there was an unpainted wall, outlets and light switches to nowhere, and an electrical box in the bathroom with no cover. There was a minor problem with having no water that night, but we were assured that it would be fixed by the morning. I woke up to Jenna standing in the bathroom door, dripping soap because the water had shut off in the middle of her shower. No shower for me!
We spent the day tooling around Quepos, finding a great little local coffee shop where we proceeded to eat all of our breakfasts there. We still didn't have water at the hotel that night.
The next day we hiked into Manuel Antonio national park. We went on a small tour group and hiked in the back way with a guide. We saw so many cool animals: monkeys and sloths (even one coming down to take his weekly poop) and a jesus-christ lizard (which can run on water). The walk in was through the jungle, really awesome. The tour ended at the beach, which is considered by many to be the best beach in Costa Rica.
After awhile on the beach, we hiked back out and found a restaurant where we could get some lunch and a beer. Apparently, though, it is illegal in CR to sell any type of alcohol on Good Friday. But the restaurant would sell 'sodas' to us. This is Jenna with our 'sodas'--light beer with lime juice and a salt-rimmed glass.
Here are a couple pictures of the rain that hit us while we were hanging out at the restaurant. It was ridiculous!
The next day we were back in the car on our way to San Jose for the night in order to fly out on Sunday. We stopped at this awesome overlook (near Jaco beach) and took some pictures with some other random tourist-types.
While we were enjoying the view, we were burgled by the 2 guys in this car (The picture shows them speeding away).
Here's the story: We had just walked back to the car after taking some pictures, and Jenna switched the lenses on her camera. For the first, and only, time on our adventure, we left the car doors unlocked. I walked toward the ocean and was approached by a guy I'd seen drive up. He was trying to tell me that there were some birds out on the ocean I should take pictures. When I corrected him that the birds were, in fact, in the trees in the opposite direction (toward the car), he started talking about dolphins. About this time Jenna came over to see what was happening. I told her that apparently there were dolphins, but I couldn't see them. I was now bored and turned back to the car. I saw the second of the guys walking between our car and theirs carrying a backpack that looked suspiciously like mine. I checked the car, and sure enough the dude had my bag. I yelled at him (using many choice words that are not appropriate for a family blog) and tried running after him. His friend realized that the gig was up and raced toward the car. I realized that there was no way I'd be able to keep up with them/catch them, and was smart enough to take a picture of the car, in the hopes of turning it in to the police.
Jenna came back to the car, I told her they had my bag, and she responded: "Which way did they go?" We took off after them and I started listing what was in my bag: an empty journal, address book, 2 cell phones that don't work in CR, a fairly old iPod, and a bag full of random crap. Oh, and about 140,000 Colombian pesos which aren't worth the time it would take to exchange them there. I felt a little vindicated, in a way, that the jerks didn't get away with anything too valuable, but then I just got madder as I thought about the principal of the thing.
We found their car parked at a hotel about 5 minutes away. Jenna parked directly behind the car (so they couldn't drive off again) and jumped out yelling at anyone who would listen. Someone from the hotel was able to figure out what I was yelling about and explained it to the rest of the people there, who immediately jumped up in pursuit of the guys who had run away when we drove into the parking lot. They never caught the guys, but I found the car unlocked and stole back all of my stuff. We had a beer to calm down and continued on the drive.
We spent our last night in San Jose, which we'd heard wasn't much to write home about. The people at the hotel told us where we could go to hang out that night, which turned out to be this small, walled-in plaza that had a bunch of different clubs. We ended up drinking too much and staying out all night. It was a good thing all we had to do the next day was sleep on the plane.
That's it for the trip. Sorry it took so long to tell you about it. I guess I can blame it on Colombian time, again.
04 June 2008
Another Take on Sid
Ok, so my picture of Sid is not very good. Check out this link..it's a story about a man who actually raises multiple Sids. I believe their official name is 'Hercules Beetle.'
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-beetles21-2008may21,0,6959607.story
We decided to free him. He started chewing through the wire-mesh cage that Jenna found in the science lab and we weren't sure he'd actually make it while we were gone to Cartegena for a 3 day weekend. We opened the door of the cage and left him on the balcony the night before we left. He's not there anymore and he actually chewed a different hole in the mesh.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-beetles21-2008may21,0,6959607.story
We decided to free him. He started chewing through the wire-mesh cage that Jenna found in the science lab and we weren't sure he'd actually make it while we were gone to Cartegena for a 3 day weekend. We opened the door of the cage and left him on the balcony the night before we left. He's not there anymore and he actually chewed a different hole in the mesh.
28 May 2008
Sid
This is Sid. He's our 'pet.' We found him attached to our curtain on Monday night. After a lot of hysterics and calls to two boys who fell through, Jenna was finally able to corral him into a water pitcher with lid. We gave him some mango to eat. He seemed happy.
Then, at about 2:30 yesterday morning, I was awakened by whimpering from Jenna's bedroom. Apparently, Sid didn't like his cage all that much and had escaped. He moved the lid across the room, and then continued on his merry way into her closet. She woke up to hear him chewing on a thick plastic bag. I went in to investigate and was given the task of finding him. Meanwhile, she's whimpering/laughing/screaming while standing in the middle of her bed (she wasn't sure of his location and was afraid she'd find him on the floor). I found him attached to one of her shoes and somehow managed to get him back in the cage, although not without stunning him a little bit. It was pretty eventful.
We think he may be dying now. It's sad, really. But he is one ugly mo-fo.
Colombian "Snow Day"
We're on consecutive Day 2 (and day 3 of the last 2 weeks) of no school due to the roads up the mountain being closed. You see, we get a lot of rain here. And apparently lately it's been way too much for the ground to handle. So there have been massive mudslides that have covered the road and made travel impossible. I'm not complaining one bit. The last 2 days, I got to sleep in. And today I even got to take a nap.
We got a call that we have to go in to school tomorrow, though. Somehow they're getting all of us teachers there, but no kids. It'll be a good work day for me, considering I was gone all last week.
For those of you who didn't know, my friend Sarah and I took our middle school Destination Imagination team to the Global Finals in Knoxville, TN last week. It was a lot of fun, but very draining. By the 2nd day I think I was running on pure adrenaline and caffeine. It's hard to say exactly where our time went, but I can guarantee that it wasn't used for sleeping.
A few highlights of the trip:
1. Watching the kids re-vamp their play and somehow manage to pull it together to present to the judges.
2. Watching the kids work together and do an awesome job on their instant challenge; in fact, the best I've ever seen them work. I was so proud!
3. Shopping! A lot! As ashamed as I am to admit it, I was really glad to get to go to WalMart. Did you know you can get 4 pounds of peanut butter for, like, $7?
4. Embarrassing the kids by wearing 'Do Not Disturb' eye masks (you know, for sleeping) all day in the mall and the airport, just for fun.
5. Witnessing Sarah drive the 15-passenger van that was larger than most of the buses our kids take to school here.
6. Watching the girls run after the van because we were tired of waiting for them, so when they got close to the door we took off. Twice.
We had a really great time, but I was very much glad to come home. And then I lucked out and got 2 more days of rest before having to go back to work. Very nice.
I still have the rest of Costa Rica to write about (including our vigilante action). Stay tuned. I promise I'll finish it one of these days. Since the Costa Rica trip, we've taken a long weekend to Bogota (my new favorite city), and Sarah, Jen, Jenna and I are going to Cartagena this weekend to celebrate Jenna's 3rd Annual 29th Birthday. I'm very excited to see what Cartagena and get some good beach time.
We got a call that we have to go in to school tomorrow, though. Somehow they're getting all of us teachers there, but no kids. It'll be a good work day for me, considering I was gone all last week.
For those of you who didn't know, my friend Sarah and I took our middle school Destination Imagination team to the Global Finals in Knoxville, TN last week. It was a lot of fun, but very draining. By the 2nd day I think I was running on pure adrenaline and caffeine. It's hard to say exactly where our time went, but I can guarantee that it wasn't used for sleeping.
A few highlights of the trip:
1. Watching the kids re-vamp their play and somehow manage to pull it together to present to the judges.
2. Watching the kids work together and do an awesome job on their instant challenge; in fact, the best I've ever seen them work. I was so proud!
3. Shopping! A lot! As ashamed as I am to admit it, I was really glad to get to go to WalMart. Did you know you can get 4 pounds of peanut butter for, like, $7?
4. Embarrassing the kids by wearing 'Do Not Disturb' eye masks (you know, for sleeping) all day in the mall and the airport, just for fun.
5. Witnessing Sarah drive the 15-passenger van that was larger than most of the buses our kids take to school here.
6. Watching the girls run after the van because we were tired of waiting for them, so when they got close to the door we took off. Twice.
We had a really great time, but I was very much glad to come home. And then I lucked out and got 2 more days of rest before having to go back to work. Very nice.
I still have the rest of Costa Rica to write about (including our vigilante action). Stay tuned. I promise I'll finish it one of these days. Since the Costa Rica trip, we've taken a long weekend to Bogota (my new favorite city), and Sarah, Jen, Jenna and I are going to Cartagena this weekend to celebrate Jenna's 3rd Annual 29th Birthday. I'm very excited to see what Cartagena and get some good beach time.
11 May 2008
Feliz Dia de La Madre
Happy Mothers' Day to all of you mothers out there! Love you mom!! To commemorate this day, here's a picture of my awesome mom and me last summer with Uncle Ross.
15 April 2008
Costa Rica ReCap, Part 1
Our Costa Rica adventure began at 3:00 am on Sunday when we got up to head to the airport. Two uneventful flights, plus a nightmare trying to find a change house in the Bogota airport that would give us Colones (which we never did find), got us to San Jose in 6 pieces (2 suitcases, 2 backpacks, 2 persons). We successfully found a change place and were on our way to the rental car place with some duty-free wine and Costa Rican coffee liquor.
Step 2 of the adventure came when we tried to add me to the rental car agreement to share the driving responsibilities and I realized that I'd left my license in Medellin. Brilliant. I was already planning on doing the lion's share of the navigating (apparently Jenna can't navigate herself out of a paper bag), and this just certified I would be in charge of all of it. Which is actually pretty difficult given the state of the roads and towns in CR, and the crappy rental car company map I had. Needless to say, we did have to backtrack some. But we made it.
The first leg of our journey took us to Denny's for lunch. We were both super excited to have something so totally American...living in the backwoods of Colombia, we don't get anything like that. I had some "Moons Over My Hammy" and hashbrowns. It was awesome.
We then headed on our way to Arenal, which is the most active volcano in Costa Rica. The drive was very scenic, but took entirely too long and we ended up traveling at dusk, which wasn't the best for my driving friend. The little town at Arenal was fun--quaint and touristy. We stayed at a hostel (my first ever), which, if you forget about the PVC pipe sticking out of the wall that was the shower (at least there was hot water) and the terrible pillows, was a great place to stay. The staff were super friendly and helpful, there was cable, and the beds were comfortable.
Monday we spent around the town of La Fortuna, where we found a great little shop to get really good Costa Rican coffee. The shop was run by the owner of the coffee farm, and we had a chance to talk to him all about how they run the farm. Jenna and I both ended up sending 5 lbs of coffee home to our parents, and we bought 4 1/2 for ourselves here. We went a little overboard. Check out their website:http://www.godowntoearth.org/ That night we went on a night hike at a nature preserve, where we saw a three-toed sloth, some caymans, cool bugs, and frogs, including this little guy who was quite elusive.
Tuesday we got up early and headed out on the 'combination tour' touted as the best way to explore the area by the folks at our hostel. We started out at the Arenal Hanging Bridges, which is a trail through the rainforest that goes over something like 14 different bridges, some fixed and some suspension. We got to see a ton of really cool plants, to take in amazing scenery, and to watch some animals. We saw some spider monkeys playing in the trees, and we heard a ton of howler monkeys but were unable to see them. This is a picture from one of the last bridges we crossed, looking down at one of the earlier bridges.
After the hanging bridges hike, we headed through La Fortuna to hike down to the La Fortuna waterfall. It was a pretty normal waterfall, but the day was really hot and the hike down included something like 800 steps, none of which was actually the same height as any other.
Jenna and me at the top of the falls:
G'Nome made the hike, too, although the trip up damn near killed him (and me)!
The next stop on our tour was to the west side of the volcano, where we hiked up to the most recent big lava field. Arenal is a volcano different from what we were expecting: it doesn't actually spew liquid lava. The pressure and heat build up and force huge boulders out the top that roll down the side of the mountain until they reach a stopping place. So in a catastrophic eruption, huge, on-fire boulders rain down on the land and leave behind craters. It was pretty cool to see the remains and to hear the stories of what happened. The white 'streaks' you can see at the top of the mountain are the trails of rocks that we watched come down.
Jenna and me at the lava flow (as they say), sporting our Keens-bought especially for this trip.
The tour ended with a trip to the Tabacon Hot Springs, a resort built around the river which exploits the natural hot springs of the river for monetary gain. Don't get me wrong; it was really nice to take a hot soak after our long day, but it was a little over the top. There were upwards of 10 different pools with different temperatures and features. And there were about a million people, too.
Since this is the end of a day, it's the perfect stopping place for me now. Stay tuned for Part 2. The adventure continues...
Step 2 of the adventure came when we tried to add me to the rental car agreement to share the driving responsibilities and I realized that I'd left my license in Medellin. Brilliant. I was already planning on doing the lion's share of the navigating (apparently Jenna can't navigate herself out of a paper bag), and this just certified I would be in charge of all of it. Which is actually pretty difficult given the state of the roads and towns in CR, and the crappy rental car company map I had. Needless to say, we did have to backtrack some. But we made it.
The first leg of our journey took us to Denny's for lunch. We were both super excited to have something so totally American...living in the backwoods of Colombia, we don't get anything like that. I had some "Moons Over My Hammy" and hashbrowns. It was awesome.
We then headed on our way to Arenal, which is the most active volcano in Costa Rica. The drive was very scenic, but took entirely too long and we ended up traveling at dusk, which wasn't the best for my driving friend. The little town at Arenal was fun--quaint and touristy. We stayed at a hostel (my first ever), which, if you forget about the PVC pipe sticking out of the wall that was the shower (at least there was hot water) and the terrible pillows, was a great place to stay. The staff were super friendly and helpful, there was cable, and the beds were comfortable.
Monday we spent around the town of La Fortuna, where we found a great little shop to get really good Costa Rican coffee. The shop was run by the owner of the coffee farm, and we had a chance to talk to him all about how they run the farm. Jenna and I both ended up sending 5 lbs of coffee home to our parents, and we bought 4 1/2 for ourselves here. We went a little overboard. Check out their website:http://www.godowntoearth.org/ That night we went on a night hike at a nature preserve, where we saw a three-toed sloth, some caymans, cool bugs, and frogs, including this little guy who was quite elusive.
Tuesday we got up early and headed out on the 'combination tour' touted as the best way to explore the area by the folks at our hostel. We started out at the Arenal Hanging Bridges, which is a trail through the rainforest that goes over something like 14 different bridges, some fixed and some suspension. We got to see a ton of really cool plants, to take in amazing scenery, and to watch some animals. We saw some spider monkeys playing in the trees, and we heard a ton of howler monkeys but were unable to see them. This is a picture from one of the last bridges we crossed, looking down at one of the earlier bridges.
After the hanging bridges hike, we headed through La Fortuna to hike down to the La Fortuna waterfall. It was a pretty normal waterfall, but the day was really hot and the hike down included something like 800 steps, none of which was actually the same height as any other.
Jenna and me at the top of the falls:
G'Nome made the hike, too, although the trip up damn near killed him (and me)!
The next stop on our tour was to the west side of the volcano, where we hiked up to the most recent big lava field. Arenal is a volcano different from what we were expecting: it doesn't actually spew liquid lava. The pressure and heat build up and force huge boulders out the top that roll down the side of the mountain until they reach a stopping place. So in a catastrophic eruption, huge, on-fire boulders rain down on the land and leave behind craters. It was pretty cool to see the remains and to hear the stories of what happened. The white 'streaks' you can see at the top of the mountain are the trails of rocks that we watched come down.
Jenna and me at the lava flow (as they say), sporting our Keens-bought especially for this trip.
The tour ended with a trip to the Tabacon Hot Springs, a resort built around the river which exploits the natural hot springs of the river for monetary gain. Don't get me wrong; it was really nice to take a hot soak after our long day, but it was a little over the top. There were upwards of 10 different pools with different temperatures and features. And there were about a million people, too.
Since this is the end of a day, it's the perfect stopping place for me now. Stay tuned for Part 2. The adventure continues...
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