That's all folks...

Berkeley, USA

July 3, 2008

Picture:  Love Ducks takes a last dip in Whittier (that's Rachel, my niece, in the picture);  Reunited in front of our welcome home sign-we got two of them.  One from the Woolsey kids and one from Sasha Hood.  Plus balloons and herbs.

Good:  Seeing Rinda!  Seeing friends!  Sleeping in our beds!  The food!  New cell phones!   A clean house!  A marriage license!!

Bad:  Multi-tasking.  Boy do we do a lot in one day.

Surprising:  How quickly it seems so normal to be home again.  We just slid right in. Woolsey Graduation was last night.  So we arrived home and went directly to the party.  It was a great way to connect with folks actually.  Today was unpacking (a bit), getting cell phones, a marriage license and long talks with neighbors.  

It is hard to believe it is over, but after such a long time of planing, our trip is now behind us.  It was amazing.   An experience of a lifetime.  

Looking back I am amazed at how smoothly it all went.    We had two 'bad' hotels and lost one clothes line.  Not bad for 5 months.   

 I am so glad that we had this adventure as a family.  I can feel the girls racing away.   I am so grateful to have had this time to really connect, to be with one another, and to make shared memories.  Thanks for reading about our journey.  It has been great to do this out loud.

Last night

July 1, 2008

Whittier, USA

Good:  Last day of the trip

Bad:  Last day of the trip

Surprising:  How mixed I feel about the last day of the trip.

I am so thrilled to be going home.  So are Maya and Kalin.  But I also realize that I am very sad that the trip over.  I have been working on a photo album, so I have been reliving the past 5 months through pictures.  It really has been amazing.  After so many years of looking forward to, and planning for this experience, there will definitely be a vacuum in my life.  I realize I am also going to miss this as well-posting about my/our life.  So often I do not know what I am feeling until I start to write it down.

Maya, Rachel (my brother's daughter), and I spent the day at Knott's Berry Farm.  We went because Rachel had a one year pass that was about to expire.  It's no Disneyland, but it was a great way to spend the day.  An odd, yet fitting, last full day on the road.  I know I am weary because I could not be bothered to bring the camera.  What a contrast to the bazillion picture we took at Disneyland.

Tomorrow we land at SFO at 3:50 p.m. (in sha'allah). 

Nearly home

June 29th, 2008

Whittier, California

Pictures:  Maya in the pool with Rachel;  Kalin in her favorite activity where ever we are in the world.

Good:  We are almost home!  

Bad: While Mexicana had our reservation-they did not have a record of our ticket!  In order to get on the flight I had to buy us new tickets-to the tune of $1,300- and hope to get a refund.  It was stressful, but I saw it as an opportunity to show the girls grace under pressure.

Surprising:  How quickly one can transition from one place to another.

Hierve el Agua

June 27th, 2008

Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico

Pictures:  From Hierve el Agua (mineral spring that formed an unusual 'frozen' waterfall with deposits over centuries)

Good:  Hierve el Agua was stunning.  Just magnificent.  The pictures do not do it justice. Jamie, Maya and I are so glad we invested the time, money, and anxiety to get there.  We wished we had longer there.  Maybe next time we will try to stay in the 'cabins'.

Bad:  It was the 'Indian Jones ' ride on the way there, though without the security of a track. Our driver was quite careful, but the slippery gravel and the quality of the breaks left me nervous.  Part way through I hoped that Kalin would know what to do if we never returned.

Surprising:  After the springs we were handed over to a different driver in the town of Mitla. i was relieved to see a brand new van, but it turns out that a new van gave us the opportunity to experience "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" on the way home.  This driver did not meet a car, truck or motorcycle that he did not want to pass.

Mañana is our last full day here!

Monte Alban

June 26th, 2008

Oaxaca, Oaxaca, Mexico

Pictures:  From Monte Alban

Good:  It was so beautiful and peaceful up in the mountains.  We had a lovely afternoon exploring ruins, taking pictures, playing cards, and enjoying the stunning views.

Bad:  The good news is I am having trouble thinking of a bad!  The only slightly bad thing is trying to figure out how much money to have in pesos to get us back to Whittier.  Not a a bad bad as life goes.

Surprising:  I want to send a box of things straight to Berkeley.  The box that I bought at the "Pak Mail" store was a used solvent box.  I was happy at the price and glad to be re-using a box rather than getting a new one.

Scorpions-oh my!

June 25, 2008

Oaxaca, Mexico

Pics:  Scorpion mescal, fabulous murals.

Good:  We had a great outing to the murals behind the baseball stadium.  Interactive art.

Bad:  We miss Rinda : ( .   One more week!

Surprising:  Scorpions!  I went to a bar (boy has that happened a lot more here than at home) and as we were leaving the bartender offered us the end of the jar of scorpion mescal.   The scorpion poison makes it all the stronger.  One of my fellow drinkers had quite a bit and was regretting it within 15 minutes.  I just had a sip-in my fine tradition of trying a little of most anything.

Chapulines

June 23, 2008

Oaxaca, Mexico

Pictures:  Loveduck tries some chapulines (grasshoppers), the biggest tree in the western hemisphere (in Tule, not that I had a tape measurer), and yes, it is still raining unexpectedly from time to time!

Good:  Yesterday we had a fun adventure, complete with two (yes, two) trips to nowhere.  We went to Tlacalula where they hold a large Sunday Market.  From there we wanted to go to Yagul ( some ruins), but apparently there is a suburb called Yagul as well, with tract housing (Oaxacan style) and all.  So we returned to Tlacalula, gave up on the Yagul thing for fear that it would rain once we got there, and headed "straight" to the largest tree in the Western Hemisphere.  Well, we took a bus in the entirely wrong direction.  Good thing it only cost us 3 pesos each way ($.30 usd) on that wild goose chase.  Tule, the town with the ginormous tree, was actually a lovely place to visit.  And then we got to return to Oaxaca Ciudad in a colectivo (a group taxi).  I got the honor of sitting in the middle of the front-not that there was a bench.  I had a little cushion that was placed between the two seats, just behind the stick shift.  It was a great opportunity to give Kalin some driving pointers.

Bad:  Maya woke up with stomach cramps.  Once again I am grateful for Cipro!  One dose and she is a happy camper again.

Surprising:  The chaplines were not that big of a deal to eat.  I was prepared for something very foreign to my pallet.  They were a bit like eating really salty bits of cereal-maybe puffed rice.  I expected super crunchy.

Surprising: