Monday, July 30, 2007

NYC - part 2, 2007

Under construction!
Comida cubana.

The Stumblebum Brass Band. Truly exceptional. And man, can that cat sing.




NuQ-Leus Jazz Collective. A beautiful way to spend a few hours any weekend. The quality of music to be found at random in NYC continues to amaze.


Rock the Bells, Randall's Island. Graduation present for Troy.

Wu-Tang Clan's set.

Rage Against The Machine.



Celebrants.

Survivors.

Ahh. Home sweet home. Would have been more appetizing a photo had I taken it before I inhaled almost all of it, but I really couldn't wait. Maybe next time.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Nice view

Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Planning something

I even miss the planning parts. Not that I did any. Wait, maybe she's unwrapping a snack. Okay, now I can relate!
Photo courtesy of Father.
So cute that her feet reach the floor.
=^_^=

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Freedom

Photos from last year. Bronze casting of Martin Luther King Jr's jail cell door in Birmingham, Alabama.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Lobelia

Ah, summer.
At sister Lyn's.

Thursday, July 12, 2007

111,111

Most excellent. Too bad the trip odometer is 11 miles short. How poetic! (:

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Pretending

...that I am here.Lovely Cozumel.

Friday, July 6, 2007

100 things we'll remember: Sian Ka'an....

The 107 things (bonus!) we'll remember about Sian Ka'an, Valladolid, Chichen Itza, Ekbalaam, Cozumel. Archive, 2006.
  1. Easy flights
  2. HUMIDITY
  3. Waiting two hours for rental cars
  4. Gale touching the trees (Gary: "Some of those are poisonous.")
  5. Troy hunting down Gale in the dark
  6. The wind
  7. Clear puffballs on the beach
  8. Ian: Mom attacking the honeymooners
  9. Gail: Michi coming to find us
  10. Loni: Jujubes
  11. Guacamole
  12. Gary: Nothing (something or other)
  13. Turtle tracks at the beach
  14. Seaweed & snorkeling
  15. Nice dogs
  16. Huge hermit crabs - electric blue and bright orange
  17. Nervous lizards
  18. Cenote and bountiful fish (leopard puffer fish too)
  19. Boat trip through lagoon to Boca Paila
  20. Hercules and Henry, our guides/boat captains
  21. The 8km canal, floating through bathwater
  22. Ibis, tricolor heron, great white egret, whitetail hawk, frigates, pelicans, osprey, flycatchers, grackles, tropical mockingbird
  23. Delicious fish dinner
  24. Shooting stars
  25. Huge spiders on the path to our tent cabins
  26. Lizards (lots)
  27. Face on the corner at Tulum
  28. Carved wall murals
  29. Wind - getting hit with all that sand
  30. Friendly, lap-happy cat
  31. Diving
  32. Motor & chassis ride (aka "truck")
  33. Amigos cursing and stunt-driving
  34. Solitary monkey
  35. Boa constrictor at the snack shop
  36. Psychedelic Mayan van
  37. Crazy dog with a hole in his side - and a coconut!
  38. Excellent pescadillos
  39. Sudden evening storms
  40. MOTMOTS!
  41. Nine guys with machine guns in the middle of nowhere
  42. Best mango ever
  43. Snorkeling in the cenote
  44. Finding a catfish
  45. The scorpion
  46. The prison
  47. The pig
  48. 77 dogs, 25 chickens, 10 turkeys, 3 goats, 1 cow, 1 burro, 1 red horse, 2 children peeing, 5 goats
  49. #19 on a bike
  50. Colorful concrete houses
  51. Gary complaining about me unzipping luggage late at night: "Oh, great, do you also have a xylophone?"
  52. Gary, in response to my surprise at finding a big spider in the bathroom at Hacienda Chichen: "Can't you tell you're in the jungle? Look, there's a marble tub."
  53. El Castillo rising from a clearing in the jungle
  54. No high-powered weaponry
  55. Pretty plates we're not allowed to eat from
  56. Chac "Norris" to hold the keys
  57. Thunderstorm in the jungle
  58. Tree branch falling in the jungle
  59. Leaf-cutter ants trooping along
  60. Hanging out at the pool
  61. Coffee in pretty white cups
  62. Tour guide yelling at lawn mower guy so they could clap and hear their echos
  63. Lady chasing Loni, thinking she stole a popsicle
  64. Beagle! "Jefe"
  65. Climbing through completely dark ruin, no guards and no lights
  66. Goofy dog at the cenote
  67. "In you go." (Parting words to sacrificial virgins at the cenote)
  68. No tocar los lagartos!
  69. Climbing to the top of big pyramid at Ekbalaam
  70. Muy interestante: restoration work
  71. Perro at pyramid, hiding under the thatched roof
  72. More motmots!
  73. Lots of lizards
  74. Caterpillars by the hundreds on tree trunks
  75. Butterflies everywhere
  76. Madonna music in the jungle
  77. Sitting in the car for a long time on the monotonous highway
  78. Lots of rain
  79. Ferry ride... Loni getting soaked
  80. Swimming in warm pool in cold rain
  81. La Choza - tres cantadores singing "Cozumel"
  82. Big owl :)
  83. Icy crystals flavored with coffee (K-Freeze from Pemex)
  84. Frog on the wall of the balcony
  85. Diving: grouper, eel, seahorse (yeah!!!!!!), barracuda, turtle
  86. Shop vendors yelling at us: "Cheaper than Walmart!"
  87. "Almost free!"
  88. "I'm single, looking for an American woman."
  89. "You have a beautiful daughter; you're very lucky."
  90. La Choza's chicken
  91. Senor Tocar with Ian and Troy's first dive
  92. Tres cantadores - Magalena and a funny song - "you have to eat!"
  93. Senor Tocar and the eel
  94. Staying up late to watch "Meet Joe Black"
  95. Watching Sylvester Stallone on tv
  96. Shark & turtle on snorkel trip
  97. Big green lizards behind casitas
  98. Donkey dung sea cucumber
  99. The killer eel
  100. The dive
  101. "Everyone hates you, Ryan."
  102. Tiny, tiny seashells
  103. Gorgeous blue water
  104. Watching Troy and Ian head off on fishing trip
  105. Mini-backrub from the waitstaff
  106. Tourists on Segways
  107. The cab driver with a hippo, a frog, and Jesus

Sian Ka'an....

Sian Ka'an, Valladolid, Chichen Itza, Ekbalaam, Cozumel. Archive, 2006.

Glorious Sian Ka'an.

Poisonous. No touchy.

Troy, passing turtle tracks on the beach.

Transportation for divers to and from the cenotes. Seriously. It runs fine.
Dog belonging to the folks in the tent cabin next door. He brought his own coconut for chewing on.
Motmot!

Dos Ojos.

Valladolid.

For the good of all, first the poor.


Intrepid explorers. Motto: "No tocar nada, especialmente los lagartos."

Fuzzy, but a pair of motmots!

We think these turn into the large lime green butterflies we've seen at other sites. In any case, they are the largest caterpillars we've ever seen. Had our 'hand model' been just a wee bit more brave, you'd get an even better idea of scale. But we all thought this was good enough.

We just barely caught sight of these guys hard at work on a steamy August day, thatching roofs and walls. No real idea of what this was for, but intriguing in any case.

Leaving the mainland behind, we head by ferry to Cozumel. The island took quite a beating during hurricane season in 2002 but is recovering.

Flat seas, clear water, and a warm sunny day.... sweet! The diving was good, though the reef needs a lot of time to recover from 2002. We saw our very first seahorse - woohoo! - and Troy and Ian made their first dives. While snorkeling from the shore later, we also saw a very aggressive eel pursuing its dinner. Glad to be a little higher on the food chain.

People touring on Segways. Interesting.