Where in the World are the Montano's?

World View

2011-09-21T01:59:00.001-07:00

From our eyes to yours...take a look at some of the images we captured when we spent the year travelling the world looking for opportunities to volunteer. Set to John Lennon's "Imagine" it brings tears to my eyes when I look back over that year. The world is a beautiful place with beautiful people in it and so many of them took care of us. Being away from home, family, familiar sights and smells was unnerving at times but the graciousness of disabled men and women, smiles of orphan children and tears of a mother sad to see us go makes me feel homesickness back at home. Without counting the number of places we laid our heads there were a ton of open invitations extended and offerings of familial spots as we travelled. It was hard to say goodbye over and over. The end of the video should say To Be Continued because the story doesn't end where the video ends. Especially now having kids. We have the amazing responsibility of contributing to lives that will then contribute to others lives and with our world views and connections to communities around the world there are some great experiences to come.

Ciao,
Joronda

Lasterday

2011-09-07T01:50:00.002-07:00

At some point I realized that toddlers have no sense of time but as my son moves towards true boyhood at the ripe age of 3 he is teaching me that my concept of time can be summed up in one word...LASTERDAY. Every time he describes when something happened he says it was lasterday.

You see lasterday is everything except right now and anything after right now. It's everything that already happened yesterday, last week or maybe months ago.

So, to bring you up to speed from April to September since blogging stopped let me tell you what happened lasterday.

The school year ended and Soul had his first official summer break. He asked about going to school for days and then let it go when he found out we were going on a few trips. It was on one of those trips that he sustained his first real injury, a fractured elbow. As a parent watching your child deal will indescribable pain just rips you to pieces. I held myself together through his pleading and wailing but broke down in tears explaining to my husband what happened when the x-rays were done. Soul and I had an amazing mommy and son bonding experience through this. He knows mommy is comforting and I know I am made to comfort him.

5 weeks later the cast came off and lasterday he carried it to school to share during circle time. Just in time too because they are working on dinosaurs. With xray pictures and the cast we can have some good discussions about fossils.

It's exciting to be back to school. We met with the teacher lasterday to set goals for this year. He's reading, learning to write (and has chosen to be left handed because of the 5 weeks in the cast) and will discover graciousness with waiting his turn as he most often has a lot he can't wait to say :o) He is an incredible 3 year old and I love sharing his presence with the world. In just a few weeks we'll celebrate his 4 years on this earth and I'll reminisce on the day he arrived, just like it was lasterday.

See you soon,

Joronda

Secret Society

2011-04-19T20:58:00.005-07:00

Friday mornings have changed. The last few Friday's I've started the weekend off by spending time with other parents and the DGM director talking about a variety of topics. It's starting to feel like being part of a really cool club. And the club IS really cool. I just found out the names of some interesting Alumni. The founders of Google and Wikipedia, Julia Child and to my big surprise Sean "Puffy" Combs. Maybe the lack of television means I get my information slower but I don't recall ever hearing about this fantastic news...Montessorian's fare tremendously well in the real world. Maybe it's because they belong to this well kept secret society.

I can remember hearing at different times that kids who attend Montessori school have a hard time if they leave that environment and go to traditional schools. I guess that means we (my husband and I) will have to do whatever we can to keep our children out of a traditional school. There's no going back now, and good for us. The thing is, life is very Montessori. We are all multidimensional individuals contributing to the multideminsions of our environments. Why shouldn't we be trained in that way and encouraged to be good at it. You might have a Montessori style if you

- work to the best of your ability
- take pride in your own achievements
- demonstrate self motivation
- put things back after you are done with them
- work well with others
- handle transitions well
- understand the meaning of community

How long did it take you to master these things? I know I'm still working on some of them but my 3 year old will have them mastered by the time he's in lower elementary. If people knew the true beauty of educating the entire person who wouldn't want to get their child in fast. When I say the entire child I don't mean Reading and Math. No. I mean an 8 page report card that let's the parent know about social development, self control, grace and courtesy, care of environment, self and others and more...and that's the secret.

Well the secret is out, just click on the title to check out the Wall Street Journal Blog and find out more. It's fascinating that these dynamic, trendsetting personalities mentioned above have their educational roots in Montessori. I'm thinking about what they have done and the following each of them inspired. They all have in common, the ability to create and re create. Puffy was so into recreating that he changed his nickname back to his original nickname after changing it to several other names that he tried on for a while before deciding he was fine with where he started. That's awesome...don't be afraid to try something on; If it doesn't fit or you don't like it you can always leave with what you came in wearing. It's also called the Thank you bite-I don't mind trying it because I know it's not for me I can forgo an further experience with it and still be comfortable and confident that I made the right choice, for me.

Salaam,
Joronda

Imagine

2011-03-31T23:20:00.012-07:00

Here in the United States education is a mandatory stipulation for parents raising children. To make the task simple, public institutions of learning are free and abundantly placed throughout neighborhoods, convenient for youth and families. It has been this way for decades but it seems as though over the same period of time our collective fervor for learning has diminished. Somewhere between the mandate to school and free resources, the excitement for education and discovering passions has been thwarted. Many strong starters barely complete the warm up before the big race of life after high school begins. Things change when you leave the highly formulated constructs of traditional education and step into the "real world". I have never understood why their wasn't a practice run before the real world. Ahhhhhhh but wait. Stay with me fore a minute and imagine a different educational process.

Imagine a child, happy to go to school.

Imagine learning spaces with endless opportunities to explore.

Imagine being encouraged to get even better at what you're already good at...

Imagine career readiness training from the time you start walking.

Imagine dictating your own promotions.

Imagine self-less teenagers who understand giving is the best gift.

Imagine those teenagers trying to get others to understand it.

Imagine adults who care about what youth have to say.

Imagine things being changed because the adults listened to the youth.

Imagine happy youth.

Imagine a toddler sanitizing her own hands.

Imagine running a business at 12 years old.

Imagine youth raised in this environment.

Can you imagine all this? I can't help but imgine it, every day. Our family is a part of it. This week I saw that toddler self dispense AND sanitize her hands as if she had read one of those bathroom signs that states "employees must wash hands before returning to work". I was amazed how second natured it appeared as she rubbed her plams together literally taking matters into her own hands. To me, it was a metaphor in motion, a vivid comparison, a representation, of sustainability. I am learning that DGM children (and families) are encouraged to be self-directed, independent learners who can change their world. Given the opportunity to practice, use and share those skills with others, what happens is you end up with individuals who have these beautiful tendencies embedded in their nature and it creates a self confident personality that last a lifetime. Tuesday morning I sat in an "Imagine" breakfast with about 400 people. It was an event meant to share the past accomplishments, present activities and future vision of the Desert Garden Montessori School. What a wonderful start to my week. I felt honored to be amongst visionary people who have the capability of turning hopes into reality. I want to teach our sons to do that same thing. I feel encouraged, optomistic, passionate, included, responsible and protected. When you TRULY want to make something happen, you'll put in the honest effort to do so. It's incredible when you have a support system helping you along the way. Salaam, Joronda

Arts and Crabs

2011-03-27T09:12:00.008-07:00

After only a few days of school this guy is so independent. On day two he wanted to be dropped off curbside. Considering that he threw up all over his clothes about 30 minutes after getting dropped off the first day I would say he has some impressive self confidence. I saw that confidence again when I asked him, some time during the middle sof the week, what he did at school and he told me with the most sincerity "arts and crabs". Before I had a chance to find out how he defined that he asked me "what's arts and crabs?" Too funny! He knew he had done it even though he didn't really know what it was.

After a full week I feel like we all just started school. The excitement still has not worn off either. I take him to school and Mateo and the baby do a 14 mile round trip on the bike to pick him up and bring him home after school. In a quick run down of the week it began with throw up on day one, heart warming photos from his teacher of the same day, a pleasant surprise of photos on day 2, coffee with the director on friday and show and tell to end the week. For his first show and tell he shared a Dominican Republic hand made cigar box that he calls his treasure box. He keeps his planes and helicopters in this box and was super excited to show his teacher. What a great start to an educational career!

Salaam,

Joronda Montano

Life Changes

2011-03-21T18:36:00.008-07:00

Wow, how life has changed since 2006. When we came back to the States, general readjustment was met with over coming a life threatening brain disease while protecting a precious Soul's safe entry into this world. I thought about that a lot this morning while I was listening to the wind whip across the yard picking up everything its power could hold. I was holding on to Peace, comfortable and content. It was around 4 o'clock in the morning so I should have been tired but I was excited and reflective.

Today, our first born son would start his First day of school. For the last three years he has been home with Daddy soaking up every bit of Montano manhood he could. After three years we are letting him expand his world. I have been excited about this day since I found out about this wonderful school. I was hooked after visiting only once and truly believe our son's academic experience will be empowering and uplifting for everyone around him.

I remember the day we found out that in 9 months we "could" be parents. Awe, fear and excitement were all a part of that day. I say "could" because it was January 2007, just a few weeks after I was released from the hospital with a diagnosis of neuro brucellosis. The one thing the doctor said was don't get pregnant. Brucella is vicious to the stability of a new pregnancy. After passing out twice in the shower it was a done deal the medicine I thought was having some adverse effects turned out to be a baby. We didn't know if we would make it past the first trimester and weren't sure how the disease would progress through an entire 9 months. Six months later I had my final spinal tap, was back to normal and could focus on just the baby. He was born at 7:49pm September 29, 2007 weighing 8lbs 2.6 ozs and measuring 21 inches. Amazingly healthy!

He has been AMAZING since day one and I know there are amazing things in store for him. I am so excited about him starting school. I can't wait to hear his daily discoveries. Today he discovered he doesn't like rice cakes. Forty minutes after we dropped him off I received a phone call saying he threw up in the classroom. What a way to start. You know what he did? Went to the office told them he was fine, had his clothes changed and jumped right back in for round 2. The voice on the other line said to me he was feeling ok and maybe it was his nerves. Talking to him afterschool it turns out it was definitely the rice cakes. He is very ready to go back to school tomorrow.

Well just so you know, you can go with us. In fact meet us right back here as often as you would like and share in the positive life changes this one is about to make in this world.

Joronda Montano

Where in the world are we?

2006-06-15T07:07:00.000-07:00

South America...Great!!! We got on a boat at the Guayaquil yacht club and skimmed the surface of the Pacific Ocean for 2 hours. We arrived at our destination and pulled up to a small deck leading to an island dedicated to Biocentinela's shrimping. What an interesting place! To give you an idea of what the last month has been for us here are some buenos y malos (highs and lows).

Smelling the ocean air as our boat captain navigated through mangrove pathways, destination Jontec Island...bueno. Weeks later getting stuck in the mud and having to wait in the ocean for 45 minutes on a wooden boat until the tide rose was not comforting...malo.

Choclo con queso fresco, so delicious on a cold morning when you're excited to try new things...bueno. Queso fresco three days in a row and nothing with flavor to help you choke it down...malo.

Three large meals a day in the company of the nicest people you would want to be stuck on an island with...bueno. Large portions of rice three times a day...with queso fresco on top for a treat...malo.

Watching everyone communicate with three deaf guys even though no one knows proper sign languauge. Some how they could all understand each other and everything worked beautifully...bueno.

Being married and spending mornings rowing with my spouse on serene lakes feeding shrimp, listening to egrets and basking in the sun...que bueno. Tasting the microorganisms that the shrimp get....whoa, malo.

Watching B rated movies after dinner dubbed over really badly in Spanish, then barely being able to keep our eyes open before dragging ourselves to bed around 7:45 p.m., priceless and oh so bueno. Being awaken from wonderful dream filled sleep at 4 a.m. by cross bred rooster chicken birds...malo.

Mateo becoming a top notch futbol goalie and helping his team win two days in a row, he was never scored on...bueno

Fishing for shrimp at midnight until almost sunrise was a first for both of us. It was dark, cold and a lot of work...bueno. Preparing the drained lakes for new crops of shrimp is dirty work. We walked through mud above our knees throwing lime and bokashi (a japanese organic mixture for the bottom of the lake). Good process (organic) but thick stinky mud...malo.

Getting our feet sliced up by sea shells. If you've never done it you might not know that shells are like razor blades and if you step on them with no shoes they cut your feet like butter. The worst is trying to sleep because they sting for days. I only had a few but both of Mateo's feet were sliced to pieces...malo

It was overall really really good. Eat organic shrimp if you get a chance, it's great! We left the farm and stayed in Guayaquil at the company house for a couple days before making our way back to Quito...

So what did we do when we got to Quito? We walked for an hour in the dark at 5 a.m., since we couldn't get on the local bus with our big backpacks, found our hostel and prepared ourselves for home. That's right...after 9 months of adventure our next destination was set for The United States...and we're BACK! Maybe we'll be in a city near you soon!

We want to thank everyone for travelling with us. We can't tell you how much it meant to us to have your presence. You really helped pull us through some tough times. We can't wait to see you all and hear what you have been up to. We are still working on elements from the trip so keep checking back for updated pictures through the end of our trip. New photos should be up in the next week or so. We will continue to use the blog for future travel and updates on some of the projects we plan to continue to support so don't throw away the address. Again, thank you so much and we should see you soon.

salaam
Mateo and Joronda

fried shrimp, baked shrimp, boiled shrimp...

2006-05-09T17:10:00.000-07:00

Well we went to that volcano and here's the scoop. Three thousand years ago this volcano imploded and all the snow that was on it at the time created a lake. Now it's a tourist spot where you can take a boat or kayak in the crater of the volcano. We went out on a boat and learned a bit. Seeing the cool sulfur bubbling in the crayon blue water was a bit unsettling as we stopped to listen to our monotone guide give us information about why the rocks are yellow and how the three mountainous islands in the middle of the lake are actually lava mounds. It was interesting and erie. We got out of the boat and started out on a 4 hour hike around the rim of the volcano. Beautiful!Early into the hike I was shaken by a few people's warnings of armed bandits robbing tourist so I stopped about an hour in. I sat on a bench where I had a beautiful decending view into the crater. I have had enough close calls on this trip and I didn't feel like walking down a volcano shoeless as supposedly 4 French tourist were forced to. Mateo went on a bit further with a few travel buddies and I sat there for a little over an hour eating fruit and watching the clouds roll up and down the crater. It was really serene until I heard what sounded like horses galloping over rocks. It was Mateo getting a good workout. He came flying past me in his flip flops looking very energetic.

We were travelling with a couple from New York and they went on and made the hike. Four hours later they returned to us very wet, freezing cold and saying it was the most horrible experience of their lives. They didn't get robbed though.

This morning we parted from our friends and headed back below the equator. We had been waiting a few days to decide our direction. It was between a medicinal forest with an Ecuadorian shaman or an organic shrimp farm on an island in the gulf of Guayaquil. Even though I don't swim very well Mateo and I will board a shrimp boat at 7 o'clock in the morning for a two hour ride to Isla Puna. If you want to check out our whereabouts go to www.biocentinela.com.

There will be no internet when we get there so it may be a while before you here from us. That seems to be the way of the simple life...

Ciao
Joronda

more new photos!!!

2006-05-09T06:19:00.000-07:00

salaam

6 new photo albums have been uploaded! for the best experience, view the slideshow of each album.

enjoy!

salaam
mateo

Walking on Clouds

2006-05-06T16:05:00.000-07:00

Thanks you all for your suggestions and sympathy regarding our chicken head situation. I should just let you know that the following day we sat down to chicken feet soup and although equally alarming it was quite tasty...

For the last couple of weeks we have been living in a cloud forest picking coffee, planting pineapples and waking up at 6 am to extremely loud cumbia music. The cloud forest situation is both weird and amazing. We can sit in the kitchen and watch the clouds drift through the glassless window and out the back door. Sometimes we can´t see anything past the house as we head out to the fields through moist grass with our Ecuadorian made rubber boots on and tools over our shoulders. The work is really strenuous and my hands literally have callouses on top of callouses.

We would have communicated earlier but getting to internet is 50 miles away. It´s a four hour bus ride through what looks like scenes in Jurassic Park or a ride at Universal Studios. Cascading water rushes off the side of the mountain and like pouring rain pounds the roof and windows of one side of the bus. The leaves are so large they look prehistoric and farmers stand up straight to stare at the bus as it squeaks past their mountain side "campos".

Today we made the journey into town and the trip turned into an adventure. Everyday it rains and the roads get soft and difficult to navigate. Our bus slid into a ditch and got wedged into a mud trench pressed against the mountain. No problem though because that´s why the bus has passengers. The assistant conductor crawled under the bus and attached a rope somewhere and everyone grabbed a piece and pulled. Never mind the fact that Mateo was wearing flip flops, he just kicked them to the side of the road, turned his unbiforcated travel garmet into waders and pulled with the crew. The pulling, turned into trench digging and this went on for 2 hours. When the bus finally did get out we all had to run up the road as fast as we could before the bus ran us over. We couldn´t expect the bus to stop for any slackers because it might get stuck again. Oh yeah I left out one part. Once the bus was out of the ditch I was looking for Mateo and found him way up in a tree with the assistant conductor trying to knock the tree down because it had been growing there for years but was now a problem. With no knocking down sort of tools they used the only thing they could, shear weight...and well, I couldn´t really get a snapshot of the little asst. conductors body flying into the shoeless Mateo and two guys I couldn´t even see from the road jumping out of the jungle vines but I will not forget the sight anytime soon. What a team effort!

So at the end of the race, everyone climbed back on the bus at the top of the hill and we road into town like it was just a regular bus ride. Now we´re in Otavalo planning on getting some good rest tonight before we go hike a volcano tomorrow...

Joronda

chicken head soup

2006-04-20T13:58:00.000-07:00

62 hours by bus and we're in Quito, Ecuador. Not a bad trip since we were able to see the variety of flora and fauna this botanical garden of South America has to offer. I can't say so much for the driving though. Every bus was skidding and sliding around corners, breaking through thick cloud covering and stopping frequently for snack carrying road vendors. We spent most of the time looking out over huge cliff drops and sliding back and forth in our seats trying to get comfortable. It seems like both Peru and Ecuador are lands made of just mountains. We spent so much time travelling through the Andeas I kept wondering if any part of these countries have flat land.

We didn't get much sleep so we are resting for a few days before jumping into our next volunteer opportunity. We are taking in Ecuador even though it feels weird to be using U.S. currency again. It's a good thing the prices aren't the same. We had dinner last night for a dollar a piece and there were firsts and seconds. It was a good meal but when I discovered there was what appeared to be a chicken head in my soup I kept using my spoon to cover it with more juice. Every once in a while the head would turn up and I would see an eye looking up at me. I thought I must have just gotten a special batch but it turns out that was the soup of the day. Mateo ate the soup but not the chicken but I went for it. I can't say I would do it again. Not that it wasn't tasty, I'm just still trying to get over the chicken thing.

So tommorrow it's off to Otavalo where we'll get on another bumpy bus for a quick 4 hour trip to our pueblo.

Joronda

Machupicchu

2006-04-16T10:04:00.000-07:00

It's cold and rainy today and we're feeling the after effects of a hard day on the Inca trail. We left our hostel three days ago in search of a glimpse of the lost Inca city. Arriving in Cusco was impressive. The city is planned in the shape of a puma, the animal most sacred to the Inca's. From Cusco we jumped on a small local bus to Urubamba about and hour or so up the mountain. We were the only foreign tourist on the bus but we were told going this route would be more rewarding. In Urubamba I noticed most of the houses had crosses with two bulls flanking the symbol. I had no idea what this meant but I knew we were getting closer to Machupicchu.

From Urubamba we climbed into a 10 seater colectivo where a number of passengers were already waiting. I have found that I enjoy the way people take public transportation in other countries. Our colectivo was packed but four people waiting on the side of the road in the middle of an agricultural district climbed right on in and with one man on Mateo's lap and another right in my face we found a way to slide the door closed and chug further up the mountain to Ollantaytambo. No one left behind.

Peru is beautiful! The colors across the land make it look like a patchwork quilt and the dialects and clothing are so vibrant. It's a culture I don't believe I have ever been privileged to. In Ollantaytambo we bought our way overpriced tickets to Agua Calientes (AC), the Machupicchu pueblo. With 3 hours to spare we sat in the town square ate choclo con queso (huge corn and cheese) and watched tourist try to sneak pictures of the Inca Trail porters who were wearing traditional Peruvian garments.

2 hours after leaving Ollantaytambo we made it to AC and settled in for the night. At 5 am the adventure began. In the dark on the previous night the shadow of the mountain was a bit intimidating and at 5 am the dark was still looming. We bought our tickets and began the 5km walk straight up. We met a large group of Semana Santa worshippers who were walking in a candle light vigil carrying a huge cross. With a few days until Easter there's a lot of re-enactments of the Passion in this area. We broke through the crowd and met a raging river and a stone staircase with a small sign reading " a Maccupicchu" to Macchupicchu.

The sounds, smells, temperature and feeling in my chest were all incredible. At over 11'000 ft elevation the clouds are just right on your shoulder. Some of it must have been in my chest too because I was sucking so much air I was finding it hard to believe I was once an athlete. Surprisingly we passed other mountain goers and one poor guy was really on the brink of giving up saying a very loud "NEVER AGAIN". Mateo was dripping with sweat but passing people no less and calling back for me every once in a while. I was there but, my goodness...

At the top sweet victory and when we walked passed the control tower into this unbelieveable pristine lost civilization I didn't want to leave. Can you believe the Spanish missed this huge community on their conquest. It's a good thing they did and it's a good thing the Inca knew how to keep a secret. Only in 1911 was it discovered, centuries later.

The morning sunrise is a great time to get there. Very few group tours are there and watching the clouds reveal and cover the city minute after minute is like opening a present and then closing it to open it again with the same pleasantly surprised look on your face. I could have stayed up there for days. Well we did stay for 12 hours and went even higher to a point that looks down on the ruin. That is a story in itself. Let's just say we came down on our hands and butts. What a site.

So that was Machupicchu for us. The rustic route. Now it's off to Ecuador. We probably won't have contact for a few days but stay tuned to see where we make it to. Our destination is a small village east of Otavalo, just outside of Quito. Talk to you soon.

Joronda

more new pictures

2006-04-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

salaam

4 more albums have been added, including one that was missing from viet nam (9), and the infamous shaolin pics.

enjoy.

salaam
mateo

p.s. machupicchu was nuts, but more on that later...they're closing the lab down.

NEW PHOTOS FINALLY!!!!

2006-04-10T18:26:00.000-07:00

8 new albums have been uploaded to the photo section. We know we´re really behind but please bear with us... as we have some 2600 photos to upload. If you would like to refresh your memory of the stories then check the photos and reread the post for those countries.

Thanks for being patient.

Mateo and Joronda

Soaring to new heights

2006-04-10T14:37:00.000-07:00

Mateo and I both have our issues with heights so why are we trying to figure out how to climb the largest sand dune in the world and somewhat ski-surf down it. Sandboarding is a popular sport in Southern Peru and with the number of dunes around here there are plenty of places to practice. Cerro Blanco is where we´re trying to learn.

We arrived in Nazca last night after a 9 hour bus ride through the ever changing Peruvian land. The bus was extremely packed at times and when it shut off once all the men got off and started pushing. We weren´t sure what was happening but when the push driver routinely put it in gear we just shrugged and said great we´re on our way. Had Mateo figured out what was going on he would have been at the back of the Ormeño bus with the rest of the passengers getting us down the highway.

When we walked through the city of Nazca today, we could see the height and mass of the sand and it is too impressive. Nazca itself is just impressive with the 2000 year old drawings in the sands. We could get a private plane and soar over the Nazca Lines but I don´t know about that. Maybe we´ll have to come back with one of you and do that.

As far as sandboarding we´ve got about 5 days to get our nerves together. Our bus for Cusco leaves at midnight and we´ll stay their for two days to acclimatize before we go to Machu Picchu. At 11,000 feet and rising I´m curious to see how our bodies react. Although we wanted to hike the Inca Trail to get the full 4 day experience of reaching the ruins we´ll have to settle for the 1 hour walk to the top of the hill from Agua Calientes. It costs $6 to take a bus from the hostel to the gates of the ruins but I´m sure the Crocodile Hunter will want to wack bushes at 5 o´clock in the morning and show up at sunrise as the lazy tourist step comfortably from their 20 minute lazy ride.

If you have no idea what any of these cities or names are check out the map on our page. Just click on the moving flag.

Joronda

Anyone up for Spain?

2006-04-06T05:47:00.000-07:00

Hey guess what we did for fun on Sunday night? We all got weighed on a pig scale. It started with the family wanting to know how much Mateo weighs. He eats so much that they just had to know where he was putting it. About two minutes later Francisco walks in with a long silver contraption with ropes hanging from it. One by one we secured ourselves with the ropes and dangled from the chestnut beams in the ceiling of the house. I thought it would only be us youngsters but everyone hoped on. Francisco, Pepe, Isabel their guests and no one was shy to let their weight be told. Pepe beat us all out at 86 Kilos. If you want to do the conversion Mateo is 75 kilos.

We all pitched in to prepare dulces for Mateo the goloso. It was great and after a few hours at the house we headed down into the pueblo to snuggle into our casita until the next days work. Once again it´s sad to leave a place where people are so good and everyday is an adventure. Before we went home you´ll be interested to know that Mateo doubles as the Crocodile Hunter when wild snakes find themselves stuck in tiny holes. I walked outside to see if the sweets were being prepared on some big open flame and found Mateo unwinding a large snake from a hole in the bottom of a propane tank. Everyone one was standing really far back while this snake was gapping his mouth in what seemed like pain and curling it´s tail around Mateo´s hand. Even though he´s not a trained zoologist the Crocodile Hunter knows snakes can´t crawl up their own bodies; and they say don´t try those things at home. Everyday is an adventure.

If you´re interested in doing a bit of hard work in Spain and helping out a great family let us know. There are only three people in the family to do a ton of work and they can really use some good assistance. There are goats to be milked everyday and a host of other things to be taken care of including picking up fresh bread from the panaderia every morning on the way to the farm. I´ll miss that alot. This is another place on our list to return to. Seriously if you´re interested let us know and we´ll give you more details.

So we´re on the road again and we´re off to Peru. At 10:30 p.m. Spainish time we´ll set off on a 13 hour excursion to Lima. Look out America we´re coming home!

Joronda

La Leche

2006-03-26T09:06:00.000-07:00

Well Lucy and Ethel are back at it. Make sure you read the previous post before this one.

We are now in Andalucia, Southern Spain in the province of Málaga. Our new home is in Alpandeire and we are working with animals. After only two days the owners left us to milk goats by ourselves.What confidence! When we walked in the first day, Syl´s first comment was the "Simple Life" but you should see her now she can handle four at once

So Lucy and Ethel were down in the pit with the utter suckers while Fred (Mateo) went into the barn to wrestle up the goats. 400 of them. Sometimes he would be in the barn with the door closed then the door would come flying open and Mateo would come storming from one end of the room to the other trying to get the baby´s and keep the males out. We almost milked a male as Mateo tried to hustle him into the stall but Francisco hollered "huevos" so we let him go. Luckily we´re not milking by hand but have you ever tried to attach anything to a goat. We get kicked quite often and the goats scream when they don´t want to come into the milking room. Our clothes are filthy when we leave but we get quite a bit of goat milk.

The pueblo is great and the family we are living with are equally wonderful. For the next couple of weeks we should get pretty good with goats.

Joronda

El Huerto

2006-03-26T07:50:00.000-07:00

Wow. Thank you so much to everyone for letting us know you´re out there. Sorry it´s been a good few weeks since we´ve posted. Internet time is scarce. Since we left Barcelona we´ve been living la vida del pueblo and life is good.

We set off for northern Spain to a small pueblo called Aguinaliu. If you look on the map you won´t see it but you will see a small town called Huesca. It´s kind of close to there but muy muy poquito. From the terrace of the house we can see the Pyrenees mountains snow covered and demanding of several glances on a clear day. The air is dry but frigid and the smell of burning wood from a few casitas wafts into our nostrils. Not much is happening in the pueblo because it was abandoned a long time ago. Only 15 people live there and a poster from 1970 indicated that year may have been when people were forced out. There are an unbelievable number of abandoned pueblos in Spain. The house we live in is at the very top of the hill and we have to climb it twice a day to go home for lunch as well as after the days work is done. We live with Mario a Mexican Buddist Carpenter, Lucas a French Briton Fiddler, a 14 year old dog named Mora and a frisky over grown kitty named Huero. We exist off the fruits of labor from el huerto. Very little is bought from the market. Hopefully our work helps to produce more fruit.

On our first day at work Syl and I jumped in a water trough 7 feet deep to scoop out frozen green ¨sardine¨ water. In our rubber water proof boots we scooped for 4 hours. We did break for tea in the garden with Mateo and Lucas. I´m telling you life is good you all. Syl and I sang old school R&B trying to keep warm and forget about the smell. This was part of our first big project to set up drip irrigation for the garden.

Everyday we work in ¨el huerto¨ getting things ready for permament agriculture. Making seed beds, Mateo is built like a Chevy truck so he hauls the majority of dirt out of the earth while Syl and I swat never ending swarms of knats and mosquitos between every few shovels of dirt. We had previously been exiled to the evergreen forest to sing our songs and collect rich soil for planting. Then I opened my mouth and said I wanted hard work to do. A ten minute walk up the hill in the evening now takes us 20 aching, deep breathing minutes with Mora turning around every few meters to check on us and then walk back down the hill to encourage Syl to make it up.

Mora is really good to us and one day we ended up 8 miles away from home with her. She followed us out of the pueblo and went all the way to town with us. It´s a 6 hour round trip and she walked the entire way then waited outside of each store for us. She´s a small black dog with a greyish white beard showing her old age. She is very fit for her age and we looked like Lucy and Ethel trying to keep this dog from getting hit on the highway, but wouldn´t you know she got us a ride home on the way back. Mora is a dog from the campo so lots of people know her. Our 6 hour round trip was cut to 4 hours and we were glad Mora had refused to go home when we tried to make her. She goes to work with us every morning and walks us up the hill every afternoon. Morita es viejita pobrecita! 3 weeks in Aguinaliu is not nearly enough time to enjoy this place but hopefully we can return.

Hasta Luego
Joronda

Misconceptions

2006-02-27T02:26:00.000-07:00

We´ve left the confines of our mud hut in Kenya but not without many memories to muddle over. It seemed like most of the people we met there wanted to be in the U.S. We were told that everyone in the U.S. is comfortable and rich. They believed you could do any job and get paid a lot for it. They had no idea there was poverty and a journalist told me she wished her grandfather had been an African slave. On top of that they had no idea there are black people in the U.S. and you don´t know how many times we were asked if we were ¨white¨. One person was so confused that they wanted to know how could we be white with such dark skin. Ok, so now I was confused ¨What about all the Black American artist plastered on everything from the Matatus to clothing? We saw more 50 cent stuff in Kisumu than we ever see in Arizona. Oh, well that´s because ¨50 cent is so dark he must be a Luo from Kenya¨. My mouth was dropped wide open. ¨So what about all the other black entertainers whose names and faces are airbrushed everywhere?¨ It turns out that there are people who believe these are Africans coming from some other country in Africa that they are not familiar with. This is all a true story. With that said my ideas of the back to Africa movement are over. If you want to know more you´ll have to read my book.

Today I woke up in Barcelona and walked to a fluhsing toilet after I reached for my own roll of toilet tissue. I don´t have to carry that with me around here but I think it will be a while before I kick that habit. I went to wake up Mateo and our new travel buddy Miss Sylvia ¨Akua da poet¨ Doku so we could cruise downstairs for some free breakfast. It´s a good thing it´s free too because the Euro beats the dollar 1.2 to 1 and money goes fast in this part of the world. So much for being rich. Now that there´s three of us travelling, perhaps we´ll be able to stretch the money a bit further.

We´ll be heading North to Huesca to an organic retreat in the mountains where we´ll have to quickly adjust to consisitent Spanish dialogue. We´re getting our taste of it so far and we´re handling ourselves but between the three of us we speak about 60% Spanish. Let´s see how we do in a months time.

I have a little roll call I want to do. We´re not sure who is following us so respond to this post and give a little shout out to let us know you´re here. We see some consistent names and we are usually really excited to read our blog responses to see if those people have commented but we don´t know if other people are out there but silent. Also if you may, tell us what´s been your favorite place that we´ve visited so far and what is something we haven´t done that you suggest we do.

OK folks, we´ll be standing by to see who´s out there.

Joronda

top ten

2006-02-10T01:14:00.000-07:00

salaam

recently my mom just celebrated a birthday, which now puts her less then 1 year away from retirement...hooray!!! after 40 plus years as a medical technologist (microbiology, mycology, phlebotomy, etc.) my mom is finally approaching her glory...getting the hell out of the proverbial "9 to 5", and finally being able to do what she wants with her time...and i for one couldn't be more happy and proud!!!

so with that, i thought that i would offer everyone a few travel suggestions on how to spend your retirement, honeymoon, vacation etc. in a lettermen-esque "top ten" style.

be forewarned...the following is all true and uncensored

Mateo's Top Ten Experiences That Are Not To Be Missed By The Microbiologist In You.

10. being on a train somewhere in china and watching passenger after passenger plug a nostril and forcefully expel the others snotty contents into the air, and onto the floor, walls, tables, chairs, sleeping bunks, and bodies of anybody that happens to be near.

9. being on the same train and hearing the gutteral orchestra of numerous people pulling mucous from every part of their body into their throats and spitting the thick nasty blob directly on the carpet and floors of the cabin...then having to wade through the spit to get to the toilet, water heater, etc.

8. passing through a vietnamese kitchen to use the toilet and witnessing your meal being prepared directly on the floor with cockroaches, flies, and dogs all trying to sneak a taste.

7. being anywhere (in any of the countries that we've visited) and watching people jam no less than 2 knuckles worth of finger into each nostril, dig for gold, find it, roll it into a ball, and then flick it with no concern as to where it may land...then having the same people shake your hand, pat you on the back, or make your breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack or whatever with the same hand they just used to clear their nasal passages.

6. just arriving in your shaolin dormitory, looking at your bed and noticing that your sheet, blanket, pillow, and headrest are all stained with dirt, body oil, urine, and blood...then checking all the other beds in the room and realizing that they are exactly the same.

5. passing back through the same vietnamese kitchen with dirt and urine on the bottom of your sandals...stepping over vegetables and around meats and realizing that, not only is there no soap for washing hands, but you've just dripped dirt, urine, and whatever else is on the bottom of your sandals, directly onto the vegetables that are going into your spring roll....mmmmm.

4. precariously squatting over a loose pit latrine in a mud hut with a roof that is exactly 5'6" from the ground and inhaling the maggot infested scent of everyone elses bowel movements during the course of the year. listening to the fighter plane like sequences of the flies and mosquitos as they dart at your bare ass, and feeling many of them land on you back and crawl down the crack of your ass trying to get to the source of the liquidy shit that hasn't been solid since you left home. watching the biggest cockroaches you've ever seen crawl 6 inches away from your face, arms, legs, and over your exposed toes. and finally, watching the dust particles circle your exposed flesh and wondering if your inability to pee the previous day and night was the direct result of dirt lodged in your urethra, and whether or not you were on your way to a uti.

3. catching and weighing chickens, some with congestion, diarrhea, and rectal boils, and then being covered (hands, barefeet, pants, shirt) in their shit, feed, vomit, and blood, and slaughtering some 200+ of them at your compound in kisumu, kenya...then coming back and finding one of them dead in the same coop that you've been in for the past week.

2. going to the food prep area in your kisumu compound and seeing that same dead chicken lying in the "kitchen" next to a pot of boiling water and knowing that it is almost dinner time...then hearing on the news that a case of the bird flu has been found in nigeria.

and the number one experience that is not to be missed by the microbiologist in you...

going to use the squat toilets in your shaolin dormitory and finding that all of them are filled with stale urine and mounds of shit...then having no choice but to piss directly on someone elses shit and feeling their shit and your piss splash back up onto your shoes, pants, bare legs, and bare ass...and knowing that you have no running water or soap.

so who's ready to travel? :)

happy birthday mom!

salaam
mateo

p.s. i don't have a uti.

p.p.s. we never ate the dead chicken, instead it was thrown into the trash pit and burned...but its cause of death is still a mystery.

Here Chicken Chicken

2006-02-06T07:27:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple of days we've spent most of our time in chicken houses. We're involved in a poultry raising project and we had to get chickens ready for market. I thought I might become strictly vegetarian but so far so good. We started the first day with an order of 100 chickens but very quickly it got dropped to 30 because the chickens weren't making weight.

If you read the previous post then you know our living situation. There's no running water so we have to fetch it from a 65' well and haul it back to the village or travel a long distance over uneven terrain losing a quarter of the water on the way back. The toilet is a pit latrine with maggots crawling on the feces about 7' down and flies circling the pit opening. The door is half of a 70kg chicken feed bag. Meals are cooked outside or inside over wood burned coals and the fire temperature is raised using a plastic plate to fan the coals and flame. Our light source at night is a small parafin lamp and a flashlight. When the moon is in the sky it gives us enough light to make it from our mud hut to the latrine without the flash light. It really puts a lot of things in perspective for us. In one of the mud huts lives several orphans that live in the compound doing most of the daily work.

We are invloved in several projects but right now the chickens are a top priority. They are ready for market at 41 days but our chickens are about 7 weeks old which means the community is losing money. 400 chickens eat and drink a lot daily so they need to be sold quickly. It takes a lot of work to dress them for the market too. Going to the grocery store in the U.S. I was never aware of the process but now with first hand experience a chicken will never look the same to me again. Mateo and I have been responsible for weighing the live chickens and sending the good ones to slaughter. The slaughtering is done behind the mud hut where all of our cooking is done. Interestingly, the person slaughtering does it in a humane way which we later found out he learned from a Muslim.

The chickens are plucked, cleaned out, washed off and put in individual bags. Then all are put in a feed sack to go to the hotel that has placed the order. The workers are paid with the gizzards. Everyone working comes from the community and the money made will funnel back into community projects. It's all really grassroots. No high tech tools or machinery just knives sharpened on rocks, a few buckets, a wood fire and some plastic chairs. Everyone sits out in the grass under a tree getting the work done.

In addition to the chickens there's also trench digging to lay water pipes. Although women's rights are extremely lacking in Kenya the women in this part of the country are the major bread winners in the house however it's not by choice. The women spend so much time fetching water it takes time away from their economic endeavors. The pipes should help reduce time so people don't have to go so far for water. The women are also making homemade cinder blocks to build 10 composting latrines in the community. The waste will be used for manure after a drying process some years down the road. Every project that will benefit the community is done by the community. Old and young people are out there putting in a lot of hard work. We're trying to lend a hand wherever we're needed meaning sometimes were doing multiple jobs at once. It is so cool though.

As for our dealings with the chickens. We've slaughtered 132 so far. We have another order to finish filling on Wednesday and when everything is done the focus will be on the layers, the chickens who will make lots of money for the community with 400 eggs per day.

Fish Eyes

2006-02-06T06:58:00.000-07:00

When Mateo was a child his mom would make him a good hardy meal of tuna noodle cassarole. As tasty and filling as it was he would throw up everytime. He was convinced she put fish eyes in it and whenever he bit into a "fish eye" everything that went down immediately came right back up. It wasn't until last year that he foun out the infamous fish eyes were in fact bread crumbs quit contrary to our first lunch in Kisumu.

We sat down at a table covered with flies on Lake Victoria. The server brought a basin and pitcher for us to wash our hands. Moments later the largest fish I've ever seen on a platter was sat in the middle of the table and 5 of us started pulling from the fish with our fingers and some corn meal mixture called ugali. We were told we had the honors of breaking open the head. We just kind of looked at each other like, is this some sort of test. They said we could have the eyes and I just knew they were joking. Then they started questioning us on not eating the eyes. "it's very nice, it's the nicest part...it's delicious" I didn't even try to grab for it. One of our host stuck his finger through the eye socket and detached it from the fishes head. Mateo and I were both watching flies land and take off of this fish while drippey hands dove in to grab flesh and juices. Our host Edward grabbed the eye and for the next 60 seconds he was chewing away. "it's very chewy" he said.

We didn't eat those fish eyes but a dinner and lunch time staple at our compound is small fish. We believe they are minnow. They are cooked with oil and diced tomatoes and again eaten with ugali. It's the whole little fish, eyes and all starring at us from the bowl. We get plenty of fish eyes over the course of the week.

E- I - E - I - No!

2006-01-29T03:57:00.000-07:00

48 hours after boarding a bus to Rongo we were boarding a bus back to Nairobi. Un freakin belieavable!

First of all wwoofing is an organinzation that connects volunteers to small communities and organic farms to exchange food and accomodation for hard work. We had e-mailed our hosts numerous times to work out the details. In that exchange they said everything was covered but they would need $9 to cover the cost of some food for us. No problem. Our budget was heavily based on wwoofing for this part of the trip but that $9 was certainly doable.

The sun came up after we napped from our 4 a.m. arrival and before we left the house I went to give the wife a U.S. 10 dollar bill. We didn't have 9 but take the ten it's ok.
She asks "what is this"
"it's the nine dollars you asked for."
"No no no, this is not enough. $9 a day"
My face changed and I said "that's not what you said"
The conversation persists for a minute and I ended with, "I need to talk to my husband about this."

By the time we got to the school we realized that these people believed we were there as some sort of philanthropist offering financial support. Only the school director and his wife knew about wwoofing. The staff had no idea. In fact, there wasn't even a farm there.

That night Mateo and I had to have a silent conversation by passing paper back and forth to discuss the issue. There was no private place to talk and the walls were open at the top so any sound could be heard. We asked to talk to our hosts the next morning and expressed to them that we felt we were invited there under false pretenses. We felt we should leave because we didn't want to be a burden but in addition to that we were uncomfortable with being lied to.

We ended up getting to the next town to catch a bus back to Nairobi but we had to take a chaperone with us because if you remember from the "Fools Gold" post we had no shilling...our hosts used it all. We reimbursed our chaperone, paid for his way back and invited him to have a meal with us. Don't you know a few days later I received an e-mail from our host asking why did we refuse to pay for the matatu fare like we agreed. The wife said she was forced to pay him. I was livid. I don't know what type of games those people are running but I sure am glad we're away from there. We got to Nairobi and were greeted with some real Kenyan hospitality.

Major, major appreciation to Baba Kanyana and Mama Kanyana and the Muriuki family. We spent 5 days at their house and it was great. The first morning Mama Kanyana fed us then had us go take a nap to rest from our long trip then woke us up to feed us again. We were like two little kids. We Spent a full day with Baba Kanyana touring the rural area, meeting his lifelong friends, seeing where there family is from and visiting family and friends. At every point we had to take tea or juice or at least water. They said you can't leave a place without swallowing your spit. We swallowed so much that we almost burst before making it to the bathroom to relieve ourselves when we returned to the city. It was great!

They connected us to an NGO and set up another opportunity for us to volunteer. So here we are now back in western Kenya but this time in Kisumu. There's truly a farm and lots of other projects. We'll be here for 3 weeks. We've already gotten blisters on our hands from trying to dig water channels.

We are living in a traditional Kenyan village. There's no electricity, no running water and the sanitation system is a pit latrine. The houses are made from mud and cooking is done over coals. We will be involved in the creation of water channels, poultry as well as community needs assessments and impact assessments. Two full nights under our belts and it's a good experience already. We'll have so many stories to tell. We live 13 kilometers outside of town. So we will be able to get on the internet whenever we come to town.

Joronda

Fools Gold

2006-01-29T03:22:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Kenya after spending a full night in the airport in Doha, Qatar. We had no complaints about spreading out on the floor and chairs among all the Hajj travellers. Qatar Airways was supposed to put us up in a hotel but every time we went to the counter to ask they just kept giving us food vouchers. So we ate very well all night.

We weren't sure if our host would be at the Jomo Kenyatta airport even though they told us we would be collected when we arrived. We've been travelling a while now so negotiating a good taxi price to town was relatively easy. We made our way to the hostel and called our host from a payphone. Through the static of heavy down pouring rain we were told we would be picked up the next day after lunch.

The next day we decided to go to the city center before heading to western Kenya. Getting to Nairobi center was just a short trip in a very crowded matatu. The matatu is a small van like bus with 3 rows of seats. You kind of have to flag them down, then hop in before they pick up speed. I banged my head twice and put a contusion on my knee trying to get it right. Suprisingly they play extremely loud uncensored music. I kept looking at the lady next to me to see her reaction to some of the lyrics but she never moved. Very quickly we learned this was just Nairobi matatu style.

Our host did meet us but it was after numerous failed attempts to reach him. The time was 6 pm when he and his brother walked up to the hostel. Somehow it turned out that we needed to take a taxi with them to the brothers house in one of the city slums and without really understanding the arrangement we ended up paying for all of us to go there. So much for being collected.

We spent the next day trying to cash in a gold coin so our host could buy some things for his school. We followed him to numerous jewellers while collecting more people in our party on the way. We were excited to be in Nairobi but as the day wore on we weren't really sure what was going on. On the quest to exchange the gold we picked up a female pastor, a young girl claiming to be the pastors daughter, a strange man eating lunch with our host when the young girl reunited us with our host and several building security guards. Somehow all of these people were involved in the exchange of this gold.

After hours of tireless trekking our host walks us through some back alley streets without saying a word until we asked and were told we're going to book our bus tickets. He also said he didn't have enough money to get back home so he was sending us by ourselves. Turns out the coin was gold plated and he would have to find his fare the next day. Well, this meant we would be arriving in a small rural town at 4 oclock in the morning, by ourselves, with no idea of where to go and not knowing if someone would meet us. No way! We could have done that 2 days ago and had much more money in our pockets. At this point we had zero Kenyan shilling because our host used it all.

We did a bit more walking around and he miraculously got his fare from some street vending man so we booked his bus ticket and boarded the Akamba bus for Rongo that night.

Joronda

The Bold, the proud, the Marines

2006-01-25T05:56:00.000-07:00

I know we said four days and it's been much longer than that but the scenic route turned out to be a bit more than we bargained for. Hopefully you all haven't been too worried. We're o.k. now but it was touch and go for a minute there.

We found ourselves at the Airport in Yemen trying to get a plane ticket to any East African Country close to Kenya...this is where the story begins. We approached the transfers desk to ask about a ticket and and hour and a half later we were still waiting there. Remember we wanted to fly to Djibouti but it turns out the flight wasn't leaving until Tuesday and it was Saturday. No way we were going to be in Yemen that long.

After we spoke with the airline reps, the security asked for our passports to put with the rest of the passengers. This was the biggest mistake we made. After 3 hours we were still trying to get our passports back. If you didn't know, Hajj (the muslim pilgrammage to Mecca) just ended. The airport was filled with hajj travellers and they assummed we were headed to Dar es Salaam with the group who came in right behind us.

It's kind of exhausting to tell this story so please bare with me...

Ok, so the airport is filled with security in different uniforms a lot of them are carrying heavy artillery. In the effort to retrieve our passports we follwed around a guard who was promising us the documents were coming. When we did get them back it was with a few men around us trying to get us to leave the area and pay for a visa which we read we didn't need to get into Yemen. During hour 4 we tried to purchase a ticket and I had to be escorted by the military police to the salees office while Mateo watched our bags. The guard escorted me to the ATM then into a small room full of military men where he had the lead guard tell me in English "this man will help you but you have to pay him...is this ok?" I said no and inched my way to the door behind me. The guard escorted me back to the sales office where I bought what I thought was an airline ticket.

Hour 5 we tried to confirm the ticket but security tried ushering us up the stairs. They gestured that we would go to jail if we didn't listen. All for a ticket confirmation. When a manager came over we were walked back to the ticket office with all of our things and given our money back. The manager yelled at the sales guy in Arabic and moments later we had our U.S. dollars back in our hands. OK great...but were in Yemen. We sat outside the security gates with our big packs on trying to figure out what to do. We saw a securitydissappear past a wall an a few seconds later come back with an armed guard. Great!!! We are now being monitored inside the airport with no ticket to fly out and no way to walk out the front door.

Mateo went to the only other airline open and after being surrounded by all types of guards he was able to go pay for visas and get the number to the U.S. Embassy where this airline rep suggested we run to.

Hour 6 we're in a taxi headed to the Embassy. In front of the fort guarded by Yemenia military guards we got a supervisor who got a U.S. Marine on the line. I have never been so happy to hear an American accent. He said "we'll take care of you". We got in the Embassy and Cpl Preston gave us info and what felt like great security. We stayed in a hotel next to the Embassy and baracaded ourselves inside for 2 days. We still stayed in Yemen until Monday but after another visit to the Embassy we were on a plane to Qatar. It turns out the Embassy was celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday so they were closed for business when we needed them.

Joronda

From one wonder to the next

2006-01-11T14:13:00.000-07:00

So we weren't too shaken after that last adventure. Although sore for a few days and then hit with a little cold bug but we've recovered. So now it's time for the next plan.

We hit the continent of Africa and we didn't quite know how we were going anywhere from there. Some of you may remember that we planned to take trans-siberian railway across Russia and then scale the borders of numerous European countries before crossing the Mediterranean sea. Instead, after darn near freezing to death on the Great Wall we hopped on a 757 and booked it across the open skies straight to Cairo. I know we've talked about cold a lot but neither of us had ever been this cold in our lives. The wind was trecherous and climbing straight up to cross watch tower after watch tower just became debilitating after a while. How could it possibly be this cold and how could people live in it! China on one side and Mongol on the other was an unbelieveable experience. I mean we were actually walking on one of the man made wonders of the world and the photos in our history books had done it no justice. But my God my knees and ankles were rock solid frozen. Maybe it would have been better if we knew there was a nice cozy heater to go back to but it's been a rare occasion when we've been privy to a heater around these parts. Mateo's forehead and cheeks were red, my ears were ringing and both our noses were running and freezing at the same time. Have you ever seen snot crystalize... then shatter?

So a few days later we're living it up in the 55 degree Cairo weather. Ahhhh warmth. Cairo is a bustling metropolis with donkey and horse carts pulling men and women wrapped in scarves headed to their spot to sell their goods. The buildings are close together like New York City and the living is apartment style. You can buy bread on the street from the guy riding his bike with the whole rack on his head. Sweet potatoes are cheap, hot and fresh off the grill with wheels (easy mobility). Black and white Fiat Taxi's dart in and out of lanes never breaking for pedestrians. Packs of boys walk the streets arm in arm singing and yelling and having fun together. The same streets where men stroll arm in arm conversing with their brothers.

We've traversed the streets with our huge backpacks looking like foreigners coming home. We look foreign but somehow doemstic as well. Before we got here we got all kinds of stares and more than several times people just started speaking French to Mateo. Now we're asked what part of Africa we're from. Of course we have absolutely no connection to Africa and this garners a wealth of emotion for both of us. We are asked where we're from and America just doesn't suffice for people. They want to know where we're originally from. Of course we don't have that answer. A lot of people seem to think I'm from Sudan and Mateo looks a bit Egyptian and maybe South African. We've started telling people we're from Mexico and that seems to be suitable. Actually one person got it right when he straight out asked if we were from Mexico. I figured he should be able to see that for sure in my husband.

So how does all of this amount to more adventure? Well, even though I look Sudanese, we can't take the chance of going through Sudan to get deeper into East Africa. Instead we're taking the scenic route. We've opted to exit Africa briefly and then reenter through Djibouti. We will stop in a total of 4 countries before we reach Kenya in just about as many days. Most of that trip will be overland so that will require some patience and a little bit of blending in.

We tried to practice blending today as we trekked the sands of Giza to see the pyramids and the Sphinx. We were offered so many camel rides but no way because we could do it on our own...and we did. The camels were cool but I didn't think they were treating the animals right and it was all just a big tourist trap. Wait until you see some of the pictures. We don't blend very well with my lime green jacket. Anyway, tomorrow is our last day in Cairo before we head to Alexandria, up the Nile on the Mediterranean. We may be out of contact for a few days so here is our plan.

1. Fly from Alexandria to Sajrah, United Arab Emirates January 14th at 1:10am
2. Take a connecting flight to Sana'a, Yemen 6:45 am
3. Stay one night in Yemen and then fly or merchant ferry to Djibouti January 15th
4. Take a bus to Dire Dawa, Ethiopia
5. Transfer to a train in Dire Dawa and head for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Capital City)
6. Try to get on a bus the same day going straight to Nairobi (overnight bus maybe January 17th)

This may take about 4 days

Once we're in Nairobi we may be met by our host where we're volunteering who will take us 7 or 8 hours to Rongo (Mbita) a small town on Lake Victoria just across from Uganda

As soon as we can we will post and update you all on our status and location.

Salaams from Cairo
Joronda

new years eve...shaolin style

2006-01-05T09:45:00.000-07:00

a little background...

we left xi'an by train to the city of zhengzhou, stayed in zhengzhou for a night and then ventured south by bus to dengfeng where 17km outside of the city lies the original shaolin temple and several dorms which would become our new "home". when we arrived at the shaolin temple area it was cold and so we found a place to stay the night and bunkered down. the next day we woke up to falling snow and equally declining temperatures, we then decided to forego our shaolin escapades for a nice quiet day in our new dorm room listening to music and playing gin rummy (sp?). enter day 3...on day three (new years eve) we ventured out of our dorm and down the snow covered paved path to the various sights of the shaolin temple. first it was a very touristy martial arts gallery/museum, then the actual shaolin temple, then another temple, then the "forest" of pagodas...all were lining this well paved path with much vehicular traffic and tourists walking and getting out of little electric cars at the various points. nothing scary and nothing to worry about at this point.

adventure time...

we had previously read in our lonely planet guidebook, and subsequently seen on the tourist map that there was a hanging bridge in the shaoshi shan mountains surrounding shaolin. i was very excited to see this bridge and it was one of the main destination points in our sight seeing for that day...joronda, on the other hand, was very apprehensive and not enjoying the potentiality as much as i. (you should ask her for her version of the story). anyway, we decided to give it a whirl knowing that it was going to be somewhat of a hike. at this point it was just short of noon and we had plenty of daylight remaining, so we headed some 2000 meters up the street towards our destination. it turns out that once you traverse the street portion you then reach what appears to be the base of the mountain, and you are then faced with a series of staircases that are to take you the rest of the way. now it wasn't actively snowing but the ground was covered in snow (just up to the ankles at some points) and the stairs were pretty steep...but we're montanos, so we pressed forward.

we walked for about 15 minutes through a mediocre range of stairs and flat land before we reached this beautiful iced over waterfall. i've never seen anything like it before...the majority of the waterfall was frozen, but you could still hear and see some of the water underneath. over one of the rocks the water had frozen mid fall and was hanging in the air...it was beautiful. because the water was iced over we were able to walk right up on the waterfall itself and get a once in a lifetime look at it...i was thouroughly impressed. so, i just knew that the hanging bridge was somewhere at the top of this waterfall and that we were very close to finding it. so we took several pictures and then continued up the mountain. now by this time the stairs were extremely steep and as we were climbing, both our muscles and lungs were burning from lack of oxygen. but it was good to be working out and the scenery was so beautiful that i felt it was a small sacrifice for our experience. so finally after about 2 hours and some 2000+ steps we made our way to what we thought was the top of the mountain...it turned out to be the stopping point for the cable car/ski lift that wasn't in operation that day because of the weather. we were both feeling tired and hungry, but seeing as how we only had two small steamed buns, a little peanut butter, and less then a quarter of a bottle of water we decided to hold out and continue our journey. we would eat at the hanging bridge and it couldn't be that much farther...could it?

so we pressed ahead, grateful that the path was flat and that there didn't appear to be any stairs in our immediate future. after 10 minutes of easy walking we rounded the bend of the mountain and looked out in amazement at what lay before us. the mountain had completely opened up and the path was precariously perched along the side of it. the path looked like a tongue depresser on toothpicks, rubber cemented to the biggest mountain i've ever seen. we were much higher than i'd anticipated and looking over the railing produced nothing but looming fog and shakey knees. the entire bottom half of this mountainous valley was engulfed in snow, trees and fog...as was the "hanging plank", as they call it, minus the trees of course. joronda was noticably nervous and shaken and certainly did not trust this time tested support system. quietly, i did not blame her, but i knew that i couldn't let our fears and self doubts stop us now, the scenery was too impressive to quit and the hanging bridge had to be close.

so we walked nervously along this hanging plank that was clinging to the side of the mountain and when we got to the scariest point, we turned around and realized that where we had just come from looked much scarier then the point we were at. with our self doubt momentarily subsided we pressed on...up and down numerous stairs, over paths suspended in time, around the circumference of the mountain, through the snow and fog, all at dizzying heights and all fueling our desire to reach our goal...the hanging bridge. after 2 hours of the most scenic hike we've ever taken, we finally reached the hanging bridge. thump thump, thump thump, thump thump, our hearts pounded with fear and our bodies surged with adrenaline as we looked at the 782-step, snow covered, rope bridge dangling across the foggy expanse of this mountain some 1500 meters above sea level. being that i am deathly afraid of heights, it hardly looked safe...my heart was beating in my throat and joronda was on the verge of tears...but there was no turning back now!! i decided to go first just in case some should go wrong, so with all of the bravery i could muster up i gave my teary-eyed wife a kiss and said a heartfelt prayer before stepping out onto the bridge. immediately the cables tensed and the bridge sagged under my weight. from that height the bridge swayed side to side clanking against it's movement restricting supports, but i felt like EVERYTHING was swaying, the mountain, the trees, my courage...nothing seemed to keep still as i walked one foot in front of the other towards the end of the bridge. in the middle, i paused momentarily to look out and down to get an idea of just how high i was. as the mountain and trees moved beneath me and the fog swirled up and wisped my shoes i had no doubt as to just how high i was...enough sightseeing i thought, it's time to get to the other side, so as quickly and safely as i could i continued. having reached solid ground successfully i was exstatic, i could hear my heart pounding out the "eye of a tiger" beat as the wind carried the lyrics through my chest to harmonize with my ego. wiping the sweat from my brow i turned to look at adrian, um joronda, who was very scared and seemed to be miles away. nervously, i pulled out the video camera to capture her harrowing victory on tape...stepping slowly onto the moving platform she gripped the chicken wire sides for reassurance. in much the same fashion as i, she crossed shakily, safely, and thankfully. glad to have reached the safety of the other side, joronda was real cool on ever repeating said feat again. but not me, i was so excited to have done that...i really felt like i'd accomplished something. i mean, i'm still a chicken shit when it comes to heights but it felt good to challenge myself on that level and momentarily overcome my fears. so with that, i ventured out onto the middle of the bridge a couple of more times for some crucial photo ops...i was going to have documentation of this moment!!!

our journey was finally complete and we were very happy to have made it to our destination...but now reality set in. we were 4 hours into the mountain and only had about 2 hours of daylight remaining...shhhiiiit. what do we do? according to the map it was a shorter distance to the ending parking lot if we just continued to press forward instead of turning around and going back the way we came...so we decided to do just that. after a few more last minute pictures we continued forward over equally rugged and precarious terrain. at one point, joronda felt so weak that we decided to break into our steamed buns and water...we each ate 1/2 a steamed bun and drank a sip of water and then continued. eventually we broke off icicles from the overhanging rocks and nawed on them to get water...and let me tell you, that icicle felt so good against our tongues that we didn't even mind the dirt in our teeth as a result. still continuing forward our 2 hours of daylight quickly slipped away and we soon found ourselves in a much more adventurous situation than we had originally bargained for. to make matters worse, the snow had begun to turn to ice which made all of the thin stone steps we had to descend, very slippery and dangerous...plus, there were no hand rails in some spots which would make for a hell of a fall. on top of all that, the fog was so thick that it engulfed our path in a visionless blur...so we couldn't really see what was awaiting us until we were a few feet from it. did i mention that the sun was setting? talk about living on the edge...literally!!!

so there we are, descending into the unknown foggy depths of this snow covered mountain somewhere in central china with very little food and water, a fast setting sun, and no concrete idea as to how much more of this mountain we would have to travel through to get to the other side...plus no one knew that we were out there. but we had courage, each other, and God on our side so i believe that we were good. anyway, about 40 minutes after the sun had gone down we happened upon this very small mountain village who's residents were extremely surprised to see us. they pointed us in the right direction, which was the direction we were already headed in, and we continued on our way. at the very least we figured that if push came to shove we could head back to them and hopefully get a meal and a corner to sleep until daylight. clinging to the side of the mountain we navigated the terrain like a brain surgeon wearing boxing gloves...v e r y, v e r y s l o w l y, and fumbling a whole hell of a lot. so now, about another 40 minutes or so after we had passed the mountain town we were face to face with the longest, snow covered, foggy staircase we have ever witnessed, imagine the yucatan pyramids...on crack!!! slowly we began descending the first 100+ steps praying for an end...no relief, just more steps. our legs burned, our hands were frozen, and my fu manchu 'snot'stache keep dripping into my damn mouth...eww!! on to the second 100+ steps...again, no relief, just more steps. 3 and 4 more landings of 100+ steps a piece all resulted in nothing. finally after 6 hours of mountaineering we made it onto solid ground, through a set of gates, and into the open, snowy field of the parking lot...hoo "muthaf'n" oray! (bernie mac tribute)

but not for long...

the parking lot was pitch black and there were no cars, no taxis, and no cavalry to greet us. instead we were now some 20+ km away from our dorm room and we had no real idea how to get back without venturing through the mountain again. so armed with my little flashlight and my wife's hand in mine, we set out walking down some two lane mountain highway in china hoping that we would eventually see a sign or something that would indicate which way we should go. by this time the sun had set well over an hour ago and it was only about 7 pm, so we figured that people should still be out and about, if you will. while we were walking we had plenty of time to bond like we had never done before...we talked about our relationship and the future of it, kids and time capsules, compliments and apologies, and what we were most excited about for our future...it was beautiful, and we really felt connected. alone, on that mountain highway, with nothing but the foggy moonlight to guide us, we really had a special moment and i believe that our relationship will prosper as a result.

anyway, at the first sign that we passed on the road it indicated that a right turn would take us to dengfeng (the city 17km outside of shaolin) and a left turn would take us to what would turn out to be a temple...how do we know that?...because we took the left turn and then had to turn back around and head towards dengfeng. no worries though, because we figured that when we got there we could hire a taxi and make it back to the dorm in no time. so the next sign we reach is all in chinese, as are all of the future signs that we would encounter on this dark roadway. there were no cars and no lights...who knows if we were even still headed to dengfeng...we never saw another sign that indicated that we were or weren't for that matter. eventually, after about 1 1/2 hours of walking we heard cars and decided to head in that direction assuming that it was the main road of the town. so with new enthusiasm we plowed ahead...when we finally reached the cars we were on a bridge that over looked the freeway. WHAT THE HELL?!?!

both of us were visibly defeated as we honestly believed that this would be the main road...we had absolutely no idea where we were as our guidebook was of very little help at this point. we didn't know if we should keep going forward, or turn around and go back the way we came and take one of the side streets that we had passed, or walk alongside the freeway. joronda went into the woods to use the toilet and i just slumped down and prayed and poured through our guidebook for any glimpse of an answer. eventually we decided to just keep heading straight since we had seen several big rigs going in that direction. so moving a few paces forward, and really just standing in the middle of the road, we spotted some headlights coming in our direction. both of us were hoping that this would be our good samaritan and help us out...zoom...the car whizzed past us. dejected, we turned back around to keep walking when we noticed brake lights and the car making a u-turn...alhamdulillah. the little hatchback pulled up next to us and the front and back windows rolled down to reveal 2 men, 2 women, and a baby...much chinese and broken english was passed between us and thankfully they offered us a ride. we gladly accepted and piled in the backseat...it was the 2 women, the baby, myself, and joronda in my lap all crammed in the back of this yugo-type of economy car. we proceeded to head down the road as our hosts tried to figure out where we needed to go. the vehicle reeked of alcohol and the one girl that spoke english the best seemed drunk. joronda was heavy as hell on my lap, the driver was swerving in and out of traffic, the man in the front seat was trying to extort money from us in chinese, the women in the back were laughing and chatting loudly, and the baby was screaming and crying uncontrollably. it turned out to be a nightmarish test of patience.

when they finally "understood" that we were staying in the dorm of one of the shaolin schools it seemed like everything was going to be ok. soon we were stopped at some school with the people telling us to get out of the car because this was our school...we told them for the umpteenth time that this was not our school and that we were not staying here. they then proceeded to tell us that the shaolin temple was closed and that we should stay here for the night and return in the morning. we told them that was not an option and pleaded for them to take us to our school...the english speaking one kept saying "don't worry we will help you" and so we left again. about 15 minutes later we were at yet another school and the same scenario repeated itself, however, this time we were "forced" to get out of the car and the driver and his drunk male friend left us and the english speaking lady at the front gates of this school that "her friend owns". again she wouldn't listen to our pleas that this was not our "home" and that we wanted to go to our "home". finally we decided to set out on foot again and leave our samaritans...so we thanked them and departed. fortunately, we now knew that we were in dengfeng and we had seen several taxis on the corner. so we walked to the corner and were immediately solicited by a taxi driver...we paid him 50 rmb and he took us HOME. thank GOD!!!!!!!!!!

so after a hell of an afternoon/night we arrived safely at our dorm and we were both never more excited to see the dirty, piss scented place that we had called home. the time was 2230, and we stayed awake just long enough to ring in the new year before drifiting off in a well deserved slumber.

on behalf of my wife and i, we would like to wish all of our family and friends a very happy new year and a blessed 2006. may you all prosper and be shown mercy in this life and the next.

salaam
mateo

China's Warrior's

2005-12-30T05:42:00.000-07:00

My toes are tingling as the blood is trying desperately to flow to the outermost extremities. Both feet have been frozen for two days. We are staying in very meager accomodations and there is no "air-condition" as they call it. I would prefer to call it a heater but right now if it blows out breath warm air I would take it. I didn't know if I would make it through last night. Mateo and I put four very heavy blankets on one twin sized bed and slept with a hot duck between us (I'll explain later). I was still cold all night. When the sun came up we found out that our cold room had gotten even colder during the night because it was snowing.

We spent the last nine days in Xi'an where we thought it was cold. Beyond the cold we met some really cool friends. We were connected with a brother named Zamzam before entering China and met up with him when we got there. We were able to go places we wouldn't have because we can't read or speak Chinese. Our one goal was to see Qin's terracotta warriors and beyond that we had no plan. This brother, his wife and friends went so far out of their way spending time with us. We ate far more Chinese foods than I've ever seen in my life. I'm excited to get back to the U.S. and go to Lee Lee's in Chandler to see if I recognize any Chinese snacks.

Besides eating and snacking we drank delicious teas, strolled the ancient streets, visited brother Zamzam's University and learned to play Chinese Chess. Of course there's a story for each of those past times. We left Xi'an 2 days ago with our friends waving us off at the train station. They rode the bus with us carried our bags and helped us buy our tickets. It was another sad to see you go type departure. Even the culinary manager of the cafe at the hostel we stayed at was there. He surprised us when he strapped on Mateo's 50 lbs. backpack and walked out the hostel to the bus stop with us. Mr. Kim is a 60 year old qigong healer with a smile that will make anyone smile back. We liked him a lot and spent many mornings talking to him in the cafe over eggs and porridge. He's originally from South Korea and introduced us to some of his favorite tasty Korean dishes. He performed a traditional healing on Mateo when he was suffering from a cold and recommended an apple a day for good brain health. We liked him a lot!

So now, in the even colder cold we are off in search of the first Shaolin Temple. My feet have taken a turn for the worse and the blood seems to be headed away from my toes. Like the warriors we hope to encounter at this juncture we will brave the elements across the hanging bridge, through the pagoda forest and hopefully sight Wuru Peak. I must prepare so I will place hot duck at the foot of my bed and rub my ankles to stimulate circulation therefore creating warm feet for tomorrow's trek. In addition I will be wearing three scarves now because amid all the excitement in Xi'an I learned to knit. Wish us luck!

Joronda

early birds...

2005-12-18T09:07:00.000-07:00

salaam

here comes another story straight from my personal journal...enjoy!!!

Sa 17 Dec 05 20:15:48

so the wife and i are, and have been on the train from guilin, china to xi'an china for the past 24 hours. neither of us know exactly when the train is supposed to arrive in xi'an or how much farther xi'an is or even where the hell we are at any given moment. so we were seated on the small window seats eating our halal noodles (an experience in itself) off the even smaller table when the first english message in 24 hours came blaring through the loudspeakers with a vociferous "Welcome to Xi'an!!!". as the message continued into its advertisement for the "railway hotel of xi'an", the train attendant servicing our car began rolling up the aisle carpet and mopping the floor. naturally, joronda and i began readying our travel gear for arrival. backpacks were removed from their overhead storage compartments and quickly secured...jackets, gloves, scarves, face mask, and winter hats with the ear flaps were all on and ready to protect us from the impending xi'an cold. we smiled at each other, pleased at our diligence and preparedness.

emerging from our berth like toasty "a christmas story" bundles of warmth we noticed that no one else had moved. a group of ladies continued to snack on sunflower seeds and slurp down bowls of noodles from their window seat. four shoeless men reclining in an adjoining berth slapped down various cards in an uninterrupted game...and our berthmate, after watching us pack furiously, calmly threw away his consumed bowl of noodles, wriggled his toes in his stolen hotel slippers, took off his glasses and slipped back into bed for some less than frantic shut-eye.

"What the HELL is going on?!?" i thought as i looked at 12 pairs of chinese eyes staring at me. didn't you guys hear the same 'welcome to xi'an' announcement that i so clearly heard 5 minutes ago? do you see all the city lights around us? can't you tell that the train is slowing down and we're about to pull into the xi'an station in less than 2 minutes?

"No!!! No we're not...you stupid ass american tourists!" this isn't xi'an, and as a matter of fact we are no where near xi'an. we still have 2 more hours to go before lights out and then, maybe in their dreams, will people even begin thinking about xi'an. so pocket your gloves, hang up your winter jacket, and take off that DAMN ninja mask...DUMMY!!!

i don't speak mandarin, but i'm sure that's what they said.

peep the picture for your amusement...

a sheepish salaam,
mateo

p.s. we ended up arriving in xi'an at 2200 hours...who knew?

Independent Travellers

2005-12-15T21:58:00.000-07:00

Well it's time to leave Yangshou and head for the even more uncertain and we have just a little time to share some words with you. It's still cold but no snow. Robert the hotel weather forecaster was wrong. Actually he was probably right on. He never expected snow or rain, he just wanted us to book a tour with him before we got into town. It turns out he tried to over charge us severly and we suspect it's because we are from the U.S.

Last night we caught up with our Polish friends for some local Chinese food and then on to a local heated pub/restaurant for hot tea. Although they have since left the Dong Feng Hotel we found out they paid less than us for all three of them and they didn't even speak to him about the tour. We did a tour of our own. For 8 RMB each we rented bicycles, bought a large water, two baguette butter and jam sandwiches and secured our goods in the cage on the back of my bike. So along with our travellers guide and two free local maps we were off to the countryside. It actually totalled 29RMB as opposed to the $80 USD Robert said we should pay him. He was full of crap! *Please note 8RMB = $1 USD

The countryside was a great journey too. Old men were walking water buffalo and cows on ropes with their heavy jackets and pants to break the cold air. We rode through thousands of chickens on open land free to dart from one side of the road to the other. The path was narrow and uneven but that didn't stop the trucks from rattling all over the lane with their loud chugging sounds coming from the vehicle's exposed engine. I kind of felt like we had been put in the middle of some Grapes of Wrath type exploration movie. These trucks were like ancient tractor plows that had been converted into modern day vehicles with a sort of rusted green body and bed that resembled the model T Ford style. I was in awe. The journey was relatively quiet. People worked in the fields as we rode by and school children pushed their bikes up hills and walked to their villages in groups. We met a pig along the way who went from curious to startled to curious again but we didn't stay to make friends with him. I too became very curious when a very small elderly lady was walking from the water pump with two large buckets of water hanging from each end of the bamboo pole drapped over her back. I stopped my bike to let her cross and then watched her short step it through a gate that must have led to her destination...perhaps her house.

After our 20 km ride we parked our bikes above the Li River back in the city and ate our little dinner snack. Just into our quiet evening we were approached by a group of school girls inviting us to their English corner. We thought it might be a scam so we didn't commit but got directions and later rode our bikes to the Wisdom Girls School. It turned out to be one of those cool experiences we know are sure to come. Mateo and I were in separate classrooms helping about 30 young girls practice their English. It was great!

So now it's off to Xian we go. The train ride will take a full day so talk to you when we get there.

Joronda

We're going to FREEZE!

2005-12-13T04:35:00.000-07:00

My hands are so cold it hurts to touch the keyboard. My ears have started to ring at unannouced times and my nose is like popscicle tips. I'M COLD! But I'm not complaining because in two weeks it will be even worse. We just checked the weather in Mongolia and it should be -7 when we get there. No problem though because we are on the hunt for winter coats in Yangshou, China. Never mind the fact that the arms are too short and the clerks just laugh when we try them on.

Today I bought a hat and a second scarf and I'll probably be wearing everything I own in a few weeks. I'm nervous that I'll get frost bite. Anyone have some suggestions? Where is our Washingtonian travel companion when you need her. The pace of my typing has slowed tremendously so I'll ahve to make tis really quik. I can't even waste time deleting all the typos I jsut made.

We got dropped off in the middle of who knew where just as the light of day was approaching the morning sky. Well we knew we were in Yangshou but that was about it. I hadn't seen my breath in months and now I was standing in the middle of the street with my husband, 3 Polish travellers and a Chinese guy named Robert. People were chopping meat on a slab of wood behind us and steam was rising from metal pots under several different tarp covered eating caves. I was still half asleep and the bus was pulling off with all the other passengers on it. Robert was flashing his autograph book in our faces because he was the hotel representative and this morning he wanted to show us to a hotel. We followed him and although he tried to charge us $16 apiece we've gotten pretty good at the bargaining thing and ended up with a rate of $10 total. We're talking a tremendous drop from where he started right. We read you should start at a bargaining rate of half of the starting price. It's a crazy way to buy stuff trust me.

The room has no heating but there is hot water. That's a precious luxury these days. They do however provide an electric water pot. That's been great! We have ovaltine twice a day. We will be leaving that hotel tomorrow for our hostelling international hostel that we didn't know was here. Robert called us at 8 am to try and get us to go on a countryside tour with him. Whatever! it's 35 degrees and we were packed in our sleeping bag under 2 heavy hotel comforters trying not to move when the volume of the ring regenerated goose bumps that took all night to warm off.

Tonight I bought some gooey hot soup because A) I wanted to get warm and B) I wanted to see the lady pour the hot water from the dragons mouth. That was the coolest part, especially when the stem came out of his nose. When I mixed it though the water had turned to slime and the whole thing resembled mud pies. I ate it because I bought it but I won't be provoking anymore steam breathing dragons. Ok well we're expecting snow tomorrow so I better go get prepared. Talk to you soon.

Joronda

Guangzhou

2005-12-11T03:31:00.000-07:00

So we're still in Guangzhou and things picked up today. Our overnight bus leaves in a couple of hours and we are just relaxing after a very exciting day. We decided to check out of the hotel and hit the park to waste the day away. Now this isn't your ordinary park. It's your real beautiful, swans in the lake, Tai Chi type of retreat. We payed our 5 Yuan to get in and on our way towards the animal farm we happened upon what looked like a children's playground nestled right in front of a ping pong haven. To Mateo's delight! He sat around for a while looking like the kid who didn't get picked while I filmed the ping pong masters and the myriad of other physical activities people were invested in. I started heading back to where I left Mateo and what did I see...the lonely child with a paddle in his hand. He had been chosen. From 12:30 to 4:00 he took full advantage of this opportunity. People were taking turns playing him and you know what, he's GOOOOD! While Forest Gump was in ping pong bliss I was making friends with a 7 and an 11 year old. They offered me peanuts, cookies and carrot waterchestnut juice and we were buddies. The children's playground turned out to double as a workout facility for all ages and these kids were really impressed by some of the things I could do. Of course being 2 feet taller than them gave me quite an advantage. We played on every piece of equipment and then we ran off to get more juice. For about 30 seconds we caught our breath before running over to the amusement park to go on the spinning buckets, bumper cars and giant swing all before racing remote control boats in the lake. We were really enjoying ourselves and don't forget about the stares because people were certainly looking at me, this over grown child running through the park with these two energetic kids that I had only met hours before.

We ended the day with a relaxing wading through the water in a paddle boat with the family we had just met. It was great even the very end when the boat ride turned into an all out game of boat ramming and we chased boats down in the serene lake of Liu Hua. Today was one of those good days filled with some of those good people.

Joronda

On the move

2005-12-10T04:05:00.000-07:00

I've been kind of stressed because I started a post 2 days ago that got erased because we had to speed out of our hotel. It was around 6:45 a.m. and we were waiting in the lobby due to another south east asia false alarm. You know the kind that knocks on your door three times. Only this time there's a phone in the room so we got a call 30 minutes early saying the bus was waiting for us. It was a lie but we bumped down 4 flights of narrow stairs with our big ole' packs and were on the internet when the bus really did show up. We crammed ourselves in the back of the bus and rode 3 hours to the border to try and enter China. We hadn't had any border crossing problems until we reached China. We were detained at the border for a good 45 minutes. They never told us the problem. The guard just said he had to report the case to his supervisor. About the only thing we did find out was that my passport photo was "too black" his words not mine.

You know I have to tell you I'm completely against gawking. We have been stared at, pointed at, laughed at, ignored, pushed, shoved, cursed at and who knows what else behind our backs. We have our good and bad days. We smile and wave and other times just look straight ahead so not to see the responses. I try to put myself in a place where I have stared at someone because they look different or maybe I feel they're out of place. You know it can be really overwhelming and frustrating when you're the focus and that focus is not always for kindness. One guy said he felt like a superstar, like he was really famous or something. People had asked him to take his picture and to be in pictures with him. Well no one has asked for our picture but the night before last night two girls held each other really tight and backed away from me in what looked like sheer terror as I paused to let them pass in front of me. That made me really sad and angry. You would have thought I had just jumped out of a horror film. We notice when people are talking about our skin because they seem to do a wiping motion across their face or arms but I don't know if that means we have superstar status.

Just in case we have to make a fast exit I want you to know that we are in Guangzhou about a 2 hour train ride from Hong Kong. We don't know if we'll be heading to Hong Kong or not. We will probably be out of touch for a few days. Everything is spread out here and it will take us a whole day to get to the next city Yangshuo. Our goal is to reach Xian, that's where the terracotta warriors are located. We will spend a week there before moving on to Beijing.

Last night we were on an overnight train and we ate our dinner on two little window seats pressed against the wall under a tiny table top. We shared longan and oweat as we watched the scenary go by. Beautiful, old and sparse are some of the words I would use to describe the landscape. The stepped agricultural fields were impressive and although bird flu is a huge concern in this region we saw more free range chickens than either of us have ever seen. Does anyone have any suggestions on China? Is there anything that we should look for on our route? Please let us know because right now we don't even have a Lonely Planet guide so we're just kind of on our own.

Joronda

So hard to say goodbye

2005-12-03T17:46:00.000-07:00

I'm very heart broken right now. We're getting ready to leave Hoi An, Vietnam and our entire class came to the hotel to see us off. Although the faces were very somber we all managed to smile and joke a bit as we visibly anticipated the bus pulling up. We were congregated in the street next to the curb in front of our hotel and that caused quite a scene. The hotel staff, motorbike rental people and the ladies with the snack stand in front of our hotel came out to gawk along with many passersby. Over our travels through Vietnam we've learned that gawking is rather common in most situations and specifically those sitiations involving Mateo and myself. For the most part people have been starring at us because we've got dark skin but today in addition to our dark skin we were surrounded by a group of handicapped Vietnemese adults in wheelchairs and on special motorbikes and all of us had sad looks on our faces.

The director of the school stopped by to say his goodbyes and after maybe 3 minutes he couldn't take it anymore. I could see his eyes welling up and the shape of his cheeks started to change when he breathed out "I can't stay here anymore...Bye". I was done, and for a few more seconds he couldn't start his bike to drive away. We said thank you to him and I turned my head away from the students as the tears ran down my face. I could hear people starting to cry behind me.

For the past two weeks we've been volunteering in an incredible environment. We don't speak the language but they have accepted us and treated us like family. Almost daily we walk into the office to ask for help translating something and everyday we received an invitation for lunch, coffee or snacks. One day we went 6 kilometers to the countryside to have lunch at Lieu's house (one of the students). She's been disabled since she was ten. Laura hopped on the back of her 3 wheeled motorbike while Mateo and I walked beside the other wheel chairs. We stopped by their houses and met their families and when we arrived at Lieu's house we all did our share of assisting with the meal prep. Of course for us Americans that consisted of picking the stems off the mint leaves while Mr Thong chopped banana blossom with a hatchet on the floor and Lieu sauteed up one of the best Vietnemese meals we've had. It was a great effort and I enjoyed every mint picking moment. On the way back to town we had a wheelchair race and although Miss Tam and I lost to Mateo and Miss Hanh we we're kilometers ahead of Laura the tortoise who eventually used that exact take it slow tactic to edge us all out. The three of us shared a bottle of water after we dropped off all our teammates. It was great! On a couple of other days Mateo and I got to exercise next to Mr. Tam as he rode his motorbike and we jogged along side. He was "Veri Hap-ee" to be spending time with us and so were we. For morning coffee it was like being invited into a part of the culture that only those who know someone on the inside get to experience.

Now we have to leave our days of rolling out in the entourage down the main street, eating at the local hot spots and having coffee in the morning even though we don't drink coffee. Except Laura and her cafe sua which turns her into a whole different person :) It's hard to capture the feelings behind the stories and of course there's a ton of it that I'm not telling but just know that now we have a family in Vietnam and after only spending a short time with them and witnessing and hearing some of their challenges, as well as enjoying good times with them it was painful to leave. With the few lessons we had before our final day they had learned to say "Please keep in touch" and they used that line over and over. It rings in my head right now. I also have to let you know that they wanted us to give our best to you all. They of course know we have family and friends outside of Vietnam and they send their best. Of all the horrible things we have experienced and the challenging things we try to overcome this has been a bright spot in our life that will last forever. If you want to know where we'll be heading back to on our return trip across the pacific Hoi An, Vietnam is at the top of the list.

Joronda

Happy Thanksgiving!

2005-12-01T03:25:00.000-07:00

Of course by now your turkey is long digested and you are probably back into the routine of a five day work week. We are very sorry we haven't been able to post in a while but for some reason we couldn't get on the blog. We're in Hoi An, Vietnam and we are doing well. If you get a chance check out MAPS adoption www.mapsadopt.org. Click on the Vietnam aid link on the left hand side to access more specific information. Or go to www.mapsvn.org This is the NGO that we are volunteering with.

When we walked into the organization on the first day we were immediately put to work and after a short time there we have had some incredible experiences. Leaving Saigon, we were equipped with a bit more information on the war but walking into a computer lab to greet two young Vietnemese brothers severly deformed because of their fathers exposure to dioxins was a greater lesson than we could have known. Anh Trang means bright star and these two are just that. Mateo was Trang's teacher and I had Anh. They spoke very little English but every Tuesday and Thursday, for an hour and a half, we taught and they made us laugh. One of the sweetest things I've ever seen is my husband slumped down in his chair close enough for Trang to lean his head against Mateo's and pull down on his beard and say "M-aa-theyow" in a high pitched sort of sigh. It just makes me smile thinking about it.

We teach English to a handicapped class every morning. Our youngest student is 23 years old. The class has been taking very good care of us. Neither Mateo nor myself had ever spent an extended amount of time with handicapped people. I don't even think "handicapped" is politically correct but that's what they call themselves here so respectfully we follow suit. You wouldn't believe the innovation, independence and generosity they have. There are seven students and every morning we get "Good Mawning Tea cha..." as they make their way into the classroom. It's great!

We help out the Vietnemese teachers in the evening and on the eve of Thanksgiving we were asked to teach about the History and Traditions of this U.S. Holiday. Well, let's just say it was a challenge. Besides the fact that the students are learning English and we were using words that make no sense in Vietnemese we had to stuggle with how much of "why do we celebrate thanksgiving?" do we give them. We kept it pretty simple throughout the presentation but I just couldn't let them go away with only the word "Indian" in their Thanksgiving vocabulary. So I gave them the choice of "Native American" or "American Indian" same same but different. What happened next was all about unsatisfied Americans meet confused Vietnemese class, with limited English. Teacher Laura our travelling buddy so gracefully steps to the front of the class and shares the dark side. The Thanksgiving we don't talk about back home. shhhhh! The vocabulary words in this conversation began with 1. Protests then moved on to 2. Genocide and finally ended with phrases like 3. They were mad, mean Pilgrims and New World. The class really enjoyed the presentation. A lot of them work in the tourism industry and wanted to know about the holiday since the hotels are getting into presenting the U.S. holidays.

Please don't think we were standing before a group of 9 year olds. The students are working adults who mostly go to school at night to improve their communication for work. I think I learned more about Thanksgiving than they did. Do you know who Sarah Hale is? What year was the first Thanksgiving? Did the Pilgrims celebrate Thanksgiving?

Well on Thanksgiving day we celebrated it with our morning class. They didn't know it was our holiday but they invited us for a big lunch at one of the Pagodas. This is a popular place and we ate non touristy Vietnemese food called com chay - a rice and noodles dish with vegetables. I was very thankful to be sitting in the presence of such generous people. We left the school in an entourage of steering wheeled wheelchairs and three wheeled motorbikes. This became a familiar site on Phan Dinh Phung St. on several occassions after this day but for me it was the first time I had hopped on the back of a motor bike that was kick started by hand by a driver who gets around on his hands. We had so much fun that day!

Safety First

2005-11-17T06:28:00.000-07:00

I truly don't want to spend all my time lamenting over my personal woes when street children are forced to sell chewing gum and ladies balance piles of books from cafe to cafe trying to get a few dollars from tourists off the photo copied knock offs they have so specially wrapped in plastic for the aestetics we "first" world citizens so blatantly expect. So after I added the period to that extremely long sentence I'm ready to sing.

Today began with a knock on our trap door.The cozy attic room we occupy has a stairway that leads to only one place,us.On the other side was our new travelling mate Laura. Laura is hardcore, she's doing the travel thing alone. I guess that's how they make them up in Washington St.I'm excited to travel with her for a while.The three of us sat around for a while this morning before making a move for food and transportation. Food we found easily in the mini hotel alley lined with clothes vendors, guesthouse entrances and the frequent entrepreneur peddling sunglasses, books or "marijuana for smoking", any of which you can purchase from the comforts of your dining table.It was when we sauntered our full bellies over to the local motor bike rentals that we were faced with issues.

First, the $1 bikes we encountered on day one were inflated to $5 and when the three of us went to climb on $3.50 deal we did find it all of a sudden became illegal.I suppose a Vietnemese toddler has more dexterity than three full grown Americans. I've seen tons of 15 month olds hanging on the handle bars, standing on the seats and posed in other rodeo riding positions amid the 3 other people perched on the bike with them. So if you wondered why three of us were getting on one bike, it's because that's what we've seen other people doing. If nothing else it would give us something to write about.

We already stick out like black folks at a Klan meeting and since that's what everyone seems to be staring at how much attention could we draw by hoisting our caucasian friend on the back of our moving circus act. We got off the bike though after sitting there next to the curb, all three of us on the bike, in the neutral position.It seems like foreiners get different treatment and they were pretty sure we would get a ticket if we rode off together.

In the rain we walked to the War Remnants Museum and got a good education on the Anti-American war, also known as the Vietnam war in the US. Let's just say they don't teach it like this back home.It was unbelieveable the amount of destruction the U.S. left behind that people are still dealing with. I don't really have the energy to get into it but if you know anything about the war enlighten me.I'm not trying to spark any arguments but dropping chemicals on peoples homes, lives and land is crazy and 21 million gallons is evil. With that I 'm done because I'm getting pissed as I type.

Don't be lazy research and form your own opinions of things. Laziness allows images and subliminal messages to slip into our psyche and determine and form our thoughts for us. Be careful what you watch and read.

Joronda

more pictures :)

2005-11-15T06:24:00.000-07:00

salaam

3 new albums have been added to the photos section. please read the following post titled "New Features!!!" for more detailed information. all pictures are available for your printing or purchasing pleasure...please don't hesitate to pillage.

enjoy!!

salaam
mateo

New Features!!!

2005-11-14T05:47:00.000-07:00

If you've been away from your computer for the weekend and you're just getting back on the blog you may notice some additions. We know everyone has been anticipating pictures so look to your right and in the side bar you'll see a link for pictures. We have finally worked it out! Once you click on the photo link, click on any album to view its contents. Once inside the album, click on the view slideshow link (above the fourth picture) for the best look at our experiences. You can periodically check back for new images and we will keep you posted when we add new albums. So far you can go back and see what Thailand was like for us.

Speaking of going back, it looks like we do most of our posting on the weekends. Last weekend we put up several post. If you're interested go back to the Visit Koh Phi Phi and read forward. Sorry to throw some people off but we had a lot to catch up on.

Also, if you're not familiar with world maps we've put them at your finger tips. The moving flag shows the country we're currently in. We are heading south to north in Vietnam and will be in Ho Chi Minh City for 3 more days. The currency is the dong and in 5 weeks we've already operated in 4 different currencies Thai baht, Cambodian riel, Vietnemese dong (VND) and the U.S. dollar. We have our calculator with us at all times. Check out our Exchange Rates link and see what the U.S. dollar amounts to in other countries. We've already spent 80,000 dong on internet today.

We will keep putting up relevant links and updates but if there's somthing we've forgotten please let us know. Talk to you all soon.

Joronda

phnom penh's international mosque...like none other

2005-11-12T07:48:00.000-07:00

salaam

this is a special ode to the international masjid in phnom penh:

two minarets high in the sky with a gold dome between,
the grandeur of this cambodian masjid is a sight to be seen.
your gates stand majestic, and the view is immense,
i tremble with excitement as i pass through the fence.
proud to be muslim...my heart sings with joy,
but slightly confused i become, when approached by a boy.
nekid is he, and wet to the bone
dripping and flipping he is not alone.
there 's about 15 others, and all of them, birthday suit clad,
doing bare assed handstands and smiling...they couldn't be more glad.
so why, you may ask, were they wet to the bone?
because the front of the masjid looked like a flood zone.
murky brown water awaited our feet,
and if you know my wife...this was not a treat.
"jihad!" i cried, which means 'struggle' in arabic,
but the thought of malaria had my wife very scared of it.
i tried to convince her that there was nothing to fear,
and reminded her of the little boys who had just been soaking their rears.
if it was that dangerous they'd surely find a place that was better,
but with all my smooth talking she was still real unsettled.
i said, "look there's a bridge, it's gotta be safe"
she screamed, "not when its made from toothpicks and duct tape!"
so her hand i held as i waded knee deep,
and bambi-kneed she fumbled across the bridge incomplete.
"don't worry", i said, "we're almost there",
as she's got the front of the masjid locked in her stare.
she leaps to the steps and breathes a huge sigh of relief,
and from behind, an approving "BAAA", from the resident family of sheep.
oh cambodia, your country leaves me with mixed emotion,
to have a masjid like that...ya'll must have been smokin'.
so how can i convey all that we've seen
to the people back home who read only what we bring?
try this...next time you all go to your houses of prayer,
picture flood waters deep, sheep, and bottoms of bare

...stir it all together, and then you'll be there.

salaam
mateo

Gooooood Morning Vietnam

2005-11-12T07:21:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist and I wanted to let you all know where we are. Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon is our temporary place of residence. We have decided to stay in Vietnam for 3 weeks but let me tell you, I wasn't feeling that way when we first crossed the border.

Side note - I'm a paranoid sceptic from South Central LA, I'm as observant as a cat when my environment is unfamiliar and I rarely trust anyone who says hello then lingers for too long.

With that insight into my personality I found myself running for the border gate to find anyone with a working international cell phone. When I tried to speak to the guard in English he wanted no parts of me. Mateo was back at the main building steps about 150 meters away holding my passport and pack. I only wanted to walk past the gate arm to plead with our bus mates for a phone. I thought the guard wouldn't let me back in but I broke for it anyway. Not knowing a sole seated in the cramped little restaurant bus depot I spoke out in a loud confident way "Does anyone have a phone that calls internationally?" They all just stared at me "Welcome to Vietnam" the tour guide said with a smile. "Yeah, thanks" and I continued on with my business. One really nice lady from California offered up her cell phone and we immediately started running back to the border building. The guard didn't stop us and when we finished our sprint I walked right past Mateo letting him know the bus had just pulled up. I made it back to the American I so desperately wanted to help.

Mateo and I met her on the bus and it was she who must have recognized our slow American accents when she asked "where in the States are you from?" We later sat with her and her friend on the Cambodian side of the border. Trying to cross the border was where the problem started. She didn't realize her visa was not valid for multiple entries and the officials were doing nothing to try and help her out. In fact they were all laughing and the language barrier was both the biggest disadvantage for her and the greatest tool of torment for them. We did everything we could to help her and I felt horrible heading to the bus. I told the guide the situation and it turns out that she may have made it over the border later that evening. This brief description doesn't even give you an idea of the official scam we walked right into at the door of the border building when the men in blue with official badges tried to charge us 15,900 dong for filling out Mateo's arrival card. We had the guards up and simulataneously sang out "for what?" when he said $1 the Vietnamese equivalent for that amount of dong. Needless to say I was determined to help this lady because I was afraid of what other scams they might try to run if we were all gone and she and her friend were there alone at the border.

We don't have any volunteer jobs lined up just yet but giving has to do with a lot more than joining an organized group. Today we went searching for a school that gives free education to street kids. We didn't find it but we bought some apples for some street kids. Tomorrow we'll be back out again trying to give of ourselves. Some times the situations present themselves and sometimes we have to seek them out. We'll keep you posted on the status of our search.

Joronda

Mmmmm...goopey thorax

2005-11-09T07:28:00.000-07:00

You all are wonderful for remembering my birthday. Thank you so much for the wishes. A few days ago I was sitting on a bus thinking about the many travels we've already made and it didn't occur to me that my birthday was so close. We were on the road after that 6:30 wake up knock and I was so out of it I just stared out the window of our blazing hot mini bus as we pulled in and out of country side vending shacks. Now please don't think I'm criticizing the local retail establishments. In order for you to get an understanding of what I'm referring to when I say restaurant or store I have chosen words that may be used in the U.S. to describe the common structures we frequent in this region of the world. These places have great food, service and views so shack is but a brief way to assist you in creating a visual for what I'm seeing.

About 2 hours into our 6 hour trip we stopped at a rest stop for people to get food, use the bathroom and possibly stretch their legs. Everyone eventually exited the bus, including Mateo but I didn't really feel like moving. I stayed in my seat and stared out the window. Beneath 4 large patio style umbrellas lined up on the dirt driveway were ladies selling sweet fruits to the patrons who exited the bus. Meanwhile, along comes an independent vendor with fried frog bodies and some other fried meat I didn't recognize. "Wow", I thought, she had a great presentation of her product. The frogs were stacked on top of each other so you could see the whole of each individual piece. I had a great view too because she walked by with the basket on her head close enough for me to see the heads were all cut out.

Although I didn't recognize the other meat, I was more curious about the basket that she put her goods down next to. People seemed to really be into what ever was in that basket. Not too many people were getting frog but they were filling up bags with this other stuff. The stuff was going so fast the lady had to keep pilling more on top. By this time people were filing back on to the bus. Mateo had been close to that area so I asked him what was in the basket, he didn't know. "What do you think it is?..." We both watched a man bend down to inspect and then pop one into his mouth. Well based on the way he grabbed and chewed it I thought "oh they're dates" so when I looked over to Mateo I figured my thoughts would be validated especially since the lady across the isle from him had a bag of them. She had a bag and the people in front of us had a bag, I think every row on the bus had some except us.

We had to be sure so when the lady in front of us opened her bag and Mateo said they're crickets I was glad I didn't get off the bus to go get some "dates". Ok but how about they weren't even crickets but big, juicy, barbequed grasshoppers. The lady next to us was really generous and offered Mateo some. It was only because she caught him staring into her bag and from the look on his face I'm sure she thought he was salivating over a grasshopper snack. What he was actually recovering from was the glimpse he caught of the style of indulgence he had just witnessed. I couldn't see over the seat but from his view the lady plucked the legs off then separated the thorax from the rest of the body. It was at this point that she sucked the goop that seeped from the appendages of the insect. Shortly after we heard the bag to the right of us crinkle and its contents displayed before us with the invitation to reach in and partake. No thanks, we're fasting.

Joronda

diamonds in the rough

2005-11-09T07:14:00.000-07:00

salaam

let me first start this post with a big, THANK YOU, on behalf of joronda and myself, to everyone that has followed our blog. your support has been monumental, and your posted comments are certainly the highlights of our days. i can't tell you how eager we are to get to a computer and read your reactions to the variety of experiences that we have been privy to. it truly brings us all closer...so thank you again.

...and to the poster that decided to bring out the 1978 to 1991 tight pants and sweater wearing name...you're a damn fool :)

on to the title...
there certainly have been "diamonds in the rough" in this bittersweet love affair that, when coupled with all that cambodia has to offer, has made the overall country worthwhile. while we have been unable to partner up directly with an established volunteer organization, we have tried to help out indirectly. tonight we had dinner in a fabulous restaurant that was recommended by "the lonely planet" (a backpackers guidebook) called mith samlanh, which means close friends. mith samlanh is a cambodian non-partisan, non-religious, non-governmental organization that was founded in 1994 in response to the increasing needs of street children in phnom penh and the surrounding province. with numerous objectives to fulfill their vision, mith samlanh is dedicated to creating a safe, hands on, and proactive environment so that no child is forced to live or work on the streets. they service 1800 children per day and the restaurant is simply one component of their outreach. the entire restaurant functions at the hands of students who have been removed from the street environment. the food is amazing and the atmosphere is a true delight. we decided to frequent the establishment for joronda's second birthday, and volunteer indirectly by spending money for a worthy cause (all proceeds go directly to the students) . it certainly wasn't the hands dirtying volunteering that we had set out to accomplish on this trip...but i guess givers can't be choosers, so we are greatful nonetheless.

other diamonds in the rough would have to be the variety of children that we have met. there is definitely something special about the true innocence and purity that a child possess and unconditionally emits. now certainly we have encountered those with a hidden agenda, but even in that, when steered in a different direction, they have been generally honest, sweet, and loveable individuals. for example, today we rented a motorbike ($3) and joined the other salmon swimming upstream to tour phenom penh. side note...cambodian traffic is HORRIBLE to put it mildly. lane lines are as insignificant as racing stripes...it doesn't matter where you're at or which way you're going, you can rest assured that you are in the correct lane and that everyone else is wrong. anyway, when we stopped at several sights we were approached by numerous children trying to do and receive for a multitude of things. from watching our motorbike, to taking their picture, to trading ink pens...all for $1. this one little guy was so hell bent on watching our motorbike that he would barely let me put the lock on the bike without jumping in my lap to do it for me. i let him try...and then i kept pressing my face into his cheek while asking him why he was having trouble. we all smiled and laughed as he finally backed up and let me do it. he then told everybody, in khemer, that i'd had my nose in his cheek as he laughed and pointed while relaying the experience. we met another little boy who kept asking for a dollar...immediately i started tugging on his dirty camoflauge shirt and begged him to give me his shirt. he laughed and tried to walk away as i kept hounding him about his shirt. he gave me every excuse as to why he couldn't give me his shirt unless i traded him for my watch or my motorbike...we parted amicably. later on, joronda and i saw the same boy when we were leaving the sight and he came right up to us to continue the bartering. i asked him what his name was and he said something that sounded like "boogady". he kept saying, "that's me, that's me, like on t.v.", with a huge smile on his face. after about three minutes of misunderstanding, joronda asked him to say his name again...and clear as day, he let us know who his favorite wwe television wrestler was by giving us his adopted moniker of "booker t". he then pounced on one of the other boys standing around as we drove off, all of us laughing...after all, they're just kids.

so in this country of abrasion, these are some of the gems...thank you all again for your continued support...you are our gems

salaam
mateo

cambodia...a bittersweet love affair

2005-11-07T05:40:00.000-07:00

salaam

bang, bang, bang...what the hell?!!?? joronda and i look at each other perplexed as our guesthouse door is being rustled at 0630. bang, bang...i snatch open the door to find "lucky", one of the guesthouse workers, standing in front of me with a big smile and saying, "you go phnom penh?". i say, "yes, at seven thirty", he nods, smiles, and walks away. i close the door thinking to myself how nice it was of them to wake us up.

"hold on!!", i hear joronda yell outside of the shower i was currently drying off from. bang, bang, jiggle, bang, bang..."hold on!!!" she yells again with anxiety in her voice because someone is just trying to walk into the room. i quickly pull on my "these damn things will never get clean" pair of underwear and spring to the door. joronda slides into the bathroom behind me to protect her modesty as i open the door..."bus, bus" another guesthouse worker rapidly utters and gesticulates as if to imply that we were late. with my head poking behind the door i inform him that it is 6:45 am, and that it was he who told us the night before that the bus didn't leave until 7:30. "no, bus, bus!!" he exclaims once more, pointing to the window that overlooks the driveway. i step into the hallway frustrated and let him know again that he told us 7:30 and that we would be down as early as 7 o'clock to checkout and so forth. with that, he leaves and joronda and i shake our heads in disgust and quickly finalize our belongings.

bang, bang "bus, bus!!"...we hear clamoring from our door for yet a third time this morning. "what the f---!!!", i yell and visibly agitated jerk open the door and step directly to the third guesthouse worker to bother us this morning. he barely comes up past my waist, and considering that i was still in my draws in was just an unfortunate situation for everyone. he eeks out a third, "bus" and with patience lost, i let him know that this treatment is not appreciated. the time is 6:52 am...welcome to cambodia.

cambodia has been a land of mixed emotions for both joronda and myself. amidst the joy of exploring the ruins of the ancient angkor temples (good call uncle dave)...we've spent an equal amount of time brooding, thinking, and vocalizing our frustrations with the country as a whole. the conditions are heartbreaking...poverty is rampant, everything is filthy as hell, there seems to be no love, and people just accept it. we've only been here for 5 days and so far 95% of the people we've met have been shady tricksters, con artists, and thieves. they feen for money like a junkie for a fix, and when you don't just give in, they berate you with more and more scams to get a dollar.

when you don't give the dirty woman holding the dirtier baby a buck to fill her already full bottle with more milk, she curses you. when you reach out to the young desheveled boy, who has been tugging at your shirt and arm for the past 5 minutes begging for a dollar to get some food...and when you offer him a fresh meal from your own plate, he looks at it with disgust, turns up his nose and says "i don't like that", and then continues to beg you for a dollar for some food. when you ask a merchant if they know where you can buy some cambodian tea and they ask you to wait here...then they come back from a convenience store and try to sell you a $0.50 bag of tea for $15...and when you politely refuse they too curse you and tell you they wouldn't have gotten it if you didn't want to buy. i mean the shit is just ridiculous, frustrating as hell, and infuriating...what are you supposed to do? we came on this trip with the sole intention of volunteering...to help those in need. and these folks are definitely in need...but hell, we don't have a dollar to give everyone in cambodia, and even if we did...what good would it do? it sure wouldn't be enough to counteract the mental subjugation that has one believing that a dollar is their saving grace. in my opinion, money is a created reality, a figment, a farce, nothing but little colorful rectangular cloth-filled smoke and mirrors. money only has the value that we allow it to have. now trust me, i understand the need to pay bills...and i know that it takes more than a pretty smile and winning personality to keep a roof over ones head and to feed a family. but damn...there has to be some balance. i mean, i'll buy your baby some milk, give you some food, and frequent your shops...but instead, all you bastards want is a dollar and every opportunity to con me out of mine.

to you the reader...
thank you for sifting through my lamentations, and frustrations, and please note that the 'you', of course, is not directed at you who maybe reading this but instead is written frustration at the proverbially societal 'you' that indoctrinates counter-spiritual teachings and thought. these are just my opinions.

the intro stories significance is this...
we arrived in cambodia with high hopes and excitement about experiencing the breadth of a new countries humanity. instead we've experienced bi-polar bitterness and emotional unrest that has left us standing in a hallway in our draws screaming...with no one understanding a word we're saying.

salaam
mateo

recap...bangkok to krabi to phi phi

2005-11-06T05:01:00.000-07:00

salaam

because it has been a while since i've lent my comments to this blog i thought i'd share with you an excerpt from my personal journal. please allow me to forewarn the reader that the content of this entry is uncensored. this is all me, raw and uncut, and in no way reflects the opinions of my wife, family, or religion. viewer discretion is advised.....but it's really not that bad.

th 06 oct 05 05:59:50

...just finding a bus departing the same day that wasn't full was a chore. we walked with our 50 pounds of bullshit on our backs for several miles in the rain trying to find the best deal...so after all that, we came up with nothing but poor demeanors and marital frustration. booooo! while in our quandry we were eventually approached by this man whom we had encountered earlier who was happy to offer us an answer in exchange for a 20 baht ride from his tuk tuk driving friend. after some continued talking (me trying to explain that the t.a.t was too expensive and we were ok walking) the tuk tuk driver offered us a free ride to the t.a.t so that she could get a free gas coupon. much to joronda's anger and disappointment, i agreed. so the scowl-faced skeptic and i boarded the tuk tuk bound for yet another t.a.t (tourism authority thailand...or something like that...but it should stand for theiving another tourist). when we arrived at the t.a.t i figured i should do all the talking and so i left joronda outside with the tuk tuk and i went in to work. after some negotiating i was able to get us on a bus to krabi leaving that evening at 1900 for 550 baht each. that still doesn't include the boat ride from krabi to phi phi but at least it was a start.....

so currently i sit in a small "truck stop"/travel agency in surat thani awaiting our transfer bus to take us to krabi at 0700. anyway, getting back to the first leg of the bus trip...

once we finally boarded the bus to krabi i was very happy. happy to finally be enroute and that much closer to phi phi, and for not having to stay a third night in bangkok. it's not that bangkok was bad, bangkok was great! i was just trying to get to phi phi asap...i mean hell, that's why we came out here. so bottom line...i'm glad to be on the bus. the bus is packed with an eclectic mix of travellers...israel, hungary, ireland, new zealand, and indonesia are just some of the countries aboard.

so while on this bus i learned two quick lessons...hungarians are assholes, and americans piss and moan about everything! of course i am NOT talking about all hungarians and americans, just the 6 occupying the 3 seats around us. lets start with the americans...just before the bus was about to depart, and 15 minutes late i might add, buffy and biff saunter onto the bus being extra careful not to touch anything (damn near including their seats) lest the third world cooties latch onto their pampered asses.....speaking of pampered asses, i must interrupt this harangue to tell you about the best 3 baht ever spent. just used the toilet here and what glorious item did i find awaiting me?...none other than the rough, sandpapery goodness of 1 ply elementary school toilet paper!!! ahhh, the soothing scratch of 1 ply after a long contained bowel movement is just what i needed to get the pep in my step again in this land of water and bare hand wiping. but i digress...

so buffy (with biff nodding in approval like a cheap bobblehead doll) proceeds to complain that they must be on the wrong bus because it looks nothing like the picture...since when does anything in marketing ever look like the picture? when was the last time mcdonalds served the juicy burger with fresh tomato and crisp lettuce like they advertise? we all know it's only the best in wilted, microwaved cuisine from them. so unfortunately buffy had to settle for bangkok's v.i.p bus service, which i thought was great. i mean we were on a double decker, air-conditioned bus with reclinable seating, blankets, a t.v., and the best part...big windows for an unabashed view of thailands thoroughfare. so for 10 hours she pissed and moaned, moaned about pissing, slept, then pissed and moaned again. ahhh, i love americans, but hungarians...shhiiiittt...well at least the couple seated in front of us...but they were so rude that i hope they didn't f--k it up for the entire country. let me explain...

from the time we boarded the bus it started off bad. at 1845, joronda and i are shown our seats behind the aforementioned couple. now mind you, it's only 6:45 in the evening and at this point they had their seats in 3/4 recline, which is exactly the distance between my right hand and left hand...that is if my fingers were interlocked and my hands were duct taped together and then put in a vice to squeeze out all remaining air!! well you get the idea...so naturally this presents a question of etiquette (to reference 'Fight Club') when passing, do i brush the top of your head with my ass or crotch? hmmmmmmmmm...so an ass and a crotch later we take our seats...no big deal.

20 minutes later i'm standing in the isle rearranging my belongings when suddenly i'm stiff-armed in the back by 'olga' rushing down the line like she's walter payton!! where, where could she possibly be going? well i'll tell you...no where. do you hear me? NO DAMN WHERE!!! and how do i know this? because when she got 4 steps away from me, she turned back around and pushed and shoved her way back to her seat...strike two. still no big deal, i mean we're in thailand for goodness sakes, and we're blessed to be here.

6 hours later...joronda and i return to the bus from the 1 hour break we were given, only to find these bastards in FULL RECLINE. what the hell is this?!?!!? strike three!! now after "crotch on facing it" back to our seats joronda flips on the overhead reading light to write in her journal. this subsequenly awakens the photo-sensitive 'olga' who snarls at the 1 watt bulb which can barely light itself, let alone the entire bus. so why was 'olga' disturbed by this insignificant reading light...because it was shining directly in her eyes. and why was it shining in her eyes...because her head was so far back that her face was cesarianed in joronda's lap so any journal writing would have had to be done on her forehead. so 'olga' jumps up cursing to 'mr. olga', who yells to their friends, who holler back to 'olga', who looks at us with disgust, throws a temper tantrum, and eventually...shuts her damn mouth, puts on an eye mask, and goes back to sleep. and that little light continued to stay on...you know why...because we're blessed to be in thailand for goodness sakes, and it's not that serious.

hope you enjoyed the story. please note: all "serious" curse words were censored...i mean come on guys, my mom's going to read this...and i love my mom :)

salaam
mateo

pictures are coming...

2005-11-06T04:52:00.000-07:00

salaam

i am sure that many of you are eager and waiting see pictures of our journey thus far. we do apologize sincerely for not having posted any as of yet. we have tried on numerous occasions and have been unsuccessful. i never bought a cf card reader before departing (which i've heard is lightning fast) and so i am still trying to upload pictures directly from the camera, which has proven to be a painstakingly slow process. i'm sorry...please be patient. since i have yet to find a card reader we may have figured out another way, which would involve burning them to a cd and then proceeding from there. if any of you picture uploading, computer geniuses out there have any suggestions please don't hesitate to share them in the comments section. we certainly could use them. thank you again for you continued patience, and my apologies once more.

salaam
mateo

Transportation

2005-11-05T07:12:00.000-07:00

Well let's just say we've become quite savy in the transportation area. In case you don't know we're no longer in Thailand. After boats, buses, tuk tuks, trains, motor bikes and the wonderful pedal bike I think we have this thing down.

We spent 19 hours in 3rd class on a train to Chiang Mai (Don't do this if your butt cheeks are not well padded or you bring your own...padding that is) Additionally our feet resembled plump potatoes ready to be slathered with butter. My toes were so powdered they looked like I walked to Chiang Mai...through flour patches.

We decided to do it on our own and rented a motorbike when we got there. This was great after I stopped knocking my helmet against the back of Mateo's head. He got the hang of it after the first day and we were weaving in and out of traffic like the locals. I have to be honest though, I let the helmet go after day one. In big blue letters it said BEER on the back and I figured it must be some tourist joke. I already looked like something weird with a headwrap stuck under this small helmet leaving cushion lines on my forehead. My head was ringing and the rain was whistling off the top of my head as we wizzed down the road getting passed up by the more experienced Thai motorbike drivers like 11 year old girls and 70 year old women.

We left Chiang Mai with the anticipation of what Cambodia was to bring but delighted by the experience we had there. 12 hours on a bus and we found ourselves back on Khao San Rd. When we came through there 4 days prior Mateo was wearing one flip flop and one tennis shoe and the predatory sales reps were so amused that one of them remembered and spotted Mateo's matching shoes this time and wondered why he was matching. At 6 am it's just not fun to try and communicate in a language you really can't speak but we laughed it off and headed into the Israli Connection for some rest and tooth brushing.

We enjoyed 3rd class so much that we decided to hit the same style to Cambodia. No problem because this was only a 6 hour trip. Although we were the only non Thai faces on the train we felt right at home. We had been there before. It would have been even better if we were able to purchase something from one of the local vendors but I'm sure we'll get the opportunity some other time.

Of course we were greeted by a willing tuk tuk driver in Aranya Prathet. He held up 7 and we thought we were getting a deal of a ride to the border but when Mateo asked for change for his 20 baht the driver said no 60 baht. It's interesting that he could say sixtey and not seventy until he was about to get 7 baht. Mateo wouldn't budge and some man off the street gave the driver 40 more baht. The point was, this guy tried to get over on us after we asked 3 times how much the ride would cost and repeated 7 baht each time he put up his fingers.

We actually had to walk across the border to Poi Pet, Cambodia. I can tell you this is one of the most disturbing experiences we've had thus far. There's tons of kids begging on the streets and they are very aggressive. Just as we were standing there a kid stole something and ran into the river behind some bushes. A couple of kids surrounded us and I had to say "get going". This was a really hard experience for me. I really don't like to ignore or be mean to kids and at the same time I had to protect our stuff. One young boy was trying to get close to Mateo's backpack while a little girl was walking beside me trying to grab my hand. Most of these kids don't have families and they are truly by themselves. They travel in packs and they are demanding and intimidating if you allow them to be. We walked across the border with a "travel agent" who played right in to our uncertainty. I was really done when two naked babies who couldn't even talk came running up to us trying to beg. They couldn't have been more than 15 or 16 months but very tiny.

A day later we found ourselves bumping down a road from Poi Pet to Siem Reap. This trip is almost indescribable. The bus sounded like a wooden roller coaster and the road was so bumpy that most of us were laughing when we first started out. The novelty wore off after about an hour and then people just got pissed. I thought the best part was when we stopped for a toilet break and the bus driver just pulled over on the side of the road. 8 hours later we reached Siem Reap with some very upset people. Mateo and I made the best of it and stayed at the guesthouse that none of us initially knew they were bringing us to. I actually thought the trip was kind of cool minus my headache and sore neck.

For the last two days we've been exploring temples. If you have a chance look up Angkor Wat. It's amazing and that's where we are. We're on bicycles daily travelling a couple of miles to visit some amazing ruins. We went to Ta Prohm today and that's where Tomb Raider was filmed. It's like some stuff out of an Indiana Jones movie. Ok this post is really long so we'll update you later. In 2 days we head south to Phnom Penh the capitol of Cambodia.

Joronda

Visit Koh Phi Phi

2005-11-05T06:39:00.000-07:00

So after our last escapade I figured I should post a plug for Thailand. If you've never been out of the country or you have and would like to find more places to visit I must suggest to you Koh Phi Phi Thailand. It's an island atmosphere so things are really laid back. I don't know why more U.S. residents don't travel abroad and especially why not to Thailand. It really isn't that far and if you just want to be a tourist it's easy to navigate and it's cheap to live. Koh Phi Phi was hit pretty hard by the Tsunami and the people are working really hard to build it back up. A lot of work has alfeady been done and P.P. is definitely up and operating. You should visit if you are planning a cool vacation.

Here are the things I liked about the island; Ordering fruit shakes in tropcial flavors from small stands with Thai pancakes cut in squares that you eat with a skewer stick, Stepping out on the veranda every morning and seeing the Andaman sea calm and nestled between two mountains that create a bay, Hiking up to the viewpoint and watching the sunset behind the other islands, Laying in a hammock at the top viewpoint overlooking the bay and far off islands while dangling over lush jungle landscape, Sweating hard while throwing sandbags in the rain to new friends who came to the island to do the same.

In terms of the work it's mostly done by hand. This is why I had a blood blister the first day we tried to work. When it came to our last couple of days on the island I was right on the dock with the rest of the Thai workers picking up our goods for the garden. The feeling was weird since the dock meant something totally different to me when we arrived 2 and a half weeks prior. After hauling 200 bags of of soil on a trolley (a wide, steel hand truck) with my English partner Sean Pual, I felt like I was really in the thick of it. Meanwhile, Mateo was the resident cement man and didn't have an opportunity to partake in this project. It's funny how we're on the same trip but will have lots of different stories to tell. I'm sure his account of the tablighi jammat (the Muslim brothers) will be much different from mine, as well as some of his stories from the garden, ask him about the dragon when we get back. While he was working cement I seemed to typically be on the trolley. We used broken coral to build a retention wall and when the tide was really low and far out we would take the trolley out and load it down with the coral. We had to lift these really heavy pieces from the wet sand and dump them onto the trolley and then push it back up to the retention wall. This was about a 200 meter round trip with 4 people pushing and pulling. When we could this is how we spent our afternoon. Until the full moon stopped all that. You get really familiar with the tide when your job depends on it.

Joronda

What a close call

2005-11-01T02:08:00.000-07:00

So we left Phi Phi 4 days ago with sad faces but many new friends. It's amazing how helpful and giving people are when you just stop to talk for even a brief moment. Equipped with our Lonely Planet guide to Souteast Asia (compliments of our new English friend Margie) we decided to head north to Chiang Mai, Thailand. This was not in our original plan but everyone spoke so highly of it we figured we couldn't pass up the opportunity. Our transportation route went something like this. From Phi Phi we boarded a ferry that dropped us off an hour and a half later in Krabi. Here we were to take an overnight bus twelve hours to Bangkok.

In Krabi we were waiting on the curb for the FREE bus to take us back to the bus depot when we spotted three Muslim brothers on a motor bike. We made eye contact as they puttered by and about 60 seconds later they had circled back and pulled up right in front of us. From our brief conversation we gathered only one of them spoke English and he was doing very well with the language. They were only in Krabi for 10 days and they live in a small town close to the Malaysian border. After about 5 minutes of aquaintence they were prepared to offer us food and a ride to the bus depot. We had to decline the food, no time, but the ride sounded good. I didn't think all 5 of us on the moped would be a good idea but no problem because they had a car. After 20 minutes two of the brothers returned and we all piled into a black pickup with a bubble campershell on the back. Please keep in mind our bus leaves at 4pm and it is 3:32, this isn't an issue though because we are really close to the bus depot. So now we're off in the truck headed the oppopsite direction of the bus depot. Why? Well, we don't know. I gave it a good 45 seconds before I said "This is a different way from what we know" and the brother's reply "Yes, this is the short cut, I think..." So I sat there observing the scenary and checking my watch. I spoke again "Does he know where he's going?" and the brother's reply "Yes (followed by something in Thai to the driver). You see, I'm sitting in the back and Mateo is sitting in the front at the driver's request. By this time I'm getting nervous and the brother next to me says "do you already have a ticket" well of course we do, and it's confirmed and our backpacks are at the depot. "May I see your ticket" says the brother. I didn't really like that idea since now I recognize that we are really far away from what could possibly even have been a short cut. Moments later the brother is on his cell phone with the bus company. Now from this point the conversation is a bit hazy. I can see that Mateo is starting to look a bit worried, by the tone of the brothers voice he's trying to handle some business on the phone and now I'm really freaking out. But I had to keep my cool because I was devising a plan and I didn't want to give it away by acting too nervous. I said to the brother "This really feels like the wrong way" so he asks the driver in Thai if he was going the right way and in very clear English he says "YES". Right around this time I spot the highway and I just knew he was going for it. I was on the edge of my seat as we rounded a corner to what appeared to me could be a back way to the bus depot and it was. However, it wasn't our bus depot. "That's not our's" "That's not our's". I have never felt my mouth and cheeks drop so low. We pleaded with the driver to drive fast back to the ferry dock where they picked us up. He wasn't listening to us and the brother next to me was back on the phone. He was speaking in Thai and I was translating him to say "They will not be leaving today." I just wanted to jump out but again I'm in the back, in the middle and Mateo is sitting calmly in the passenger seat in the front. I was wishing I had paper to pass him a note. It's 3:45, we're about 15 minutes from our true bus station, the driver is stopping on the side of the road. The brother on my right is quiet and the brother on my left is still having this conversation with the bus company, in Thai. This torture went on for another 2 minutes before the little truck started heading back towards the ferry dock. We did make our bus but I was exhausted when I leaped from the back of the truck and ran up the bus stairs with the English speaking brother repeating "I'll be waiting for your e-mail" as he waved from the streets seeing us off safely. I kind of felt bad that I let my horror film ridden mind get the best of me. Sori was his name and he apologized profusely. We should have been tipped off from the beginning when they said they weren't from there. These brothers were visiting Krabi just like us. We are certain to ask more questions when people offer to help us out.

Joronda

A day in the life

2005-10-24T08:35:00.000-07:00

It's great to see people are following us. We both are excited to get to the computer and see how many comments are on the page. Thank you so much for all your wonderful messages, beautiful thoughts, and consistent prayers. Keep them coming as we will soon be venturing in to new unfamiliar territory after our 3 week stint in Koh Phi Phi. I'm not sure that we've really shared with you the depth of what we're seeing, hearing and doing so let me paint the picture. Every morning we wake up at 3:45 a.m. to take a half mile walk to the masjid to enjoy breakfast before starting our days fast. The path is poorly lit, with low grade rolling hills and ample amounts of frogs, giant snails, roosters, chickens and drunk international tourists stumbling back to their bungalows. In pursuit of a hearty meal we b-line for the resort patio giving out the traditional "sawat di ka (Good Morning)" as we pass unsuspecting morning goers who curiously mistake us for thais. When we return to our bungalow (5:30 a.m.), which sits about 3o meters up a mountain we get back in the bed for a few more hours of sleep. Stepping out onto the balcony around 9:45 a.m. we are met with the beauty of the ocean, green mountains in the distance, the sound of hammers smashing nails into wooden structures and a sing songy, "Good moning Amer i ka" from Mun one of the Thai hosts at our guesthouse. What a glorious day every day, until the bladder calls. We share a common bathroom with about 15 other backpackers and people take roughing it literally. The bathroom is a short descent off the veranda and once the flip flops come off at the door an abundance of bacteria goes on. I usually try to hold it as long as possible so I only have to repeat the ritual a couple of times a day. The toilets are flushed using a bucket of water to your right and you clean yourself with a hose on your left. At some point people must forget the steps. Between the insects, stale urine, black footprints on the floor, and mothball air fresheners to mask it all the state of these solitary cells is abysmal. Pretty much, they suck! It's taken a bit to get used to since it's a coed facility and the entrance/exit is in direct eyeshot from the restaurant. It wouldn't be a bad thing except it feels weird to exit the shower in front of dining guests. I struggle to keep my sarong around me with my towel underneath, head wrap draped from head to shoulders, t-shirt over it all and my shower bag on my arm while I drag myself to the room trying not to make eye contact with anyone. Meanwhile, girls prance down the steps in bikini panties passing out "good mornings" and "cheers". So we leave The Rock (the name of our guesthouse) close to 10:00 a.m. and spend the rest of the day at the Memorial Garden. On the way there we walk past lost businesses wiped out by the tsunami and putrid smells of sewage and excrement upon which people are rebuilding bungalows daily. Arriving at the garden is a breath of fresh air. The people, the view and the purpose all make it worthwhile. Believe me there are no complaints. It's an adventure worth having. When we finish our jobs between 5 and 5:30 we make it back to The Rock to wash off the days dirt in cold salt water, put on our night clothes and head out for dinner and cards for the evening. We're in bed somewhere between 10pm and 12am to get ready to do it all over again the next day. So good morning to you but good night to us since it's 11:40 p.m. and we must get ready for our last day on the island.

Joronda

boodu dim mak, subyon

2005-10-22T00:32:00.000-07:00

salaam

confused by the title? let me explain...but first i must set the stage... eh em...so as the wife mentioned in the previous post the thais consume their daily bread "family style". wait...i'm getting ahead of myself. so the first day that we arrived on the island we went to one of the two masjids around iftar, with a measly package of dates that we'd bought in bangkok and a hell of an appetite. immediately we were summoned to a straw mat laden with food and hungry thais eager to break fast. spicy chicken, curried delights, vegetables and rice all sat steaming in the middle of this circle of family, friendship, and goodwill. family style? not quite. excited, we too sat down cross-legged to partake in the feast before us. i sat next to this half dressed, middle aged brother whos longi (southeast asian man skirt) was tucked under his ample belly, weighed down by his man breasts, and warmed by his hospitable demeanor and smile. ah, this must be family style because it can't get anymore family than this...well almost. so as the adhan sounds, plates of rice are disseminated to the hungry lot (silverware free of course) and the feeding begins. hands dig into the center serving bowls grabbing roasted fish, chicken curries, and seasoned vegetables. rice dotted fingers pass fisted balls of food across smoke stained teeth, and then return to drip curry and saliva into previously non-curried or salivaed dishes. now THIS is family style!!! when my plate started to look a little sparse, my happy buddah emulating companion retracted four, well-licked fingers from his mouth, shoved them into a bag of bean sprouts and refilled my almost empty plate with a smile and little belly jiggle that did nothing to dislodge the rice granules wedged between his stomach and left man-breast. now that's a hell of a welcome!! day 1...repulsed, day 16...lickin' and drippin' with the best of them. oh, i forgot to mention...when this brother finished eating, he washed himself off, put his clothes back on, then went into the masjid to lead prayer. they sure don't make imams like that back home :)

plane ticket to thailand...$400
bus and boat ticket to phi phi...$20
saliva flavored fermented fish sauce...priceless

so after 22 days of thailand, i'm loving it and i wouldn't change it for the world. and when we come back to the states it'll be family style eating and i'll be hollering "boodu dim mak, subyon!" (fermented fish sauce is good, number one) to the death of me.

hope you enjoyed...

salaam
mateo

Working finally!

2005-10-12T07:55:00.000-07:00

Well we've finally got what we came for. After a frustrating start in Phi Phi we're now in to some consistent work. Considering we have no real skills to offer and have quickly learned to lay brick we should now be on our way to improving our resumes. It's been 5 days on the island and the weather is humid and rainy (off and on) and the work is hard and exciting. We began in the tool shed where we think some Thai locals gave us pity work but after bending too many of their nails trying to hammer in post they occupied us with a craft project putting up siding for what seemed to be the wall of a room. We were proud of ourselves but slipped off quitely after the break so not to be more of a hinderance to their well working project. We now find ourselves daily at the memorial garden shoveling sand, toting coconuts and bricks, mixing cement, constructing walls, designing mosaics and doing whatever is necessary to get the park up and running. It will be a long project that we won't be here to see finished but the work were putting in is well worth it. The organizers of the project lost their 3 year old daugther in the tsunami. They are cool to be around and Toi the husband works hard alongside everyone while splitting time trying to rebuild his house. Eveyday we drag ourselves back to the bungalow for a shower with just enough time to sit before breaking our fast for the day.

Ramadan began right before we arrived in Phi Phi and the island is mostly Muslim. We'll have to go back and share with you our journey to the island but since we've been here the Thai have been nothing but hospitable. We've broken fast family style daily with traditional thai food. If you know anything about the cuisine then you know we've encountered some spice. Overall a great experience. Recently we discovered a second masjid and more friends. Not knowing the language is a challenge but they know how to say "eat" and we know how to say "yes" so things have been working out just fine.
Joronda

10 baht, 20 baht...800 baht

2005-10-03T22:45:00.000-07:00

Day two and what an adventure so far. We tried to sleep around what would be 12pm Arizona time and amid the banging, loud voices and thunder I can't say it was peaceful. I think some how we ended up in a Thai prostitution guest house, or at least that's what my mind lead me to believe. We headed to the room quite early so the party had yet to begin. About 3am it was on. Mateo didn't hear much but scary me I sat up several times guarding our room. Even though I installed the alarm system (a dream catcher wind chime looped around the security latch at the top of the door) I still didn't want some one with a key inviting themselves in. Eventually I did get some sleep and thank goodness because we needed to be alert for this mornings tests. So as we emerged from the Euro Inn ready to eat, take pictures and tour a bit we were lucky enough to be approached by one of the many tuk tuk drivers parked on the street. He offered to give us a grand tour of the city for 10 baht ($.25). Why not, and off we went. After seeing big buddah and lucky buddah the driver was ready for us to tour his favorite friends shops. Not what we were looking for, but this guy was trying to get free gas for our purchases. We're not complaining about his hustle but unfortunately he picked up the wrong two backpackers. We don't have 8000 baht to spend on a suit and since Mateo's trying to get rid of underwear we certainly don't have the space to carry that much weight. Well to briefly fill you in on the close of this story we returned to Khao San Road where we started, paid the driver, acosted him for our change and ate Pad Thai Noodles for breakfast...15 baht. What a morning for a total of $.75

Joronda

underwear...just added weight i'm ready to do without

2005-10-03T02:01:00.000-07:00

salaam

well we've made it to bangkok safe, sound, and in one piece...alhamdulillah. so after camping out in the airport for a good 40 minutes to an hour trying to get our combined 90 pounds of "life's necessities" repacked...we finally ventured out into the humid, open air of bangkok. first impression...it's a lot more modern than i had anticipated. second impression...traffic lights and turn signals to be damned out here, it's GFS (go for self) all the way baby. third impression...after trekking a short distance from the bus drop off point to this internet cafe on Khao San Road, with 50 pounds of "comfort" slung across my back like a pack mule, i find myself wondering "are underwear and socks really that necessary?" i mean how many pairs do we really need to survive anyway? 7? 3? none? could we get by with some duct tape and a washcloth? i'll let you decide...well it's started to rain and at the moment we don't have any secure lodging...so rather than pitching our tent in a back alley somewhere, i'd better get off this computer and find some shelter. until the next time...

salaam
mateo

LAX to Taipei to Bangkok

2005-10-02T16:21:00.000-07:00

salaam

we've just completed a thirteen hour flight to taipei, taiwan where we have a two hour layover before we reach bangkok, thailand. we left LAX at 0120 (1:20 am) on sunday, october 2nd, and we arrived in taipei at 0600 (6:00 am) on monday, october 3rd. our flight on EVA AIR was a pleasure. we were greeted with warm towels, pillows, quilted blankets, and slippers...so far so good. stepping into the taipei airport is almost like being on the set of irobot...i mean they have projection screens talking to you as you walk from one gate to the next, digital flower gardens with blooming orchids and curious butterflys, free internet service and cell phone recharging stations. i 've never seen anything like this and am excited to see more and share more...until then--mateo

We'll be sure to fly with EVA again. So now we're just about ready to be on our own. When we land in Bangkok we will make our way to an HI hostel and stayover before heading to Koh Phi Phi. That's the plan at least. Things have been smooth so far and the scenary is exciting. Talk to you later, from BKK--joronda

salaam

Homeless

2005-09-28T09:59:00.000-07:00

We've been away for a while not updating the blog but now things are about to get serious. As of Friday September 23rd we are officially homeless. It's an interesting feeling. Mateo picked me up from my job and we had no choice but to drive around finishing up errands with all of our stuff in the truck. We headed to Tucson because that was the plan but we certainly couldn't go home. Home was gone. As of 12:15 p.m. the walk through was over and the journey was on.
So we've been in Tucson since Friday night enjoying family and now we're LA bound. Stay tuned for more updates as we make our way to Koh Phi Phi Thailand for our first stop in this adventure. See you back here soon.

Independence Day

2005-07-04T21:46:00.000-07:00

In the background I can hear the sound of explosions not far from my front door. Hearing it takes me to a place I've never been. I can't imagine living in a neighborhood where the sound of bombs are as traditional as fireworks on a U.S. 4th of July (where I grew up is a whole different story). Knowing that somewhere else in the world people are not enjoying those sounds on this very same day seems a bit conflicting to me. Somehow the holiday that used to be my favorite day of the year has become a point of ponderance for me. It's hard to make a novelty out of what other people fear daily but over the years the 4th of July has always meant family time to me. I can't completely give up those feelings I trained myself to enjoy just thinking about the 4th but what I plan to do is build on my perspective with the new experiences Mateo and I are soon to have.

People seem to be amazed when we say we're going on an around the world trip. I guess before it became a reality I was amazed myself. After working so hard to get through school and handle overwhelming challenges I never imagined just giving it all up for exploration. I mean for real exploration not just the day dreams and journeys you take in your mind. After going through all the research and questions I've gotten very comfortable with the idea and I'm looking forward to finging out how I really feel about stepping out into the free and unfamiliar. The world is so much smaller to me now and the day I found out I'm allowed to get to know it was such and independence day!

Prep Time !

2005-05-03T00:26:00.000-07:00

This is just one of many nights that I've been up late researching for our trip. Excited is only one of the words that describes our feelings about this adventure we're getting ready for. Welcome aboard and we hope you stick around to cyber trek with us. It should be interesting. The adrenaline is rushing even though we're five months away from departure, but not simply because we're anticipating living with backpacks hoisted on our frames for days and months unknown. We are most elated over the ample healthcare we are taking with us in the form of vaccines and pills. I am especially gloating over the series of vaccines that without doubt must be delivered through needles. I would rather rub some salve or drink some discolored tonic but despite my frantic research for less blood pressure rising options I'll spend the next five months watching Mateo take it like a pro while I try really hard to channel my chi. 2 shots down and a lot more to go.