More Mexico with Dad (o Mas Mexico con Papa)

My dad visited during "Semana Santa" or Holy Week, which is when nearly all of Mexico is also on vacation traveling to the most popular tourists places just like us. Sunday we went to Amikuu, a park I could nearly be a guide at myself having been there three times in four months. I loved it every time. The canyon never ceases to amaze, and the park is just kooky enough to work. I think my dad was most excited about the spider monkeys, and really who could blame him? Spider monkeys are the coolest little show offs around, much better than the crocodiles who never seem to move an inch. We saw the macaws and toucans, and jaguars and pumas, and after all that running around we cooled off in the pool. As we left through the museum, I heard "Yo Soy Chiapas"for the last time, which is an awesome song, and by far one of the best anthems I've ever heard.

The birthday song at graduation wasn't the last of birthday celebrations with my students. Some of us met on Monday in Rancho Nuevo (a nature preserve/forest area just outside San Cristobal). They brought a delicious choco flan and showed my dad and I how to slide down the cement slide on soda bottles (the type of slide we would probably use potato sacks for in the US). Martin was the best (just look at his pose). My dad, on the other hand, came home with a permanent souvenir from that ride down the slide.

After the slide, we went underground for spelunking in Las Grutas following dozens of other vacationers, and even overhearing a bit of the guides attempt at pointing out different formations (you have to look very closely, even more closely than when your friend points at a cloud and says "hey, doesn't that look like a unicorn!?"). We took a taxi back to San Cristobal, said our goodbyes and the group went back to Tuxtla while my dad and I explored San Cris again. We made it back to Tierradentro for a mocha, which my dad was certain was made with a special Mexican Chocolate because it was so amazing, but when I asked it was just Herseys. It was the coffee that was special, and we brought a couple bags home to try to replicate the mocha and the rompope lattes.

The next day we were up bright and early for the six hour ride to Palenque. I slept most of the way to ward off the motion sickness (which worked much better this time). We stopped at Aguas Azul and Misol Ha again, which were just as beautiful the second time. We opted for the English tour, and unlike last time, we were the only English speakers so we got our own tour. Our guide was a veteran who has working at the ruins since the 70s. I think you could take a tour with each of the guides at Palenque and get a new story every time. Our guide seemed convinced that the Mayan culture was a mixed culture with influences from Eastern and Western inhabitants who left pieces of their culture behind, like Buddhas. He also wasn't convinced that the famous image of Pakal's mother passing the crown onto him was inaccurate. He seemed to think that women weren't ever in power during Mayan times, and that this image was of a villager giving an offering to the king. Who knows? He waited at the bottom while we climbed the towers (I'm sure after the first hundred times climbing the ruins gets a little tiring).

We're still on the lookout for a book our guide recommended about the "real" story of Palenque. I'll let you know if I ever get my hands on a copy. After sitting in the royal seats imagining what it would be like to watch sporting events here years and years ago, we were back in our bus seats back to Tuxtla.

The next day we took in the rest of Tuxtla, went back to the market for souvenirs, and had dinner with a few of my students. We went for pizza (I know, such a traditional meal for my last proper dinner in Mexico). I have to say I was excited for pizza back in the USA since pizza in Mexico can hardly compete and is extremely expensive.

The next day we was our last bus tour. On the itinerary was El Chiflon and Los Lagos de Montebello. You can see the cascades of El Chiflon from the road, describing the height is useless, except for to say it is massive. At the beginning of the hike there are calm waters to swim in, and along the path are tents and picnic areas. We only had about an hour or two (and dad isn't a huge fan of swimming) so we definitely opted to hiking to the top. Chiflon is made up of several falls, and each has the perfect posing place etched out (some dare you to climb onto rocks, which we just had to do), and besides posing the falls are just another one of natures ways to awe and amaze us. They are truly beautiful. The path is shaded and the air is fresh, making the hike enjoyable and not too difficult.

From El Chiflon we drove to Los Lagos, on the border of Guatamala. In the mountains are lagoons surrounded by lush forests. We went kayaking in some of the bluest water I've seen since the grottos in Capri, Italy. After getting the hang of our paddling, we made it to the tiny island in the center of the lagoon. If only it was warmer, there was a perfect jumping point that would have served us well. On a small corner of the island it looked like someone had planted an bizarre plants garden where oddly beautiful flowers were blooming. We stopped at a few look out points and took photos in front of the mountain range that separated us from Guatamala. After passing all the street vendors, with the requisite meat hanging in the front of the tent, we left the mountains (after seeing cork trees) and headed home. This last ride "home" to Tuxtla was bittersweet. The next morning we woke up too early and jam packed a taxi and headed toward the airport for our trip back to Chicago.

Another visitor (o otro visitante)

My dad is half Mexican (it is to this half I my slightly olive complexion), and half Irish (it is to this half I owe my admiration for "Irish Coffee"). He didn't grow up speaking Spanish, but he does know how to make one heck of a tamale. My dad's trip to visit me in Chiapas was his first International trip, and I was excited to be able to show him around this country that our ancestors called home.

My dad got to town on my birthday, which also was the school's graduation. At the Tuxtla airport you buy a ticket to an approved taxi based on zones and color. So, we took at taxi that thankfully had air conditioning, the 30 or so miles to Tuxtla. I tried to point out what I knew on the way into town, but really, like most places, the ride from the airport to the center of town was quite uninteresting: farms, cows (cows are a lot skinnier in Mexico), small villages, tiny roadside restaurants. I explained that graffiti in Tuxtla didn't mean we were in a scary neighborhood, and still can't answer why the rebar is sticking out of most of the buildings. My best guess is that the owners hope to add on some day.

Friday was a busy day. We took the bus to breakfast (his first of many bunny bus rides) and I shared my affinity for chiliquiles and made sure he ordered some. Chiliquiles is my favorite Mexican food. It's fried tortilla strips simmered in salsa and topped with goat cheese and eggs. We took a brief tour of the west-ish side of town mainly featuring my school and then met up with some of my friends for a birthday lunch. It was everything a birthday lunch should be, and included an awesome crown (a tradition I'm told).

I wore the crown that afternoon, starting my 28th year as "royalty," but thought it would clash with my dress at graduation so I left it at home that evening. As a side note, I still haven't eaten the bubble gum that served as the center of the flowers. Anyway, that night students from two of my classes graduated (my 7 to 9 a.m. class and my 5-7 p.m. class). I really was lucky to have such fabulously smart and sweet students. They even sang "Happy Birthday" to me at their graduation celebration and gave me a card with the nicest birthday greetings. After taking pictures, talking with the local media and saying goodbye to my students it was time to celebrate with the other teachers at a karaoke bar. I sang a Beatles song with the new teachers from Poland, tried to sing along to the Spanish songs and danced when the lyrics were too fast to follow. Tequilla was drank (with Squirt, which is something I had never had before) and it really was a great start to my 28th year.

Saturday, after class, dad and I took the bus to San Cristobal. I took him to Tierradentro, which has by far some of the best food in Chiapas. Here is what our table looked like after we ate.

Keep in mind it was just the two of us. I had the vegetable plate, and also the celery soup that came with my dad's meal, which was Chiapaneco chicken mole. The blue corn chips with guacamole were fantastic, I could have eaten the guacamole with a spoon like ice cream.

The restaurant is, from what I gathered, a sort of Zapatista cooperative. The Zapatistas (primarily rural indigenousness people) have been in conflict (mostly nonviolent) with the Mexican state for more than a decade over control of local resources and rights of the people. Signs in Zapatista areas read "You are in Zapatista rebel territory. Here the people command and the government obeys." I found this video that does a great job explaining what the Zapatistas are about, you should watch it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUpcuM95t5M

Ok, so this blog took a little detour. I'm going to leave it with this, and give you time to read the links and watch the video. But hopefully you'll be back to read more about my dad's visit to Chiapas, which should be up in a day or two...

The last round up of Andrew's time in Tuxtla

You can't visit me and not make it to a zoo. Like I said in my first post about this zoo, I'm a sucker for zoos, and assume everyone else loves them as much as I do. Luckily, in addition to macaws and pumas, Zoomat has tarpirs (photo below) and anteaters, so it is impossible not to love this place.

Zoomat also has ice cream-filled fruit. They were out of pineapple. But even though the orange wasn't tropically refreshing as the pineapple was, it was still delicious. I will be on the look out this summer for someone to have them in Chicago. Fingers crossed!

We also went to the Sima de Las Cotorra (Green Parrot Sinkhole), about two hours by bus and taxi through true country rounds. The sinkhole is home to thousands of green parrots who fly in and out of the hole in mass every morning and evening. We missed the mass exodus, but we did hear the calls of hundreds birds echoing, and with our rented binoculars saw ancient paintings on the walls of the sinkhole. The trail along the opening is filled with my favorite cactus trees, flowers and plants, and at the bottom of the 140 meter hole is a small forest. Since this time we only looked from above, maybe next time I'll find a way to rappel...

In Chiapa de Corzo there is supposed to be a pre-hispanic archeological site with ruins from 900 AD. They proved to be elusive. None of the taxi drivers seemed to have heard of it. I asked a tour guide who was sharing tales of the oldest town in Chiapas to other tourists and he said it was nearly inaccessible to visitors. The guide was telling tourists about the fountain in the center of town built by a Dominican friar in the 1560s. The fountain is under a Moorish style arch, which is unique and interesting, but maybe not as great as the hype it was given on a couple guide sites. The guide suggested we visit another site that he estimated was less than a mile away, but while we walked in the direction he suggested we took a detour up a hill on a hunch that something was at the top. We passed by what looked like an artist's home (paints and canvas were outside the small brick home), and made it to the top of the steps. We stumbled upon a "rehabilitated church" called Templo de San Sebastian. So, although we missed out on seeing some Zoque history, we did get to explore a secluded roofless church with great views whose bricks still were charred from candles that must have lit the place week after week years before.

There is a small altar in front of the green benches (above) that I imagine are filled each week for service. The set up is outside the actual temple, but is still nice in its own right. The walk back to town was more like a hilly hike, with little shade. The neighborhoods reminded me of Tuxtla, where small homes stood adjacent to storefronts and the streets had just a tad too much garbage, but overall it was a nice town (especially with the hills and the views of the river). After our hike back to downtown I suggested Andrew try pozol (a "refreshing" beverage made with cocoa and corn meal). The locals swear by it, but I couldn't get over the texture. The taste isn't bad, but I prefer not to chew my drinks. A student once let me try Tascalate, which tastes like pozol, but is free of the corn meal bits.

So, we're almost to the end of Andrew's time in Chiapas. We spent his last day in San Cristobal. San Cristobal is always a refreshing change of climate from Tuxtla. And who doesn't adore the mountains? Unfortunately, he only got an abbreviated tour of San Cris, but I think I hit a lot of the highlights. We made it to both markets (the artisan and the fruit), but somehow struck out on our search for empanadas. We climbed the steps to Guadalupe's temple, took countless photos of the clever stencils, walked through the second oldest chapel (and glimpsed at a few of the creepy statues so popular in old churches here), and saw the church that Pope John Paul II visited in the 90s. By the way, in Mexico, Pope John Paul is called Juan Pablo. A slightly embarrassing revelation I made with my students when we were talking about influential people in the world and they mentioned Juan Pablo. They read my curious shoulder shrug correctly and offered a helpful explanation: "el papa."

After touring around town we grabbed a warm drink at the Revolution Cafe on one of my favorite streets in San Cristobal (it is limited to pedestrians and lined with shops and fabulous places to eat and drink). For the first time in a long while I bought bracelets from one of the young vendors, and Andrew got a miniature stuffed green worm with its tongue sticking out, and I got a small pink mouse. So after the rompope lattes, with out matching hoodies, we went to the restaurant recommended by the hostel host. I had the best mole sauce covering my cheese enchiladas and a fruity margarita, but the sweetness was quickly muted by the shot of mezcal we had toward the end of our meal. If you can, avoid mezal at all costs. You might was well just down rubbing alcohol. If you have ever seen my tequila face, picture that, but 10 times as scrunchy. From there we ended our night at an empty bar where we cozied up to a corner table. They played fun music, albeit the same song rotated through a couple times, and the owner was nice enough to send us over a couple drinks. It was the perfect last spot.

And that was it. Andrew was back to the USA the next day, and I was back to having solo adventures for a few weeks (until my dad came my last week there)...

Mexican catch up - Round 2

The bus ride to Palenque was long, six hours winding through the mountains to be exact. The path to Palenque was beautiful (green valleys, mountain tops peaking up in the distance and blue skies).

(I can't write about this naturally beautiful area without mentioning the heartbreak as we past poor mountain villages. Maybe one day Mexico will figure out how to ensure all people have opportunities... Maybe one day the road to the waterfalls will be lined with sustainable homes with healthy children playing in the yard... Maybe one day... And if you're looking for a way to help, here are two organizations that I found doing a quick google search on Chiapas: http://www.schoolsforchiapas.org/ and http://www.chiapas-project.org/about.htm)

So, as we traveled through the mountains, to the fabulous 80s soundtrack our driver chose, I tried not to focus on the quick stops, bumps and turns. It was next to impossible. I was ecstatic when we arrived at our first stop, Agua Azul. The name, while spot on in terms of the color of the water, doesn't give justice to the waterfall (photos don't do much better, but I gave it a shot).

We didn't have time to swim, but we did get to dip our feet in and feel the water spouting from a fish-like rock sculpture at a midway point to the top of the falls. The water was refreshingly frigid considering the heat. The path to the top is neatly carved steps, with a bridge over to a lookout point where mountain peaks filled in the distant skies and the pooled blue water began to cascade down hundreds of feet. We made it to the top just in time to see a swimmer gain the courage to swing into the water using a tarzan-esque rope. Her friends applauded and we had to make our way back down to the bus (equipped with stored fresh air and a Sprite for the rest of the bumpy bus ride).

We stopped once more before Palenque at another waterfall, Misol Ha. Fun fact: Ha means water in one of the local indigenous languages, so most of the sites have Ha as a part of their name (like all the "parks" and "groves" in the names of American towns). Misol Ha is one big fall rather than a series of small falls, it reminds me of a shampoo commercial. One of the problems with group tours is that you don't get to operate on your own schedule. I wish we had more time here. We quickly took photos in front of it and raced on the path to walk behind it and by the time we got behind the water it was time to go back to the bus.

After the refreshing trips to the falls, we boarded the bus one last time before getting to Palenque (see last post for the adventure that began there). I forgot to mention, in my post about Palenque, that we were there on the first day of Spring. This meant dozens of sun worshipers dressed in white clothes came to celebrate that day. It would be a great place to meditate, but our time was spent soaking up our guides insights on the thousands of years of history hidden in this site (like the death skull in the photo below).

After our six hour travel, the rest of our week-long adventures were closer to my new home in Tuxtla. Another catch up post will be up soon. If I keep up this pace, I'll be writing about my US travels soon enough (like this trip to Ohio).

First round of Mexican adventure catch up

I've been back in the US for a little more than a week, and am slowly readjusting to life in the Midwest. It rained more in the first week I was in Chicago than the entire four months I was in Tuxtla. But, seeing my family and friends reminded me why I brave through the terrible winter/"spring" weather here. I've begun my Midwest travels (stopping once in Madison already, and leaving for Ohio Thursday), but I have a lot of catching up to do here about the last of my Mexican adventures.

I was lucky to spend a couple of my last weeks in Chiapas with visitors from home. Andrew came for the last week in March and my dad spent my last week in Chiapas with me during Semana Santa (Holy Week).

During Andrew's visit I still had to work, but it really is crazy to think of all we crammed in those hours I wasn't in the classroom. Andrew met me at my favorite coffee place after I got finished with my Saturday class. It was fun to be able to show him all of the places I pass every day, since a walk to BioMaya became a staple in my daily routine. Saturday night we went to one of my student's soccer games, where I introduced him to another student of mine who was sure he was a giant before they met. Carlos actually called him Titanic (as in Greek Titans, not the ship) after seeing a photo of us together at Sailor Maehler's wedding. To my student's credit, I am short, and so is nearly everyone in Mexico, so Andrew is quite "Titanic" in comparison. Anyway, back to soccer. I love the stadium he plays at, it's on the roof of the mall. Soccer led to drinks near Marimba Park. We found a place that had a Margarita Blue on the menu. It's as delicious as it sounds. Of all the colors, blue might be my favorite flavor.

Sunday we grabbed a taxi to Sumidero Canyon. The canyon is such an important feature of Chiapas that it is the backdrop of the state's crest. We started at the Amikuu boat launch, decked out in life jackets and admission bracelets. To get to Amikuu we embarked upon an hour and a half boat ride through the canyon. We saw the Chistmas Tree Cascade (which wasn't yet a waterfall since it wasn't rain season), the religious shrine in a grotto next to a rock sculpture that someone pointed out looked like the headless body of Jesus, wild crocodiles and spider monkeys, and my favorite yellow flowered trees that pop out among the greenery. I wish I could remember the exact words Andrew used to describe Amikuu Park when we were walking through, something like a wannabe zoo/halfway adventure park. I wouldn't say he was wrong. There are a lot of different things going on at Amikuu, all kind of thrown together. One of the first things you have the chance to do is have your photo taken with a tropical bird. After looking pretty in the picture, the Macaw on Andrew's shoulder decided he wanted to add some variety to his diet. He ripped a button from Andrew's shirt. And, not that I was so much worried about getting the button back, I was shocked at the handler's lack of action. He just let the bird chew on it, never making an attempt to get it from his beak. I was worried the Macaw would chock, but in the end, he was ok. But, anyone looking for a good present for Andrew should be on the look out for a Macaw shaped button to replace the one missing from his shirt. Nature wasn't all against us that day. Andrew PET A PUMA! He even made her purr and kick her leg like a giant house cat. And we got to see the canyon from up above on a zip line. A tip for all future Amikuu visitors: If you have to choose, zipline is far better than kayaking! Oh, and then, to make our boat ride home better, we made friends who insisted on calling Andrew loco and posing for pictures with him. This photo is brought to you by Modelo.

As the sun set on our canyon trip we jumped on a "bus" back to Tuxtla. The problem of going to places with locals is that when you try to do the trip on your own you may not be 100 percent accurate in terms of where to have the bus stop. We went a little out of our way, but hey, we got to see a new part of town, and made it back safe...

Monday was no school! YAY! We woke up before the sun rose, and headed toward some of the most incredible Mayan ruins. As a Mayan city, Palenque was a booming metropolis in the seventh century. Some of the ruins are from as far back as 100 BC, and go until the fall of the city around 800 AD. The buildings were all overrun by the jungle until more than a thousand years later. The most popular and most important buildings there were the Palace, the Temple of Inscriptions and the Temples of the Cross Group. If you ever go, opt for the tour. We were able to request an English guide, so rather than walk around aimlessly we knew exactly what we were looking at, or at least what our guide was fairly certain we were seeing. For example, here we climbed one of the cross group temples and had a fabulous view of the palace.

Many of the structures had seven levels/steps. According to our guide, the Mayans believe in three levels of the underworld, three levels of "heaven" and an in between (which I believe he said was Earth, if I'm remembering correctly). Seven was there number. Another fun tip, the Mayans somehow discovered magnetic north. Our guide seemed to think it was because the Universe wanted them to know. On my second trip to Palenque, our guide said that God himself came down and told them. The tomb of the most famous and powerful leader of Palenque (Pakal) was also found here. Too bad that building was closed. Palenque is massive and has a massively huge history. Palenque is one of the most written about Mayan sites, and you can start to learn more on simple sites like Palenque's Wiki site. The disappearance of the Mayans is a bit of a mystery, and everyone seems to have their own opinion. Some of the most common are: aliens, famine, meteor or war.

The road to Palenque is not a smooth one, but luckily there were stops. I'll tell you more about the stops along the path (to the waterfalls) and the next few days of Andrew's visit soon. Stay tuned!

Covered in Powder (o cubrió en el talco)

I discovered a new use for baby powder last weekend. I went with friends to Carnivale in Coita. I was warned in advance not to wear nice clothes and to bring a plastic bag to protect my camera. I learned first hand that it is tradition to throw baby powder on one another during Carnivale and for people young and not so young to have foam fights.

First, a quick overview of Carnivale. Carnivale begins the weekend before Ash Wednesday and celebrates native Zoque traditions that date back to pre-Hispanic times, as well as Arabic and Spanish traditions. The rituals symbolize the struggle between good and evil, between the Moors and Christians, which is why the main characters represented are Muhammad, David, and the horse of Arab-Spanish origins, and the tiger, jaguar, and monkey of Zoque origin.

Each small neighborhood in Coita is represented by one of the characters, my friend's family lives in the neighborhood that is represented by the horse. We started our celebration Saturday night at the marking of the horse (no horses were harmed). As with any good party, it starts with a parade. We waited at the party house, which I'm told switches every three years, and watched as the hosts prepared what seemed like thousands of tamales. Loud music signaled the parade was quickly approaching and I got a glimpse of the little boy who was dressed as the horse this year. Judge for yourself, but I think he looks just a little scared... But, as I said, no horses were harmed, including little kids dressed in costume. He quickly got out of costume and the horse (without the child) was hoisted to the ceiling. Then, a group of men practiced a really cool dance that was performed on Ash Wednesday. My favorite was the man practicing traditional dances in a Kiss T-shirt. I then had a "vegetarian" tamale. It was presented to me as having only vegetables, it's unfortunate that I don't consider chicken a vegetable or I could have finished the whole thing instead of passing it along to a friend. We went back to my friend's grandmothers for what I thought was the rest of the night since we put in "Despicable Me" (a great flick in any language). I was wrong, though. The movie was just tiding us over until the late night festivities.

The group of us went to watch a band play in what I can only describe as being a venue similar to a forest preserve shelter with open walls and beer in a can. It was a small group, like a family party that had someone's cousin's band playing. That is where I got my first experience with the baby powder. We were all dancing to the Marimba music, when the powder was all of a sudden flying. There is one difference in terms of dancing that can't go on unmentioned. The first band, a kind of alternative, rock-ish group played with the lights low and everyone sat around and listened, then the lights came up and the marimba band began and everyone was out of their seats. I cannot think of one occasion back home, besides Fred Astaire events, that people danced more when the lights were turned up. So, the band played, the powder flew and eventually, when the rock band came back and tried to sing in English, I made my way to the stage to help them out.

By the time we made it home, we took a quick nap and woke up an hour or so later for the morning parade. We knocked on doors and gathered offerings for the saint's alter at the party house. I had my first taste of pozol (a cold chocolaty corn beverage popular in Chiapas) and a caballito of what I assume was tequila to start the day off right. We left the "party house" for another nap before the afternoon parade. Similar to the parachicos, in this parade men dress in colorful feminine outfits and Spanish masks.

These green ones were my favorite, because they were the closest I was going to get to St. Patrick's Day here in Mexico (although I did do a good job of convincing most of my students to wear green yesterday). So, I joined these guys, along with people banging on drums, playing a reed with 24 notes and other traditional Zoque instruments that symbolize the beating of life and the whistling wind, through the streets of Coita for a good portion of the late morning. I came out of the parade covered in baby power and foam, and excited to have been able to participate in this amazing traditional event. Thanks to Estrella, Armando, Luisa and Estrella's family for having me!

Yikes, those crocodiles weren't plastic (o Ay, esos cocodrilos no fueron plásticos)

For those of you following me via my fb photo uploads, you know I went on an awesome nature trek last weekend. Where to? Amikuu.

Amikuu Marina is where our boat launched on the Grijalva River and made it's way through the canyon. I was looking up at has 900 meter cliffs (more than half a mile) for about a half hour until we made it to the park. Apparently it gets greener during rainy season, but for me, seeing that much green in February was fantastic. And there were spider monkeys and crocodiles. This canyon is so important to the state that its silhouette is the base of the Coat of Arms. And the boat paused just in time for us to take our pictures in front of the coat of arms.


Amikuu is part zoo, part nature preserve, part museum and 100 percent awesome! We disembarked and began exploring. I heard the Chiapas anthem, which is now one of my favorite Mexican songs, and passed though a rope entryway to the aviary. I'm not usually one for birds, but these were not your average birds. These birds were technicolored. The vibrant hues of teh macaws and tucans were unlike any color I've seen in nature before. I came nose to beak with a tucan, hesitantly, and posed for pictures with the "Fruitloops" famed bird. From the aviary we saw crocodiles, in cages, of course, because the force a crocodile's bite can excess of 5,000 pounds per square inch. Crocodiles also can go a year without eating, crazy. But, the snakes were in rooms with paths for people to walk through. It was creepy to be that close to a constrictor. After trekking past big cats we chose our two activities for the day: Repelling and Kayaking. I've never repelled before, and hope this first time won't be my last, because it was a lot of fun. We were only about 40 feet off the ground, but it feels higher when you look down. Then, we walked and walked to the front of the park to go kayaking. It was too bad that we couldn't go further than the little lagoon-like area, but it was still humbling to look up at the canyon from the water. The sun was warm and the breeze was calm, creating a perfect moment to sit back, relax, reflect and enjoy my amazing surroundings.

After our self propelled boating adventure we boarded our vessel back to the Marina. The driver sped through the canyon kicking up a little water which caused a bit of concern for one of the passengers who didn't understand the possibility, well the probability really, of getting wet when on a boat. After a "discussion" the driver slowed down. To be honest, I liked speeding though the canyon. The warm breeze was a welcome relief from the sun and the drops of water weren't anything to get uppity about, especially with the wind serving as a drier.

So, back at the marina, as the sun was beginning to set, I took a few minutes to get my land legs back. My Amikuu adventure was ending. We walked across the highway to catch a bus back home, and said goodbye to the great outdoors (for now).

(On a side note, I am ever amazed at how easy it is to find a bus going in the direction I need to go, and even more amazed at how cheap it is to get from point A to point B. We waited for maybe three minutes and caught a bus going straight to the city for less than two bucks.)