Author: karen

Niños y Niñas BIG CHECK day

Micha and I write emails back and forth in Spanish most often, but we kept referring to the BIG CHECK as just that. It doesn’t translate well into Spanish, and is more amusing this way. While neither of us are much for ceremony, it felt like the right thing to do in this case, especially […]

Planta Madre

Planta Madre is a group committed the conservation, cultivation, replanting of cactus and medicinal plants in the Bernal area of the state of Querétaro. The work in the protected area of the Peña de Bernal and have a large production greenhouse in San Antonio de la Cal. The group has been in existence for 6-7 […]

Happy Cactus Day

I had a happy cactus day. I’m not trying to imply that Cactus Day is an actual holiday, but it might be. Also, not that I need another project, but when Sarah makes a great contact and the opportunity involves going to Bernal to check out rare cacti, I’m in. At least this is starting […]

From the other side

From the other side of the Swearing-In. Congrats to the new group of volunteers in PCM-12.

Local Crag Sunday (Issue #5b)

In which Sarah and I meet a new climbing crew (go blog power!) and have a bush-whacking backtrack adventure before getting to the pretty, pretty routes. Karen has a power lead day, albeit on nothing harder than probably a 10b, but still has a great day on lead even through another blazing hot day probably over […]

(Pre-)Local Crag Sunday (Issue #5a)

In which it really is just too hot to climb properly, but Sarah and I have a great time biking our way out to the local crag and nearly kill Billie the dog. Billie is a trooper though, and recovers while Sarah and I suffer through a few routes. All is well though, and really we […]

Uninspired to cook

When it gets hot I just don’t feel like cooking. But I’m still hungry, so I’m kind of stuck. Also, I’m doing data entry for the solar cookstove project, which is uninspiring for the moment. Although, I expect the results to be interesting (perhaps even fascinating). So, here are two pics from the last cookstove […]

Semana Santa 2012 – talk about a good Friday.

Last year’s Easter week was in town during training and I kept myself occupied exploring the cultural side of the festivities in a very Catholic country. So, I didn’t feel the need to do that again, and I was hoping for a climbing trip. I was feeling frustrated that everyone seemed to have exciting plans […]

Tranquilidad

It’s the beginning of Semana Santa here in Mexico. In general, it is a week of vacation, but I’m about to tackle a pile of UN development documents over the next day in preparation for a meeting on Wednesday. I need to find/remember/keep my tranquility, because I generally hate reading these types of documents which, […]