Yucatan Peninsula – Day 2 – Punta Allen

Step 1. Leave Tulum heading south. Stay on the coastal road. Step 2. Drive to end of road. Step 3. Once in town, drive to end of road. Step 4. Stay in beach cabana on practically private beach. Requirements: faith that the town really exists at the end of the road and bug repellent. Snorkel […]

Yucatan Peninsula – Day 1 – Tulum

My guy and I spent a week in Quintana Roo and the Yucatan and successfully achieved my goal of not spending a single minute in the city of Cancun. The airport is conveniently located well outside the city. Instead, we did a wonderful tour which included a mix of beaches, birds, and ruins. Being low-season, […]

Birds of my Neighborhood

You’ve already met the cat that stalks them or dreams of stalking them, so now it’s time to give some attention to the birds that hang around my neighborhood. Mainly, it was just really nice on my terrace the other evening, so I decided to hang out there for a while and take some pics. […]

Hours 1-2 of 10,000

Before I can run off and join the circus instead of just being an acrobat groupie, I have to start taking some lessons. Good thing for me that I have a friend starting up a school, and I have a few web skills to barter for classes. Time to get on the silks! (Or hopefully […]

A large automobile and water flowing underground

How did I get here? How do I work this? Where does this highway lead to? In my case, I was not behind the wheel of the large automobile, per Peace Corps regulations, but the questions still apply to a bit of a bizarre weekend. I can’t really say that much, except interesting times as […]

Cañón del Sabino

No witty title, just pictures and more pictures from the canyon with the military macaw colony. I want to go back with a tripod and really get started at 5am to see the big movement of the birds first thing as they exit the canyon. And, yes, I know that a tripod won’t really help […]

Have solar oven, will travel

Although the climate in the state of Puebla is significantly cloudier and rainier than where I live, I packed up my solar oven and took it with me to a science fair this weekend in a small community there. The fair was organized by another Volunteer for the children and parents at the school where […]

Community Participation Tools

Taking a step back to the second-to-last day of Mid-Service Training and away from my oh-so-self-important reflections, I want to share some pictures from our group field trip to one of the communities in which we have been working for the solar stove project. But, before I do that, I will explain how this outing […]

Almost a complete set

After climbing in Salamanca, Guanajuato yesterday, I think that I’m just missing one of the “local” crags – those within say an hour to an hour and a half away – before I have the complete set. The missing locale is an old crater and supposed to be nice, but we’ll have to see how […]

Wish they all could be California birds

After travelling all night and trying to jump back into work yesterday, I might still be a touch grumpy, which is the usual state upon return to Mexico after visiting M. in California. We had a few great days together with a lot of birdwatching around Lake Tahoe and in the Bay area. This time, […]

After the Big Check… the Weighty Certificate

I like coming up with witty titles too much to not in this case, but actually it was quite an honor to attend and receive a plaque in recognition of the work we having been doing with the solar ovens during the solar oven festival today. The real shame was that Sarah couldn’t be there […]

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 […]