Bound in the north by the River Liffey, Temple Bar is a happening spot in Dublin. The Temple Bar is not only a pub but an entire area that comprises several fun filled, cobblestone blocks. The square is packed of some of the most happening bars & restaurants that Dublin has to offer. It is a very touristy area and is always abuzz with people, street performers and people looking for a good time. If you’re headed to Dublin you owe it to yourself to spend some time in this exciting area of the city.

In other news Randy and I are headed to Vegas on Wednesday with his mom and grandparents in an RV! We are pretty excited to head back to Sin City for some multi generational family fun!

Click to see the rest of the Somewhere In Time photos.

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Whale Watching In Baja. Keep in mind this is just the tip of his nose. This whale was huge!

A few weeks ago Aldo from OneTravel.com contacted us to see if we would be interested in writing a guest blog for his site. OneTravel.com is an excellent source for cheap flights to destinations around the world.

We were flattered and decided to write about what has been one of our best travel experiences ever – playing with wild grey whales off the coast of San Ignacio in Baja, Mexico. Every year the whales migrate to the safe, protected waters of the lagoon at San Ignacio and have their babies. They give birth in January and stay  in the area until March.

March is the best time to visit because the babies are a bit bigger & very curious and the mothers are less cautious. They will come right up to your little boat to say hi. They love to be scratched & pet and will stay by the boat for quite a while. We were told by the staff at the Kuyima Ecological Reserve that their barnacles get really itchy and it is a great relief to them to be rubbed.

These whales are huge – about 20+ feet and it is simply awe inspiring to be around them.

It was an amazing journey and it was mind blowing to pet such large wild creatures in their natural surroundings. We highly recommend this trip!

Please read our full write up and see  more photos of playing with the whales at Onetravel.com which has some photos and gives all the specifics about how to get there, how much it costs and what to bring with you.

If you need to book a flight try OneTravel.com because they have some great deals and can get you to Mexico just in time to see the whales yourself!

Here is a screen shot from the guest post:

I opened my email this morning to find a nice surprise – one of my photos was published on Whygo.com! Yah!

Those of you familiar with Bootsnall already know what Whygo is all about but those that don’t – it is a Bootsnall site that produces awesome travel guides for destinations around the world. It’s a go to place where you can get travel tips/advice and ideas about where to take your next trip. If you are serious about traveling then you need to join Bootsnall.com. It has by far the best travel information. The forums are phenomenal and beat out Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree any day of the week.

They also feature a daily photo on their Whygo site to inspire your wanderlust. I submitted this photo and it was published today which is very exciting!

Here are the screen shots and below is the original image which you might recognize from my Somewhere In Time photo post a week or so ago.

Thanks WhyGo!

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A young boy wipes away tears at the grave of a loved one on Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, Mx while the rest of the women in his family watch over him. I wasn’t able to find out who they were mourning but it was clear in their faces that this person was very well loved. I had the unfortunate feeling that this might have been the grave of the boy’s mother. This scene caught my eye because the boy was very emotional but he was flanked by the love of the other women in his family who watched over him in the background.

Click to see the rest of the Somewhere In Time photos.

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t’s true, San Diego is an outdoor enthusiasts paradise. From surfing to kayaking to hiking and sailing there is always something to do in the great wide open.

But what is there to do in town if you are a fan of museums & the theater? Perhaps you are a gardener with a love for plants. Does San Diego have anything to offer someone who is more interested in the finer things?

The answer is YES! And the place to visit is Balboa Park.

Of course there are other areas of San Diego with great art studios and gallery openings but if you want world class art in a consolidated space than Balboa Park is your holy grail.

More good news: Planning to visit this February? Stop into any local Macy’s department store and you can get a coupon for half off of all the museums in the park!

A Little Background:

The land was designated in 1868 and now covers 1200 sq. acres smack dab in the middle of San Diego. It’s fantastic! Not many cities have such an amazing green space right in the center of the city. It is easily accessible by car, bike or by foot. Balboa Park has also been home to two world fairs and stands out in a crowd because of the amazing Spanish architecture detailing each building. A stroll through the park can feel like a step back in time. Most of the buildings are from the 1800’s and a visit around 4pm will bring out the most amazing glow in the adobe walls.

One of the many Spanish style buildings in the park.

Not only is Balboa Park one of the best parks to visit in California, or possibly even the U.S., but it is dearly loved by all local San Diegans. Home to December Nights (a sparkling holiday event), Haunted Trail (a Halloween event) and free summer concerts at the organ pavillion it is no wonder that it is so fiercely loved by the locals. If there is anything exciting & colorful happening in San Diego chances are it is taking place at Balboa Park.

The park is close to the hearts of so many that if you came to San Diego and did not visit it, you truly would not have really visited San Diego at all.

Map of San Diego. Balboa Park is the large green area in the middle of the city

Things To Do In The Park:

You could spend several days taking in everything that park has to offer. If you’re short on time then the best thing would be to pick the types of things that interest you the most and focus on those.

Balboa Park is home to:

13 Museums

4 Theatres

12 Gardens

1 Dog Park

11 Restaurants

Numerous hiking trails & activity centers

Balboa Tennis Club

Balboa Golf Complex (the city golf course)

The Ruben H. Fleet Science Center

The world famous San Diego Zoo

This is just a small sampling of what is available at the park. On top of that you can wine taste and take part in a class at Balboa Park food & Wine School. I once took  a wine class there that was really fun! Balboa park is also home to the WorldBeat Center, Spanish Village Art Center (where you can shop and buy some amazing pieces of art) and the Spreckles Organ Pavillion which has free concerts every Sunday and is extremely picturesque.

Paintings for sale at the Spanish Art Center.

Insider Tip: You can bring your own wine to the park! A really great way to unwind is to bring a picnic and settle in near the Japanese Garden and the Spreckles Organ Pavilion. On Sundays (June – Aug) at 2:00 you can listen to the free organ concerts and have a picnic with some sangria or wine. Don’t worry this is no regular organ – it has over 4500 pipes and sounds amazing. Fun!

Most of the local organizations also meet here including the Horticulture & Photographic Societies of San Diego. There are several International cottages that promote goodwill and different events. During December Nights they all open up and serve the most popular dishes, native to the countries, that the cottages represent. The tastings are usually just a couple of dollars. There are numerous fountains and street performers all weekend long throughout the grounds. The museums also host night mixers which typically involve D.J.’s, drinks and people mingling throughout the museum. It’s a really cool way to meet new people. Not many museums host all-adult, nighttime parties among world class artwork! The park is so beautiful that it is one of the most popular spots in San Diego to get married.

Waiting to get married, Mark walks through the Spreckles Organ Pavilion.

You’ll see a lot of groups meeting up here, families strolling about and people exercising in the park. Dogs are also welcome throughout the park.

Balboa Park truly is the IT spot of San Diego.

If you want non stop sightseeing or you just want to relax and take a nap on the grass Balboa Park is a must see on your visit to America’s Finest City.

Chachy taking a stroll throughout one of the buildings in Balboa Park.

Stay Tuned! We will have a couple upcoming posts that will give some insider tips about visiting the museums and gardens so that you can get the most from your visit and keep yourself on a budget!

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Somewhere between boating on the beautiful lake and taking in the picturesque volcanoes, you unwind, take a breath and begin to marvel at the beauty that surrounds you. The landscape is phenomenal with it’s deep blue water and run-down boats ferrying tourists and locals alike. Lake Atitlan is a place that forces you to slow down and appreciate the world around you.  Any visit to the magical country of Guatemala should include a visit to Lake Atitlan.

Click to see the rest of the Somewhere In Time photos.

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They included our tips for driving in Mexico along with excellent tips from these other fabulous sites:

Sleepinginairports.net

richardtulloch.wordpress.com

Health-conscious-travel.com

artofbackpacking.com

Head on over to HikeBikeTravel and check out all their other fabulous tips on self guided trips around the world!

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*Please remember all photos on this website are copyrighted and property of BeersandBeans.com, NarikosNest.com & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me to ask first because I love to share. Thanks!

This is the fifth and final post in our series and focuses on different places to visit in Baja.

Here are some places you might want to visit in Tijuana:

Tijuana arch on Avenida Revolution.

Avenida Revolution – This is the main tourist area and there are a lot of restaurants, bars & shops here. This is an easy area to reach by foot if you are crossing over without a car. The large Tijuana Arch built on this road should guide you easily.

Red Light District – Just a short walk off Revolution this is also an interesting area but a bit more seedy as the name might imply. There are some cool places to hang out here without as many tourists.

Tijuana Brewery – This looks like a cool place! I haven’t been here yet but it is on our list for the next visit
down. Visit the site you can get their address and any other info you might need.

Tijuana also has a bustling arts movement and they have great museums, dance troupes, art shows and live music.  We went there once for a dance performance and it was really cool. We finished the night up with a lot of dancing at a local club. Planning a visit to see the more artistic side of this city will definitely change your opinion of the place.

Alternately you can wine taste, visit an orphanage, have a day of luxury at a spa or even go south for dental & medical care. I have quite a few friends here in San Diego that will only go to Tijuana for their dental care because it is so much cheaper and also because the dentists are very good.

Insider Tip: Check out the San Diego Reader online for things happening in Tijuana. You can also visit the Tijuana Visitors Bureau for more information.

Surrounding Areas:

These spots are all within driving distance from the border and are a lot of fun!

Rosarito – This is without a doubt the biggest party spot south of T.J. Just a short cab right from the border makes this a happening spot for spring breakers. There is a huge beach here and lots of bars and shops to distract yourself with. To be honest I do not love Rosarito the way a lot of other people do, I prefer the smaller beach side towns. However a lot of people like it here and one thing I do love is their market. It’s kind of hidden, it’s basically tucked away behind a lot of restaruants and shops. While walking around the main drag, peek your head into the alleys. One of the them will most likely bring you right into the market. It’s really cool discovering it because it is so hidden from view.  You can also go horseback riding on the beach here.

Lovely Sam shopping in the Rosarito Markets.

Calafia – This is a really beautiful spot along the coast. In actuality there isn’t much here but a small, quaint hotel and it’s adjoining restaurant but it has a claim to fame. Rumor has it that part of the Titanic movie was filmed here and inside the restaurant you’ll find memorabilia from the movie and the actual original ship.  The restaurant is gorgeous. A lot of people get married here because it is right on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific. You can dine inside or outside on their large balcony over the water. This place is highly recommended for food, drinks and relaxation. The grounds aren’t large but they are just amazing. When the bougenvilla is in bloom this place is a photographer’s dream come true.Visit the Calafia website to see what I am talking about. This place is pretty romantic and is only about 30 mins from the border. The Fox Baja Studios are right down the street and I know for a fact that  Titanic and Master & Commander were filmed there. You can also take tours.

Calafia, Mexico (courtesy of trip advisor)

Puerto Nuevo – Located right on the water, this is a great little spot known for lobster and fresh seafood. This is a must stop on your way toEnsenada . Plan to spend a couple hours eating, drinking, shopping and buying some candied nuts. They have a great market here and tons ofresturants . I really like this little spot a lot and it’s easy to get to. You’ll see signs right off the highway and you can park wherever there is a spot or in a lot for a couple bucks.

Puerto Nuevo Lobsters

Insider’s Tip: Take the local (not the toll) road between Calafia and Puerto Nuevo. This is where you will find the streets lined with tons of vendors. When you leave Calafia take the local Rt 1 to Puerto Nuevo and pull off when you see shops that catch your eye. Make sure to bargain, you can get some awesome deals on handmade items.

Paco at the La Salina bar.

La Salina – Another tiny hole in the wall, this area is growing with the development that is being built at the harbor. However things seem to have stalled there with the recent housing decline in the U.S. There is a bar here with a small hotel on top (about 5 rooms). However the bar is located right on a huge, beautiful, vacant beach. There are a lot of expats that hang out in the bar and a lot of little expat homes right near by. Occasionally there are huge karoake parties here as well. You can also camp on the beach if you want. The light is absolutely beautiful in this place around 4pm. This is also where the header picture for the first post was taken (in front of the wall that says Viva Mexico). The guys that work here are really nice and if you become a regular like we did they will treat you very well. Once they even floated us the money to stay overnight when we ran out. They told us just to pay them the next time we were down which was just really, really nice & very trusting of them. Even though this is a big ex-pat place, I truly love La Salina and you can forge a lot of great friendships here with the local owner and bar workers. They are really great guys. There isn’t much to do here but drink some cervezas, order food, watch the waves, play pool or read a book from their collection. If it’s hot bring your bathing suit and jump in you will most likely have the enormous entire beach to yourself.  It’s $40 – $60 if you are considering a stay. Tell Gustavo Beth & Randy said hi!

Insider Tip: If you present them a receipt from the last tooth booth within 60 minutes of it being stamped you get a free drink! Also this is a big 4-wheel area which can be a lot of fun. However if an older American man (I think he must be pushing 80) offers you a ride on his 4 wheel stay FAR, FAR away. Just trust me on that one.

Mike & Randy relaxing in La Salina.

Camping at the beach at La Salina.

Ensenada – This is usually the destination for most people driving into Baja and for good reason. It’s fun, easy to navigate and cleaner than most parts of Tijuana. The main streets are very walkable and cute. There are a ton of hotels, bars & interesting places to check out. I like Ensenada a lot, although this is where my license plates were stolen. We’ve had a lot of fun here and there is a famous cantina here that shouldn’t be missed. Hussongs Cantina is over 100 years old and hasn’t changed much. It also claims to be the place where the margarita was invented. And their margaritas are yummy! You also get the pleasure of constant Mariachi bands as you are encouraged to throw your peanut shells all over the floor. There is also a cool fish market by the Ensenada harbor on Sunday mornings where you can get your fix of fresh cerviche & fish tacos.

Insider Tip: Make a day out of it! Start your trip in TJ and then drive through the above mentioned hot spots, drinking and eating along the way. Spend that night getting crazy in Ensenada then head home the next morning. This is a popular route I have done many times and honestly it never gets old. It’s always an adventure in Mexico!

Street in Ensenada - Hussongs in the background.

Beyond the Tijuana/Ensenada Corridor:

San Felipe -  This town has a motto – “No Bad Days”. Can a town with a motto like this be anything but fun? Located on the beautiful, blue Sea of Cortez, this seaside fishing town is about a 4 hour ride from the border crossing at Mexicali. It’s a great place, has a really fun vibe with tons of food and restaurants. It also has a huge beach and a large ex-pat community.

Breakfast in San Felipe.

Tecate -  Tecate is an easily accessible border town that makes for a great day trip. The perks are that it is smaller & cleaner than Tijuana and is a lot more relaxed. It has a cute city square where locals sell their handmade goods at great prices.  It is also the home to the Tecate Brewery which should not be missed. You get a free drink and a great tour through their entire facilities. They have tour guides in Spanish and English. It’s easy to spot – just look for the large, white building in town or follow the signs to the beer garden.

Randy getting ready for the Tecate tour.

La Bufadora – This is awell publicized blow hole about 15 mins. south of Ensenada. I’ve been a couple times and the blow hole is really not that exciting. It’s also not a true blow hole but is created instead by water splashing high above the seashore. In any case it’s kind of a fun stop because of all the vendors that line the streets. There are also tons of  bars and restaurants to entertain yourself with. In fact after a few margaritas the blow hole may seem a whole lot more interesting.

San Ignacio – If you are considering a road trip into Mexico this is the place to go. Go, Go, Go! Just make sure you go between January & March so you can see the baby whales in the San Ignacio Lagoon. For the first three months of every year the California Grey whales head to San Ignacio to have their babies. For $10 you can camp at the Kuyima Ecological Reserve (complete with solar powered showers) which is right on the water. For $40 you can take a small boat out to the whales with a group of other people. The boat is so small it will out do any other whale watching you have ever done in your life. Here you can actually pet the whales when they come up to the boats. If you get lucky like Randy did you might get to actually kiss one! San Ignacio is a 14 hour ride from San Diego but worth every minute. It is an experience that you will never forget. We will have a post coming up soon with more info about this excursion.

Yes, the whales really get this close and this is only a portion of his head. They are huge!

Cabo San Lucas - Land’s End or so it’s called. You will never be disappointed with a trip to Cabo. Breathtakingly beautiful and full of adventure this is Baja at it’s finest. It is the epitome of Baja and a huge destination for travelers and . cruise ships alike. The trip will take you at least 24 hours by car through some of Mexico’s most scenic landscapes. Alternately you can fly – there are plenty of flights out of San Diego, L.A. or Tijuana.

There are plenty of other places to visit as well so grab a map, get your car insurance and head off on your very own Baja adventure!

To read the rest of the series click below:

Blood, Drugs & Sangria – How To Vacation In A War Zone.

Part 1 of a 5 part series.

Part 2 of a 5 part series.

Part 3 of a 5 part series.

Part 4 of a 5 part series.

Did you like this article? If so, consider retweeting below or stumbling it. Better yet sign up for our RSS feed and get the goodies delivered directly to your inbox! Consider yourself hugged.

*Please remember all photos on this website are copyrighted and property of BeersandBeans.com, NarikosNest.com & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me to ask first because I love to share. Thanks!

Beautiful Mexican Landscape

In our previous posts, we talked about the dangers of traveling in Baja, Mexico. We also talked about how beautiful the country is and how it should not be overlooked just because of  the current media hype. It also happens to be a budget travelers wonderland with a variety of activities to partake in that are all easy on the wallet.

To Read Part 2 click here: Blood, Drugs & Sangria – How To Vacation In A War Zone – Part 2 of a 5 part series.

To Read Part 3 click here: Blood, Drugs & Sangria – How to Vacation In A War Zone – Part 3 of a 5 part series.

To Read Part 5 click here: Blood, Drugs & Sangria – How to Vacation In a War Zone – Part 5 of a 5 part series.

This is the fourth post in our series of 5 and highlights our third tip for hanging out in one of the busiest & dangerous  border cities in the world – Tijuana, Mexico.

We want to encourage you to head south of the border so while our tips may start with a “Don’t”, they are followed up by several “Do’s”. It can be scary to drive or visit any foreign country so we invite you to comment or contact us by email if you have any other specific questions before embarking on your own adventure. We would love the opportunity to answer your questions and give you the confidence you need to begin your journey.

Driving through Mexico

Tip # 3 – Don’t drive without insurance, extra gas or at night.

The last place you want to run out of gas or blow a tire is in the middle of the desert. Keep yourself safe by planning ahead and having extra supplies. The roads in Mexico have been known to have bandits on them. Never drive at night in Mexico.

Do:

1. Get Mexican auto insurance before your journey. You can get it online or you can buy it on your way down. The highway exits leading up to the border will have signs telling you where to exit to purchase it.  As an added perk most places are open 24 hours. It’s pretty cheap – anywhere from $10 – $20/day and it’s technically illegal to drive in Mexico without it. If you rent a car you will be forced to purchase it through the rental agency. I know some people who go without insurance but I just don’t think it’s worth it. The Mexican justice system is not the same as the U.S.  In Mexico you are guilty until proven innocent and you will remain in jail during that time. Driving in Mexico is typically safe but Tijuana is a very congested city. You don’t want to get into a small fender bender and end up in jail just because you were too cheap to buy the insurance. It’s just not worth it.

2. Carry small, extra spare parts and gas. You can get pretty much anything you need in TJ or Ensenada but travel further and you could be stuck with limited resources. Make sure you have a spare tire and any other small odds/ends that you might need. It’s always good to have an extra jug of water and a flashlight  just in case. Also make sure you bring extra gas if you are planning a multi-day road trip thru Baja. Baja California Sur (the southern half of the state) is mainly a beautiful national park that makes for fantastic scenery but there is little in the way of gas or snacks so make sure you have some with you.

Gassing up on the way down to San Ignacio.

3. As a rule of thumb you want to make sure you Do Not Drive At Night. Make sure to plan your days so that you arrive at your destination before sundown. Due to the drug lords and bandits there have been many issues on the locals roads and the toll road between Ensenada and Tijuana. Some tourists have even been shot at and others have been robbed. Don’t take this risk and leave your driving for the daylight hours. Additionally, the side roads are not marked well, you could get lost easily. We always drive during daylight hours and we have never had any problems. Also try to keep on the toll roads for any long hauls. Generally, the toll roads are a lot safer and it will be much easier to get help if you need it. As for the tolls, after Tijuana there are 2 or 3 tolls to pass through on the way to Ensenada. Ensenada is about 1 hr 20 minutes from the border. Based on the exchange rate each toll will be roughly $1.30. This fluctuates a bit but U.S. dollars are accepted on the tolls so you don’t need to change into Pesos to pay the tolls.

4. Wear your seatbelt. In Mexico it is illegal to drive without your seatbelt and in Tijuana you stand a good chance of being pulled over. This is especially common on the way back to the border because some cops will stand in the street to direct traffic. Because the cars are moving so slowly they have a birds eye view to see if you are buckled in or not.  I learned this the hard way when I brought my mom down to a little town called La Salina. On the way back we were pulled over in Tijuana because my mother did not have her seatbelt on.  We were told we had 2 choices: 1. Pay a $65 bribe or 2. Follow him to the police station. My mother started making things worse by telling a lie that she just took her seatbelt off momentarily because she was getting something out of her purse which was in the back seat. Fortunately there was a huge language gap which kept the fine from getting bigger. Wear your seatbelt, keep your money in your pocket and don‘t offer up any additional information. Just keep your mouth shut, pay the fine and be on your way.

5. This leads me to another point which is you should always carry extra cash with you in while traveling in Mexico. This money should be set aside specifically to pay bribes with. Hopefully you will not have to dip into this reserve but if you do you will be extremely thankful that you have it. Personally I have only had to do this twice but I know most of my friends have been bribed at one point or another. Many people refuse to pay the bribe and you can do that if you want. Typically if you really did nothing wrong then they will eventually let you go. However if you did do something illegal (like not having your seatbelt on) it’s a lot easier to pay the bribe instead of getting an actual ticket and ending up with a trip to the police station.

6. Another driving tip  – About an 1.5 hours into Mexico (after Ensenada) you will be pass through a car inspection station. There will be young men with machine guns standing on the side of the road and it will undoubtedly look very intimidating. For the most part they are scanning the bottom of your car for certain insects so that they can’t be brought into southern Baja. Occasionally they will ask you to pop the trunk so they can inspect the things that you are carrying. Do not and I repeat do not carry guns into Mexico. This is highly illegal (even if your gun is licensed in the U.S.) and will land you in jail fast. However the HUGE tip I want to impart here is about talking to the soldiers at the checkpoint. The less Spanish you speak the better off you will be. I know this sounds strange because you think rationally that if you try to speak their language they will be more lenient with you. In my experience this has not been the case. The only thing this does is open you up to more questioning. Every time I have engaged in a Spanish speaking conversation with them I get searched for longer than anyone else and asked extra questions which can be nerve wracking. However when I speak English and act like I only know a little Spanish I get waived through pretty quickly. If they can’t communicate with you then there isn’t much point in trying to ask you about your luggage, etc. Trust me on this. I realize it sounds 100% backward but besides the Hola & Adios keep your Spanish language skills to an absolute minimum when speaking to an official at the inspection station. Work on your conversational skills with the locals who will be more than happy to talk to you without a machine gun in their hands. To corroborate on this fact I have other friends that are fluent in Spanish and do the exact same thing. This tip also applies to cops if you get pulled over.

7. Make sure your license plate is screwed on tightly. I had my plates stolen once in Mexico (they were my old, obvious Massachusetts plates). I can only wonder what kind of errands those plates are running now.  If you are parking on the street take a look to see if any other cars on the street are missing one or both plates. If you notice a lack of plates keep driving and find a new spot.

Lonely cactus

8. Do drive a crappy or dirty car. Do NOT take a flashy SUV or car. You will get attention you don’t want – either from     the cops or theives. The drug lords typically drive  large, black, flashy SUV’s and it’s been reported on many occasions that they roll together into town before a  shoot out. One of my best friends has a black shiny SUV with  bright, sparkling rims. That vehicle will never see the dirt of a Mexican road because it is just too flashy. We don’t want anyone to think twice when they see her car and you don’t want that either. My crappy, consistently dirty Hyundai is a perfect Mexico car and since I lost the MA plates, it attracts zero attention. If you don’t have access to an ugly car then rent one, most car rental companies in San Diego will let you bring their cars into Mexico just make sure to tell them you are going to cross the border.

There you have it – my most important tips for driving in Mexico. Keep in mind that the roads in Tijuana are well marked but after that most roads aren’t marked very well. Also if you are planning on shopping during your trip one of my favorite spots is off the toll road. Between a little town called Calafia and Tijuana on the local road (it runs parallel to the ocean) there are a ton of small shops. You can park your car and spend a couple hours walking through them all and finding some really unique items. You can find excellent paintings, home furniture, odds & ends and even home improvement goods like Spanish tiles and Spanish sinks at a great price.

Mike talking with the vendors in the Tijuana border line.

Also I should point out that you will not need to stop for any inspection as you enter Mexico. Unless you are carrying an RV full of stuff they will just waive you right through and there won’t even be any traffic. However on the way back be prepared for at least a 2 hour wait to get back into the U.S. Don’t worry you won’t be bored – the entire wait will be lined with  peddlers selling everything from ice cream to the ugliest Aztec calender statue that you can imagine. As you get closer to the border the crowd intensifies and to me, it’s one of the most exciting parts of the trip. I love the border wait because you can get anything, you can practice your Spanish with people selling things in the street and overall it’s just fun to take it all in. If you happen to miss the Tijuana crossing and cross back through Otay Mesa the crowd will be thinner but you will be treated to a different show. Many times you will see people blowing fire for tips. However last time I saw this the fire blowers were children under the age of 10. That was very disturbing.

Our last post in the series will have a few more tips of the trade and I will also point out some great areas to visit that most people miss. Along with those little gems I will point out a couple long road trip excursions. Baja is an exciting and inexpensive place to visit and it can provide you with amazing memories unlike any of your other trips.

Did you like this article? If so, consider retweeting below or stumbling it. Better yet sign up for our RSS feed and get the goodies delivered directly to your inbox! Consider yourself hugged.

*Please remember all photos on this website are copyrighted and property of BeersandBeans.com, NarikosNest.com & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me to ask first because I love to share. Thanks!

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Sam's in San Francisco

Cheap beer, cheap food. A great little greasy spot on the crossroads of North Beach and China Town in San Francisco. The  grill cook will get a little cranky if you are too obnoxious.

Need I say more?

Photographers Tip: If you can see the potential in a great shot but you know you need a little something extra to make it eye catching than don’t be afraid to wait around to until it pops up. The photo above would’ve been boring if the grill cook hadn’t looked into the camera.

Click o see the rest of the Somewhere In Time photos.

Did you like this article? If so, consider retweeting below or stumbling it. Better yet sign up for our RSS feed here and get the goodies delivered directly to your inbox! Consider yourself hugged.

*Please remember all photos on this website are copyrighted and property of BeersandBeans.com, NarikosNest.com & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me  to ask first because I love to share. Thanks!

To Read Part 2 click here: Blood, Drugs & Sangria – How To Vacation In A War Zone – Part 2 of a 5 part series.

To Read Part 4 click here: Blood, Drugs & Sangria – How to Vacation In A War Zone – Part 4 of a 5 part series.

To Read Part 5 click here: Blood, Drugs & Sangria – How to Vacation In a War Zone – Part 5 of a 5 part series.

This is the third post in our series of 5 and highlights our second tip for hanging out in one of the busiest & dangerous  border cities in the world – Tijuana, Mexico.

Randy & Mike wait for a street taco.

We want to encourage you to head south of the border so while our tips may start with a “Don’t”, they are followed up by several “Do’s”. It can be scary to drive or visit any foreign country so we invite you to comment or contact us by email if you have any other specific questions before embarking on your own adventure. We would love the opportunity to answer your questions and give you the confidence you need to begin your journey.

Tip #2 – Don’t drink the water

I know you’ve probably heard this before but it’s true. You don’t want to end up with Montezuma’s Revenge because you had a mixed drink that wasn’t made with purified water. When we traveled to Oaxaca recently we learned that there is a state law there that mandates all ice must be made with purified water. We have never heard of a law like that for Tijuana so it’s always best to be on the safe side.

Do:

1. When you order a water check to be sure that the restaurant or bar is opening a brand new bottle and not just re-opening one that is half empty. You may be told that it is half empty because they gave the other half to the person before you. Don’t fall for this. Request a new bottle be opened. It will be a non issue and you’ll be glad later on. It is always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to drinking water. 

2. The same rule goes for salads. Eat salad only if it has been made with purified water. Don’t be shy about asking, this is a common question and some restaurants (the more touristy ones) will even advertise that fact on their menus so you don’t have to ask. You definitely don’t want a salad that has been rinsed with tap water because the bacteria can make you very ill and ruin your trip. If there is any doubt skip the salad and order well cooked veggies instead.

3. A trip to Mexico wouldn’t be the same without a couple margaritas right? Just make sure the ice is also made with purified water (de hielo purificado). Again if there is any doubt order a beer instead and save the mixed drink with ice for a time when you can be sure that it is safe. You can’t be 100% sure all the time but it’s best to hedge your bets the best you can.

4. When it comes to brushing your teeth, I guess it is personal preference. Some people use tap water, other people use bottled water. Randy and I usually start out our trips with bottled water then we get lazy and switch to tap water. That being said Randy never gets sick and I usually end up with some sort of stomach bug. I have no idea if that is from brushing my teeth with tap water but now that I think of it I should probably stop and use bottled water the entire time.

5. Definitely eat the street food! Not only is it good but it’s cheap and we’ve eaten it many times without any repercussions. You can get everything from corn on the cob (Mexican style with lime & chile sauce – yum!) to spicy hot dogs and cotton candy on the streets of Tijuana. Don’t be afraid of eating the street food – it’s usually fantastic and has never made us ill.

Stay tuned for tip #3 coming up in the next post which will give you all the tips you need for safe car travel through Baja!

Did you like this article? If so, consider retweeting below or stumbling it. Better yet sign up for our RSS feed and get the goodies delivered directly to your inbox! Consider yourself hugged.

*Please remember all photos on this website are copyrighted and property of BeersandBeans.com, NarikosNest.com & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me to ask first because I love to share. Thanks!

To Read Part 3 click here: Blood, Drugs & Sangria – How to Vacation In A War Zone – Part 3 of a 5 part series.

To Read Part 4 click here: Blood, Drugs & Sangria – How to Vacation In A War Zone – Part 4 of a 5 part series.

To Read Part 5 click here: Blood, Drugs & Sangria – How to Vacation In a War Zone – Part 5 of a 5 part series.

This is the second post in our series of 5 and highlights our first tip for hanging out in one of the busiest & dangerous  border cities in the world – Tijuana, Mexico.

We want to encourage you to head south of the border so while our tips may start with a “Don’t”, they are followed up by several “Do’s”. It can be scary to drive or visit any foreign country so we invite you to comment or contact us by email if you have any other specific questions before embarking on your own adventure. We would love the opportunity to answer your questions and give you the confidence you need to begin your journey.

Tip #1 – Don’t look flashy

This may seem obvious yet I still see people looking like they just stepped off the tourist boat wearing their big jewelry, carrying their big cameras around their necks or driving their decked out BMW’s all around Tijuana (TJ). This is just plain dumb so please don‘t be this person. Wear your everyday clothes, keep your jewelry to a minimum and keep the camera in your bag until you need it. Take the crappy car or at the very least let your car get nice and dirty before you head in. The goal is simply to blend in. Remember that Tijuana is a border city. Border cities are generally less safe than other areas and require a little more caution. Many people are far away from their families, living off very little and in desperate situations. Your sweet, little car stereo could go a long way here. Do yourself a favor and leave the big, black SUV’s and fancy rims to the drug lords.

Do:

1. Park in well lit areas or in lots with a security guard and tip him/her. This is typical in Mexico and not something you want to skimp on. A simple dollar or two can go a long way.

2. Lock your car up and keep all belongings out of view even if there is a guard – trust no one. This also applies to the        lots on the U.S. side of the border. One night we came back to the U.S. from TJ only to find our friends car was stolen     from the lot and we’re pretty sure the guard was in on it. The car was never found.

3. Consider picking up a local language newspaper and putting it in the dashboard to look more “local“. A lot of local    people cross daily and it isn’t unusual to see California license plates all around the city. Likewise  it is very common to see Baja plates here in San Diego. A Spanish language newspaper can make your car even more local looking and less appealing to a thief with a conscience for the people of his/her homeland.

4. Wear comfortable clothes that are mainly generic in style. You don’t want to be too hippy, too goth, too Gucci or too  military. You just want to blend in. It’s fine to wear some jewelry, just don’t get too blinged out.  Ladies – don’t get slutty. You might want to club hop with your tight tank tops and short skirts and while I don’t recommend it -  if you do, be sure to bring clothes to cover up with when the party’s over. The men of Mexico are very amorous and love any reason to approach women. They will assume if you are dressed even remotely revealingly that you want attention and they will be more than happy to provide that for you. It doesn’t matter if you are with other guys. I have had men buy me drinks and start a conversation with me while I was sitting next to and talking with Randy. A waiter even asked me to marry him once when I was eating dinner with Randy. I’m not trying to toot my own horn here, I’m definitely not a beauty queen and I don’t get any attention like this at all back home. Typically I wear jeans & flip flops, nothing special. While it’s flattering at first it can get intimidating quickly so don’t go out of your way to encourage it or you will regret it. Tijuana also used to be the serious playground of the under 21 American crowd and it’s reputation as an insane party destination is still strong even if it has dwindled a bit in the past couple of years. As a result,, a lot of American men think normal rules don’t apply in Tijuana. They think because there is a brothel, cheap drinks and strip clubs they can get out of control drunk and stupid with all the ladies in town, this includes the locals girls and you. If you dress revealingly and hang out in bars or clubs, you are guaranteed to be approached (read: harassed) by the locals, the drunken U.S. frat boys or most likely, both. You will have a pretty good chance of having an annoying and possibly dangerous night so do yourself a favor and save the revealing threads for another time. For the men: having long hair will most likely get your bothered by the cops. Randy likes to grow his hair long and then cut it all off. We have noticed a huge difference when we visit and Randy has either long hair or short hair. Every time his hair is long he is harassed by the cops – thrown up against fences, questioned, etc. Mexico is a fairly traditional country and although the younger generation is bucking the trend, being a male tourist with long hair is just another way that you will stand out and will most likely get you the gringo shakedown.

5. Do bring your camera and keep it in a bag that doesn’t look like a camera bag. Any over the shoulder bag that looks    generic will work. A small diaper bag is also perfect because it has built in padding and no thief is interested in ripping off a diaper bag. A small over the shoulder, flexible cooler lunch bag will work too. Take photos and have a good time but be smart about it and don’t carry the camera around your neck or wrist while walking around. This also goes for cell phones. Randy has been robbed of 2 cell phones in Tijuana by people who befriended him in the city.

There you have it. The first big tip for traveling in Tijuana. Stay tuned for tip 2 which will fill you in on what to eat and what not to drink.

Did you like this article? If so, consider retweeting below or stumbling it. Better yet sign up for our RSS feed and get the goodies delivered directly to your inbox! Consider yourself hugged.

*Please remember all photos on this website are copyrighted and property of BeersandBeans.com, NarikosNest.com & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me to ask first because I love to share. Thanks!

To Read Part 2 click here: Blood, Drugs & Sangria – How To Vacation In A War Zone – Part 2 of a 5 part series.

To Read Part 3 click here: Blood, Drugs & Sangria – How to Vacation In A War Zone – Part 3 of a 5 part series.

To Read Part 4 click here: Blood, Drugs & Sangria – How to Vacation In A War Zone – Part 4 of a 5 part series.

To Read Part 5 click here: Blood, Drugs & Sangria – How to Vacation In a War Zone – Part 5 of a 5 part series.

Many readers of this blog already know that I have had an ongoing love affair with Mexico for a some time now. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Mexico. In fact it’s one reason it is hard to even think about leaving San Diego. It’s only 20 minutes to the border and it’s hard to imagine not being able to just go there on a whim.

Twenty minutes to the border.
Twenty minutes to the warm Mexican sunlight.
Twenty minutes to unending nights wandering Mexican streets.
Twenty minutes to another language, another way of life and amazing food.
Twenty minutes to $1 cervezas and 3/$1 tacos.
Twenty minutes to welcoming strangers and beautiful beaches.

It’s no wonder that I consider Mexico my second home. From the minute I drove across the border years ago I fell in love. I even managed to work down there for a bit through my old job here in the U.S. There was a point that I was probably crossing the border every 2 to 3 weeks and I loved it. On our second date Randy and I ended up in Mexico together and after 4 months of dating we were back apartment searching in Tijuana (known locally as TJ) because we wanted to move there. That dream never came to fruition and it was a good thing because a year later TJ turned into a war zone.

A lot of people in San Diego won’t go near Mexico – Baja in particular -  because of the crime.

Map of Mexico - Baja is the part of Mexico directly below California. The main border crosing is Tijuana.

I’m not going to lie, things have changed there drastically. A once vibrant, exciting city, Tijuana is now a virtual ghost town with shop keepers and restaurant owners drained to their last penny without the tourist dollars. The main Tijuana drug cartel, the Arellano Felix gang, is slowly becoming dismantled after the arrest of the main king pin, Benjamin Arellano Felix, in 2007. The cartel is still doing business but has since weakened enough so that other cartels are now trying to fill the leadership void and gain the ever popular border city as it’s own.  The war for turf has been going strong  with the citizens paying the price – not only by losing the tourists dollars but also with their own lives.

In 2007, Presidente Caldron vowed war on the drug cartels and the bloodshed has continued ever since.  In that time over 12,500 people have been killed due to the drug wars.

To put this into perspective:

That’s 4,167 people a year, 347 people a month, 12 people every day.

Every two hours for the past 3 years someone has been murdered because of  drug violence.

Those are not good statistics. Far too many people are violently murdered on a daily basis.  Another sad fact is that many bodies have been disintegrated in acid and their bodies were never found.

The drug wars are literally out of control and to make matters worse almost all the cops are crooked. Of course you probably would be as well if you were only making about $400 a month protecting the streets of an extremely dangerous city.  In late 2007 Calderon  actually took away all the guns from every cop in Tijuana. This was the only way they could test the guns to see which were involved in crimes. He couldn’t leave the cops completely defenseless so he hooked them up with sling shots. You think I’m kidding but I’m not. I’m dead serious.

The cops of Tijuana had sling shots instead of guns.

Tijuana police show off their slingshots. (photo courtesy dailymail.co.uk)

Fortunately along with the slingshots he also sent in the Mexican army to control the city. The truly unfortunate news is the fact that most Tijuana cops were fired after their guns showed they were involved in drug crimes. Almost every cop was on the drug cartels payroll. New cops have been hired, fired and new ones hired again over the past couple of years. I have no idea if their income has increased. I can only hope it has.

The drug lords simply won’t back down – they continue to fight for territory and to get the new cops on their payroll. Almost every new police chief is murdered shortly after taking the job. The  police chief always has his own bodyguards that protect him 24/7. I’m not talking about 1 or 2 bodyguards either, try 20. It is obvious that a war is being waged when even the chief of police has so many bodyguards. The current police chief,  Julian Leyzaola, travels everywhere with his bodyguards and lives alone. His family lives elsewhere in Mexico because it is just too dangerous for them to be in Tijuana. Taking on this type of position and facing the daily threat of death requires more than just passion, it requires enormous dedication. But dedication to what? With Mexico’s deep seeded history of government corruption we can only hope that he truly envisions a Tijuana  free of the cartels cast iron grip.

It goes without saying that many, many cops are killed in Tijuana as well. To get the message across, the drug cartels usually leave their heads on the beaches outside of town with a threatening note screwed into their skulls.

And it doesn’t stop there.

Anyone opposing the cartels is kidnapped, tortured and/or murdered. The violence against journalists has risen drastically. Just less than a month ago on December 30, 2009 Jose Luis Romero, a radio station reporter, was forced at gunpoint out of a restaurant where he was eating. His body was discovered shortly after stuffed into a black bag with both of his hands broken & bound, one bullet wound in his shoulder and 2 more in his head.

Even popular Mexican music groups have to watch what they sing about. Numerous musicians have been murdered for anti-drug messages in their music. In 2007, Sergio Gómez, one of Mexico’s hottest singers, a headliner for the band, K-Paz de la Sierra,was kidnapped. Police found his body the next day. Also in late 2007 Zayda Pena Arjona, the lead singer of Zayda y Los Culpables was gruesomely shot dead in her hospital bed. She was recuperating from surgery after being shot the day before. The assailants entered the hospital, found her room and shot her 4 times in the chest, ensuring her death this time around. This past August, Mexican singer Carlos Ocaranza Rodriguez, (El Loco Elizalde) was shot dead on the street after leaving a bar in Guadalajara, Mexico. He had performed a concert earlier that night. These are just some of the stories, certainly not all of them.

The cartels don’t like anyone reporting or singing about them in negative ways. Death is their way of discouraging these actions.

However the people of Mexico are trying to change things and surprisingly there isn’t a shortage of someone else volunteering to be the next chief or penning the lyrics to the next revolution song.

The drug problems, illegal border crossings & the human trafficking have made Tijuana look like a very scary place to locals and outsiders. Truth be told, it can be – but not for the local tourist. However the danger of being caught in the crossfire is still scary enough for most people to even consider heading south of the border these days. Even with all the ongoing issues I still love Mexico and it will always hold a special place in my heart. Most people can’t see beyond the media hype but I have been fortunate enough to experience just some of the beauty this country holds.

Mustard seed blowing in the Mexican breeze.

I’ve made so many good memories in Baja and I have met some really outstanding people there.

One such person was Luis, an older man I befriended through my work visits. One day we took a walk through the desert while he identified all the flora that was at risk for extinction due to all the real estate development in the area. That walk was during a point in my life where I was constantly sick. He asked me why I hadn’t been around the past few weeks and I told him I had been under the weather. After hearing my ailments he said that he thought I had cancer. Of course I thought he was crazy. But it turned out that he was right. What all the U.S. doctors had missed for 2 years he picked up on after seeing me on a lazy Sunday afternoon. He turned to me during the same desert walk and randomly said ”One day, you will walk in diamonds.”

For the past couple of years I’ve been hoping that he was right.

I’ve wondered what has become of him and I hope he is well. I will probably never see him again but I will never forget him and his role in my life during such a strange time. The people of Mexico and the landscape are equally beautiful and something that I wish everyone could experience.

Tijuana used to be such a fun place to pop into on a random night and I’m really looking forward to times like that again. But with all the crime you have to wonder:

Does Mexico have a bloodless road?

That being said we were in Tijuana briefly in October (on the way to Oaxaca) and it really seemed liked business as usual.  It’s still an interesting place to visit  although most people reading this won’t touch foot in the city until things are under control. Even if you’re not staying in town you still have to drive though TJ to get to the most beautiful areas of Baja. In most other areas of Baja the crime is low, the cervezas are cheap and the sun is warm. Most tourists in Cabo or La Paz now stay at fancy resorts and have no idea about the drug war being waged on the city streets.

But if you’re a budget backpacker with a quest for adventure an all expense paid resort vacation is not your thing. You’re in it for the journey and the local flavor. That’s why we are writing this series.

Having hung out in one of what is considered to be one of the most dangerous, dirtiest cities in the world  for longer than even I care to remember we have learned a lot about having a great time and watching your back. You don’t want to be an outsider in Tijuana if you can help it and we can help you navigate the ins and outs of one of the busiest border cities in the world.

This post is just the beginning of a multi segment post that will elaborate on my top three tips that are listed below.

Tip #1 – Don’t look flashy
Tip #2 – Don’t drink the water
Tip # 3 – Don’t drive without protection, extra gas or at night.

We want to share our insider tips for hanging out in or just traveling through Tijuana and northern Baja. Stay tuned because following along with the posts will give you all the confidence you need to embark on a journey through any Mexican border town without being scared out of your mind.

Plus if you’re brave enough you might just have yourself a unforgettably good time while you’re there.

Bridgette & Mike relaxing at Coyote Cal's Hostel in Erindira, Mexico.

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*Please remember all photos on this website are copyrighted and property of BeersandBeans.com, NarikosNest.com & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me to ask first because I love to share. Thanks!

Walking around the Mexican cemeteries during El Día de los Muertos is a mind boggling experience. The cemeteries in Mexico are beautiful and lush – filled with trees and flowers. The sights, the sounds and the smells are almost overwhelming as you wander around from grave to grave watching the families tending to the loved ones eternal resting spots.  While the tone is somber at some graves for the most part it is a happy, joyous time filled with food, music and alcohol. There were quite a few bands in the graveyard but this one was one of the most dedicated and emotional that we stumbled upon. It was quite apparent as more players & singers joined the group that this person was loved deeply and missed even more.

Photographers Tip:

If you visit Day of the Dead do yourself a favor and BRING A TRIPOD. I did not think of this and ended up buying a cheap one after the first night. I like to use a lot of blur in my shots anyway but without a tripod a lot of the shots from the first night were a total wash and it was frustrating.  Although the cemeteries are very crowded and it is hard to set one up without it being tripped on you still need it to capture the excitement in the dark cemeteries. If you forget to bring one like I did there are a couple camera shops around town that you can buy one at.

To see the rest of the Somewhere In Time pictures click here.

Did you like this article? If so, consider retweeting below or stumbling it. Better yet sign up for our RSS feed here and get the goodies delivered directly to your inbox! Consider yourself hugged.

*Please remember all photos on this website are copyrighted and property of BeersandBeans.com, NarikosNest.com & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me  to ask first because I love to share. Thanks!

Spending the beginning of 2010 in Cape Cod, MA was a perfect, bone chilling way to begin the year. It snowed the entire time which created an absolutely beautiful blanket across the land. The whipping ice & wind shrouded the ocean waves, leaving them more lonesome and magical.

There is something special about the Cape, especially in the winter cold. Most people only visit in the summer and as a result a lot of the businesses and hotels are closed in the off season. Days in the water, nights spent playing card games and eating ice cream make visiting in the summer a fun adventure but if you want a real salt-of-the-earth, local perspective you need to visit in the winter.

Standing on the beach watching the gulls floating on 2 degree waves makes you wonder why ALL birds don’t go south for the summer. Watching people dart in and out of the snow bundled up like perfect Christmas packages makes you wonder why people don’t do the same.

Then it gets you.

The foggy, groggy, “Have I been here before?” feeling seeps in as you drive the lonely roads, aimlessly heading toward the great Atlantic. Taking a browse around Woods Hole in the winter is like truly stepping back in time. You can almost see old sea captains, deceased centuries ago, looking out past the harbor. The Cape is very old,  full of history and memories that your forgot you made lifetimes ago. You immediately feel yourself unwind as you suddenly want to visit an old, warm bookstore and wander around until, like a magnet, the perfect book sucks you in for the remainder of the afternoon.

As you step back outside and wander the streets with your hat pulled down low and your scarf piled high the freezing rain whips at you from every direction. With each step your body shudders until suddenly you realize that you aren’t as a cold as you should be.

That’s when it really hits you. Standing in zero degree weather so cold it makes your teeth hurt you realize the warmth you feel is coming from within. In it’s mid-winter freeze Cape Cod has surrounded you like a warm blanket fresh from the dryer. It’s history and folklore have brought you into another world where your heart is happy and has now your body is warm.

Being on the Cape during winter’s deep chill is truly magical and not to be missed.

Did you like this article? If so, consider retweeting below or stumbling it. Better yet sign up for our RSS feed here and get the goodies delivered directly to your inbox! Consider yourself hugged.

*Please remember all photos on this website are copyrighted and property of BeersandBeans.com, NarikosNest.com & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me to ask first because I love to share. Thanks!

As if you needed yet another reason to visit the magical city of Oaxaca, Mexico – I’m going to give you one.

Chocolate.

Oaxacan chocolate is well known around the world. The most popular chocolate staples in Oaxaca are hot chocolate & chocolate mole but it seems common to throw a little chocolate in almost everything. Because really what doesn’t taste better without chocolate?

Salsa? Nope they got that covered and it was quite tasty.

Chicken? That’s covered too and Randy said it was “yummy”.

Chicken in Chocolate Mole

Chocolate tastes different here and it tastes good. Real good.

In the chocolate making section of town the entire block smells like chocolate. You might wonder – what is it like to walk out of your hostel and be hit with noisy traffic, Mexican music blaring and the unexpected, overwhelming smell of chocolate? Well my friends it really is like a traveler’s dream.

One of the chocolate shops right around the corner from our hostel was Mayordomo and the wafting smell of chocolate came directly from their shop because they made their own chocolate right there. We found this place after following our noses and popped in just in time to see them making a fresh batch.

Cocoa beans about to become chocolate.

Scooping out the chocolate sauce.

It took less than 5 minutes for the beans to be ground up into the sticky sauce. The aroma was outstanding. It was easy to see that the process of making chocolate was the smell that brought us into the store in the first place. It is definitely worth a peek in if you are in the area. You can also load up on all types of chocolate while you are there. However there was one thing missing – freshly made chocolates to order. I expected a glass counter where I could pick out the most amazing delectable bits but there wasn’t one. All of their chocolate was pre-boxed and not available in individual pieces. I can’t help but think they must be missing out on a ton of tourism dollars by not having a chocolate counter in the shop. I pondered this thought for a long time and really couldn’t come up with a reason why they didn’t do this since there were already a ton of people working in there. Oh well, I would have to find my individual chocolates and cake slices elsewhere. And I did. At a restaurant in the Zocolo.

Chocolate Crepes

To be honest we had some excellent chocolate in the local markets but the most outstanding deserts we had were from the restaurant Como Agua Pa’ Chocolate (Like Water For Chocolate – yes, it was named after the movie.) The restaurant was right on the main square which is also called the Zocolo.

It was a bit gringo-ed out with the menu being in both English & Spanish.  As a result it was also a bit more expensive than the market and street food. However it was really worth it. The hot chocolate was amazing and we couldn’t stop ourselves from returning and trying their different chocolate specialties and salads.

A grape and walnut salad.

We normally don’t like to hit up such touristy eateries but when it comes to food, good is good and their food was very, very good.  All of the chocolate deserts (and the salad) photos in this post were taken at this restaurant. The open air balcony also provides incredible views of daily life in the Zocolo.

A view of daily life in the Zocolo.

It became quite addictive to just relax, eat chocolate and people watch from above.  I would highly recommend grabbing a bite to eat here during your visit. Another benefit of the bilingual menu was that it stated all of their salads  and veggies were washed with purified water. I was dying for a salad and I was very excited about this fact. We found out later that Oaxaca has a city law that mandates all ice cubes and salads need to be made with purified water. I don’t know how many vendors adhere to that law but it is nice to know  that in the restaurants you should be fine to order whatever your heart desires.

Randy in the restaurant.

Another pretty view.

Another popular thing we noticed is that most hot chocolate comes with a large sweet roll. In the roll there is often a little head baked in.  It’s edible but not quite made out of candy or sugar, I’m not sure what it is made of exactly. As we looked at the Day of the Dead altars throughout the city we noticed that these breads were used to symbolize the

(Hot chocolate & bread from a market stall.)                                   (Close up of a bread head. )

relatives that had passed away. We saw many of the breads baked into shapes of people – male & female. This seemed to be a common element when the altar was made for grandparents that had passed on. Randy liked the taste of the bread but much to my surprise I didn’t care for it.

The French creperie restaurant.

We also found a French creperie a few blocks away. We ate there because we wanted something a little different than Mexican and it was cheap. The food there was surprisingly good as well. I forgot to take a picture of the sign so I cannot remember the name but if you are there and you run into a French crepe restaurant with a bookstore below there is a good chance that is the place. Here are some pictures of their food.

What a Caprese salad looks like in a French restaurant in Mexico.

A squash flower crepe.

All in all, Oaxaca is a foodies dream come true. From fried crickets to chocolate salsa, micheladas to Mexican mochas you cannot go wrong here. Another amazing treat I had was from the market and was less than $2. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of it but it was a large tortilla covered with black beans, tomotos, salsa & avocado. Then it was baked with cheese on top like a pizza. Absolutely amazing! We loved everything we ate in Oaxaca and there is no end to the gastronomic delights to satisfy the backpacker’s budget or the luxury traveler’s wallet.

Want to know more? – You can read our post about the Mexican Michelada here and shortly we will have video footage of Julia and her small Oaxaca restaurant. After meeting her at a cemetery she invited us for some food the next day and entertained us with her stories while making us one of her specialty dishes.

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London’s theatre district is a frenzied, fast-paced, beautiful corner of the earth. The first day of my trip I dropped my camera on the hard cobblestone streets and broke the lens so that it no longer stayed in the camera without me holding it in place with one hand while trying to take a picture with the other hand. It was annoying at best but I still managed to walk away with some pictures that I loved. This one being one of my favorites.

To see the rest of the Somewhere In Time pictures click here.

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*Please remember all photos on this website are copyrighted and property of BeersandBeans.com, NarikosNest.com & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me  to ask first because I love to share. Thanks!

We ended up in Hostel Del Mercado which was located right next to the 20 de Noviembre Market which conviently, as you might guess, is located on 20 Noviembre street.

The market is inside a very large building that doesn’t really look too different from any other building on the outside. There are a lot of street vendors all around the outside of it selling pretty much everything you could possibly need from batteries to fried crickets.

With all the street activity we actually walked right by the 20 de Noviembre market a couple times before we even discovered it.

Once inside it is a very different experience from any of the vendors on the street.

It is like stepping into another world. Smoke rises from food stalls and wafts through the market enticing the senses. The smell of baked bread and grilled meat smacks you straight in the face as you walk through the door.

It almost seems endless as you wander aimlessly through the stalls which lead seamlessly from one item to the next. Meat leads to bread which leads to flowers which leads to clothing, chocolate and everything else you can possibly imagine in between just waiting to be discovered. With Day of the Dead approaching, the smell of incense and flowers encased every crevice in the old building.

The market, which seemed to be a large local hangout, was absolutely incredible and became a staple of our trip when we wanted cheap food, trinkets or hot chocolate. I would love to go back to Oaxaca just to spend more time photographing the market. It was that beautiful.

There is also another market which was I saw in the 1,000 Things To Do Before You Die book right before we left San Diego – the Abastos Market. We walked several city blocks to get to this market because it was described as “magical” by the author. With all the beautiful sites in Oaxaca worth talking about I figured this market must be amazing since it was the only listing for the entire city. It was not.

It was congested, busy and loud. While it was without a doubt much larger than the Noviembre market it was also gross. It was so dirty that you felt that need to wash your hands immediately. Everything was covered in grime, dust and grease. I would only return if there was something I absolutely needed and could not find anywhere else. They had everything – from garden hoses to goats – but it lacked the charm of typical markets that you would expect in Mexico. In fact, I will most likely not look anything up in that book again due to the horrid inaccuracy of that listing. Other people we met agreed that it was disappointing, dirty and disgusting.

With the easy location and in-your-face charm the 20 de Noviembre market is by far the winner and a must see on any visit to Oaxaca.

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*Please remember all photos on this website are copyrighted and property of BeersandBeans.com, NarikosNest.com & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me to ask first because I love to share. Thanks!

Last year, Ziggy Marley’s performance at the Del Mar Racetrack drew jeers from some concertgoers over the open use of marijuana at his show by audience members. This year Marley, 40, was back, but before embarking on his three Labor Day weekend performances, which kicked off with the “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” show on Sept. 4, the four-time Grammy winner spoke to Randy about his new children’s album, “Family Time,” marijuana use at his shows and growing up Marley.

Other than having to adjust to Ziggy’s thick Jamaican accent, Randy said the interview went off without a hitch and that the reggae artist was an attentive and interesting interviewee.

Unfortunately, Ziggy has some rules about photos of himself and so I am only allowed to show this one picture of him publicly. It’s the picture his PR people chose and the one that was printed in the newspaper. It’s a real shame because I have some other excellent photos of him that I am really proud of and I would love to post them here, but I guess those will be my private photos for the rest of eternity…. sigh.

However, I can post as many pictures as I want of Nikka Costa, who was the opening act for Ziggy so I have quite a few of those below.

Without much ado here is the interview:

RK: You are playing two shows in San Diego this weekend, the first is in support of your “Family Time” album at The New Children’s Museum and the second is for your adult audience at the Del Mar Racetrack. If I was going to both shows what could I expect as far as a differences goes?

Ziggy: For the kid’s show, it will be more for my fans of “Family Time.” And for the other show, I’m doing a lot from my other albums. The kids show is a lot lighter feel for me.

RK: Your 3-year-old daughter, Judah, sang on the “Family Time” album. Does she perform with you live at the children shows?

Ziggy: Yeah, she loves to do that. She comes out and everything.

RK: Throughout your nearly three-decade career you have done a lot of children’s projects. Where did the inspiration come from to make a musical album that children and parents can enjoy together?

Ziggy: If you want to make a difference in the world, you have to speak to children because they have open minds. I tried to make music that’s very good music and not think, “Oh this is kid’s music so I have to sing it like this or I have to do it like this.”

RK: As the oldest child of music legend Bob Marley, what artists do you remember hanging out at your house as a child?

Ziggy: The Wailers — Peter Tosh, Bunny — the Jackson 5 came down when they came to Jamaica; a lot of the good Jamaican artists at that time.

RK: What influence did those artists have on you as a child?

Ziggy: As a kid, I really didn’t think much about that. It wasn’t a big deal for me at that time; they were just friends and guys hanging out playing soccer, playing music.

RK: Now that you are a father of five are there any family traditions that you carried over from your childhood?

Ziggy: The family tradition we had as children was like how to be good people. We didn’t have anything like dinner or family night; we didn’t have that type of thing. Our family tradition lies in who we are as people, music was a big part of that. Our tradition of helping others was something we grew up with as a family, seeing our parents and grandparents being helpful to the community. So that type stuff is the traditions we try to teach our children.

RK: As a musician, what other types of music would you like to explore?

Ziggy: African music. I like music that is spiritual. Whatever music I feel that does something to my spirit is what I want to explore more; something that makes me closer to the universe … music that makes you irie.

RK: As a songwriter do you work better in the morning or in the evening?

Ziggy: The morning. I dig it when the sun is rising.

RK: If you had an opportunity to talk to the people who spoke out about the marijuana use last year at your concert in Del Mar, what would you say?

Ziggy: I’m standing up for nature now. It’s injustice to this plant, which has so much use for the human race. And when I talk about this plant, I’m just not talking about smoking or even the medicinal thing; I’m talking about the industrial potential of what this plant could mean for America and for the world. So I would say there is an injustice, a discrimination against this plant. That’s what I would say. Don’t demonize nature, use nature to benefit our mankind. God put all different types of plants on the face of the earth for us to use, so don’t demonize and criminalize the cannabis plant, use it to benefit mankind, you know. Look at in the bigger terms of society, not just oh some guy is smoking pot, because it’s bigger than that.

RK: Your prediction for the 2010 World Cup?

Ziggy: We’re just happy it’s in Africa.

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*Please remember all photos on this website are copyrighted and property of BeersandBeans.com, NarikosNest.com & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me to ask first because I love to share. Thanks!

A young woman dances with a man in costume at a Day of the Dead parade in Oaxaca, Mexico. Some residents dress up  similar to Halloween while others spend time in more traditional ways by decorating, praying & socializing in the graveyards. This woman did not realize that she was surrounded by other masked men that also wanted to dance with her.

To see the rest of the Somewhere In Time pictures click here.

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*Please remember all photos on this website are copyrighted and property of BeersandBeans.com, NarikosNest.com & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me to ask first because I love to share. Thanks!

A michelada in the making.

It didn’t take long—two sips, maybe—to fall in love with the sultry spice of the Mexican Michelada.

A concoction of hot sauce, tomato juice, lime and beer served over ice with a salted rim, the Michelada offers up a refreshing, mixed beer drink for any occasion.

Considered to be Mexico’s bloody Mary, the Michelada, at least for us, brings so much more to the table in terms of taste and refreshment due to the carbonation from the beer.  The name – “mi chela helada”  loosely translates to “my cold, light beer”.  True to it’s name, it tastes great, is less filling and is a taste unlike any other. It’s a unique flavor- smoky, robust and refreshing all at the same time.

Falling under the category cerveza preparda—a mixed beer drink involving hot sauces and/or juices—the Michelada is said to have originated in the 1940s, when combining beer with spices/salsa and tomato juice became popular in Mexico.

The Michelada, however, is not something you’re going to want to drink all day.

While the first gave us chills, the feisty taste of the second round got old real fast. Have you ever brought a seasonal ale (read: pumpkin) to a party and realized after two or so that you need to start stealing someone else’s beer from the fridge because you just can’t stand the pumpkin taste any longer? The Michelada is the same way. It’s not something you want to get plastered with at a party but it’s a refreshing, unique way to drink a beer at a café or a picnic. It’s a drink we became quite familiar with during our time in Oaxaca.

Can’t make it to Mexico this week? Make your own!

Below is a recipe for the Michelada from the Wall Street Journal:

Michelada

12 oz beer, preferably a blond Mexican beer or a darker one like Negra Modelo

1 oz fresh lime juice

2 dashes Worcestershire sauce

2 dashes Mexican hot sauce (e.g., Cholula)

Mix ingredients over ice in a salt-rimmed highball or pint glass and stir. Avoid watering down the beer with small cubes that melt quickly or too much ice.

While it sounds a bit strange on paper, the Michelada does taste fantastic and is something worth seeking out on your next trip to Mexico.

Beth sipping a Michelada.

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*Please remember all photos on this website are copyrighted and property of BeersandBeans.com, NarikosNest.com & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me to ask first because I love to share. Thanks!

(A mariachi band play their hearts out on at the grave of a loved one.)

Sullen sad-eyed women sell skinny wooden plank bookmarks, while their daughters moonlight as cigarette girls in the inky night.

Scenesters sit on stone curbs sipping beers and Mexican reds leaving the remains on the street as an offering to eternal youth.

Brass rules the city.  Mixteca jazz permeates the balmy night air of the Zocalo under the loud silence of the catholic cathedrals.

Demon warriors, young and old, fill the streets with mescal visions of dead celebrations only to wake in the morning to find the city one day older.

Cafes line the Zocalo like a monopoly set–from which tourist scramble with their pastel Dinero and pigeons wait for their confusion over exchange rates to steal peanuts.

Marigolds glow bright orange and exacerbate childhood autumn memories opening the door to a dead day’s night.

(Local youngsters in costume dancing on a large family plot. Shot from behind two guitar players in the band.)

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*Please remember all photos on this website are copyrighted and property of BeersandBeans.com, NarikosNest.com & Bethany Salvon. Please do not use them without my permission. If you want to use one of them please contact me to ask first because I love to share. Thanks!

Mother and daughter walk past fair vendors in Oaxaca, Mx during the Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebrations in the city.

To see the rest of the Somewhere In Time portfolio click here.

Lately I’ve been wondering if it is possible to have a full time job while gear shopping. Luckily for me I’m self employed so I don’t have to worry about it but it seems I have spent countless hours over the past 2 weeks gear shopping. Mainly I’ve been purchasing the big items at REI simply because they have such a fantastic return policy. I’ve returned many things and never had a problem – they even let you return used gear at any point in your lifetime. It’s pretty nice, I can try things out and if they don’t work I can return it and get something new. They had a big sale last week which led to countless hours wandering around the store checking out new backpacks, sleeping bags & shoes.

I have a couple items I’ll be posting reviews on but for now I wanted to focus on one awesome little item that has literally stolen my travel heart.

I picked this little gem up at Bed, Bath & Beyond which is another store I highly recommend for travel items, esp. toiletries. They have a killer travel size toiletry section and you can get anything there! I was totally in awe when I discovered all the trial sized items.

It seems I am always on the search for a good travel toothbrush. Now that we’re living the nomadic life it is more important than ever. I’m either on the boat, camping or staying at a friends. I’m on the road and so are my teeth so I need a toothbrush that can take the heat. I’ve tried them all:

- The tiny toothbrushes that comes apart into 2 pieces and you click them together to form one long toothbrush. Not bad but how much does it suck when you are brushing your teeth and it comes apart and the part w/ the brush on it falls into the sink? Sucks pretty bad, especially when it’s not your own home sink.

- The regular toothbrush with the little cover that you snap onto the brush. Inevitably it always comes apart in my luggage and then I have a toothbrush with strange yarns all over it. Not good.

- The mini toothbrush which isn’t bad but it never feels big enough to really clean my teeth. Feels like it is made more for a child.

- The only thing that worked well was the large tube that you put the entire toothbrush in. The only downside? It’s gigantic and takes up so much space. I don’t know about you but I just don’t want to commit that much space for my toothbrush. Plus it always gets kinda nasty inside it from what I guess, is toothbrush sweat.

Then I walked down the aisle at BB&B and a ray of light seem to guide me to this vision of a perfect travel toothbrush made by Butler!

Check it out:

It starts small.

Then it unfolds out of itself.

Until you get a full sized toothbrush!

It snaps in place (closed & open) so it is always secure and it is so easy to carry around and air out if need be.

I love this toothbrush! I think it is my favorite piece of gear right now. And get this -

You can get 2 of them for .99 cents at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Under a buck for 2 of them! That’s a fantastic deal. I ended up buying 4 and then later on I spent a while trying to figure out what is wrong with me that I would need 4 toothbrushes at one time.

I think I was just a little over excited. But now I have stocking stuffers for the family trip to Italy.

This belongs in your travel bag so go get one (or 4) !

Every love story should be told.

Let Nariko’s Nest tell the story of your wedding day.

I made a new photo site! I’m very excited!! It’s geared mainly towards weddings and travel photos. Please take a look, bookmark it and pass it on to EVERYONE you know.

Take a look see:  Nariko’s Nest

If you know anyone who is getting married please let me know or better yet send them the link. My style is mainly photojournalistic. I still have dates open for 2009 and I’m booking for 2010 now. I can make custom packages for any budget. I’m available on both coasts and of course I would love to shoot destination weddings!

I’m also available for travel work, journalism work, lifestyle portraits, food photography & anything else you can throw my way.

Please tell me what you think of the new site!!!

All comments welcome.

Thanks! Beth

http://beersandbeans.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=298&message=1

A couple weeks ago Randy and I got to cover the Del Mar Chili & Beer Festival at the Del Mar Racetrack for The Coast News. I thought this would be the ultimate Beers and Beans event because it was all about beer and chili.

It would’ve fit perfectly with our theme but there was not one vegetarian chili to be found in the bunch. Gasp! I did think there would be at least one, I was kind of shocked since there were over 50 contestants and none of them used beans. Shucks for me!

(I have no idea why this font is bold and everything is capitalized but like most things on wordpress it’s about to suddenly correct itself below.)

We had a great time covering the events, Randy wrote the article and interviewed everyone (which I consider to be much harder) and I snapped the photos. We’ve worked together like this a few times and it’s really pretty fun. Working together like this is the type of thing we are looking forward to on the big trip.

The best part was discovering the media room at the racetrack. From up there we got a full view of the ponies running the racetrack, ate a bunch of free food (even ice cream!) and got to hang with some other journalists. It was a nice change of pace from the crazy, hot & massively crowded fairgrounds and we didn’t have to buy any overpriced food – bonus! Plus we just felt cool hanging in the ‘media’ room.

Ok. This sunflower wasn’t sent to the paper for the story, but I love it and so I had to include it anyway. And it’s not often you’ll see me post pictures of flowers.

Oddly we were not offered any free beer samples at the Microbrew festival, which was strange seeing as we were writing and take pictures for the paper. Apparently the brewers did not want us to write a first hand account of what we thought of their goods. Which I thought was pretty dumb of them but then again I might be biased since I was definetly looking forward to some free beer.

Randy sampled some chili and said it was all fantastic. Apparently the chili festival which much more of a big deal than I ever thought it would be. Turns out the winner from this contest gets a coveted place in the national chili contest and if your wardrobe is basically jalepeno inspired buttoned down shirts (seriously, I counted waaaay over 30) this is basically the pilgrimage you’ve been thinking, dreaming & lusting over your entire life.

The Del Mar Racetrack hosts awesome events on the racetrack infield all summer. The best part is you buy a ticket to the races ($6) and you get the concerts for free! If you’re in the area you should check it out. I saw Billy Idol there a couple years ago and he sported 4, count ‘em, 4 clothing changes in his 2 hour set. To top it off, he played the same day they had a Microbrew Festival (like the one we covered here) except we actually found a tapped keg that got left behind and so we drank free all night! I thought we got more than our $6 worth when we found the free keg but when Billy ripped his shirt off on stage that really sealed the sweet deal.

Click here to visit the Del Mar Racetrack concert calendar.

Ziggy Marley is on the books for the end of the summer!

]]> http://beersandbeans.com/2009/08/25/a-true-beers-and-beans-event-well-almost/feed/ 0 http://beersandbeans.com/2009/08/20/raise-a-glass-save-a-life-in-honor-of-adrian/ http://beersandbeans.com/2009/08/20/raise-a-glass-save-a-life-in-honor-of-adrian/#comments Fri, 21 Aug 2009 06:15:53 +0000 beersandbeans http://beersandbeans.com/archives/310 (Please click post title to read full article, do not click the photo. Photo courtesy of a google search.)]]> It didn’t seem right to let today go by without celebrating the life of Adrian Sudbury.

.

Adrian (aka Baldy) was a beautiful boy from England who worked tirelessly until the last few days of his life to educate people about the awareness of being a bone marrow donor. If you don’t believe me, do a google search and you’ll find hundreds of stories about him. You can also read some previous posts I wrote about him. He was an amazing man, a fantastic journalist and inspired so many people, many of whom he never even personally met. Me, being one of them.

Without a doubt he made a huge impact on my life in the brief times that we emailed back and forth about ideas for his campaign. He was obviously a very unselfish and loving person. I think everyone who read his blog fell at least a little bit in love with him. There aren’t many words to describe someone like Adrian. He was completely and utterly full of awesome-ness. Is that even a word?

There is no doubt that he has saved/will continue to save thousands of people because of his Sign up for Sudders campaign, which made it all the way around the world and directly to the head of his government – the Prime Minster of the U.K., Gordon Brown.

Although Adrian isn’t here now to directly work on the campaign his efforts continue to save the lives of others because he gave a gift that keeps on giving. If you convince even 1 person to sign up for bone marrow donation and then they convince another person the circle continues and grows larger. This is what Adrian did but on a much larger, worldwide scale. Now solely because of Adrian the U.K. has a secondary school program where every student is taught about bone marrow donation and why it is so important. Imagine all the students who are now educated about donation because of his campaign. Whether on purpose or inadvertently they can now pass that information onto many other people.

With all the ways to share information – blogs, tweeting and facebooking – this circle will keep growing and so many more lives will be saved. It’s amazing!

This is all because of Adrian, literally. This was his brain child and he kept going with it, kept pushing until the very end. He did a lot of his work on the campaign in just the couple months right before his passing. When he left us to start his new journey he left enough knowledge & passion with the people around him to keep his campaign going strong. Because of his determination to help save the lives of other people suffering with the same disease, his dream has become a reality. If you ever think that you can’t make a difference, sit back and think about Adrian.

That is the power of what one person can do.

He started the beginning of a beautiful circle that spanned the globe and will hopefully continue for the remainder of time or until we can put a stop to Leukemia.

Did you know that if you donate bone marrow it can be used to save the life of someone else halfway across the world? If you are a patient you can receive bone marrow from anywhere in the world as well. Thanks to Adrian there are now thousands more people donating and helping to save the lives of Leukemia patients everywhere.

Someday that person could be you, your child, your parent, your friend. The donor could very well be someone who was inspired directly though the school program or from following Adrian’s blog. Perhaps it could be someone who donated indirectly because someone else they knew stumbled upon his story and told them about it. Maybe you’ll tell your co-worker during lunch about this story you’re reading right now, maybe they’ll tell their friends later tonight during happy hour. Maybe one of those people will sign up to be a donor and become a match for someone in need. This is the beauty of the campaign that Adrian started.

One main reason many people don’t donate is because they think it is still a painful surgery with large needles being jabbed into your bones. Nowadays in most instances, it’s not too different from giving blood. You can sit in your street clothes and listen to your Ipod. Most people don’t realize how far bone marrow donation has come and how much less invasive it is. Thanks to Adrian getting the word out about how much easier donation has become and I am sure we will continue to see many more people saving lives and signing up to donate.

Maybe right now that person is you.

For more information visit:

Marrow.org – in the U.S.

Anthony Nolan Trust – in the U.K.

Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide – Everywhere

If you aren’t eligible to donate blood marrow there are other ways you can help:

1. You can sign up to become a school speaker.
2. You can help out a local bone marrow drive.
3. You can tweet about Adrian and what he accomplished.
4. You can give a financial donation to any of the bone marrow registries or to the Sudder’s Campaign.
5. You can buy Baldy’s Book and learn more about him while donating to the cause.
6. You can re-post this article anywhere you want so more people can read about Adrian & bone marrow donation.
7. You can post one of the widgets I made for his campaign to your blog, your website or social networking page so that   other friends/readers may see it, click on it and learn more about getting involved in the Sudder’s Campaign.
8. You can join the Adrian’s Army Facebook group
9. You can work on a grassroots project contacting local legistlators.
10. You can read Baldy’s Blog and forward it to one friend, or 10!
11. You can tell just one person what you learned today about bone marrow donation and how easy it is to save a life.

If you can’t do any of the above, you can raise a glass and say a toast to Adrian Sudbury, his family and the gift he gave to the world. Thank you Adrian!

Love, Beth

He needs the most votes by Sept. 30th and will most likely need several thousand to make the grade.

Please vote for him by vising his page on the Quark contest site and click the button that says “Vote for Me”.

Just think of how happy he’ll be when he gets the good news!

If you’re an armchair traveler, visit his site for great info on the World Heritage Sites, excellent travel articles and daily travel photos. Get ready for some serious travel envy!

Happy Travels!

Ok, so this is way behind schedule seeing that I went on this trip in May but since I’m home for the 2nd week with swine flu (yes, it’s true) I’ve had some time to catch up on some old projects. Here’s a slideshow of Napa although be warned, it’s mainly pictures of my friends, however the soundtrack is good! This will mark the second time I’ve been to Napa and have managed not to get pictures of anyone drinking wine. Too much wine on my part I guess! Enjoy.

Click here to view it.

The weekend of June 12th I took off on a weekend trip to Massachusetts for my mom’s 60th birthday. She had no idea we were throwing her a party and she had no idea that I was flying home to see her. My sisters and I sent both our parents away to the Cape for the night, I flew in on the red eye, we painted the living room (her gift) and planned a garden themed party for her.

It was perfect – she had no idea until she walked in the door the next day and everyone yelled – surprise! The garden theme was carried on from the invitations to the buffet tables. We covered the main table in moss and actually ”planted” little plants in the moss so it looked like they were growing out of the table. It was very cool!

I have a very large family (read over 100 people) and some of my aunts, uncles  & cousins were able to make it over for the small, informal birthday surprise. I took a lot of pictures and when I reviewed them I noticed how off-kilter most of them are. I don’t really know any other way to describe them really, except well maybe, bad. They are all just a little off, and I personally find them quite hysterical and I’m sure other family members reading this will laugh too. My mother will want to kill me but after 15 years of taking photos she hates, I can’t see why I should stop now – right mom?  None of these photos are posed and, with the exception of the one below, they all seem to be taken at the wrong time. The are the off-kiltered family photos, a result of too much gin. It was a really fun night!

Mikey, Meredith & Auntie Charlene starting off the gin party.

Mom, Aunty Charlene & Grandma sharing a secret. I have no idea what Alex is doing.

Yes Tabitha, limes are very sour.

I don’t know why my mother is carrying this light around outside but my father isn’t following it.

Once again too much gin leads to bad decisions. My Aunt Charlene decided it might be a good idea to take the wheelbarrow out of her SUV to wheel someone a couple doors down to my Auntie Bette & Uncle Chris’ house. The picture below is not particularly exciting unless you enlarge it to see the look of complete shock on my mother’s face. My father seems entertained by the wheelbarrow idea but my mom appears to be in total disbelief and the look on her face just cracks me up.

My mother’s look of disbelief.

My mother convinced everyone that this was a bad idea so no one ended up in the wheelbarrow, which was probably a good thing.

The next day I took some random pictures around home.

Strange family portrait – My mom, sister Bridgette & my dad. Missing is my sister Kate.

My brother in law then found an old Kodak camera which we jimmy rigged to take some TTV type photos.

My Dad:

My mom trying to figure out what kind of contraption I was using to take pictures. I can almost hear her getting angry at me from 3500 miles away the momentshe sees this is posted on the web. I really like this picture of her though.

My Auntie Toni says hello.

On the same day my friend Ali gave birth to her 2nd child, a beautiful little girl named Maggie Rose, I became the proud owner of my first boat! A cute little 27′ foot Catalina sailboat named Lucky Lady. 

 Yah! Yah! I am so excited! I’m still kind of in shock that I even bought a boat seeing that I don’t even know how to sail but I did it and I love it! It may have been one of the best things I have ever done. Seriously.

I have realized all the nay-sayers who tried to squash my wet sea dreams were people who had no idea what they were talking about. The best day of a boat owners life is the day they buy the boat and the day they sell it…this is just a crap quote. I cannot tell you how many times this was quoted to me on my boat buying journey. It’s def. not true, every day is great on the boat! I finally noticed that the people who say that quote are people who have never owned a boat. They want to but they are just too afraid so they repeat that quote like talking heads because not doing so would force them to face their own reality that they are not being true to their own dreams. Suckers – suck this! This boat is kickin’.

I spent all weekend cleaning and painting the interior of the boat. I really want to paint over the top grey part of the boat but I haven’t decided on a color yet. Any ideas?? I wanted to do it black like a pirate ship but I’m thinking it might be too hot in the sun. Anyway, I slept on the boat all weekend and Randy & I took it out for a spin on Monday. Which turned out to be a really scary event. In retrospect, it was not my smartest idea to take it out, when 1. I barely know how to sail and 2. it was Memorial Day and everyone seemed to be out on their own boats. A homeless man was Huck Finn-ing around the harbor in a 4′ sailboat with his hat over eyes and came w/in a foot of running right into us until I screamed at him to turn around and he woke up. Technically he had the right of way but there was another boat fishing to the other side of us and we had nowhere to go. It was extremely nervewracking! I then almost burst ino tears when we had to bring it back to slip, I was so afraid of hitting someone else’s boat that Randy had to bring it in. Randy and I are trying to work things out again. What can i say, he is cute and hard to stay away from. Anyway, I have a friend who is promising to teach me how to sail and I can’t wait. This little boat is awesome and just hanging out on it all weekend makes you feel like you are miles away from reality. I realized I’m not going to be sailing to South America in 3 months like I was originally thinking (sometimes I don’t know where I come up with these delusions…) but it’s still fun to hang out on the docks and soak up the rays.

I fed some ducks and a jumping fish. Life is good.

Lauren, Scout & Chachy on the boat before I redid the inside.

 The kitchen after I redid some painting.

I’ll be adding new pics soon because I’ve done a lot more work on it and the boat is so cute now!

A couple weeks ago we took off to the Salton Sea for a day. What used to be the playground of the rich & famous (think Frank Sinatra & the Rat Pack) is now a crumbing, decaying, beautiful mess in the hot California desert. The popular spot was (is, if that counts)without a doubt the Bombay Beach area.

The Salton Sea is a man made salt lake, the “beach” is white sand (i use that term loosely) and small rocks. Life in Bombay Beach is basically dead. Among the pebbles are the numerous bodies of dead and decaying wildlife. It’s mainly skeletons of fish and birds but I spied a few unidentifiable corpses and one which I think was a rabbit, which made me quite sad. This isn’t the type of place any animal should die. It’s smelly, hot and terribly lonely. There are also rusted machines, farm equipment and random odds & ends all over the place. The smell is raw and only gets worse as the summer heat progresses. You can imagine the stench - decaying animals, fish skeletons and the small lapping waves of a man made salt lake sitting in the hot desert sun. As lonely as it appears, there is a steady stream of traffic and people do live here. They’re a hardy bunch. The kids seem happy, the teenagers bored, the adults hardened. We hit up the Bombay Beach bar where the owner tried to sell us the place. Just a reminder to myself that I need a major life change (when does the trip start??!!)because for about a 1/2 second I actually contemplated this idea. Among the greasy grill cheese and cheap beer it was possible to forget that you were in a modern day hellhole – until of course you walk outside into the sweltering, stinking heat.

All that aside, this place is beautiful. It’s strange, repulsive and beautiful at the same time. Walking around the crumbing buildings and abandoned yacht clubs you can almost see the 1950’s socialites sunning themselves at the pool, sipping pina coladas. I’ve never been to a place so alive and so dead at the same time. It interesting. There is a bit of wildlife, mainly in the form of pelicans and some other random birds. There were quite a few people taking in the sights- some taking photos and others skateboarding the abandoned pool. I took most of my photos with a technique  I was dying to test out called TTV. It was a lot of fun

Most people would drive by this place and never bother to stop. I’ve always been good at seeing the beauty in the decay. Hence my pathetic dating record. hahaha… anyway, here are the pictures - Memories of the Salton Sea.

Dear Ree,

I don’t think you could ever convince me that you did not ride bicycles in St. Petersburg. Or that you weren’t uncanningly similar to the charming Brit boy I met in Mexico last year. Now I wear a t-shirt that has your picture on it. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of you and wish that you are so happy wherever you may be. – All My Love, Bethany

Sedona – I took this one by leaving the polarizing filter on (which creates the black vignetting on the corners) and then I fogged up the lens with my breath.

The Grand Canyon at dawn.

Two Cute Guys…

Quiet Days In Cliche.

Mr. Chachy Robinson

Yes, we carry him around in a bag when we have to go into a store or somewhere that pets aren’t allowed. Yes, he likes it.

Quite possibly the coolest dog ever.

Because the journey is more important than the destination – welcome to the sky paintings.

That’s because, after 8 long years, America finally grew up and shaved today.

At last there is some sort of tangible change to believe in. Like a porn star’s landing strip – Bush is out.

Obama is in the house.

It’s really exciting to be a part of the change and watch it happening all around. There are only a couple days in my life than I can recall a truly united feeling. Really remembering that I had countrymen and that we all had each other. I felt that way on 9/11 and on Nov. 4th 2008. Those particular days, albeit for far different reasons, there was such a strong feeling of countryship & national pride. On those days no one cared about much else – where you lived, went to school, what you made or did for work – nothing mattered. On 9/11 you could walk down the street, talk to a perfect stranger as if you had known them forever. You would’ve given them all the money in your pocket, whatever they needed and they would’ve done the same for you. It was a very sad, heavy day but the unity of the country was amazing.

Nov 4th, 2008 brought the same feeling of togetherness, except people were very happy. It was a fantastic day! People were crying in the streets but this time they were tears of joy. Everywhere you turned, people were smiling, greeting each other like they were old childhood friends who had lost touch in the last couple of years.

Today, Inauguration Day, was the culmination of Nov. 4th and it couldn’t have been better. The Obama family looked fantastic and I tried many times to imagine what it must be like in their shoes today. To sleep in the White House for the first night, to have a personal chef, to be the first black family – it must have been nothing short of overwhelming. With all the excitement I can’t help but wonder if Barack gets to sleep in tomorrow?

Probably not, but then again he is the President.

The U.S. is on the right track! I am so excited I can’t even explain it. I can’t even remember the last time I really cared about a campaign and here I am crying because I’m so happy.

This is f-ing awesome!!!! Everyone on tv is crying, people are yelling in the streeets – this is freaking amazing.

My personal motto has always been – Anything is possible.

I’m so glad tonight happened. Now it really is true.

Write that date down because it’s history in the making.

I will just come out and say it. If McCain manages to pull this off than this whole thing is a sham. I have felt for months that there is no way he is going to win this election and so far the polls are saying the same thing. Of course, there are still a couple key states left but right now Obama has 207 electoral votes and McCain has 135. The first to 270 wins.

I am a big Obama fan and I will be shocked if he doesn’t win. Not just because I like him but because everyone else does too. I can count the McCain fans I know on about 1 hand and I know a lot of people. It is the general concensus here that Barack will be our new president this January. Which in a word is AWESOME.

It’s not that I really dislike McCain, I don’t. He’s actually someone I wish I could know better -he seems like a really interesting individual. It’s just that Obama is everything that we need here in the U.S. He’s smart, exciting, well thought out, has great ideas & a lot of passion. He is basically the exact opposite of Bush. He envisions change and has the energy to do it (ie: possible end to the war & universal health care). I mean come on, even his logo is cool looking. The guy is simply rad.

We’ve got a couple other big things on the ballot here in CA – making gay marriage illegal.  A ridiculous idea, I still can’t see why people get mad about who loves who. Do people honestly think that Jesus cares? Come on now. A lot of problems in the world exist because there is a LACK of love. Some people never even experience real love. Most people who have consider themselves very lucky. Why would anyone want to discourage love? I don’t and I’m pretty sure Jesus wouldn’t either. Last I heard he loves everyone, not just straight people. Another big one for me is higher living standards for farm animals. Yes, I am all about this because I love farm animals and miss my little Pepe everyday. Every living creature deserves to have a good life where they are not abused and there is ABSOLUTELY no reason for anything less. Again you could say this comes back to love or lack thereof.

A lot of things are riding on this historic day.  Although we have the seperation of church & state in the U.S. God is always in the center of things, especially on election day. With the issues of war, respect & love on the ballot I have to wonder – have we been guided by the light or blinded by it?

Go Obama.

This year in my little haphazard garden I managed to grow a couple sunflowers from seed! They maybe got to be about 3′ tall which isn’t that tall for a sunflower but I was pleased because they looked beautiful. They were grown in pots and didn’t have too much room to spread their roots or I’m sure they would’ve grown much taller.

I’ve been “on the fringe” for a week now. This is the nickname we have come up with. It’s been a long time since I’ve written on here but I’ve been very busy. It’s amazing how busy being homeless can make you. Ok, so I’m not dragging my belongings around in a plastic bag but every night I call a different hotel home as I watch my travel savings dwindle away.

The credit crunch sucks.

Everyone knows the housing market has been hit hard and San Diego is one of the worst spots. We got booted from our place because our landlords lost their home and had to move back in. The tribe dispersed. Bridgette & Mike moved back to Boston, Randy and I reunited and decided to make a large leap & buy a boat. I was quite happy with this idea and we went to the Marina on a whim and found a boat that we loved. We put an offer in and everything was going swimmingly until last Sunday when we went to officially sign the papers and found that it was crawling in termites. Even though it was fiberglass and the owner was going to have it tented and sprayed, I just couldn’t get over it. The thought of sleeping in a small space w/ termites or toxic chemicals just didn’t sit right with me. I’m just getting over my health issues, I did not under any circumstance want to sleep in a small space sprayed w/ incesticide. I tried to let it go and think that it would be ok but ultimately I couldn’t get over the idea of living with toxicity and we had to walk away from our beautiful boat. What a bummer!

I have to say this move to the boat was really the only thing I had been excited about in a long, long time. I was REALLY psyched. All I could think of was waking up to the sounds of klinking sails and flags blowing in the wind. Dock parties, sea gulls, little fish swimming around -perfect! I was so ready to be a “boat person” and fly my very own pirate flag.

Well with everything falling apart at the last minute with the boat it left us in a bit of a jam. We had nowhere to go. All the “stuff” was packed into a uhaul for a couple days and then into a storage unit this weekend. The rental market is completely flooded right now and it’s crazy trying to find a place. We’ve been looking for days and have put in a couple applications that haven’t work out. There are simply too many people looking for places to rent. It has to be all the other people who have lost their homes. I have never seen anything like this. The rents have gone thru the roof as a result of the credit crunch. Even the ghetto apts are expensive. It’s insane, I can’t believe how the credit issues have already started trickling down.

The good news is I have tried out almost every hotel on Hotel Circle in San Diego. If you’re looking for the best value you probably want to stick w/ the Vagabond Inn. It’s clean, nice, has 2 pools and a little kitchenette. The Travelodge is also really nice and the beds are by far the most comfy. The Super 8 smells – I wouldn’t recommend it. I had to drink a bottle of wine just to get myself thru the night. Ok, not really but it was a good excuse, wasn’t it?

In all actuality I could very easily get used to this life, which is good for the long term travel idea! I really kinda like going to a different place every night. Everything I really need is in my car and easy to get. In a couple months I could empty out that storage unit and say goodbye to at least 80% of the items in there, that’s kind of a nice feeling. You also get to make a mess and never have to clean it up – that is awesome. The downsides are that unlike cheap, hostel travel it’s getting expensive at an average of $70/night, constantly eating out on the cheap is getting old and making me feel dull. Chachy is not really digging the lifestyle of having to be snuck into every hotel in a little bag and spending his days riding around in the car. He really is the best dog ever, now he knows the routine and I just put the bag on the bed and he walks right in and curls up. You can almost hear the sigh of discontent.

Oh poor Mr. Chachy, the life on the road doesn’t agree with him. When we get a new place I’ll have to get him a special little toy for being such a quiet, sneakable little dog.

The upswing? You get to spend a lot more time outdoors. You can’t accidently get sucked into some crappy lifetime movie on Sunday afternoon because instead you’re outside enjoying the day.

Here are a couple widgets I have made for Adrian’s campaign. Please feel free to grab the codes and post them to your own blog, facebook, myspace, etc, page. If you have any suggestions please leave a comment your contact info and I will write back. 

To grab the code click on the share tab at the bottom of the widget, copy the code and paste it into your blog or site. Make sure you copy the entire code or it will not work. Wanna change the size of your widget? If you look at the code you’ll see something like this: width=”300″ height=”271″  – change the 300 to 250 or whatever size works for you and it should switch automatically. The one on my right sidebar was switched to 250, I did not have to switch the 2nd (271) number.

Any suggestions on size, links, pictures or videos are welcome. I was only able to use pictures and videos available online but if someone has others pictures I could make a widget with those as well. I would be more than happy to make specific widgets for Adrian’s family, friends or the Army.

Please pass these on to EVERYONE you know. The more people that post a widget on their site, means more people will visit Adrian’s blog, learn about his campaign and, hopefully, sign up to become donors. Please feel free to pass the codes out at the memorial service as well, if appropriate.

Hmm… It is still so hard to comprehend. When I checked today and saw the post I felt ruined and desolate. Even though I knew this post would come, it still hit like a ton of bricks. I cried all day at work. Adrian Sudbury, the Extraordinaire, passed away today, ending a long battle with Leukemia, but not before making a lasting change in the world.  

This is someone, who although we never met, through our brief emails and exchange of ideas I considered to be a friend. I have elaborated more on this great guy and his plight in other posts and I will do so in the future. I will probably change this post around at a later date as well but today this is what is on my mind. Today was a solemn day.

This line kept repeating up in my head: “What you do takes your further away.”

Courtesy of Mary Magdalene and simply put – what we do in our daily lives, (relationships, work, etc) when we don’t do the right thing, takes us further away. Further from the person we could be and the person we most likely want to be. It leaves us imbalanced and makes us feel insignificant. Usually when we feel this way, we act out – yell at the slow driver, complain about the co-worker who is driving us mad, take our bad day out on our friends & family, etc. We say/think the things we don’t really mean and throughout the day, even if we don’t recognize it, all of those things add up and take us just a little bit further away. Further from the person we want to be, the person, who in actuality, is already within us. Most of us get so caught up in the daily grind that we don’t even remember this. 

If you believe in that concept it only makes sense that the converse must also be true. If what we do has the ability to take us further, than in the same right, there must also be things we do that can bring us closer. Closer to a sense of being, accomplishment & balance. Closer to the type of person we want to be and the changes we want to see in the world. 

This is Adrian, this is where he hangs out – he brings us closer.  Closer to doing the right things for the right reasons. The first gift of bone marrow education he gave us is quite remarkable. Hundreds, if not thousands of people could be saved because of his actions. However the secondary gift he gave, the gift of doing the right thing, is just as immeasurable. Numerous people have commented and thanked him for making them a better person. It’s true – there is something in this blog that you simply can’t deny. The poignancy of his life tribulations made other people lead better lives. Suddenly perfect strangers started thinking twice about the things they did and started going out of their way to do even better things for other strangers. What a beautiful cycle. Thank you Adrian!

 I am one of those people. How could I be so angry at the annoying driver making me late to work when Adrian was dealing with everything in his life and still managing to make the world a better place? I started to think twice and suddenly rushing off in traffic late to work started to become a strange sort of mediation. Thinking about Adrian and the way he chose to live his life, made me live mine better as well. Reading his thoughts gave me a template of understanding. It just made sense and it felt quite tangible, something I could work on. Other people writing similar things on here that convinced me I wasn’t alone in this thought. 

Adrian brought me closer – closer to the person I wanted to be. 

 It seems to me that he brought a lot of people closer. When Adrian’s Army came to fruition it just seemed like the most natural thing – do the right thing and the world will listen. It’s just that simple. 

His light may have been far too short on this earth, but he really could pack a house. Influencing politicians, lobbying for bone marrow transplants, winning awards & making perfect strangers friends – he did a lot! The world was really so lucky to have him. I can only be glad now that he is no longer hurting and I can only hope that our paths will cross again, perhaps in a more permeable way, in another life.

Good luck in Norway Adrian, I figure that is where you’re going now. 

With all the love from the bottom to the top – Bethany

Today he showed up!

He walked right into my sister’s office like he owned the place. He is definitely homeless and looks like he needs a little medical attention. Guess he found the right place.

Mike named him Zap Brannigan.

Isn’t he cute?! I am so happy

This line has been stuck in my head all day. Wishing I could sing out loud now instead of getting too worked up. Turns out the landlords just stopped by and kicked us out. It’s not anything we did but instead they are moving back in due to financial problems. This is strange in a couple of ways.

I seem to remember getting kicked out like this from my other place (because a relative of the landlord wanted to move in) last Decemeber, 4 days before Christmas and 1 day after my surgery. That was a fun letter to discover on the door after coming home from my hospital stay. Yesterday I spent 5 hours in the hospital having tests done so it is strange now this comes today, the day after that. I’m thinking hospitals must have a strange effect on my living situations.

I actually enjoy when wierd things like that happen, even though this one sucks.

The biggest bummer in this whole deal is that my sister and brother-in-law are going to move back to Boston now. I’m pretty bummed. I really loved having them here and I knew they always were planning on moving back but I figured I could make them wait it out until after the cold months in Massachusetts had passed. They’re excited to go home because they will be house hunting thanks to some very generous in-laws. Unfortunately that deal is only good on the east coast – nothing like dangling a carrot for your kids to come back home. So in any case, I’m happy for them and that is a good move for them.

Now I know that things can get worse, they can always get worse and in reality moving is really just a giant pain in the butt, it’s not a huge problem by any means. I’ve already had a sampling of stress far worse than this. That could be summed up as the entire year of 2007. With the passing of 3 loved ones, the work headaches and health problems it really was pretty rough. In fact, my friend Lauren and I decided 2008 was going to be “our year” – the year things finally started falling into place. We even made T-shirts that said:

“2008 – It’s gonna be great!”

And I can’t say it’s been bad. Things are definitely looking up and I’m feeling way better than even a couple months ago. But at some point you just want things to work out, without anything else going wrong. I’m sick of being sick, being poked, prodded & tested on and then having other things, like this, happen. I mean I have to move again? Really? We just moved in March. It gets old. I just want to have my life back and stop dealing with all this crap. Plus, I like my place – I have the best bedroom ever!

The bad part is that the constant turmoil has caused me to dream about the big trip as an escape. Instead of thinking about it as a huge cultural discovery, I just think about how I can’t wait to get away from it all, do nothing and be responsible to no one, except friends and family. Away from not feeling good and medical tests, away from landlords kicking me out of their places, etc. Blah!   

I can feel myself reaching the breaking point. I am trying to remain positive about my tests and after some wine tonight I won’t care about the stresses of the day. In fact, even now I’m kinda of laughing to myself about it. Everything happens for a reason and I’m just trying to remember that. I mean this is obviously how it is supposed to be for whatever reason. In a few months maybe I’ll get to figure out what that reason is.

Sometimes I feel like my life is not really my own. Before we got booted from the first place in December I was so stressed out and I was thinking that I needed a change. So while I was upset that i had to deal with finding a new place during that particular time period, I felt like a change would be good. And like most of the strange conincidences & intuitions of my life I was literally, just 2 days ago in the car, thinking that I needed another change. I was starting to feel stifled and stuck but I figured I was just nervous about the upcoming medical tests. Now amazingly 2 days later I’m getting that change, even though I would’ve preferred that it came in a different form (maybe like the lottery), here it is.       

No more parrots screaching outside my window every morning, no more ridiculous planes at 11pm flying overhead, no more itty bitty kitchen – I guess there are some good thing that could come from this after all. Of course I will miss being 2 blocks to the beach and I will actually miss the loud green parrots outside my window but I have to smile when I wonder where I’ll end up next and what the next adventure will bring.

Yuck.

I started feeling like I just can’t write what I intended to write on here until I get some of the things going on in my life out of my head. I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in Dec ’07 when planning a trip around the world. This blog is still about travel but it’s also about me and I’ve been sidetracked lately. When I first found out about the cancer, I did what every sick person knows is completely wrong but cannot help anyway – I looked online. I learned a lot and worried a lot more than needed but one thing I remember is reading the blog of a woman who had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer (there aren’t many) a couple years earlier than me and had the same pattern of illness before she found out what was wrong. I started thinking today, from reading my pal Adrian’s wonderful blog, that maybe I should write my little blip in the cancer story world down. I never intended to do this but decided to today just in case someone like me, 2 years from now is doing the same search I did last year. 

If you haven’t visited Adrian’s site, now is the time to do it. You’ll probably never be the same after you read it. In fact, you might be inspired and do something awesome today, tomorrow or next year. In any case, this will make Adrian very happy! So check it out.

Back to Beers and Beans.

I can guarantee you this: This is a travel blog and will always be one. I will be taking my trip, I just don’t know exactly when. My sidebar still has a countdown ticker from back in the day when I put it on there. I thought for a while I could keep going with that countdown but I know now it won’t happen until I can get everything in the health dept. straightened out, which could take a little longer than I thought. The travel beauty of the blog is kinda on vacation right now (she went to hang out in the Swiss Alps for a bit until I sort things out) but do not kid yourself, my friends, this IS a travel blog.

My little blip part 1:

Been a little frustrated lately with my blogging habits. I don’t know if I’m just not the daily blogger type or if I’m just bothered that I can’t figure out how to shrink the text down to normal in my sidebar but I haven’t been using this site as much as I should. Considering I spent MONTHS building it with tons of help from Ms. Brooke-tastic and I need to start paying more attention to it. I guess the other thing is that when I first came up with the idea for this site I was months away from knowing that I had some bummer health problems, so it really was meant to be a travel site, with my grand hopes that I could maybe gets ads on it and make money on the road. Freedom. I hoped maybe eventually it could become a great resource for other people looking to do the same thing. In retrospect I was a bit obsessed. I think I drove Randy absolutely insane with my blog ideas of “a beer a day review” and the “beans around the world” cookbook, just among some of them. There is even a ridiculous video of me and a sock puppet making the Holy Beanacado Super Yum recipe. Someday in the near future this video may surface.

I know, totally corny.

Still it gave me something to focus on and think about when my anxiety was out of control last year. Little did I know my body was working double time fighting off a growing cancer and autoimmune disease in my thyroid. I thought I was just really stressed out. Makes sense now why I couldn’t lose any weight and was gaining it by the bucket load, got that horrible stomach bacterial virus from a 5 day trip to Guatamala that no one else got, why I broke out in a major rash covering the top half of my body after putting on Tiger Balm (which i had used for years) because I cricked my neck doing logic puzzles in my bed on one of the days I was off work for said stomach bug, why the rash took over a week to go away and required many more days home from work and visits to the doctor, why I broke out in a horrible staph infection from my hike in Scotland and stay in London, why I had to go to urgent care several times last year for shots to calm the staph infection, why I constantly had sinus infections was under the weather and also why I simply could not stand the stress of work anymore and literally felt like I was losing my mind.

Seems so obvious now and I remember talking to my mom on the phone when i was randomly sick and her telling me that I needed to get a full physical and that something wasn’t right. I totally ignored what she said because I hate needles and hospitals and all the things that go along with that. I really thought I was just stressed out. I figured it would go away after the stress was gone, most of which i related to work. Luckily, the company I worked for was on the verge of bankruptcy. Normally most people get bummed out when they are laid off.

Not me, I was estatic.

I was so happy I didn’t have to deal with it anymore. No more moronic managers, no more dealing with whiny underwriters and unappreciative clients. I think my problem at that job was that I seriously cared about my clients and went way too far out of my way to help them. It was such a blow to me when they lost trust or went to someone else for a lower rate. Not only did it hurt my feelings but also hurt my pocketbook because I was 100% commission, which only added to the stress. The only thing I missed about work was the group of girls that I taught. I really loved being their team leader and when we had meetings we talked about personal goals instead of bullshit sales goals that we were supposed to be hitting. For the managers at work, nothing was ever good enough, if you hit your goals that meant you could’ve done more. When I landed a huge Mexico development, my mentor, the manager I thought of as a friend, didn’t even take the time to say congratulations. That really hurt. Needless to say, I was so happy when that place folded. I remember last August was great! I had my 3 little pet chickens in the yard, my sister and brother-in-law had just moved out from Boston to live with us and Randy and I used to surf in the mornings and eat “Papas Locos” at the cantina while watching the waves. 

Good times.  

I thought that in a month or so I would be footloose and fancy free and back to my old self. I had been carrying around a lot of loss as well from the 3 devestating deaths that happened in the first 7 months of 2007 as well. I was hoping that with my new free time I could reflect and make peace, at least to some degree, with the feelings of guilt and huge holes in my heart left by each one. I wasn’t planning on moving on, I just wanted some time to focus on being me for a bit.

Funny thing is that it never happened.

Things were continually stressful, I was continously battling some form of being sick, I was full of anxiety (which was something I had no experience with prior) and I was getting depressed. It got to the point that I just didn’t want to go out anymore. I used to love getting beers and dinners with friends, having house parties, going to Mexico for the weekend or spending my weekends hanging around the beach. I didn’t want to do anything, I didn’t want to drink because I would get sick for a week after, I didn’t want to eat out because all i did was gain weight. I didn’t want to run or bike around Mission Bay because I was tired, I didn’t want to surf because I couldn’t keep up with Randy and I would just get pummelled by waves, I didn’t have the fortitude to push through them.  I can honestly say that before and after the surgery, which left me completely in the pits of hypothyroidism, I did not go out for 6 or 7 months. I hung out with people when they came over and I worked a few hours a day with some friends at their office but that was about it. I played a lot of video games in the beginning until eventually I got too tired to even do that. I never was a big TV watcher but that was all I did because it was all i had the energy for. I didn’t want to read, play video games or do logic puzzles, i was just too tired. All I wanted to do was lie around with Mr. Chachers. Being a dog that craves comfort & sleep he was more than happy to be a constant companion snuggling in front of the TV. I was frustrated at the world because of all this and watching daytime TV really doesn’t help anyone’s frame of mind. I think daytime TV is the absolute curse for anyone that is sick and unfortunately you don’t have energy for anything else. It’s like a double edged sword.

I did go to San Francisco for Thanksgiving to help my cousin Sarah move and I was really stressed about it and wanted to just stay home to “relax”. Relaxing was something I was always trying to achieve but never could. If she hadn’t been moving I def. would’ve talked her into coming to San Diego instead. The only other thing I did in the last few months of last year was go to my friend’s holiday party where I then proceeded to cry my eyes out. I didn’t make it to Baja at all from last May until this past March, which if you know me is very strange since in the past I was going once or twice a month.

In Oct. ‘07 a nurse at planned parenthood (which is an amazing organization) said I had to get my thyroid looked at asap. Again, I shrugged it off. Not because I was scared but because in June ‘06 I had gone to my doctor to have my thyroid tested. That was when I started gaining weight and noticed that my neck looked a little bigger. She did the standard tests and told me I was fine. I repeated this info to the nurse but it didn’t seem to sway her opinion. When I left her office I still didn’t give a second thought to my thyroid, in my head I already had it tested and it was normal. It wasn’t until she personally wrote me a letter the following month asking me to follow up with it that I started thinking about it.

That got my attention. I never had a nurse write me a letter before.

I made an appt. to get it re-looked at. Honestly, I really didn’t think anything of it. It came as a total shock when they told me I had to go for an ultrasound and then a biopsy. Turns out the original tests I had done in ‘06 didn’t include the antibody test, which is where the cancer and autoimmune diseases like to pal around, both of which I was diagnosed with. Normally you fall in the 0-400 antibody range, I was tapped out at almost 10,000. Eeeks! No wonder why I was such a wreck, my body had been working so hard to fight this off, it didn’t have time for other stuff. The additional tests they did also came back very high but amazingly my thyroid TSH tested normal again (and continued to do so until after the surgery). I say this because if anyone reading this thinks they may have a thyroid issue you have to DEMAND that they do the antibody test. It’s just a blood test, very simple since they have to take blood for the other tests anyway. I suffered for a year and half before i was diagnosed because they told me everything was fine simply because they were too lazy to do the full run up. Thank God thyroid cancer is a slow grower, if it was a different part of the body who knows what would’ve happened. Always make sure your dr. listens to you, if they won’t, then get a new one! I’ve read that other people have had the same problems being diagnosed because their TSH was testing “normal”. It really bothers me how simple it is to correct this by just ordering an additional blood test but it seems to happen all the time. It seems like common sense yet alludes most doctors. Why?

At this point the anxiety in my life was out of control and my doc gave me a prescription for Xanax, which I lovingly referred to from that point on as my “dumb blonde friends”. No offense to any of my extremely smart blonde friends! It was just a joke for myself because it really dumbed me up. I didn’t really like feeling that way but it was better than the constant anxiety and panic attacks. When the biopsy time came around I pumped in a bunch of those bad boys! hahaha!

I have to say at this point honestly, I was really worried. Everyone kept telling me that things would be fine but I just had a feeling in my gut that they weren’t. However the power of suggestion is quite powerful and I actually did manage to convince myself the day before I went to get my results that everything really was fine and that I wasn’t going to have any issues at all.

This is what is called denial.

The thing is that I got a lot of support with this theory so I stuck with it. Everyone loved and agreed with this theory so it had to be true! Unfortunately, I knew the minute my endocronoligist walked in the room that it really was nothing more than simple denial. The initial look on his face, the way he carried himself and shut the door behind him, I knew I was going to get bad news. Then he said:

“I’m sorry to tell you this but you kinda have cancer.”

Huh?

He then went on to tell me I had the 2nd best type of cancer you could ask for and that I would definitely need to have surgery and possibly radiation but that it would be ok and that I would be just fine. I don’t know, I guess the world stops moving a little when someone tells you that you have cancer. I don’t remember much of that visit except being very mad at the world and being very, very scared. Mainly I was kinda of numb. I was glad Randy was with me but I wished my parents were there too instead of being 3500 miles away on the east coast. It seemed like when I walked out of the office everyone else in the world had stayed the same but I was completely different. I felt really alone.

The dr. seemed positive and this made Randy also positive but I wasn’t feeling any sort of “Don’t worry, be happy now” feelings. I was really not a happy camper in any way.

I remember thinking what does “kinda have cancer mean?” Kinda? Maybe I didn’t? Maybe the test was wrong? Maybe we need to redo the biopsy? I mean what is kinda cancer?

I asked him if that was like being kinda pregnant, I guess i was a little pissed off and being a smart ass. Not much of a surprise, I never dealt well with doctors, hospitals or needles (even managed, at age 12, to punch my physician in the face when he was chasing me with a needle – that didn’t go over well on either end as you can imagine). 

He explained I did have cancer but that it may not be cancerous, meaning it may not have spread. He detailed that you can still have cancer but only when it spreads is it considered “cancerous”. I guess you really do learn something new every day since I did not know this. He assured my that thyroid cancer is the best type of have and my type (follicular) is the 2nd best type of thyroid cancer out there, pretty fantastic odds. Even with all this positive news I was still really terrified and quite convinced that any cancer, regardless of type, as long as it was in my body, was def. not “good”.

He said I had to have surgery to remove the cancer (and 1/2 my thyroid) and to find out if it had spread. He added that I may have to remove the entire thyroid and hopefully the pathologist would be able to tell quickly if it had spread (whileI was under) so that i wouldn’t have to redo the surgery again the next day. In any case, I would be on hormone replacement for the rest of my life. Whoa -Double whammy! Cancer and meds for life? Really NOT liking the sounds of that. I have always hated pills and I’m the type of person who puts off taking aspirin until I I really need it. At that point 1 a day sounded totally annoying. Here I am 7 months later at 5 a day and some sort of mist sinus thing at night. It must be a learning lesson for me since I am dead set on getting down to just the 1 pill now. I’ll be rejoicing instead of complaining at that point! Also, as a side note, I realize now how foolish it was to think that 1 pill a day was just unbearable. Now I feel lucky but at the time I was overwhelmed and felt differently. 

I have always tried to live a healthy lifestyle – always ate right, vegetarian, social drinker, never smoked (at least not cigarettes) and always exercised, I had just run a marathon the year before for Leukemia & Lymphoma research. Now I was unhealthy and that was hard news to take. Then he proceeded to tell me I also had Hashimoto’s, which is an autoimmune disease that attacks the thyroid. Eventually on it’s own it will completely destroy the thyroid, it also puts me at higher a risk for other autoimmune diseases, like MS, etc. Whoa - Triple Whammy!

Of course I had to ask: 

Why me?  – There was no answer. None of these things run in my family. No one knows why this happened to me but it did.

Everyone around me was trying to be really positive about this news and kept focusing on the “best type of cancer” verbage. It really fell on deaf ears, all I heard was that I had cancer, I didn’t care if it was the “best type” to have, I still had cancer. I didn’t really even know what that meant - best type? I didn’t know what to expect. I was petrified.

In recap: I got sick after the 4th of July party and ended up going to a different doc for second opinion on the thyroid issues. She was surprised when I told her I had surgery in Dec. to remove the thyroid cancer but that they only took half of my thyroid, leaving the other half still in my body. I too, i have been wondering about this for quite some time. So now I’m at square 1 again w/ an ultrasound and bloodwork next week. I know the obvious next step will be the biopsy and then ___. – A word i won’t say.

I decided to do this since i have been constantly on the edge of sickness since the surgery and my one day of drinking and eating like a normal person was obviously enough to do my, already struggling, immune system in. I’ve been sick all week and still not up to par now. Is anyone else from the party sick? Nope, just me. I’m basically sick of battling this. Granted I’m light years away from just a couple months ago where i was exhausted and sleeping in bed for 12 – 14 hr stretches but i’m still sick of it. Dealing with the Hashicrapo’s (my name for it), the cancer and the hypothyroidism has to just end and I need to be normal again.

So, needless to say i’ve been a bit on edge knowing I’m now back at the start of a process I’m not keen of.

Then Randy and I broke up. Yippee Yeah, This Sucks. I love Randy but we have some core issues, which don’t belong on this blog, that can’t seem to be resolved. This is of course, complicated by the fact that we both live together, etc. There is a hope of reconcilliation but a LOT of things would need to change and I’m just not sure that we can both make the grade together. Pretty rough after 2.5 years together and a trip around the world (my saving grace for the past months) in the works.

Yeah, it’s been a crappy week.

However, this morning I was particularily anxious because I was scheduled for “boot camp”.

I’ve been working out with a trainer, since I got some of my energy back up a few weeks ago, to take off the 50+ lbs I’ve gained thru the thyroid mess (another lovely side effect on someone who is only 5′ tall and living in the land of the pretties which is southern california). My wonderful trainer, Jen, was out of town at the beginning of the week (which was good due to illness) and announced at Thursday’s session that I would be doing the boot camp on Saturday with about 7 other people and on of my best buddies, Lauren, who I regularly share sessions with.

The words literally stung my scalp, not unlike a bad dye job, and it actually made me dizzy. Much like the precise sip when you realize you’ve had just a bit too much to drink. Ick! Ick! No! No! No! I don’t want to do this! This sucks!

To be honest, I’m not a “group” person. I work out with her because I am self concious and don’t want to sweat it out with all the 100 pound cookies at the gym. I knew I was going to be the most out of shape, the slowest, weakest, (insert your comment here), of the bunch. I really did not want to do this. I wrestled with it in my mind and seriously tried to think of ways I could get out of it. Maybe I could play up the sick thing, maybe I had to take Chachy to the vet or maybe I slept thru my alarm – there had to be an out I could come up with for this.

This morning, around 8:30, I actually called Lauren and left a tearful mention that I would not be making it to “camp”. Inside I knew I would regret not going but I just couldn’t rally enough to get on board and be the person that makes everyone else feels better about themselves. Mind you, I also had a meltdown at Jen’s on Thursday when I was reduced to tears during the beginning of the session and just broke down in front of her, bawling, while attempting my side plank. How could I put myself in front of this many people with all this on my mind? I was in fits over it this morning yelling “I shouldn’t be this upset about something that I am paying for.”, etc., etc.

Somewhere inside though, I knew the pain worse than the skinny girls in cute shorts would be the sting of my own criticism. If I didn’t go, I would be really disappointed in myself. It was a feeling I couldn’t shake. I also summarized that if I got dirty glances or heard mumblings about how slow I was then I could simply yell back “I have cancer – f*** off, you f***ing f***!”. With that fool proof plan in my back pocket I dredged to the car and drove myself to what I was sure would be my demise or, at the very least, the worst possible way to start the weekend.

It was 2 hours of hell.

We started off by running hills and stairs – jesus! – the 2 things I hate the most! 20 flights (I did cheat a little shh..) and 2 huge hills later I was starting to feel ok with my role at the end of the pack. Throughout the whole session it was exactly what I thought it would be – I was the weakest, the slowest & the sweatiest. But unlike the drama I had played out in my mind for the past couple days no one said anything or really seemed to notice. hmm.

I beat myself up a bit on the hills and stairs when I realized that 2 of the women were very pregnant, about 5mos & 7 mos. They beat me. Oh yes, 2 heavily pregnant women beat me, yes they did. Then I realized I had also been left in a the dust by a woman with a broken arm who was sporting a hot pink cast as a testament to her surfing casualty. Yup, she beat me on everything as well, even the weights which is still hard to understand. I complimented her and told her she was strong – I couldn’t imagine lifting weights with a broken arm. Hell, I can hardly imagine it when I do it now.

I found out later, I was also the only one slow enough to notice the extremely used condom on the hill we were running. Since I was reduced to walking 1/2 way thru the 1st hill I had the eyes to notice it and still managed to step on it, nice.

Honestly, I had to smile at one point – the experience reminded me of when I ran the Honolulu Marathon. I was beat by everyone in 70 year old age range and also by the runners who ran in classic Asian Kimonos, including large wooden sandals. I was happy then because I still finished the marathon, thanks to TNT. When the workout was over today I was quite proud of myself again because after the sickness, the stress of the impending ultrasound/biopsy, the break up and the fact that I was left in the dirt by 2 pregnant women and 1 with an injury, at least I showed up.

Go me!

Are you familiar with Baldy?

If not, you should be. A quick read on his blog will tell you of his campaign to save lives, a deeper read (which you will do when you get hooked) will tell you the story of his past couple of years. The ups, the downs, his leukemia battle and the lessons on life we can all learn a bit from.

If your still wondering what I’m talking about, the petition is about Bone Marrow donation. Signing up to be a donor is the best thing to do but if you can’t donate, sign the petition so teenagers can become informed (thru the school system) about donating and learn how to make their own decisions on the matter. It’s simple – the more people on the bone marrow register, the more people who have a chance to win the battle against leukemia. Easy, right?

So step up to the plate and save someone’s life.

I know most people cringe when they think about donating bone marrow but things are different now. About 10 years ago there was a 7 year old girl living in Texas, USA, that was dying of leukemia. My friend Karyn, who has a rare blood type (and is a ridiculously caring & funny person – see pic) was asked to donate when she was at our college blood drive.

She didn’t think twice about it.

She knew she could help someone else live and that was all she needed to know. Back then it was different, a tough process. I remember how she told me about her experience and how the doctors had to repeatedly thrust huge needles into the back of her hips over and over again to pull out the marrow. Even though her entire back was black and blue and she was in pain for quite some time she never regretted her decision. A couple years later, she met the little girl whose life she saved and by some strange instance Oprah got word of this donation and had them all the show! It was crazy!

Lucky for us donation is different now. Watch the video.

The medical community has taken great strides to make bone marrow donation an easy process. It’s so easy now, you can do it in your street clothes sitting in a chair. It’s basically like giving blood – no jabbing needles or hospital stays. Bring your Ipod! It’s so easy there is no excuse why we all can’t do it.

Baldy’s quest is an important one and one that needs to continue. Not only do I love reading his blog and think he is completely awesome, I am also totally in awe of him. If one person can do so much in the last bit of time they have left, isn’t there something that we can all do as well?

I was diagnosed with cancer this past December and his mission has extra meaning to me. I was lucky though, I had the 2nd best type of cancer you can get. I’m still struggling with pills, weight gain and fatigue but every day I’m getting better & healthier. 

I wish Adrian was too because the world cannot afford to lose someone like him.

Every day has new meaning to me now and every 24 hours we all get the chance to start again. If you can’t do it for yourself then do it for someone else. Make a change, make a difference – save a LIFE.

It only takes a few seconds. Sign your name.

Learn more at the Anthony Nolan Trust (U.K.) and at Marrow.org (U.S.).

No matter how I try nothing ever seems to work.

My pudgy gut and strange love for logic puzzles tells me that I do not have ADD but sometimes I still wonder. It seems there are so many ideas in my head and because of this none of them are ever fully born. I have an “idea” dry erase board lying against the wall next to my bed. I write my different ideas on it and I look at them before I go to bed and when I wake up. Ultimately I come up with more ideas on how to make my ideas come to fruition and then when the reality of the day sets in, my mind gets tired and I forget what the other ideas were anyway. Nothing ever really  gets done and it frustrates me to no end. 

It makes me think I’ll never be able make a difference in the world.

Thinking of this on the ride to work, the same line kept repeating in my head  – “What if we’re doing all the right things but just for all the wrong reasons?”  I didn’t enjoy this thought because I didn’t want it to be true. But there it was all day staring back at me from my computer screen, jumping out of file folders and blinking on my missed call messages - screaming like an unwanted child that was thrown down a well. Ok, maybe that’s a little harsh.

I’ve got some random ideas lying around on my board but I never would’ve thought in a million years that someone could go around the world, sponsored nonetheless, by dancing in 15 sec. spurts and recording it. On top of that, I never would’ve guessed that the sponsor would be a gum company. Huh?

Well Matt did it and he did it well.

He’s been doing this for the past few years and he’s starting to become popular even outside the travel circuit. I wouldn’t be surprised if we spotted him dancing on David Letterman or with Regis (eek!) soon.  This evening, in total boredom and with a severe lack of ideas, I saw a video link online that promised the face of Jesus on an ultrasound. Being a person who believes in the supernatural and can’t turn down a picture of Jesus in a frying pan or Mary in a washcloth – I couldn’t resist.

I didn’t realize clicking this was going to bring the day full circle.

I watched the video, I saw the Jesus, which was very convincing (as long as you believe in the anglo version of Jesus) and next in the line up, to my surprise, was a video of Matt. It’s the newest video and a good one at that. I realized watching it that what we have here is a person who did all the right things for all the right reasons. He didn’t do it for big ideas, big money, big love or the big time. He did it simply because it made him happy. Turns out it made a lot of other people in the world happy too. Then the world rewarded him with free travel for years and years.

I wonder what would happen if we all did the right things for all the right reasons.

Make sure to turn on your speakers. Enjoy.

When I made beers and beans i wanted a way to reach out to other people. I have a strong desire to help others and the volunteering aspects of travel have always amazed me. I wanted this site to be about helping those less fortunate and about people thinking about how the things they do affect others. I wanted people to travel on ground level and try to see things from others perspectives. Everywhere around the world everyone wants the same basic things. It really doesn’t matter if you’re living in a yurt in Mongolia or a high rise in New York we all want to love and be loved, be respected and for our children to have bright futures. So many times people think they are so drastically different because of their skin color, cultural differences or where they are from. In the end we are all same.

I am asking you to read this blog and learn how similar we all are. Adrian is an amazing person with quite a warm & beautiful soul. Please read his blog and learn about his life and how it changed so quickly.

He is on a mission.

He wants people to donate bone marrow so that others like him might have a shot at becoming healthy again. As his blog states, he is at the beginning of the`end so be sure to stop by and say hello to him before it is too late. Watch the videos of bone marrow donation that he has on his site. You will quickly see that it’s not the horrible, bone breaking surgery that it used to be. Now with modern day science it’s just like giving blood, something you can do in your street clothes sitting in a chair. Personally, I didn’t know that and I was really excited to learn how easy the process has become, I would have never known if he hadn’t posted it on his site. He’s been very busy lately, meeting with the Prime Minister of the U.K. and getting his word out. I want to try to help him which is why I’m posting it here and also why I joined the bone marrow registry yesterday. In the end we are all the same. Please consider donating bone marrow and saving the lives of others.

Thank you, Beth

p.s. Feel free to post this on your site or anywhere else where you think it might make a difference.

If you feel donation is not for you or you cannot donate marrow there are other ways to become involved. Team in Traning (TNT) is a group that raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. It is really, really awesome. They will train you for a marathon, 1/2 marathon, bike race or triathalon. Plus you visit great locations all over the world for your race – Dublin, Hawaii, etc. I ran a marathon in Honolulu with TNT 2 years ago and it was by far the BEST thing I have ever done. I made great friends and raising the money was not as hard as I thought it would be, def. not as hard as running 26.2 miles. Please consider joining, all ages and exercise levels are accepted. I’m only 5′ and can’t run to save my life but somehow it was easier when I knew I was running for other people. Time wise, everyone in the 70 yr old age range beat me to the finish so believe me, you can do this no matter how old you are or what shape you are in.

Note: This is a reprint from a story on MSN. Because Beers & Beans is devoted to cheap travel & helping people around the world I decided to post it here for others to read as well. Happy Reading!

There are creative ways to cut the cost of seeing faraway places, particularly if you’re open to strangers or don’t mind getting your hands dirty.

5 offbeat paths to travel deals

By Bankrate.com

You can enjoy an unusual style of foreign travel inexpensively — or at least get a hefty tax break — if you’re willing to volunteer your time, your home or your knowledge.

With the lowered value of the dollar, many would-be international travelers are looking for ways to stretch their budgets. Discount hotels and cheap restaurants are typical places to save, but you can save big bucks and enjoy a really different vacation experience through a cultural organization — or even the federal government.

There are hundreds of organizations, many accessible online, that provide valuable travel services, but it’s important to do your homework before you sign up, says Kam Santos, the director of communications at Cross-Cultural Solutions.

“There are a number of questions to consider when you’re choosing (an organization),” Santos says. Make sure you know about an organization’s credentials and how fees are allocated, for example. Try to get references to see how other participants view the program.

For programs that include staying in other people’s homes — with or without hosts — safety and trust are important.

“You want to find out if the accommodations are comfortable and secure,” Santos says. “Who will you be living with?”

Some organizations do in-person interviews to vet all prospective hosts and travelers. Others require you to do your own checking but provide tools that allow you to talk with the hosts and with others who have stayed with particular hosts or in particular homes.

If you’re content with high prices, tour buses and impersonal accommodations, these trips might not be for you. But if you’re looking for something new and are willing to give a little, you’re likely to get back a lot, Santos says.

Here are five ways you can experience unusual travel in a foreign land while minimizing your costs.

Agritourism

Sample Organization: World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, known as WWOOF.

Where: more than 80 countries.

How it works: You provide the brawn; it provides the benefits. WWOOFers agree to help their hosts with farming duties for an agreed-upon number of hours (usually about four) each day, and hosts provide meals and sleeping quarters.

Responsibilities may include typical farming activities such as weeding and harvesting; they also may involve minor construction work or other tasks. Operations range from small hobby farms to commercial operations.

Benefits: You’ll likely see a part of the country few tourists visit and learn a lot about organic growing. Because WWOOFers often stay with families, they can get an inside perspective on an area and tips about the places locals love to visit when they’ve got free time.

If you come at harvest time, you can expect to enjoy some fantastic meals.

Drawbacks: Though there’s a huge range among the farms, don’t go into your stay expecting four-star accommodations. Some farms may require you to stay in a tent.

“If you’re not comfortable at a youth hostel, you might not like this,” says WWOOFer Margit Johnson, a retired college administrator. “It’s pretty close to the earth.”

Costs: You pay for access to the list of WWOOF hosts in a given country; costs range from about $15 to $70. Once you’ve found a farm that fits your needs, there’s no money exchanged between hosts and guests.

Other notes: No farming experience is required to WWOOF, though an interest helps. In general, the WWOOFing crowd tends to be 20-somethings eager to explore the world.

Also check: Agritourism World offers updated listings of farms around the world that are open to the public. The farms offer everything from you-pick apple farms to dude ranch vacations. For the most part, expect to pay for the privilege of working.

Volunteer Travel

Sample organization: Global Volunteers.

Where: 19 countries on five continents.

How it works: Volunteers generally spend one to three weeks in one of about 20 countries. They participate in projects such as teaching English, providing health care or maintaining community buildings.

Benefits: You don’t have to fend for yourself. Meals, lodging, ground transportation, emergency medical evacuation insurance and other expenses are covered. Participants go because they hope to give back and experience a cultural immersion. They often return with a sense of accomplishment and new friends.

Drawbacks: The work may be rewarding, but the schedule isn’t easy. Because of strict regulations required for tax benefits under federal law, you’ll be busy.

“Volunteers work 40 hours per week,” says Judith Strobel, the director of media relations at Global Volunteers. “The weekend and most evenings (are) free.”

Costs: Costs vary greatly depending on the country you visit and the length of your stay, but they are often tax-deductible.

Other notes: If you plan on taking a tax deduction, be sure you check with the organization you plan to use to make sure it meets Internal Revenue Service requirements. Among other things, the organization must be a registered nonprofit. You’ll also be required to work an average of eight hours a day, five days a week.

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Also check: Cross-Cultural Solutions offers volunteers abroad activities in social services, education and health. Some options include caring for the elderly, working for women’s empowerment and working with people affected by HIV/AIDS.

Habitat for Humanity volunteers help build simple homes for people in many countries. Some knowledge of construction is helpful but not required.

Home swaps

Sample organization: Home Exchange.

Where: More than 100 countries worldwide.

How it works: After paying a fee, you can list your home along with thousands of others in more than 100 countries. The Web site helps facilitate one-to-one home exchanges anywhere in the world.

While you’re in someone else’s home, they’re in yours. Plenty of contact with your exchange hosts helps eliminate fears of having strangers in your home.

• Vacations from the ordinary
• 20 trips to change your world
• Get away, give back with a volunteer vacation

Benefits: With no hotel costs to drain your budget, you can stretch your vacation dollars. Need a late-night snack? You can head to the kitchen, not the (expensive) minibar or (more expensive) hotel restaurant.

“(Home exchangers) will often introduce you to the neighbors, so you’ll get to meet people in a way that you don’t get to if you’re in a hotel,” says Home Exchange President Ed Kushins. “The neighbors will come over, or they’ll invite you over for dinner. And they’ll tell you the places to eat that aren’t in every tour book.”

Drawbacks: If you don’t have much flexibility on your travel dates, you might have trouble finding an exchange. Because successful Home Exchange users have homes in reasonably desirable locations, you may have a tough time swapping your home in Podunksville for a flat in Paris.

And if you’re a private person, you may not enjoy the idea of people in your home when you’re not there.

Costs: $100 for an annual membership; no other fees apply.

Other notes: If you’ve got an oceanfront mansion or Tuscan villa and you’d like exchange with others who have homes as grand as your own, HomeExchangeGold caters to wealthier homeowners.

Also check: Homelink offers about 12,000 homes in 72 countries; annual memberships start at $110. InterVac has more than 50 countries represented in its database.

Hospitality networks

Sample organization: Servas.

Where: 125 countries worldwide.

How it works: After being interviewed by a Servas representative, answering a few essay questions, collecting two recommendations and agreeing to a set of basic rules, you can link up with hosts around the world. In general, hosts agree to provide a place for travelers to stay for three days and two nights; other arrangements can be made on a case-by-case basis.

Benefits: Well-vetted host and traveler lists mean you’ll have safe, friendly interactions wherever you stay. And with a long hosting list, you’ll have lots of choices. The organization expects hosts and travelers to make diligent efforts to share their ideas and experiences, and many report lifelong friendships as a result.

Though not required, hosts often go the extra mile to accommodate their guests, says longtime Servas traveler Shel Horowitz, the owner of Frugalfun.com and author of “The Penny-Pinching Hedonist.”

“In practice, most visits include breakfast, dinner and time to socialize,” he says.

Drawbacks: The enrollment process is more complex than some other programs. If you like privacy and don’t want to share much with your hosts, this may not be a program for you.

Even the most gregarious folks rarely do more than a few Servas visits back to back. “After two or three (Servas visits), it’s nice to recharge your batteries,” Horowitz says.

Costs: A one-year membership costs $85, plus a refundable deposit for host lists.

Other notes: Servas was founded in the 1940s.

Also check: Couchsurfing.com is an organization in which hosts offer up their couches (or guest bedrooms) for weary travelers. There is no monetary exchange, but travelers usually offer to take on small household tasks or pick up a dinner tab.

HospitalityClub.org, one of the oldest online hospitality networks, has members in more than 100 countries who are willing to share their homes with visitors.

Citizen ambassador programs

Sample organization: People to People.

Where: worldwide.

How it works: In addition to its widely known student ambassador programs, this organization provides ways for people in specific fields such as law, medicine, nursing and education to link up with their counterparts in other countries. (Programs known as “missions of understanding” are open to anyone who is interested in learning about another country.)

Delegations of 20 to 40 people spend a week to 10 days in a country to discuss their day jobs and learn more about how similar jobs are done in other countries.

Benefits: Many of the programs qualify for education credits, and the locales beat a cramped hotel conference room any day. Thanks to the program’s long history and reputation, it can occasionally book activities that you won’t be able to find elsewhere, such as gorilla tracking in Rwanda. Top-notch accommodations ensure that travelers will be comfortable and safe.

Drawbacks: Up to 60% of your time is filled with meetings, lectures and discussions. You’ll need to check with the organization to see if your tour will meet minimum work guidelines for a tax write-off, which requires 40 hours of work each week to meet IRS regulations; extended tours usually do not qualify for the deduction.

Costs: A typical tour will cost about $5,000, but employers often subsidize that cost.

Other notes: Though the programs will accept adults of any age, most participants are 50 or older and quite well-traveled, according to Meredith Blanka, People to People’s vice president of marketing.

“They’ve generally done traditional trips before, and they’re looking to do more, see more and give back at this point in their lives,” she says.

Also check: Sister Cities International links U.S. cities with other cities around the world to help residents develop business partnerships, explore other cultures and connect similar organizations from different countries.

This article was reported and written by Erin Peterson for Bankrate.com.

Published May 19, 2008

If you’re looking to volunteer for your next vacation or on your round the world trip you’ve probably realized that it can be quite costly depending on the company you go with and your location. I’ve done a lot of research to find less costly companies and listed some of them under the travelers resources tab however this is the first time I have seen an actual grant.

VFPServ provides grants to partner organizations to assist skilled Americans who wish to volunteer abroad. VFPServ grants (ranging from $500 to $1000) are individual, non-renewable and are designated to offset travel, insurance and local living costs of short-term

international volunteer assignments. It sounds like a pretty good deal to me! If you want to learn more please visit Global Giving and read all about it. Good Luck!

Ahhh… wine tasting. Nature’s way of letting a cheapskate get blasted guilt free in a room full of dressed up strangers. Is there really anything better? Throw on some nice clothes and get trashed – pretty much for free or almost free. It’s a darn good way to spend a weekend if you ask me. Fortunately for us here in San Diego, Napa & Sonoma are just a 1.5 hr, $39 flight away.

We left for the airport at 5am and had our feet on Oakland soil by 8:10am. Sarah, Bridgette & Mike picked us up at the airport and we hightailed it up to Sonoma. Our first stop was Sugarloaf State Park where we pitched our tent and changed into our wine tasting clothes. Most people will say that spending a weekend in Napa Valley is expensive but I will tell you right now it definitely is not. We camped at Sugarloaf State Park for $26. There was 5 of us splitting the bill – you can do the math. It was a beautiful campground, situated between three mountains. We also opted for Sonoma instead of Napa mainly because we a). heard it was cheaper and  b). heard it was a lot less snooty. Because we did not venture into the Napa-land, I cannot say how accruate those statements are but what I can say is that we had a jolly good time in Sonoma.      

Our first stop was Ravenswood. I know a lot of people who love Ravenswood wine so we figured it would be a good starting point. It turned out to be a good idea since because, although it was the only place we paid for tastes ($10 for 5 tastes), the bartender was super friendly and gave us the names of several other stops he thought would be interesting to us.  As for the wine, it didn’t really blow any of us away but it was tasty.

Next stop, thanks to the helpful bartender, was Cline Cellars. This place is beautiful! The scenery is absolutely gorgeous with tons of beautiful plants and trees. There were even some roosters on the scene, which scored a ton of points with me. The place was packed! Everyone and their brother was tasting wine here and with good reason – the wine was amazing! I have never liked white wine before but now thanks to Cline, I know that’s simply because I’ve had never had a good white wine before. We had several tastes at Cline, got nice and toasted and interrupted a wedding about to take place. Good times! I would highly recommend trying Cline out if you are in the area. The wines are amazing, the people are friendly and the tastings are free! 

We were fortunate on this trip in that my good cousin Sarah decided to be our designated driver. It was her birthday gift to Bridgette, which was very generous. All in all though we didn’t drive too far. Our next stop was Jacuzzi Family Vineyard (yes they make the whirlpools), which was right across the street from Cline and is actually their sister winery. The whole deal with Jacuzzi is that they want you to feel that you are in Italy. They did a great job with the Tuscan villa they built that houses the wine and (the other big highlight of the day) the olive oil tastings!  Yum, Yum! Olive oils of every type – lime, garlic, pepper, orange, lemon, rosemary, etc., etc. They were amazing! Since there were no limits, we all semi sobered up while eating bread dipped in olive oil. Then we moved over to the other room for the wine tasting. It was there I discovered my favorite wine to date – Rosso Di Sette Fratelli Merlot (Red Wine of the Seven Brothers). I downed way too many samples and bought a bottle for later and a bottle of olive oil for Bridge. Beware that as the day goes on and you sample more wines you are likely to start buying things. I ended up buying a small olive oil bowl, bottle of 7 Brothers and a bottle of gourmet olive oil but could feel myself on the edge of getting carried away. If I wasn’t broke who knows what I might have walked away with. Luckily I stopped myself as I was about to sign up for the Jacuzzi Propeller Club, which would’ve sent me 4 of their glorious wines 4 times a year but also would’ve left a $250 hole in my pocket. Phew! We chomped on some more breadsticks, hopped back in the car and wandered up to the winery that would provide us with jokes for the rest of the trip. 

Gloria, oh Gloria. Gloria Ferrer Winery - the home of the sparkling wines a.k.a champagne. Sarah had done some research and discovered this would be a great place to end the birthday wine tasting excursion. She was right. We got up there just in time to catch the sunset as we drank some amazing bubbly. It was there I learned that you can tell the quality of a sparkling wine by how many bubbles are in the glass and how long they last. More to our surprise we also learned that Gloria steeps her sparklers in caves. It was only inevitable after all the wine and champagne that someone in our party would want to see if we, like her champagnes, could also hang in Gloria’s cave. This time the dirty mind belonged to Mike. After an endless amount of dirty cave jokes we discovered that yes, you can go in Gloria’s cave.

Shucks for us, we missed the tour by an hour.

Strangely, this actually really does work. As it turns out on our second day here Bridgette (my sister) said she saw a
parrot fly over the house. I have seen parakeets in San Diego but never parrots and i said “wow, we really are in Costa Rica!” Mike (Bridgette’s husband) and Randy don’t like to play the Central America game as much as we do and didn’t believe that a parrot flew over the house.  However, the next morning we all woke up to the sound of complete chaos outside. My first thought was that it was monkeys making all the ruckus and since we live in Central America this is a real possibility. Well Randy really wasn’t buying that so I suggested that maybe it was parrots which Randy decided it definitely was not. . The four of us talked about it that day and no one could really figure out what it was. At that precise moment, as he was doing the dishes, Mike looked out the window and saw 3 bright green parrots fly over our house. hmmm…

Bridgette started doing some research and as it turns out we do live in Central America since there are over 100 parrots that live in our neighborhood! How exciting - huh? i’m pretty happy about it.

There are conflicting ideas as to whether or not they flew up from Central America or if they are the descendants of a pet store that burned down in the 50’s. In any case, people come here to study them and they are sure to wake you up bright and early every morning as they make their rounds through the neighborhood. Having them here makes our little Central America daydream so much more realistic!

Click on this link if you want to read more about them.

We embarked on a 14 hour road trip (each way) for the chance to play with whales. Although we only had 4 days total for this trip it was worth every second spent on the dusty Mexican roads.

Playing With Whales from Bethany Blue on Vimeo.

We camped at the Kuyima Ecological Reserve which I would highly recommend. We had a great view because the campground is located at the edge of the desert that ends only because it runs into the Pacific Ocean (San Iganacio Bay to be more specific). It was beautiful. It was also very windy.

Since Randy and I had a giant sized, family tent from about 1989, our tent blew down on us every night so remember to bring a warm jacket and a hat for the evenings. Camping is only $10/site. You can also rent tents or cabanas as well. All the people were very knowledgeable and loved teaching us about the whales and the preserve. They have a small restaurant and store on the premises where you can get almost anything you need, except wood. Remember to bring your own since they don’t sell it there and it’s an hour drive down a dirt road to get to the little town of San Ignacio if you run out.

To view the rest of the pictures from this trip click here.

The drive down thru the Baja desert was beyond beautiful.

However the truly amazing experience was the chance to pet the wild grey whales that head to the San Ignacio lagoon every year to give birth. They were amazingly friendly and came right up to our boat to check things out and say hi.

We traveled out on a boat that is only a little larger than a row boat and soon enough we were surrounded by HUGE whales. It’s a bit unnerving when you realize you are on such a tiny boat and that these whales could kill you instantly. Then you discover how gentle and loving they are and you start to fall in love.

The youngsters looked very happy as they bobbed around checking out the sights. They were very curious little creatures and if you splash the water you’ll have a few of them swim right up to see what is going on.

Their gigantic moms were never far behind making sure that everything was safe. As our guide informed us, they get very itchy from the barnacles that grow on their body and as a result they love to be pet (as you can tell in the video) and are more than happy to roll around while you rub their giant bodies. It really is an amazing experience and shouldn’t be missed. I can honestly say that we were all completely in awe and utterly relaxed after the excursion. It is really inspiring to have such a connection with an animal that is so large. When you go, make sure to take off your sunglasses, they love to make eye contact.

We also stopped at a couple great little restaurants on the way home.

Ben (a great guy from Britain we met in San Ignacio and ended up spending a few fun days with – hi Ben!) got to try Cerviche, which is kinda like a Mexican salsa made with fresh fish. Most people love this stuff – Ben, not so much.

Overall, everyone had a great time and making friends with whales is something that everyone should do at least once in their lives.

The second video in this post is a bit of our road trip thru the desert including Randy’s imaginative tale of being a Baja off-roader in the late 80’s - Enjoy!

Road Trip To San Ignacio – Baja, Mexico from Bethany Blue on Vimeo.

Also, if you make it - please leave a comment telling me what you thought

Recipe #1:   The Holy Beanacado Super Yum – a black bean, avocado dip/salsa

This easy to make recipe is a cross between dip, guacamole & salsa. It’s chunky, colorful and very refreshing. It goes excellent with tortilla chips or you can use it as a spread. The black beans make it filling and full of protein. If you put this out at a party I guarantee it will not be around for long.

Ingredients:

2 ripe Avocados

1 15 oz. can of Black Beans

10 (or so) Cherry Tomatoes

1/4 cup chopped Onions (depending on your taste)

1/2 of a Lime

Salt, Pepper – Seasoned to taste

(optional ingredients: Garlic Powder, Hot Sauce, a Jalepeno Pepper)

Preperation:

The first thing you want to do is heat the beans, just a wee bit – this is the key element of this recipe. My recommendation is to drain almost all of the bean juice from the can and then microwave them for about 30 seconds or so. You don’t want to heat them fully, you just want to take the earthy edge off them and make them a bit softer. Be sure to drain the rest of the bean juice before you add the beans to mixing bowl. Cut your avocados in half and then pull the pits out. After that, dice the avocado (remove the skin before or after) into chunks. Remember this is a chunky dip, so you want to keep the avocado pieces bite sized so they will fit nicely on a chip but not so small that they will turn into guacamole as you mix it up.  Then dice about 10 cherry tomatoes. You can use any kind of tomoto but I prefer cherry since they pack a lot of flavor in a little bite. Then grab your onion and dice up  maybe about 1/4 cup or so. Some people will like more and some will like less so it is really up to your taste buds here. Toss all the ingredients together in a large bowl making sure to mix it thoroughly. Cut your lime in 4 sections and squeeze 2 of them  over the top and mix again. Add salt & pepper to taste and mix again.

The nice thing about this dish is that you can season it and add or subtract other ingrediants depending on your taste. If you want to spice it up you can dice (very small) a jalepeno or other hot pepper and throw it in. You could also add a few drops of hot sauce and garlic powder.  It’s very good, very filling and very, very healthy.

In the end your dish should look something like this:

Podcast Documentary Scholarship, 2008

Do you dream about being an intrepid journalist seeking out stories from remote parts of the world? Then here is the opportunity for you!

WorldNomads.com will send one exceptional student on assignment to visit a Fred Hollows eye camp in remote, Cambodia. You will receive training from ABC Radio Journalist and Executive Producer, Tim Latham. Staying at the eye camp for three days witnessing sight restoring cataract surgery to local villagers and gaining special access to interview The Fred Hollows team and local villagers, you will seek out your own unique story to be recorded on your new mobile digital recorder.

Post assignmnet you will enjoy a 6 day Intrepid Tour of Cambodia’ to delve deeper into their rich history and culture. The Scholarship covers airfares from your nearest international airport to Phnom Penh, mobile digital recorder, travel vaccinations, visa costs and per diems.

Once you have returned home, you’ll create a 10 – 15 minute Podcast Documentary which World Nomads will submit to a number of international radio programs, podcast channels and partner sites such as Intrepid Travel, The Fred Hollows Foundation and Lonely Planet, giving you the chance to have your story heard by thousands of travellers.

What you’ll be doing

• We’ll fly you in from your country of residence and you’ll have to be available to be in Cambodia between February 16th and February 28th 2008.
• Prior to leaving you will be mentored by journalist Tim Latham to guide you in how to approach finding your story.
• In Cambodia, you will be given unique access to interview members of The Fred Hollows team and be assisted by a translator to interview patients and local community members.
• Post assignment you will enjoy a 6 day Intrepid Independant tour.
• You will keep a daily diary about your time on the trip and upload this plus pictures you’ve taken to your World Nomads travel journal.
• On your return you will receive further mentoring from Tim Latham to assist in editing together your story. You will then upload the 10 – 15 minute documentary podcast to the World Nomads web site within 2 months of your return.
• Most of all, you’ll be experiencing what it’s like to be journalist in a remote location in one the most beautiful and friendly countries in the world.

Where you’ll be going

• You will fly to Phnom Penh in Cambodia and travel by 4WD to the Kampong Thom Province. This is the real deal! Travelling to a remote area involves a full day’s journey on dirt roads, not for the faint hearted!
• You will stay in a basic hotel in Kampong Thom Province and travel daily to and from the remote eye camp in the Baray District. (approximately 2 hours each way, so you must be prepared for some rustic travel!).
• Your Intrepid tour travels from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap taking in all the sights including the magnificent temples of the Angkor Complex.

Who can apply

• To be eligible you have to be a journalism, media, radio, arts/communications student at a recognised educational institution and speak fluent english.
• Minimum age 18.
• You should be a mad-keen auteur with a lust for adventure and a desire to enhance your journalism skills.
• You must be prepared for lots of overland travel in rustic conditions!

Welcome to Nariko’s page (aka: Ree).

March 16, 2007

Want to catch malaria — and get $4,000 for it?

Volunteers would be bitten by infected mosquitoes in vaccine study

updated 5:24 p.m. PT, Wed., March. 5, 2008

SEATTLE – The Seattle Biomedical Research Institute will pay volunteers as much as $4,000 to be bitten by mosquitoes infected with malaria.    ($4000???!!! Damn!)

Scientists say no lives are in danger because the volunteers can be cured. The institute is testing which vaccines work fastest.   (How do I get in the fastest cure test group??)

The head of the program, Dr. Patrick Duffy, said volunteers will spend several nights under medical supervision in a hotel.   (In a hotel?? Can I get room service??!!)

All of the human trials will be reviewed for safety by the Food and Drug Administration.

So when you break it down, it doesn’t really seem that bad. Then I cruised over to the cdc site and read the general symptoms of Malaria and it started to sound like a bad hangover, a bad hangover that you could get paid 4 G’s for dealing with:

Paid for a hangover?? A free hotel stay with room service?? Well heck, I’ve been plenty sick before and never got paid for it, hmm.

As I kept reading, I remembered, oh yeah, this is Malaria we’re talking about here. M A L A R I A - a  disease that can cause cerebral malfunctions and organ failure. A disease that claims the lives of over 1 million people a year. A disease that promises all our celebrity good-doers will remain on the cover of People for years to come. This is not something to mess with. Anyone who jumps on this train could be volunteering as the newest member of the Darwin Awards.

Then I started thinking – why don’t they just bring these drugs to Africa, South America or any of the other 90+ countries where people are dying of Malaria everyday? They don’t have to infect or pay anyone and they can actually save lives at the same time. The lives of people who normally can’t get these drugs.

Hmmm… I’m going to spare the world my deep rooted cynacism (at least for this post) and not post my own opinion on this one.

“Congratulate you, said you had a double tongue.
Balancing cake and bread, say goodbye to a glitter girl.

Talula, Talula
You don’t want to lose her.
She must be worth losing
if it is worth something.
Talula, Talula
She’s brand new now to you.
Wrapped in your papoose,
your little Fig Newton.

So goodbye now my baby, gotta go.
Say goodbye my baby to the old world.”

To S.A. with love:

A life lived with mistake & consequence. A life lived with complete passion.

This time around everything is going to be beautiful.

I was able to buy a diaper for him (www.chickendiapers.com – yes there is a website so I am not alone on this) and keep him in the house at night and whenever he would crow during the day. I live in a very populated neighborhood and for the past few months I can safely say I was not Ms. Popular. However, I really didn’t care since Pepe was so awesome and to be honest hardly ever got more than 1 crow out at a time when outside. He also didn’t crow until about 7:30am so there was nothing really to be too upset about. I also made him a sound-proof roost to sleep in so that at least the sound was muffled when he first woke up.

He really was great, he knew his name, loved his treats and followed me everywhere, esp. to the fridge. A lot of times I would find him sitting in my bedroom window or perched up on the piano. Everynight we “spoke” back and forth before bed and he would fall asleep under the coffee table. Sometimes he would sleep on my lap or on my bed. He was just like any other pet you might have and he got along great w/ our dog and my sister’s cat. In fact, he usually ate from the same bowl as the dog every evening. If you ever have the chance to adopt a hen or rooster you should, you will not regret it. They are one of the most loving creatures imaginable. Plus waking up to nature’s alarm every morning was a lot better than the buzzer on my clock.

Well this weekend I finally brought him to his new home in Valley Center. I procrastinated for 2 weeks, it was raining and I didn’t want him to sleep outside in the rain! This week I finally made myself bring him and it’s a beautiful place and I’m so happy that the girl taking care of him is such a loving & amazing person. I feel happy knowing that he will have a home for life where he can run around, crow all day and be loved. Even though I am happy for that I know deep down inside he must miss me, even if it’s just a fraction of how much I miss him. I was his mom for so long and I feel so awful like I abandoned him there all alone. It is quite possibly one of the worst feelings I have ever had. I couldn’t even give him a hug when I left because I was crying too hard. I want to visit him but not sure if I should. I wonder if he is confused and wondering when I am coming to get him. I am never going to take in another animal again unless I am 100% sure I can take care of them for life. I can’t wait for the day when I finally get to live on a farm. I don’t know how I am ever going to go on this trip now and leave my dog for a year. But that is a post for another time, this post belongs to Pepe aka Mr. Peppers. I love you Pepe!!!