We had a wonderful trip to Connecticut and NYC at the beginning of the month, a great road trip to Eastern Washington last week, and a long kayak paddle yesterday to Whidbey Island. We will leave for Seattle on Sunday, and I fly off to Kenya via Amsterdam, with my friend Vicki on Monday. We will be staying in Nairobi for a few days and then heading north to Nyeri, where Mt. Kenya Academy is located. http://www.mountkenyaacademy.com/index.htm Next blog will be from Kenya! [View Full Entry]

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Bill and I moved to Fildago Island north of Seattle in June. I retired from teaching, and we packed up and moved everything into the 940 square foot former rental house on our property on the Swinomish Indian Reservation. We've had a beautiful summer of kayaking, friends visiting, gardening and of course, work on the house! We are both bicycling almost daily (Bill to get exercise and me to ride to the after school program in the Swinomish Village where I volunteer when I can). We will start traveling next month: first to Connecticut to see my mother and step-father, then [View Full Entry]

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We have now arrived at our last night in Mexico... Today we took an early bus from Acapulco (at 8:00am) and arrived here around 1:00pm. Except for the loud movies on the bus, it was a comfortable trip with great views of the mountains along the new toll highway. We arrived at the South Station and hoped to find a hotel nearby. We were out of the Lonely Planet guide book's territory here. No listings of any kind for the whole area....We asked several people in the station and got mixed answers: yes, there were a few hotels, and no, there [View Full Entry]

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We were well-situated to watch the eclipse on the 20th. It was wonderful to see it from Acapulco! We spent our last full day in Acapulco exploring the "new" part of the city and some of the oldest. We walked part of the main Acapulco beach, where the high rise hotels are, and Spring Break happens. The beaches were crowded in spots and open in others. There were para-sailing outfits all along the beach. We next visted the old zocalo (or town square), church, and fort, passing by the cruise ship dock. I made one last call, still trying to locate [View Full Entry]

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Well, we corrected our mistake, and took a bus back to Acapulco yesterday. We are staying at a "beach resort" in the faded grandeur of old Acapulco...we are right on a little beach, in a hotel that has seen better days, but is clean and has a pool, beach chairs (although the Italian Canadians who are here en masse snag most of them at sunrise) and a beautiful view. We are among the youngest people here.....and the least tan...and I mean tan as in leather.... We walked up the hills above the hotel this morning and saw some abandoned properties and [View Full Entry]

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We spent our last day in Zihua swimming, going to a political rally, and eating on the beach..today we travelled nine hours by bus to Taxco, and made our first mistake of the trip...we had to change buses in Acapulco, and realized too late that we should have broken the trip up by staying there over night.... We made it here, tired and hungry, but found a great hotel (Mi Casita) with a room for $62 that has a private rooftop balcony and breakfast included.... We had dinner in a little restaurant in a house next to the Cathedral..the owner grew [View Full Entry]

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We arrived here on Friday afternoon, after a comfortable four and half hour bus ride arcoss mountains and valleys from Patzcuaro. This is a different country from Patzcuaro and Morelia..very touristy and tourist driven. Everyone attempts to speak English to us, and to sell us something....but the beaches are beautiful and the seafood great....Hotels are more expensive: we are paying $92 a night here compared to $35 in Morelia and Patzcuaro...but we have an ocean view..and direct access to the beach. Today, Saturday, I woke up early and decided to go for a run on the beach, since I was [View Full Entry]

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We are finishing up our second day in Patzcuaro. Yesterday we walked around the town, visiting churches and markets. We also walked around the area past our hotel, which is less touristy. Strangely enough, as awe arrived back at our hotel, a car with Washington plates pulled into the garage next to our hotel...the house belongs to a couple from Port Townsend..but they were not friendly, so we didn't learn any more about life here as a gringo! We have seen lots of older gringos, who appear to be either blissed out or zombies... Today we slept in a bit (my [View Full Entry]

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We spent the day walking around the city and visiting many Colonial buildings! We didn't carry the big guide book with us, so we spent some time circling around, looking for restauarants and museums we wanted to visit. It didn't help that one exhibit was in a building that had a different name than the one on the poster! Last night we went to what we thought was a concert, but instead was a lecture on a requiem...the music was on tape and the lecture, while in a beautiful chapel, was in rapid Spanish, so we left early. We had an [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Morelia this afternoon, after a five hour bus ride from Mexico City. We took an "Exjectivo" bus which has snacks and movies, a bathroom, and comfortable seats. They showed Men in Black II, Pirates of the Carribean, and Spiderman 3....I watched out the window most of the time, but the young boyu acroos the aisle loved them! We found a small, but comfortable room in a small hotel, near the center of the colonial part of town. We walked to a vegetarian restauarant for a late lunch, and then to the aquaduct. On the way back, we visited [View Full Entry]

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