Today was serendipitous in the extreme. While we had planned to take the Turibus around Mexico City’s main sites, the main thoroughfare was closed to auto-traffic so the only available route was the southern route. The turibus was as advertised its own adventure. it's a great deal, taking you all around town, and you can get off and on as many times as you want in a day. It's a double-decker bus and riding topside is called "the canopy tour". Mexico City has many trees and I did in fact get whacked in the face by a big tree branch. Our first stop was Tlalpan, a neighborhood in Mexico City that feels like a small town. The market filled the square, and everyone was out spending the day with their families. We saw breakdancers breaking it ... read more

We just got back from a week-long trip around NoCal. We were in Napa to begin with for three days. Then we spent a brief period of time in Sacramento for a wedding. Afterwards, we drove back to Sonoma for more wine, food, and hiking - and then ended our trip in San Francisco. I didn't write extensive journals and the USA isn't that exciting to read or even write about (for me), so just a few notes here. Day by Day Thursday July 24th Key Memories • Oxbow Public Market - Pica Pica - Arepas rock! I never had venezuelan food before. • Walking through Downtown Napa • Driving up the Silverado Trail to Calistoga - gorgeous • "Old Faithful" • Walking around downtown Calistoga - Bar Vino • Golden Haven Hot Springs Resort & ... read more

Yesterday, Dona and I went on a great adventure. We went to Corregidor Island. This is a small island, shaped like a tadpole, in Manila Bay. It has been used to protect Manila Bay since the Spanish. As such, it was the scene of many battles in WWII. First, the Japanese struggled to take Corregidor, the last place in the Philippines to fall into their hands. Then, the Americans had to take it back, after first winning many other battles in the Pacific. General MacArthur vowed "I Shall Return" and despite the opposition of America's president, he did so at last. The island is home to American fortress ruins, both the base that was there in peacetime, and the bomb-proof shelters of wartime, and many Japanese tunnels. Visitors can also enjoy the beach and the jungle ... read more

I am still in the Philippines. Once again, my co-workers have given me a window on the country I would not have had otherwise. And that window is....the life of the upper-middle-class professional city-dwelling Filipino/a! I can't say I mind. It is extremely hot here, and it is nice to have a driver. It's very nice to sit in an air-conditioned coffee shop. Oh, lest I forget, these people love coffee as much as I do. Another thing that ties our two countries together. First, let me say I LOVE how out the gay people are here. Out and totally embracing who they are. It seems like people here are just who they are, no matter what that is. I wish more people were like that in the United States. I am obviously only getting a ... read more

I have spent a long time in the road in the Philippines. 3 hours a day, back and forth to the office. I have read so many Filipino billboards and signs that I am starting to learn Tagalog words and am even starting to get jokes that make reference to local advertising campaigns. There are only a few highways here, and the rest of the time you are driving through little villages, and farmland, and would-be suburbia. So, it can be slow.going, and yet it is pretty entertaining. The first 45 minute is highway driving out of Manila, and then it's small towns in Cavite, always crossing bridges across huge gaps with tiny rivers at the bottom. There is a constant scene going on outside. Little kids playing hide and go seek, girls walking home from ... read more