Buenos Aires aka Baires

Well I´m back in BAIRES....and very happy to be here. It´s such a cool city. I will be here until monday....I think, then back again on thursday or friday. I´m hoping to go to a futbol match here in BA either tomorrow or next sunday. Apparently it´s a lot of fun. I´m still not used to how late everyone eats and goes out. It´s crazy to me. I like to go to bed at 11 or 12 and here the party doesn´t start until 1 or 2am.....whoa. I must be old or something. I´ll post more pictures soon....especially if I go to a futbol~soccer game. If people are reading this, leave me some posts so I know how you all are doing and what you´re up to! Cheers!!

Rosario

Hola Todos! Estoy en Rosario pero voy a regresar a Buenos Aires mañana! Mi amiga de los estados unidos veine el proximo viernes. Rosario es un cuidad mas pequeño de Buenos Aires. Yo camine por el rio. Yo tome mucho sol hoy. Voy a Iguazu Falls muy pronto con mi amiga. Hasta 20 horas de Buenos Aires, mas o menos. Espero que tengas un buen semana!!! Nos Vemos.....

The first picture is of Casa Rosada...the pink house (like our white house). This is where the president of Argentina is flown in by helicopter everyday to work. Nice way to beat the traffic!

The next picture is in La Boca. This was a tango demonstration that they have outside most of the restaurants there.

Me and my Colombian friend Juan.....Me in my second day of wearing the same clothes since my luggage did not arrive with me. Thankfully it got here later the next day!

Looks like Washington D.C. with the Obelisico...spelling might be wrong. This is on the largest street ever. You can only make it across the entire street if you run and I mean seriously run!

The last one is a picture of la puente de las mujeres. It´s a beautiful bridge in Puerto maderno....a great place to run and awesome architecture. I have a gazillion more, but will start with these.

Buenos Aires......BAIRES

I know I´ve been quite the slacker when it comes to blogging. Sorry about that. I´m going to try to get better at that. I have been in Baires for over a week now. The city is very big, and lots of fun. They never sleep here....I swear. People don´t leave to go out until 2 or 3am......while I´m sleeping....I just can´t hang. I guess I´m old or have just never been much of a partier, but it´s all good. I´ve seen most, or i think most of the city. I met a guy from Colombia on my way from the airport to my hostile my first day here and we toured the city in 2 days. Then after he left, I saw some more of the city.....Recoleta cemetary where Evita´s tomb is. It´s kind of a creepy place, but interesting at the same time. I went to Puerto Maderno and saw el puente de las mujeres....pictures are uploading as I´m writing this. I went to a Dave Matthews concert the other night. I´ve been to Palermo, La Boca to see some Tango dancing, etc. I also went to a show and really didn´t understand much of what was going on.....but it was still fun. Buenos Aires has the Obelisco on the main street which is a huge street I may add. It´s almost like being in D.C......but not. My hostile is really great and I´ve met some really great people from all over the world. That´s one of my favorite parts of traveling. I went to El tigre yesterday with my peruvian, mexican, colombian, and american friend. It was nice to get out of the city and see some other sites......and the spanish is also a plus! I´ll post pictures as soon as they are uploaded to the computer.......

Home....sort of!

I arrived back in the U.S. late Saturday night. It feels good to be "home". I put that in quotations because the U.S.A. is home, however I do not have a (home, home)....hahaha, by choice that is. I've been getting caught up on doctors appointments, and car appointments........I will head to NY this weekend for my youngest brother's wedding. He is getting married on Saturday at Chautauqua Institution....it should be beautiful. I think it's supposed to rain, but hopefully it won't rain all day long.

I'm not getting antsy yet, but I think I would if I had to stay for a long period of time without a place of my own.
My plans are still all up in the air..I've been going back and forth with where I want to go first. I think I will still be heading to Argentina first. My sister talked about going to Thailand at the end of October, which would be fun, but I really don't want to be in Virginia until that time. Not that anything is wrong with VA, it just gets old staying in other people's homes (as much as I appreciate their hospitality).

Soooooo.........I will keep you posted on my next plans.

Another Day in Nicaragua!

I can hardly believe that I only have a few days left....it´s crazy how fast time passes by. I´ve been thinking about going to the market a town over, but I´ve been so lazy. I haven´t bought any souvenirs at all. I bought a few postcards, but I really don´t need more ¨things¨. I suppose I should buy something small as a momento, but I seriously have so much stuff already. I also don´t have a whole lot of room in my backpack and don´t want to to be any heavier.....so I hope it´s ok that I´m not bringing presents back ;).

For some reasons I´ve befriended a couple of the old men in the area, weird, a little, but they are so cute. There is one man who sells souvenirs in parque central. He was burned on his torso, front and back and on his head and he also is missing an arm. He told me how it happened, but I really only got parts of what he said. I showed him my burns, ahhhhh....the worst pain a person could ever feel. At least in my experience. It´s a pain that doesn´t go away with pain medicine. The pain medicine dulls the pain a little bit, but while the burns are fresh, you can feel everything....maybe not as intensly as it would be without the pain medicine, but still. When I was in the burn intensive care unit in Buffalo, the nurses told me that if I could handle the burns that giving birth wouldn´t be difficult....Anyways...I got off on a tangent. So that´s my one older male friend. There´s another elderly gentleman who lives on the same street that I live on and I see him every morning. I say ¨buenos dias¨every morning, but this morning he started following me and touching me. I just walked fast because I was on my way to class. He´s harmless, and I don´t know what he was saying but he´s a cute little old man.

Anyways......tonight I will attending a salsa class to brush up on my salsa skills. It should be fun and interesting, as it seems that each country has their own spin on each dancing style. Tomorrow I´m planning on doing a little tour of the island off the coast here. I´ll let you know how it all goes. I hope everyone is having a good week.

Orphanage

Today I visited one of the local orphanages here in Granada. There are about 18 girls and I´m not sure how many little boys live there. They attend school at the orphanage and are learning English as well. They allowed me to come in and the nun went and got the children. All of the children came up to me and were hugging me. One girl asked me to speak English and she spoke a little bit of English to me. Ahhhh.....my heart strings were definitely pulled. I had to bite my lip to not cry. I took a couple of pictures and will post them soon. The girls were so sweet and seemed to be well taken care of, but don´t have families to give them love. As I walked out of the orphanage I was left speechless and tears flowing down my cheeks. It breaks my heart and I wish I could take every single one of them home with me. I wish I had brought some of my spanish children´s books with me to give to them. I hadn´t planned on coming to Nicaragua or to the orphange or I would have brought some......Next time. I just thought I´d share a little bit about my day with you.

Volcan Masaya!

I climbed/walked up Volcan Masaya yesterday. It was pretty.....not quite as impressive as other volcanos that I´ve had the opportunity to climb. I think only because it had a road that led up to the volcano. That was a bit weird to me, but it was still really cool. I took some great pictures and will definitely be posting them in about a week or so, once I get home. I was a little sore in the middle of the night....craziness. My body hasn´t had much of a workout in the past few weeks. No running ;( since it´s so darn hot here. I plan on resuming the running when I get home...at least for a bit.

No entiendo nada!

Well it´s not completely true that I don´t understand anything.....However, I did sit through one hour of my spanish class with one of my teachers not understanding a damn thing she was saying to me. Probably what´s worse it that I was too tired to care or want any explanation. We were working on the use of some grammatical something or other. My one teacher speaks so quietly and almost doesn´t move her mouth which makes it difficult for me to understand her. I don´t want to ask her to repeat herself everytime she speaks, so it gets to the point where I just shake my head......

My other spanish classes are going well. This school is very interesting. You have four different teachers and change every hour. You have, grammar, conversation, vocabulary, and I forget what the other one is supposed to be.....we end up having a lot of conversation.

Tomorrow I will be going to Volcan Masaya....at least I think that´s the one I´m going to. It´s near the capital Managua.

I found ice cream today for 25 cents. Whoa! How the heck did I not discover this sooner. It was yummy and I´m tempted to stop back at the same ice cream place on my way home. The only thing keeping me from doing that is that I haven´t run since my travels started and am afraid of the repercussions of no exercise :)..........

I´ll let you know how the volcanoe hike goes. One of my teachers said he´d go with me!

|Hoy es viernes

Hola Todos! I just finished my spanish lessons a little bit ago. I´m learning and reviewing a lot, which will definitely be helpful for my next round of travels. I can hold a conversation quite well, but I probably sound a bit illiterate at times. I find when I´m immersed in Spanish that my English suffers as well, but that´s ok with me. I have times where I cannot think of what to say or what something is called in English or Spanish.

I met a Nico in parque central yesterday and we were talking about the different cultures. I was telling him that it´s becomes annoying when the men whistle, hiss, make comments, etc. while you are walking through the streets and how that doesn´t typically happen in the United States. I told him that "we" women in the U.S. don´t like that. I guess I should only have spoken for myself, but I think the majority don´t like it. He was very curious to know more, hahaha. It´s so amazing how the cultures are so different.

I walked down to the lake that borders Granada. It´s so pretty, but dirty to swim in, which is such a shame. I also went to one of the catholic cathedrals here and to another one San Francisco with my maestra today. It´s such a pretty city.

I was able to get my backpack repaired yesterday for 40 cordoboras???spelling, which equals about 2 U.S. dollars. I was quite happy about that, since I didn´t really want to buy a new one. It´s just like new.

I think I´m going to finish this before I start to sound completely illiterate in English.....I can blame it partially on the computer as well because I may have typed something and not gone back to recheck it. Have a great weekend everyone!

Granada, Nicaragua

I started my Spanish lessons yesterday afternoon. I know I shouldn´t complain, but I´m sooooo tired. The climate is kicking my butt. I haven´t gone for a run since I´ve arrived in Central America. My poor body. Oh well.

I´ve also managed to get another stomach bug or maybe it´s the one that I had before. Who knows. Love it, hehehe.

My family here is great. They have a sweet little 4 month old baby girl and a 4 year old. The baby girl is absolutely adorable. She peed on me yesterday, haha.

My Spanish is definitely rusty and the review is very good. I cannot wait until the day when I don´t have to think about it at all. There are times when it´s like that and other times that I don´t understand a thing that´s being said to me. Then there are those days that I don´t understand spanish or english or can´t think of the words to say in either language, eeek.. I guess it´s just my brain working things out.

I´m heading home for lunch now and will hopefully make it there before the rain hits. Granada is beautiful and I cannot wait to see more of it. I´ll keep you posted on how things are going. I have a little over a week left here.

Honduras to Nicaragua

I just got back to the mainland of Honduras yesterday and took a bus directly to San Pedro Sula. Im at yet another mall.....I know, I know....I should be exploring San Pedro Sula, but I´m so tired right now. My body has adjusted itself to wake up at about 5am everyday. I had been waking up that early to run all last year, but had been able to train my body to sleep a little later than that. Anyways.....

I spent 4 days diving in Utila. It´s such an amazing sport. Wow....God has created many amazing creatures under the sea. It´s so cool. It´s kinda a mind game to train yourself that you can and must breathe under the water. I did 6 dives and before each one, I was petrified. I did get more comfortable and thankfully passed my PADI, but am by no means super comfortable under the water. I like being with a dive master who leads the pack, just in case. It´s easy to get lost under the water. We did 2 dives per day. On 2 of the days that I went out diving we came across a boil with a whale shark. We were able to slide off of the boat and swim after the whale shark. It as really awesome.

Now, like I think I said earlier....I´m back in San Pedro Sula, where I flew into. I just bought my ticket to Nicaragua. This trip has kind of been a decide as I go kinda thing. I will be leaving for Nicaragua at 5 am and will arrive in Managua at 5 pm. Ewwwwww.....I´m hoping and thinking it will be worth it. I have to be to the bus station by about 415, so it will be a long day. I plan on studying spanish in Granada. I felt like I was able to use a lot of spanish while we were traveling the first week and then the second week on Roatan and Utila were just English.

Stacy and Emily left, so sad, so I am now on my own. After I go eat something unhealthy in the mall, I will probably head back to the hostel, relax and read. I´m trying to drag it out a bit, since I need to keep my book for the trip tomorrow.

I´ll keep you updated on my journey to Nicaragua........and no pictures yet. It´s just a pain to upload to a public computer.....Sorry, but soon, I promise!

Scuba Diving!

HI all! I was debating back and forth whether I should scuba dive here in Honduras. Everyone and I mean everyone has said how amazing it is, etc.....So, I decided to postpone my journey to Nicaragua and I started my open dive course today. It was fun. A little bit strange to be under water and it's amazing how you really have to talk yourself out of panicking under the water.

Today is my last day with my friends Stacy and Emily. They head back to San Pedro Sula and the to California on Saturday morning. It's sad that they have to go...These two weeks have flown by. I will be diving on a very small island for the next few days and don't think I will have any internet access. I'll keep you updated when I get back about all of the cool underwater creatures that I see.

Roatan to La Ceiba to Utila!!

Hi everyone! I´ve not been very good at updating this and probably won´t upload any photos until I´m back in the U.S.A just because it´s a bit of a pain to upload photos from a public computer.....Anyways....I´ve not had a lot of internet access so I haven´t been updating this as frequently.

We just took a ferry back to the mainland early this morning. We´ve spent the last few days in Roatan, Honduras. It´s absolutely gorgeous there. The water is crystal clear. We will be headin to one of the smaller bay islands today, Utila. The last few days have been nice and lazy, being on the beach swimming and relaxing. I´m at the mall right now in La ceiba because the ferry leaving for Utila doesn´t leave until later this afternoon. I still haven´t decided what I will be doing with my last two weeks here......Still leaning toward Nicaragua. I´ll keep you posted and will put more on here soon.

Back in Honduras!!

Hola Todos! I am back in Honduras after a nice long 6 hour bus ride, what good times ;)! We are waiting to catch a 2:30 bus to La Ceiba where we will hang out for a few days before heading to the Bay Islands. The Volcano hike was awesome. Pacaya is really cool. I definitely recommend doing it if you make it to Guatemala! I am however having stomach issues, yipeee, already. I bought tortillas on the street in Guatemala because they are soooooooooooooooooo good. I am now paying the price. I can't believe so early in the trip, but I guess this will help toughen up my stomach for the months to follow. Thankfully the bus that we are taking to La Ceiba is more like a Grey Hound bus and a little "luxurious" with a bathroom and treats. Ahhhh...the simple things in life.

We woke up at 3:40 this morning to catch the bus back to Copan and are so looking forward to relaxing near the beach in the upcoming days! I'll keep you posted and I promise to post pictures soon. I don't have the patience to wait right now. Have a great day!

Estoy en Guatemala!

Guatemala.......You might be wondering, ¨why are you in Guatemala?¨ Well, my friends and I decided to take a little....6 hour drive to Antigua, Guatemala....since we were so close :). We stayed in San Pedro Sula, Honduras our first night. Then we headed to the bus terminal and bought tickets to go to Copan, Honduras. We found a very cheap hostile to stay in that night, which was a great bargain......besides the 5am wake up call from the rooster, and every 2 minutes thereafter, someone spitting lugies (spelling) and LOUD vehicles going by....however it was cheap and the shower was WONDERFUL. There was actually water pressure and hot water, sweet stuff.

The Copan ruins were cool, not quite as impressive as Tikal in Guatemala. Today we are going to hike Volcan Pacaya. It should be very cool. I´ll take lots of photos and post them on here eventually.

Today we stopped at the school that I attended 3 year ago. I saw my grandparents as I was walking in.....and they remembered me...or at least my abuela did. Then I walked in and saw my teacher Miriam. She is such a great teacher. I learned so much spanish from her and it was awesome to see her and chat with her for awhile.

Ahhhh....I love traveling. We will be heading back to Copan, Honduras tomorrow morning at 4am, ewwww, and will then catch a bus to La Ceiba, Honduras. Planning on staying there for a few days before we head out to the Bay Islands of Honduras. Lots of fun so far. I´ll keep you posted.........

Ice cream makes me happy ;)!!

Soooo....today I walked out of my office to go grab my water out of my car before it started to boil and there was a table set up with about 8 different humungous tubs of ice cream in the hallway with lots of toppings etc. Apparently Baskin robbins does this every year....somehow I missed it last year. Anyways, I had a yummy hot fudge, pineapple sundae with whip cream, nuts, and a cherry....there goes my eating well for the day. But, I left there with a great big smile on my face. Yummmmmmmmm. Ice cream in the summer is just too yummy to pass up.

Thursday.....Friday......and then I'm off on Saturday for Honduras, craziness....still not done packing....getting there.

Morning Runs!!

I haven't done a morning run since the beginning of the summer...sad..but true.. So, I woke up this morning with the thought of wearing a bathing suit in a little over a week, on the beaches of Honduras (that was enough motivation to get myself out of bed and outside ;)). I ran a few miles and surprisingly came along soooo many friendly people this morning! I was shocked. Not that there aren't friendly people in this area, but I find that one can often walk by someone and the person will look in the other direction or purposely try to avoid saying a word to you....I don't get it...

One day, awhile back I went for a run and decided that i was going to say hello to everyone that I ran by (it's the friendly thing to do), I was so surprised by lack of response. You could look right at the person and they would act like you were a ghost and not respond. Well, this morning was completely different, which was kinda nice ;). Have a great Monday everyone!

Moving really really sucks!

I'm sooooo tired today! I've been moving all weekend....well I guess not all weekend, but it really feels that way. My brother and his future wife are moving out this way, so I made 2 trips out to Stafford, VA (where they will be living...and where they so graciously have allowed me to store my stuff). I don't have that much stuff, but enough to be a pain anyways. How does one person acquire so much in 30 years.....makes me nervous about the amount of crap I will accumulate in the next 30 years.

I zonked out at about 10 last night because I was so beat from moving. My sister and Cat helped me...thank goodness. Now I'm sitting here, trying to get some motivation to pack and sort a little more. I leave in 6 days. WOW.....time has flown by. I'm too tired to be excited right at the moment, but I'm getting there.

Countdown

Ahhhhh.....my time here in D.C. is coming to an end...at least for a bit. Two weeks from saturday and I will be on my way to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. From there I will be going to Copan, Honduras for a couple days to see the Mayan ruins. I've been to the Mayan ruins in Tikal, Guatemala and they are absolutely amazing. I'm looking forward to seeing my friends Emily and Stacey for two of the weeks that I'm in Honduras. (We met while we were all studying Spanish in Costa Rica last summer). We will be spending time on Roatan and Utilia Islands, cannot wait to relax by the beach. I don't think it's hit me yet that I won't be coming back to my apartment here in old town........

HEADACHES!!

Sooooo....I used to get migraines very frequently, but when I switched jobs and my stress level was not as high they decreased and were much more manageable.

Have you ever stood up too quickly and felt all of the blood rush to your head and gotten a little light headed? That's how I've been feeling since last thursday, every time I sit up, stand up, turn my head to the left or right......
I've had a darn headache since last thursday....errrrrr.....and don't know how people deal with a non-stop headache. I know people that have to live with headaches every day of their lives, I think I'd go nuts.

I was worried that it may be part of an infection as a result of my sinus surgery, so I saw the ENT, and my general physician. My physician likes to dabble in a little bit of everything. He is into laser hair removal, botox, digital manipulation (kinda like massage, or something similar to what a physical therapist would be doing).......He's like a salesman, talked to me about getting laser hair removal (afterall there is a summer special to have as much hair removed in certain areas as you'd like).

So this last time I went in to see him , worried about this lasting headache, his recommendation was to schedule appts with him to do digital manipulation...never mind that I just had surgery and am having other symptoms, errrr....
Doctors are like computers...They are great when they're working and doing what they're supposed to do, and they are useless when they are not.

Please pray that these headaches will go away and that whatever is causing them will resolve. Thanks.

Mary

Ice Cream

Is it possible to lose weight and eat black raspberry ice cream cones everyday? I really, really, really love black raspberry ice cream and I'm just trying to figure out a diet that allows you to have ice cream everyday, yummmmm..........

Costa Rica...No I'm not there right now.

Butterfly Garden and a frog in the rain forest

of Monteverde

Volcan Arenal

I think I've confused some people. I'm not leaving until August. I will be in D.C. for 5 more weeks. I thought I'd post a few pictures from my trip last summer to CR!

Fireworks in Washington D.C.

Me....sitting on the wet grass waiting for the fireworks to begin.

The Beautiful fireworks behind the Washinton Monument.

I was going to watch the fireworks from across the river....didn't want to deal with the crowd in the district. But at the last minute, my friend and I changed our minds and took the metro in. There was a HUGE line to go through security to get onto the mall so we decided to walk somewhere else to watch the fireworks....We're so smart because we walked a little further down and there was another security line with very few people in it. We got in and watched the beautiful fireworks right on the mall. Fun, fun!

Independence Day!!

HAPPY Fourth of JULY All! Wow, we have so much to celebrate and be thankful for here in the United States. I hope everyone is able to spend a wonderful day with family and friends. I'm spending my first 4th of July in D.C. I think since I've lived here....wow! I've always been either out of the country, working in another state, or traveling elsewhere. I hope it doesn'ts rain this evening for the fireworks show. Enjoy your day ;)

Frozen Vegetables

Why is it that frozen vegetables make the best "ice pack" for a sore head? I've been laying around the house for the past couple days with frozen lima beans and frozen broccoli on my head. They just seem to provide so much more relief than the average ice pack, haha! I'm feeling a TON better after surgery. I had my first post-opt appointment yesterday, not so fun, but just thankful to be feeling better today. Getting some rest in today before going to see "mama mia" at the National Theatre with Rick and Laurie.

Good times!

I'm so excited.....Going in for sinus surgery tomorrow, can't wait (sarcasm). I'm actually hoping that I'll be happy in the long run, but at the moment it's interrupting my week off before I start working for the summer. I'll let you know how it turns out....

One of my favorite things to do....Run. This was a picture that my friend took of me while running the Virginia Beach Rock-n-Roll 1/2 marathon. I love to run. I'm not very fast, but it's still fun. Well except when you are running at 5:30 in the morning and happen upon a naked man, that's not so fun....but I won't go into that story.

I went to REI today, those of you who don't know what REI is, SHOULD. I love that store. I bought a pair of black Chacos for my travels. They are a bit pricey, but the best sandals ever. You can hike, bike, climb rocks, walk through water, and over slippery rocks, and maneuver through rain sopped streets without falling on your butt. I have one pair already, but had to buy a black pair so I could wear them with dresses, etc. while traveling. I've gotta match a little bit, can't go completely earthy crunchy. I may have to take a picture of my new purchase and post it on here. I'm not sure if I can run in them, but I may try that out.

I thought I'd post a few pictures as I'm learning how to use this new blogging system. This was a picture that someone took of me in Vegas. Good times.

Summer is here!

Summer has officially begun. All of you who work in the schools have just breathed a big sigh of relief, unless you've signed up to work for the summer ;)! School ended last friday June 20th, and for me, it ended at about 7pm that evening....good times of packing my room and sorting through files. Thanks to Cat, I wasn't there until 10pm.

I have this week off, sorta, besides seeing my private students and having surgery on thursday. Then I will work for 6 weeks this summer. I leave for Honduras August 9th, the day after my summer position ends. Sooooo....in the next 6 weeks I will be packing up my apartment and figuring out whether or not I want to keep my worldly possessions or just get rid of them and start anew when I return from my travels. I'm still keeping my options open for my travels in the upcoming year. I've been leaning toward Argentina being my first stop after returning to the states in September....but that's open to change. I like the idea of going where the wind blows me and not having everything set in stone....good thing I'm traveling alone, since I'm sure that may drive someone else crazy.