GREAT Book

I think it was in the middle of page 14 when I had to flip to the back of the book to see what else Elizabeth Gilbert has written. I plan on reading all of them. Eat, Pray, Love is Gilbert's year long journey to 3 countries and her quest to study the art of pleasure (Italy), the art of devotion (India) and find balance between the two (Indonesia). Really amazing read, just be careful not to have access to travelocity and a credit card while reading the portion on Italy...

Eat, Pray, Love
By
Elizabeth Gilbert

Will Travel For Referrals

I was warned before our trip last week that going on vacation tends to bring on referrals, and they were right! We returned home to an announcement from CHI that they had received 8 referrals for the Ethiopia program that were given to 6 very happy families. In the group were 3 boys, 5 girls, and 2 sibling groups of 2. Their ages ranged from 2 months to 7 years. Congratulations to the families!

As a result of this news I feel it only appropriate to offer myself as a freelance referral traveler. I volunteer to go on vacation whenever wait times seem to be lingering on the long side in hopes that another batch will come through upon my return.

Any takers?

Teotihuacan

Teotihuacan is the largest pre-Columbian city in the Americas and means to some "birthplace of the gods" or "place of those who have the road of the gods". This ancient Aztec city is home to the Pyramid of the Sun and Pyramid of the Moon, that of the Sun being the third largest pyramid in the world. We climbed the Pyramid of the Moon and Mike climbed the Pyramid of the Sun while I took pictures. We also visited the Basilica of Guadalupe, arguably the most important religious site in Mexico. It contains various artworks depicting Our Lady of Guadalupe appearing to Juan Diego and is a pilgrimage site to millions of people every year. We took in A LOT of sun while visiting these historic places, but every red'ish pink'ish piece of skin on my shoulders is worth having experienced this piece of history.

*As a side note, if you're looking to plan a trip to ancient ruins we would highly suggest checking out Tikal in Guatemala or Machu Pichu in Peru. Although Teotihuacan was incredible, visits to these two will absolutely stop in you dead in your tracks, they're just that amazing.

Us at the Basilica of Guadalupe

Jo on top of the Pyramid of the Moon overlooking the Pyramid of the Sun

Let's Call It South

This city is huge and we haven't exactly been able to gain a decent understanding of directionals, so we've taken to our own geographic lingo when chatting about which direction we're going with each other. Essencially if we're heading towards the park we're going south, away from the park (but on the main roadway) we're going north, and everything else is really just relative to where we "think" we may happen to be at the moment. Mind you we have absolutely no idea how accurate these are, but fortunately can converse with the cab drivers enough to ensure we get where we want to go. In the cab on our way back to our hotel this afternoon we decided to just call it south... It really is a lovely city, but is absolutely massive. We lived in Buenos Aires for a year (13 million) and currently live in NYC (11 million) but Mexico City (22 million) is just plain A LOT!

This morning we decided to put off our trip to the pyramids until tomorrow and instead spend the day visiting some more art. This city is absolutely teeming with art, it's fantastic. Again walking from one side of the city to another (which really isn't so bad in 80 degree sunny weather!) we took in the sights at a local arts market, the Centro de la Imagen (photography museum), Bellas Artes (gorgeous theater), the Diego Rivera Mural Museum, the National Arts Museum, and then on to the ruins of Templo Mayor. We had lunch overlooking the ruins and were very happy to rest our feet after a long day of museum hopping. The iced margarita was a welcome treat in the hot sun!

Mike at the photography museum and dancers in the park (at 9AM!)

The historic center and a pink church with sculptures of Aztec warriors

The Aztec Ruins of Templo Mayor

So tomorrow we're off to the pyramids then perhaps on to a dinner and some mariachi. Hopefully we'll continue to encounter the same friendliness in cab drivers we've experienced so far - they've been so willing to chat with us and answer questions, point things out, etc... I love being able to speak the language in the country I'm traveling in. I'm a little worried about how little we will have studied Amharic before our next lesson on Monday night though...we were just getting to the point where we could practice conversations but I have a feeling this little trip may be setting us back a few days! Vale la pena - worth it.

Men In Suits, Dancing

One of the most enjoyable things about traveling is observing cultural norms and their similarities and differences to our own. Not to over generalize as I’m sure there are examples out there somewhere, but from my own personal experience the white shirt and tie crowd in the US aren’t huge on the dance scene. The one exception in my recollection would be from my first year teaching in the South Bronx when my colleagues seemed to talk about going out dancing fairly regularly. I initially found this odd, as to me dancing had always been for the late night prowling crew, not the middle school teaching crew. I eventually realized this was just a cultural norm for many of them (most of Latin American heritage) and that it’s actually ok (and fabulously normal) for people like my dad to go out dancing in the middle of the week and enjoy! I was reminded of this last night in Mexico City when my husband and I topped off the evening at a cantina near our hotel where a salsa band was playing loudly. I smiled when we sat down and watched the couples on the dance floor. Men in white shirts, black pants, suit coats and ties dancing without hesitation, exchanging partners frequently, it honestly looked like the 5PM Wall Street crowd in the US but they were having fun! Forty, fifty, sixty something men and women in full business attire absolutely letting go and enjoying themselves on the dance floor – and this is the norm here. I loved it.

Other cultural norms we enjoy observing while traveling are those of baggage. Not baggage in the luggage sense but baggage as in “what you must be carrying with you at all times to be a local” sense. Obviously there are times when locals aren't carrying their country's "baggage norm" but there always seems to be an overwhelming presence of one item in each country we visit, and it always has a positive connotation, something happy or culturally significant that provides a visual of the streets in a country or region. When we were in Bolivia the baggage norm was the chicken. No matter where we went the locals seemed to have a chicken in tow. In Morocco it was a watermelon. Not in Marrakesh, but in most of the surrounding areas. If you didn’t have a watermelon you just could not possibly be a local. In Italy…wine. Don’t ever go to a restaurant in Italy and attempt a meal without wine – not possible. (we did OK with that one) So now we’re in Mexico and the baggage norm appears to be the lime. HUGE sacs of limes. I think we’ve squeezed a trees worth of limes onto our drinks and dinners since we got here. I can’t help but wonder what the baggage norm will be when we’re in Ethiopia. Based on conversations with our Amharic tutor we should expect to enjoy large quantities of coffee - so perhaps it will be sacs of coffee beans? I can't wait to find out!

Yesterday we went for a walk around the neighborhood (we're staying in the Zona Rosa) and enjoyed a ridiculously huge and delicious lunch and then participated in the Noche Romantica (Valentines Day) festivities. Today we walked from one side of the city to the other landing in Chapultepec Park where we visited the Modern Art Museum and Archeology Museum. We then headed to the Historic Center of town to visit the National Cathedral, National Palace, and finally found ourselves at the Gregory Colbert “Ash and Snow” exhibit. Our cab driver told us it was in town and our jaws absolutely dropped. This is a traveling exhibit that spent a few months in NYC last year, but the 4 hour queue (and $20 entry) kept us from going. Not the case in Mexico City – Gratis and Rapido! (free and quick – walked right in!) It’s by far the largest photo exhibit I’ve ever seen, and is absolutely magical. Tomorrow we’re going to the Pyramids of Teotihuacan (the main pyramid is the 3rd largest in the world) and then plan to visit various other galleries including those host to Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. This city is so beautiful, colors blasting everywhere, and fantastically rich in history. Loving it.

A monument in Chapultepec Park

Entrance to and insde the National Anthropology Museum

Us outside the Gregory Colbert "Ash and Snow" Exhibit

Booked!

Mexico City - We leave one week from tomorrow. YEAH!!! I think I actually stopped thinking about "the wait" for a moment or two...nah, not possible. Anyone out there who has been to Mexico City please feel free to share suggestions for which pyramids, historic sites, art galleries, museums to visit. 8 days and we're off! (Oh no, did I really just start ANOTHER countdown? Lord help me...)

Slippery Slope

The travel bug is a slippery slope. It starts with the desire to spend a long weekend somewhere "close by" abroad, and quickly burgeons into a full fledged "where should we spend two weeks?" conversation. It's clear - we need to go somewhere for a few days. But the fact remains that we're not really go-somewhere-for-a-few-days kind of people. We tend to travel, LOTS. We need to be responsible and NOT go overboard but the fact that I just want to be in Ethiopia RIGHT NOW may be influencing my judgment. Just a little bit.

So, cross your fingers and wish me luck that I'll find rhyme with my reason and responsibility with my reservations and book a nice, quaint, nearby vacation. FYI - I'm not holding my breath... And, evidently when I'm writing about things that I'm trying to personally convince myself against I tend to use capital letters. Interesting.

Best Education Ever

I had an ahhahhh moment this morning and am only slightly embarrassed to say that it came while watching a Mathew McConaughey interview on The Today Show. Meredith Vieira was trying to get him to talk about how he'll need to settle down once his baby arrives, and he calmly explained to her that travel and culture have been his "best education ever" and that he has a feeling that a passport is something his baby is going to acquire quite quickly. I couldn't agree more, and better yet this explains why I've been so antsy lately. Sure sure, waiting for a referral may be contributing to some of this antsyness, but to be honest my husband and I really are patiently waiting for that call and are ready to take as many deep breathes as needed as the wait time extends.

The main contributor, I now understand, is a decline in the amount of traveling we've done recently. I too consider travel and culture my best education ever, and my mind is aching for some travel! This year our goal was for me to save all of my vacation days until after my maternity leave, that way I'll have 6-8 weeks home with the baby and then 3 additional weeks of vacation to use later in the year. Truth be told...there's no way I'm going to make it another 3 to 9 months without going SOMEWHERE!

So, off to find the quickest (close by so the flight isn't too long, minimizing the number of days I'll need to take off work), cheapest, and most fabulous place we haven't been yet. We've been to some parts of Mexico but never Mexico City, and most of Central America but never Costa Rica. These would both be relatively short flights for us, so we'll see what I can find!

Travel. Best education ever.

Atlantic City Baby

Work has landed me in Atlantic City this week. As a project manager my perks are few, but I must say that having Atlantic City as one of my clients is...wait, that's still not a perk. I don't gamble. I don't smoke. I'm not retired and enjoying my golden years on the Jersey shore. I've met with my clients in Atlantic City many times (lovely people) but this afternoon I finally put my finger on my main aversion to this city... there are no children anywhere.

Until the past year or so I don't think I've ever fully appreciated how much more positive the general vibe of a place can be when there are children around. Don't get me wrong, I've always loved children. I would pick up my life and move to the other side of the globe tomorrow to provide a loving environment to orphaned children if I could figure out how to make it work. I just don't think I realized how they fit so naturally into almost everything we do. Obviously there are scenarios not entirely appropriate for children (for example, gambling in a smoke filled base-beat-thumping neon spewing room... ok it's starting to make sense why there are no children in Atlantic City...) but those scenarios are extremely few and far between.

My husband and I are so excited to introduce our child to our life, and to re-experience life "with child" for ourselves as well. I have a gut feeling we wont be planning any family vacations to Atlantic City in the near future... good thing I'm getting my fill now! OK, Off to the slots, oh wait, I mean off to the nearest smokeless thumping-beat-less place for dinner.

It's Atlantic City baby.