24 June, 2008
Belize Day Six - Aw man it’s over already?!

Our last day in Belize was spent much like the day before. Spent the morning relaxing, eating, reading, swimming, enjoying the beach.

I miss the color already. Virginia (and North Carolina) has been covered in a haze of smoke for weeks now and sometimes I almost forget these colors exist. Everything is gray here!

We went on another snorkeling trip in the afternoon. Alfonse was sick so he couldn’t take us, we ended up going with another tour group. NOT WORTH IT! Seriously if you go to Belize and want to snorkel, get Alfonse (see my previous entry) as your guide. We didn’t see one shark the whole time, the guides didn’t identify much wildlife at all, it wasn’t worth the money the second time at all.

I would highly recommend Belize as a destination if you’re looking for adventure. They have everything between the jungle and the coasts. You can pack your schedule with nonstop activities, or just enjoy the gorgeous beaches and plenty of opportunities to chill and relax. It’s an English-speaking country so you don’t have a language learning curve to worry about, the people are warm and friendly, it has a low crime rate everywhere but Belize City (I never felt unsafe the whole trip), it’s a relatively short travel time if you’re traveling from the US, the money exchange rate is decent.

All in all Belize was an awesome destination and perfect for our honeymoon. Everyone should visit.

Chillin’ done right.

23 June, 2008
Belize Day Five - Chillin’

Our first day with no plans. Ahhhh. We woke up and headed out to the courtyard for breakfast. Renita served us freshly squeezed juice, local tea, and two plates of fresh pineapple, papaya, grapes and melon. Next came the garnachas, a local breakfast favorite, fried corn tortillas topped with beans, shredded cabbage, salsa and cheese. She also had fried cinnamon triangle things with brown sugar and granola which were completely delicious. We ate til we were stuffed then grabbed two bikes and headed out to explore the city.

We stopped at a few shops and saw a lot of San Pedro this way. Jimmy bought some shoes, we bought some souvenirs for our family, rode around and saw the beach.

We eventually grabbed lunch at a little deli place and headed back to our room to change into our swimsuits. We chilled down by the beach, I read, Jimmy slept, and we both took a few pictures.

  

Around 4:00 we headed back toward the room to get our bikes and go see the crocodile feeding at 4:30. Apparently local kids will lure the crocs in from the lagoon and feed them, sit on them and do a variety of unwise, dangerous and extremely fun activities in true Belizean fashion. We jumped on the bikes and headed down to the lagoon.

 

We saw the crowd of people standing in the distance at just about the time a guy came jogging out of the bushes slapping his arms and saying, “Be careful, the mosquitoes are really bad down there.” We figured, okay there must be a few biting, no biggie. Literally seconds later, I looked up and the back of Jimmy’s shirt had at least five or six HUGE mosquitoes on it, he was reaching down trying to slap his legs while still riding the bike. I got bitten on the face before I knew what was happening. We rode down toward the crowd of people and it only got worse. I turned around and rode straight back the way I came, Jimmy followed.

We got a little bit of distance behind us and agreed there was no way we were going to risk getting some kind of crazy jungle virus to see the crocodile feeding, and maybe we would come back tomorrow with some industrial strength bug spray, and possibly a mosquito fog truck and some grenades for good measure. I have to say that compared to all the dangerous things we did since we came to Belize, those mosquitoes were the scariest thing we saw, hands down. They attacked furiously and in Jimmy’s case they literally drew blood when they left him, there were streaks of blood running down his leg. Yikes.

We went back to the hotel and took a dip in the pool and just chilled til we got hungry for dinner. Jimmy wanted Mexican so we headed over to a place called Caliente, which was a nice walk down the dark beach. We both got the fajitas. Delicious and not too pricey. We came back to the room and passed out from our exhausting day of doing nothing. Belize will do that to ya.

  

19 June, 2008
Belize Day Four - Ambergris Caye

Day four we headed to the beach! Woke up early and got our stuff together, checked out with the staff and after a quick breakfast jumped in the truck with Carlos to head back to Belize City and the Municipal Airstrip where we’d catch our flight to San Pedro on Ambergris Caye. The drive was nice, the weather was gorgeous.

We finally arrived and the tiny airport was the most chill thing ever. One room, some people at the counter. You give your names and flight time, they hand you a laminated piece of paper that says BOARDING PASS. No IDs, no baggage searches, awesome. We finally get called to board and it’s the smallest plane I’ve ever been on. It was pretty much a van with wings. We took off and sailed over the Carribean sea toward the cayes (pronounced keys), the small islands off Belize’s coast.

We spotted Ambergris Caye off to our right and started circling down. After a shaky landing, we jumped out and grabbed our bags, then caught a taxi to take us to our hotel. Taxis look like any other vehicle down here, we happened to jump into an early 90s minivan. He took us for a short drive and minutes later we were in front of Changes In Latitudes, the bed & breakfast where we’d be staying for the rest of our trip.

The place is incredibly charming. Painted bright blue, a gorgeous courtyard with white sand floors and walkways and beautiful tropical plants everywhere. Bikes to rent, a pergola with flowers growing all above, and hammocks and seating below. A dining area under a palm leaf roof where breakfast is served. A shower shack where you can rinse off before going inside.

We headed inside to the kitchen area and met Renita, one of the owners. She showed us around, gave us tips on some fun things going on that day, and took us down to the beach and the pool at the yacht club next door, which we were allowed to use. She mentioned that there was a snorkeling trip at 2:00 that day, which was in about an hour and a half, so we decided to go. We got settled into the room and grabbed some delicious lunch at a little place called Monkey Bites.

 

It was time to meet our guide down at the dock so we headed that way. We saw a green and white boat approaching and went down to meet Alfonse, our guide. I immediately liked him. He was all smiles the whole time, charismatic and talkative. He told us he’d been doing this since he was twelve years old, and that he was born on vacation and would stay on vacation his whole life. We headed to two other docks and picked up another couple and a family of five. Then we started the ten minute ride out to Hol Chan Marine Reserve, our first snorkeling spot.

When we got there, Alfonse explained how to clear a mask, how we should work our fins and not use our hands to swim, how we should stay to his left and right if we wanted to see the best stuff and not get kicked in the face or see only bubbles. All great tips especially for the people who had never snorkeled before. He put everyone at ease and told them not to worry, if you just listen to him and be tough, you can snorkel all day if you want to. One by one we jumped in the warm, clear water. It was about chest high and the bottom was white sand and green grass. We snorkeled around close to the boat and saw tons of horse eye jacks and ballyhoo swimming around us. A few conchs lay on the sea floor. When everyone was in, we followed Alfonse further out into the reserve.

Each time he’d want us to see something, he’d smack his fist against his other palm twice to make a sharp sound, then he’d point in the direction of the fish or coral. We saw an amazing amount of sea life while we were down there. Two sea turtles, southern rays, triggerfish, parrotfish, three types of tangs (gosh the blue tangs were gorgeous), a particularly mean looking green moray eel, three types of butterfly fish, a gorgeous and huge french angelfish, fairy basslets, grouper, barracuda, squirrelfish, and on and on. There were huge staghorn and brain corals, christmas tree worms, tons of soft corals and sea fans. We took some photos with a disposable camera. If any came out, I’ll add them to this entry later.

After having a reef aquarium a few years back I grew to know the names of these fish and some of their characteristics, but seeing them in their own environment was exciting for me. We ended up back near the boat and saw an octopus down in its hole, as well as six huge spiny lobsters underneath a large coral formation. Two absolutely huge parrotfish finished up the wildlife we saw at Hol Chan.

We climbed back in the boat and hit the three minute ride to Shark & Ray Alley. As soon as the boat pulled up, Alfonse started revving the engine and the sharks immediately “came to daddy” as he put it. We could see their huge bodies under the water on all sides of the boat. We jumped in one by one and being near these creatures was very exciting. Alfonse found his buddy shark and grabbed him around his powerful body. We all came and felt his skin, it was much rougher than the small sharks I’ve touched before that were caught while my dad was fishing. This nurse shark felt like a very heavy, nubby canvas, what I imagine dinosaurs must have felt like. He asked if anyone wanted to hold the shark, and I was one of the first to volunteer. It was so crazy! I could barely get my arm across the top of him, but held him in place for a few seconds and pet him on the head before I handed him back to Alfonse. He talked Jimmy into doing it and when he grabbed the shark, you could tell he was really into it. It’s an amazing feeling, being that close to such a powerful animal.

Alfonse kept feeding the sharks and before long, a few large southern rays showed up. He brought one up to the surface to let us feel its body. Smooth on the bottom and slimy on top. He swam around with the ray resting on his head, on his arms, it seemed to be willing to do whatever he asked. More sharks came, the largest around 9 feet long. I free dove down a couple times and touched them, I also caught up with some rays and touched them as well. Jimmy was doing the same. It was really exhilirating.

We finally got back in the boat and Alfonse told us how he was able to train them just like you would train a dog, with food treats and hand signals. The sharks will come to him and roll over just like a dog, the rays will sit on his head or on his outstretched arms. It sounds unbelievable but I saw it happen. It’s amazing. Of course the American in me is thinking he should be on the Discovery Channel or something, but you can tell he’d never want to do something like that. He told us how much he loves what he does, and that he hates having a day off because it’s so boring. “This is my world,” he said as he gestured around at the open sea all around us, and for those hours we were out with him, it sure was. If you ever get a chance to go to Belize and snorkel Hol Chan or Shark Ray Alley, seek out Alfonse, he is the best guide we had our entire trip and made the whole experience completely awesome.

We headed back to Changes, totally exhausted and salty and grabbed a shower. I blow dried my hair and put on a little makeup for the first time in days. In the jungle I NEVER dried out, it was not comfortable. It felt nice to be clean, dry and somewhat presentable. We headed out in search of dinner and ended up at a little place called El Patio, which was open air with white sand floors. We were right next door to a live reggae band and the breeze blew the smell of the sea right in to us. Jimmy ordered the special, a coconut curry with snapper, conch and shrimp and I got veggie kabobs, coconut rice and fresh fruit. I love Belize for no other reason than Jimmy ate curry dishes there no less than three times (he is an avid hater of “curry”, turns out he wouldn’t know curry if he was gobbling it up, HA! Will be making more at home!). We walked back to Changes down the beach, the wind blowing and the smell of nearby restaurants and the salt air filling our lungs. Truly awesome.

18 June, 2008
Belize Day Three - Xunantunich Mayan Ruins & crocodile fun

We awoke early and headed to the lodge for early morning birdwatching with Luis. Two other couples joined us. It started out great, he spotted a keel-billed toucan (the national bird of Belize) across the river in a tree. He set up the viewing scope so we could all take a look.

We saw a few common birds like flycatchers and robins (not the same as our robin, this robin is the national bird of Costa Rica and has a beautiful call) and then set out with binoculars in hand on a hike to view some other birds.

My camera proved to be pretty useless since the birds were against the sun and since my zoom is less than great. It was fun to watch the birds though. And I got some pictures of the plants.

Black Rock grows most of its own food. They have over 100 banana and plantain trees, several varieties of mango trees, an orchard of orange and lime trees, a grove of coconut palms, as well as tamarind trees, chico sapote trees, breadfruit trees, jackfruit trees, passion fruit trees, avocado trees, jaboticaba trees, Barbados cherry trees, and papaya trees. In addition, they grow sugar cane, cultivate a small coffee plantation, and harvest from their gooseberry bushes and over three hundred pineapple plants. While I’m bragging on Black Rock, I’ll also mention that they’re also “off the grid” and have produced their own clean electricity since 1898 through a combo of hydroelectric and solar power. They do all their wash by hand, they compost, they are an all around amazing eco-resort.

We moved around the property for a while and headed down by the riverbank, where Luis spotted a six foot crocodile sunning himself on a rock. He told us how he and his two buddies tried to tie up one of the river crocs one time, just for fun. I’m starting to think this guy is more than a little nuts.

Right after I took that picture, the big horse bit Jimmy. I think it was after his chapstick in his pocket but he swears they were out for blood. The day was turning out to be pretty cool and overcast. We headed back to the lodge for breakfast, and then Luis came to get us again, he would be our guide at Xunantunich, the Mayan ruin we were to visit that morning.

Xunantunich was only a 45 minute drive so we headed out down the bumpy road. We reached the village of San Jose Succotz and drove up to the hand-crank ferry to get our truck across the Mopan river. Jimmy enjoyed working the machinery. We drove up a winding mountain road and finally reached the entrance to the ruin site.

Luis told us a little about Mayan history and culture as we walked up the hill to the first structure. He pointed out how to tell the difference between the ruin’s original surface, and that which had been restored by archaeologists. We saw a model of Xunantunich and he showed us how only a few of the structures had been excavated, including only the front half of El Castillo, the main building. The rest was still buried under dirt.

We headed into the main plaza and looked at the different buildings. A dwelling place, a temple, all with roofs collapsed. We finally headed up to El Castillo and began our climb to the top, 143 feet.

At each level we stopped and talked about the different structures, and the east frieze, representing Chac, the rain god, the jaguar (god of the underworld), a man holding up the heavens, and several decorative carvings.

We finally reached the top and the view was breathtaking. When the Mayans built the city, none of the surrounding jungle was there, and it was apparent you would be able to see absolutely everything from up there. No one could come or go without being detected.

We could see Guatemala to the west, San Ignacio far in the distance, and the “shit house” which was Negroman’s house, and the entry road to black rock. (They call it the shit house because Negroman is the only person in Belize who makes and distributes toilet paper, ha.) I walked to the edge and leaned over, felt the heady rush of being up so high.

We climbed down the other side of the structure and were able to observe the north frieze, with jaguars, an unidentified mask and a ruler with smoke coming out of his head. We walked back through  the plaza and saw the ball court. Luis described the ball game the Mayans played with a heavy rubber ball, in which you could only use knees, shoulders and elbows to bounce the ball. To celebrate victories, the Mayans would bring back captives from the conquered village and force them to play the game with heavy objects tied to their knees and elbows so they couldn’t reach up to bounce the ball. They were forced to lose. Losers get decapitated. Wooo victory!

We wrapped up our visit to Xunantunich and headed back to the ferry. Jimmy and I visited the open air arts & crafts market right next to the ferry and bought a few things from locals. We drove back to the lodge for lunch and then it was time for tubing down the Macal river (yes, the one with the crocodiles in it). No cameras were involved at this point so you get more pretty Xunantunich pictures.

The sun had come out and the weather was looking fabulous. We grabbed our tubes and started the 45 minute hike up to the entry point. About ten minutes in it started raining. Then pouring. Like monsoon-rainforest pouring. We trudged on, trying not to step in horse poop or slide down a hill in the clay-ey soil. We reached the tubing entry point but decided since we’d come all this way, we would hike for a while longer and reach Vaca Falls, where there were supposed to be pools to swim in and waterfalls to slide down.

By this time the weather was absolutely heinous and it was also lightning and thundering every few minutes. We kept walking through the jungle, crossed a small stream and finally reached an outcropping of sharp rocks that jutted out into the river. We could hear the falls from here, and Jimmy scrambled out onto the rocks to get a better look. He seemed excited about what he saw so we decided to continue down the trail to get there. The rain continued to pour as we went further up the mountain. We reached an area where the trail forked to the right or left. We went left first, in the direction of the falls. This climbed an extremely steep and slippery hill which dead ended into a huge pile of fallen trees and brush, and then dense jungle. We took the other way, but it soon became apparent that trail went the opposite direction we needed to go. Jimmy suggested that perhaps the way to the falls was just to scramble across the rocks until you reached it.

I forbid him to climb across wet, slippery, razor sharp rocks in a lightning storm monsoon. I get it that Belize is all about unsupervised dangerous activities and all, but I do have a limit to how far I’ll go for “adventure”. We walked back to the rock outcropping and looked again. The waterfall looked especially fierce. Pummel you to death on sharp rocks in a lightning storm fierce. It’s a scary day when the safer choice is tubing down a river filled with crocodiles.

The water was very high and at points our ride got a little too scary for my comfort but Jimmy was having a great time. I especially enjoyed the point where I thought he was grabbing onto my tube to help me feel safer and close to him, and he promptly spun me around and tried to throw me into the river. What a sweetheart! We found the exit point and started walking back to the lodge. We had thought about canoeing or hiking up to the cave on the property but we were completely drenched and the storm showed no signs of letting up, so we turned in our tubes and headed back to the cabin to shower and relax for a little while before dinner. When we got there we had a little visitor on the top of the door. I almost didn’t notice him until we were both inside the cabin.

Giovanni, the tour organizer, said he was a racer snake. I got a few pictures, then helped him off the door. He slithered all four feet of himself with surprising speed down the hill (racer snake: I believe it!). Dinner was amazing as usual. I seriously wanted to bring the chef home with me. Another day ended and we headed back to the cabin for some rest. Tomorrow: the beach!

17 June, 2008
Belize Day Two - Actun Tunichil Muknal Cave

On our second day in Belize, I woke around 5:15 to hundreds of birds calling and the rush of the falls. Once I wake up there’s usually no going back to sleep and definitely not with the racket the birds were making. So loud! I sat on the porch and looked at our gorgeous view while I made notes on the previous day’s adventures. Cora the dog came by to say hello, there are two dogs that patrol the grounds, her friend came by a little later. At breakfast we talked with some of the other guests and discussed our various plans for the day. Our guide, Benjamin, arrived and we headed over to the van and set off for our destination, Actun Tunichil Muknal cave (or ATM for short).

We drove to San Ignacio and headed to Pac’z Tours to meet the others who were joining our group. There were 8 of us in total. We all loaded into the van and started the two hour drive to the cave. 80% of it was on extremely bumpy limestone roads. We stopped at a checkpoint when we were getting near, ATM is very secluded and there are only a handful of guides in the whole world who are authorized to take people there, due to its danger and sensitive environment and artifacts. He let us pass and we drove through lemon and lime orchards til we finally reached a clearing with forest and mountains on either side, and a few thatch roof open air shelters. We unloaded and Ben distributed helmets and lunches.

We had a 40 minute hike through the rainforest ahead of us, then we would reach the entrance to the cave. We moved very quickly through the jungle, stopping a few times so he could point out interesting trees or plants, and also to cross the river three times. The water was knee to thigh high, and the rocks were really slippery and I held my camera extra high in case I was going to take an unplanned swim. We arrived at the encampment where adventurers sometimes camp right in the middle of the jungle. There were a few shelters and fire pits. We ate our lunches there and left everything behind but our cameras.

We finally arrived at the entrance to the cave, and it was truly breathtaking. Blue-green water, a curvy opening in the rock, lush rainforest and moss covered rocks and trees all around us. We handed our cameras over to Ben, who put them in the dry bag. Helmets went on, and it was time to swim into the cave. There’s no other way to enter the cave - you gotta swim! After the sweaty hike through the jungle, the water was more than refreshing. We dove right in and started swimming the short distance to the rocks inside. I could see bats flying around ahead and hear their calls. The cave echoed our voices and the rush of the water.

We all got on dry land and began picking our way through the rocks after Ben. I don’t know what I expected when they said we’d be traveling through the cave. I knew some swimming and climbing would be involved, but I envisioned walking on a flat surface on either side of water in a large cavern. Pretty much as far opposite from what we did that day as possible. The tour was extremely physical. As soon as we were in the cave, we were climbing rocks, ducking under low ceilings, crawling through tight spaces, jumping down into water and pulling ourselves out again. It was very challenging, not to mention completely dark save the light from our headlamps.

Ben shouted instructions which had to be passed to the back of the group, such as “don’t touch the formation on the left!” or “sharp rock on your right in the water!” I felt that we were moving very quickly but once we stopped he told us we’d only gone about 300 meters in over an hour. Along the way he pointed out stalactites and stalagmites, the formations were beautiful and sparkled in our lights. Some had water flowing down, and those were porous.

Some, the water had dried up and he tapped on them with his light, it made a sound like a steel drum with different tones on each formation. We were not allowed to touch any of the calcified formations, where humans touch it turns black and will stop growing because of the oil on our hands. We traveled for a while longer and came to a high rock where we were instructed to leave our shoes and put on socks. The rest of the trip would have to be made without shoes because the oil from our feet would ruin the surface of the caverns. We got our cameras back and followed Ben through a series of caverns.

We started seeing remains of Mayan pottery, most of which dated back to 700-900AD. He showed us how when the water table started rising and falling rapidly, around 1300, the Mayans had to stop coming to the caves. We heard how they used them for sacred rituals, including bloodletting and human sacrifice. We also came upon a very frightening spider which was huge and which of course I was the only one to notice. Ben: “Oh that’s a scorpion spider. If it bites you, you have 8 hours to live.” Sweet! Let me just move away quickly.

Right about that time we came upon the first human remains.  By this time the group was completely exhausted, the tour guide was getting very intense about where we should or shouldn’t step, and we were all ready to head back, we knew we had a lot of cave and a long hike til we could get back to the car. We finally made it to the main cavern, and I have to say it was impressive. After climbing the most sketchy ladder ever, which made lots of unpleasant creaking noises, we reached a high precipice, and a few of us at a time were allowed to go down below to see the main attraction, the crystal maiden.

Sacrificed by having her throat slit, she lay inside a small cavern surrounded by pottery. By this time I was exhausted and kind of over it though, really ready to head back. We got to take a shortcut going back, but it sure didn’t feel that way. We were freezing, and kept having to plunge back into the cold cave water to swim to the next rock. I was feeling a little wimpy by the time we reached the opening, looking forward to drying out. We swam across to the other side of the bank and it was absolutely pouring outside. What’s the rainforest without a little rain though, right? We hiked back to the car and Jimmy and I slept the entire bumpy ride home. We got home just in time for a shower and dinner and then passed out in our cabin.

Awesome tour. I highly recommend doing this if you go to Belize and love adventure. It’s definitely not a relaxing tour, if you wanna do caves and relax, there are several cave tubing or cave canoeing tours that sounded neat as well. The whole time, I kept thinking, they would never let you do this in America. There would be liability waivers and guard railings, and besides, in America artifacts belong in museums so they wouldn’t be there inches from you. One of the guides back at the lodge said the Belize department of archeology is about to change the rules so that no cameras will be allowed, and the group sizes and frequency of tours will be super limited, so check this out before you miss your chance!

16 June, 2008
Belize Day One - Belize Zoo and Black Rock Lodge

What can I say about Belize! Whew! From swimming and climbing inside a cave to tubing down a river with crocodiles to hugging sharks, it was pretty much nonstop adventure the whole time. Belize is a tiny country in Central America, the only country there where English is the official language. It’s situated next to Guatemala, just below Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula (home of Cancun). For the first three nights, we were about a 40 minute drive from San Ignacio, in the Cayo district.

After our flight to Houston, we landed in Belize City at the International Airport and were picked up by Carlos from Black Rock Lodge. We had about a two and a half hour drive ahead of us so we decided to hit up the Belize Zoo on the way. When we turned off the highway, I felt like I was driving back onto someone’s heavily wooded property, not into a zoo. All the signs are handpainted and have a sense of humor.

Most of the animals are actually in their natural habitat, like this spider monkey. He put on quite a show for us. Many of the animals are in enclosures but you can’t even tell. It looks like the monkeys could come join you any minute. I loved this zoo (I am not usually a fan of zoos).

This is April, the zoo’s mascot. She’s a tapir, which is the national animal of Belize. All the animals here were either bred right here at the zoo, or rescued from poachers, or rescued in the wild with an injury.

These little cats are the size of housecats. They look so cool! There was gorgeous varieties of ginger growing everywhere you looked as well as houseplants like mother in law tongue or devil’s ivy grow everywhere and are huge. Bromeliads are in the crook of every tree. Large cahoun palms (where palm oil comes from) tower over the rainforest canopy everywhere, I was told 80% of belize’s broadleaf forest made up of these.

The coatimundis were my favorite. They never stopped moving, digging in the dirt with their paws and snouts. Lots of little babies were around too!

The birds of Belize are gorgeous. Parrots like this are totally commonplace, it’s like seeing a robin or cardinal here in Virginia. After the zoo we drove along the western highway and stopped for lunch at a place called Cheers. It was an open air restaurant with an amazing breeze, donated and autographed t-shirts hung in the rafters overhead. The place was American-owned, the food was very good.

We headed out and drove toward Black Rock, through the capital city of Belmopan, also Santa Helena and San Ignacio, which are twin cities. The buildings are all different sizes, shapes and imaginable arrangements and painted in vibrant shades of pink, lavender, teal and orange. Many are on stilts since Belize is only 2 feet above sea level in most places. We passed several cemeteries and the brightly painted tombs are all above ground as well for this reason. We passed through several orange orchards, teak farms (pictured above) and coconut farms. All were on a smaller scale than any farming organization I’ve seen in the states, and all were surrounded by the lush vegetation that’s so common here.

We finally headed off the paved road and onto a bumpy limestone road that leads up to the lodge. Most of the resorts are nestled up in the mountains off this road, Black Rock is the highest and last one. Carlos pointed out the different farms we were passing as well as who owned them, much of the property in this area is owned by a guy who calls himself Negroman. We saw where areas of the hillsides had been slashed and burned to make space for crops. He pointed out one black, bald spot where he said corn would be planted soon, grown for two seasons, then rotated out with another crop, or where grass would be planted so cattle could be brought there to graze.

We finally arrived at Black Rock and jumped out of the truck where we were immediately greeted by Cora, a huge and friendly German Shepherd dog. She escorted us up to the reception area/restaurant, where we were immediately given some delicious lemon/lime concoction that tasted amazing. We spoke with Nadya who showed us the gorgeous view of the Macal river and falls from the top deck of the restaurant and explained some things about the lodge.

We headed over to our little cabin. It was open air with fresh hibiscus and ginger flowers everywhere and stone floors and walls. No air conditioning made you really notice the penetrating humidity and we were inundated with the constant calls of birds and the rush of the falls below. We got settled and headed over to dinner.

Dinner is served family style to everyone and the night’s menu is written in chalk on a five foot tall slab of slate that leans against the bar. The food was astonishingly good. Nadya had asked us if we had anything we didn’t eat or didn’t like. I told her I was a vegetarian but I also didn’t eat eggs or dairy and she immediately offered, “Are you vegan?” Apparently the kitchen knew what was up. Jimmy told them he didn’t want any red meat and that seemed to be no problem.

We ate fresh vegetable soup with bread (freshly handmade tortillas for me), tomato and spinach salad with a simple vinegar dressing, grilled okra, coconut rice and veggie kabobs marinated in something completely amazing. They made a fish and vegetable dish in coconut sauce for Jimmy and everyone else ate stewed beef. Dessert was a tropical fruit tart with whipped cream and chocolate sauce (the most amazing fresh mango, papaya and watermelon for me). We drank water from the mountain spring as well as a fresh juice blend of papaya, mango and watermelon juice which was out of this world. Jimmy had been glancing dubiously at the menu throughout the afternoon and I heard him mention something about needing to bring snacks back to the cabin, but he ate and loved everything. At the end of the meal, the servers brought out Indira the chef, and everyone gave her several rounds of well-deserved applause.

Jimmy signed us up for the night hike so we ran back to the cabin to change into jeans and shoes. Our guide, Luis, met us up at the restaurant with headlamps and we headed out. Boy I wish I’d brought my camera! We took an hour and a half hike through the rainforest, scanning the path, brush and trees for reflections. Blue reflections were mostly spiders (lots and lots of wolf spiders and one disturbingly huge spider which Luis did not know the species of) and orange reflections were something else, so we were especially looking for those.

We saw several tarantulas, a few of which Luis coaxed out of their holes so we could get a better look. An adorable Belizean banded gecko which I got to hold for a few seconds before he squirmed away. Several frogs and toads, a central American coral snake (the deadly kind), a gibnut which is a type of rodent, several of the horses kept by the lodge, centipedes, a cicada which had just emerged from its shell and whose wings and body were still a translucent white, and many moths and beetles who loved our lights. Wandering around in the rainforest in complete darkness save our lights, surrounded by the call of insects and the rush of the falls was very disorienting and exciting at the same time. We headed back to our cabin, exhausted, took a much needed shower and passed out.

30 December, 2007
Merry Christmas!

This post is way overdue but after all the insanity and rushrushrush of the holidays, I needed a few days of doing absolutely nothing. This gorgeous little house was all ours for a few days we spent together as a family up in Hot Springs, Virginia. It’s called the Boxwood cottage and it’s one of the properties you can rent at the King’s Victorian Inn.

I highly recommend staying there if you ever want a mountain getaway. The prices are extremely reasonable, especially if you have a large group or several couples traveling together. It’s in a great location near several great ski resorts as well.

  

The cottage was comfortable, clean and fully equipped. The owners were awesome as well and basically left us alone the whole time. I loved it, way better than staying in a hotel. It was also decorated for Christmas and we even got a light dusting of snow which made everything look awesome.

We played a ton of Apples to Apples. I love that game!

  

Friday morning we got up and went up the road a bit to check out the Homestead Resort. It’s an absolutely HUGE hotel and resort that was built in 1766. It has the most gorgeous decor and grounds I’ve ever seen at a hotel. I loved it.

  

We explored around for a while, took a little hike in the woods and picked up some information about other local stops.

  

They had a gingerbread village complete with frosting snow, working streetlights and an ice rink.

  

Good times!

Dusting of snow on the putting green and an Iwo Jima reinactment photo shoot. Ha.

  

Allison & my brother Noah. And my sister Grace & Andrew.

They had a HUGE, real Christmas tree in the lobby of the hotel. It was so awesome! After we got back to the cottage, we headed over to the Jefferson Pools. It was a really unique experience, bathing in the warm bubbling natural springs. I recommend it!
 

Saturday morning we got up bright and early and headed up to Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia. My brother goes snowboarding there quite frequently and showed everyone the ropes.

  

Everyone went skiing and snowboarding except Jimmy, Grace, my mom, Dave and myself. We hit up the snow tubes instead.

Pros.

  

This was so fun! You got pulled up the hill on this moving line. Then you headed down by yourself or hooked to a few other people. It was fast and furious. Just a hint, never ride with my sister Grace. She flipped my tube, ran OVER me with hers and got snow down my pants. Good times!

  

Jimmy built a snowmanbabe. I’m a little jealous of her girlish figure. Just after this, I dropped my camera in a puddle of icy snow water and it died. Sniffle. It was such an awesome trip though. Sunday morning my family headed home and Jimmy and I went up to Roanoke to spend a great Christmas with his family. Then we came back and had Christmas dinner with my family. Whew!

I got so spoiled too. Jimmy bought me a color laser printer which I am so stoked about. My mom got me a serger (!) which I can’t wait to use (I need to get some thread and learn to thread the dang thing). My dad gave me a ton of kitchen gear including a chef’s knife, a mandoline slicer, salad spinner, oil mister, microplane grater, etc. I also got some great bike gear, awesome stocking stuffers, a lil bit of money, a few gift cards. I dunno who told santa I was good this year but THANKS! I hope everyone else had a great holiday!

24 September, 2007
Torrid Model Search 2007 (and lots of Power Shopping)

I’m baaaaaaack! I had a super fun weekend in Orlando with my hot hairstylist friend Matt (Chris ended up not going at the last minute). We had such a great time and felt like true jetsetters, just hopping down to Orlando for a little shopping spree and a little modeling. Ha!

So the model search was actually only a tiny tiny part of our weekend, but I know that’s what y’all wanted pictures of, so I will deliver. We got in Friday afternoon, picked up our rental car (with a GPS, which is just about the greatest thing EVER) and checked out our hotel, which was pretty nice. We headed over to Florida Mall just to scope out the scenario and find out what time to be there. The girls at the Torrid store were great and since they were opening at 9 (the event started at 10) we decided to go up about 8:30 the next morning.

The rest of the day was like 7 hours straight of Power Shopping followed by some yummy food at an all-veg Chinese restaurant.

The next morning we got up early, primped and headed over to the mall. We ended up getting there around 9 and there were already over 200 people in line ahead of us. Wow.

Sorry if I’m biased but I think we were amongst the cutest in the building. In the crazyness of the morning, we didn’t even take a picture of my whole outfit so I’ll tell you what I wore. The top is a two-layer tank (nude shell and black layered lace overlay) by Michael Kors, I wore my dark wash Apple Bottoms jeans with the rhinestones on the butt and my red Steve Madden platform peeptoe stilettos. I also had on marbled gray hoops and my big red bangle Jimmy bought me in NYC that everyone loves so much.

The line wrapped around the stage several times. When the event finally got started, the atmosphere was pretty fun! They had a DJ (sort of, I mean it was a guy with a laptop but whatever) and he played top 40 club stuff the whole time so there was a lot of booty shakin’ going on.

A lot of girls wore their heels, and were seen standing around barefoot or with one off. I actually brought my heels in my bag and wore my Stuart Weitzman red patent flats while standing in line. Standing in four-inch stilettos on a tile floor for about three hours is not one of my favorite activities, and I’m glad I anticipated that.

  

It was bizarre, but both Matt and I were recognized. Hahaha. He was on Instant Beauty Pageant on the Style network with our friend Andrea a while back and two separate people recognized him. This one dude wanted to talk with us for like half an hour about it. I was in line behind someone on Livejournal who recognized my tattoo. Haha. Even in a foreign land, we are hard to miss.

After a while we got near the front of the line, and the photographer (who had a crucial mohawk) decided to take a break and give away some shirts and introduce the “celebrity guests.” The chubby girl from high school musical was there (I guess she’s also a Torrid model) and the other dude is Pamela Anderson’s stylist or something.

They gave away some shirts, the crowd acted like they were throwing Fendi bags or something, geez.

The photographer was cute and sweet and a funny MC. Check out Pamela’s stylist’s embroidered sweatpants. I was really feeling those.

  

I tried to look for girls who I could picture being in the top 10. I found five. Man, that sounds really terrible to say but most of the people that were in our section of the line looked like they were in outfits that would be in my “walking the dog” or “running to Farm Fresh for some emergency soy ice cream” sections of the closet, not in the “incredibly flattering and fierce model search contestant” section. I was so disappointed because I wanted to leave with a collection of pictures of incredibly hot fat girls and maybe gain some style inspiration.

Darn it, Orlando, you sadden me! Where are the hot stylish girls from Florida? They just HAD to be in the back of the line. I’m sure all this sounds hilarious since I probably won’t be in the top 10, which will put me in the same category with the rest of the dog-walking-outfit-category people, but I guess I was just expecting something different. Several of my online friends have tried out in the past and they are all incredibly cute, stylish and edgy and I didn’t see much of that in Orlando. Matt and I also agreed that he needed to set up a hair station next to the Smashbox makeover seat, STAT.

BFF! So glad he was there. Girls were mad jealous that he kept fixing my hair while I was in line too. Haha.

We finally got to the front of the line and met the “celebrity” guest. She had a huge mountain of very pretty hair and was very sweet. Then it was my turn! We had to do a little runway walk in front of the judges table which I totally nailed (complete with a wink when I turned at the end of the runway), and then walk up on stage and take two pictures. I sort of did a little unintentional plié when I stepped up the first step (thanks messed up knee from running) but I played it off and chatted it up with the photographer for a hot second.

Polaroid lady took my polaroid, then I turned and smiled hugely for the photographer, and then I left. One of the judges pulled me aside and told me I “rocked that catwalk, girl” and several girls in the line told me how good I did on the way out. Aww.

  

And just like that, we were done! We both felt majorly relieved and I didn’t get nervous until afterward. I went and changed my shirt and shoes and we hit up the rest of the mall. Their Torrid is way better than the one in Virginia Beach, I hit the jackpot and brought back a ton of clothes from there, the Ecko store, Delia’s and Urban Outfitters. Around 3pm we headed back past the center of the mall on our way out and girls were still going through the line. Wow. There must have been close to a thousand girls there! We were at the front of the line and went through about 10:45, I can’t imagine being there all day!

There were some fun candy stores in Orlando, I loved the colorful displays.

Aww M&M (his initials too).

The M&M store was awesome. The chocolate smell made me sort of nauseous though.

Awesome trip, I don’t know when we will hear anything. The Massachusetts event, which was at the end of August has their top 10 on the Torrid site (go vote) and I believe they let them know who was in the top 10 about two weeks after. I’m not sure if they handle all the events the same way. Eventually there will be a top two from each location and they get to fly to LA for a fashion show, photo shoot, hair, makeup and $1500 wardrobe prize (ooh!). I can’t imagine getting a call, with as many girls that came out, if I do then yay, if not I had a blast this weekend and Matt is now on my top 5 list of great people to travel with. So fun!

02 September, 2007
Nags Head, North Carolina

Jimmy’s dad took a little mini vacation down in Nags Head, so Saturday morning we decided to drive down and see him on a whim.

Traffic wasn’t too bad, considering it’s labor day weekend. We stopped at this huge “farm market” – turns out to be a totally FAKE farmers market. These buckets of peaches were FIFTEEN dollars, and we saw one of the people that worked there emptying strawberries out of a plastic Dole strawberry container from the grocery store into the rustic “farmer” baskets. FAKE.

We stopped at this cute little place in Grandy called Mel’s Diner to eat lunch.

 

I was pleasantly surprised they had a gardenburger on the menu! Jimmy had an old fashioned chocolate shake and a really yummy looking club sandwich.

The beaches in Nags Head are super nice, they’re like the oceanfront here in Virginia Beach, but not packed to the gills with annoying tourists.

 

The waves were really big, Jimmy got pummeled for about five minutes and then gave up. I totally didn’t go in past chest deep, it was insanely rough!

We got in the car with his dad and Sam (dad’s girlfriend) and drove around a bit. We ended up at Bodie lighthouse over near Roanoke Island.

 

Jimmy did a little all-American male modeling haha. I love these pictures of him!

 

The lighthouse had a bunch of books about North Carolina ghost stories and legends, I sort of wanted to go on a ghost hunt haha.

Young love. Aw.

We stopped off at the Nags Head Fishing Pier on the way back to his dad’s hotel. Really pretty views, but soooo windy. I was paranoid of getting hooked by a stray hook while a fisherman was casting haha.

This was me investigating what I’d see if I got blown off the side.

 

Nice views of the hood.

We ate dinner at the Black Pelican (meh) and headed back to the hotel. By this time the sun was setting and it was absolutely freezing, so naturally Jimmy decided to take a swim in the hotel pool.

 

Gator wrestling.

If you can believe it, this was the first time I’d ever been to Nags Head. Ten years in Virginia Beach/Norfolk and I’d never been! I’d love to go back and spend a few days and go camping. I highly recommend it if you want to see gorgeous Carolina beaches.

06 August, 2007
Panther Falls, Virginia

What a jam-packed weekend! Whew! Jimmy and I headed up to Panther Falls for some camping and swimming! He’d been there a couple times before with his friends, and this was my first time heading up. Panther Falls is a swimming hole near Natural Bridge and the city of Buena Vista, Virginia. We got a late start after work on Friday and didn’t get in til almost 1 a.m.

The camping there is not a campsite, it’s just…THE WOODS. I didn’t think I’d be into it but I loved it. We pitched the tent, Jimmy the boy scout made a fire and we caught this little guy trying to break into the tent. After a while we tried to get some sleep. Note to self: bring an air mattress or SOMETHING next time.

The next morning we hit up the grocery store in town and got some goodies to grill out before Jimmy’s dad came to meet us. Who says you can only eat hot dogs and smores in the woods? We made kabobs, grilled corn, veggie burgers and tomato sandwiches. Sooo good.

After we ate we headed down to the falls and got in some swimming. Sooooo fun! The water is freezing cold but felt really good, it was deathly hot outside.

There were tons of butterflies around both swimming holes we went to. I think they like to sit and drink on the rocks. It was awesome.

The crazy jumping boy talked me into swimming into a cave and popping up behind that waterfall (it only took me about 10 tries), but he could not talk me into jumping off that rock. Look at his crazy self.

The place is pretty popular and there were a lot of families there with kids and dogs. The little kids were like penguins, jumping in, swimming, jumping back in, swimming, all in a line.

There were plenty of waterfalls to slide down, which was a little scary but also extremely fun.

After a while, we headed over to another waterfall on Pedlar River Rd. This one was a really deep “holler” (ok I don’t know how else to describe it, sue me) and had waterfalls and pools that cascaded down two huge cliffs.

We took a really steep trail down through the woods and I got stung by a bee (fun!) but we finally made it to the bottom of the holler. Jimmy slid down some dangerous-looking waterfalls and then we climbed back up to meet his dad at the top.

Two people showed up with their little kid and a dog which promptly slid right off a rock and fell pretty far. We could hear the dog screaming, I guess he got stuck for a minute. But then he climbed back up and seemed to be fine. It’s definitely not a place for kids or dogs, Panther Falls is fine for that but this one was more dangerous.

After we had enough sun and freezing water, we headed to Jimmy’s mom’s house and hung out with this crackhead. His name is Chase and he never EVER stops snorting.

On the way home, we took a little detour to grab some lunch at the Pink Cadillac Diner in Lexington. We’d been there once before when we headed up to Natural Bridge and it was so fun to go back.

Big gorilla & little gorilla.

It’s a fun little place. The walls are covered in vintage ads, records and posters and there are several vintage jukeboxes and soda machines around the restaurant.

I had some fried cauliflower and a baked potato. Yum. We zipped home just in time for the Art & Craft Swap Meet. What an exhausting weekend. The house is trashed and there’s lots to do after work today! Back to normal life!

03 April, 2007
Last New Zealand-related entry, I swear

Maybe y’all aren’t sick of hearing about New Zealand, but I’m sick of posting about it! I just wanted to show you some of the gorgeous things I brought back. First, some ceramics. I loved the colors in this little dish and the red inside of these mugs is extremely vibrant and happened to match. I bought these in a lovely little ceramics shop in Nelson.

Between the 50 million sheep and my knitting habit, y’all KNOW I bought some yarn. I’ll put notes of what each one is in Flickr, so click the picture to go see. I have a lot of knitting to do!

And finally, a gorgeous bowl made from Rimu (native NZ wood) that I bought from Yvonne and her husband in Palmerston North. Their business is called Pascal Woodturning, and if you ever go to that area, be sure to give them a call. The craftsmanship is flawless. The utensils are also handcrafted, mom bought them for me at the Nelson market. And THAT’S IT for New Zealand posts. If you ever want to see them all at once, just check out the Travel category. Thanks for reading!

Final Days in New Zealand!

We arrived in Auckland and had a full day and a half to see some sights before heading back home. By this point Mom was exhausted from doing 28 presentations in 9 days, and as much as I loved New Zealand, I was so ready to be back in my own house and was missing Jimmy and Kyla like crazy. Still, we managed to pack a ton of activities into our final days. Mom’s friend Sarah from the conference picked us up and drove us out to her house, which was situated on a cliff overlooking an estuary.

She had a gorgeous, enviable view and as we sat on her deck eating some delicious snacks, we got to watch parrots (actual PARROTS) fly around her yard. Crazy.

After we sat around and chatted for a little while, she drove us down to Karekare Beach, which is where the movie The Piano was filmed. I haven’t seen it but I guess I should now that I’ve been there, huh? The drive down was through very mountainous terrain. I did not enjoy. Haha. The beach was totally worth it, though.

We had to walk through a small creek to get access down to the beach. My flip flops came apart in the thick black mud. We were told that Karekare beach is one of the only black sand beaches in the world. The sand gets seriously hot and can cause severe burns if you walk on it when it’s dry, so we stuck to the wet parts.

When I say the sand was black, I’m not kidding. It glittered blue in the sun as well.

The landscape, colors and textures I saw at this beach were totally unique to New Zealand. I love how most of their beaches are butted right up next to mountains or cliffs like this.

It was a perfect, sunny day when we went, but I imagine if you came down here on a rainy, gloomy day, it ould be extremely dramatic.

A rather crowded day at a New Zealand beach.

Men and small children were fishing from the rocks.

We walked down the beach a little bit into a rocky area near one of the cliffs, and I captured some of the textures to show you guys how different this is from the seascapes at home.

A little alcove of rocks. I loved the lime green slimy algae on that back wall.

The texture of the rocks is very unique in this area. I believe they are volcanic rocks, and that’s what makes the sand black.

Tiny barnacles covered many surfaces.

Needless to say, I didn’t try walking on any of these. After we left the beach, we headed up to the TUANZ office, for a little reception, where they presented Mom with thank you gifts, and everyone said goodbye. I have to say, these people were wonderful. I tried to stay in the background as much as possible, since I wasn’t really part of the conference at all, but they tried to involve me at every turn and made me feel extremely welcome. Thank you! The CEO and his wife took us out to dinner at the harborside in Auckland, at an excellent Italian restaurant called Portofino. I had the risotto vegetale. It was magnificent.

The next day (which was the day we were to leave), one of the conference attendees who wanted to talk about collaborating with Mom picked us up and gave us a mini tour of Auckland. He took us to the top of the Sky Tower, and we got some awesome views of the city.

The viewing area is fitted with glass panels you can walk on to see the city below. It was eerie being suspended that high with only glass between you and certain death. Good times!

After we left the Sky Tower, we drove around for a while and ate lunch at a nice Belgian restaurant overlooking another one of Auckland’s beaches. Then it was back to the airport for a loooong, looooooooong flight. We got checked in and waited for our plane to leave (an hour late). After an extremely uncomfortable 12 hour flight to Los Angeles, we got off, stiff and groggy and got checked through customs. We had a really tight connection and had to rush to get our luggage (which was not where it was supposed to be) and run to catch our flight. We made it just in time for them to tell us that there was a mechanical failure with the plane, and the flight would be delayed. Ugh.

We sat around for a while, and it kept getting bumped back further and further. They finally got a new plane, but by the time they were ready to board, the ticket readers went down. By this time we had already missed our connection in Dallas and knew we were going to have to spend the night there. We finally arrived in Dallas at 10:00 pm and I left my iPod ON THE PLANE! UGH!!! (still haven’t received it back, and probably won’t ever see it again, sniffle)

They rebooked us on a 6:20am flight to Norfolk and gave us vouchers for a hotel in Dallas. We got bused over and by the time we waited in an extremely long line, we checked into our hotel — rancid and very much needing food and a shower — at midnight. They kept our luggage at the airport, so all we had was our carry on bags, with no change of clothes or any shampoo, etc (thanks, USA, for limiting liquids on flights!). The hotel didn’t have anything to offer us because they had a whole planeful of people there begging for toiletries. The vending machines were all empty. The hotel was nasty. Also, we were both on New Zealand time, so we got mere minutes of sleep before we had to get up and get on the new plane.

We finally arrived in Norfolk, exhausted and looking particularly busted, but really glad to be home. I will never forget the experiences I had in New Zealand (thank you so much Mom for taking me!!!), and maybe one of these days I will go back, after I forget how hellaciously long it takes to GET there.

Graffiti in New Zealand

Well you know I am on the lookout for graffiti every time I travel, and New Zealand was no exception. I have to say, I was pretty disappointed that it doesn’t seem like a big scene over there. To be fair, I did see some nice pieces on my last day in Auckland as we were driving past some railroad tracks, but other than that and other than stencils, this first photo is very typical of most of what I saw. The handstyles in Auckland reminded me of Philly’s, if you squished them a little bit (all these pictures were taken in Wellington).

I saw quite a few stencils though, and most of them were pretty cool. There were also lots of little wheatpaste stickers (and some larger posters) around. I did notice that a lot of handstyles were on personal property, like fences or garage doors, as well as statues, churches, etc. You don’t see so much of that over here, it’s pretty frowned upon to deface those sorts of places.

For the rest of this entry I’ll just tell you about some little quirks about New Zealand I noticed while I was there.

Lingo was a big thing. Flip flops = jandals. Bathroom = toilet. Convenience store = dairy. Trunk = boot. Period = full stop. Rent = hire. Also they spell things differently, like tyre instead of tire.

The coffee culture is huge. There are cafes on every corner and they’re big on espresso. The most popular drinks I noticed were long black and flat white. The bar culture is also HUGE. New Zealanders drink at every meal (mostly wine, it’s pretty hyped up), and almost all the places we went to eat were bars. However, I did notice that most of the bars were very classy and upscale. I didn’t see any dives and very few sports bars.

They are very energy-conscious and serious about conservation. Anytime we checked into a hotel, we’d enter a completely dark and stuffy room. You had to take your hotel key and stick it into a slot on the wall to provide electricity for the lights and air conditioning. That way when you leave, everything turns off as well to save energy. There were also signs in all the bathrooms that basically said, “Washing towels and sheets every day wastes energy, if you want to save the whales, put your towels back on the rack and reuse them.”

People do not drive large cars or SUVs over there. There are compact cars, and then there are minivans. The only large sedans I saw were corporate cabs. I didn’t see one SUV the entire time I was there. Also, people don’t really drive pickup trucks to get around town. They are mostly used for utility trucks. Most of the cars run on diesel, and gas is sold by the liter.

One thing that stuck out to me was the large diversity of cultures in such a small place. I loved the fact that there were sushi stands on every corner, and each city we visited had a huge variety of restaurants. They were mostly Asian (lots of Korean and Japanese, some Chinese, some Malaysian), but also a ton of Turkish and Greek kebab places and several fish and chip stands. I saw a lot of Asian people and white people, and met a few people from South Africa, but only saw one black person the whole time I was there.

Rugby is life in New Zealand. Their national team is called the All Blacks, and you can’t walk down a street without running into their logo or seeing some sort of rugby paraphernalia. The only thing more omnipresent than rugby is sheep, which are everywhere. There are 4 million people in New Zealand, and 50 million sheep. They are taking over, seriously.

Graffiti in New Zealand

Well you know I am on the lookout for graffiti every time I travel, and New Zealand was no exception. I have to say, I was pretty disappointed that it doesn’t seem like a big scene over there. To be fair, I did see some nice pieces on my last day in Auckland as we were driving past some railroad tracks, but other than that and other than stencils, this first photo is very typical of most of what I saw. The handstyles in Auckland reminded me of Philly’s, if you squished them a little bit (all these pictures were taken in Wellington).

I saw quite a few stencils though, and most of them were pretty cool. There were also lots of little wheatpaste stickers (and some larger posters) around. I did notice that a lot of handstyles were on personal property, like fences or garage doors, as well as statues, churches, etc. You don’t see so much of that over here, it’s pretty frowned upon to deface those sorts of places.

For the rest of this entry I’ll just tell you about some little quirks about New Zealand I noticed while I was there.

Lingo was a big thing. Flip flops = jandals. Bathroom = toilet. Convenience store = dairy. Trunk = boot. Period = full stop. Rent = hire. Also they spell things differently, like tyre instead of tire.

The coffee culture is huge. There are cafes on every corner and they’re big on espresso. The most popular drinks I noticed were long black and flat white. The bar culture is also HUGE. New Zealanders drink at every meal (mostly wine, it’s pretty hyped up), and almost all the places we went to eat were bars. However, I did notice that most of the bars were very classy and upscale. I didn’t see any dives and very few sports bars.

They are very energy-conscious and serious about conservation. Anytime we checked into a hotel, we’d enter a completely dark and stuffy room. You had to take your hotel key and stick it into a slot on the wall to provide electricity for the lights and air conditioning. That way when you leave, everything turns off as well to save energy. There were also signs in all the bathrooms that basically said, “Washing towels and sheets every day wastes energy, if you want to save the whales, put your towels back on the rack and reuse them.”

People do not drive large cars or SUVs over there. There are compact cars, and then there are minivans. The only large sedans I saw were corporate cabs. I didn’t see one SUV the entire time I was there. Also, people don’t really drive pickup trucks to get around town. They are mostly used for utility trucks. Most of the cars run on diesel, and gas is sold by the liter.

One thing that stuck out to me was the large diversity of cultures in such a small place. I loved the fact that there were sushi stands on every corner, and each city we visited had a huge variety of restaurants. They were mostly Asian (lots of Korean and Japanese, some Chinese, some Malaysian), but also a ton of Turkish and Greek kebab places and several fish and chip stands. I saw a lot of Asian people and white people, and met a few people from South Africa, but only saw one black person the whole time I was there.

Rugby is life in New Zealand. Their national team is called the All Blacks, and you can’t walk down a street without running into their logo or seeing some sort of rugby paraphernalia. The only thing more omnipresent than rugby is sheep, which are everywhere. There are 4 million people in New Zealand, and 50 million sheep. They are taking over, seriously.

New Plymouth, New Zealand

By the time we got to New Plymouth, I was pretty exhausted from walking literally miles each and every day, and had pretty much decided to lounge around the hotel pool and read a book, since we had less than a day there as well. But Heidi, one of the coordinators at the conference, suggested I go down and check out the coastal walkway. The walk down to it wasn’t pleasant, but I’m so glad I went, it was stunning.

I finally made my way down the cliff to the concrete walkway, and headed down toward the city center, where there was a large museum and I was told I could score some food. The water was a gorgeous shade of teal green, and the sun was sparkling through a flawless sky.

I made it down to the museum and had some delicious french toast in their cafe, and then checked out the few exhibits they had. I saw a lifesize replica of a great white shark. Quite intimidating.

I headed back down the other way and stopped to rest on a bench, enjoy the sun and read for a while. I walked all along the coastline.

I started getting pretty hot and sunburnt so I headed back to the hotel after a while, but I really enjoyed staying down there for most of the day. The water kept breaking on the rocks and cooling me off with ocean spray. It was pretty nice.

We headed to the airport that afternoon to fly back up to Auckland. The trip was coming to an end!

02 April, 2007
Palmerston North, New Zealand

We rode to Palmerston North with the conference team. It was a pleasant drive through the mountains to our destination, which is a town with a population around 75,000. We had less than a day there before we had to head out to the next city, but I still got to see plenty.

I met a terrific lady named Yvonne through the Pattern Review messageboards, and she was kind enough to show me around. We had coffee in a small cafe, then hit up a knitting and fabric store. We drove around the city and saw some of the local sights, then she took me out to a wind farm.

You really have no concept how huge these turbines are until you get underneath one. Oh, and the tiny white dots on all these pictures are sheep (which are pretty much omnipresent in New Zealand). The scenery was gorgeous up here, I couldn’t get enough of the greens and blues.

After that we drove back through a gorge to her home. I got to meet her husband and see their woodturning studio and workshop, which is how they make a living. The whole experience was so wonderful, and I loved the insight into an ordinary New Zealander’s life. Thank you Yvonne!

This might give you a little idea of the scale of the wind turbines. Next stop, New Plymouth!

Wellington, New Zealand

We left the south island, and took a short and extremely bumpy flight in a tiny plane over to Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. We got there pretty late in the evening and checked into the Museum Hotel, a boutique hotel with regular rooms and more deluxe “apartments,” which we were in. The whole hotel was decked out in 70s bachelor pad-ish decor. Think lots of dark brocade fabric on the walls, lots of leather, mirrors EVERYWHERE. The bathroom was pretty extreme, with a huge wall to wall mirror and the biggest bathtub I’ve ever seen in my life.

After we got settled we headed out in search of food and found The Green Parrot, which was the only bad meal we had in New Zealand. Super greasy, huge portions, food just thrown on the plate. I was like, we’ve found American cuisine in NZ. We weren’t surprised to learn that it was started by an American sailor who jumped ship in the early 20th century.

The next day Mom and I walked around in search of a place to get a manicure and pedicure. Between all the walking and our adventures on the beach the past weekend, our nails were looking seriously busted. So in the states you can pretty much find a nail place on every corner, and unless it’s a fancy spa, walkins are always welcome. We had the hardest time seeking these places out, and every time we’d go in one, they were booked up for like a week straight. After literally hours of searching, and being turned down by several rude people, we finally found a place that did a really great job.

The rest of the day was spent around the hotel until around 6, when Suzie, one of the women from the conference, picked us up and headed us out for a night on the town. We went to her house and had some appetizers, and then headed out to hear a seminar on “whole foods.” I put that in quotes because we heard literally nothing about food, and more about the “seven ancient secrets to lifelong health” from an American cowboy man with a huge picture of himself behind himself while he was speaking. About 100 people paid $35 each to see this shyster (luckily we got in free). Ready for the ancient secrets of health? I’m gonna lay em on you.

1. Breathe air.
2. Drink water. Oh, and make sure you electrify your water first by blowing on it.
3. Walk around. That’s what legs are for.
4. Get as much sunshine as possible. Oh, and too much sun in no way causes skin cancer. That’s a myth perpetuated by the disease industry.

Those are all the tips we stayed for but I have a few other tidbits to share. Eat three grapefruits a day and you’ll never have heart problems. Any health issue in the body is caused by a clogged up tube. Carrots are good for your eyes because they look like an eye when you cut it. Same with walnuts and your brain. Oh, and they never cured polio.

Needless to say we ran out of there laughing. I was really dismayed to see some people just eating it up. THIRTY FIVE DOLLARS? And he didn’t even talk about food! What a ripoff. We ate dinner at a delicious Turkish restaurant and headed back to the hotel.

The next day I walked around and explored the city a bit, including the harbor, which is where I took those lovely photos above. Wellington is very arts-centric, and I hit up several contemporary art galleries (no cameras allowed anywhere) and saw some awesome video art as well as knitted and crocheted items by Jacquelyn Greenback at City Gallery Wellington.

After I had my fill of artsy stuff, I headed over to Te Papa, which is the national museum of New Zealand. The place was absolutely huge and I didn’t have time to explore very much of it before it was time to head out of Wellington.

The coolest thing I got to see at the museum was a large exhibition on Egypt called Egypt: Beyond the Tomb. They made you check your bag in case you wanted to run off with a canopic jar or anything. I loved this exhibition though. Ever since I was a little kid I loved learning about mummies and ancient Egypt. When my Mom ran a small school during my elementary and junior high years, we always had huge interactive lessons on Egypt, including a “live mummification” skit, where spaghetti and other gross looking food were “pulled out of a dead body” and made to look like guts. To see actual canopic jars, not to mention a mummy and its’ inner and outer sarcophagus was pretty awesome.

The museum also had tons of Maori carvings and artifacts, as well as local art to New Zealand and smaller exhibits like “Awesome Forces” which showcased NZ’s volatile and natural landscape.

Another one I especially liked was Blood. Earth. Fire. which chronicled NZ’s journey from forests and wetlands into farms and settlements, including introduction of foreign plants and animals.

I ran out of time at the museum and headed back to the conference center, where we all got loaded up and set out for a 2 hour drive from Wellington to Palmerston North.

Nelson, New Zealand, Day 3

Our third and final day in Nelson was a blur all the way from the moment we woke up til we got dropped at the airport. Allanah took us around again (her mom accompanied us), and we got to see a million cool things. We started out at the World of Wearable Art & Classic Cars Museum.

The museum was interesting, but very small and pretty expensive (NZ$18). We went into the wearable art side first. No cameras were allowed at all, so you’ll just have to look at pretty cars instead. The concept of wearable art was started in New Zealand, and each year an international show/competition is held in Wellington. Wearable art is a combination of fashion, costume, art installation and theater.

The first show was in 1987, which began as a promotion for a rural art gallery in Nelson. A few years later, a local artist had the vision to exhibit the art in the form of a live theatrical show and it has since grown to receive international acclaim and a crowd of over 30,000 viewers annually.

(Her