Food Food Everywhere

Portland is a food lovers city, filled with restaurants and shops specializing in exotic spices, oils and balsamic vinegars, who knew there were over 20 types of balsamic vinegar? Portland also has the Food Carts, over 600 of them located in various pods around the city. We saw Polish, Middle Eastern, Italian, Mexican, Thai, Indian, Cuban, even Scotish food carts, all painted bright colors. The one stipulation the city makes, is they have to be moveable, they cannot be permanent structures. One of the top chef's in Portland recently opened his own cart. We went on a food tour of Portland and our guide told us that the dream of many of the students in the various culinary schools located in Portland, is to have a cart of their own someday. The curry I ordered was enough for 2-3 people and cost $5.00. It is hard to beat that.

It is all happening at Powells

The streets of Portland may have been empty on Christmas Day, but Powells was full, even Superman was there catching up on his reading. We had coffee and an almond croissant in the cafe, possibly the best we have ever had

Powells Book Store

Powells takes up one whole city block and is 3-4 stories tall. It is so large that there are maps available to find your way around. It is wonderful though. I could spend hours there, actually I could probably have spent the whole week there. Powell's was the largest book store in the world, however China always has to try and one up us, and now Powells is only the largest English language bookstores. Powells has 5 or 6 different stores through out Portland. They have a monopoly on books. No Barnes and Noble for this city.

Christmas Day not a creature was stirring

The streets of Portland were for the most part deserted Christmas morning. There was only 1 other person on the bus going into the downtown. We found out that Powell's bookstore, the largest English language bookstore in the world, was going to be open on Christmas, so that was our destination. We thought we would have the whole bookstore to ourselves, but that was not the case.

House in a Box

Simon dressed in his Rabbi outfit, one of my favorite, in front of our Hawthorne Garden Cottage. The cottage was 204 square feet, but had everything you would want, including a mini gourmet kitchen, flat screen TV, CD player, hairdryer and even a dishwasher, called Simon. In the summer the cottage is surrounded by a flowering garden, allas we weren't there in the summer, but it was still very lovely.

Nanuk of the North aka Simon

If it's good enough for the Artic, it's good enough for Portland.

Dressed for the weather

I'm dreaming of a wet Christmas

We arrive in Portland the 1st day of winter. The forecast is for a week of showers, with the temp in the low 40's, and that's the high. Simon and I are bringing our long underwear and winter coats.
Our cottage is perfect, for a hobbit. It is 240 square feet. I think Simon and my body mass is more that 240 square feet. It is adorable, surrounded by a garden, and it is in an area where we can walk or take the bus to everything. What is everything in Portland you may be wondering, well there are gardens, museums, art galleries,a China Town, and Portland is being lauded as one of the top gourmet centers in the country. Yes, we are going to eat our way through Portland.

Ater an afternoon of wine tasting, Simon, Mike, Lynn and I enjoyed eating at Celadon, a restaurant on the river in downtown Napa. It is really a nice restaurant, a large patio and wine bar with art work inside. We sat on the patio as it was a warm and beautiful night.

I am in a vegetarian phase and I had this amazing dish, layers of grilled potenta, eggplant, mozerella, with a balsamic reduction and grilled zuchinni and yellow peppers. Unbelievably good.

Simon had lamb shanks with couscous, but the lamb was grass fed which made it somewhat vegetarian. It was a great ending to a very enjoyable day. Thank you Lynn and Mike.

No wine before it's time.

We recently spent a week-end with our friends Mike and Lynn at their home in Davis. Davis is a lovely college town with tree lined streets, miles of walking and bike paths, wine bars, restaurants, coffee houses and book stores, could one ask for more?

Well maybe one thing more, miles and miles of grape vines. We went to Napa on Saturday and after a vigorous hike with a panoramic view of Napa Valley, we descended and began the important work of wine tasting. We visited several wineries and noted an interesting fact, the more wineries you visit, the better the wine tastes.

The Titi's say good-by to us

A large family of Titi's crossed the path in front of us as we waited for the bus this morning. There were at least 30 monkies, several mothers with babies on their backs. They were very playful hanging from the trees and crossing the cables.

Titi's are becoming extinct and children in the area have started a foundation that places safe areas for the monkies to cross, instead of electrical wires.

Good-by Costa Rica. Hola California

Sunset in Manuel Antonio

The view at sunset from Gaia Hotel restaurant in Manuel Antonio. There is a 180 degree view of the ocean and to get to the restaurant we had to take a golf cart up. The Hotel is quite amazing, with penthouses with private lap pools. which we didn't stay it as they started at $400 night.

The food was excellent, we had tapas of seared tuna, cervice, spring rolls, of course wine and for dessert creme brule with vanilla ice cream.

It waited to rain until we had walked home and then it was a down pour all night.

We have had a wonderful time but all good things must come to an end, and we are ready to return home

A mans work is never done.

We are having Richard, and another couple we met yesterday over for a curry dinner. So we took the bus into Quepas this morning and Simon bought 17 chickens, only kidding. I'm sure Richard will be having leftovers long after we are gone.

We are going into Manuel Antonia later and having some fried calamarti for lunch.

We were watching the World Cup on TV but our cable went out. It was in Spanish and even though I did take 2 weeks of Spanish, I'm having some difficulty understanding the announcer. I didn't think it was possible to roll an R so many times.

I did a little rock climbing yesterday, one of my favorite sports, especially in a skirt and sandals. We walked for miles in the hills and along the beach and then came home and swam. I promptly became sick, either too much sun or a mild touch of Dengue.

We had an amzing storm yesterday afternoon and during the night. 12 hours of heavy rain and thunder and lightening. Today however is beautiful with blue skies.

Playa Espadilla

This is a beautiful beach right outside of Manuel Antonio Park. It is around 1 mile in length, beautiful sand and palm lined, with warm water and gentle to larger waves. The bus runs from our place to here every half hour from 6am until 7pm. There is a good restaurant with cerviche and calamari and cold beer across the street.

So you won't be too jealous Dengue fever is fairly wide spread in the area now and our manager did find a very large and very posionous snake in his living room 2 weeks ago after the hurricane.

Richard, the manager is very interesting, it seems many of the Americans living here, led quite colorful lives in the States. Most wanted or least wanted?

We are in Manuel Antonio

It is quite beautiful here. We went hiking in the National Park today. This is the life. It rains at night and is warm and clear during the day.

However there are still mosquitos but not as bad as in Nicaragua.

The hurricane here did a lot of damage in the park and some of the paths were closed.

Where we are staying is quite nice, the pool is wonderful and warm. There is lots of hot water and the bed is comfortable. Life is good.

Hasta La Vista Nicaragua, Hola Costa Rica

I tried to download a picture of the rain, but as the wifi works on solar and we have had 2 days of rain and little sun, no luck. So imagine you are in a warm shower,surrounded by ferns, bright colored flowers, palms and the song of birds including the unmelodic songs of chickens, roosers and turkies. Oh yes I forgot, mosquitos, lots of mosquitos.
The walk into town today was interesting, not just because of the rain, we saw a large pig in one yard, a bull in another, 2 bulls in the park, a young girl with her pet rabbit and 2 horses without riders galloping down the street, all this within a few blocks. Nicaragua is a very lively place.
We have enjoyed the people we have met from Hong Kong, Canada, Englalnd, New Zealand, Australia, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. We have especially enjoyed all the wonderful Nicaraguan people we have met.
La Mariposa has been a unique and special place thanks to Paulette.
Tomorrow at 4:30 am, we are off to Costa Rica, where we have heard they are having lots of
La Lluvia (rain).

The old yellow school bus

Ever wonder what happened to all of those old yellow school buses? They are alive and well in Nicaragua. After they were retired in the US, Nicaragua bought them and they became part of the mass transit system. Many have been painted bright colors and they are a cheap and effective way to travel around Nicarague, notice I didn't say safe or comfortable. To be fair, they are relatively safe and comfortable if you don't mind getting very close with your neighbors.

La Catedral de Leon

The Cathedral in Leon is the largest in Central America and was constructed in 1747.

Besides being large and imposing, it is baroque in style.

This picture was taken from the balcony across from the Cathedral. From here, the dictator Samoza spoke to the people. He was assistinated 1 block from here, by one of the heros of the revolution.

The famous Nicaraguan poet Ruben Dario, is buried inside.

Another day in paradise

Laguna Apoyo,this is a large lagoon inside the crater of a volcano. It is the deepest lake in Central America, 300 meters deep, a meter is 39". It was really beautiful and the water was very warm because of the old volcano.

We swam, laid in the sun, drank beer and ate chicken quesodillas.

Life is good.

We are off to Leon tomorrow.

Los Chiclos de Simon

Some of the children in Simon's class. He came back early today because they were muy mal.

Most of the desks are in various states of disrepair and the children don't have the basics such as paper, pencils etc and none of them have seen a computer. Most of them will have to quit school after 6th grade to help their parents at home and in the fields.

What is strange is that only 10 minutes away the school have supplies, and the children have uniforms, but the children near the volcano are a world apart.

El Mercado

We took the bus to the market in Jinotepe this afternoon, it is the largest open market in the area. The sun is shining today and it is quite beautiful.

I had my Spanish class this morning and Simon taught in the school near the volcano, 25 children between the ages of 5-12. They were out of control but of course he whipped them into shape.

I have discovered that mosquitos are quite attracted to me,so while at the market we stocked up on Calamine lotion and Benadryl.

Mirador at Catarina

This was a beautiful place, a large vista with restaurants looking out over a crater lake and in the far distance the city of Granada and the largest lake in Central America beyond. My camera does not do this view justice.

We ate dinner at one of the restaurants which served with the meal mashed potatoes, rice and french fries, very healthy.

We had to take 2 local buses to get to Catarina, and they piled us in. The bus back had 23 of us stuffed into what would hold 11 in the US, at one point I thought they were going to pile us like pancakes, but at 50 cents a person to go a long distance, I can't really complain.

It is another beautiful day here, sky is blue with lovely white clouds, the parrots and mondies are making lots of noise. I'm just about to start my Spanish classes.

Volcan Masaya

This is the living volcano near where we are staying. It is always smoking and supposedly we are able to drive up to the lip and look into the crater and see lava.This is the volcano near where Simon teaches.

Nicaragua is the land of volcanos. Yesterday we hiked up Volcan Mombocho, which is a dormant volcano. It was quite beautiful, surrounded by forests, coffee plantations, and views of Granada and the lake in the far distance. Because the area was high up in the mountains, we were surrounded by a mist.

Viva La Revolution

We attended a political rally in Managua, unfortunately Fidel was unable to attend.

It was held at the old palace, which was

destroyed in an earthquake in the 30's, and then became a prison during Nicaragua's civil war, and is now a park that has rallies. Newly added is a Zip Line ride that goes across a lagoon and has great views of the old prison, and a restaurant.

One can protest against the government, have a few refreshments and go on rides all in the same place. Eat your heart out Disneyland

Panama School

A picture of 2 of the student's Simon is teaching. They walk to school in the rain without raincoats or umbrellas, and were wet through out the day, so Simon went out and bought 24 raincoats and school supplies for them. He said they are so poor and so eager to learn. I will be visiting the school next week. The school is next to the volcano and the smoke and ash from the Volcano eats away at everything.

After the deluge

We have had 3 days of non stop rain, and as the Wifi runs on solar energy here, we have been unable to blog. It is very beautiful and very green. This is a picture of La Mariposa, our room is on the top floor. Mariposa is also an animal refuge and there are 7 dogs, several monkies, numerous parrots, and horses, chickens and turkeys.

It is quite an amazing place, I am taking 4 hours of Spanish daily and Simon is volunteering at a small school.

We will blog more later, hope all is well in California. Too bad we can't send you some of our rain

Our transportation

Actually we didn't go by horse and cart from Granada to Masaya, but by bus. Our bus, an old American school bus, stopped at every corner to pick up riders, even though the bus was full at the beginning.

We were dropped off in Masaya in the hood, and in a 2 block radius, we saw 2 car accidents, an arrest, and a women with a carving knife, chasing a young thief.

However everyone was very nice and helpful and we made it to La Mariposa without any further incidents.

Alex, where is papa Simon?

We arrived in San Jose this morning at 9:30 am, after an uneventful flight, always the best kind.

We were met at the airport and taken to La Gioconda House hotel, which is quite nice. I think Caryn might even like it.

We spent the morning and afternoon walking around the city and visited the National Museum of Costa Rica. This exhibit reminded me of where is goldbug or where is Waldo.

It is now 7pm and after pizza and wine, we are ready for bed. We have a wake up call at 4:30 am and then we are off to Grandada.

We have discovered one negative regarding the hotel. it is on a very busy street.

Does this back pack make me look fat?

I'm taking my back pack for a test drive. I quess Simon is going to make me carry my own.

Salimos miercoles

Who needs a pack mule?

Simon practices carrying both back packs and studies the map, while I take pictures.
Maybe that is why we are frequently lost.
We are not leaving for a week but our packs are already packed and Simon is wondering if it is too early to leave for the airport.

I don't think we are in North Carolina anymore.

The 101 Freeway at 6:30 PM on a Saturday evening. It is smooth sailing on our side but traveling is a bit slow heading into LA.

North Carolina was beautiful but it is always good to be home again.

Nicaragua here we come

Interstate 40

View on the 40 going from Asheville to Waynesville at rush hour. A little different than the view will be on the 405 or 101.

Spring time in Western North Carolina

Today was a beautiful spring day in Waynesville North Carolina. The weather was warm with a slight breeze and the Dogwood trees are in bloom. The hills are green and the trees are starting to bud. The mountain in the distance is Cold Mountain.

Alex the Sandman

I'm visiting family in North Carolina, Simon is slogging away at work. The weather here is warm and sunny, and according to Simon it is dreary and cold in sunny California.

Here is Alex playing in his turtle sandbox.

If we can't take Alex to the beach, we will bring the beach to Alex.

Life is good, or is that life is a beach.