I Don't Like Corrupt Cops

So it´s been two days again. Once I explain the last two days, which also felt like an eternity, it´ll all be understood hopefully.

Yesterday, we left San Juan del Sur around noon and headed to Popoyo. It was supposed to only be a two hour drive, but after following three different signs saying Popoyo down three different awful muddy dirt roads (thank goodness for four wheel drive!), it ended up a four hour adventure. We set up tent at Popoyo Loco and spent the night for $6 US. The surf at Popoyo is supposed to be good with offshore winds for 350 days a year, but I guess we were there during the 15 days of so-so surf because of rainy season beginning. Apparently everywhere we go, we bring the rain storms north with us :-/ I fell asleep at 7:30 because of the stressful drive and lack of sleep because our flooded room in San Juan (we had to change rooms after the hotel staff banged on the door at 3 am and alerted us to the 3¨of water on the floor--did I already write about this?) and slept until 5:30 this morning.

As usual, I took the dogs for an early morning walk on the beach and then woke Mike up. He went and surfed for a little bit, I read in a hammock, then we packed up headed out. Originally, before the Lost Keys Incident in Avellanas, we were going to drive straight through from Nicaragua, through Honduras, and into El Salvador today. But we are in Corintos in northern Nicaragua for the night, so that we can get through the first border (Nicaragua-Honduras) with enough time to drive through Honduras (about three-four hours) and still make it through the second border (Honduras-El Salvador) with enough time to make it to our destination in El Salvador. Corintos is a port town but has an unknown surf break that we looked at this afternoon. If we were here for longer, Mike would´ve wanted to rent a panga to take over to the area, but we´re planning on leaving at 5 am and it´s 6 pm now. I´m at an internet cafe (can you tell by all the Spanish accents as opposed to apostrophes?¿) so I can only upload one picture, which is of a surfer in Popoyo being watched by lifeguard Max.

Oh, I almost forgot about the corrupt cops! Last night as I was falling asleep, I remember overhearing a guy at the hostel saying how he had sold his car in Nicaragua because he was sick of the cops hassling him. I now know exactly what he meant--at random check-points throughout the country, we were flagged to stop four times in a five hour drive. The first guy got $10 US out of me in a bribe because I had my emergency triangles (I remembered being hassled for them on the drive down but only once in Honduras) but not a fire extinguisher. He kept saying he was going to write a ticket, but he took the money instead (obviously). The second guy to stop us said that we were passing in a non-passing zone, but only wrote down our information, which Mike thought was odd but I told him was fine. The last two guys to pull us over just wanted to see our passports and licenses, but still, what an annoyance! I do love this road trip experience--even getting lost is fine because people are super friendly and helpful when I ask for directions--but corrupt cops suck. Plain and simple.

Okay, enough for today. ¡Hasta mañana!

Lost Keys, the First (Of Many) Border Crossings and Flooded Cheap Hotel Rooms

It seems like it's been months since the last post, even though it's only been two days. I was going to write last night, but the internet only worked for the first five minutes we were here, then it started pouring, and it was a really long day...so here I am now!

We are in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. We got here just about sunset last night after a three hour border crossing and about $300 in fees, bribes (because we got there at 3 pm and it closes at 5), and gas. We were planning on leaving Avellanas around 10:30 yesterday morning, but right as we were about to leave, Blake and Jamie lost their key to their car, that just happened to be blocking us in. After a frantic hour and a half search, they gave up and called a mechanic, but the guy couldn't get there until about 3 pm. Mike and I had basically accepted the fact that our first border crossing was going to be delayed a day, when he and Blake decided to see if they could push Blake's car forward enough to get our car out. And it worked--just two hours later than planned.

We got to the border around 3 pm, got to play the "Pick Me! Game" as I call it--when twenty guys come running up to your car to help you get through the border in about half the time it would take without them--on the Costa Rica side, then again on the Nicaragua side. We were planning on driving all the way to Popoyo (about 3 hours from the border), as opposed to the quick hour-long drive to San Juan del Sur from the border, but we chose the latter because the sun was setting and neither of us want to drive at night.

San Juan del Sur is a mellow little fishing town, with beaches that have good waves to the north. There is no camping in San Juan, so Mike and I played another road trip game Ryan and I named, "Do you accept dogs at your hotel?" Just as on my trip down with Ry, the third place said they'd take us. We're at Hotel Delfin, right across the street from the beach, in a room that was $25 sin aire (no air conditioning). Nice location, but unfortunately, when I took the dogs for an early-morning walk on the beach this morning, I noticed it was way dirtier than any beach I've seen in Costa Rica. Trash on the beach is one of those things that makes me so sad.

The internet has gone off four times in the twenty minutes I've been writing. Ugh. But we are off to check out the nearby beach of Maderas for waves, then hope to make it to Popoyo, a few hours north, around 3-4 for the night.

Here are three pictures from yesterday:

• The first picture is Mike surfing one of his last waves in Avellanas, Costa Rica.
• Here's the car! This is Guapa's first appearance on the blog, looking fully-loaded and ready to roll (or be parked in for a few extra hours) from Avellanas to Nicaragua.
• And it's the first "Bienvenidos a..." sign of the road trip. We're really on our way north! Woohoo!

Howler Monkeys and Full Moon Tides

"The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things..."

It's Mike and my last day in Costa Rica, with plans to return but no idea when. We'll head up to the Nicaraguan border before lunchtime tomorrow and hopefully make it to Popoyo (a surf break Mike went to with Outward Bound that he had to go back to again) before sundown, if the border doesn't take more than four-five hours.

Back to the present, Mike and Blake went to get more ice for the coolers and some fire wood for a campfire and s'mores tonight. It's been raining on and off all day, plus it's super windy, but we're all crossing our fingers that we can have a fire on our last night in Avellanas. I spent the day walking on the beach with the dogs, reading my Kindle on the hammock, and making a bracelet. While I was finishing the bracelet, I realized that these were things that I'd dreamt about doing again on a consistent basis while I was finishing up classes. What a nice feeling :)

Well, not much to report on other than that. Here are a few pictures:

• The first is a picture of the three dogs on the path through the mangroves off the beach to Hotel Las Olas, where we had appetizers yesterday afternoon.
• Missy spotted the two monkeys in the second picture. They're howler monkeys, the boy is on the left and the girl on the right.
• The third picture is of Max at the north end of Avellanas beach, with the whole beach in the background. The tide is really low in this picture, but also so high that we had to move our tents back a few feet to stay dry.

Camping at Dos Lunas beachfront in Avellanas

The first night of camping weather in a nutshell: on and off rainstorms the entire drive here, followed by a consistent drizzle all night, and thankfully we woke up to a sunny day in paradise.

I got up at 5:30, like usual, and took the dogs for a walk down the beach. Once everyone else got up, the boys, dogs and I walked down the beach to surf. I hadn't surfed in over six months, since before Mike moved to San Diego, so it was nice to be back on a board. I caught a few waves, then took the dogs back to the campsite for some water and rest. After a little bit, I got bored and took the underwater camera to go take pictures of Mike surfing. But when I got to where he was surfing, he was getting out, so I took a few pictures of the dogs (posted below) and we walked back to the campsite at Dos Lunas (also posted below).

When we got back to the campsite, I noticed a man rolling back and forth in the tide line down the beach. He looked completely limp and like he wasn't trying to even get any air, so Mike and Jamie ran down to see if he was alive and to pull him from the water, while I ran to the next property over, where Outward Bound was staying (since our dueno, Lucas, wasn't home) to have Carlos, a surf instructor Mike and I had been on course together with, call an ambulance. The man ended up being extremely drunk, but alive. After the cops came and Carlos, Jamie, Mike and I wrote down our names and explained what happened, we all went back to our respective campsites a little bit in shock. I am glad he is alive, but wow, how insane alcohol can make you in high doses.

After the mid-day near-drowning of the drunk man, we ate some sandwiches and now everyone's taking a nap while I blog. The plan is to go down to Las Olas, the only hotel in Avellanas, which is down a trail through mangroves off the beach, for some appetizers, then back "home" for some hanging out and maybe some cards.

So I guess that's it for now...Here are some pictures from this morning:

• The first picture is of our campsite--we're the tent on the right, Blake and Jamie are on the left of us, then the picnic table where I'm now sitting at is under the rustic palapa building on the left.
• The second picture is of Maecito with the sandiest face ever :)
• The third picture is of Max trying to hunt me in the water, also deserves a :)

Chau Ciudad Colon...Hello Open Road! :)

These last few days have been in hyper-speed. I gave my final presentation on Mexican Drug War Propaganda and turned in a 10-page paper about the same topic on Wednesday, then Mike got here at 5:30 am on Thursday morning, I had my last day of class on Friday and a going away party that same night as well. It was bittersweet to leave Ciudad Colon--I am so ready to be on the road and make it back to my hometown, but I loved meeting everyone at UPeace and the media department is amazing. Our class of twenty-three students from over twelve countries meshed so well and I will remember all of the eye-opening experiences, both in class and out, forever.

Yesterday morning, we packed up the car and headed down to the Pacific coast for the night. The car actually isn't that full--we have a suitcase of clothes apiece, a cooler, two plastic bins, tent, and bedding are in the back; the dogs are in the back seat and fit perfectly; and there are five surfboards on top of the car. I didn't want to take a picture of the "set-up" until it was in a pretty location, so probably tomorrow in Avellanas. On the drive down to the beach, I could tell that the car was heavier, but it was a smooth ride.

I am writing this blog from Mike and my old neighbors' (Blake and Jamie) new house on Calle Hermosa in Playa Hermosa. Mike and I lived in one half and Blake and Jamie lived in the other half of a duplex in Vida Asana Yoga Retreat for six months right before I started UPeace and we would always joke how ironic it was that we moved in next to one another within a week--she played water polo and is a few years older than Blake, Blake and I have almost matching 4 Runners, Mike and Blake are both passionately obsessed with surfing, and we had two dogs apiece at the time (their dogs are two pit bulls, one of which, Koa, is in a picture with Max below).

We are packing up our respective 4 Runners and driving up north to Avellanas, my favorite beach in Costa Rica, until Wednesday. After that, they'll come back to Hermosa and Mike and I will cross the border into Nicaragua. We're going to be camping in Avellanas, beachfront, so I don't know if I'll be able to find wireless for a couple of days. I'll try though and either way, I'll take pictures and write, then just post them later.

In a few hours, after breakfast and re-packing up the car, we'll start the four-five hour drive up to Guanacaste, the dry province (relatively speaking to Costa Rica) in the northwest of the country. Avellanas is just south of Tamarindo--Ryan and I stumbled upon it by accident on a camping adventure after attempting, unsuccessfully, to find a place to stay with the dogs in Tamarindo (TamaGringo). It is a beautiful beach with sea shells, mangroves, and one restaurant, which closes right after sunset. Down the beach, quite the opposite from the mellowness of Avellanas, is Hacienda Pinilla, a huge JW Marriott project where people like Michael Jordan own homes. The area is known for its teak wood and mangrove-protected beaches, but not it's also well-known among fancy travelers, too. Such is life... Even with the Pinilla, it'll be a relaxing few days in a nice place with good friends before leaving Costa Rica.

Here's some pictures from yesterday during the afternoon rainstorm. The five dogs all hung out on Blake and Jamie's patio, and each found their appropriate lounging spot :)

Koa and Max (the "men") were manning the entrance to the house, to protect us from the thunder

Missy was resting on top of one of our many boards, so comfortable.

"Glamping:" Glamorous Camping

So my mom has always told me a saying that goes something along the lines of, "Proper planning prevents piss poor performance." Well, she doesn't have to worry about that with me because if I could be any "Friends" character, Monica would be my name. I am extremely clean and organized (anyone I've lived with can tell you tons of funny "Gayle-isms" i.e. sweeping at 6 am, cleaning pots and pans before we sit down to eat, etc. etc.) and I have a constant to-do list going in my brain at all times.

That said, this road trip has been one of the things that I can "properly plan" to my heart's content. Since Ry and I went the same route Mike and I are taking, in the same car (just the opposite direction and with more time), I already had a pretty good idea of what I would want to bring this second time around that I didn't have the first time. On top of paperwork (that includes for the car, the humans and the dogs), the car needs to be ready and the actual packing list should be concise but thorough. Easy enough, right? While it may sound easy, getting everything together (especially with Mike in San Diego and me here) isn't always as quick and efficient as Monica-Gayle would like.

Here are some lists that I've had floating around in my head for a while, that should hopefully make our road trip a (clean and efficient) success! :)

Paperwork: (I keep all of my paperwork in a briefcase-style folder with dividers, easily accessible in a plastic bin behind the driver's seat because it's needed at every border and checkpoint or if you get pulled over)

• For people:
• Valid passports are obviously a must, as well as valid driver's licenses. (It's a good idea to make five copies of each person's passport/driver's license and leave one copy at home with friends/family and bring the others with you)
• Don't overpack--try to put clothes in small suitcases that can stack in the back
• Toiletries can be bought whenever you run out in whichever country you're in, but I try to bring enough of my shampoo/conditioner and other girl stuff

• For dogs:
• Make sure that each dog's shots are up-to-date, then take them to whichever local vet you use and get a health certificate. (They're usually around $100 per dog in whichever country you get them and they take about a week to make, so plan in advance! Make copies of these as well!)
• A collar with their rabies vaccination tag and a tag with their name (I include my last name) and my phone number (with USA before it). A good leash, too.
• It's good to put Frontline or Advantage on them a few days before you leave, so that you don't have to worry about fleas etc.
• I have my dog's shot records from their vet in Costa Rica in addition to Max and Missy's US health certificates from the drive down in their file, too.

• For the car:
• Obviously paperwork has to be valid on the car and you have to be positive that the car can make a long road trip. (My car is a 1999 manual 4 Runner, with new tires and I keep it very maintained, so she's (Guapa Dos is her name) ready to go!)
• As for (valid) paperwork, regardless of the country you are registered in, make copies of the paperwork and keep the originals in your glove box and the copies in the folder behind the driver's seat.
• Since I drove the car down and imported it into Costa Rica, I have the same vin # as previously (from the US) but all new paperwork (from Costa Rica), which I hope doesn't confuse anyone at border crossings. But luckily I kept copies of all the US paperwork, previous border crossings and the importation paperwork.
• Make sure you have a new oil change, new coolant, all your fluids are checked, your brakes are fine, your tires can handle it, your windshield wipers are in good condition, etc.

What to Bring: (I'm going to assume that we can all pack our own clothes and that one small suitcase will suffice for that. This list is what to bring if you're camping, planning on cooking, etc.)

• To Keep in the Car:
• An emergency triangle (They ask randomly throughout the drive at checkpoints to see this, mine doubles as a water bottle--handy!!)
• At least one gallon of water
• Extra coolant and oil
• Jumper cables
• An emergency medical kit (check it before you leave to make sure nothing is expired and you have enough band-aids and Aspirin)
• A crank-charged flashlight (This has been SO handy!)
• One headlamp per person (with extra AAA batteries!)
• String, a needle and thread, scissors, duct tape, bungee cords, etc. (this is my mini go-to kit)
• A hand broom and dust pan
• Laundry soap
• Rags, paper towels, wipes, and toilet paper
• A plug adapter for the cigarette lighter and a power surge protector
• Multi-tool
• A 15-gallon tuppeware to put all the loose stuff in

• For cooking:
• A cooler
• Cooking utensils: knife, pot, pan, stirring spoon, cutting board, tupperware
• Eating/drinking utensils: water bottles (with good lids!), plastic cups, plates, bowls, spoons, knives, forks
• Seasonings/food: remember salt and pepper, olive oil, and any other basic seasonings. (I try to stick to easy to eat things, like cereal, yogurt, cheese, chips and dips, sandwiches, etc.)

• For camping:
• A good tent with a good rain tarp
• A decent air mattress and pump
• Sheets/pillows
• Towels (1 per human and 1 per dog is usually how I do it)
• Bug repellent and sunscreen
• A lantern (with extra batteries!)

Also, basic insurance is covered by the entrance tax into all Central American countries. That means until Mexico, you're covered. But once in Mexico, everyone should get insurance. You can get it at tons of websites online, print it (and make copies!) then you're good to go.

I am also taking the ferry from Mazatlan, Mexico (mainland) to La Paz, Baja California (the peninsula). There are two companies to choose from to take the 12-16 hour overnight journey on: TMC and Baja Ferries. TMC is daily, while Baja Ferries is a few days a week. TMC is more dog-friendly but also more run-down and you have to sleep in your car/tent. Ry and I took TMC on our way south and Mike and I are taking it back. I made reservations in Spanish through their all-Spanish website, but you have to contact them and request it (I'm assuming in Spanish), as there is no "Make Reservations" section.

I'm sure I'm missing a few things but I have to get going to class. I'll post a couple pics of successful "Glamping" trips I've been on with Ry or Mike over the last couple of years when I get to school. (My step-sister, Laurie (also a Monica), calls this her style of camping: glamorous camping. I like it!)

Here they are:

• The 1st pic is near Arenal Volcano in La Fortuna, Costa Rica. (Max and Missy are exiting the tent)
• The 2nd pic is in Playa Avellanas, Costa Rica. (Ry, Max and Missy are sitting outside the tent, under an almendra tree)
• The 3rd pic is in Mal Pais, Costa Rica. (Mike, Max, Missy and I camped in a big beach-front yard on a trip down the Nicoya Peninsula)
• The 4th pic is in Playa Avellanas, Costa Rica. (Different campground, a few lots south of the other one, where Mike, the dogs and I stayed right at the tide line)

Because I'm a Wanderer...

I was going to start off saying all of the things I've done this week--school and planning for the trip--but I would rather write about my travel-filled last three years.

As it says in my (1200 word or less) "About me" in the right-hand column, I am from San Diego and graduated from the University of San Diego in Spanish Literature and International Relations in May 2007. My best friend, Ryan, and I had planned on moving to Playa Jaco, Costa Rica, in September but I had itchy feet and needed to get out and see the world for the summer beforehand. I had found an advertisement from the UNDP on a Teach English as a Second Language Worldwide website to teach English during "summer" in "Valparaiso," Chile. I put those two words in quotations because it was neither summertime in South America nor was I teaching in Valparaiso--but actually in the tiny town of Santa Maria, in the Valparaiso Region. In Santa Maria, where I was assigned to live for ten weeks, I was placed to live with a family of former-exiles during Pinochet and placed to teach with a lady whose husband was the mayor of the town during the dictatorship. To make a two-week-long story short, the two sides could not stand one another and I felt in the middle, ultimately deciding to have myself relocated to Maipu, a suburb of Santiago. I stayed the remainder of my trip there teaching but ended up having to go home two weeks early because my friend, Katie, from New Zealand, who was watching my two dogs and my house in San Diego, had gotten caught working as a food server under the table and was in the process of being deported. I flew home in time to talk to Katie through a glass wall in a prison near the US/Mexico border where they kept deportees, but I still need to go on a trip to visit her in New Zealand and give her a real hug after that terrible ordeal!

Once I got home from Chile, my family thought that the trip had deterred me from moving to Costa Rica. But they were wrong--I moved to Costa Rica in September 2007, with my two dogs, Max and Missy. (Max, now almost 8 years old, is a half-doberman/half-rottweiler who weighs 95 pounds but thinks he is a lap dog. Missy is just over 7 years old and is a rat terrier.) We flew down first, then Ryan moved down two weeks later. We lived in Jaco for almost exactly a year, and I'd have to say that was one of the best years of my life. I taught home school three hours a day, four days a week, to a family with three awesome kids from LA; Ryan and I both learned how to surf decently; and we traveled all over the country--on at least one weekend of every month we would take a few days and camp with the dog in some new place in Costa Rica. We also went on an amazing trip to Cuba and a few to Baja, where my family vacations a few times a year.

It was amazing, but all good things must come to an end. Ryan and I decided that we were "over" Jaco and moving to Buenos Aires, Argentina. After completely dismantling the year we had spent establishing a life here, we all (Ryan, Max, Missy and me) moved to BA. We got there in September, so it was springtime, but it was not at all what we had thought we'd wanted. We ended up packing up two weeks later and going back to San Diego to regroup.

Ryan ended up moving home to Texas to work with her mom and brother in their family business. I decided that I would give Costa another try. I decided to enroll in Outward Bound Costa Rica, for their 60-day leadership course, where they certify you to be a wilderness instructor and at the end of the course, if they like you, you are offered an internship with the NGO for 90 days. I did the course, which was one of the hardest two months of my life, and got certified in wilderness medical response, to be a land instructor, a lifeguard, and a white water raft guide. At the end of the course, I was one of two females and five males to be asked to return for the internship. Although my dogs had been in San Diego, being watched by a friend, I decided to go home, get the dogs, drive back down, and do the internship.

Ryan met me in San Diego a couple days after Christmas 2008 and we spent the next two weeks driving through Baja, mainland Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and into Costa Rica, in the 4 Runner with the two dogs. Ry went home mid-January and I started my internship at the beginning of February.

This is where I meet Mike in my story...I was his "instructor" (I was an intern!) and he was my student. He is five years younger than me and extremely shy when you first meet him, so we hardly spoke the first phase of the course, which was the hiking portion. After surfing for a week in Playa Hermosa we started to get flirty, then by scuba diving in Panama, I had a full-out crush on Mike. We weren't a couple but I guess we annoyed everyone else on the trips with us to no end. I decided to leave course after the river rafting and kayaking phase of the trip, so as to avoid more unnecessary drama from Mike and my flirting. Besides, he'd already told me that he was moving to Playa Hermosa with me after course was over, and after I picked him up from Santa Teresa, where he would be with his dad for the five days following the end of Outward Bound.

After I picked him up and met his (really cool) dad, Mike and I lived together in Hermosa for four months. By this point, I'd found out I had gotten in to University for Peace (I applied back in February right before starting my internship with Outward Bound) and it was nice to have a summer between Outward Bound and graduate school at a beautiful beach in Costa Rica with an amazing new boyfriend. Once school started, I moved up to Ciudad Colon and Mike stayed at the beach for a few months. The commute to see one another was too much, so he moved up in October. We got a third puppy right after he moved up, Maecito, who is a min-pin and now seven months old.

We had both decided that when I was done with classes, we'd move to San Diego in May, after a road trip home. So I got in contact with an old professor at USD and set up a summer internship with the Trans-Border Institute, an NGO that works with binational collaboration between Mexico and the US. After a few months away from the waves and with nothing to do other than get an online ESL certification and play with the pups, Mike and I decided it would be best for him to move to San Diego a semester early to start establishing residency for in-state tuition and to get back to living by the ocean.

We've been living apart since winter break, but luckily there is Skype and my program was fortunate enough to get a three week spring break. He will be here this Thursday morning and, like we keep saying, we won't be living apart anytime again soon!

Whew...there are lots more details in between but I've never actually sat down and written a timeline of life after undergrad before. So there it is.

I need to work on my paper for my propaganda course for the rest of the day and was really planning to write what I had been doing this past week to plan for the trip, but I will do that tomorrow. For now, here are a few pictures of the last few years...

• The 1st pic is of me with my class in Maipu, Chile. (Note the winter clothing indoors)
• The 2nd pic is of Ry and me at a creamy light blue-looking waterfall in north-central Costa Rica, near Volcano Tenorio.
• The 3rd pic is on the hiking phase of the course when I did my internship with Outward Bound Costa Rica. (Mike is the tall one in the middle of the group)
• The 4th pic is Mike and me in the pool of a waterfall off of a dirt road near Montezuma, Costa Rica that we stopped off at on a camping/ road trip.

Begin at the Beginning, Right?

I don't know where to start...

So I guess I will just start here: I am so excited that this month-long road trip is now a reality! I just got the official approval today to extend a ten-day trip during the last week and a half of May from Costa Rica to San Diego into over a month-long adventure. Instead of taking the last course in my MA program at UPeace, I will be doing an independent study travel journal (blogging/photos) of the areas I will be visiting during my road trip.

I originally drove my '99 manual 4 Runner down here from San Diego in January 2009 with my best friend, Ryan, over 12 days. The trip was rushed but such a good time. This time, Mike, Max, Missy, Maecito and I will be taking the 4 Runner back to San Diego, just at a more leisurely pace. Between Mike's surfing and my independent study, this is going to be a full trip :)

Here's my itinerary, as of today:

Costa Rica:

Saturday, April 24: Playa Hermosa

Sunday, April 25- Wednesday morning, April 28: Playa Avellanas

Nicaragua:

Wednesday, April 28- Friday morning, April 30: San Juan del Sur/ Popoyo

Friday, April 30: Leon

Honduras-->El Salvador:

Saturday, May 1: San Vicente

Sunday, May 2: Ahuachapan

Guatemala:

Monday, May 3-Tuesday, May 4: Antigua

Wednesday, May 5: Huehuetenango

Mexico:

Thursday, May 6: San Cristobal de las Casas

Friday, May 7: Oaxaca

Saturday, May 8- Monday, May 10: Puerto Escondido

Tuesday, May 11: Manzanillo

Wednesday, May 12: ferry from Mazatlan- La Paz, Baja California

Thursday, May 13-Tuesday, May 18: East Cape (this is my grandpa’s 88th birthday weekend fiesta)

Wednesday, May 19-Saturday, May 22: Todos Santos

Sunday, May 23: Santa Rosalia

Monday, May 24: El Pabellon

Tuesday, May 25: cross border into US

I still have a week and a half left of my remaining course at UPeace, but I figured that since I have the itinerary, I might as well set up the blog now to give me a good head-start at getting used to blog writing. Plus, there's a lot of preparation Mike and I have both been doing that I could blog about.

For now, here's a few pics of my adorable dogs and maybe I'll find some time between paper writing and a girl's night out at Che Pizza to write more.