March Madness

While the kids were having a little dunk contest at home...I got to go and meet up with my dad and sis for a little Sweet Sixteen action in Indianapolis.

In between the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 competitions we took a little drive to Hoosier town - Milan, IN.

 Check out this bracket.  It was handwritten and probably about 6 feet tall by 3 feet wide.

Belize - South Water Caye

A thirty minute boat ride the next morning and our vacation could finally really begin. South Water Caye was our intended destination, and our splurge of the trip - we were celebrating our 10th anniversary after all.

We stayed at Pelican Beach Resort, in the Sandpiper Suite (pictured below). This sparse 'ecolodge' is the perfect place to get away from it all. They offered three simple meals a day, a set menu reflective of local cuisine, which was cool. Then there was plenty of time for water activities, and lounging.

We choose this place, because of all of Belize's 200+ cayes and atolls, this one looked the most amazingly perfect for the kind of adventure we wanted to have. There was not one shred of disappointment.

Belize - San Ignacio/Xunantunich

For our last two days we headed West to the city of San Ignacio. We were on the hunt for Howler monkeys (which we saw en masse), temple ruins and toucans in the wild (which we never saw, and are not sure exist). There are lots of ruins in Belize but in the interest of time we saw the ones which we most accessible. The temple site at Xunantunich is small compared to nearby Tikal, but stunning nonetheless. It only took us 30 minutes to check out the ruins and then we were on our way to the jungle. Here is Ben and our taxi driver/best friend in Belize, Indian, looking out towards Guatemala:

On the bus to San Ignacio:

Ben cranking our car over the river:

We stayed at the Inn @ Cha'a Creek. Kind of. The actual Inn costs $400 a night. We actually stayed at the Macal River Camp which is the ghetto of Chaa Creek, but is only $55/night! Again, we had multiple beds in our room - 4 twins to be exact, but no facilities and no electricity, which is quaint and fine, until you need to use the common bathroom in the middle of the night and the Howlers are out in full force. Our lodging included simple, community served meals and access to all of the amenities of the resort: Canoes, infinity pools, nature center/butterfly farm, nature trails, etc., so great.

After our one night there we had to head back toward the airport and were picked up by our trusty friend Indian, taken to the Belize zoo...where we finally did see toucans, as well as tapirs and jaguars (I was not interested in seeing these in the wild). Indian also brought us lunch...a freshly caught and cooked iguana, iguana eggs and a fresh salad :). He told us he was going to catch an iguana we saw and cook it for us and he sure did!

Here is Ben trying to choke down the iguana egg. I have eaten a lot of things in my lifetime, but I couldn't quite get over the texture myself. But the iguana was good.

What do you eat after you have iguana? Belizean chocolate of course. It was very very good.

Time to start saving for a return trip. Would love to bring the kids here someday. You'd better Belize it!

Belize - Fishing

Belize - Caves Branch/Belmopan/Dangriga

Last year this time, instead of cursing the Seattle gray, Ben and I were immersed in Belizean blues (skies & water). Previously I managed to randomly post pictures of our underwater adventures there, but never got around to the rest of the trip. Here it goes, day one...

We flew into Belize City and as we had heard of nothing good to see here we headed straight to Caves Branch to go cave tubing. On the way there we ran into this guy and his baby howler monkey:

Next we jumped off of some rocks and floated through a minor cave system where we saw the usual - bats, stalactite/mites.

I thought this cashew growing on it's tree was cool:

From Caves Branch we got dropped off at the bus station in the old capital city of Belmopan where we had the experience of riding public transportation on the last bus of the day when everyone was trying to get home for the weekend. There is no better place to see a cross-section of working class public in a country than a bus station, and the cultures in Belize are diverse - the national language is English, but all around us we heard bits of Spanish, Kriol/Garifuna and even German from the Mennonites who seem to have quite a presence here. On the two hour busride down the Hummingbird Highway, which in one section smelled deliciously of citrus, a Garifuna kid talked loudly the ENTIRE time. Even knowing some Spanish vocabulary, some French and English of course, I think I understood .02 percent of what he was saying. Since I was squished in and didn't have a window seat I tried to settle into a magazine, but quickly felt uncomfortable with the materialism and excess of what I would generally consider to be the humble Better Homes and Gardens (compared to say Architectural Digest or Elle Decor). Travel can be an important reminder that our own day-to-day experience does not necessarily reflect that of the rest of the world.

We arrived in the predominantly Garifuna town of Dangriga (birthplace of punta rock (I can seriously find zero appropriate links other than this one))and settled into our digs at Pal's Guesthouse, although not before eating at the only place open, which happened to be a Chinese restaurant.

OAK/Berkley/SFO

Heirloom Tomatoes, Ferry Building, San Francisco. Photo by Sara Westbrook.

Last September Ben had a conference in San Francisco. Since I cannot pass up the opportunity to stay in a hotel that is already paid for, I tagged along as is the usual routine. I also absolutely love to be on vacation by myself from time to time. No kids, Ben being required to attend courses or lectures means that for a few days a year, I can do whatever I want to, however and whenever I want to. The only problem, and quite a stressor, is trying to figure out what on my wish list yields the greatest amount of pleasure so as not to squander the opportunity.

It usually involves eating wherever I want to for a start. I got off the plane in Oakland, rented a car and headed straight to Brown Sugar cafe, which was

recommended to me by my mother and was probably the motivating factor in getting her to watch the kids. And now I know why, just thinking about someone else being given the opportunity to bite into a cornmeal waffle from this place would engender charity and selflessness on my part too. I didn't expect much but it really was so good, I don't know how a waffle could be that good but it is. And here's the recipe that I

haven't tried yet but should - BSK's Cornmeal Waffle. I also got the shrimp gumbo, since it was between breakfast and lunch, and because I wanted it.

Next I ventured to see the Oakland temple. Where there were not one, but two Quinceanera parties being photographed. I can't blame them, it is a stunning piece of property, but wouldn't that be a little like me taking bridal photos at a mosque?

Next I headed to Berkeley. Partly because I had never been there before, but mostly because my mom suggested another can't miss spot. The pizza from the Cheese Board collective. Of course since I had eaten breakfast and lunch an hour before I wasn't starving but I stood in the long but fast-moving line and got myself some pizza anyway. Lots of mushrooms which I love. Really great. After this it was time to return the rental car (in hindsight, making those some rather expensive meals...) and hop on the BART to go to the city.

In the city I joined Ben at the Hyatt on Union Square where he was already checked in and living it up as an accidental member of the Regency Club (the bellhop thought Ben was a member because of the floor he was put on since he arrived early and his room among the minions wasn't ready, this ended up entitling him to breakfast, evening reception and desserts and a great view of the city). It made up for the fact that the workers were on strike and harassed us upon every entry and departure (we looked it up, their plight wasn't significant or necessarily valid). One striker lady, who had previously told Ben that he wasn't welcome in their city, asked him why he was staying at the Hyatt. True to his person, he said, "have you been inside? it's super nice!"

I like to get to know cities by running through them and I was not disappointed on my initial outing here, where I encountered a large group of folks smoking weed - medicinal of course, given that they were sitting out in the open in front of an important city building. - They were passing a joint around in a circle and the person in charge was making sure that newcomers/stragglers could get a hit, I was super impressed by their organization. They were reading cards aloud that proclaimed the ailments of their fellow club members who were not able to join them due to their infirmities...and thanking those by name who had generously donated this "medicine". So basically they were healing by proxy, which I am not sure is how it's supposed to work, but my knowledge of this area of herbal medicine is limited. I just hope that Susan's toothache gets better so that she can join the group next time.

While exploring the city I was reminded of a weekend trip to SFO that my girlfriends (Tarah, Amy, Wendy) and I took when we were in high school. None of us were 18 so we had a difficult time getting a hotel room, even though arrangements had been made previously by a parent. Will I trust my kids enough to let them go on a trip like that? Time will tell.

I took the picture below while walking either to or from church on September 11, it was a beautiful day and church was so interesting that I went to two wards (just to show how much better I am than those poor marijuana smoking souls, natch.)(please don't make me point out that this is a joke, but I will just in case someone thinks I might be that self-righteous)

There were many city other adventures to be had, some delightfully by myself and some in the company of Sara (who had come up with Kit on his business trip to the area). We visited fabric shops, furniture stores, a vintage poster gallery and markets. We took buses and trains through the projects and barrio in search of the best cupcakes, macarons and ice cream, and found the BEST chicarones ever. The guys went to a Giants game and we bought lotions and potions from Lush and treated ourselves to face masks and foot masks while watching the Miss Universe pageant wrapped in hotel robes like the teenagers we want to be. We did lots of walking, where I encouraged and calculated distance by laps around the track as usual (four miles - that's only 16 laps around the track!)

One thing that we wanted to do but didn't get to was do a night tour of Alcatraz. Next time I will make reservations in advance for that. But we did get to tour TCHO chocolate factory - here I am enjoying my free chocolate.

Another cool thing we did, perhaps the coolest, was biking across the Golden Gate bridge into Sausilito, grabbing sandwiches and pizza and then taking the ferry back to the city.