Thursday, June 29, 2006

Fond memories of my brief visit to the States

$3.00+ US Dollars for gas in the US??!!? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! In Qatar, Premium is 70 cents (US) and Super is 80 cents (US)...I spend the extra ten cents and splurge on Super.

Friday, June 23, 2006

Friends shouldn't let friends drink too much Scotch

Ladies and Gentlemen, El NachOOOOOOOOOO! aka Arron O'Dell.

Welcome to Our Planet

Nephews can be fun!

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Nice Doggie

Two xoloitzcuintles playing next to a statue of a xoloitzcuintle in the grounds of the Olmedo Patino Museum. A xoloitzcuintle is a pre-Hispanic (almost) hairless canine breed. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xoloitzcuintle for more information.

Police Presence

There is nothing like a massive police presence to liven up the mood of a demonstration in the Zocalo (Plaza de la Constitucion) in Mexico City.

At the Top of the Pyramid of the Sun

I walked up the 248 steps of the third largest pyramid in the world, the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Iglesia De Santo Domingo

The altarpiece of Iglesia De Santo Domingo is gilded in 23.5 karat gold.

Viva La Revolution!

There have been some government reform protests going on the city center of Oaxaca. Of the course the Communists made an appearance. You know what they say...the Communists love a good Party...BADA-BOOM

Monday, June 05, 2006

Mountains of Agave = Mountains of Mezcal

Outside of Oaxaca are mountains covered with fields of agave plant which produce the liquor mezcal. Mezcal comes from one species of agave plant, whereas tequila comes from another species. Oaxaca is the home of mezcal production in Mexico. Mezcal has a smoky flavor as opposed to tequila because the agave hearts are roasted in a fire pit for mezcal. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezcal for more information.

Appreciation of life

There is nothing like careening on a bus around dangerous hair-pin turns with falling rocks in a torrential rainstorm with 18 wheeled trucks as on-coming traffic inches from your bus in the mountains east of Oaxaca to give you an appreciation of life, especially your own.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Where is Ed?

Where on the dance floor is Ed? I put a circle around myself, so you could find me.

Deep Sea Fishing...Priceless

I went deep sea fishing. Blue Ocean...three foot seas...you see where this is going...

Taxi to the marina...90 pesos

Six hours of deep sea fishing in choppy waters...1050 pesos

Catching a beautiful fish while my friend Arron is heaving his guts out over the side of the boat at the same time......PRICELESS.


For everything else there is a Marine Science degree.

Heads you win, heads you lose

If you WON the ball game, you were decapitated and your head put on the skull altar while you body was burned. Losing has it´s advantages, but if you won the game and had you head cut off, you were guaranteed a place with the gods.

Largest ball court in Mesoamerica at Chitzen Itza

Chitzen Itza

Another sight that if you read in a book and then see it, the book was nothing compared to real thing. The most interesting thing about the temple is that there is a Mayan temple inside the Toltec temple that you see now that was built on top of it. If you clap at the bottom center of the temple grounds, you can make the sound of an eagle echo off the top of the temple. The Toltecs belived the eagle was the messenger of the gods.

Winning it all and losing it all on Cancun

How much is 250,000 pesos in US Dollars?????...don´t worry, I lost it all on the next hand, not real money anyways, played for fun.

Mesa Verde

I finally got to see Mesa Verde after all the reading I had done on it in school. Being there was nothing like the books.

Snow

I got to see snow on my way from Denver to Mesa Verde!