Bree and Brian's Excellent Adventure

Back after a long absence

2009-11-11T22:16:00.001-08:00

We are very poor at this blogging thing. It’s been awhile since we posted anything. I’ll go ahead and blame that on returning from vacation, catching up at work, etc, etc. The real reason is probably a combination of factors, lack of motivation perhaps being one of the larger ones.

Things have been going well here for the past two months. We’ve made a few more friends (its amazing how people can be influenced by repeated offers of food and booze). Before we knew it, we had things to do practically every weekend. We also went on another vacation at the end of October – back to Italy with the Netherlands and Croatia thrown in or good measure. We got a passport stamp going through Slovenia and stopped by the side of the road to talk to a guy selling cheese, so we’ll count that as a country visited as well (which brings us to 10 on the year for this little adventure). All in all, the last two months have been fairly packed with excitement.

As this adventure draws to a close, I’m only just now getting the hang of living as an expat, and only just now starting to understand this little country we’re living in.

I’m particularly fond of the Omani countryside, once you get outside of Muscat. As I’m driving around between the various project sites I visit on a regular basis, I’ll occasionally stop and try to capture the sense of the place. Its difficult. Nonetheless, here are a few pictures of the roadside attractions:

Its my contention that the ratio of goats to people is easily 10 to 1 after you get outside of Muscat. I don’t even know where they find food. My Omani friend Khalid tells me that every goat is accounted for. He says if you touch one hair on the goats head, the shepherd will know (he also says that goats from the countryside are the most delicious, on account of all the roaming around they do).

The landscape in Oman is very dramatic, and dictates how the Omanis live to an incredible degree.The top picture shows the desolate plains that lie between the mountains and the sea. No one lives here. The bottom two pictures shows a wadi in the foothills and one of the falaj that deliver water. Although looking pretty desolate itself, the wadis are where most inland Omanis live, and the falaj are the systems by which they survive. Water from natural springs is collected throughout the mountains and transported great distances to the people that make their lives down in the wadis.

A very typical Omani house. The Omani government grants citizens land to build a house, with the land being selected on a lottery system. Notice the walls surrounding the house? This is very typical for Oman. Behind the walls, women can dress freely around their other family members, so they don’t have to be covered all the time. Its all part of a strange dichotomy about the people here. They’re extremely outgoing, friendly, and generous; but they’re also very private. An Omani I was talking to said something to the effect that “hospitality only extends so far amongst a people that surround their houses with high walls”.

It just so happens that we are in the waning days of this leg of our little adventure. We have tickets booked to return to Denver on December 4. We’re trying to squeeze in as much as possible in these last few weeks. We usually explore every weekend as it is, but we’ll be kicking it into overdrive. We’re trying to make it to a camel race, visit some more of the interior mountains, and get together with our friends here more often. We’ve promised our expat friends an authentic Thanksgiving dinner (we even found a place to buy a turkey). As our days here draw to a close, I am reminded of an apt quote by the great Aldous Huxley: “To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries.” Perhaps never truer than this day and age in the Middle East.

And we’re back….

2009-09-25T09:43:00.001-07:00

We’re back “home” after a pretty fantastic 8 days in Europe. Our trip coincided with Eid (end of Ramadan) here in Oman, and appears to be well timed (or well planned, in this case), as pretty much the whole country was shut down last week anyway (http://www.omantribune.com/archives/index.php?page=news&id=55430&heading=Top%20News&archdate=2009-09-16):

“His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said, it has been decided that Eid Al Fitr holidays for the government sector will be from September 19 to September 23… private sector it will be from September 20 to September 24”

Since the government and private sector have different weekends here, that basically equates to the entire week off for both public and private sectors, plus weekends (9 days). Where are our holidays like this back home?

HM’s decision was backed up by the heavens:

“The main Committee for Moon Sighting…”

And we agree with the newspaper on this:

“The private sector employees extended their heartfelt greetings to His Majesty on this happy occasion, praying to Allah the Almighty to protect His Majesty and grant him good health, happiness and long life”

We made the most of our time. The short list of activities includes: cooking class in Italy, bike riding through the Piedmont wine country, wine & cheese festival, museums and the massive gothic church in Milan, Oktoberfest in Munich, and last but not least – lots of good food, wine, and travels with mom & dad.

More pictures:

All photo credit goes to Bree who documented all the festivities magnificently. Will post more soon….

Italia

2009-09-20T09:15:00.000-07:00

A post full o' pictures from Italia:

Weekend excursion

2009-09-12T23:34:00.001-07:00

Without diving on the agenda for last weekend, Brian and I decided to do some trekking around Oman on Thursday. We found a description of a nice wadi that was only 80 km from Muscat and we planned to hike around, take some photos, and maybe go for a swim. This sounded lovely to me – I was in dire need of some fresh air and exercise. However, since we never actually got to the wadi, I could not take pictures of it. Hence, an illustration from our friend google is provided below.

But, back to the beginning. We selected a wadi as our destination, donned our REI hiking clothes, slathered on some sunscreen, packed a small cooler of beverages, and hit the road. We followed the directions to the wadi exactly and ended up here:

Note, not only the distinct lack of water and plams, but also a road. This is not all that surprising in Oman and we go off-road for awhile hoping to find something, but alas, it is not meant to be. We return to the closest little village and ask for directions, which we follow, but still cannot locate this elusive wadi. At this point, I am starting to get a little cranky. It’s hot and we have been driving around for almost four hours. Finally, we give up on the wadi, but are determined to do something. We see some coastline and decide that we didn’t drive all this way not to at least get out of the car and explore a little. So, we park near the end of a dry wadi that runs to the ocean and find a lovely beach:

Sadly, as with many places in the world, people can’t seem to “leave only footprints.”

We didn’t have much time to linger, primarily because we were melting, but also because we had to get home to get ready for a little party. That’s right! These social butterflies are slowly emerging from their Omani cocoons. Soon we’ll be parading around the sea on His Majesty’s yacht instead of bumping around Oman looking for wadis on the weekends. Don’t worry, we’ll post pictures of HM’s yacht, too.

Day and night

2009-09-08T01:42:00.001-07:00

Ramadan continues unabated, and the restricted activity is starting to takes its toll a bit. Things in Muscat would never be described as fast paced during the best of times. Now that its Ramadan, this town is bordering on comatose.

I try to remain as respectful as possible to our Omani hosts during their holy month. I refrain from eating or drinking in public, even though it get pretty absurdly hot driving around construction sites, inspecting things, and generally running around. I try to take sips of water only on open stretches of the highway or in my trailer when I get back from work. They still serve lunch at the project offices, so the food/drink side of the holy month really hasn’t changed things too much (at least for me).

What has changed is the general flow to how you go about your daylight hours. Stores are closed for the bulk of the day, restaurants don’t typically open until 8 PM or so, and everyone acts and dresses a little extra conservatively… Bree and I had a real, actual conversation this morning about whether her work outfit showed too much ankle. I asked her what the other women wore. She said they all wore abayas:

Mostly without the face cover I presume, but still, so much for that as a basis of comparison. She did mention that they are a little more strict with the abayas during Ramadan – the top moves further down the head (covering any hair that may be revealed other times of the year) and women tend to tuck the scarves up tighter such that only the face shows (whereas they may show some of the neck other times). More women also seem to be sporting the full face covering this time of year as well…

Desperate to get out of the house last night, we went to the mall to go to Chili’s for dinner. Everything was open and the mall was packed (during Ramadan night is the new day). I took out my frustration at the general lack of access to food/drink/recreation on my arteries. We commiserated about our horrible suffering over sugary drinks and fried stuff.

Perhaps it was my recognition of the absurdity of the situation (complaining about relatively minor inconveniences despite knowing better), or perhaps it was the rain (thats right I said rain), but by the end of the day today, things were lookin up.

For the first time since I got here in May, I actually saw it rain today (Bree is jealous). I got stuck in a serious downpour, complete with high winds and pelting rain and everything.

It was fantastic.

I stopped the car and got a (not great) picture of the water cascading down the mountain sides:

It was like a thousand rivers sprung up on the mountain side at once. I got out and walked around in the rain for a minute. The temperature dropped by 25 degrees. The air was cleared of dust. On the way home, Bree called to tell me that one of our new friends was coming over for dinner and bringing wine.

Things are lookin up.

Coffee, dates, & conversation

2009-09-02T05:23:00.001-07:00

Dates

As a westerner coming in to the Gulf, I had no idea how important the date was to Middle Eastern culture. They come in all sorts of colors and textures around here:

You can get them stuffed or covered in chocolate, or both; they show up in breads and sweets; or they are just eaten plain with coffee. I am a particular fan of the half-ripe ones, which are sort of sweet and sour, chewy and crunchy all at the same time:

Bree is a fan of the ripe ones stuff with candied orange peels – also quite good.

There’s not really an equivalent that I can think of in western culture. Dates are not just food, they are a the sign of a shift from business into a more relaxed atmosphere. Or, if the atmosphere is already casual, its a sign that you should get comfortable, you’ll be conversing for awhile. I’ve had business meetings where we would wrap up the meeting, then the coffee and dates come out.

Coffee

The other half of this little ritual is the serving of coffee:

The coffee is served in tiny cups with no handles, and it usually pretty weak but contains saffron and cardamom.

In Oman (and I hear the ME in general) it is considered very rude not to accept hospitality that is offered. This goes double with coffee (literally). It is generally accepted that everyone will accept at least 2 of the tiny cup fulls. After the 2nd, you won’t offend anyone by not having more.

Problem is, they usually keep the coffee in thermoses, and it is served REALLY hot. The tradition is to just drink it down in one sip, which usually results in me burning my tongue. The things we do to participate in the culture…

As per the custom, once the coffee and dates come out, the conversation switches to casual topics. As with everywhere, the weather is always the most popular topic of discussion. Topic #2 is usually where everyone comes from. For whatever reason, Bree and I are almost never pegged as Americans going into these conversations. There aren’t many Americans here to begin with, and although most people speak English, they can’t pick out the American accent per se. I’ve been asked if I’m Dutch, German, British, among others. When I tell people that I am an American, they often tell me that it is their dream to go there one day (I hear this alot), or they ask what its like where I come from (I usually pick Colorado for these discussions, for brevity). By the time the weather and places of origin have been covered, the coffee and dates are usually packed away, and the meeting is over….

Kindly refrain from eating… or else

2009-08-22T02:45:00.001-07:00

Today, the holy month of Ramadan started. Ramadan is a big deal here. Huge. Others have warned me that as we get further into it, the driving gets particularly crazy. The prospect of driving becoming actually more dangerous here is fairly terrifying to me. I already spend almost 2 hours in a car or more per day, usually along the main highway, which is harrowing enough as it is.

Several weeks ago I got caught in an insane traffic jam. It started out normal enough, with cars backing up on the highway…. but soon, people started looking for every possible means for gaining forward progress. For the first 10 minutes of this spectacle I was getting pretty annoyed with all the people cutting me off, driving in the median, driving through the landscaped barrier between highway and service road, passing illegally into oncoming traffic, and generally ignoring the rules of safe driving.

But I admit it. I gave into the chaos. I adopted the “when in Oman” ethos. I drove over curbs, through freshly-planted landscaping (I was only following the others!), into oncoming traffic. Notice how in the first few pictures I am on one side of the highway and in the third I’m no the other? There wasn’t any exit.

Its no excuse, but the ends justified the means. It only took me 2 hours and 30 minutes to navigate this traffic nightmare. My less-bold coworker, who was in a car right behind me at the beginning of this debacle spent 4 hours in traffic following the “rules”. The next day, I saw them re-planting the landscaping (no word on whether they’re planning to tend to the large-scale highway design and traffic law enforcement issues though).

In general, Oman is a fairly open minded place, but there are limits. The government is not really too concerned whether you are muslim or not when it comes to Ramadan: everyone follows the rules. No one, muslim or not, is allowed to eat or drink in public during daylight hours. You can actually be arrested for such offenses as, say… drinking coffee in your car while at a red light. For real. mostly they just give fines though….

The risks of these indiscretions are tempered by the fact that it is more difficult to get food or drinks outside of your house during daylight hours anyway. Restaurants, fast food joints, ets are all closed and not selling food during the day. If you are in an office with predominately muslims (I am not), you can’t eat or drink there during the day either. And perhaps most cruelly of all, alcohol sales are banned during Ramadan – even in restaurants and bars, even at night.

In order to deal with the dehydrated, starving masses, there are official laws allowing muslims to work reduced hours during Ramadan. Most offices switch to a 5 hour per day schedule. The majority of people leave by 1:30 or 2 PM and sleep until the evening prayers that signify that they can break the fast. Once so authorized, they do so in style with big iftar (breakfast in arabic) parties where everyone gets together and makes up for the lost time with huge buffets and such. With any luck, Bree and I will get to check out one of these parties….

Just another trip to the grocery store…

2009-08-15T08:07:00.001-07:00

Well, sort of. We woke up last Thursday without a plan for how to fill the day. So, after some browsing through some tourist books, we decided to hit up Al Hoota Cave. Al Hoota Cave is a couple hours from Muscat and was opened to tourists in 2007. Supposedly, the Oman government was surprised at the throngs of Omanis (inspired by the country’s recent emphasis on tourism) that turned out to see the cave. Now it’s one of Oman’s most popular attractions.

However, along the way (only several km from the house, actually), we got distracted by the Nizwa Vegetable Market sign and turned off the highway. Groceries at a grocery store in Muscat (similar to an American grocery store) are very expensive. For example, the Oreos shown below for RO 3.990 (USD $10.37). Produce can be just as expensive and it’s hard to get it fresh.

Therefore, we decided to see what the Nizwa Vegetable Market had to offer. It turns out, the Nizwa Veggie Market has a LOT to offer! Many of the people were quite excited to see the likes of us – we stood out just a tad – and were loving the fact that we came with a camera to document the 120 degree grocery shopping experience (who doesn’t enjoy sweating while shopping for onions?).

Truck leaving the market – probably bound for a local grocery store or restaurant

The market is a large car port (if you will) with vendors filling up almost every square inch.

Limes

This guy wanted me to take a picture of him with his lettuce. So cute!

Melons and dates

Dates at varying stages of ripeness

Now, shopping here, though it looks similar to your local weekend farmer’s market, is nothing like you local weekend farmer’s market. In Denver, I would stroll with my coffee, have Chloe on a leash, and browse….not so much the case here.

Let me give you an example. Say, I am interested in buying some bell peppers. So, I walk up to a table containing boxes of bell peppers…

Vendor: You like, ma’am?

Me: Yes, How much?

Vendor: 600 baisa/kg – then he grabs a bag and starts filling it with peppers before I can even register the price I was just quoted or begin to calculate how many peppers = 1 kilo.

Me: shaking my hand No sir, I am just shopping. So, I walk to the next table to find out how much their peppers are – with every vendor in between shouting at me on the way to view his offerings. Turns out, their peppers are 400 baisa/kg at the next table, but they don’t look quite as delicious as my first friend’s peppers. So, I go back and say: I can get peppers down there for 400 baisa/kg.

Vendor: These are better, but OK! 500 bais/kg!! As he again starts excitedly filling a bag with peppers, but not necessarily the good ones. He is rapidly tossing the sad looking ones into the bag.

Me: Okay, but take all those peppers out of the bag and let me pick them. I start filling the bag with good peppers, though he keeps trying to sneak in some sub-par ones, which I promptly remove.

At last he thinks we have filled the bag with a kilo of peppers and weighs it to confirm. “One kilo – 500 baisa",” he says. I pay and as I reach for the bag he opens it up and plops in one last (very sad looking pepper) and says, “for you for free".” I smile, take a picture and carry on.

The plan was to make ratatouille for dinner, so we basically went through the same process for tomatoes, eggplant, onion, and zucchini. Brian also decided to go for some dates and a watermelon (“No sir, not eight watermelon, just one.)

Finally we finished at the market. Then, we had to take all the vegetables back to the house before continuing on to Al Hoota Cave. Not a problem though. We now know where to buy vegetables for MUCH cheaper than we pay at the store. And while we are probably still paying more than the locals at the veggie market, both we and the vendors think we are making out like bandits, so everyone is happy.

Unfortunately, cameras were not allowed in Al Hoota Cave. But, we had a nice lunch along the way.

Saw some goats, nice scenery, and some mosques….

And, my first Omani cemetery (you may not know this about me, but I really like going to cemeteries – all over the world). In a traditional Omani cemetery, bodies are buried and one stone is placed at the head and a stone at the feet.

So, until next time, we will be making the most of the last few days before Ramadan when the whole city shuts down. Though, I expect Ramadan will provide some more interesting sights and experiences to share.

Jordan Part 2

2009-08-07T07:51:00.001-07:00

We have been lax in our chronicling of this little adventure of late. For that, we have no novel excuses. Here is a slightly more illustrated account of Jordan:

This was what I meant when I said that most of Jordan is half-finished. This isn’t a building under construction.

After we left Aqaba, we went to the ancient city of Petra. Perhaps Petra’s greatest claim to fame is its appearance in Indian Jones and the Last Crusade. Or at least that was its biggest claim to fame to me, prior to visiting. This being most of my knowledge of Petra, I learned a few things on our visit.

The main approach to the ruins is through a narrow canyon called the Siq:

This is the Siq seen from above and far away. The Siq is the tall canyon almost dead center in this picture. If you look closely you can see the path leading away from it towards the right-center of the picture. Along the path leading to the Siq itself there are impressive ruins.

Walking up the Siq only adds to the impressiveness of the place:

The ancient people who built Petra, starting around 200 BC, carved channels all through the Siq to deliver water to the village on the other side of the canyon:

The Siq was also adorned with carve-outs for votive candles, dams, and other structures to re-direct the floods that originally carved out the canyon.

They actually carved this enormous tunnel to redirect floods into an adjacent canyon:

It is roughly 30’ wide, 40’ tall, and 300’ long. Unbelievable.

After a walk through the Siq, the first glimpse you get, obscured by the steep canyon walls, is of the so-called “Treasury” building:

This is actually a misnomer. Bedouins who found these ruins long after they had been abandoned by their original inhabitants mistook the impressive structure for a place where the Egyptian Pharaohs hid their riches:

Actually, these were tombs. Sadly, there are no ancient knights guarding the Holy Grail inside, only expanses with alcoves carved out to hold the bodies of the honored:

Its hard to capture the sheer size and impressiveness of this place with photos, but here’s an attempt:

The person in the photo is Bree, who, granted, is no giant. But perhaps you get the idea…

Petra was special to me in that it combined these amazingly beautiful natural landscapes with fascinating remnants of a long-gone civilization. I’m a sucker for either any day. Together, they were just too much. I could go on for pages and pages about this place.

Petra is more than just the Treasury. There are remnants of the ancient civilization scattered all over the area – from the tops of the mountains into the narrow slot canyons that radiate out from the main village. We spent over 12 hours roaming around over a day and a half, covered the main trails to the famous building and went on self guided tours of the lesser-traveled side canyons, covered miles and miles – and still only scratched the surface.

They converted one of the ancient tombs into a bar:

What better way to cap a day in the heat and dust?

Jordan Part 1

2009-08-01T06:26:00.001-07:00

We made it back from Jordan last Saturday night and as expected it has been like a fire drill ever since. Catching up with work has consumed most of our time since then. All that said, it was worth it.

We flew from Muscat, Oman to Amman, Jordan via Bahrain. It was nice to finally see the city of Amman since many people often think we live there - due to the similarities in pronunciation. As a matter of fact, whilst in Jordan I always told people we live in Muscat, because if you say “I live in Oman” they think you live in Amman, and thats just confusing.

All that said, I lied when I said it was nice to finally see Amman. We never actually saw the city - we went from the airport to the car and started making a bee-line for the beach in Aqaba. This is where we ended up:

Can you blame us for skipping Amman?

Relative to our days in Honduras, our digs in Jordan were a significant upgrade. It turns out the middle of July is the low season in Jordan, which opens up all sorts of opportunities for staying in nice places for half the price (literally). When you descend from the fifth ring of Hades (Muscat in summer) to… say the second or third (Jordan in summer), the difference in temperature feels downright pleasant.

Aqaba is located at the tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, a point of convergence for Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel, and Jordan.

We could see four countries from our hotel window. The proximity to all these other countries combined with the high number of tourists led to an above average abundance of police, soldiers, and security. It wasn’t overwhelming, but they were always there somewhere. Is it comforting or worrisome when you have to pass through a metal detector when entering buildings? What about when they check the undersides of cars around the hotel with mirrors? The answer for us: you get used to it.

You also get used to what I like to call the “sleazy charm” of the streets of Jordan. Outside of the hotel, the sidewalks and buildings all had a certain greasy, grimy feeling. Nothing was outright gross, but everything looked like it could use a good washing. Buildings everywhere look half-finished (on purpose).

Our driver, George, explained that its part of the culture here: why finish the beams when you might add another floor to your house or level to your store? Better to leave that re-bar sticking up….

In general, people throughout the middle east are all for building something but less in favor of maintenance. Hence that certain sheen to the streets and buildings.

The people of Jordan are somewhat more laid-back than their Arab neighbors to the east. We found the locals to be easy going and willing to chat. Even the people in the tourist trades weren’t overly pushy about selling you something. You can get a beer or a glass of wine at most restaurants, and you don’t even need to have a special license to buy something at a liquor store. A sizable portion of the women would cover up, but not the vast majority in the Gulf and not nearly to the same extent.

We really enjoyed our few days in Aqaba – we did several dives, we swam, and hung out by the pool. One evening we went to the local Turkish Bath House. Bree described the facilities as “like a prison”, while I like to think of them as “an experience”. Either way, we stuck around and were soaped, scrubbed, massaged, served tea, and sent on our way. Despite the bargain price of $15 per person, I’m not sure we’ll be returning.

Stateside Spree

2009-07-24T07:15:00.001-07:00

Brian is right, I was gallivanting around the globe recently, but it was not all fun and games. For starters, I flew to NY on Tuesday, after already working Sat-Mon in Oman to finish out the US work week (Wed -Fri). After spending the weekend in NYC with a couple friends, I worked a few more days in NY, then took a 2-day jaunt to see my family in Texas. I just couldn't fly 20 hours to the US and not fly a few more to see my family. It was a lot of flying, but worth the trip and it was a productive work week. But, let’s talk about the fun stuff.

After working several days in White Plains, NY, I met two girlfriends in NYC where we mainly walked around and people watched (best done over a cold, delicious beverage). The people watching in NYC is fascinating. For example, where else can you find a 65 year-old woman with huge blonde hair in a black bikini and high heel boots standing in the street with a guitar and charging $2 to take a picture with her (except Vegas)? She said, and I quote, “It took me a long time to find a career I really enjoy and that I am good at.” This made me laugh, but some quick math indicates this little lady probably makes a good living. Let’s just take a typical Saturday for example. People were lined up to take pictures with her – she at least had 60+ pictures taken of her in an hour. That makes - ($2/picture x 60 pictures/hour x 6 hours/day) = $720. If she only works Saturdays, that’s ~$37,000 per year. Not too shabs….

We also saw a show on Saturday night – 9 to 5. Yes, the Dolly Parton one. Even I was hesitant, but it was great! Made even better by the second row orchestra seats Jamie scored for half price! (A good ole’ Texas girl is never afraid to take a chance at angering 1,000 hot New Yorkers and Europeans to get a good place in line for good show seats.)

After a few more days of work in White Plains, NY, I headed to Concan. Danny (little brother) picked me up at the airport in Austin and after a quick stop for some bean and cheese tacos from a taqueria we took the 3-hour scenic drive home. Now, I must pause for a moment to exalt tacos from Texas – homemade tortillas and refried beans (with lard, of course), cheddar cheese, and two types of homemade salsa, all for the low price of $1.00 each. Why is this so hard to replicate in the rest of the Union!?!

Danny and I stopped on the way home to take pictures of the Frio Canyon – the northern gateway to Concan.

I was happy to see upon my arrival in Concan that life is kicking along as usual.

Dad walks Chloe (the parents are watching our basset until we return to the States). As evident by the amount of tongue hanging from Chloe’s mouth, she is still acclimating to the Texas weather – just a tad warmer in TX than in our beloved Colorado.

Mom feeds Henry. Henry is a 3-month old calf and one of the most recent additions to the family. He has a fan club in the kids that spend the summer at my parents’ place in Concan. (Yes, Henry is sucking on my mom’s fingers.)

We take trips into the big city (San Antonio – 90 miles away) to have dinner with friends and see Paula’s new art show.

We watch it rain from the back porch in Concan. I just want to point out that Texas is in the midst of a serious drought, but it rained both times I visited Concan this year.

After two days in Concan, I drove back to Austin to catch my flight back to Oman. After a 30+ hour trip, I went to bed at midnight in Muscat and woke up at 7:30 the next morning to catch a plane to Amman, Jordan, where we currently are. Jordan is great and we will post pics soon. In the interim, however, here are some more pictures of Texas to satiate all of your Texas-loving appetites.

Sunset over the Hill Country – view from my parents’ front porch.

Seven Bluff

Chloe cooling off in the trough by the barn

White tail deer in the pecan orchard

Holiday Week

2009-07-18T23:21:00.001-07:00

Things have been busy ‘round these parts the past 2 weeks or so – hence no posts. Bree has been prancing around the globe, leaving me to fend for myself here in the sultanate. Good news though, as tomorrow is a holiday!

From Oman Tribune:

“ Holiday on Isra’a and Me’araj

MUSCAT A holiday has been declared on July 20 (27th Rajab, 1430 AH) for public and private sectors on the occasion of the blessed anniversary of Isra’a and Me’araj.
The official holiday was announced by HE Sayyid Ali bin Hamoud Al Busaidi, Minister of Diwan of Royal Court and Chairman of the Civil Services Council, on Saturday.
The minister extended his greetings to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said on the occasion, praying to Allah the Almighty to protect His Majesty, grant him good health, happiness and long life and the Omani people and Muslims progress and prosperity.
HE Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Al Bakri, Minister of Manpower, issued a ministerial decision declaring July 20 as official holiday for employees at the private sector establishments. The decision allowed employers and employees to agree on compensating this holiday if necessity arises.
All employees in the private sector extended their heartfelt greetings and best wishes to His Majesty on this blessed occasion, praying to Almighty to protect His Majesty, grant him good health, happiness and a long life and the Omani people and Muslims all over the world further progress and prosperity.

Oman News Agency”

When was this officially announced? Thats right – today. Several weeks ago Bree and I rolled the dice hoping the holiday would fall tomorrow and got plane tickets to go to Jordan leaving tomorrow. I love it when a plan comes together! The official announcement of another holiday on Wednesday should come tomorrow. We’re taking advantage of the several days off to dive the Red Sea, check out some very old buildings, and generally wander around the Kingdom of Jordan:

Pictures to follow!

More sights from around Muscat

2009-07-07T10:41:00.001-07:00

The emotional arc of the past few months has gone something like this: At first – apprehension about what this whole thing would be like. Then - excitement that shines a light on everything, making it all sparkly and intriguing. Finally – slow acceptance that this is, in fact, your life, and in some ways not much changes.

When I say that we have moved into the acceptance stage I’d like to point out that its not a bad thing, on the contrary I would argue. I have moved around a fair bit over the course of my life (Oman makes it major move #8 for me), and I would say that this stage is something I personally look forward to. Only after you get over the apprehension and the excitement can you really settle in, get comfortable, and really get to know a place.

I wouldn’t be so bold as to say I know Muscat, but I think I am starting to develop that newly arrived outsider’s perspective. Muscat is not quite a town, not quite a big city either. There are things to do, but maybe not the ones we’re used to.

Since a picture is worth a whole big bag o’ words, I’ll let some pictures do the talking, or some of it at least.

The other day we went and took a look at H.M.’s pad – not too shabs. H.M. Qaboos is revered by Omanis, and for good reason. Prior to his taking power, Oman had no roads, electricity, running water, hospitals – this was all as late as 1970. In 40 short years, it went from that to shopping malls with Forever 21 and Starbucks.

H.M. has imposed some basic codes in an attempt to maintain the culture – like all buildings have to be approved colors, there are height restrictions on them, and he has adorned the main highway with not-so-subtle homages to Oman’s history.

Yes, that is a giant ring and treasure chest at the entrance to one of the grand roundabouts.

As a country, Oman has some money, but is not exactly awash in cash from oil. The people here work, and you get the sense H.M. has impressed upon them the need to develop a non-oil economy. Their big target is tourism, and I must say, they have some nice places:

We go to these places often on the weekends. They are probably much nicer when its less than 110 degrees (and humid), but not bad even in the summer. Bree and I have a running joke that diving/going out on the water is all we have left (because our social life is still a little slow, and its hard to spend extended periods of time outside). But last weekend, while on the dive boat, we were saying that it may be all we have left, but it isn’t too bad.

But I digress…. here are a few more sights around Muscat.

My tailor (the pants worked out! – he’s making me two shirts now.)

So – acceptance. I think we’re starting to understand what life is like here, get a feel for the town, and working within that. With acceptance, I am starting to lose the yearning for things from places I used to live (like having a casual beer on a patio, or, for Bree, wearing shorts in public) but gaining appreciation for the uniqueness that is this current place – like trips to the souk, hearing the call to prayer, diving on the weekends. Maybe acceptance is the wrong word – maybe its better to say balance. We’re balancing these things, and striving to have fun all the while.

When in Muscat….

2009-07-02T01:14:00.001-07:00

One of, if not the biggest, motivation Bree and I had for taking this assignment was our love of travel. As you may recall, we actually mortgaged another month of travel in Indonesia for 6 months of working here. Part of the thought process was that living in another country would provide a different experience than simply visiting it. And how…

Its a strange cocktail when you mix the excitement of traveling along with the menial tasks of day-to-day life. Sometimes, its hard to maintain a spirit of adventure when you are stuck in a Muscat traffic jam. Its hard to take in new surroundings when you’ve just missed your exit on the highway, thereby adding 30 minutes to your trip due to the ridiculous (lack of) design of the highway here. Or the novelty of exotic foods is stifled by the reality that you can’t find a single italian restaurant that you really, really like. Such are the realities of committing to living on the other side of the world.

Feeling a little downtrodden by some of these realities, I felt the need to get out a little, to experience the culture, carpe the diem, maybe add a local twist to some of the menial tasks…

What could be more local that heading for the local souk?(note: I did not have the camera so representative pictures stolen from the google)

In the souk near our house, there are an abundance of tailors (and knock-off luggage, and fake watches, and chinese electronics of questionable quality). Finding myself in need of clothes, I set out to get some made by these fine craftsmen.

With all these tailors, getting someone to make clothes for you is not as straightforward as you might think. Not many of the tailors of Seeb speak english it turns out. Even fewer make western clothes (“Sorry sir, only dishdasha”). I criss-crossed the souk about a dozen times, with nothing but vague waves of the hand and pointing to guide me to what I was looking for.

After half an hour of this, I learned I must first obtain fabric (who knew?)… Back across the souk… and I arrived at a fabric store. I found a fabric merchant and broke the first rule of the souk by not even trying to haggle – he gave me a sad look and a 10% discount without me even asking. He then told me where to find a good tailor. I paraphrase: “Look for the dark, dirty stairs behind the guy selling counterfeit watches on the sidewalk across from the other guy selling watches.” He saw the befuddled look on my face and told his assistant to take me there.

To make a long story medium length… I found the tailor. I dropped off my fabric, told him what I wanted, and was assured he could make a near-replica of my favorite pants. Fabric = 6 rials (I think i over-paid), labor = 3 rials. Total bill: 9 rials (~$25). If this actually comes to fruition, I may start drastically cutting back on trips to the mall in favor of trips to the souk.

Maybe not for electronics though…

Wandering the Wadis

2009-06-25T07:45:00.001-07:00

Sometimes, as part of my job, I get to see alot of the countryside in the process of driving around between different project sites. Some days are more enjoyable than others. Yesterday it was really really HOT:

Thats right, 47 C, as in 116 F. And this was right after I had been driving around, not when the car had just been sitting in the sun for an extended period of time. For the record, the hottest I’ve seen it is 50 C, i.e. 122 F.

Despite the ridiculous heat, it was a particularly enjoyable afternoon. Over the course of my travels, I managed to get a few pictures of the wadis (dry river beds) criss-crossing the countryside:

I was also greeted by some of the local fauna:

And after an afternoon of driving around, headed home via the Sultan Qaboos highway. His Majesty (H.M. for short) Qaboos isn’t afraid to add a little decoration to the roundabouts:

Bree wants to do a pictorial of these monuments-o-the-highway called “Roundabouts of the Sultanate” because there are so many elaborately decorated roundabouts in these parts.

Since it was Wednesday night (reminder: Wednesday = Friday), we set out for an establishment where one can have alcoholic beverages along with their meal (the one who isn’t driving at least). We made our way to a mexican establishment:

Undeterred by the demonic figure on the sign, we ventured in. The mexican food was decent, but like all things here, had a faint hint of curry (because most of the chefs are indian). You can take the chef out of India, but well, you know…

Despite the live band playing non-stop hits, the dance floor was empty on a Wednesday night.:

Not just any Wednesday either, according to the menu we were witnessing “Wild Wild West Wednseday”. Notice the two “wild”s. Yet.. the atmosphere did not warrant even one “wild”. Closer inspection revealed…

Huh? This place is a mystery wrapped in an enigma sometimes. Margaritas? Check. Live band playing 80’s hits? Check. A staff of Indian waiters sporting cowboy get-ups? Check. Boot-scootin? No-can-do. Apparently by some semi-official sounding decree. Banning dancing seems a little out of character here, but ya just never know…

We’re gonna make an attempt at going out again tonight. Two nights in a row! This is big for us. We’re even going to meet our new friend there (we’re nervous). I’ll report on whether any dancing is witnessed.

Dubai! Again!

2009-06-21T10:31:00.001-07:00

*Whew* it was a big weekend for us. Accustomed as we are becoming to the relatively small-town life in Muscat, a trip to Dubai last weekend was a nice little break. The itinerary didn’t change much from the last trip: the pool, malls, big buildings. We did, however, manage to work some culture into this trip, which was as nice as it was unexpected.

Thursday morning we woke up early (and actually used an alarm!) despite the usual claims throughout the week of how much we were going to sleep in on the weekend. Some things just don’t change. The thing was, we wanted to do a tour of a mosque, and they only offer a few a week, so there you have it. We joined an information session at the Jumeirah Mosque in Dubai that was put on by the Sheikh Mohammed Center for Cultural Understanding. The event was an open forum-type format, where you were allowed to ask anything you wanted about Islam, muslims, arabs, mosques, etc. We took some pictures:

We learned all sorts of interesting things, such as why they have the domes on the buildings (acoustics), what the call to prayer says (basically, “God is great, come pray now”), and how they pray (there are quite a few steps). Overall, it was a very interesting experience and kudos to the Emiratis for striving to increase cultural understanding, which is something we could all use a little more of.

After all that culture, we sought out the 2nd most prominent cultural experience in Dubai: the mall. My stated goal was to witness the famous indoor ski resort. I can now check that off as visited, and I have the evidence:

Coming from Colorado, I just couldn’t bring myself to pay $150 to ski a couple hundred vertical feet on artificial snow. I really wanted to, but I couldn’t. So instead we took it all in from a restaurant overlooking the hill and enjoyed this instead:

They make some pretty tasty hummous, tabouleh, and pita in this part of the world. The lunch-time entertainment included seeing people who had never seen snow before learn how to ski, and watching men in traditional dress (with a puffy jacket over it) and women in abayas (the local version of a burka) sled and tube down the slope. They looked like they were having a blast and the juxtaposition of gulf attire on a ski slope was priceless.

Lastly… for anyone who may actually still read this, you can now look forward to a higher class of photography in upcoming posts. Bree is becoming the official family photographer with a snazzy new digital SLR. Here’s a picture of her taking pictures:

She has always been a really talented photographer so the other person or two who actually reads this is in for a treat.

The weekend o’ fun was capped by a trip to duty free where we were allowed to get 2 bottles of liquor or wine… per person! We split our purchase into two bottles of wine and the essentials for margaritas (tequila + Cointreau). We made our decision and I stand by it. The purchase and ensuing consumption of 4 bottles of booze has already improved our opinion of this place. We may start making regular trips for no other reason than access to purchasing wine. Seriously.

Cheers,

Brian

Dubai & Dayminyats

2009-06-13T05:05:00.001-07:00

I made my first trip to Dubai, albeit a short one. Dubai is like Vegas, if Vegas practiced a little more restraint when it came to architecture. From the looks of things, the developers just keep one-upping each other. It won’t stop until someone builds another entire city in the middle of the ocean. I’m sure plans are already underway.

In a mere 24 hours, I did the following: went to a buffet, had some drinks by the pool, went to an enormous mall. I think that pretty mush covers the highlights of what Dubai has to offer – not bad really. The hotels are really nice, so it made for an interesting 24 hour diversion.

On Sunday, two important things happened:

1. We dove at the Dayminyat Islands, as shown in the picture below (stolen from another site because we had neither a camera nor a helicopter to take an aerial photograph). This is a pretty accurate representation of how it looked, except much larger in person. It was cool.

2. We may have (fingers crossed!) made a friend. I don’t want to jinx it, but we got a number. How many days do we wait until we call? Maybe we’ll make it 3 just to stay on the safe side. We don’t want to look desperate….

More or less the same...

2009-06-11T00:06:00.000-07:00

Life in Muscat is more or less the same at home, with a few minor (or major) distinctions:

More coffee - People drink coffee or tea 24/7 and I find myself partaking (as I am now) until about 3PM when I have to quit so I can sleep

Less running - At least for the next few months it's just too freaking hot (occasionally we run after the sun goes down)

More driving fast - Go fast here or get run over and honked at (see below)

Less use of turn singals (people here are more likely to use hazard lights, which they turn on as they slam on their breaks - which they often do)

More use of horns (very annoying - is everyone really in that big of a hurry?)

Far less options for beer and wine

More sweating (again, too hot)

Less TV (we opted not to get one)

More movies (to balance not having a TV)

Less radio options (unless you're into english/american pop, which I find pretty terrible)

More reading (averaging a couple books a week here)

Less time outside (did I mention how hot it is here?)

More scuba diving - yay!

All in all these are all interesting life changes. Around September a lot of the outdoor related activities will pick up. For now, we will stick with scuba diving as our primary outdoor activity. Tomorrow we are diving the Daymaniyat Islands off the coast of Oman and are hoping to see whale sharks (or shark, I would be happy with one) this time.

Weekend Update

2009-06-05T06:28:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the dearth of posts lately…. a decent internet connection is hard to come by in our new residence for the time being.

So here we are, 3 or so weeks into this expatriate thing, and we are starting to learn a thing or two about a thing or two. We are learning, for example, that things are a little different when you’re not in your home country. For example, here is a picture of Bree, sitting next to me as we (or I, as it were) speak:

Notice that we are in a mall not unlike one in the US, and there is, in fact, a Forever 21 store right behind Bree. Also notice the Omani behind her sporting the dishdasha. Like I said, things are a little different. Overall, we’re not suffering too badly.

Two weekends ago we went diving for the first time, which was really impressive, and yesterday we went exploring into the interior of Oman, while today we went to the beach prior to our current excursion to the mall.

Yesterday’s excursion led us to Nizwa, Oman’s second largest tourist town (so we’re told). We went to a famous old fort there:

which we had to ourselves. Even in Oman’s second biggest tourist destination (so we’re told), you can have the place to yourself if you go when its really, I mean ridiculously, hot outside.

We were hoping to make it to the town’s famous souq (market) to buy a rug or perhaps some souvenirs, but it was deserted due to the aforementioned weather conditions. Instead, we cruised around town. Here is a picture of one of the old narrow streets:

Nizwa is a crazy mixture of old and new. There are remnants of the old city mixed with modern buildings everywhere. The wall we were so delicately squeezing our vehicle through is probably at least 400-500 years old (if not much older). All of Oman is kindof like that. You’ll be cruising down a highway and on the top of the hills you’ll see watch towers that date back to the middle ages. Its wild.

We had so much fun we decided to end the day by having our first run in with the local law enforcement. I (stupidly) took a wrong turn down a one-way street, and of course there was none other than a police car driving up the street at the time. Luckily it turned out to be no big deal. The policeman asked about how we were enjoying our stay in Oman, and after explaining the importance of obeying local traffic laws and carrying the right documentation (like a passport, which we didn’t have), let us go. Next time I’ll try to remember to drive the correct way down the street…

More random pics of Oman:

Today’s Beach Destination

They have this tourism thing down here, someone KNEW I was going to have to take a picture of this before deciding to use it.

Notables about Oman

2009-05-24T08:54:00.000-07:00

So, there are a few things I have noted about Oman over the past several days that might help paint a better picture of what day-to-day life is like here (not necessarily in order of importance):
1. Pastries -
Whether it's the influence of other cultures or not, people aren't afraid to stuff things in delicious, crispy, warm pastries here. You name it, you can get it in pastry - fruit, nuts, meat and beans, and, my fave to date, spinach and goat cheese.
2. Coffee -
The coffee here is delicious. It is a far cry from anything we had in Honduras. People mostly drink espressos and cappuccinos (which come dusted with a light bit of chocolate -mmmm). And, unless you go to Starbucks or another chain, it is not common for coffee to come in a "to go" cup. This is because people typically sit around with their friends and enjoy their coffee (rather than running off with it) - often along with a cigarette or a smoke from the shisha. (A shisha is a hookah that Omanis smoke fruit flavors or tobacco out of). A lot of times people enjoy coffee and a smoke during their lunch break, which can be quite long. Omani companies (not the ones Brian and I are working for) often work what they call a "split shift," which means they work for 5 hours in the morning, take a 3 hour lunch break, and return for 3 or more hours in the evening. How awesome is that?!? I think we need to adopt this schedule back home. Think of all we could do in 3 hours...workout, walk the dog, take a nap, knit, whatever. That would be pretty nice.
3. Breakfast -
Anything goes. Hummus and olives, cereal, eggs, pastries...all served with a delicious cup of coffee, of course.
4. Holidays -
There are several public holidays that are celebrated on the same date each year. However, some holidays are based on the sighting of the moon, rather than fixed dates; therefore, some holidays may be confirmed less than 24 hours in advance…kind of like a surprise holiday!
5. Dress Code –
Most Omanis wear traditional dress during work/social times. Men wear ankle length gowns with long sleeves, typically in white (called a dishdasha) and a brimless embroidered hat (kumah) or a square of cotton wrapped around the head (muzzar). Women wear colorful loose trousers and tunics and a “lihaf” that covers the head and shoulders. In public, women often cover their normal clothes with a full-length, flowy, black cloak dress (abaya). Expats can wear whatever they want; however, out of respect for the local culture, people may dress more conservatively than they do at home. For example, women may wear shorts to the knee cap and t-shirts. However, when we visited beaches last weekend, people were in bikinis and speedos all over the place.
6. Food –
Every kind of cuisine can be found in Oman. Turkish, greek, and Omani food is delicious and we have also found decent Mexican and Italian food in the past week. All kinds of worldly spices are sold in the souqs at great prices, including cloves, pungent curry, and beautiful saffron.
7. Religion –
Because Oman is an Islamic country, you can often hear the calls to prayer while going about your daily activities. It’s amazing because you will be in the middle of this large, busy city and hear these beautiful melodic tones emanating from the mosques. It’s amazingly calming and wonderful. Expats can also find and attend other churches as they please.

All that said, these are observations made from several jaunts around the city and to local towns while being based out of a hotel. We are looking forward to getting into our own place and sharing more experiences after we are settled in Oman!

Oman-tage

2009-05-22T05:31:00.001-07:00

Well Bree finally made it so the Oman adventure can truly begin. Within hours of her arrival, we have looked at houses to live in, been transported through a wormhole in a suq (big, crazy, maze-like market), and taken a boat down the beautiful Omani coast.

First, a few pictures from around Muscat:

The Grand Mosque.

Fast food: America’s gift to the world.

This is a picture of us after we got out of the suq. A suq is an Omani market where you can find everything from saffron to watches to plastic trinkets to burkas. Bree was particularly popular, with shop owners imploring her to take a look at their jewelry, watches, whatever. I wish we’d taken pictures in the suq because its hard to adequately describe with words. Alley upon alley of shops are packed to the gills with people shopping and others hawking their wares. Somehow, we made it out of the maze all the way on the other side of the city. It seemed like we were in there for 15 minutes only to realize it was more like an hour. Good times.

Today we paid a guy 20 Rials to take us up and down the coast for a few hours. The coast here is unbelievably beautiful, and the water is so clear you can see the bottom in 10+ feet of water some places. Here are a few pictures:

And then we cooled off after a hot (115 degree) day in the sun. At least it’s a dry heat…..

Day 3

2009-05-17T12:36:00.000-07:00

Ok... so its my third full day here and I am starting to get acclimated. Surprisingly enough, Oman is pretty similar to the US in alot of ways. People here love fast food, shopping malls, and starbucks. Getting around is pretty easy too, as almost all of the signs are conveniently in both arabic and english, and most people speak english. The people are incredibly nice and willing to help without even being asked. Complete strangers will see the look of "I have know idea what is going on here" on your face and offer help, its great. One bad side effect of having to work is that I haven't gotten to explore much, but hopefully this weekend (Thursday and Friday) that will change, and I hope to have some pictures worth posting soon....

O man

2009-05-14T21:51:00.000-07:00

After 28 hours, 3 flights, and alot of movies on the plane, I have finally arrived in Muscat, Oman. Maybe its predictible, but my first observation was that its really REALLY hot here. 101 degrees at 11 o'clock last night. That's hot. Maybe after I get over this jet lag I'll have some more thoughtful insights, but probably not.

Back in Denver

2009-04-28T12:58:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the long gap between posts. We are back in Denver and plans are changing (as they have a tendency to do) as to how the rest of this trip is going to play out. But first:

While in Honduras, we spent a fair amount of time in San Pedro Sula, and I think the following photo sums up San Pedro pretty well:

San Pedro was great for getting work done with the Water for People folks, but left much to be desired outside of work. Its a city that has alot of crime, razor wire, and people with guns. We stayed safe by not going out at night, and limiting how much we walked around during the day. The Water for People folks were fantastic about providing transportation and recommendations on places to go and avoid. All in all, we were safe while we were there, but pretty limited in terms of freedom. The people who live there deal with it every day of their lives…

Of course, on the weekends, we got out into the countryside as much as possible, and had a chance to see some beautiful places in Honduras. The last weekend before we left, we visited the Mayan ruins at Copan. The ruins were amazing and very interesting. The town of Copan itself was a nice change of pace from San Pedro with its peaceful feel and cobblestone streets.

After visiting the ruins we toured around the surrounding hills in the bed of a truck on the world’s worst eco-tour. Up until that point, we had been pretty good about picking where to go and hiring guides. This time, however, we paid $60 to ride around on dirt roads in the bed of a truck, sitting on a couch cushion:

Which was fun at first, but after hour 3 or 4 it began to lose its luster. Not all was lost, as we at least got to see some cool stuff, like coffee plantations:

And we tried some ripe coffee beans pre-harvest (very sweet and delicious with a faint taste of coffee):

We ended the day sitting in a natural hot spring:

On Wednesday of last week, we headed back to Denver. The original plan was that we’d head to Indonesia on Friday. But plans changed.

We were offered a 6 month position in Muscat,Oman by our company near the end of our trip in Honduras. The first thing we did, of course, was google it. After the googling, we spoke to our families, people from work, and other people who have lived and worked in Oman. We ultimately decided to accept the opportunity, and thus we are back in Denver. We will be leaving sometime in the next few weeks to a month. In the meantime, we’ve postponed the trip to Indonesia in order to take care of things with the house and do the stuff required to get ready to move half-way around the world. Since we see this as an extension of the adventure, we’re going to continue posting pictures and stories of our adventures in a country that we hadn’t even heard of until a few months ago.

In the meantime, we’re making the best of our situation with trips around Colorado and the US to visit family, see the sights, and whatnot.

Thats it for now!

Mas Pictures

2009-04-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

More pictures from around Honduras......

Pulpanshak Falls near Lago de Yojoa. This place is really popular among Hondurans, it was packed on the weekends. We went on a Monday and had the place all to ourselves though.

This picture pretty much sums up rural Honduras. Pigs, horses, and chickens have free reign over the small villages. Houses like this one are home to 10-15 people.

The village of Los Naranjos on the shores of Lago de Yojoa. Its perpetually misty in the mountains surrounding the lake, which reach up to over 9,000 feet.

Bree hiking through the jungle following the water line down to the village of Tapiquilares. It was steeper than it looks. The general strategy for us was to hang by roots or the water line. The local men, on the other hand, just cruised along like it was no big deal carrying machetes and buckets.

Bree reading outside our luxurious digs in San Antonio de Cortes.

pictures!

2009-04-14T17:47:00.000-07:00

Testing the water in Las Colmenas, Honduras

Our interesting tour guide in Lago de Yojoa, Malcolm. Malcolm took us out bird watching one morning. He is from England, but was living in India for several years before he decided he knew too many people there and had to leave. He has been guiding bird-watching tours in Honduras for the last year or so. Fantastic fellow.

Brian in a school room in Las Crucitas where we held a meeting with three communities to discuss options for supplying water to the communities.

Bree measuring a pressure-break tank (rompecarga) that provides water to Las Crucitas and Pimientales, Honduras. The gentleman on the right keeps the keys to unlock this badboy. If these aren't locked, valves are mysteriously turned during the night and people in some villages wake up to no water....

Row boats on Lago de Yojoa - locals use these to travel across the lake to go shopping and hang out on other parts of the lake. We took this picture while out for an early morning bird watching adventure with Malcolm.

Brian assessing a tank in Tapiquilares, Honduras; our co-worker and friend, Don Tulio, sits below....doing goodness knows what.

Return to San Pedro

2009-04-07T12:02:00.000-07:00

After a week without running water, its hard to fully explain how luxurious it feels to have running water, A/C, and TV. The budget hotel in San Pedro feels pretty much like the Ritz-Carlton about now. Also, we didn't come back to San Pedro just to watch the heels win the national championship - but it was a nice bonus.

We've been back in San Pedro for two days now, working on the design of the rural water system. The people and town of San Antonio were really nice, but its was impossible to get work done there with the lack of computers & internet. On top of that, the office was closed this week because its semana santa here (holy week). Even when the municipal office was open, the people would saunter in around 9am, then leave for lunch around noon, take a siesta after lunch, and go back to work about 2 pm. Then they would work until about 4:30. So we'll be here for a while, working on a design and a report. Its almost like working in Denver. Almost...

However, the trip isn't all work. This weekend we are heading to a combination microbrewery & hotel in the middle of Honduras, run by a banjo player from Oregon. http://www.dd-brewery.com/about.htm We are VERY excited about this. We haven't really been drinking too much lately. As most of you know, that isn't because we don't like beer. The beer here is pretty horrible. Imagine a slightly lower grade of Corona without a lime. I don't know how people live this way.

We still have some technical issues to sort out before we can put up more pictures, so stay tuned.

Agua por Gente

2009-04-03T07:11:00.000-07:00

We are now in San Antonio de Cortes, its our third day here. We spent the beginning of the week in San Pedro Sula meeting with various people from Water for People (Agua por Gente). Our room in San Antonio is pretty rustic - no running water, no A/C, just a concrete floor, a bed, four walls, and a bathroom. The people who own the room bring us two big buckets of water each day for washing and flushing the toilet. There is only water for 2 hours a day here. San Antonio de Cortes feels like the opposite side of the world compared to San Pedro. No one locks their doors here, groups of children run up and down the street playing every day and night, and the people are all very gracious and often invite us into their homes as we pass by. Since our first day, they won´t allow us to pay for most of our meals.

Yesterday we went to the small village that is the focus of the project, Tapiquilares. It is located in the mountainous jungle surrounding San Antonio. It took about an hour on a rough dirt road to travel about 12 miles to the town. From there, we spent the next 2 hours hiking in the dense jungle to get to the spring that is the source of water for several neighboring villages. After reaching the source, we hiked down the route of the water line, inspecting the water line, which took about 3 hours to go 2-3 miles. Several men from the villages hacked away at the jungle with machetes to clear the path in places it had overgrown. The area here is very mountainous, so the water line runs up and down hills about 400 feet tall 8 or 9 times in the span of the water line. They create air relief valves in the line by drilling a hole in the pipe and wedging a stick in it.

Today we are supposed to develop alternate designs for a new water delivery system for Tapiquilares. We will have a meeting tomorrow to show them our ideas and to try to get the surrounding communities to agree to the easiest solution - sharing a tank with Tapiquilares. If that happens, we can develop a more detailed design. After that, we are going to travel around to schools in the area testing the water quality.

We will send pictures of the jungle and whatnot as soon as we can. For now, the best internet access we can get is 56k (remember that?). Bye for now!

hola a todos!

2009-03-29T17:20:00.000-07:00

After a crazy freaking trip from Placencia, BZ to Puerto Cortes, Honduras, we took an even crazier adventure in a taxi cab from Puerto Cortes to Tela. I don´t have much time to go into detail now, but let me say the ride included 5 people in a small car, lots of luggage, buckets, and a box and other items strapped with twine to the roof of the car. Windows rolled down - it was an extremely hot 2.5 hour trip that would have been much faster if the driver didn´t have to pull over every 2 kilometers to restart the car because it would pop out of gear...no kidding we stopped at LEAST 25 times. We thought we were going to never make it, but 12 hours after leaving Placencia we checked in at a hotel in Tela. More about Tela and Honduras in general, later.

Hasta luego amigos!

2009-03-26T10:38:00.000-07:00

Today is our last day in Placencia. Tomorrow we board a boat to Puerto Cortez, Honduras. It's been a good time here. We did some kayaking, road bikes up the peninsula, and read books. while all the activities have been interesting, none so much as the kayaking adventure. We rented a two-person kayak to paddle out to Bugle Caye to do some snorkeling. Dave, the Belizian who set us up in the kayak, said this was about a 1.5 hour trip to the Caye. He said, "you can't see the Caye from here, but once you paddle up this canal, head east and you will see the caye with the lighthouse on it. That is where you need to go." So, we load up our gear, Brian gets in the back, me in the front; we put the skirts (to keep the water out of the boat) and take off. Approximately 20 feet off the shore I hear a loud crack. Brian had popped the pedal off for the rudder. Dave is laughing and calling us back to the shore. He fixes us up again, only for the same thing to happen several hundred yards from the shore. (He can't help it, these kayaks aren't built for his long dancer legs!)

Now, if you have never kayaked in a two-person kayak before, you might not appreciate how much a rudder can improve the kayaking experience. For non-expert kayakers (like us), kayaking is a true test of marital stability, requiring communication, patience, and compromise. This should truly be the first course in premarital counseling. ("So, you guys wanna get hitched? Get in this here kayak and go to that Caye 3 miles away and back. If you both return with no battle scars or blood, we shall proceed with this process to matrimonial bliss.")

Without the rudder, paddles are flying everywhere - one person trying to turn one way while the other is trying to turn the other - people being whacked in the head and fingers. Not pretty. Finally, we found a new place to dock and switched places - so I was in the back controlling the rudder. Then, the true fun began. As we headed east from the end of the canal, we saw Bugle Caye - very, very, far away with a long distance of choppy turquoise water in between.

It was a long ride, and we finally made it. The snorkeling was exquisite. By far the best I have done without the aid of a motorized boat. We even made the trip back to the peninsula. I'm not sure an ice-cold Belikin ever tasted so good. Now, some pictures for your viewing pleasure...

Caye Caulker to Placencia

2009-03-23T10:55:00.000-07:00

Its day 6 of the trip and now we are in Placencia, Belize. The trip from Caye Caulker to Placencia took most of a day and was chock-full of central american experiences. We boarded the water taxi out of Caye Cauylker at 7:30 am bound for Belize City. Our brief (i.e. terrifying) cab ride a few days before had been through the "nice" part of the city and we were in no way prepared for the not nice part of the city. After getting to the water taxi station we crammed into a mini-van with a few other travelers and headed for the bus stop.

The bus stop is located next to a canal in one of the sketchiest parts of one of the sketchier cities you can find yourself in. Running through that part of town was a putrid canal that collected all the trash and waste from the surrounding neighborhoods. When we stopped in front of the bus station, it was apparent that even the taxi driver did not want to be there. All of a sudden we were being rushed (in a country not known for rushing) out of the cab, given our bags, and change for the cab ride in a blur of about 15 seconds. It was like being in a movie with one of the shaky hand-held cameras as we grabbed our stuff and bolted for the (at least perceived) safety of the bus terminal. Once inside though, we calmed down and gathered ourselves a bit and the people were actually very friendly about helping us find a bus. Turns out we had missed the bus to Placencia, and not wanting to wait around for an hour in that particular location, we caught another bus headed to a town where we could make a connection.

The best term to describe buses in Belize is "chicken buses". As you bounce down the road through the country-side, the bus is constantly stopping to let people in and out carrying everything from bikes to buckets to 50 pound sacks of grain. The first half of the ride they were blasting reggae, songs we had already heard about 50 times (when they like a song here they aren't scared to play it several times in a row just to get the point across). Bree has taken to referring to several songs as the soundtrack to Belize.

The second half of the ride was through the stunning mountainous region of central Belize. The hills around the area were blanketed in thick jungle, with all shades of green occassionally interrupted by the reds, blues, and purples of flowering trees and bushes. Along the road, the jungle was beaten back to carve out room for massive citrus groves. As the bus had no A/C, the windows were down, allowing the cool mountain air that smelled of orange blossoms and citrus to cascade through the bus. The bus eventually returned to the coast to the town of Dangriga, where we briefly considered stopping before deciding to move on all the way to Placencia.

A few hours on a bus and another boat ride later, we finally arrived in Placencia. As the boat navigated through the mangroves, we both got the feeling we would like this place. Placencia gets a bad rap in some travel books for being overly commercialized or overly toursity, or overly-whatever, but so far we've found this place to be far more relaxed than Caye Caulker.

Our impression of Placencia is no doubt enhanced by the cabana we have rented on the beach for $45US per night. So far, we've alternated between laying in hammocks in the sun, laying in hammocks in the shade, swimming, and walking up and down main street in Placencia (a 4 foot wide sidewalk about a mile long). As I keep reminding Bree "I really like this island." To which she responds "Its actually a peninsula." Either way, we really like this island.

2009-03-20T12:31:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Belize City on the afternoon of march 18, were ushered quickly into a cab, and hauled to the water taxi station in Belize City. The driver was literally driving 65 MPH on roads with no lines - passing trucks and running down scooters piled three people high. The taxi had not even come to a complete stop when two Belizians threw open the doors, grabbed our bags and started heading into the water taxi station. As Brian paid the driver, i followed them. Now, this is not so much a station like you would consider a bus station. It's a shack with some lawn chairs on the port in Belize. For $35 BZ ($17.50 US) we purchased round-trip tickets on a boat to Caye Caulker. And Georgia, these aren't little speed boats of our past experience (5 years ago). These are boats with covers that seat up to 30 people or more. No more caye-hopping in the pouring rain for us!

Caye Caulker is still amazingly gorgeous, though much more fast-paced than I recall. People still run around barefoot, but there's way more golf carts than there used to be and cars! (Yes Georgia, cars!) In 2004, you would not see one car on this island.

tomorrow we depart for Dangriga or Placencia...have not yet decided.

Counting down...

2009-03-10T14:42:00.000-07:00

As the trip approaches, panic is starting to set in. Did we get everything we needed? Did we arrange everything over here like we need to? How are we going to get by in Honduras for 4 weeks with our not-so-great spanish?

The logical approach to allaying these fears is, of course, to go out and buy stuff. So this past weekend we went shopping and spent a somewhat obscene amount of money on things like high-strength mosquito repellent, money belts, travel clothes, a vintage tandem cruiser....

The vintage tandem cruiser is not actually going on the trip. But on the way home from REI we saw this thing at a garage sale down the street (and by garage sale I mean this guy sells stuff every weekend from his garage that I'm pretty sure he takes out of alleys and dumpsters every week - recycling really), and HAD to buy the thing. It is completely non-functional now but should make for an interesting project whence we return.

But I digress.... we think that for now we pretty much have everything lined up. Airline tickets have been purchased, mosquitoe repellent will be applied, the parents are nervous. We leave early morning March 18 & will update our location via the nifty little map we added to the site, so if you get bored at work or erstwhile on the interweb come check out where we are that day. We'll try to keep up with adding photos and whatnot as well.

The Plan

2009-03-02T17:31:00.000-08:00

The original plan was to leave our jobs and travel for a year. Well, that was straight out of college before we got caught up in life (including mortgage and car payments). Now our trip duration has been somewhat diminished (to 3 months); however, our excitement has not. Our itinerary to-date includes Belize, Honduras, Bali, and Malaysia. The "good karma" part of the trip is first - several weeks in Honduras working on a water sanitation project with Water for People. After that, it's all fun all the time....kind of a pay and plan as you go sort of adventure. We purchased plane tickets for the first half of the trip, shipped Chloe off to TX (thanks Mom and Dad), and found some wonderful friends to watch our furry feline friend. Now we just have to wait until March 18.

We have set up this blog site to keep friends and family posted on our adventures, destinations, and memories. Takeoff countdown: 16 days.....