Hola from Mexico!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Hola gringos!  The trip is now more than half over.  When we arrived, we picked up the car and drove straight to a nice little town called Valladolid.  We got the last hotel room in the town and arrived just as a Day of the Dead parade was starting.  In the morning, we drove about a half hour to Chichen Itza, a large Mayan ruins site.  We spent the day checking out all the sites and learning about how they worship the sun so that the corn will grow.  At night, we returned for the Sound and Light Show.  We spent the night in the randomest hotel I've ever seen.  Since it's way off-season, it was like a ghost town.  Our hotel was a flashback from the 1940's - and nothing has changed since then.  It is owned by a cat loving American couple who were more than unique.

Anyway, we left Chichen for another town full of Mayan ruins called Coba.  This is a really cool site that used to house more than 40,000 people or so.  Most has yet to be excavated and covers a lot of land.... and so we rented bicycles for the day.   We got to see a full fledged fully intact ball court... which if you actually sink the 6 pound stone ball, your captain has the honor of having his head cut off.

All over this part of Mexico are dozens of these things called cenotes.  Cenotes are limestone sinkholes.  They are kind of like caves, only they go straight down.  Outside of Coba were three, which we visited.  They were amazing!!  Imagine, you descend tons and tons of stairs to arrive underground only to find a massive swimming hole!  One of them was Olympic sized, only round.  Incredible.  We are headed to another one of those today.

After two full days of Mayan ruin viewing, we opted for a few days at the beach.  We rented a condo right on the beach in a place called Akumal.  We spent a full day just taking in the sun and reading.  Our only interruption was the food truck that came by.  Akumal is one big road full of condos... with lots of workers who need to eat lunch.  Every day this woman and her husband come by with different Mayan specialties.  Of course, Rob spotted a commotion and went to check it out and this is how  we got the privilege of eating this amazing food.  We made sure to by there again yesterday when the truck came by.

Also in Akumal is a lagoon that feeds out to the sea.  We went snorkeling for awhile in there.  There were so many colorful fish!!  Of course, Rob got underwater photos of them all.  Akumal is also home to lots of turtles!!  We heard a rumor that a few turtles live in the water off the public beach, so we went in with our snorkels and within 20 minutes we found them.  Three in all.  I love turtles :)

Now we are leaving our beachfront home and headed to Tulum to check out some more ruins and visit the Gran Cenote.  From there we head to Playa del Carmen until we come home again.

Adios mis amigitos!!
Alison & Rob

Breaking News! Coverage of Lutherfest 2010

Monday, November 22, 2010
I am please to announce that I will be covering Lutherfest 2010 in Reston, VA on November 27th, 2010.  Lutherfest is devoted to all delectables of the processed variety.  The event is the antithesis of Thanksgiving.  In fact, just the thought of it might even cancel it out.  The fest is in honor of the Luther Burger. 

Well known in certain foodie circles, the Luther is a cheeseburger with one or more glazed doughnuts in place of a bun.  This burger will be the main attraction as well as other mouth watering offerings brought by attendees.  In the past, delights have included fried snickers, spam in a pineapple, as well as other questionably palatable fare.  Admission is by private invitation only.

I would also like to introduce my new colleague, Austin F. Barry III, who will be covering the event with me.  Austin has extensive experience in the media field and frequently attends events as the official photographer.  He has a gallery of work exceeding more than 30,000 images and is renowned for his scenery shots taken while parties of more than 100 guests are in full swing.

Please check back soon to see exclusive media coverage of the affair.

Ice Garden

Thursday, January 21, 2010
this is what happens when you don't turn off the water hose before winter.
i thought it was pretty until i realized it doubled our water bill for the quarter!