Posted 7:25 AM by MelanieandSteve
STARTING SOUTH AMERICA, 20 -28 Jan (Written 18 Feb)

BACK TO BACKPACKS: The inevitable day came to winnow down our material luxuries of home. We had to make choices between lightly loaded lumbars, and LB´s of luxuries (like cosmetics or that extra change of clothes.) How little fits in just a backpack. Yet, still we learn it is more than we really need. Only when we were actually in the air traveling once again, did Melanie remember this freeing fact.

MIGRATION SOUTH: We were heading South seeking the Southern Cross, and Southernmost cities and the southern summer before it starts getting cold.

--GETTING TO ARGENTINA: All layovers counted, our flights to Ushuaia took three days.

-----LAYOVER IN LIMA, PERU: We were there for sixteen daytime hours. We did the smart thing and paid the day rate for a hostel in the ``upscale`` Mira Flores part of town. Upscale meaning more like relaxed western LA or Pacific Beach San Diego. We walked the markets in the center of town. We dined at `The Rustica` with its big beers served in one liter wooden wine barrels. For Mel, the sizey sippers were more for looks than drinks. But they made for a great ambiance and Steve had to order one of these one-of-a kinds. We caught the sunset over the water at Inspiration-point-style Parque del Amor with it´s huge statue of two lovers lying down kissing. Quotes about love decorated the walls and couples spread out to enjoy some making out. Thanks to our red eye flight though, a high point of the day was the nap in our hostel.

-----THREE STOPS IN CHILE: With three short flights hopping through Chile, there was no time to catch up on Z´s. Worse, our intra-national flights meant moving to the Domestic terminals. Tedious treks from international, and later, back. Still more of a travel bummer, just because we entered the domestic side, we officially had ´´visited´´ Chile, so they made us pay a $100 per person entry fee. Only Americans have to pay this. It´s called ¨Reciprocity¨. Since the U.S. charges Chilean citizens to enter the States, Chile gets us back. Citizens of other countries that charge less get to pay less. Canadians, for example, only had to pay $50 and some other countries could enter for free.

-----AND THE FINAL FLIGHT TO ARGENTINA: Now we could finally relax and enjoy some scenery (or the back of our eyelids). First impression of Ushuaia was great - glassy waters of the Beagle Channel, jagged snow peaked mountains in all directions, and a wooden airport terminal that looked like a ski lodge.

--USHUAIA ON FI-A (fire): Ushuaia, at the tip of Argentina in the Tierra Del Fuego (Land of Fire) region, is touted as the worlds ¨Southern Most City¨.

-----HOMEY HOSTEL ON A HILL: We had to make ourselves at home since the departure for our next destination wasn´t for several days. This was no problem because Ushuaia was beautiful and we didn´t mind sleeping off some of that nasty old jet lag. High on the hill, a ten minute walk straight up and up from town, our hostel had a great ocean view.

-----TOURISTY CITY, QUAINT CABINY CUBBY: Mel was in high heaven on her morning jogging explorations to parts of town that travelers often don´t see. As soon as she stepped off the main drag, the roads became dirt and lined with wood cabins. These cabins looked warn and lived in, but were very cute. There were lots of dogs, and Mel got chased every day.

-----SPANISH SPOKEN HERE: Until now in of our travels, most visitors to hostels have spoken English. Here in Ushuaia, hostel guests were mostly from Buenos Aires, Brazil, or Santiago. The result, - a new experience for us - English was the second language. Good for beginning our Spanish immersion program.

-----NO S´s IN SPANISH, NO LL´s IN THE LANGUAGE: Sometimes it is a challenge to get used to colloquial speech. It was easy to get used to Spanish without S´s in Spain and Argentina (like their silent H, they don´t pronounce S´s at the end of a word.) What was more difficult was the pronunciation of LL, taught in our schools to sound like ¨Y¨. Here, it is pronounced ¨jh¨. So you can ride a jhama (llama), or jhama por telephono (call), purchase a bijhette (ticket), or spot a bajhena (whale) in the water. Mel found this more difficult to adjust to than the silent S´s.

-----ECONOMICS ARGENTINA: In 2001, the thriving peso of Argentina was extremely devalued. The result for us: things are cheaper. The result for them: it is more difficult to save and almost impossible to travel outside their country. This made us appreciate what we had, and also commiserate in the difficulties of our somewhat devalued American dollar (our timing in travel, as far as U.S. Dollar value has not been good). However, within Argentina, people live well, stores are well stocked, and people are healthy, happy, and friendly.

-----NO HOLA´s: Every culture is different. One benchmark for Melanie has been street greetings- for example in Switzerland, people always greeted strangers on the street. But in Germany, when we said hello to one passer by, he was totally confused and asked us if we had a problem or needed help. Here, in Argentina, people are nice, but they don´t greet on the street. No eye contact, and No hola´s. Steve thought it was not much different than America.

-----WHETHER THE WEATHER: Whether the weather was nice or not depended upon a matter of minutes. Mel would wake to rain and cancel her jog, but after brushing her teeth, the sky would dry and the jog would go on. By the time Steve woke up, it was back to gloom and gray.

--THE LAND OF FIRE: We spent a day hiking in Tierra Del Fuego National Park. Friends have described this area as the prettiest part of South America. The hike was beautiful with rocky beaches next to twisted woods and mossy forests at the convergence of frigid oceans and jagged mountains. Fauna included exotic birds, a fox, and rabbits.

NEXT TIME: We finish up with Ushuaia on Fire (Tierra del Fuego), and embark on ¨The Ushuaia¨ on Water (a former research vessel) - an amazing adventure and voyage to our seventh continent.

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS TO: Yusry H., Heesook C., Nicky F., Keith C., and Jen M..

Posted 7:05 AM by MelanieandSteve
HAWAII AND SOME MORE CALIFORNIA, 27 Dec to 20 Jan (written 16 Feb)

REUNION IN KAUAI: The real impetus for returning to the States was a family reunion in Kauai. So we spent some high time in HI and then stopped over again in California en route to our migration South.

HI KAUAI, HI MOM AND DAD: We and the Steve´s family met up in the Poi Pu Beach area. We had previously seen most of the family during our travels through the States. It was a special treasure to have Aunt and Uncle Kenny and Sharon join us now also.

--OUR HOME OR YOURS?: PUPU IN POI PU We shared a self contained apartment with sister Melanie, and each family hosted at least an evening of dining in. Every night was great eats, great games, long conversations, and lots of laughs.

--FUN IN THE SUN AND FLASH FLOODS, ALL IN ONE: Remember the huge rain storms that hit California in Dec and Jan? Well, they came from HI. We sent them express post. This meant we had a mix of weather in the Hawaiian tropics. Flash flood warnings, mini mud slides, gushing days. But we also had a few super sunny beach days for castle building, snorkeling, surfing, sand, and sun tans.

--BLOWN AWAY BY THE BLOW HORN: The ´´Blow Horn´´, a dragon like hole in a rock that shot a roaring blast like a geyser was even better in the stormy weather than in the sun, but it drenched Mel when she stopped by during a morning jog.

--HIKING IN TOWN AND OUT - A LITTLE NATURE, A LITTLE NURTURE: We spent a day hiking and seeking viewpoints at the Grand Canyon of the Pacific with dramatic untouched Kauaian landscapes. There were huge waterfalls, green valleys and swampy trails. Another more city-style day we spent strolling through the quaint old-town. Botanical gardens beckoned for Steve and some of the rest of the family.

--SPARKLING NEW YEARS EVE: On New Years eve, we hailed 2005 with our own little firework show. Sparklers in hand, we spun and sputtered, and spoke about new resolutions.

ONE PARTY OVER, A NEW ONE BEGINS: The family reunion over, we considered using our ticket to Sydney (left over from our old round-the-world plan), but we decided we better get on our plan to get to South America. We found a super cheap flight back to California, but we had to wait a few days for it.

--WOE WAS US, WAITING IT OUT IN WAIKIKI:
-----WAHOO TO OAHU NIGHT LIFE: We found two great restaurants, Brew Moon, and Lulu´s, for our own little Date nights - note to couples, don't forget to date, its awesome! And The Beachside Hostel was Hawaiian happiness with nightly parties or movies and constant community fun.
-----WE LIKEE THE WAIKIKI DAY LIFE: Renting surf boards, bobbing on innertubes, sitting in the sun, the days were good.
-----THE SKY IN HAWAII CRIES GOODBYE-EE: The day we left Hawaii, it rained hard. We took it as a call to move on.

FINAL CALL TO CALI: 9 Jan to 20 Jan.
--BROTHERLY LOVE: This time the Nate and Sandy family made us feel at home - and the ´bonus´was the great big ´bonus room´. Ironically, thanks to our distant travels, we have probably shared more family time than if we had never left.

--HIGHLIGHTS:
-----STEVE AND COLIN worked on homework. Colin aced his geography test and Mexican food oral report. Who wouldn´t give an A for a presentation on Xocolate (one of our favorite Mexican culinary contributions to the world)?
-----FAMILY NIGHTS OUT to dinner and in for home cooked brownies and videos.
-----PICTIONARY: Sara is not only an artist, but a Pictionary superstar that clearly reads minds.
-----SHARED IN SARA´S SUCCESSES: Sara got her driver´s license and received a scholarship to art school.
-----MOM AND DAD NIGHT: Mom cooked fantastic fondu. We walked in the park cascading with streams and waterfalls from recent rains. And we stay late into the night playing cards.
-----VISITING FRIENDS: Julie, Skip and Meg, another Julie and her fiance Matt. We walked through our old home complex of Park Orleans. Memories lit the corners of our minds.
-----TOUR DE HOMES: On a short trip to San Diego, we stopped to see Erik, Tanya and Hunter and their beautiful new house. In San Diego, we stayed at sister Melanie´s gorgeous historic home. She cooked a great dinner for us and her housemate Bill. Then, to complete the tour of new homes, we spent the next day at Tina and Bill´s South Orange county dream home (some creative reconstruction in progress). Home for us is an entirely different thing. Our tortoise shell homes come with us everywhere we go. Currently we are refurnishing. - i.e., got a new sleeping mat, waterbottle, headlamp, etc...
-----FINAL LUNCH WITH MOM AND DAD AND KENYA: Sat in the sunshine, savoring one of our last Mexican meals for a while (one of Steve´s favorite American delicacies) spending time with the people and the pooch we love.
-----HOMEWORK, HOME VIDEOS, BOOKS AND MORE: Heading to South America, it was time to catch up on Southern history. We watched the movie ´´Evita´´, Melanie continued reading Motorcycle Diaries of Che Guevara, and Steve downloaded Charles Darwin´s diaries from Patagonia and Gallapagos. Kennis and Greg gave us a great book on Latin American History. As we are beginning to pack our bags, we have also begun packing our minds with relevant and fun information.
-----W WAXES INTERNATIONAL, AND SO DO WE: On our last day in town, we caught the President´s inaugural speech and marveled at how much more worldly the new Bush appears this term. Bush turned international, and once again, so did we ... off for other countries.

NEXT TIME, DON´T CRY FOR ME ARGENTINA,

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS TO: Johnny B., Cory Y., Jenna B., Kennis F., Corbett D., Vicki L., Sarah C., Toni P., Joe N., Stacy K., Merryn G., Hari V., Brook S., Megan R.,
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO Kennis and Greg.

Posted 6:05 PM by MelanieandSteve
COLORADO and CALIFORNIA 23 Nov to 27 Dec (written 16 Feb)

´´TIME, IMMEDIATE´´ - FAMILY, THAT IS: Now it was time for the immediate families (Steve´s and Melanie´s folks) first in Colorado, then California. As always, there´s nothing like coming home (for the holidays).

WELCOME HOME COLORADO: 23 Nov to 16 Dec: It´s not the first time Steve´s parents have opened their doors and wholly taken us in. As always, they went the extra mile. Jean had our favorite sweets and snacks waiting in the kitchen and our favorite shampoos and pretty new bubble baths set out in our room. We got basically the whole upstairs, like an appartment all our own. We were welcomed, and we were home.

--ON THE JOB IN CO (lorado, not mpany): Along with making us feel at home, Steve´s folks were great about ignoring the piles of mail and boxes we had to go through in taking care of business. Taxes, letters, junk mail -- a paper trail of time away.

--THANKSGIVING: Cousin Ray summed it up at Thanksgiving dinner when he expressed gratitude that this loving family experience was a ´norm´ in his life. That´s true for the two of us as well. Thank goodness for great family... and hours of games, good talking...and turkey... except for Mel on her first vegetarian ´Turkey Day´.

--HALLELEUJIAH: Not just our sentiment, our song. We joined the Church´s 100 person choir and orchestra in singing the Messiah. Mel´s initial tentativeness turned to amazement, fun, solidarity, and spirit. Loved the fun supportive fellow singers. Mel never knew she could reach those highs. Steve never knew he could go so low. Steve´s strategic seating choice next to strong-voiced Ray assured he could do not wrong.

--OTHER HIGHLIGHTS IN COLORADO: CATCHING UP WITH ....
-----FRIENDS: Ed and Kim, Steve Audra and Annika, Elizabeth. Our Colorado must sees.
-----COUSINS: breakfast that ended in dinner with Ray, Anne, Dori and the family. And Dinner with Dori, admiring her new condo.
-----SIBLINGS: Steve and brother Norm spent more time together during our 3 weeks in Colorado than they had in the last several years. Built a cat tree for the Norm family hairless cat that deserves to be in a Doctor Seuss book, or maybe should be Gollum´s favorite precious pet. And they also built a tree house on Mom and Dad´s property - strong enough for 3 adults, but built for the kids.
-----FOLKS AT THE GYM: as usual, Mel loves the luxury of a gym. It´s all play for her. Great to punch the bags and pump the pounds. Also good to see the familiar faces from past days of working out.
-----FRIENDS WE´D NEVER MET- Dinner for 8: A fancy feast with four new friends of Steve´s parents from church. Great political conversations, fantastic food, and interesting new faces.

ON TO CALI IN CRESCENTA VALLEY: 16 Dec to 27 Dec: First time home to La Crescenta in two years with the warmest welcomes and biggest smiles ever. Again, we got an upstairs to ourselves, full of childhood memories. Mel´s old room was more fancy now thanks to Mom´s talented mural painting; a country garden with picket fences, pretty flowers, and playful birds.

--THE PUPS: THE REUNIONS AND WIGGLES: The long awaited reunion with Kenya, the dog named in honor of our travels, was full of wiggling and whining and happy wags. And Nedra with her kisses made sure our faces were clean.

--A WALK IN THE PARK: OR FOUR: No visit home would be complete without running with the pups in the broad natural parks. One of these was where we got married. We also enjoyed Mom and Dad´s new found hiking places.

--FRIENDS: Loved lunch with Lesley and Mindy and meeting Mindy´s fiance Jeff. Can´t wait to double date with the newliweds when we get back.

--MRS SISTER: Just days before their Florida wedding, John and Laura flew out to California from Alaska just so we could meet and know each other. This was the first time Melanie met her soon-to-be sister-in-law.
-----SISTER TIME: Melanie and Laura immediately bonded, talked politics, tried on wedding dresses, tightened girdles, and took to each other very well.
-----BROTHER TIME: Laura left for Florida a day before John, and we got to share some good Brother time as well, even a day at the gym. For John, a trip to Tommy´s Burgers was a must.

--SWEET FAMILY TIME WITH SUGAR PLUMB FAIRIES: That time of year, the whole family went to the Nutcracker Ballet, after buckets of bery good food at Buco, Mom and Dad´s favorite restaurant.

--DINNERS IN: Mom´s culinary creativity matched her talents in art. Family meals around the table were followed by card games and conversations, backgammon competitions, and the new fun game of Catchphrase. When it got cold enough we warmed by the fireplace.

--DINNERS OUT:
-----THE EXTENDED FAMILY DINNER: We made it easy for everyone this year and the whole family of California Aunts, Uncles and cousins met at Spagetti Factory, but came home afterwards for games and fun.
-----HAPPY BIRTHDAY SANDY LUNCH: John, Laura, Nate, Sandy, Steve, and Mel met for lunch and sung Happy Birthday to Sandy, the girl who´s birthday could really be either of two days, the 22 or 23d. We only sung it once at the restaurant though - and she thought that was painful enough.
-----CHOP CHOP, FLIP FLOP, SIZZLE POP, WITH RICE ON TOP: Chopsticks in hand, we were dazzled by the ever showy oriental food flip and fry at Benihanas as a last meal treat from Dad.

--CHRISTMAS EVE BEFORE MOM AND DAD LEAVE: Nate, Sandy, Sara and Colin all joined us at Mom and Dad´s for another breakfast... turned lunch... turned late evening dinner and games.

--HOME ALONE FOR CHRISTMAS: Mom and Dad left for Florida on Christmas Eve to make John and Laura´s wedding. The two of us had the run of the cozy home and had a peaceful Christmas morn before heading to spend time at Nate and Sandy´s house for the next few days. Mel is still giddy about her MP3 player Christmas gift from Steve. Then we had a relaxing snacking chatting Christmas by the fireplace with Nates family. We danced on Colin's Calorie Counting Christmas gift dance machine. The calorie counter was like a score keeper, but we found that we got higher scores when we danced the worst. Not a coordination counter.

NEXT TIME, how we flew high to HI, and left behind some of California´s hugest storms. Hope Nate didn´t forget the chains on his impending trip to Big Bear Mountain.

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS TO: Jonas F., Dave S., Netra T., Elizabeth T., Suprete R., Joel I., Rick K., Jason P., Jim C., Jacquie H., Jayme B., Daniel R., Nolan B., Sandy H., Todd B., and Pip M.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARIES TO: Jim and Maryna and Jennie and Bill.