Xibalba

Day 4: Monday, December 10

The ATM Cave entrance.
http://mayawalk.com/

This morning we met at 7am down at Mayawalk for a quick breakfast before we load up. We're heading out on a full day trek to Aktun Tunichil Muknal or the ATM. Brian isn't feeling well and has to back out. So, there's 10 of us plus 3 guys and another girl who aren't with our group. From the time we load up into the vans, the story is solely from the perspective of the part of the group who rode with Aaron and went into the cave with him. The other guide, who was amazingly knowledgeable, was Gonzo. Both are caving buffs who worked with and led the original archeologists when the artifacts were first discovered. They have a long history with the ATM. Some people may have been with both people throughout various parts of the journey. 

It takes about 45 minutes to get to the parking lot where we will unload and pack out the food and gear to the start of the cave. Part of it is paved, but a better portion of it is unpaved and quite a bumpy ride in a 9 passenger van. Every now and then a dinging warning alarm like the one you'd hear to fasten your seat belts goes off. Aaron, the owner of Mayawalk, has decided to be one of the guides to lead us on this adventure, and he lovingly pats the dash and tells the van "It's going to be okay, baby." Apparently one of the other guides drove too fast through a muddy hole on the way to the cave and it got the sensor wet. They had ordered a replacement, but something was the wrong size so they had to send it back, and were still waiting on it to arrive. He is really hoping that we don't dock the company in a review for the sensor going off about every ten minutes. The other van has no air conditioning and a few other minor problems aside from just being old. He said he's had plenty of people give poor reviews based solely on the transportation to and from the cave. This is utterly unfair. It's Central America and you're out here to be on an adventure. This is all a part of the whole wonderful experience. We gave them good reviews. [...]

Cayo

Day 3: Sunday, December 9

Today is our first official day and we're heading to San Ignacio in the Cayo District near the western border with Guatemala. We are incredible excited to get rolling to the jungle! Belize City was an interesting time, but after two days, it's time to move on. In my opinion, if you are ever in Belize City all you need is 2 hours. One hour to see the sights and shop the local crafters- they're all within half a mile of the Swing Bridge (most are far less than that) and an hour to eat (I recommend Neiri's). Then move on to the Cayes or the Cayo. 

Sam and Louise in San Ignacio

We were told breakfast would be at 7am, but when we got upstairs to eat we were told breakfast was now at 7:30. All fine and good; we are quite alright drinking coffee and chatting on the balcony. Take that! The bus we wanted to catch is at 8:30, so we did the after-breakfast dash to get our bags and get to the station. The hotel called 4 cabs for 12 people. They all showed up in under 60 seconds and not everyone was ready. The first cab drove away with 3 people in it. The next had 2 people. (We're off to a great start here.) The had the remaining 2 cabs wait which had 3 and 2 people, not counting Emilio was at the front desk making sure everyone had turned in room keys and checked out (and also getting scolded AGAIN by the owner). Wait a minute, that's only 10 people total. We're missing 2 people! But we only just met everyone, how are we supposed to figure out who's missing? After consulting the girls in the other car and trying to remember everyone, none of us can remember seeing the two blonde girls from St. Louis get into any of the cars. They were in the lobby with their bags right before the cabs came and Gail said she saw them walk to the back of the hotel. No one has seen them since. Emilio was leaving to join us in the cab and we're trying to tell him what we think going on. It doesn't look good to lose two people on the first day. We searched the hotel, recounted in our heads, and still couldn't figure out what happened. [...]

You better Belize it

Day 2: Saturday, December 8

Today is our first full day in Belize. It's also our monthly date anniversary! We ate breakfast at the hotel for $6 BZ each. I forgot to mention anything about currency. Here they take U.S. and Belize dollars. One Belize dollar is two U.S. dollars- the easiest conversion rate ever. If you've never traveled outside the U.S., aside from Mexico and Canada, this area is a great place to start. They speak English (and Creole and Spanish), have the same standard wall outlets- no converter needed!, and they take U.S. money with a very simple conversion to Belize currency.

On the way to the zoo. West of Hattiesville.

The hotel called us up a cab to take us to the main bus terminal in the sketchy-don't-walk-there part of the city. I'm sure we would've gotten lost anyway with all the not-street streets and road construction. The bus station is hectic with food stands, people coming and going and hanging out, taxis, and buses. There isn't much of a solid bus schedule- everything runs on Belize time. I think it took us about 10 minutes to get a handle on what was going on. We asked at least 2 people, who were standing by the gates where passengers load and unload from the buses, if that bus was going to the zoo. We thought any bus heading west would stop there, but determining which bus that was proved challenging. Neither of them were much help. Finally, a random old man came up and pointed us to a counter where we bought our tickets. We were supposed to get on the West Line bus in terminal 1. All the buses are school buses like we used to ride as kids- Blue Bird- but now they've been painted rasta colors and fly down the road making stops whenver someone wants on or off. There are official bus stops, but if you're just on the side of the road and flag one down, they'll pick you up. It was $3BZ each to the zoo and ticket attendant on board let us know when we were there. [...]

Destination: Belize

Day 1: Friday, December 7

For our wedding, we didn't ask for traditional wedding gifts. We're both adults who have been living on our own for years, and pretty much owned all the basics. Instead, we asked for contributions for a honeymoon trip. I don't recall how exactly we decided on Belize. Matt had traveled through Central America several years before. I think I wanted to see that part of the world and visit Tikal. This past June, Matt found the Land of Belize trip that Intrepid offers, for half off. We immediately booked it. There were limited dates, but they worked out. We picked December 8- 15. It's a slow time of year for both our jobs, but not so close to the holidays that traveling on standby would be impossible. It was also key that our vacation to the Maya holy grail wasn't overrun by crazy apocalypse freaks. Traveling with Intrepid takes and draws a certain type of person (usually). We only packed overnight hiking packs. You're traveling with a group of people (up to 12) and a local person who will be your guide. The guide's job is to tell you about the area, give you recommendations on where to eat and what to do, but most importantly, make sure you have transportation and sleeping arrangements taken care of ahead of time, so you can focus on the journey and having fun. We were very much looking forward to this trip's itinerary because we get to see the city, the inland Cayo district with jungles and caves and ruins, Tikal in Guatemala, and end with a few days to unwind and work on a tan in Caye Caulker. It has everything we're looking for in 8 days. [...]

Wenatchee, Tehaleh, and Trial

Last week of November 2012. Matt was in trial and I was in the field. Only one of us was able to take pictures. These are my favorites.

Our work took us through an orchard.

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Brewista

It's a slow week at work, so I have the pleasure to have a full week off for Thanksgiving including the weekend on either end. Yesterday I moped, finally forced/ guilted/ relented into doing a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) workout for 14 min. 10 minutes in, I thought I was going to either pass out or throw up. I managed to attempt to do the last two exercises before I collapsed in a sad, soggy heap on the floor praying for mercy. It has been too long since I last worked out. I think the last thing I did was run the Color Run with Suz at the end of September. For the rest of the day, I continued to read A Dance with Dragons and sip whiskey. 

Today, I went with Matt to BNI, a professional networking group. They are serious stuff there, but I have to say it was the liveliest, varied bunch of folks for 7am. It works well for small businesses, but there I am introducing myself as a guest and telling them... "Well, we our target market is with large entities, be that private, public, or government, where we can secure very large and multiyear contracts in landscape architecture, construction management, land surveying, and engineering services. But I do know several small land surveying firms who would greatly appreciate smaller scale business such as property surveys, as-builts, small construction management, and topographic surveys." **trying not to panic at totally not being the type of professional who could make use of this type of networking group** Quick stop by the municipal court for Matt's short hearing and then back home. 

I decided I was going to look for my steam curlers, so I can figure out new, not-so-boring things to do with my hair. Looked all over and can't find them. In the process of going through all those unpacked boxes in the guest closet, I decided now would be a good time to pull out the keyboard and try to play or learn a new song. I realized I have no idea where the power cord is. So, I decided I would try to take some pictures because I haven't done that in a long time and the battery was dead (it's charging). So, I was going to make gluten-free biscotti to take with us for Thanksgiving, but I found out it was already made (where's the fun in that?!). After deciding to finish the Daenerys chapter (she finally flies on Drogon! That earned her some very much needed cool points, because for a while she was so annoying I was hoping someone would kill her off.) I decided I might try my hand at brewing. [...]

Chalkboard Paint Labels

This is a repost of sorts. I originally had this on a different blog, but decided to copy it here. It's saturday night and I'm watching the Walking Dead by myself. I have nothing better to do.

For some time I've been collecting and cleaning up used wine bottles and glass jars. I recycled a bunch of them when we moved here so I'm starting over again. I use the wine bottles for smaller grains like quinoa, soft white wheat berries, bulgur, flax seeds, etc. and pasta sauce jars are perfect for dried beans.

I debated on printing out cute labels for the jars, but I don't like being committed to only using them for one item. What if I want to put something different in there next time? I had this idea to use the chalkboard paint to create labels on my food storage. I still have the quart of paint and supplies from my deck table adventure. I searched the internet for any tips on painting glass and found another woman who'd had the same idea for her kitchen.

I started with the masking tape to mark of the area, but the tape is a real pain to work with. And like she discovered you really need to take it off after the first coat. By doing 3 coats in varying directions you can get the same uneven edge effect without the hassle of tape. I also decided to paint a large swatch onto my laundry soap bucket because the permanent marker was, well, not so permanent as it turns out.

A positive week

Well, I had Monday off (6 free days off work in a row!). I spent the day tediously gathering information for pre-approval on a mortgage loan. We had a meeting with a loan guy on Wednesday and while he was getting us approved he was also giving out really helpful advise on paying down debt faster. The concept is pretty simple and after researching it and crunching numbers we realized I could pay off my school debt in 5 years instead of 11 and he could have his paid off in 12.5 years instead of 30! Currently we both pay our school debts separately, but out of curiosity we decided to see how it would differ if we started paying off our debts together using the same concept. Turns out we can pay off 120K in combined school debt in 8 years! I don't want to bore folks who aren't interested in the details of how it works so all that is at the bottom of this post. [...]

Two crazy weeks

Disclaimer: It's been a month of long hours outside, so I apologize for the rather dry dialog.... my brain is running on fumes. Also, I really wish I had taken more pictures in Anchorage, but I was having such a great time with all my friends, that it never crossed my mind!

While I was out working on the bridge (see previous post) I got a call about going to Alaska with Gabe! Really, that was all I needed to hear before I as nonchalantly as humanly possible said "Sure" while inside I was jumping up and down with excitement. This would be my first time back in state since 2010 when Matt and I went to Megan and Aaron's wedding. 

The job was up at Eielson AFB in the Interior about 30 min SE of Fairbanks. The project itself was simple enough- getting vertical and horizontal data on over 200 water quality monitoring wells. We worked with Chris from EA Engineering who was a huge help and the unofficial third person on the crew. I wish I could have taken more pictures, but the military frowns on that. We watched F16s all week. No matter how many times you see them screaming overhead it never gets old! [...]

The Sellwood Bridge

Sorry, for the blur spot. It was bright and I couldn't see
the panorama correctly in my camera.

Today was my first day on the project site. I won't go into too much detail, but you can learn more about the project here. There's even a link to two live feed cameras. Currently, we have to help Advanced American Construction set 150 pylons by Oct. 15. Basically, I stand on the shore (currently) and tell them based on our instrument readings where they need to go to set the pylon in the correct spot. It sounds like "Go offshore/inshore 3 tenths and upriver/downriver 8 tenths." We aim for a 2 tenth tolerance, but it's up to them to decide when it's close enough. This process takes patience since our instruments are very accurate and a crane on a barge is not so much. Then they use a hydraulic hammer to pound it into the bedrock while we periodically stop and check to make sure we're still in the correct spot and haven't slid out of place. 

Ben took this of me on the east platform.

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Autumn Backpacking Guide

Did you know fall hiking is considered to be the time span from September 22 to December 21? I didn't but maybe that's because I'm from Alaska. The time stretch provides quite a range of temperatures and weather conditions even at a single elevation. Last night we went to another REI hosted presentation  on fall backpacking led by Bernie Wilt. We’ve been to two presentations before and this one was exactly what I was hoping it would be. The first one was on Fall Hikes in the Columbia River Gorge and another one on trail running put on by Salomon, which was really just a 1 hour commercial for their products. It did answer the two questions I had about trail running though. 1) do I need any special gear or considerations to do it? No. Trail specific shoes might help but they aren’t necessary. We did learn some things to consider in shoe shopping though like materials and tread design, but overall we don’t need to buy anything new and definitely not anything expensive (thanks, but no thanks on the $500 watch with GPS, maps, weather, and altimeter or the super duper hydration vest because believe it or not we don’t run super ultra-marathons). 2) Where around here are trails to run on? Technically, trail running is running anywhere but on the road/ pavement, but the only places they had to suggest were Forest Park (which we have yet to check out despite it vast size and trails available and proximity to Portland proper) and a few short ones around the Beaverton area, one of which we have already run on- the Nike campus trails. So, all in all that presentation was our least favorite.  [...]

Food education & shaved zucchini

For as much as we whine (or is it wine? both.) to each other about having to cook dinner when all we really want is to be lazy and throw a frozen pizza in the oven, we make good food. None of it is complicated and none of it resembles the canned veggies, iceberg lettuce, boiled corn, margarine, and baked chicken I was raised on (sorry, Mom!). 

First off, no veggies come from store bought cans except artichoke hearts, chickpeas, and stewed tomatoes. Our corn is always done on the grill with a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper (quarter turns every 5 minutes, if you're wondering!). There is only real butter in the fridge and it gets used one or twice a year when I decide to bake something dessert-y. We rarely bake anything. It's steamed, grilled, sauteed, or seared. We haven't followed a recipe, except maybe the first time or two we made something new like chili, shepherd's pie, or curried noodles. Our general method is find a protein: fish, ground turkey, chicken, chicken sausage, shrimp, or on occasion, steak, grab whatever veggies are on hand, and a carb like pearl couscous, basmati rice, pasta, or quinoa and combine it via one or more of the previously stated cooking methods.

It's a challenge to eat this many vegetables in a week. Most of the time we don't succeed.

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Hood River to Mosier

We really enjoy Hood River. We went this weekend because we're members of Naked Winery there and they have a pick up party every 3 months. This was our second one. Also, it is our 40th month as a couple (woohoo!)- what better way to celebrate than enjoying the outdoors!? I've been looking forward to today since last weekend's outdoor fun. Thus, it was the longest 4-day week ever. 

Waited all week for this view! (click for a larger version)

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Labor Day on the Olympic Peninsula

For the holiday weekend we decided to head up to Matt's grandmother's in Sequim, WA. First off, who doesn't enjoy visiting their grandparents (especially fiesty, independant ones like Hana). Second, the weather was predicted to be GORGEOUS all across the PacNW and they have some great hiking. The bonus was that I discovered the Olympic Discovery Trail during the week while searching for activities. It's a paved pedestrian/ bike path that goes around the peninsula connecting all the towns. Naturally, this meant we were bringing the bikes! 

Olympic Peninsula National Park

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Keep calm and carry on.

Matt hit the ground running and started work the next morning after we arrived and I spent the next few days getting utilities set up, checking on the cats, and running errands. This is the first time EVER that every utility is in my name (he's authorized on the accounts of course). Despite having to say "no, i don't have a job" to every person trying to set up accounts, my credit score is awesome enough to avoid deposits. Yeah! Moving in day was Sunday morning. Ed, Fender, and Mackenzie came to lend a hand and they did an awesome job. Thanks guys! 

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