Sunrise over the ocean, the days are starting to merge together. My sister and I took the cart down to buy handmade corn tortillas from the Tortilla Factory, and ended up ordering a bunch of Christmas tamales too. We pick them up on Christmas Eve. We got a takeout breakfast from the little deli/bakery across the way called Mathieu’s Deli and ate it in our place.

I then put on my gym clothes and attempted to work out at the little gym in our complex. The treadmill kept speeding up and going uphill, so I would change it….only for it to happen again. It was pretty funny because I had to start running like I was being chased by zombies and flailing my arms like a windmill to keep up. Thank God I was the only person in the gym. I did some weights after that, but I don’t seem to have the workout motivation gene. Luckily, after the gym, Kerry put in her workout tape and we looked like idiots doing aerobics.

I finally put on my swimsuit again and had more pool time. Lunch was leftovers from Hidden Treasure for me, poolside nibbles for Mom & Dad, and Chris had some kind of bacon spam that he bought at the local grocery store (gross). The terror child was back doing cannon balls off the infinity side of the pool, splashing my book. Sigh.

When we checked into The Phoenix, they gave us a detailed itinerary of daily activites. We never bothered to look at it and so we were surprised to find that the Friday cocktail hour was also a wrapping party for all of the gifts that the guests had bought the local children for Christmas. Whoops, didn’t know about the gifts either. My sister said that she felt like she was in the middle if a scene from Dirty Dancing, where they have all of those planned guest activites. We got our cocktail and wrapped with everyone else, even though we were losers that didn’t buy anything. The gift pile was pretty big in the end, but I guess I’ll need to contribute some money after the fact out of sheer rum punch filled guilt.

Dinner that night was the Elvi’s Kitchen Mayan Buffet that they have every Friday during the high season. This was the highlight of every trip to San Pedro for us and we always made reservations, though each time we arrived they inevitably lost them but would sit us anyway. This year was no exception, as they stared blankly at me when I gave my name for our 6:30 seating. Luckily, we were 15 minutes early and were able to get a seat before the crowd.

By our original reservation time, we were done eating and asked for the check. We ate as fast as we could to try and pack it in, but the weight watchers appeared to have shrunk our tummies, so we could not go back for seconds. I think this was a record for the Borders Family in speed eating.

We were so full that we skipped movie night and I was in bed by about 8:30.

Purchased: tortillas

Tags: ambergris Caye, Belize, San Pedro, Travel
Filed under: Travel

After another beautiful sunrise, we piled into our festively decorated golf cart and drove down to the best breakfast place on the island, George’s Kitchen. George is the cook and his wife Maria is the waitress. When we stay on the southern end, my Dad goes to George’s almost every day. We ate like pigs and then headed down to our old stomping grounds by Sunset Beach to book our Christmas Day snorkeling and beach BBQ with Suya Tours.

The paved road ended and as soon as we hit the dirt ruts, the ornaments on the golf cart started flying off in all directions. There was a guy on a motorcycle behind us and he had to swerve back and forth to avoid the colorful Christmas balls that were pelting him. That’s what I get for shopping at the dollar store. I had to hop off and pick them up out of the mud. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home and I got some super glue, in addition to my rum and other items to stock the condo. After gluing them back on, we didn’t lose another ornament the whole trip.

Back at the condo, we got some good quality pool time and had some rum punch while lounging. The only problem were the hoards of children splashing my book as I tried to read on my lounge chair in the water. This place was super nice, so how can families with multiple kids afford it? And why weren’t they out snorkeling? One kid who had very inattentive parents was hanging on the necks of other kids and practically drowning them. Devils spawn, I tell you. That kid is going to grow up to be a serial killer or a politician.

Dinner that night was at a cool out of the way restaurant, Hidden Treasure. I had a shrimp cocktail and an interesting chicken dish. After my binge-fest of the day before, I tried to get back on the weight watchers track and passed on dessert. Eating spoonfuls of other people’s dessert does not count. It’s all in the math.

On the way back to town, a couple of boys jumped on our cart to hitch a ride. My Mom was mumbling that we needed to get those kids off because someone was going to think we kidnapped them. We had a good laugh at that. The kids loved our decorations and lights and promised they would not steal them “because it was Christmas”. Right about that moment, we hit a police roadblock. Mom muttering louder about kidnapping and the kids getting quieter about ripping off tourists. They were checking for licenses and of course Chris left his at the condo, so I had to drive and Chris got on the back to ride with the kids. Stupid Chris told them where we were staying, so let’s see if our cart decorations are there tomorrow!

The family sat up and watched a bootleg copy of the Lincoln Lawyer with the 2007 People’s Sexiest Man Alive winner Matthew Mcconaughey. Do you see a trend here? I skipped the movie and was in bed around nine.

Purchased: superglue

Tags: ambergris Caye, Belize, San Pedro, Travel
Filed under: Travel

Another beautiful sunrise over Lake Peten Itza as we made our way from our rooms at Casa De Don David to the small restaurant overlooking the courtyard and the lake. My first trip to Guatemala was a great success and turned out to be much easier than I expected. The people were extremely nice and I never felt I was in danger from the banditos that I read about before I traveled to Flores.

As we were leaving, one of the young boys that had been following us around for two days trying to sell us things was sitting on the curb. I bought a pair of coconut shell earrings from him and then handed him a five dollar bill, which was the smallest change I had in my purse. He looked at it for almost a full minute and then I saw him kiss it as I got into the car and drove away.

The airport was a little more crowded than our arrival, and there were two more people in line. Ha! I was a little disturbed at the amount of literature the had plastered everywhere about human trafficking, but seeing as I didn’t have any small children or women in my bags, I didn’t have anything to worry about. I paid the $32 exit fee and we quickly sidled through the Guatemalean version of customs, which was nothing more than a quick stamp and a smile. Our plane ride back to Belize City wasn’t totally full and the ride took about 45 minutes over lush jungle.

Our layover for our trip to Ambergris Caye was pretty quick, and I got to sit as the co-pilot for the 15 minute hop to our island home away from home. As soon as we got off the plane, we saw our old friends from Suya Tours – Carlos, his wife Suya, and their daughter, who were going to Belize City for the day. Walking out of the airport, our driver Manolo was waiting for us to drive us to our place.

We were staying at The Phoenix, which was a nice resort located in the middle of San Pedro. This was the first time that I’ve stayed in town. On all of our other trips, we’ve stayed at Sunset Beach, located on the south side of the island about three miles from town. It only took us a couple of minutes to get to The Phoenix from the airport.

The lobby was very nice and they even gave us yummy welcome cocktails, which were some kind of rum punch with ginger. Deliciouso! My parents stayed here about six months ago, so some of the people greeting us remembered them. The staff showed us around, pointing out the pool area with bartender (yeah!), the gym, spa, restaurant, and finally our rooms. Our three bedroom condo was on the bottom floor overlooking the pool/ocean, right next to the lobby. Talk about plush, I must have had six fluffy pillows on my bed. You know you are fancy when the little soaps and shampoos they give you are Aveda. This was a far cry from our usual self catering accommodations.

For lunch, we walked down to my sister’s favorite place Caliente, where I had some great fresh chicken tacos and my first Belikan beer of the trip. Next, I wandered over to Belizean Arts, where I bought a painting from one of their new artists, Elisa Vesta. She was a French artist that traveled around Central America painting pictures of the local indigenous people. The painting I bought was of a Mexican woman carrying a child and was going to look really great on my wall!

Dad picked up the golf cart and we ended up with a huge one that would fit six people. My sister and I brought lights, bows, and other decorations for the cart, which we decorated after we got back to the condo. My Dad, Mom, and I took a quick trip to the used bookstore, where we bought trashy novels. We were all so tired that night that we just ordered a pizza from Pepperonis (delivered by a bike messenger) and watched a bootleg copy of Limitless, starring Bradley Cooper, the 2011 People’s Sexiest Man Alive winner. Yum to both the pizza and Bradley Cooper.

Purchased: coconut earrings, painting, used book

Tags: ambergris Caye, Belize, Guatemala, San Pedro
Filed under: Travel

On our last full day in Guatemala, I got up early and watched the sunrise over the lake. I then walked around the grounds and checked out their representation of the Mayan calendar and various fruit trees. It was very peaceful. The rest of my family “slept in” and we didn’t have breakfast until eight.

I tried the Huevos Rancheros and they were delicious, though I did steal some of my Mom’s banana pancakes when she wasn’t looking. After breakfast, we headed out to visit Flores with our driver Fernando (I sing the Abba song in my head every time I say his name).

Flores is a beautiful old town that is located in the middle of Lake Peten, connected to the main town Santa Elena by a little causeway. It was mainly a mix of little shops and restaurants, so we made sure to check out as many as possible. It was hot as heck, so I bought my Mom and I a pretty fan, which we waved around like Spanish señoritas. I imagine we looked a little nutty, but that’s nothing new for me.

I was determined to buy some local art, but kept asking around and was never able to find any. I did find some really cool hand carvings to add to my collection. All in all, I really didn’t buy much. I think I just got overwhelmed by the amount of stuff.

For lunch, Fernando (… do you hear the drums Fernando?) had recommended two places, one of which he said was the most expensive on the island, so we laughed and said we needed to avoid it. We got so hot that we ended up at a random place by the water for a drink and decided to stay there for lunch. My Mom was worried because we were not taking Fernando’s restaurant advice, but we soon realized after checking out the menu we were at the expensive place after all, called Captain Tortuga. After lunch, my Dad and Chris had some ice-cream from a chain called Sarita, which reminded us all of my Abuela. She would have really enjoyed Flores and the shopping.

Back at the hotel, I ended up finding a small painting that was done by the same Guatemalan artist that I already owned from a previous trip to Belize. What are the odds of that? We all took a siesta and then I walked around the village a little by myself. El Remate was a very small place located on the road in between Santa Elena/ Flores and Tikal. It had maybe three or four city blocks worth of small shops and restaurants, with more wandering pigs, chickens, turkeys, dogs, and horses than people. Right by our hotel, there was a soccer field where horses grazed when the locals were not playing. There was also a little fair with two tents worth of foosball tables. I had no idea that Guatemalans liked foosball so much.

Dinner was back at the hotel. My sister and I had a vegetable filled enchilada and the rest of the family had some kind of beef stew. All were delicious. The desert was a banana split, which we all ordered and ate like we were starving. There wasn’t a banana or cherry left.

I think I was in bed by eight this night.

Purchased: two wood statue carvings, crazy fan, woven glasses case, shot glasses for boyfriend, Mayan carving for my dog walker, Guatemalan painting, wooden bracelets

Tags: Guatemala, Travel
Filed under: Travel

The whole point of my trip to Guatemala was to visit Tikal, the largest excavated Mayan site in the world. I’ve been trying to tack this onto one of my Central American trips for the past few years, but it just never worked out. This day I was finally going to see the place that I’ve only read about.

I got up early, at 5:30 am, took a shower with about a minute worth of warm water, and had a great Don David breakfast of fresh Banana pancakes. We were on the road to Tikal by 7:30, driven by Fernando (our taxi driver from yesterday) and our guide Juan. Along the way, Juan told us a little history about the area and about Tikal. There were signs every so often telling you to slow down and watch out for wild animals, with pictures of jungle cats, pezotas, snakes, monkeys, etc. Hopefully I wouldn’t have a close encounter with a jaguar, though he might be attracted to my fluffy hair which made me look more and more like a lion as the day went on. I guess it was a bad idea to get layers and bangs the day before going to a tropical humid destination, right?

We were the only tourists purchasing tickets and the only ones in the welcome center, where they had a scale model displayed of the ancient city. Why the heck was this place so deserted? Wasn’t this the high season? I was starting to feel like I was in a scene from The Ruins. Rent it sometime, it freaked me out.

The walk to the first ruin took about 15 minutes through dense jungle. As we entered the cleared plaza, one of the twin pyramids in Complex Q towered over us with large upright stones called stilas with flat round altar stones (used for ceremonies) situated in front of it and these portico buildings (entrances to the underworld) flanking it on either side. You would see other big hills too, which were more ruins that had yet to be uncovered. I climbed up to the top of the pyramid and walked around the flat surface, which was probably used as a astrological observatory point some 200 years before Christ. You could see one the top of another temple way in the distance and nothing but dense jungle for miles and miles.

Another 30 minute walk took us deeper into the jungle and past more ruins, coming out by Temple IV, the highest standing Mayan ruin in the world. It is best known from the scene in Star Wars when the Millennium Falcon is landing on the Jungle rebel base after saving Princess Leia. Yes, I’m that much of a geek! After huffing and puffing, we made it up to the top, where you could see the tops of a couple of other temples (just like the scene from the movie). My sister’s boyfriend remarked that he should have brought a rebel guard helmet so we could reenact the scene. He’s a geek too. Instead, my sister and I put on our reindeer antlers, which was almost as good.

The next stop was the Mundo Perdido or the Lost World temple and complex, then the Grand Plaza, with Temple II and Temple I (Jaguar Temple). We had some nice boxed lunches in a shaded area and then braved the heat to explore the Grand Plaza area. It was here that we finally saw some tourists, who were brought in by these trucks that were converted into trolleys. Most of the tourists were local Guatemalan families, so it was funny seeing them try to climb in flip flops and with small children. The Jaguar Temple was closed to climbing because someone had recently died from tumbling down the steep stairs. Judging from the crazy stairs on the other ruins, I imagine they won’t let people climb any of them for much longer.

All in all, the tour took about five hours and it was really amazing. Our guide gave us tons of facts and seemed to know a lot, though I’m not sure how much I trust from a young guy with slicked back hair and a lip ring. He was pretty insistent that the Mayans weren’t into sacrificing humans, but I know enough of my history to know he was just a little naive. At least he said that the story about aliens taking the Mayans up in their spaceships was not true, so that made me feel better about him.

By the time we got back to the Casa de Don David, my hair was an Afro. We walked a little ways to the end of the village and bought some gifts and had a beer by a pool filled with what I believe was water from the lake (eww). I tried the Monte Carlo beer this time, which I enjoyed.

Dinner that night was at a pseudo French restaurant called Mon Ami. It was way down the dirt road from our hotel and was very quaint. I ate some kind of chicken dish with pasta, and had a tasty rum and coke….though without ice because I didn’t want to have grumbly gut. Of course I had dessert. What weight watchers? I think I spied some folks checking out my big mane, which I tried unsuccessfully to clip back. I was in bed by nine this night.

Purchased: map of and book of Tikal, Guatemalan skirt, shot glass, small jaguar temple for my desk, small colorful bus for my desk, handmade silver ring, silver bangle from drunk anorexic German woman

Tags: Guatemala, Travel
Filed under: Travel

Feliz Navidad! I’m leaving the cold temperatures of Atlanta and heading to the tropics for Christmas. My itinerary is three days in El Remate, Guatemala and seven days in San Pedro Town on Ambergris Caye, Belize. I’ve been to Belize before, but this will be my first foray into Guatemala and I’m extremely excited.

To get to Guatemala, we first took a flight to Belize and then a small plane via Tropic Air into Guatemala. When the plane landed at our final destination in Flores, the airport was deserted. We were the only people in customs and baggage claim. Very odd.

The drive to El Remate only took about 30 mins and was uneventful. The countryside was very quiet with horses hanging out on the side of the road and not many people. Being that we were so close to Tikal, a major world heritage site, it surprised me at how under developed the area was. Our village was just a cluster of a few shops and restaurants, with more soccer fields than bars, situated on a beautiful large lake. La Casa de Don David was a nice place right in the middle of everything. It was a compound of rooms surrounding an open courtyard area, overlooking the lake. The rooms were plain, but clean, but the grounds were beautiful.

After settling into our rooms, we sat in the hammocks outside of our rooms drinking a Gallo, one of the many local beers. I then went up to the platform overlooking the lake to watch the sunset and also some locals playing soccer. The sky was a brilliant collection of gold and pink as the sun went down over the lake.

We then had dinner at the hotel, which we pre-ordered when we checked in. There were two options, Guatemalan meatloaf and some kind of stuffed local squash. Everyone except my sister got the meatloaf, which was delicious and had an egg in the middle of it. I ate like I was a starving child in Africa and even had the dessert of plantains maduro with chocolate ice cream. I was in bed by 7:30 pm!

Purchased: random bright blue sandals in Belize airport (I don’t know why but my feet were hot)

Tags: El Remate, Guatemala, Tikal, Travel
Filed under: Travel

My first day on my new job was spent traveling to L.A. for training.  It was a beautiful and sunny day as I picked up my rental SUV.  I wasn’t 100% sure of where I was going, so instead of just relying on my usual map reading skills, I got a GPS to help me along.   If you know me at all, you know that using a GPS is a big step forward for me, I usually just drive around aimlesslly lost and wondering where I’m going.

As I started the drive down the highway to my hotel, which was about 40 minutes away, I realized that it was still early and I had plenty of time for some sight seeing before evening rush hour would kick in.  Oh, and when I say sight seeing, I really mean shopping.  I knew I wanted to check out some vintage clothing, so I racked my brain, trying to remember a former trip to LA in the late 90′s, where my friend Amanda took me to somewhere….where was that?

Midway on the 405, I kept having flashbacks of Amanda Woodward, as played by Heather Locklear, on Melrose Place.  I guess thinking of my friend Amanda triggered the visions of extremely short “business like” suits that were floating through my head.  I was suddenly remembering Billy, Allison, and my personal favorite, Dr. Michael Mancini.  Sidebar:  I think that Billy (Andrew Shue) was a terrible character and I wanted to punch him in the face everytime he showed up on the screen.   In the 90′s, the my television screen had little smudges where I’ve thrown my shoe at the screen when “Billy” started talking (mumbling).

A light bulb suddenly turned on and I remembered that the area with the cool shops was Melrose Avenue!  No wonder I was thinking of the best show of the 90′s.  Please don’t tell anyone, but I typed in “Melrose Avenue” into the GPS, while driving about 70 miles an hour and then roared off the next exit as the mechanical voice said (in an English accent) to “turn right now, turn right now”.

The GPS then took me through street after street, in a tour of “Koreatown” in LA.  I had no idea that there was such a large Asian community so close to Hollywood and was starting to think that I was being misled.  I finally ended up at a random address at the start of Melrose Avenue, but there were no shops anywhere around.  I figured I was just in the wrong place and kept driving, and driving, and driving, trying to find something that looked familiar from the 90′s.  All along, I kept humming the “Beverly Hills 90210″ themesong, because I couldn’t remember the “Melrose Place” one. 

“Wait!  Wasn’t that Paramount Studios?” I thought as I wizzed by.  Insert more “90210″ music here.

I eventually found what I was looking for, Wasteland Clothing.  I have no idea how I can’t remember my own phone number, but can remember a shop that I once visited in 1997.  I guess it’s a gift and one of my superpowers.  I parked and entered vintage clothing Heaven. 

There were newish designer shoes from L.A.M.B. and oldies but goodies from Dior.  I was salivating.  As I started to look through the racks and racks of beautiful clothes, I realized there was a slight catch.  My Heaven soon turned to Hell as tag after tag said “size 0″ and “size 2″.  Sigh.  Those stupid actresses and their bobble heads with skinny bodies were mocking my former plus sized body.  I’m sad to say that I left without buying a thing. 

Ironically, that turn of events only made me hungry, so I went in search of an In-N-Out Burger.  I found my burger right off of Hollywood (thanks GPS) and ate it as I drove down the 101 towards my hotel.  I’m sad to say that I wasted my Weightwatchers points because it was not as tasty as I remembered, but I ate it anyway!

Pulling up to my hotel, the Four Seasons Westlake, I was surprised at the opulence.  My rental SUV paled in comparison to the Rolls Royce and Lamborghini parked out front.  My room matched up to the facade of the hotel and was equally plush.  It felt like I was in a rich person’s guest room instead of a hotel.   The service also matched and everyone went overboard, trying to be helpful.  They even gave me a toothbrush and an extra postcard!  Ok, I’m easily impressed.

That night, I had dinner plans with one of my old friend, Selvi.  She was laid up at her friend’s guest house, so I went to Bristol Farms, a fancy grocery store not too far from my hotel, to pick up some food.  Thanks to Ms. GPS and her fancy uppercrest voice, I got a nice tour of canyons getting there and then a great visit with an old friend.   I’m going to have to buy one of those stupid little machines.

After my first day on the new job, the person training me took me out to dinner to a little restaurant called Tuscany Il Ristorante, which is owned by Tom Selleck’s brother.  I am proud to say that we sat right next to Tom’s regular table, but sadly there were no luxurious mustaches in sight.  My dinner was fabulous, though due to Weightwatchers (and my In-N-Out Burger fiasco the previous day), I choose the “healthy” option instead of the steak entree that my dinner companion ate.  I did, however, indulge in a really nice glass of Chianti Classico.  Of course, the bottle had a Rooster on it, so my sister will be proud that I noticed.

After training the next night, I went back to the same shopping center from the previous night because I saw a really cute dress with owls on it as we were going into the restaurant.  Yes, my eye for fashion is that good!  The dress was a size smaller than I normally wear, but I bought it in the hopes that I would be able to wear it during my Christmas trip to Belize and Guatemala.  With this whole Weightwatchers thing, it’s hard to speculate my weight loss, but I decided to go ahead and assume I’m going to be a size smaller in three months.  More on that later….

From the boutique, I went to the Camarillo Outlet Mall to see if I could find some more bargains (thank you, GPS).  I bought a pair of shorts (for Christmas), a dress (for now), and a cute feather necklace that I was obsessing over last year.  All in all, good finds!  All of that shopping made me hungry, so I had some Mexican food at a little place in the outlet center.  Yum!  The night was topped off  by watching X-men First Class in my hotel room.  Do you know that one movie cost $19.95?  I guess all of that Four Season luxury isn’t going to pay for itself.

So that’s my California trip in a nutshell:  shopping, eating things I shouldn’t be eating, and a little bit of work.  God, I’m so boring.

Tags: california, LA, Travel, westlake
Filed under: Travel

So, I kinda had a job interview the day before I left for India.   This was a little unexpected and a surprising thing to happen right before going on my Big Indian Adventure (BIA).  Guess what happened the week I got back from India?  I got the job!

I planned a two week notice and starting my new job after Labor Day, but since I was just transferring to another department, I was able  to leave at the end of the month.  I negotiated a full week off before starting the new gig, so Candice and I headed to FLORIDA!  One of my wonderful friends has a condo right outside of Panama City, which she graciously let me use for three nights of Florida fun.

I didn’t pack until the day we were leaving, so I was almost an hour late picking up Candice, after dropping off the animals.  Luckily, she didn’t seem to mind.  Our drive down was beautiful and we stopped for lunch in Eufaula, Alabama at Phil’s B-B-Q.

Phil’s slogan is “Best Butt’s in Alabama”.  An old man saw me taking a picture of the “butts” and then commented to Candice that HERS was really the best in Alabama.  Geez, if he weren’t so old, I would be creeped out.  We both enjoyed the food and also the fact that there were about 10 police and fire cars parked out front and all of the law men in Eufaula were eating right by us.  They kept staring at the pretty Italian girl with the short shorts and high heels (Candice) and the other one in puffy pants bought on the street in India (me).

As we continued the trip, I had to make one last stop at a fruit stand to buy some tomatos and oranges.  My sister always gets mad at me because I love to stop when I’m traveling, but I think that the journey is half of the fun…right?  Speaking of journey, I ended up turning one exit too soon off of I-10, so we got a nice tour of Panama City, before finally ending up at the condo.  We had big plans of getting in some late afternoon beach time, but reading trashy magazines and napping on the couch got in the way.

On our first night, we headed to the Red Bar, off of my favorite road 30-A, for dinner.  In normal summer beach times, the line would have been out the door and we would have had an extremely long wait.  In the week prior to Labor Day, we were able to walk right in and get a table.  Turns out, this is a theme that lasted all week.

The Red Bar is a funky little place that has great people watching, yummy food, drinks, and live music.  That night, Dread Campitt was playing.  What an awesome band name!  The menu was on a black board and only consisted of a few main course items.  We are used to having options of starters, etc, so this was initially confusing.  Turns out, we didn’t need to worry because the food was delicious. 

After dinner, we wanted, of all things, a snow cone.  The places on 30-A were closed, but I knew that there had to be a stand somewhere on Front Beach road in Panama City.  We drove, and we drove, and we drove, but everything was closed.  Mind you. this was about 9 PM in August at the Beach, so we were pretty surprised.  It was like a ghost town!  We finally found an open gas station, right by where the old “Y” Motel used to be (my friends from Enterprise have some great stories about Spring Break at that place, but that’s another story).  At the gas station, we bought popcycles and Candice got a big selection of Hostess-like treats. 

On the second day, we drove down 30-A again to go to Zumba at the Watercolor Resort.  That’s right my friends, I exercised on my holiday!  Candice and I were the only people in the class, so the instructor joked it looked like we were doing a music video.  The Zumba teacher, Andrea Alfieri, was a former dancer and one of the best teachers I’ve ever had.  After the class, we walked around and did a little shopping in Watercolor, and then headed to Seaside for lunch.  We ate at the Shrimp Shack and our table was in a little pavillion overlooking the beach.   After lunch, we finally got our snowcones.  Mine was sugar-free Strawberry (thanks weightwatchers!).  That afternoon, I spent some time floating in the ocean before getting ready for our big night out.  Oh, life is just soooo hard.

Our second night out was a doozy.  After the early closures of the previous night, we decided to be the early birds and were out by 6 PM in Watercolor (more 30-A!) to a Wine Bar that had tapas specials and an amazing carafe special.  To celebrate the Spanish tapas theme, the restaurant had hired a flamenco guitar player.  Candice thought it would be nice to give him a tip for his beautiful playing, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake.  We were sitting there munching on our cheese platter and sipping our wine, when we saw the guitar player coming towards us with his guitar…the cord to the speaker dragging behind him.  He then SAT DOWN NEXT TO ME, and proceeded to play intently, occassionally making eye contact.  It was extremely creepy and I didn’t know if I should ignore him or watch him play.  In between sets, he talked to us about increasingly odd topics, the main one being certain mind altering substances and their use in the music industry…which I highly suspect he had much first-hand knowledge of that night.  He invited us to join him at his next gig that night, and also mentioned us going back to his place later.  Shudder.  At one point, he said his guitar was out of tune and he shuffled off, only to come back a few minutes later.  We snuck out at the end of his set, while he was packing up for the next performance.

From the restaurant, we went to a pizza bar in the condo complex, so we could walk back to our place after a few drinks.  Their drink list was pretty impressive, so we tried a few of the tastiest sounding ones.  The place closed at ten, but the bartender/manager insisted that we hang out a little more.  We sat there with the staff and a very odd woman named “Mary”, that was a park ranger.  The Ipod music selection was extremely strange and at one point at the end of the evening we ended up singing “We Are The World” as a group.  Ah, I love Florida!

The third day, we went to another Zumba class, this one in Seaside, but also taught by our teacher from yesterday, Andrea.  There were more folks there and it was a lot of fun.  My favorite song from her set was a latin version of  the Bee Gee’s “Stayin Alive”, where we did a little Zumba version of a Disco dance.  Lunch was at Bud & Alley’s, where we had another waterfront table.  Candice hung out at the beach in the afternoon, while I read my book in the airconditioning (it was over 100 degrees).  For dinner, we drove to Santa Rosa Beach and had another nice seafood dinner.  We were tired after that, so didn’t stay out too long.

We left early (or tried to) on Thursday, so I could make it back in time for my tap class.  The trip took a lot longer than anticipated because we got behind a house (yes, a HOUSE) moving slowly down the two lane highway.  The stupid thing was blocking the whole road, so I had to take a long detour to get around it.  I ended up making it back into town with just a few minutes to get dressed into my dance clothes, but I made it!

Lessons learned this week: 

1. The best time to go to the beach is the week before Labor Day, when there are no people, but everything is still open and on sale. 
2. It’s okay to work out on vacation, you might even have fun.
3. Avoid eye contact with creepy flamenco guitar plays at all costs.
4. If you are at the beach off-season, pretend you are old and go out EARLY, so you can have fun before things shut down.
5. Stop Candice before the fourth order of shots, but even if you don’t, know that she can still get up and rally the next day.

 Purchased:  Tons of food, a dress for me and one for my sister, a shirt, hot pink espadrilles (on sale!), a sparkly vest (trust me, it was cute), a work out t-shirt

Tags: 30A, Florida, Travel
Filed under: Travel

After we got back from the village for our closing ceremony, we changed and went to “Spicy by Nature”, an aptly named restaurant not too far from our hotel.  Unfortunately, we were down two more folks due to our now close personal friend Delhi Belly.  Joshua, our in-country coordinator, gave another pretty speech and then gave us certificates of participation from Habitat and a t-shirt. 

Ema from Portugal was leaving the next morning, so she gave us each postcards from her hometown with different quotes and her address.  Mine said,

“We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.” – Anais Nin

It was very sweet and I thought my quote summed up the trip in one simple but profound line.

Saturday was a free day, so I planned to spend it going to the jewelry store to buy my sister and I a gold treat, and also going to the Bazaar that I’d been trying to visit since day one.   The guy at our hotel drew me a little map to the jewelry store and off we went.  It looked so simple, how far could it be?  We went to get a caffine fix at an American style Starbucks knock-off and then headed off to find the store. 

So we turned at the “small light” after the metro station and then looked for the street.  We walked, and we walked, and we walked.  The street names were not labled, so I started asking people.  They just pointed straight, so we walked, and we walked, and we walked.  Then we went to far and turned around and walked, and we walked, and we walked.  By the time we got to the store, the girls were sick of it and decided they wanted to go to a local market while I shopped for my jewelry.  My roomie, Sheena, stayed with me (Thank you Sheena!).

I knew that I wanted a pendent, but the person working in that section was a royal BITCH.  I’m not even trying to use nice language, she was that bad.  I finally said, “you don’t seem to like me, can someone else help me,” and she said, “no.”  I should have walked away from the Taj Mahal of jewelry stores at that point, but I was tired and deturmined.  We pulled over one of the managers and she got slightly nicer, but still pretty bitchy.  I kept wanting to see things and then she would put them away, even though I said that I think that’s what I wanted.  What an ordeal!  After one of the most frustrating shopping sessions of my life, I bought two necklaces and pendants, one for myself and one for my sister.

We randomly ran into our friends at another bangle store, but then lost them again after the guy took too long getting me the “extra large” bangles for my fat American farm-girl wrists.  Sheena and I then hit up some other local stores before heading back, exhausted, to the hotel in a Tuk Tuk.  I never made it to the Bazaar.  Sigh.

After some good Indian TV, I got dressed for our last night out.  I thought we were going to dinner and then out to an Indian nightclub, but I guess that stupid rat-bastard Delly Belly was conspiring against me.  A few folks were still feeling sluggish, so we ended up staying at the hotel to eat and then Tracy practiced her Henna skills on me.

Purchased:  Flute from a guy on the street, Two 22K Pendants and necklaces, more glass bangles, a colorful purse, several platters and bowls, a small Ganesh, a small worship temple thing for Ganesh, beautiful wedding envelopes

Tags: habitat for humanity, India, Travel
Filed under: Travel

This was supposed to be the last day of our build, but the rain gods were not on our side. I got up early, of course, and got dressed to leave. At breakfast, our lead Jillian, said it had been raining all night. When our in-country coordinator called the village, they said it was too wet to work. Boo! I guess it was a blessing that we had so many dry days, being that this is monsoon season, but I was extremely bummed.

I feel like I accomplished a lot, but I wanted to do more. I was extremely surprised that I was able to do this at all. I was able to tear down a house with no instruction or guidance, with just two hammers and a borrowed knife. I was able to start to raise a new and better house by my hard work and sweat. I got dirty, hot, and sweaty, but I was able to physically cope without hurting myself or really getting too sore. In the end, my body didn’t let me down, but delays with the tools, supplies, and the rain slowed me down.

I said I, but it was really a “we” effort. The women I’ve met here and worked side by side were really extraordinary. They came from different countries, different periods in their lives, had different views, and different religions but all for a single cause. I know it’s sappy, but I found this trip very empowering. As an American woman, I was raised to be able to do or accomplish anything I set my mind to. I sometimes get blocked along the way, but this trip taught me that I can navigate around those roadblocks.

Ok, that ends sapp fest part one. Part two came later this day, but I’ll break it up with my favorite extracurricular activity….Shopping!

We decided that we were still going to go to the village to participate in the closing ceremonies later in the afternoon. We wanted to give each homeowner a group gift, so I was appointed head shopper. Go figure! Someone had a great idea to buy metal bowls that they could use for cooking or eating, so off we went in search of these bowls.

To start, there were about five of us, but after an hour or so of not finding a place that sold home goods, two of the five were feeling sick due to our good friend Delhi Belly, and needed to go back to the hotel. The remaining three, Wiley from Sweden, Ema from Portugal, and Andrea from Atlanta (me, in case you didn’t know), kept on searching. Wiley had the eagle eye and spotted what looked like a small department store with different stuff. I think we hit the jackpot and found the mini-Walmart of India. We had a guy in the store help us to get six sets of metal plates, little bowls, spoons, cups, and a pitcher. We bought two sets, one for each family.

We were hungry after that and went to Pizza Hut, that was right across the street from the shop. I know that you are probably laughing at the American food choice, but we were hungry and none of the places in that area looked nice and clean. I didn’t want to chance it with only a couple of days left in the trip. This was the fanciest Pizza Hut I’ve ever seen and it looked like it was a nice restaurant, complete with plush booths and mood lighting. Their menu was extensive and they had some really delicious sounding dishes. We settled on a special that had a salad (which I did not eat because my doctor told me not to eat anything that was not hot), garlic bread, pasta, and a small pizza. It was very good and I left there full. I am dreading getting on a scale when I get home.

Around two, we headed out for our last meeting with the families we were helping. The trip to the village took almost two and a half hours due to sone of the worst traffic I’ve ever seen. Even though we were stuck in the car, I still had a good time just watching the street life play out around the car. When we were shopping, I was inspired by Molly’s puppet and bought one for myself, along with some plastic kick balls for the village kids. My favorite car moment came when we were next to a school bus full of children. The puppet, aptly named Henry by one of the girls named Tracy, made an appearance and the kids went wild. It was a lot of fun to watch.

It was past five when we pulled into the village. It was market day of a three day weekend, due to the Indian Independence Day on Monday, so everyone was outside. The usual pack of boys had grown and they ran after our car as we drove down the road. I brought my new camera so I could document some of the village life with video, so I caught the whole scene on tape. We were the first of the three cars to arrive, because the other two were delayed due to a flat tire, so we were hustled into the local affiliate office. There were loads of people inside waiting for the ceremony to begin, so we headed up to the roof.

From the roof, you could see the whole village. Everyone seemed to know we were there and were waiving and gathering down below us in the street. People were coming out onto their roof tops to see the five foreign ladies. I took a lot of pictures and people were waving and wanting to be In the shot. You would have thought I was Julia Roberts!

Finally, the last two cars arrived and we were able to start the goodbye ceremony, which we held on the roof, overlooking the town. The families from both of our houses were there, along with the staff of the “self-help” group that choose the recipients and helps the women of the town become empowered to help themselves. Joshua, our in-country Habitat Coordinator gave a nice speech about how this was the first of many builds that would take place in Balaswa. The affiliate coordinator said a few words, and then Joshua raised the Indian flag in honor of Independence Day and the whole group sang the Indian National Anthem.

Then, a spokesperson from each house gave a short speech. I spoke on behalf of my team and thanked the family for welcoming us into their lives and letting us participate in the build. I said said that we were excited about their future home and that we were glad that we were able to help. I know I said some other things, but I can’t remember the exact words now because I would say a line and then someone would translate in Hindi. The home owner then said a few words. She is a very shy person, but was able to express how happy she was. I have to say I teared up. The other group then gave an extremely eloquent speech, led by by Wiley, and their homeowner said a few words. We took a group photo and then sweets were passed around to mark the occasion (though I only pretended to eat it because I didn’t want to get sick).

From there, the whole group walked through the village to each home site, where more pictures were taken. Each homeowner gave us these friendship bracelets that are used for a cool holiday that was the next day, where a sister gives one to her brother or a male that is like a brother to her, and then the brother or brother/friend gives the woman a present. These bracelets are made of string and can have a little decoration on them. The women tied them around our wrist one by one and thanked us in Hindi.

After that, we headed back out to the cars. It was sad to say goodbye. Even though I was only there a short time, I really grew attached to that village. I was talking to my roommate Sheena after our first day at the village. She was really upset the first day in India about the homeless street kids of Delhi and how they were forced to beg by someone in order to survive. After the first day at the village, she said that it gave her hope. I agreed and said that though they were living in extreme poverty, they still had their dignity. Someone else pointed out that the fact that they were living as family units helped too. The parents were striving to give their kids a better life and education was a key component.

One of the things that sums up the dignity of the women the most was the fact that even though they might not be going to an actual job outside of their homes, they still made an effort to be beautiful every day. They dressed up in their saris and were proud. This was pointed out by one of the members of our group, I just can’t remember who, and I totally agree.

As we drove away, I couldn’t help but think that it wasn’t me that helped the villagers, but the villagers that helped me. I may not be there in body, but I will always be there in spirit….and Henry the puppet will keep watch for me.

Thus ends sapp fest, part two.

Tags: habitat for humanity, India, Travel
Filed under: Travel