Here and There Blog

Small surf today, not getting the big wave action from the other day. Facing south the water actually looks blue! Seagull is unipressed with being the subject of a photo. And facing into the sun, not quite so blue anymore but cool sunspots on the water.

The 5:00 alarm went off and I contemplated snooze for a few seconds before deciding coffee was the better option. One of my favorite places in San Diego is Lake Murray but it's been a long time since I took the time to exercise there. The goal today - under 2 hours and achieve great exercise. Enjoy the company and the view and get my lazy airplane self moving.    Having the lake view helps distract from the task at hand and the random bunny always provides a moment of fun before it bounces away. End result - 13,000 + steps and feeling great!

Didn't all parents say that? Go to the post office "lock the doors", go to the dentist "lock the doors", go to the grocery store "lock the doors." I sure heard this growing up but I guess not everyone listened because today as I pulled into the Carlsbad Ralph's, I saw 3 cop cars surrounding two people on the side of the road. Since this is an oddly normal sight for this area, I briefly wondered what they had done and pulled into the parking lot. 10 minutes later, I had the answer. The speaker came on and the store manager told everyone that the cops had just arrested suspects for opening unlocked cars in the parking lot and stealing items from the cars. If you had left your car unlocked and returned to find yourself robbed, you were to go to the front of the store. The guy behind me panicked, the cashier one aisle over panicked (you work there and leave your car unlocked all day?). Others said "Huh? What did they say?" It's Car...

Mayan Ruins by the seaside. Now that's the perfect way to view how ancient civilizations lived. Tulum means "wall" and after that I stopped paying attention to the tour and ditched the script to look around. Hard to get a bad photo on a day like this. The ruins are mostly protected from people sitting and climbing all over them, except for a few photo ops. For those that have more time, you can bring a bathing suit and go swimming right by the ruins. We arrived at closing time so this was as close as I got to the water. In front of the former Palace.

Maya Riviera area of Playa Del Carmen.  I'm in the jungle and have to take the hotel shuttle bus to get to the rich side of the resort. My room (with lizard) $415 a night and that's the poor side.  Here, $500 - 800 (with mosquitoes).  The beer - a dark draft from Leon, Mexico. It was good.

Grand Velas Resort in Playa Del Carmen sort of reminds me of Jurassic Park. There's a giant wall surrounding the property. You go through security to make sure you are a registered guest before the gate opens. Then a winding drive to get to the main lobby. Sealed in for sure!  The view from my back door. I have a patio and nice greenery.  With all that nice greenery comes an added bonus in your room - Raid and mosquito repellent!

3 short and wonderful days in my own house and bed and road warrior life resumes again. The alarm is set for the dreaded 3 am wake-up (these have got to end!) and then I'm off to Mexico for the rest of the week. Somehow the 3 hour time zone difference instead of 13 is not making me feel better about waking up early (my time) each day for meetings. Instead, I'm having a fantasy about a week of sleeping in late each day. The camera is packed and batteries charged. Playa Del Carmen awaits!

How does that gopher sense that I'm about to return?  The holes look freshly dug and the dirt seems scattered simply to taunt me. I watched Caddyshack on the airplane ride home and I am almost ready to wire the backyard and push the TNT plug. Only the thought that the gopher will be on the other side of the road, laughing, keeps me from going ballistic. Well that and the fact that I don't have that much time at home to plot my revenge. Oh gopher! Stop trying to dig through the concrete!

Since I'm close to home but not quite yet, I've started on my back to normal projects. First - eat a US burger. Then, have a good beer (Oggi's Torrey Pines IPA) and next, well next is get myself back home and stop at Trader Joes so I don't face an empty fridge on Saturday morning. 24 hours from now I'll be sorting through mail and banking stuff and surveying gopher damage. Life returns to normal (for 72 hours)!

Starting the long trip home.  Jakarta - Singapore (overnight transit) - Tokyo - Los Angeles (arrive Tuesday afternoon) - Anaheim for a few days - home Friday night.

Traffic in Jakarta simply stops. The cars and noise are always present and while you can block out the sounds to some extent, the background noise is always in your head. Upon return from work the other day I heard the sound of a marching band. I looked at the TV, not on. Looked at my computer and phone, no music. Thought I had officially gone crazy. Looked out the window and sure enough a small marching band was in the street. Zooming in, I saw milkshakes on stiles and yogurt cups prancing to the drum beat. Traffic resumed and the band marched to the side until the next red light. That's getting your product in front of the consumer!

Sometimes, something has to be experienced. I skipped this in Vietnam and decided to brave the Fish Spa in Indonesia. I have no clue what the fish species happens to be but they like to eat dead skin. It's relaxing, at least after the initial shock of dozens of fish swarming around your legs and biting you. I guess I had a lot of good eating skin cells! Below, Debbie is cracking up as the fish attack!

 This man had the most business of the day with our group. 6 of us (not me) posed for silhouettes and that attracted more business. Above, Thania and below Daisy and Ana all try to stay still.

At the Jakarta Art Market, there are dozens of small art shops featuring traditional Indonesian work. Nothing is mass produced, each item is unique. This artist specialized in batik paintings which is all done on cloth. Makes for an easy purchase since the cloth folds up and packs neatly in the suitcase.  We all had our pictures taken with our batik art and the artist. Below, Ana and Eugenia with their batik paintings.