Category: Travel

I’ve been traveling to Japan for decades and have been an ardent fan of Japan-Guide.com, a superb destination travel website that highlights areas of interest to visitors and uses a 3 star system to highlight the best and most exciting cities, temples, natural landmarks, festivals, and other attractions.  In 2024 I’m hitting some of the back-catalog of this site to complete visits to more remote and 2nd and 3rd tier towns that i expect will have very few western tourists–especially in the midst of winter.

I’m flying in to Osaka from LAX, a great option to avoid having to arrive and depart from Tokyo and the resulting extra travel to to/from, and generally high costs of Tokyo. From Osaka I can get to lovely Kyoto by train on day of arrival and make that my first few days base camp to get over jetlag, and pick up my Rail Pass when i’m ready to start my train rides.

I’ve been to Nara several times, it is marvelous. But there are SOOO many things to see, Todaji Temple, is indeed, amazing (have visited 2 times before and blown away both times).

I spent the day visiting near-Nara temples and walking 15m (30,000+ steps), yikes. These temples are beautiful but each requires some gymnastics to reach by train. From Nara they are a good 45 minutes or so of walk/train combos. Was a great first day here.

A rainy day in Kyoto afforded me time to get 9 miles of walking around town and superb coffee stops everywhere. Tons of single source pour-overs and delicious flavors. Of course you then have to carry your coffee cup around for hours, as there are no public garbage cans anywhere in japan!

Day trips today to both Iga Ueno and Hikone castles were delightful; nearly 5 hours cumulatively from Kyoto to get to the two and back, but I made real progress on my super lengthy and involving book, Infinite Jest.

The first real leg of this trip is the venture to the north coast of Matsue with a stop-off en route via Okayama to the town of Bitchu-Takahashi. The JR Train stations usually have locker storage, I was able to pop bag at the station and set out on a lovely 1hr each way hike up to the top of the hill where the Bitchu-Takahashi castle was protected by a funny Cat-Lord!

After a day around Matsue I’ll hit Izumofor some more sites en route down the coast to Hagi.

During the lovely sunny day I took a morning visit the absolutely stunning Adachi Museum of Art which punched hard in both its insanely beautiful Japanese gardens, and, one of the most interesting modern art (20th century) collections of Japanese paintings and ceramics. Unfortunately I could not snap pictures of any of the art, there were some stunning gorgeous works and really compelling variations of style that I have never seen anywhere else.

Izumo en route to Hagi turned into a adventure. The Izumo Taisha shrine was great but maddeningly, the main shrine can only be peeked at from afar as it is surrounded by a wooden wall in its entire perimeter. The main shrine is a HUGE wooden structure, 100ft+ tall it would seem. I could only marvel from afar.

As expected the train ride along the north-western coast hugging the Sea of Japan was absolutely delightful. However strong winds knocked out the tracks (fallen tree?) and i had to divert to Yamaguchi for the night… tbd if I make it to Hagi.

Early start for first coffee arrival at the Yūtoku Inari Shrine 祐徳稲荷神社which has a nice 20 min hike to a nice viewpoint overlooking the valley, passing through a few hundred tori gates which are fun for photography.

Hit Dazaifu on my way, grabbed lunch and perused the town but must say it was jammed with visitors from China snapping pics and enjoying the CNY (all the power to them) which kind of bust the mood of being out and about solo, so took a long walk up into the woods and to some minor Buddhist temples. Then made my way to Fukuoka which has the fast Shinkansen terminal so I hit the town for some extra steps, reading time at a cafe, and a yakitori dinner at the station before heading home. 25k steps this day, rounding out my first week in Japan where I averaged well over 20k steps each day—woohoo!

Arrived at Beppu the famous onsen (hot springs) town, where I got rained on pretty hard but still enjoyed the town tremendously. My little hotel (like I’m sure all hotels in town) had a great built-in onsen bath as well as private bath areas that I rented for my own splash party.

Challenging weather day although I did make it to the lovely Aoshima island for a brisk walk and a delightful $6 lunch.

So onwards to the southernmost city of Kyushu, Kagoshima. A+ for the cute guest house, only $40 bucks a night with real charm and great views.

I’ve seen dozens of restored samurai homes, but this one in the Senegan garden’s right adjacent to my lodging was beyond adorable. I wanted to move in—so inviting to walk about on the tatami floors and the peek-a-boo views of the volcano and bay.

If I had more time and it was summer (a lot of nature parks and islands to see, not so good in winter) I would try to hit these places: Kitakyushu, Yutoku Inari Shrine, Yoshinogari Historical Park, Takachiho Mountain Town, and mostly the sub-tropical green island of Yakushima Island which Japan-Guide rates as a 3 star attraction (aka, i trust them, awesome!)

And, the exchange rate and whatever else is going on in Japan with the economy—wow, super affordable. Delicious meals for $6-10 dollars for lunch (set meals). And a great sushi lunch for $25!

Ok so Kumamoto was a bit ordinary in that i didn’t get a distinct vibe. The castle got really hit hard in the earthquake a dozen years back, and is essentially a construction zone / modern recreation—one of my least favorite Castles and that’s saying a lot, since I’ve seen nearly 20 of them!

After a layover and delicious meal in Hiroshima (love this town!) i took the early ferry today to Matsuyama on Ehime island.

For my birthday I did out and back day trip to Ozu & Uchiko, about 40 minutes by train from Matsuyama. Both are super cute but very very small towns, and because it was low season, there were only a couple dozen tourists in the towns and a lot of the shops and cafes were closed. The wax museum in Ozu was a hit, some rich family from the 1880s who made a killing in wax production. And a rich guy’s mansion who margined labor in the Philippines in 1910s, built a mansion for himself in Uchiko. So—rich guys from the 19th century who built mansions in their home towns, was the theme.

On my way back to mainland and the shinkansen to Nagoya I took a hike around the Kotohira Shrine. The steps up the hill weren’t as bad as the hype—took about 30 minutes.

From Nagoya I spent the day finishing my book and riding out and back to the Ise Shima shrines on Shima Penninsual (Ise), which didn’t allow any meaningful photography (out of religious respect) which means I have little to show here, but it was really stupendously beautiful. Infinite Jest was a marvelous read, I’m glad I got through it. Kind of sad it is over.. time for a new book.

Got a lot of steps in walking between the shrines, still holding my 7 day average at 25k steps a day, which has to be a personal best in a long time?

After getting stuck in a 2hr line to try the local Tonkatsu chain, i got my butt out early to a random location of the chain and had a very tasty brunch at 10:30 am!

Kanazawa was delightful as always, cold and snowy.

And to Tokyo to catch Adam finishing the Tokyo marathon.

And to Hokadate where it REALLY is snowing.

On way south to break up the long distance back to Tokyo hit Sendai as a regional hub (eg: cheap hotel by train station) and made it up to Yamadera Temple near Yamagata.

And finally a sunny day after a week, although still plenty chilly. Took the leisurely walk around the bay dotted with cute islands over at Matsushima.

Nikko!This is a fabled 3-star destination according to Japan-Guide, full of amazing ornate temples and a nice nature setting. Particularly intrigued by the Toshogu Shrine.

Ran out of time and didn’t make it to Aizu, Geibikei Gorge, Hiraizumi, Morioka, Aomori, and Hirosaki so those remain for future visits. Even with 4 full weeks, couldn’t see everything!

Kamakura last 3 days were a nice relaxing break for some visits with friends and first meals in 4 weeks with someone else (not alone).

Amazing trip. Really lovely last days with Adam and his family, visiting the Team Lab museum and grabbing a pastrami sandwich at the club in Tokyo before heading to airport..

I attended an absolutely stunning, wonderous, life-affirming, beautiful, profound, and deeply moving and spiritual 5 day retreat in the Sacred Valley near the town of Urubamba: Sapan Inka Spiritual Retreat Center, managed by highly ethical and loving guides and mentors who approach ayahuasca with tremendous reverence, indigenous cultural respect and reciprocity, and a modern psychology and therapeutic approach.

I did my research to find a Ayahuasca retreat using a variety of sources, and found the review website AyaAdvisors.org to be particularly useful as it has hundreds of first person accounts from visitors who have journeyed at the various facilities in Peru, Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, Jamaica, and other countries where this medicine is revered and practiced in safe and legal facilities that are overseen by very experienced by guides.

The Sapan Inka retreat center is in the town of Urubamba in the Sacred Valley, about 90 minutes from Cusco the regional capital and center of tourism in Peru. I chose the Sacred Valley for my retreat as opposed to one of the Amazon jungle basin centers which are common near Iquitos and Pucalpa—Ayahuasca comes from the Amazon after all, and the Shaman masters from various Ayahuasquero traditions are all Amazon provenance. However, i personally feel a very strong connection to the Andes and the high altitude air, clouds, expansive vistas, and indigenous tradition of the Inca empire and native and mestizo people of this region.

They say that Ayahuasca “calls you” which for me it very much did, to this place and at this time in my life. I had made my reservation to visit Cusco for the 4th time of my life (i first came in 1993, and have returned several times since—this is my favorite place to visit as a tourist on earth!) and had not originally planned to try ayahuasca. It was only months after I already had my ticket and some of my airbnb and hotels booked, that I felt the call to research and then book a spiritual retreat. It was amazing, the feeling of “oh, this is my calling, i feel it”. Like being summoned by the plant medicine. I know that sounds cray cray, but it is genuinely how it felt.

I stayed 9 days before the retreat in a marvelous Airbnb home in the town of Urubamba. From here I focused on my diet (no meat, no salt, no oil, no spice, no coffee, no sex!) and did a lot of reading, walking, relaxation exercises. I also did day trips to Ollaytaytambo and Pisac, cute as heck towns with amazing Inca archaeological sites.

I did a ton of journaling before, during, and after my journey. This was a fundamental part of the experience, it helped me prepare, reflect, and integrate all of the amazing elements i was shown by the medicine journey.

Here are some of the many vistas from my hikes in the valley in the week leading up to my ceremony. The Sacred Valley and its energy, fresh air, amazing clouds, Inca sites, and general “magical” energy, were a central part of the overall experience for me.

From the Sacred Valley main road connecting Urubamba and Pisac I kept noticing a very interesting zig-zag road up towards a cliff that connected to a even zig-zaggier pedestrian route up-up-up and over onto the top of a sheer cliff face. On Google Maps I saw an archaeological site for an Inca city called Huchuy Qosco (sometimes spelled Juchuy Cosco), and was drawn to this place.

On AllTrails there were a few hiking routes, either from the valley itself (2k feet straight up, not appealing) or various 7-10 mile hiking routes from Chinchero area or from Tambomachay in Cusco. While several blog posts outlined how to do these routes solo, i wanted the safety of a guide (since I was traveling solo) for such a rural and steep climb. I found Victor, a wonderful local guide, using GetYourGuide app, and together from 6am Cusco departure we made the amazing trek. I highly recommend.

The highlights:

• Stunning climb to 14,400 ft pass during the first 90-120 minutes of the hike. Not as difficult as it sounds, the slope gradient was mild.
• Beautiful expansive views of the valley below from the pass, and as you descend, peek-a-boo views into side canyons and along the main cordillera of the Andes.
• Changing flor and grasses as you descend from 14,000 feet all the way down to 9,000. Walking poles really made this easier on my knees. Path is solid, not dangerous or loose.
• The amazing Inca city, with very well preserved square, fountain, grain storage rooms, ceremonial and high-class residences including the best 2 story preserved building I’ve seen at any site, in the amazing city of Huchuy Qosco.
• Amazing views from the Huchuy Qoscco main plaza, a football field sized flat grassy space with astonishing 180 degree views of the valley—it feels like you are floating on a flying spaceship.
• Even more dramatic views as you descend rapidly the 2,000 feet from the Inca site, down to the city of Lamay.

Here’s my AllTrails route which was a variation of the route that others had posted in the app, similar but different starting point. The Tambomachay starting point I’m told is the “original Inca trail” and would have been fun to attempt, a little longer by 4 miles.

Some friends from China and Chile were visiting NYC for the first time and we compiled these notes based our own recent extensive time spent visiting our son at college in Manhattan.

• Google Maps is great for manhattan, very easy to take subway everywhere.  You can use your iphone to automatically enter the subway, you have to turn on TRANSIT feature in Wallet, then, you just put iphone on the reader and you beep in/out.  Not sure about the kids…
• Broadway musicals are amazing, shows with lots of singing and dancing and great costumes.  NYC and London are the two best places in the world to see these type of shows, they are really incredible.  The Lion King is superb, amazing costumes and songs and the kids will love.  This website is the industry website (the group of theaters team up to market the industry) and has links to tickets.  All the shows are great, just a matter of finding family friendly ones.  They are SUPER.  You can sometimes get same-day tickets for really cheap, if you go the day of to Times Square booth at 10am there is a booth, and you can get really cheap last minute tickets.  This last-minute booth is THE OFFICIAL booth of the industry–so safe, and cheap.  They want to sell out the shows so they tend to release the tickets to that the theater is full, better for everyone.  but, since you only have 4 days, better to plan ahead and just buy–i use SeatGeek app sometimes, or, the show website if there is available.
• The “East River Ferry” is super fun and cheap.  It is a public ferry much like a subway, that stops in various places and goes north/south up and down the east-river, so you get great views of the city.  It is only like $3 a person… so a really fun way to get a boat ride with nice views.  We sometimes take between manhattan and brooklyn, such as getting on here and getting off here.  That gives you a nice 20-25 minute ride, and you get off in DUMBO which is a fun neighborhood in Brooklyn.  
• In Dumbo (very fun outing), great coffee from japan brand, and walk along the water-front where there is kid playgrounds and fun things to see and GREAT views of manhattan.  Walk here, here, here.  If you take the ferry to Dumbo, you can take subway back to manhattan very easy.  Kaustubh and Tywen live in Brooklyn, so close to here.
• The “HighLine” is a old railroad track that has been turned into a walking path, super pretty and not too long for kids.  Start here at this new mall Hudson Yards which has some nice tall buildings and a very very high up observation deck (much better than the Empire State Building observation deck which is famous but old and not great), walk along here, to here,  and end up here at the Little Island which is delightful for kids.  If still energy, all of this water front park is also fun and has more pretty park so keep walking south along the river.  Our favorite adult modern art museum is here too, The Whitney, so you can do that quickly so the kids don’t get bored–30 minutes worth it, always good art and a neat building with good views.

• Central Park is amazing and big and has lots of really pretty areas to walk and it is safe during day (at night be more careful of course).  There is a famous zoo, pretty lake paths, and much more.  You can rent bikes or skates or other wheels and poke around. The natural history (night of museum movie) museum is right by the park so good to do that on same day.
• The 9/11 memorial park is a must see, the museum is there too but we haven’t gone–maybe too sad.  but the park and fountains are lovely and the buildings around there nice and close to this famous subway station (famous architect, worth quick visit) and famous Wall Street statue where the financial center is.
• Tours and ferry to statue of liberty leave from here if you want to actually stop on the island where the statue is to get close to it.  What a lot of people do instead, is take the FREE ferry to Staten Island which goes right by the statue… we’ve done this.  It is a nice commuter ferry full of locals, and you can see the statue great.  Just take ferry to staten island, and then get back on and take back.  It is free, or very cheap, can’t remember.  The tour is expensive, crowded, etc.
• The “wangfujing” of nyc is called Times Square, super crowded with stupid tourist brands but must see, and, the broadway shows are here, so good to go the day you go to a broadway show.  
• Washington Park is famous and worth walking through, safe, but you will not think it is, lol… it has more street people and students as it is center of NYU University.  This is where people play chess outdoors (in many movies) and lots of other famous movies take place here.  The neighborhood just south is full of restaurants, lots of college kids.
• Chelsea Market is a nice “market” with lots of restaurants and things to see in a nice neighborhood.

Some restaurants in NYC to try

• Most good restaurants in nyc use RESY app for reservations (owned by american express).  
• This is a really famous pizza restaurant in Brooklyn, 100+ years old I think.  If you go to DUMBO during the day, you could try to go to this restaurant for lunch (they may only be open for dinner) or get there right when they open for early dinner.  VERY GOOD pizza.  Super famous, no reservations.
• Eataly is a super fun lunch “italian market” full of dozens of different italian food stalls, pizza, fish, sandwhiches, cheese/meat plates, etc.  They have indoor and outdoor seating… it simulates a “italian market” and is a famous chef/owner.  Really fun and great food.  It is by nice park/plaza, and, there is a “harry potter world” thing i always see big lines for and lots of kids, never been.
• Shukkette is a sensational and super popular middle eastern restaurant hard to get reservations family friendly, use RESY app.  Same owners have Shuka which in some ways is just as good and in a better neighborhood close to SOHO, so either one is great.  
• Brunch in soho at this place is amazing, a little fancy, but pretty and very special (indoors best, outdoors too hot)… requires reservations on RESY.  This is also good for brunch, famous but #2 of these.
• Near soho, famous ice cream with 20 minute lines, good for after dinner at night on a hot night.  Fun to wait in line and people watch.
• if you miss china, sizchuan, and 
• Korea town GREAT KOREAN, our #1 bbq, new york times favorite a bit fancier, and a general tofu/korean that is superb and cheap and has a michelin bib gourmand (some waiting out front)   
• there are SOOOOOOO many great restaurants, i think the best food in the world… so you really can’t go wrong.  if you tell me what neighborhood your airbnb is in i can make more recommendations.

Wild flowers poppin’ Feb 11 ’23.

The waves were happening.

Diablo Canyon in the myst

When friends come to visit they ask for ideas for lodging, so here’s my punch list of places to stay in Pismo Beach and neighboring Avila Beach, San Luis Obispo, and Arroyo Grande. If you are looking for that modern “boutique” small hotel vibe with luxury ambience, you will have to go to San Luis Obispo. But the coastal zone of Pismo and Avila towns are really worth the views and beach-vibe. We live right in town (Pismo), all of these hotels are 15 minutes or less by car from us and from the San Luis Obispo Airport.

Attractions in town include the beach which extends for over 20 miles to the south.

The Pismo Preserve is a gorgeous ocean front hiking area right in town, accessible from the beach, which meanders through rolling hills and offers panoramic coastal views.

Overview of Pismo Beach Hotels

Pismo Beach 32-ish hotels to choose from ranging from luxury-aspiring properties, good value 3 star vacation destinations, and budget friendly inns that have charismatic “funk” of a bygone era. Pismo is a beach town first and foremost, whether on the cliffs looking at the beach, or a few minutes on foot to the sand.

There are 4 primary hotel areas in town:

• Area 1 – Spyglass and Shell Beach neighborhoods, nice views and coastal access to tide pools. 5 minutes by car to restaurants and town activities.
• Area 2 – Pismo Cliffs area, foot access to the main beach and downtown area, great views of the coast and beach.
• Area 3 – Downtown area, closest to the main beach and pier, and commercial and restaurant center. Quite busy/active.
• Area 4 – No beach access or views, freeway adjacent.

North of town in Area 1 you will find yourself using your car to get to the beach and shopping and restaurants. The Cliffs and Dolphin Bay Resort have nice views and aim for a more upscale vibe with on-premise restaurants and coastal access to tide-pools and lovely vistas. The Paloma Inn and Shell Beach Inn are in the commercial area of Shell Beach which has some nice restaurants.

Much closer to town and accessible by a lovely foot-path and stairs to the north-end of the beach is what I’ve termed “Pismo Cliffs” Area 2. These hotels have stunning views and are bigger / lots of rooms, so less resort vibe, more “I’m in vegas-by-the-sea” in a small town. Inn at the Cove is a little apart and feels more secluded as a result, with great views.

Area 3 is the center of town, where most of the restaurants and commercial stores are based. This is an altogether more bustling couple of square blocks and gets busy with day-trippers during the sunny summer days (eg: crowded traffic). These hotels range from older motel/inns, to the prominent beachfront resorts along the main facade of the pier: Inn at the Pier, Vespera, Sandcastle, and SeaVenture.

Area 4 hotels are freeway adjacent and ideal for out-0f-town stays for visiting family or business in the area. They are only 5 minutes by car to the beach, but are not pedestrian friendly as the Amtrak railroad tracks bifurcate access by foot. Car only, which is a shame.

Our Hotel Recommendations to Friends and Family Visiting Pismo Beach

Our top pick is actually not even in town, the Inn at Avila Beach. Avila Beach is a small village with its own beach and cute pedestrian promenade just a tad north of town (10 minutes by car). We recommend the Inn’s 8 suites that are right on the street above the lobby with great ocean views and private balconies for sunsets. If those suites aren’t available, then default back to Pismo for ocean view rooms. As a bonus they have a happy hour with free pie every evening! Nearby 30 yards away is excellent Kraken Coffee

Vespera is a recently updated property and one of the bigger main hotels right in town, 1 block to shopping (think San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf–tourist shops selling t-shirts, fast food, sweets, etc. — funky but charming in an old-timey family-friendly way). The large, lovely beach is right there, stretching for miles in both directions and very swim and surf friendly (the ocean is cold though). Many of our friends love being right at the beach and have enjoyed this property, with its pool, restaurant amenities. It’s new construction too.

About 1 mile north of the center of town there are several options, such as Inn at the Cove, a bit jammed in between the 101 freeway and the coast, but has a really nice protected cove view and a path down to the water. It is walking distance to Dinosaur Park (5 minutes) and to the shops in Shell Beach (coffee, some restaurants) and worth a visit. Lots of restaurants , and coffee/breakfast at Steaming Bean is about 15 minute walk. Kon Tiki Inn is a 3-star hotel, includes free visits to the nearby athletic club and ocean front rooms with fire pits on the cliff over the sea (and beach access). The rooms look basic but nice. Sea Crest is another option. Similar to Kon Tiki–a little older and similar amenities.

For more of a “resort” vibe (eg: more rooms, more private property, a bigger restaurant and pool, a semi-private stair-access to a rocky tide-pool beach area) is The Cliffs.

For the classy boutique small hotel experience there are 2 good options in downtown San Luis Obispo (called “slo” by locals) which is 15 minutes by freeway to Pismo. The Hotel San Luis Obispo was opened in 2020 so on the newer side: about a block from the center walking/shopping district of town, spacious modern rooms, a restaurant and bar and pool on site.

Granada Hotel is smaller and cozier, tucked-in on a small side street, also just a block from the main pedestrian areas of SLO.

For a complete list of options and more information about visiting Pismo Beach, our town’s destination marketing website has a comprehensive overview of Pismo Beach Hotels.

Things to Do in Pismo Beach

Here’s a starting list of activities, which we will add to as we cover. more of our favorite activities in town.

• Take a hike in the incredible Montana de Oro State Park which is about 25 minutes drive north. The ocean-front trails are delightful and all sorts of flor and fauna can be spotted.
• Take a hike in the Pismo Preserve which has 4-7 mile loops that ascend to the rolling hills overlooking town and the coast, magnificent views.
• Take a walk to Pirates Cover on the north end of town.
• Dine at the best restaurant in Pismo Beach
• Walk from the Grover Beach parking lot along a lovely elevated boardwalk path, past the Monarch Butterfly Grove, and into Pismo Beach town. This 20 minute walk is one of our favorites (50 minutes round trio to the end of the Pier in Pismo, and back).

We just kicked off our “year of living in airbnbs” with a lovely stay in Palm Springs. The warm temps and blue sky were absolutely lovely.

Cristina’s mobility just so-so but plenty of hikes!

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When i lived in california in the 90s i was a huge mountain bike enthusiast—Mt Tam in Marin County was at my backdoor, and I loved the arduous climb and accelerating descent it afforded just minutes from my home in Mill Valley. Somewhere along the way to Washington, Chile, and Beijing i lost track of riding… but on a recent visit to California the idea of off-road biking was reawakened and I’m excited to hit the trails again. The Trailforks app on iOS is an awesome resource to find terrain to explore, and it turns out there is a ton here in Washington state within easy drive of Seattle.

So, after plunking some real money into new bikes for myself and a +1 friend (my son this summer, imagining visiting friends in the future), i thought I’d post the serial numbers and bike descriptions here for safety. I also registered the bikes with the bikeregister.org and 529 Project websites, great community indexes of bikes to help cut down on theft and return of bikes.

For myself, a Specialized Epic Hardtail model that is oh-my-god-so-light. The teal color will hopefully keep me visible to drivers on city roads! Large frame, serial number WSBC614123071N. I have been riding around the city and it really does feel like it “pulls you up the hills” it is so darn slick/light and boy do 25+ years (since my last bike purchase) make a difference in tech!

My son/friend bike is a Specialized Stumpjumper mountain bike, black frame in M, with serial number WSBC604317566P. Red highlights, front and rear shocks, drop post seat, 29” wheels. I look forward to riding both of these, the smaller M frame a slightly better fit for downhill posture and clearance from the frame… as a 5”10 height (down from 5”11 a decade ago?) I’m right on the edge between these M/L frame sizes.

Just putting a quick note on some of my top recommends from Japan as i get a lot of requests and have been having to cobble together for friends.  Here’s a starter list:

Pro-tips in general:

• Use this amazing site that has great english pages: https://pocket-concierge.jp to book restaurant reservations with many michelin-star and otherwise foody and hard to get reservation locations in Japan.  Most japanese restaurants don’t have good english websites and don’t take english phone calls.
• Buy a japan-rail pass before flying to japan, activate it at Narita or other JR Rail station.  Huge savings over buying tickets individually or locally in japan after arrival, 7 or 14 day passes, you can make reservations for multiple trips at any JR Rail station and have nice comfy chairs, reserved seats, and tons of fun.  Riding the bullet trains never gets old, great fun and way to get around the entire country.  lots of google ads take you to vendors who sell the passes, all are licensed, but i used this one.

Tokyo

• Amazing Tsukiji market tour and private cooking class, this was insanely good.  We did this before the move of the market out of central tokyo to god-knows-where.  But this company was top shelf, and the experience insanely good.  Best sushi meal of the trip, and fun for family with 2 teenagers not easily impressed: http://www.tsukiji–market.jp/

Kyoto

• Really reasonable great location boutique hotel.  Cheap/great-value, and good location.  I’ve stayed in 5+ hotels in Kyoto that were all more $$ and lesser locations.  Very, very small rooms, but comfy.   Kyoto Granbell Hotel.
• Phenomenal 6-person, michelin-star sushi restaurant, best i’ve had in Kyoto, well worth the $150 fixed price experience for 3hrs of entertainment and close-magic-cooking. Sushi Gion Matsudaya.
• Great Kyoto cooking class in a private home with a woman-chef who has pro-kitchen experience overseas.  Great english, great tour of the market before or after to buy directly from vendors (in the big central Kyoto market), great location, really neat small private home with good kitchen.  We spent 3-4 hours with her, were entertained, and great meal.  Very price reasonable.  Contact Midori Nukumizu at her email: [email protected].
• My teenage boy loved this ninja dojo where they had a several hour private ninja training class, they *loved*.  Good for teens boys and girls.
• Insanely good coffee, several locations, be prepared to wait in line for 15-30 minutes… worth it and fun to wait in line in expectation of great coffee!
• Do a day trip out and back to Nara, amazing walks from train station to dozens of temples including insanely old/awesome/etc.

Himeji

• If you have the JR Pass, consider taking a morning side-trip from Kyoto on the bullet train to the city of Himeji, to check out the Himeji castle.  OMG, insanely awesome… apparently the best/oldest/original castle in the country.  So. Cool.  Better day/morning trip than others from Kyoto IMHO.
• Before or after the castle go to the rope-way and up to a hiking area for a 2-3 hr trek around some old temples that were used in several films including the tom cruise japan film about samurai. Shoshazan Engyo-ji Temple, via the rope-way called Mount Shosha Ropeway

Onomichi – coming soon

Fukuoka – coming soon

Miyajima Island – coming soon

Kanazawa – coming Soon (Kiragawa Go, Takayama day trips)

Hiroshima – coming soon

Nagasaki – coming soon

My Family and I just completed a marvelous 9 day expedition on the Colorado River from Lees Landing launch, down through the marvelous Grand Canyon National Park.  We used Hatch as our expedition outfitter/organizer and we were absolutely thrilled with them, our crew, their end-to-end service, and of course, the amazing experience and majesty of the canyon/river.  I wanted to post a few thoughts here for the benefit of others considering the trip, and, Hatch as an outfitter for your adventure on the Colorado/Grand Canyon. Hatch was FANTASTIC.

Here’s what we did:

• From Las Vegas, we took a regional small plane flight from the city of Boulder to Marble Canyon (not really a town per se, more like a landing strip for the plane and next to a bridge that crosses the Grand Canyon in the “Marble Canyon” area of the park). The flight was arranged with the help of Hatch expedition folks but was a cost separate from the expedition itself.  Here at the upper North-East of the Grand Canyon National Park we met our group which totaled 16 family members, some of whom took their own cars to park at this location, or, who took shuttles from Las Vegas by land.  We all stayed the night before departure at the Cliff Dweller’s Lodge, a very nice little motel on the side of the road with clean updated rooms, with a nice little restaurant and supplies shop for food/water/snacks.
• We awoke early and met the Hatch Expeditions team at our hotel, loaded up in a van, and 15 minutes later we were at Lee’s Ferry, the departure point for the trip (where we met our boat, boat captain, and “swamper” who would assist the boat captain–thus making our total boat party 18 folks).
• We then boarded out boat and started our journey down-stream which comprised of 9 days 8 nights.  The trip can be configured to be 7 days or as long as 15–in our case we were in a motorized boat (small outboard engine powered the vessel through rapids and long stretches that would require some real paddling effort), we saw other groups that were in mixed use paddle/cayak configurations… i can imagine any and all configurations to be great fun, but the motorized option was definitely optimal for our group that included children ages 10, 12, and 14, as well as several 60-70 year olds in various states of good conditioning (but not strong enough to be paddling a boat for 4-6 hours a day every day).
• Each day consisted of a routine of (a) rise with the sun, (b) breakfast and break camp usually before 7:30am and on the river (c) a mixture of river rapid ridding, short stops for short walks, and longer stops for side-canyon hikes that lasted upwards of 3 hrs round trip, (d) lunch break mid day usually in a shaded river-edge spot, (e) more rapids and or hikes in the afternoon, (f) make camp landing by 4pm, set up camp, relax a bit before (g) dinner and then lights out with sunset.
• All camping is on rivers edge on sandy beaches that have mix of rocks/bushes–very very comfortable camps on cots/tents as needed, but we slept outdoors with no cover all nights and enjoyed the stars.  Warm temperatures in July averaged 80+ at night and 100 during the day.  No mosquitoes, very pleasant lack of nuisance bugs of all kinds, with exception of red-ants that re everywhere but only bit 1 in our party 1 time…
• Fantastic meals and snacks entirely organized and prepared by our captain and swamper.  Our responsibilities as passengers included helping unload/load the boat, and setting up our own camp and sleeping equipment.  We participated as a group in helping with cleaning post-meals, but largely were taken care of by the crew (i don’t know how they did all that cooking–but they did).  Meals were *VERY* good and complete with mixed preparation, sauces, sides, etc…. we were NOT wanting of food comforts, ever!
• End of trip involved being picked up in a helicopter and flown out in groups of 6 to Bar10 Ranch, from where we had our first showers in 10 days, before boarding a small plane and being returned to Las Vegas area (this flight is included in the expedition fees from Hatch).

In summary–absolutely great experience for all in our group, it truly is a once in a lifetime, one place in the world kind of experience.  Where else can you travel 180+ miles through a national park, take in the absolute majesty of millions of years of natural geology, and never see any cars/villages/cell-phones, etc.?  I now understand why this trip is on so many people’s lifetime “bucket lists”… surprisingly, it wasn’t on my list before taking the trip, but upon returning, i would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys nature.  Hatch was a wonderful outfitter and I will strongly recommend to my friends who consider the same trip–their attention to customers, professionalism, great equipment, and real meaningful multi-generational commitment to the park and river guiding (grandpa Hatch started the company in the 1950s) is evident in the excellent service they deliver.

I get a lot of requests from friends about travel to Chile (for leisure/vacation, usually with family including kids), so i figured it was time to put my thoughts into a blog entry that I can repurpose, so here you go.

First some context: I lived in Chile from the age of 6-11 in the lovely Pinochet military dictatorship era (late 70s-early 80s, several years in Zapallar on the coast, and the others in Santiago the capital), the again after college for a year in 1994 (in Santiago, working as a film editor for commercial television), and most recently in 2010 for a year while i was planning my new business and my family and I divided time between the “small-north” region near La Serena, and yet more time in the smoggy confines of the capital.  In addition to these stints homesteading, i’ve also backpacked and otherwise visited the country another half-dozen times… so from a toursim and/or expat perspective, i feel like i have the place dialed in and can make some strong recommendations.

So, with a focus on tourism (not expat relocation, which will be another blog post if I have enough people asking me about living in chile, schools, immigration process, taxes, banking, etc.), here’s my top 3 guidelines:

1. Skip Santiago.  My friends in Santiago will be upset with me for saying this, but i’m sorry–the truth is that Santiago has *absolutely* nothing going on from a tourism perspective.  You’ll be flying in and out of Santiago for your international flights, but otherwise SKIP IT.  The city is not distinct enough in any way that would warrant precious days that you could spend in the much more interesting other parts of the country.  Someone will tell you “oh, it is worth at least x days”, where x is exactly x days too many.  Seriously–SKIP IT.
2. Plan 2-3 “segments” connected by flights.  The country is MASSIVELY long and the north/south orientation means that the areas to visit are hugely distinct from a natural flor and fauna perspective, so avoid your intention to “rent a car and drive” as the north-south drive would eat up 4 days of your trip!  There are 5 distinct areas of tourism attraction (see below)–pick 2-3 and spend quality time in these with regional driving in each, but don’t try to connect the dots by land.  If you buy your domestic segments along with your international ticket, on LAN (soon to be renamed LATAM) airlines (the Chilean carrier) the cost of the segments is very reasonable.
3. Focus your goals around “natural wonders” as opposed to “culture and civic/city life”–Chile kicks ass as a low population density, magical geography that is accessible, safe, and fun.  It underperforms tragically vrs. its peer group of Peru, Ecuador, and Brazil in terms of local food, indigenous culture, indigenous architecture, food, music, and “exoticism” for a typical well traveled american or european visitor.  And Argentina is a much better exemplar of “europe in southern hemisphere”.  My friends from Asia will find it fascinating, as it is very “european” and that will seem fresh and interesting.  But it will absolutely disappoint any “westerner” looking for something exciting “south of the border”… for that, go to Peru (my favorite country in South America, with the best food, home to the Inca civilization and its myriad of incredible ruins/art/etc., magical music, and incredibly colonial area cities, not to mention glorious mountains, coastline, and the birthplace of the Amazon.  Not to mention Brazil, which is marvelous for entirely different reasons.

Ok.  So now let me characterize the “regions” to choose from, i’ll outline them from North to South:

1. The Atacama desert and Altiplano (high altitude plain).  This area can refer to a massive 1k+ mile region north of La Serena reaching to Peru border, but from a tourism development perspective, it really means flying into the city of Calama and then planting yourself in the area around San Pedro de Atacama as a home base and exploring the high plain.  Volcanoes dot the landscape, you are at 8-14k feet above sea-level the entire time, the star-gazing in the evenings are best in the world (no precipitation, low light contamination from urban areas, no smog, etc.).  I visited this area on the Bolivian side of the border on a $10 a day budget in 1993, today San Pedro is bustling (i’m told, have never been) and hotels can run up to $1k per night for a room at a luxury resort that includes meals and tours, but a wide gamut of options are available.  buuteeq’s first customer in the town is considered among the best in the country, lovely luxury resort Tierra Atacama.   The city of Calama also has tours of the Chuquicamata mine, the largest open pit on the planet, worth checking out on day in/out of Calama, but otherwise spend the time up in San Pedro.  This is what any guidebook would tell you to do, so to qualify this and make it a bit more local–let me add that ANY of the cities in the northern part of Chile will give you a feel for this desert vibe–super low population density (there are hours upon hours of driving where you won’t see anyone!).  I lived in the Pisco Elqui region near La Serena, much less developed for international premium tourists, and plenty exciting and interesting including the added benefit of having some wineries and distilleries for Pisco (a brandy, national drink).  If you want to fly in/out of La Serena and do a few days in La Serena (beach town, lovely coast) there is a hub of neat activities including a marine sanctuary where you can see all kinds of awesome penguins, sea-lions, dolphins, etc. about 90 minutes north of La Serena, observatories for sky-gazing, and the cool-as-shit little down of Pisco Elqui as a home base with funky/hippy vibe.  We lived here for 4 months at this little hotel, El Elquimista.  La Serena can be reached in 5-6 hours by great 4 lane highway, so this is also a doable road trip from Santiago, if going all the way to the true North is too much, but I don’t think anyone would argue that La Serena is a full replacement for the San Pedro de Atacama gig.

The Central Coast area around Santiago.  This is where you go in a rental car from the capital.  Roads are totally safe, well signaled in Spanish (easy to follow along with a GPS phone or ipad), and distances reasonable (eg: 2-3 hours max between points).  Just south of Santiago are various wineries that offer tours and some homesteading (eg: have cabins or other guest quarters).  The city of Valparaiso is a UNESCO world-heritage city for good reason, reminiscent of San Francisco but way dingier/run down yet totally captivating (in a raw way).  One night in town at this affordable and family friendly designer hotel (owner is a accomplished painter and mixed media artist) which is in the best neighborhood for exploring by foot, is all that is needed to get the vibe and traverse the hills on foot.  Lots of great restaurants.  Anthony Bourdain loved this place and wrote up several restaurants and bars on his TV show (google it!).  Vina del Mar is 15 minutes north of Valparaiso and is a altogether ritzier and cleaner/safer place, overrun with tourists in January and February but still fun, and a joy in December before the 25th when the locals from Santiago and the Argentines start showing up in droves.  Good beach hotel options and beaches.  Note that the water is FRICKING cold in chile, don’t expect Mexcian riviera type beach experience–the sand is lovely, but the waters are freeze-your-balls cold and thus it is much more about eating a fresh seafood meal on the beach and sun-bathing than “swimming”.  The town I grew up in is 60 minutes north of Vina, called Zapallar.  I highly recommend renting a house or staying at one of the (few) hotels in the area near Zapallar and doing 2-3 nights of walking the beaches and coastlines and visiting the neighboring town of Cachagua and Papudo, maybe even hit La Ligua for the local market (daily) to buy some fresh produce, and the fisherman’s market in Maitencillo.  I have a bunch of family and friends in Chile, so if you do make this particular trip, talk to me and I’ll see about helping find you a local friend to show you around, host you for a meal, and maybe provide a tip on a rental for your stay in town.  Zapallar has a lovely small boutique hotel which does NOT have ocean views but otherwise is a great base and good value.  My recommendation in general for this region is to get a house in Zapallar for 3-5 nights, and make Zapallar the base from which to travel to Valparaiso, Vina, La Ligua, etc. as day trips in your rental car.  Zapallar is 2hrs from the capital, you can arrive at airport and drive STRAIGHT to zapallar for your first day in the country.  You’ll thank me for it!  The walking paths along the coast, beaches, and understated tourism sector (few hotels, mostly locals) will give you a great “local” experience for this region of the country.  I also have relatives that rent their houses depending on the season…

• The Pre-Patagonia area around Puerto Montt (the small south).  This is some combination of Pucon on lake Villarica and volcanoe region surrounding, the adorable city of Frutillar, the coastal city of Valdivia, Puerto Montt, and the island of Chiloe.  These are all reachable via car by using Pueto Montt or Valdivia as central arrival/departure ports.  Lots of great german influenced towns, lakes abound, cute fishing villages… great to walk and drive around.  If you aren’t into driving aimlessly around the region there are organized tours, but it is a very accessible region and well touristed in the December-Feb corridor (when the weather is great), not so much fun any other time of year (rains perpetually, like Seattle where I live now).  This is relatively populated part of “patagonia”, not to be confused with the insanely not-populated true “south” which starts after Puerto Montt and extends through fjords and icebergs and wild forests all the way down to Tierra del Fuego and the southern tip of the continent.
• Patagonia region(s).  There are two hubs here that are too far away to be linked.  One is the area from Puerto Montt to the town of Chile Chico, which has a road that connects the region (only passable in summer) called the Carretera Austral.  Renting a good 4×4 and driving parts of this itinerary is probably akin to northern British Colombia or parts of Alaska.  Lots of undeveloped forest, great lake fly-fishing and hiking, but not robust tourism infrastructure except for in pockets, mostly along the coast.  Likely best to look for a tour of this region than to wing it.  Town of Coyhaique is surprisingly bustling, flying in-0ut of hear and arranging tours might be good option (when I did it i was on $10 a day budget in 1994, so likely has changed quite a bit except for the remaining amazing natural wonders which can’t have been spoiled quite yet).  Much much farther south, only accessible by road if you drive into Argentina and then come back into Chile down at the tip, is the popular and “must see” area around the national park called Torres del Paine.  This is the classic photo of towering awesome mountains near a glacier emptying into a virgin lake, etc.  I’ve never been.  Everyone that goes raves about it.  Basically a “bucket list” kind of destination.  I think the itinerary is to fly in to the region for 4-5 days including time in the national park.  If money is no object, stay at this place in the park itself, luxury beyond compare.  And fly in and out of Natales, this  place is supposedly fantastico for accommodations.
• And then there is Easter Island, which might as well NOT be Chile because it is basically a Polynesian island WAY the frick out in the pacific.  Never been, can’t say one way or the other, but it is one of the top 3 draws to Chile for tourism so I would look like a fool for not at least mentioning it here.  Other than big stone statues staring out into the pacific, i’m not sure why anyone would go all the way out here.  If you want to visit islands in the pacific, there are better ones… i would skip as it is FAR to fly for small payoff, and you’ll get more for your “chile” vacation from the main north-south attractions i’ve covered above.

Ok, i’ve probably been too simplistic in this summary, but that’s my quick top 3 don’ts, and my top 4 (skip Easter Island) regions for “dos”.

Overall, as of June of 2013 when I’m first writing this, Chile is very accessible by rental car (by segment) so I recommend that strongly–don’t be beholden to public transport or a car and driver.  Roads are very safe.  Don’t leave valuables in-sight at tourist parking lots, just like anywhere in the world.  There is very little violent crime outside of the capital, expect pick-pockets to be the worst thing you’ll find in the country.  Not a lot of scams/hustling going on either, really a lovely place to visit and extremely friendly for kids.  Focus on the NATURAL wonders, food will be fine but nothing amazing, wine is good and cheap, and the people will be friendly and not speak english (so brush up on your basics in spanish).

I’ll add more comments to this post as I get a sense of the follow on questions from the folks that have asked me to write this up (you know who you are if you are reading this).

I’ll someday write up the equivalent for Peru and Brazil, which I would favor for more ambitious/exciting tourism… but Chile is a great, safe, lovely place to visit with family and I hope you enjoy your trip!

20 years ago I lived in Madrid for my junior year in college.  It was a lovely time of life.  I was very fortunate to make several new great friends while living in Spain, but i also brought with me several close friends from Palo Alto High School which coincidentally also ended up in Spain that same year (none attended UCLA with me, or had any coordination in planning their own year abroad to coincide with my choice of Spain/Madrid).  At one point a motley crew of us ended up attending a bull-fight (under the auspices of one of our parents who was visiting and hosted both the bull outing and a epic memorable meal at Casa del Botin (one of the oldest restaurants in Spain / the world).

As my year in Madrid was winding down in the summer of 1992, Tobin and I went backpacking together in the southern Cordillera Nevada region which is in Andalusia near Granada.  A magical string of small “white villages” dot the steep slopes of the mountain and are connected by small wandering foot-paths and a precarious mountain road with infrequent bus service.  During a 3 day hike/camping excursion (and by “camping”, i mean we slept on the dirt ground by the side of the road) we had a bunch of laughs and celebrated Tobin’s 21st birthday.

At some point on the last day of our camping one of us proposed that we “should return 20 years from now and re-trace our trek” which stuck in both of our minds and was a looming 2012 date with destiny which I am happy to say we executed to great success last week.  We started by meeting in Madrid where we were joined by 3 friends who are married to europeans and have taken up home on the old-world.  Matt, Mike, and Clark joined us in Madrid for 48hrs of intensive and seemingly perpetual tapas hoping (with beverages of course).  While my liver suffered a bit it was my gut that really hurt (from so much laughing)–amazing how so many things can change yet be the same… the ridiculous antics and reminiscing were together an amazing time travel potion which I drank with great thirst (but let’s be honest, 48hrs was about the right amount of it!)

As the europeans made their ways back to their families, Tobin and I headed south to Andalusia and through bullet train and rental car transport (neither of which existed (train) or where available to us (as 20 year olds) last time we were here), found ourselves back in our old stomping ground in the Alpujarras.  We couldn’t quite find the same brick wall to sit on and take our “20 years later” photo, but we were definitely in the hunt and amongst the same villages and fields.  Everything seemed the same yet different–lots of internet cafes, more tourism, better roads… and of course, things just seemed smaller and less foreign in general (instead of quaint villagers, we were surrounded by german tourists).  But hey, we did it–we made good on our “let’s do this in 20 years” pledge, and the 3 hour late lunch capped with yet another cafe-con-leche sealed the deal.

As a bonus we hit Granada for some tapas and photo-taking, as well as Ronda which finally gave us some good weather and some ridiculously blue skies.  We also had a chance to visit two of buuteeq’s customers in the region, the Hacienda de San Rafael (farmhouse turned luxury retreat, about 45 minutes from Seville) and Corral del Rey (boutique luxury in the center of the Santa Cruz old city center of Seville, walking distance from everything).

So, what did I learn 20 years later (if anything)?  There were some really great and accessible insights that both Tobin and I rallied around in realtime, as well as some parting thoughts that came together on the long-haul flight back to Seattle:

• 20 years old is a great age!  Before the trip i often spoke of Spain and my time in Spain 20 years ago as equal parts of a wonderful recipe.  Without taking anything away from Spain, i would now say with great clarity that being 20 is a great age and a great time of life and the fact that we were in Spain was a very big secondary dynamic.  The “right of passage” concept played out elegantly for us 20 years ago, in europe and having access to so many inspirations (the art, food, architecture, and distinct culture of spain)–but really, the magic was inside us directly, and it hadn’t have been Spain our muse may have come in many forms.  I am glad that I was “overseas” at that time, it was perfect for me and what I needed to really thrive and grow at that moment in my life… and I will recommend to my own kids when they reach the age.
• Some things don’t change.  Early in the week amongst the larger group dynamic of the 5 of us in Madrid, I shared with the boys how excruciatingly embarrassing i often found their public behavior when we were in highschool.  Matt and Clark and Mike together often involved a public theater of improvisation and one-upmanship in which the three tried to perform in the most outrageous and obnoxious ways, the better to prove themselves the greatest fool of the group.  Upon hearing some of my anecdotal examples of this behavior (such as mock-chasing down and beating each other in public to the horror of casual bystanders) Clark pointed out, emphatically, that “we were in high school!” as if that behavior was (a) excusable and (b) far, far behind us.  Within 15 minutes the same dynamic kicked in, as if prophetically, and the boys did their best to up-the-ante throughout the weekend… fortunately nobody landed in prison, and my gentle reminder to them that (sarcastically) “we we’re in high school!” was great fodder for laughter to us all (albeit I genuinely was horrified by a few of the antics and kept my distance and made sure to not photograph some of the offending stuff so that there would be no public record!)
• Looking -20/+20.  Over a round of monster caipirinhas at the Beguim de Beguet (a favorite bar from 20 years ago, still operating, in dilapidated but charming disrepair) we did the group show and tell exercise of “where did you think you would be in 20 years, 20 years ago… and where do you think you’ll be 20 years from now” and for myself i feel very accomplished and connected on behalf of my 20 year old self–i’ve traveled broadly, experienced great happiness in my marriage and family, and accomplished more than i could have hoped for professionally (in terms of satisfaction), albeit not in the field that at the time I wanted to pursue (film industry).  Looking forward 20 years, i had very little ambition in my answer–basically i just want to see the things that are already in motion play out (my kids, my marriage, healthy and happy, not as much travel, etc.)… and in this regard I really felt like i was looking into a mirror at my younger and older self, over a 40 year narrative arc, and giving a thumbs-up back at the mirror… i loved all three images I saw (20 year old, today, and 60 year old) versions of me.
• Travel is like getting into a teleportation machine.  I’m so happy to be working in the travel industry (buuteeq, hotel marketing services company).  Getting on a plane from Seattle and getting off in Madrid a day later was like rising into the sky and having the planet rotate beneath our boeing jet… when I got off in madrid I was surrounded by life-long-friends, transported back in time to 20 years ago where we retraced steps and experiences.  Just a few days later to get back on the plane and just as quickly to find myself back in Seattle with my current day joys of family and work–it was a lovely trip.

We were awoken last night by the 8.8 earthquake that hit chile. We ran to our children’s rooms after we realized it was not the usual 10 sec shaker which is so common here given the subduction zone of the pacific and continental plate here which among other things produces the Andean mountain range with dozens of sub 20,000 ft peeks. We huddled under the doorways with a kid each in hand. Thankfully our house survived structually, although we could hear shattering glass throughout the house. It seemed to go on forever, reports say 90 secs but if you told me it was 5 minutes I would believe you.

Afterwards we gathered outside in the yard with Tata Emilio who is with us. We managed to get back to sleep eventually and rode out the aftershocks which were impressive unto themselves and super frequent, just had a biggish one again a good 9 hours later.

Our house suffered some damage including lots of blown out shelves, smashed tv, some shattered windows, 18 inches of the pool water level tossed out, etc etc but nothing important, we are thrilled to be safe and to learn that all of our immediate family is as well. However we got news of an immediate horrifying tragedy in our extended family involving loss of life of young children, a visceral reminder of the seriousness of the situation and i’m sure of similar news that will be affecting many folks here and where tsunami lands.

Thankyou to all ofour friends and family that have written with concern and well wishes, we will update more when can, for now we have no phoneor electric or water and cell phone battery is almost dead. Prayers to all those affected. Much love, forest and Cristina and the boys.

Chilequake Day 3

We’ve been without water and electricity the last few days.  As there is no electricity in our general part of the city (the north) there is also no gas at the stations (no pumps), so we’ve been mostly home bound.  At the house we have the swimming pool water to use for flushing the toilets and for washing dishes, so we’ve been relatively well off.  We bbqed the defrosting meet from the freezer so it wouldn’t go bad, and we have plenty of fruits and vegetables.  We were down to our last bottle of drinkable water, but on a excursion to the ‘hood we found a store open and were able to re-supply with plenty of water.  We’ do have gas for the stove, so we’ve been able to eat well.  We have candles for the evening but basically have been going to bed with the sun.  The moon has been full these last few days, which has made the nights calming.

The aftershocks are very frequent, surely we must have had 50 or more by now… they come with such frequency that sometimes we don’t even bother to mention them.  They are thankfully all smaller and decreasing further in intensity each time they appear.  Sunday morning there was a aftershock that was pretty long, and we jocked that “in a normal climate, that would have been a big one”… we later heard that it was a 6.0 and was nearby in Valparaiso, indeed, a big one by normal standards but for us that is now a baby-quake!

Our immediate family and friends all seem to be fine—we don’t have good phone access as our cell phones are dead.  Today i’m at a relative’s in Santiago so that I can call family in a few hours (when pacific coast wakes up), and reports are that by and large folks are ok, even our cousin and her 6 children from Curico, which is very very close to the epicenter.  Their town (Curico) got pretty flattened, but their house and the houses of their friends and colleagues from the farm were thankfully all ok.

Unfortunately some of our extended family were touched by this tragedy in the worst way possible–a cousin lost two young children to a tsunami wave, they were very close to the epicenter vacationing.  We will try to go to the mass this weekend with other family members.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles.

Thank you to everyone that has emailed us with concern and well wishes—it has been very comforting to receive your notes.  Chile is generally well prepared for earthquakes because they are so common here, but even with great construction codes the devastation is palpable, even though I have seen almost nothing on the television or web (as we have been without electricity), so at this point you all know more than we do.

Forest, Cristina, the boys, and Tata Emilio who is with us.

5 Days, Still no Electricity

So i wanted to start with something positive, so here is a nice picture taken earlier this (southern hemisphere) summer by our friend Jeannie Duisenberg who visited us for a lovely week together with her partner Rich Hlava.  We had so much fun with them, we were sad to see them go!  One of our two kittens is pictured here with us, her name is Bilz.

Bilz is sister of the other cat, Pap.  Bilz y Pap is a duo of “fantasy drinks” (aka sugar water with carbonation and lots of synthetic coloring) that are homegrown Chilean brands, just like Inka Cola in Peru (which has a coloring additive that is banned in the united kingdom from studies that show that it makes young kids *crazy*).  Here’s a picture of Bilz & Pap cartoon characters, that proudly rep the sugar water to young children and parents everywhere in Chile.  We liked them so much, and the kids the sugar water, that we named the kittens accordingly.

Ok, with that positive story off my chest (so that this blogroll doesn’t become all doom and gloom), i’ll update you that we are in the minority of Santiago residents that still don’t have electricity, ending day 5 and soon to be going on day 6 since the earthquake.  Thank god for our pool, which is providing lots of water for washing dishes and for the toilets, as well as a natural bath of sorts, albeit highly chlorinated.  We’ve burned through our candles, so I’m off to get some more for this evening.  The kids have been going to bed early with the sun, which is a plus as we get ready for the school year which starts monday (Was supposed to start today, but was moved out because of the quake, since our school, like many, was out of electricity for a while).  Otherwise, we continue to be safe and thankful!

Electricity, Electricity!

Electricity is a great thing, especially when it powers the pump that draws water from the well deep in the earth beneath your home owners group’s shared property.  The swimming pool showers, toilet refills, and dish washing was getting really old. A world without electricity is now much easier for us to imagine—it is one devoid of light in the evenings, of iphone charging during the day, of VOIP telephony to talk to business colleagues in China and the USA, and without the joy of LED powered LCD monitors full of lovely images to watch. 

Carlos had done a unit of inquiry at his 2nd grade class in Beijing last year, and they talked about electricity in other ways—but somehow i think the Chilean Earthquake lesson on electricity was much more compelling?  I know he and his brother will remember the earthquake more for it’s lack of electricity than for its overpowering rattling forces and shattering windows.

Kids are now in school (day 2) and dealing with the crash course of being surrounded by spanish speakers all day long; not loving it so far but who could.  I do think they will adapt quickly, and we should be enjoying spanish only chit-chat in 6-8 weeks time.

Here’s some photos of our house and neighborhood with earthquake destruction (which I hadn’t been able to upload easily without, electricity…)

Here’s the living room window blown out by a collapsing bar.  This and our smashing TV set were the loudest of the glass breaking events in the house proper:

Many of the walls surrounding farms in our neighborhood were knocked over in long stretches, sometimes for several hundred yards at a time, like this one just down the street.  Good thing it didn’t fall into the street, as that would have cut off our access to get food/water!

And here’s the toxic cloud of muck created by a explosion at a nearby chemical plant.  The gray cloud is dark dark dark black in a properly exposed photo, and the clear white sky on the horizon was the otherwise clear sky that day.  i’ve been itching my skin ever since, wondering if we have real chemical/toxic exposure!

Cristina and I have been a fan of “making the connection” ever since I first learned of the concept whilst reading a Tom Cahill travel story about “spelunking”, the sport of cave exploration.  In caves, the challenge is to find a way out of the cave that is different than your way in, so that you have “making the connection” through the cave—usually this follows the current/past path of water through which formed the cave structure.  We learned to apply the spirit of “making the connection” to any kind to many sorts of adventurous—car trips, walking and hiking outings, multi-country or city vacations, etc.  The goal is to always return via a different route, the better to see new places/things along the way, and not return via known path.  This has never gone wrong on us, although a few times we did find ourselves on difficult roads, longer than desired outings, and a few times, completely lost and near despair—but nothing serious that wasn’t outweighed by the excitement of exploration and adventure.

However, last weekend things went horribly wrong.

My friend from China Li has been visiting me in seattle, and was desirous of some outdoors time and we agreed on the Olympic Peninsula.  A friend recommended the Storm Ridge Trail at Crescent Lake, about 3 hrs drive from Seattle proper via Puget Sound Ferry crossing.  We left the house at 5:45 am and arrived at trailhead just ahead of 9am.  The ranger at the trail head was not yet open for business, but we caught a few words with him as he was raising the flag on the flagpost, and learned that the trail was “straight up ahead”, that it was “very strenuous/challenging”, and that it should take no more than “3 hours” roundtrip.  A “3 hour tour”, as Gilligan’s Island theme song says…

Given the relatively short time horizon, we took with us16 ounces of water each, a sandwich, some dried apricots, and were lightly clothed (i in shorts and sandals + tshirt.  This was mistake number 1… new motto in life will forever be “always take 3x the water you think you need”.

We started hiking and were instantly in a happy place—gorgeous day, tall verdant trees and lush ferns all around us, a happy little stream/creek running through the valley that we started to slowly ascend.  Eventually the trail started to get steeper, then VERY steep, and we spent what seemed like hours hiking straight up a never ending series of switchback turns.  After what seemed like 3 hours i was beginning to worry that we might be on the wrong trail… lo and behold, it had indeed been 3 hours!  and we WERE on the wrong trail!  We finally crested the climb and found ourselves at an intersection of our trail with another well signed/indicated park trail.  At this point we looked on the map we had picked up at trailhead (note to self—look at map before starting, not only once realizing you are lost) and found that we had hiked 7.5 miles already (making our current hike a 6 hour project even if we turned back right now), this as we finished the last drops of water we had with us.

So we had a decision to make… turn around immediately and return to the car by trail we just climbed, or… “make the connection”—a path to our left clearly indicated by trailhead signs indicated it was 5 miles down the trail, where another trail would meet and from there 2 miles to the road.  in other words—7 miles back to the road (where we could hitchhike to the car) by a NEW path, with likely better views of the valley and lake than our hike to date had offered, or a retreat in defeat by our first route.  Neither Allan nor I hesitated for a second—we wanted to make the connection, and we headed off on the Aurora Ridge Trail for what would be a fun, if thirsty, second half of our day.  Even now thinking back on that decision, i don’t think we were making a mistake given the information we had available to us.  In the future, the lack of water will be something that would sway me more, but at that time, i felt that i was going to be thirsty one way or another, so might as well see some new sights along the way!

So… 2 hours later (along a beautiful trail i might add), we enter into a meadow and the trail starts to fade out into bushes and tall grass.  This had sort of happened a few times earlier, so we weren’t immediately alarmed, but as the minutes past and we searched high and low, including going forward on promising leads and then retreating to last known part of the trail several times, we increasingly had a feeling of “holy cow, this trail doesn’t continue”.  We were now 12 miles from our car, with a good uphill climb at our backs in order to get to the original trail, extremely tired (cramping in legs was very intense, especially during any increase of elevation/slope), and did i mention—had no water?  What to do?

Frankly, for the next 2 hours I didn’t think once of going back—it was simply to far to try 12 mile hike, when we were only 2.5 miles from the road and safety—if we could just find the trail!  So this is when we made our first real mistake—we went off the trail (NEVER LEAVE THE TRAIL) and started hiking along the ridge and through the forest, whilst visually trying to decipher the topology around us and mapping it back to our extremely low resolution/not topo-map map.  Thank god neither of us broke a leg or otherwise got into trouble at this point, we were stomping around on very steep slopes, over and under big fallen trees, and fortunately did not come across rattlesnakes or bears/etc.  However, now it is nearing 4pm, we are really lost, and the prospect of spending the night in the woods is starting to loom (with no water!)

So we make our way back to the trail, in the middle of a meadow, in the middle of a lovely forest… just 2.5 miles from the road, perhaps just 500 meters from the trail to that road, and have to settle on turning back (not making the connection!) and retracing our steps back up and then down what will total 12.5 miles.

Despite the pain in our legs, the sense of impending doom, and thirst!!!!!! Allan and I both had a remarkably serene outlook…  we were having fun the entire time.  I pushed my body farther on this hike than I did during the marathon in tokyo earlier this year, and there was the prospect of possible injury or worse, but i never lost sight off the beauty of nature, the spiritual stillness surrounding us.  This was a fun day.

That said—in the meadow, looking up and down the ridge, off the trail where we shouldn’t have been, i couldn’t help but ask myself “are you frickin kidding me… how is this happening to us?”  It was “Touching the Void”, “Into Thin Air”, and “Man vrs Wild” all wrapped up in one crazy brain rush.  My wife and kids are in Chile, so far away… and I’m just 2 miles from the road—but i’m LOST without water, in real danger.

Oh shit.

Anyways, while there are many more details that are curious and fun to narrate in person, for the blog i’ll share the big finale—we made it to the ridge by 6pm, giving us 2 hrs to return down a 3hr section (before certain nightfall/darkness).  We drank some running water we found (giardia and other diarrhea producing diseases likely found in the water source, be damned!) and tromped down the path to the creek in the valley, where we were hosted to total and utter darkness, the kind where you can’t see ANYTHING in front of you, let alone the path which runs along the ravine, full of precipitous rocks and other obstacles
that would be painful to experience after a fall.

This is where the iPhone came in—my phone had been without a signal all day, and useless as a phone, GPS/map, email, or anything else… but as a flashlight, however dim the screen would otherwise be considered, it was a godsend.  Allan held on to my backpack and i guided us forward like two blind/lost bozos, for what was at least 2 miles.  When we finally saw the headlights of cars on the road ahead we knew we were going to get home that night.

We were on the trail for 12 hrs.  25 miles.  5,000 + feet up (and then down).  Wow.

To repeat, lessons learned:

(1) take more water than you could ever drink

(2) for good measure, always take water purifying tablets (along with a canteen or plastic bottle that could be used for that purpose)

(3) don’t always trust the forest/park service signs… we were on marked paths that turned out to be not very well maintained—we put too much faith in the park service

(4) making the connection, need not always be, the #1 priority!

New Chapters in countries that start with “CH” sound

So we are on to our next adventure, in our quest to live in all the countries in the world that start with the “CH” sound, we have packed our things up in China, passed through Seattle, and are on our way to Chile.  In a few years we plan to move to Chad, completing the trifecta.

Specifics of what we are doing there, how, and where exactly in the country… i will save for when I’m actually there and can write from a sofa wih the laptop in front of me and a cold Pisco Sour in hand.  Suffice to say the primary driver was this—after 5.5 years with Microsoft and working on the same core business (Silverlight & Expression product lines), I was ready for a change in latitude at work… and for the family, it was going to be now or never if we wanted the kids to be indoctrinated in the black arts of the spanish language with a native accent.  As most of my friends and many of my colleagues know, i lived in Chile at a young age and it has markedly defined my personal life perspective, goals, and temperament… i’ve always wanted to replicate some aspect of that experience for my own children, and low-and-behold, we opted to do a flashback and replicate it exactly! 

Cristina and the kids are on the beach in Zapallar as i type, already enjoying Machas Parmesanas, Locos con Mayonesa, Lucuma flavored ice-cream, Chirimoya fruit, and our favorite—Maraqueta bread, fresh twice daily, still warm from the oven when you put the butter on it and a inch of Palta (avocado) with some salt.  It is the 18th of September there tomorrow, the independence day of the country, so she is enjoying celebrating with family and is off to a rip roaring start.

I am finishing up at work tomorrow and turning in my badge (literally), then taking a week to wrap up things with the house and some friends and family, and then voila, off to rendezvous and begin the next chapter.  I’m officially changing the blog sub-heading today to “Chilean Keys”, as Beijing is now so yesterday…

Much more to come, now that Cristina and I can access the blog freely, from an unregulated internet market (no Chinese firewall to get in the way!

We are here — Chile 2009

Which is where? Pisco Elqui, of the Valle del Elqui, about 6-7 hours north of Santiago, due east of La Serena, close to the Andean border with Argentina.  Beautiful, dry and warm climate.  A throwback to the 70s with Chilean hippies, lots of crochet, and a very non-commercial yet tourist friendly ambiance.  Tiny.  It is 1% the size of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, with the same blend of colonial/rural/mestizo look and feel with a reverence for nature and new age spirituality. No gringo owned art galleries, no outrageously gorgeous jewelry stores, but a handful of tiny shops with local artisanal products, some really cute restaurants, cabins for rent, horses and lots of vineyards.  This is the center for Pisco; two brands that come from the region are Capel and Mistral, the latter taking its name from the famous poet Gabriela who hailed from the region. Not far from here is an organic winery. The valley also houses a couple state-of-the-art observatories with the some biggest telescopes in the world. Can’t wait to check them out, but for the time being, looking at the stars with the naked eye is pretty phenomenal–even with a moon, you can see shooting stars and globs of constellations, 300 days a year.

We live in a funky house that was probably built 100 years ago, but renovated with Balinese flair by Justin, son of Ximena, friend of Jane and Emilio. Justin and his wife Cony lived in India and Bali pre-babies. They’ve been here around 6 years. Very creative folks with cute kids and lots of interests. With others in their community, they helped start up a Waldorf school, part of a branch of alternative schools based on German philosopher Rudolf Steiner’s alternative beliefs about children’s development and education. One of our reasons for coming to Elqui (sight unseen for both of us) was our belief that this nurturing school environment would be the most stress-free way to get the kids immersed in Spanish.  So far, both kids come home jubilant and go to school excited to see what will unfold. It’s only a 10 minute walk and a big part of my day has been getting them both there and back (their days start and end at different times).

That says a lot about the pace of our lives.  There’s not a lot to do or anywhere to go, which is just fine by us.  Forest has been productive in a little office he set up here at the house. When the boys come home we all have lunch at 2, Chilean style.

October has always been my favorite month and Fall always felt like renewal to me, but on the flip side of the seasons, starting Spring on the flip side of life after Beijing, in our own topsy turvy way it all feels right.

Road Trip to Copiapo

Oct 26, 2010

This weekend we decided to hit the road, departing from Pisco Elqui (where we have been living in Chile, in case that is news to you!):

(view from our home’s porch, up the valley):

The valley behind leads down from our town towards the sea and the “city” of La Serena…

… (which is in the IV Region of Chile) to head north towards Copiapo, capital of the III Region.  A gorgeous drive on the new “coast highway” in the III Region, about 200 miles of “dirt” road that drives like a dream–we could make 60mph+ for long stretches at a time.  We saw 3 cars all day on Saturday, and literally 100s of miles of gorgeous beaches with few to no people on them.  Here’s the road… sometimes straight as an arrow for 20-30 miles at a time.

The view out the window was captivating, and although we saw many “vicuna xsing” signs, we didn’t see any (vicunas are like llamas… wild in this part of the country)

Did I mention, the beaches were EMPTY?  Here’s our car parked at the national park parking lot… gorgeous dunes, not a soul in sight!

At our northernmost point, we hit “Bahia Inglesa”, a lovely beach resort with 150 full time inhabitants.  There were about 50-60 beach goers there on the saturday, presumably from the nearby Copiapo and Caldera cities (towns of 50,000 or less, 90  minutes drive from this isolated beach):

We stayed in the hamlet of Huasco one night, caught the local children’s halloween costume parade, apparently becoming very popular down here in the southern hemisphere.

we hit a local market for fresh produce on our way back home; Cristina’s keen sense of haggling, developed in Beijing and in Chinese, has transitioned marvelously to the Chile/Spanish…

and then arrived home sweet home.  All the best from the entire family, from Pisco Elqui Chile (sorry, couldn’t get a picture of all four of us yet–we’ll keep working on that!)

Pisco Elqui Gorgeous Views

Nov 23, 2009

So our little house in Pisco Elqui is part of a vacation rental complex run by our neighbor/landlord called Cabanas Elquimista, and amongst the little cabins/houses dotting the side of the valley wall is his house itself, which he built and which has a super groovy hippie good-times vibe going on.  My favorite feature of his house is his porch, which has a completely open/infinity-horizon thing going on because it actually has no railing/safety perimeter, rather, it just extends to an edge and then drops about 12 feet down the ravine… a perilous environment or late night drunken accidents to occur (remember, this is the home of Pisco production in Chile, a brandy like booze of 100+ proof, usually drunk with sugary mixes which makes it go down faster and hit you harder than usually prudent).  Take a look at the porch:

I tell you, it is positively exhilarating to be on a structure that has both a great view, and a palpable sense of imminent chaos of human bodies flying off the edge into the abyss!

The entire property has that feeling to some extent, in that the houses are all built along the break in the valley, giving great panoramic views from most places on the property, including the pool and the terraced cactus gardens (we are in a desert, remember!)  Here are a few more shots of the environs:

Mistral Pisco Distillery Tour

Nov 23, 2009

Per the namesake of our little town, yes, there is actually some Pisco distillery action in the ‘hood at the Pisco Mistral production plant.  Pisco is a Chilean and Peruvian liquor that runs between 40 and 55 % alchohol levels (80 to 110 proof), and to my untrained palette taste pretty much like a brandy.  In it’s basest form, the stuff is usually mixed with Coca Cola to make a “piscola” drink which gets you drunk in a hurry and at a super low cost.  A bottle of generic Pisco runs as little as $5 USD at the market.  The industry apparently has some hopes of upping the profile of the drink, perhaps because they are loosing out on the “get drunk quick and cheap” market segment to Rum, which is even cheaper still, and comes in from export countries that have a ton of sugar crops which i presume are higher yielding/volume than growing Pisco from wine grapes.  So, towards the end of improving the drink’s reputation and charging more per bottle, the local Mistral distillery has been putting the product into oak barrels to age for a few years, giving it a decidedly woody taste and a yellower color. The tour of the plant is most impressive, particularly in admiring the swanky new “bodega” they have put in place to make the whole thing seem more regal.  Check out the inside:

The old copper boiling kilns were pretty cool as well, where the grape juic/wine is boiled to extract the alchohol so that it can be condensed and then distilled and later put into the oak barrels.

And, this awesome looking old school truck for transporting the grapes from the harvest in the fields:

But by far, better than the product/pisco that we sampled, was the “disneylandesque” garden and restaurant, which have been built to convey “better than your average piscola” heritage to those visiting:

Halloween in Chile 2009

Nov 23, 2009

When i was a kid living in Chile in the 1970s, the lack of a Halloween celebration was one of my biggest beefs with the country (the other two were lack of Root Beer, and no saturday morning cartoons).  So it is with surprise and amusement that we now find that Halloween is a serious event here, even in our own little town in the mountains.  I have mixed feelings—on the one hand, it is obvious that kids love the fun and the candy, so it is a great thing for children everywhere to partake in.  On the other, the shameless consumerism of made-for-industry holidays like this one (something like 20% of all candy for the entire year is sold for the event, in the USA) is abhorrent and a bummer to see it so far away from its consumer roots in the USA, infiltrating little villages in the Andes!

Check out the little dirt roads in our town, with scary kids in pursuit of mischief and candy + artificial colors.

Desert Drive to Coast

Nov 23, 2009

Emilio and I did an amazing overland trip from Pisco Elqui.  When you look at a map of chile on Google Maps, you get a very false impression that all roads are created equally.  In our part of Chile, maybe 10% of the roads are paved, so a good local map not only distinguishes between paved/not but also between degrees of “not paved”, which range from packed gravel, to packed dirt, to loose dirt, and then the lowest form of them all, loose dirt SINGLE TRACK, roads that are so gnarly that you not only need a 4×4 vehicle, but also to drive with trepidation because at any moment you could find yourself facing down another vehicle, on the middle of a steep hill with no guardrails.  The first leg of our weekend outing was on such a road, south from Vicuna into the Rio Hurtado valley.

The first hour we probably were making 40km per hour progress, but then the road got really hard core and we were down to 20km/p/h for long stretches.  It took us over 3 hrs to go less than 40 miles.  But it was the most fun i’ve ever had with a 4×4 vehicle, and the vistas were just incredible… the air is so dry, you can literally see mountains in the distance that are 100s of miles away.

Once we got to Hurtado the road opened up and eventually became paved, as we made our way into Ovalle for a yummy lunch at the local “Social Club”.  Afterwards we continued along a paved road down to Combarbala, through river valleys and past mile after mile of grapes, avocadoes, and other fruits being squeezed from the desert by modern irrigation marvels (we saw several large irrigation damns).

The cacti were fantastic, some flowering with bizarre fruits.  Late in the afternoon we hit the coast at Huentelauquen and made our way down to Los Vilos, a windy place to say the least, but still charming.  We found a funky little hotel with a great deck view of the bay:

and then we walked out to the point of town to catch the sunset, followed by a feast of abalones and wine before snuggling up in our beds (i had forgotten how humid the coast is, i much prefer the dry as bone desert air in our village)

The next morning we did some exploration of the coast between Pichidangui and Los Vilos for possible property investment, the highlight of which was this piece of land, complete with amazing cliff and ocean inlets—a bit pricey at $130,000 USD for 1.5 acres. 

On the plus side, it does include water and electricity… unlike other properties we saw that were 1/10th the price, but playfully offered as “eco-lots” because you are on your own to produce solar/etc. for your water and power needs.

Here we are at Pichidangui beach, which tata of course wanted to immediately ravage with a quick swim (i held him off till later in the day, in Totoralillo closer to Serena).

Punta Choros and Isla Damas

Nov 23, 2009

This weekend we picked the kids up after school and headed down to the coast to explore the Isla Damas national park area, famous for fauna lining the islands just off the coast.  The Humboldt current runs along the coast of most of southern Chile, with icy cold waters that come up in a subduction zone that brings rich nutrients from the depths up to the surface where fish can gorge themselves, and then a sequence of predators can gorge on them and each other in a fantasmagorific orgy of consumption.  Bottle nose dolphins, orcas and other whales, dozens of migratory birds, sea lions and otters, etc. line the coast feasting on each other.

The drive on yet another dirt road was fun as always, the thrill has far from eluded me (to date), and led to a windswept peninsula/point with the little town of Punta Choros.  I had found some cute cabins on the web earlier in the day, and they were even better in person.

We were undeterred by the wind and set off for several great hikes along the coast, with mostly clear skies over the weekend and warm temperatures if you could lay down low enough to get out of the wind!

Sunsets were fantastic as usual, and a local fisherman sold us a dozen LARGE abalone for about $1.50 USD per… it was yet another abalone orgy, as we prepared them with mayonaise, stir fried with pasta, and ate them on little toasted breads.

The evenings were fun, we didn’ t have internet connection or tv, but we did have our portable electronics and plenty of electricity to power them…

The highlight was the “3 hour tour” (we explained the meaning of that phrase to the kids, who thought that it sounded hilarious (Gilligan’s Island) to the islands.  As luck would have it, my camera ran out of battery power very early on the outing, so i missed dozens of great wildlife shots of dolphins and sea lions, which were a thrill to see in such high density in their wild environments.  The dolphins were everywhere, jumping high into the air at several points, and following our boats around playfully as usual (we see quite a bit of them in Santa Barbara shores in California).  Here’s a poor stand’in photo wise:

Just 30 minutes into our drive back home sunday morning, both the boy asked “when can we come back”, so this clearly ranked as a top 10 destination for them—they really like being in beach cabins i guess?

Rural Roads in Chile

Dec 3, 2009

Only one road goes in and out of this town.  No one goes to work in an office. Kids don’t play organized sports of any kind, and although there is a big open dirt field to play futbol, hardly anyone does. There are three nice bars and 2 divey ones. Everyone hates the foggy coastal city La Serena. I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t do some kind of art, craft or music. You can get Pisco Sour flavored ice cream. When we need to buy one or two things for a meal, we go to the local almacen that has stuff behind a counter. When we want to stock up on meat and produce, we drive 45 minutes to Vicuna, a bigger town that has one store for veggies, one store for meat and dairy, and one for dry goods like beans and rice.  The kids get a comic book  and use their pocket money to buy “Gogos,” the latest craze in small, collectible plastic playthings, or maybe we’ll indulge them with a Bilz, the Chilean “Bebida de Fantasia,” a bright red soda that tastes like heaven.  We are always happy to come back to the warm embrace of the dry hills that envelope our valley cabana.

In the Greek classic the Odyssey, and in Tennyson’s poem “the Lotos Eaters,” Odysseus and his men get mired in a land of languid air and intoxicating flowers which the sailors want never to abandon. Why go back to a land of toil, they ask, when one can spend days looking at the view? From their awesome terrace? Drinking wine and eating cheap avocados every day?? To hell with the crappy internet connection. Oh, wait, what was I talking about? The Land of Lotus Eaters or Pisco Elqui?

We settled in here 2 months ago, and have been loving it.  However, when the boys break for Summer vacation in mid-December, we will take off.  We spent the last month diligently researching areas to live for the next couple of years, and it was a hard decision to rule out Pisco Elqui, on the grounds that Forest’s business will be very hard to manage out here with the internet infrastructure being sub-optimal, adding time to international travel (it’s another 1-hour connecting flight up here from Santiago and only one a day).

Staying with the “Ch” theme, we will move to Chicureo in January:  20 minutes outside the capital, semi-country, semi-urban, great Montessori school, lovely house with big yard.

I’m sad.

I feel like Robert Plant when he sang “Baby, you know I’m gonna leave you. I’m a leave you in the summertime. Leave you when the summer comes along.”

People have asked how we are able to do this. Move around. We have our methods. But it isn’t so so so easy.  My feelings get all stirred up. I cry. We talk. And then we ramble on.

Santa @ The Beach in Zapallar

Dec 25, 2009

In what is clearly the most damning evidence that Santa Claus and Christianity in general are ill suited to southern hemisphere culture, we are enjoying the pagan winter equinox festival which coincides with the coldest and darkest season in europe, summer equinox style at the beach in Zapallar with family.  Balmy days, sun setting at 9:30pm, and santa arriving at the beach do deliver colorful balloons at sunset while the kids scream and go crazy—good times!

Road Trip to Mendoza

April 5th, 2010

So it was easter week here in lovely christianized south america, and Cristina was itching to get out of dodge so we opted for what we thought initially would be a proverbial “3 hour tour” to cross the Andes mountains over to the Argentinian side of the border, and the fabled city of Mendoza which is famous for wine and great steaks.  Looking at the map it looked like 3 hours of driving, but we added a safe 2 hours to handle the vertical since we would be going from about 3,000 ft to about 10,000 ft at the pass, plus dealing with the border crossing itself.

Before we left, we set out getting the paperwork in order for our party—both passports for the people and documentation for the car.  This led to a goose chase to track down about 5 different documents that we needed to procure for the car, including a sworn affidavit so we could leave the country with the car since the car is in my uncle’s name (we couldn’t buy the car when we arrived because we needed a RUT #, another wonderful paperchase unto itself); we also needed a international insurance policy (which we bought at a department store akin to Macys), and we needed to find the equivalent of the car’s pink slip (which had been mailed to us in a non-descript envelope that luckily we kept out of uncertainty, about 4 months earlier), and as luck would have it, it was also the time of year to renew the car’s circulation papers.  On the passport front Emilio had to leave the country and come back as he has been here for 180 days without exiting, and we had to dig up and find our “residence permit in transit” papers to show that we are ok to be here for more than 180 days which it has been since we arrived.  Alas, we found everyting, a miracle unto itself, and promised to set off FIRST THING in the morning on Friday so that we could avoid the expected crushing traffic at the border from other weekend trippers heading over in search of great steaks!

A lazy morning and late departure later at 9:30am (as opposed to the goal of 7am) and we had a lovely drive up the valley which is really amazing in how quickly it rises, getting narrower and crazy steep very quickly and culminating in a series of switchbacks that traverse the last 1000 meters of vertical rise in a mere few miles, culminating in a tunnel that goes through the border and into argentina.   The Chilean side topography and flora are completely different than the argentinian side, so it is very dramatic to emerge from one side of the mountain on the other—most notably, the slow and undulating slope down from the mountain on the argentinian side hints of the less violent nature of the mountain formation on that side of the tectonic action.

Then our “3 hour tour” illusion was burst, as we pulled into the joint border processing center, about 5 miles past the border, where we pulled into a nicely compacted line of cars that turned out to be a 2.5hr snail crawl into a large building where no less than 5 different government functionaries stamped and reviewed our various documents—the car getting the worst of it (are there a lot of cross border car thefts?)  The kids were remarkably fine with the long drive in the car, kept busy by Little Lulu books and their Nintendo DSs + some Simpsons episodes on the iPod. 

The remaining drive down the valley and into Mendoza was lovely, along really pretty river terrain but with worsening traffic as we connected with the Mendozino day trippers who had escaped to the mountains for some hiking and river rafting.  We arrived at our hotel after 6pm, a solid 10 hr drive (including a break for lunch).  Yikes!!!  Much more than bargained for.

Of Mendoza, i’d say: beautiful, large european style promenades, gorgeous old homes throughout town, great outdoor restaurants and ice-cream shops, bustling nightlife (of course!), and delectable Steaks and Pasta!  Really surprised us how nice the city was, significantly more interesting and entertaining than a similarly sized chilean city would be.  The wine culture there has developed a nice tourism halo around it, with lots of wine tours and foodie activities (we were with kids so didn’t fully appreciate).  We had a great saturday walking around town, must have done a good 10km of walking total—kids were troupers although their feet hurt at the end of the day.

And for the ride back—in terror of facing a long border crossing and Chilean car traffic returning from the long weekend, i forced the family to get up and be in the car by 6am, which turned out to be fantastic as we had NO traffic, no wait at the border, and made the return trip in 5 hrs door to door!  I wouldn’t do the drive again on a holiday weekend, ever, as we heard that the border can take 5 hrs to get through just in immigration/paperwork and i think that would have really driven me over the edge of sanity.  Definitely would return to Mendoza, our visit was too short.

The ice-cream shop had 6 different variations of Dulce de Leche—just like Eskimos have lots of words for snow, Argentinians like their Dulce de Leche ice cream!

Malaysia Spring Break (Chinese New Year)

Forest says:

Well, it has been so long since either of us posted to our blog, i feel obliged to say something about our recent trip to Malaysia for Chinese New Year.  Kuala Lumpur was a trip: small city, very green and lush, no mosquitoes issues (YES!), and the malls were amazing. Yes, sad but true, we spent both days in KL just going from mall to mall, shopping, checking out children’s museums, and eating yummy spicy gravy saucey goupey food… oh, and the Petronas Towers were really surprisingly gorgeous and pretty, not just tall.

KL bookended our trip to the island of Langkawi, about 45 minutes flight up the coast, basically on the Thailand border.  The island itself was lovely, with lots of jungle and wilderness, and surprisingly little development, despite being the #1 tourist destination in the country.  Our first hotel was a bust however, a older property, on a crummy backpacker haven beach called Pelangi.  We made the most of it, but it felt a lot like being in Tijuana or some other border town… Cristina and I had dinner one night out in the town, and had the pleasure of walking the length of the main strip, dodging open sewer holes every 25ft or so… literally.  When we found a restaurant to sit down at, we couldn’t stop laughing at the surrounding crowd of mostly white, young, unshowered backpackers—reminded me of myself 20 years ago; what I couldn’t figure out is how they could afford to be in this town, which despite being pretty darn low-end, was still pretty pricy when it came to food… i fondly remember having $1 meals back when I travelled with my buddy Adam Dawes through South East Asia in 1993, but at these restaurants the cheapest in and out was going to be $10 or so.
After 2 nights in Pelangi we were inspired and moved to another property, called the Andaman, on the opposite side of the island, 30 minutes from the nearest town.  This place was cheaper actually than our first hotel, but absolutely fantastic/gorgeous, with a private beach, a great swimming pool, and a family friendly room set up with 2 trunk beds in the room (family of 2+2 expected in every room i guess).  The weather all week was absolutely perfect, not too humid, in the mid 80s, with blue skies and a few puffy white cumulus clouds.  We snuck in a Mangrove boat tour, swam on some little offshore islands, and generally had a totally chill time.  Fun watching the kids spend 10 hours in one day in the pool, going up and down the slide in the pool over and over and over and over and over again.  Wonder if they will remember this vacation, or only the photos of themselves with gleeful smiles on their faces.
We saw a bunch of monkeys in the wilderness, that was cool too…

And Cristina adds:

Malaysia is a Muslim country, and while we didn’t do anything cultural in KL, like visit the Islamic Arts museum, just going to the big, rich, trendy malls actually gave us a very full cultural experience.  KL has a lot of wealth from oil (the PETRO in Petronas), so there seems an endless amount of malls.  So logically we spent a lot of time in them. The food court a smorgasbord of regional cuisine, the kid’s dinosaur museum very modern and interactive, the people an endless parade of Malaysian social and religious profiles.  Young couples on holiday fasinated me: women in black veil and shroud, with delicate henna tattoos covering their hands and feet, peeking out of designer shoes, or dressed in very smart fashionable clothes with muslim twist: caps on men, women with elaborately trimmed shawls. I liked seeing teenage girls with blingy head scarves and tight jeans. Most of the Malay women had head scarves elegantly wrapped just so, with some jeweled pin to secure it.  It always matched and accented the rest of their clothes. Occasionally, a little hair would peak out.  Sometimes women had an pre-wrapped scarf with a little visor on their head.
Forest and I debated whether or not the veil was any more oppressive then wearing a bra or shaving for men in the West. I thought that when the men or women were traveling without the opposite sex, their manner seemed extremely modest and serious. Except for the wacky Malay teenage boys with their crazy trendy urban dress and silly behavior.  But when women were with men, they definitely seemed more animated, happy, comfortable and proud.
We also though it interesting to see so many “she-males.” I guess in a culture with very strict mores about gender roles, it’s easier to get away with just switching to the other side completely rather than be a swishy guy. The she-males often worked in women’s retail stores in all their glamorous glory.
Oh, yeah, one more thing compelling us to stay in the Malaysian Mall:  the best bookstore in the world: Kinokuniya, a Japanese “Borders”, in KL caters to Chinese, Malay and English speaking customers.  I didn’t get nearly enough time in there, but it had the best selection of graphic novels and comics, which I’ve happily gotten the boys hooked on. I highly recommend Lulu.

My Mandarin Rocks!!!

Feb 4, 2009 – Cristina

I don’t look at our blog that much, since many blogs are blocked here in China, including ours. I can only access it at Forest’s office. But reviewing it recently, it occurred to me that I haven’t blogged in a long time about our language skills. Since so many family members have marvelled at our astounding fluency, I felt no compelling need to boast about it in writing. But today I do feel like bragging.

My Mandarin ROCKS!!!!

Allow me to qualify. It rocks to anyone who doesn’t speak a word of Chinese, it rocks to anyone who needs help bargaining prices, it rocks to the Chinese who only expect foreigners to be able to say “ni hao” (hello). Hell, my “ni hao” accent is so good that Chinese compliment my Mandarin prowess based on that alone. Which often invites trouble, because when locals start jabbering in Chinese after giving me props on my basic proficiency, I feel like such a turd following up with a lame “shenme???” (what, or, huhhh?).

I’ve studied twice a week for 2 hours a session privately with a Beijinger since I moved here 17 months ago. Only conversation, not writing or reading. I can navigate typical situations quite well: Taxis, shopping, shooting the shit, housekeepers, restaurants, etc. My comprehension suffers due to lack of non-English speaking Chinese buddies to practice with. Outside of the classroom, I do have excellent conversations while getting foot massages with Forest or some friends: I get a captive audience of 2 or more young Chinese with lots of questions about me, happy to share general info about their own lives, where they come from, what they think of Beijing. Chinese people don’t take offense to personal questions, so it makes for interesting exchanges. Sometimes the miscommunication leads to hearty laughs on both sides.

Chinese folks don’t expect foreigners to speak much Chinese, but they don’t hold back their amusement when you mangle words. And when the wrong tones obscure your meaning a little, even if the context seems perfectly clear, people will often stare like you landed from Mars. I still have a hard time with the word for English, which sounds a lot like the word for sing, so I guess I don’t blame someone for being befuddled when a perfect stranger approaches them asking “Do you say sing?” But given that I am clearly a Westerner, would it be such a stretch to guess what I’m asking? Maybe they think I’m auditioning them for American Idol.

Forest befriended an Argentinian fluent in English and Chinese. He offered extremely valuable wisdom: if you speak quickly enough, people will gather your meaning even if your tones are wrong. Which has been a really useful tactic since my Chinese is basically toneless. Luckily, I have managed to memorize a decent amount of vocabulary. But another weird thing happens sometimes–people expect me to speak in English, so they don’t listen for familiar Chinese words–they try to comprehend my funky Mandarin as if it was English, racking their brain to place such strange vocabulary. It happens to me the other way too. But so many Chinese people speak good English that it happens less.

Considering that we may not be in China for more then a half year, the returns on my time invested in learning Chinese are diminishing. If we stay for more then another year, logically I would progress into reading and writing to gain basic literacy. That way, I could become bold enough to go to a really local restaurant without pictures on the menu, and could maybe read the propaganda banners around town. I am always on the verge of quitting classes. And then I learn one new word or form of grammar that sheds a light on one interaction or another, and it becomes worthwhile.

Carlos gets an hour a day in school, and he can write and read some. This also means he gets to appreciate the depth, poetry and ancient beauty in Mandarin that is lost to me. He understands a lot of what our housekeepers say to him, although he seems to get the Anhui accent more then the Shandong accent…don’t know how he would do with Beijingers. But Carlos being Carlos, we hear nary a word from him, unless we are in the next room with our ear to a glass at the wall. We often wonder if we should have put him in a more rigorous program, but I figure that if he really wants to speak Chinese someday, he’ll have a little key in the back of his brain that will help him unlock it. He’ll know it’s possible. Caetano only speaks a bizarre pidgin style Mandarin-English hybrid, but learns little kindergarten level words and songs. And a couple of good insults. Not really what I envisioned, but we all get what we need.

Feathering the Nest

Mar 9, 2009 – Cristina

In the past, the term “developing country” just seemed to me a p.c. euphemism for “third world.” It indicated in an abstract way that the country’s economy was in flux but inching its way up to whatever.

But being in a developing country is cool, because you literally see everything developing with your own eyes. Before the olympics, construction crews clocked endless hours and the city underwent extreme makeover.  Then everyone went home and the magnificent stadiums sit dormant until someone makes a plan for them. Then the world economy crashed and everyone pulled up on their reigns.  A bunch of  “luxury malls” that went up last year are sadly under-occupied.

The bubble may have burst, but there’s still water in the tub. Beijingers seem to still have faith in their own local economies—helped, I’m sure–by the national government’s commitment to a bazillion dollar stimulus package similar to Obama’s.  A bike ride around my neighborhood reveals many projects literally in the works. The little dusty hutong neighborhoods haven’t ceased building, renovating, reinforcing structures, especially in our neck of the woods where the neighborhoods have room to grow. I wonder what these villages will become in 5 more years.  New subway lines are slated, ground being cleared, old business fronts refurbished, shop signs becoming more permanent. And the next “lifestyle center” i.e. mall is pressing forward, albeit at a much slower speed then before.

I’m looking on a micro-level of course.  Big company friends operate in a state of encroaching crisis. But personal economics work very differently here in China. Individuals are not as invested in the stock market.  People do not consume using credit.  If you want an expensive car, camera or coat, you pay cash. If you don’t have the cash, you don’t have those things. The people that are sweating it are the poor folks that work in factories making stuff that Westerners realize they don’t need anymore.

This weekend, the convention center held an expo on interior design and decorative finishes. The area was packed with cars. 

Building your nest, whether it is an Olympic stadium, a 2 story house, or a place for kids to play in your community seems to be an important part of life and emotional balance. We’re all developing that way.

Loaded Weapon

Mar 21, 2009

I’m sitting here in my 22nd floor room at the Hyatt Regency Tokyo, looking out on the horizon where I see looming rain clouds approaching the city, a view that otherwise would reveal lovely Mount Fuji in the distance.  I’ve been up since 6, but awake since 4am or so when my dreams became too vivid and i passed between the sleeping world into the present one.  Today is Tokyo Marathon day.

The thought I’ve had all week while in tokyo is that “i’m a loaded weapon”—in so far that as i’ve done small 5km runs to stay loose throughout the week, i’ve felt each and every time like i was holding back on pulling the trigger.  Months of training have gotten me very accustomed to 60 to 90 minute runs as the norm (10-17km or so), so doing just 5km has felt like taking a bite of a yummy piece of pie, but not being able to fully enjoy.  It sounds overly self-confident to say it, but I really do feel like a race horse that is being held back from sprinting into a gallop.

Yesterday my friend and colleague in Tokyo, together with his wife and lovely baby daughter, took me out to the horse racetrack for the day; it is the first time i’ve ever been to the race track.  The horses were so fast, i was amazed; it made me think of being a foot soldier in battle in the Andes, perhaps as a Inca, being chased down by those horses carrying men with spears and guns on their backs.  The ferocity of those animals, all ripped and sculpted for the express purpose of running fast….

So while I don’t think of myself as a race stallion per say, i do feel like my training has gotten me as prepared physically as I am ever going to get at this point; and mentally, i feel very at peace and ready for the adventure of the day.  As I listen to Bjork on my headphones here in my room, and peer down onto the street, i can see some of the other 35,000 souls who will be pounding the concrete with me this morning. 

Winding Down our China Time

July 17, 2009

Our time here is winding down. We have moved out of our big American style house in the burbs. All of our stuff is being shipped to Seattle. Now we are staying in a super cool apartment/hotel downtown. When we moved to Beijing two years ago, we stayed here, so it feels like coming full circle.  My nephew Lucas is with us, and the boys have been enjoying camps, swimming and cartoons. I love waking up and seeing my favorite park in the city, Tuanjiehu, ringed with high-rise apartments and construction cranes fading into the distance. At night before bed, I look down from the 25th story, spying on locals down below: groups of folks sit together on low stools, fanning themselves and swapping stories, workers laying concrete and operating backhoes into the late night, young adults going to or fro the bright lights of the businesses around the corner.
Walking through this neighborhood takes us past Chinese fast food vendors doing brisk business selling deep fried hotdogs or fresh peaches. Around the corner, a lively side street features an elegant Muslim chain restaurant serving cumin lamb and veal salad. Next door, kebabs to-go grill outdoors. Small eateries  bust out plastic tables and chairs so locals can feast al fresco on peanuts, Tsingtao, kebabs or salty pork ribs.  Small dogs get their stroll about.  Meandering further on, we find ourselves in ever popular Sanlitun bar street, and the newest hippest shopping center: glitzy modern architecture and Western shops–Starbucks, Apple, Adidas—incandescent with commerce and colored glass. There’s room for local families to watch their kids play in the fountains, catch some big screen video art installation, sculpture and people watch. Migrant workers amble through, hardhats in hand, past Chinese yuppies, shopping bags in tow. Party people from all corners of the world parade along in too-sexy looks.
A different scene we find in the park across the street from our place.    We cross a pedestrian bridge over about 13 lanes of traffic to quite a relatively pastoral world: a lake, park benches, rock gardens, bamboo forests and tree covered hills. There’s always a few people playing instruments. Yesterday a guy played lovely traditional melodies on his trumpet. An old man hooked up his harmonica to an amp. Often we hear classical wind or string instrument hauntingly drifting across the water. Towards one of the gates, the ubiquitous calligraphy artist scribes ephemeral poems with a huge brush using only water onto the concrete.  Sometimes community leaders come out and lead people in song or dance. Lately it’s been pretty hot, so when we go out late afternoon or early evening, I find other families out with their little boys running around.
Our friends, the Javal family from Paris, have just arrived and we are really excited to be going on vacation for three weeks with them. Chengdu, Lhasa, Guilin and Hong Kong. Then, back to Beijing for one last goodbye.
Two years….not exactly a fling. This is tough.

Back in Seattle

Aug 22, 2009

Well, after almost exactly 2 years of wonder and adventure, we are back in the USA and I (forest) am back in Seattle, full circle in many regards, but completely heading in a different direction with a different perspective in most.  The experience in China and Asia at large was absolutely fantastic and life changing for all of our family members, both my immediate family, and are many friends and relatives who took advantage of the opportunity and traveled to the region to visit us and share some travel. 

For me, this last week has been physically painful, as I have tackled the unpacking of the 100+ boxes that arrived from storage and from shipping containers from China.  There is *so* much stuff to deal with, and a nearly 30% or greater surplus volume that is generated by the packing materials themselves.  Really overwhelming, but I’m committed to getting through most of it before Cristina and the kids arrive (they are in soCal visiting family for a few more weeks). 

A general feeling of lightness/lack of focus tends to overcome me in the late afternoons and early evenings—perhaps a legacy of jetlag, perhaps a (reasonable to expect) sense of cultural dislocation and general disconnectedness from the routines of life, of which i have almost none right now… no constant at work, no constant at home.  It is a wonderous time, the time before the storm and beginning of a new adventure for our family.

As a side comment: i’m pretty sure the word “ginormous” (as in giant-enormous) has passed the requisite popular culture vernacular threshold, and should be include din the oxford english dictionary/etc.; i hear people using it everywhere, several times this week alone, and it is a favorite of both of my children!