An Ode - A Lament - to shoes of old, or just old shoes, you choose!

So a year ago, when we went to Spain and Portugal we walked, a lot!  I took 2 pairs of shoes; a pair of Fitflop flipflops, and a pair of Mephisto sandals.  I took these 2 pair because they are comfortable, broken in, and have really good arch support.  I am overweight, and have plantar faschitis, a really bad combo for crappy shoes.

When we came back after a month, people kept saying we had lost weight.  We really hadn't noticed.  When we went we took minimal clothes, and jetisoned quite a bit of those before we returned.

I did notice a difference in my clothes once we returned, so I know I had lost weight.  We both felt better for having walked so much, and vowed to start walking daily.   We never did!

Well, we just got back from 34 days in Italy - we walked alot.  And again, I took 2 pair of shoes, the same 2 pair.  Absolutely no problems, walked hours and hours each day, in fact I did the trails of Cinque Terre in my fitflops.

 No problems.  Unfortunately, unlike Spain , we did not lose weight.  I blame this on the incredibly high fat content, namely olive oil, of the food in Italy.  That and the volume of processed food, bread, pasta, ...  No matter what you have, even a scrambled egg and sliced tomatoes,  they pour a healthy amount of olive oil over.  Now don't get me wrong, it's tasty, but damn!

Well once again, we vowed to start a walking regimen.  Took us a week, ok more than a week to get it together but we started.

I started out walking in the Mephistos, I got blisters, then I tried the Fitflops, and again, blisters, I think it's the humidity here - causes the things to rub differently.

Well today I pulled out the pair of runners/tennies/athletic shoes/????, what do you call them?  I think these were actually marketed as walking shoes.   Pretty huh?

Well I bought these when we decided to move down here (2006), everyone said buy good walking shoes.  I think this is the first time I had them on!

Well, as you can imagine

OKAY, no worries, we were only a block and a half from the house.  Back we came and I switched to a pair of Tevas that I bought when we went to France, in 2004.   Walked all over France in these babies.  I've even worn them here a dozen or so times.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!  

what do you think?  

They just don't make things the way they used to?  Or I just keep things too long?

Tom's handy, you all know that - he's got glue, he says he can fix em.

needless to say, I took this as an omen.  I did not try for a 3rd pair and go walking.   I am thinking about going shopping for a pair of good walkers though.   Any suggestions?

Lament, by Joshua Edwards

This playground's crater began way back

with the formation of a meteor collecting

reflections of itself. I sit here thinking,

one foot planted in creation, the other

in exploitation, that my complaint is premise

and illusion, and fruit is memory and energy.

Someone who says a photo of a frame is not cute

enough to be coy. Rather, I'm told, you

must show the rotting classic and evoke

its historiography. I fall asleep drunk

and wake up startled. Archery makes an echo

of war. I must take a long walk before

I speak. I must buy new shoes before I walk.

I must get a job that doesn't yet exist

to afford suitable shoes. I will not mention

the catalog of fossils reborn in images.

As the team is led back into its barn,

a light passes from the house and is gone,

terminating on the blank skull of a ram.

Joshua Edwards is the director and co-editor of Canarium Books.

 He’s the author of Imperial Nostalgias and Campeche, 

and translator of Mexican poet Maria Baranda’s Ficticia.

Itálica Ruins, Santiponce, España

Tuesday, 10 July, 2012 - Itálica Ruins, Santiponce, España! Just outside Sevilla

This is an amazing site, worth spending some time.

 

From the Plaza del Armas bus station in Sevilla you get a local bus #172 at platform 16, for 1.4 € p/p. The bus takes about 30 minutes and goes and returns on the hour and half hour. The get off spot is at the turnaround for the bus to return to Sevilla. Sure makes it easy, and just a short walk to enter Itálica.

 

 

Itálika is a Roman Ruin: I was captivated with it. The ampitheatre/coliseum, the housing, the water delivery systems, the thermal baths, I liked it all. Itálica dates to 206BC and was established by Publius Cornelius. This was also the first permanent Roman settlement in the South of the Iberian Peninsula.

There is another site in Santiponce, San Isidoro del Campo, I need to look this one up. We didn't know anything about it so hadn't built any extra time into this excursion. Our bus to Lisbon leaves at 3, and we've already bought our tickets. So, next time!

We passed through Camas, Huelva, and most of Santiponce, all really lovely towns, it would be nice to spend more time to explore them. So silly but every time I want to write explore, I automatically think exploor, and have to correct myself.

I must give credit and thanks to the movie industry, and to the TV industry that replays old movies. I've seen so many old roman, gladiator movies that it was so easy to picture in my mind the coliseum, the slaves and gladiators, and animals and the movements under the arena. And then the family spaces, I could see the rooms,with the large urns, flowing cloths to block sun and bugs, and the family relaxing in the inner courtyard garden with its flower and fruit trees. I REALLY enjoyed Itàlica.

These are mosaic floors, uncovered, the wall foundations can be seen, can't you just picture a family living their daily lives?

Ok, 2:20, bus for Lisbon leaves at 3 and I must get some lunch!

 


 

Day 3 - Houston till 4pm, then off for destination 2

WTF - awake at 5am thinking about the stuff I forgot, the stuff I want, should I take 3 pr of shoes or just the 2 pr I originally decided on...

okay, one last shopping excursion, ziploc baggies, almonds and raisins for the flight, baby wipes, ....


One thing I've been thinking about is how much easier it would be living in the United States.  No language barrier, no cultural barrier, seriously It would be ay easier living here.  Also, we've been commenting on how much less expensive things are here. Clothes, food, dry goods, well for the most part, not across the board, - electronics, appliances, furniture across the board cheaper. Definitly need to discuss this at more depth.


About 1:15 Thursday, Houston time we headed out for the airport.  It was a long flight, we took off at 4pm, we tried to upgrade our seats, but couldn't - the plane was full and had been sold out for quite some time. This flight was full of screaming kids, it was nerve wracking. I had intended to read but all I could do was watch movies at full volume to deaden the screeching. And there were so many young kids, teenage kids, a christian youth group going to Romania to stamp out poverty one village at a time, a Boy Scout troop on their way to Paris for who knows what benevolent humanitarian project.

So about 8am AMSTERDAM time, 2am Yucatan time we roll in to Amsterdam. I was hoping to have a look around he airport but our flight was a bit late so all we could do was race a great distance because our gate got changed through the airport without even seeing it. 

Our connecting flight, about 2 1/2 hrs long, deposited us in our Country location of da da da daaaaaa - España, first stop Madrid.

So here it is 7:43 Yucatan time/2:43 Madrid time, and that is my last time conversion, from now on the time is the time wherever I am.

We've been up a looong time.  I have to say , KLM is a great airline.  I'll talk more about them later, but for now, here it is nearly 3pm, we are in Madrid, and I hear a tapas bar screaming our names.

On the road - Day 2 - still in Houston

Did pretty good with sleeping in the bed.  Some of you may not know, I have some  rather significant issues with my lower back, several desiccated disks, and with my left hip, in fact over six years ago my dr told me to get it replaced. After moving to Mexico I discovered hammock sleeping, OMG, what a life saver. I am mostly pain free in the mornings which is AWESOME. For any of you that deal with near constant and chronic pain, you know what I mean.

Here's an uber cool start to the day, we peeked out the back window and sitting on the top of the wood fence just maybe 10 feet away was a hawk. Of course rather than paying close attention and gathering my field marks for identification I turned to get my camera so I could show you all the cool sight, this movement caused the bird to take flight.   Based on my initial impressions however I think it was probably a Red Shouldered Hawk.

So Tom and I spent another day shopping, then out for a monstrous Korean meal. We each got two new prs of shoes.

We got a notice from our airline that we still have time to upgrade our seating, if we act now...., yeah right!  We tried every which way but upside down on the internet, then tried to call, 15 minutes after they closed or the day.

 Well lets see what tomorrow brings.  Our flight departs Houston at 4 so a bit more time for shopping in the morning.  I am SO not looking forward to a 13 hour flight.

How's that for a hint!

On the road - destination 1, day 1

Day 1

So Monday, about dusk, I noticed the lovely pinkness of the the evening sky. I took that as a positive sign, remembering the rhyme Red sky at night sailors delight, Red sky in morning sailors take warning. And then later last night, nearly 11pm, I stepped out and saw the moon, stars, sky, clouds and again, a positive sign. I felt sure the weather was breaking and clear skies were on the way. Oh, I guess not everyone knows that for the 5 or 6 days prior we had been having rain, lots n lots of rain due to a tropical weather push thatbturned into Debby.


Well 4am came pretty quickly, especially as I had slept in the bed rather than my normal  hammock, and tossed and turned all night, might as well get used to it I reasoned.


The sky was again obscured and low, and a dense mist  prevailed.
Then, upon checking email I found the notification from United that our flight was delayed by 1 hour 20 minutes, waiting for the crew to arrive.  Great!


So here we sit, in the Merida airport, on the cold marmol floor as seating is at a premium since ours isn't the only flight on hold.


Alrighty, 7:26 and our crew just arrived, we'll be out of here in no time!


Funny, the crew, once on the plane announced that we couldn't pull away from the gate until 8:18, because of a required rest period for flight crews between flights. Didn't seem like much of a rest to me as they had been busy moving about and working ....


So flight was fine, a little drama between the passenger seated in front of us and an attendant - all passive aggressive.  The passenger, traveling with a child, ordered like 4 different beverages - now odd part, it was an older woman attendant that took the order and I could see she was having attitude, but it was a male attendant that brought the drinks that copped the tude. Odd transference of aggression.


And cool part - we had a friend on the same flight so had a short visit.


We arrived in ...HOUSTON - and our friend, with trusted pup Bailey, were waiting right outside of baggage pickup.


So Day 1 down, we dined, drank, visited, shopped, ate a bit more, and retired for the evening.


Day 2 will have us still in Houston, doing much of the same, so might not fill you all in on that.


I am traveling with the ipad2. I haven' quite worked out adding photos yet so will need to research that.  And I am also apparently ving trouble with spacing, and paragraphing...

So stay tuned to find out out where Thursday goes.

on the road again!

Getting ready for a trip, unless it's a trip you've made a gazillion times is always such a roller coaster;
excitement, apprehension, anxiety, nervousness, anticipation, dread, did I remember this, do I need that, will I remember this,.....


Tom and I head out in the morning for a month of traveling.  We're eager and looking forward to visiting places we've never been.  


We're nervous about leaving the dogs, the cat, the garden, ...  They, and the stuff is in good hands, but not our hands.

Well stay tuned and see where we land!

Travel Time; New Orleans and Houston

Just spent 3 days in New Orleans - What a great place for a short vacation.  It's been probably 8 years since we were last there, we used to go frequently;   Although I can't believe how expensive things have become;    And they really nickel and dime you for every little thing - Our hotel wanted 12.95 a day for wifi, AND they charged us 1.25 to make a phone call to a local restaurant for a reservation.,  a different restaurant added a 1.50 surcharge for oysters on a dish that was supposed to come with oysters because they claim oysters are so hard to get right now...Ridiculous!

We hooked up with friends passing through from Florida to Colorado; it was great to see them and have a short visit.

I was trying to find a cool photo to take to represent New Orleans, but N.O. is so many things.  We didn't see much Hurricane damage but then we were only in French Quarter, CBD (Central Business District), and Garden District.  A man on a trolley tour told us if we wanted to see the damage we should go to the 9th Ward; we didn't.

It was really so strange, tall buildings, vistas, vehicles that stopped to let you cross the street, English being spoken everywhere, iced tea, the variety and volume of food choices, the frigid air conditioning, fresh brewed coffee, wonderful chewy flavorful bread...

We are now in Houston,  oh my gosh, this place is huge, mammoth.  We only ever pass through the airport.  We ran to a Wal-mart tonight to get stuff to make a salad, so many ethnicities, so many languages,  I love it!

Can't wait to experience more of the richness of this culturally diverse city!

Is it Safe to Travel to Mexico?

We have friends planning to come visit, and we have family and friends fearing for our safety.

For some reason there are these horrific warnings; tales of death, kidnapping, ransoming, etc, being spread about.

We received a Travellers Advisory (advising caution if travelling to Mexico) through the US Embassy here in Merida. And while recently searching airfares for a possible trip (holy moly what's up with airlines prices) we were beleagured by pop ups with warnings and travel advisories.

What I don't understand is what is all the fuss about - yes, some bad things have happened here; but it's no more in most of Mexico than currently happens in any mid to large City in the USofA. (this is not based on any 'official' facts or figures, but simply on my personal perusal of online newspapers from cities in the USofA.)

If you aren't looking for drugs, hanging out in seedy bars, carrying a gun, club, big stick, or diamond rolex watches, you will in all likelyhood be perfectly safe.
I don't think travellers to Mexico are in any more peril than travellers to any other part of the world.

We recently spent a week in both Puebla and Oaxaca; as Tom and I are likely to do, we took off on our own a number of times. We always felt safe, even when temporarily unclear exactly where we were; no, not lost, simply taking a scenic shortcut...

Anyway, if you are planning to visit Mexico, don't be afraid - Be smart, be safe, have a good time - leave the fancy clothes and jewels in the safety deposit box at home, smile, be excited to be travelling, enjoy yourself.

Puebla, Iglesia de Santo Domingo y Capilla del Rosario

There are so many churches in Mexico.

They are vital to the framework of Mexican life. Here in Merida they are a bit more unpretentious than in say Puebla. We saw quite a few churches, chapels, and convents on this trip. They included some of the most incredible craftsmanship that we have ever seen; And the most gold leaf. They absolutely glow in the dark from the amount of gold leaf, because of this the natural light that enters through the tambor style windows negates the need for daytime artificial lighting.
There were a number of members of our group that were offended but the ostentatiousness of the wealth displayed in the churches. The comments centered on how many people could be helped with the money used to decorate and maintain these incredible buildings.

AND the churches are owned by the government; it's the government that maintains them, not the church.

The first, and therefore the most startling (for us) church we entered on our trip was La Iglesia de Santo Domingo y Capilla del Rosario in Puebla de los Angeles, Puebla; construction started in the mid 16th century and was not completed until 1690, nearly a century later. Both it's Baroque entrance and main alter date from 1688.

The statue of Our Lady of the Rosary is sculpted from cypress wood and it thought to be one of the finest examples of colonial art in Mexico.

Our Lady of the Rosary altar

This is the main altar

A detail fragment

One of the many additional altars in the church



details from the baroque facade

Oaxaca - Weaver's Studio

I am being harassed unmercifully by family and friends for info/fotos of our recent Puebla/Oaxaca trip. I have over 700 images, so I've decided to tease you bit by bit.

The Weaver's Studio we visited was really interesting and I have gone through that group of fotos; so here goes -

Tejidos Zapoteco
Avenida Juarez #100
Teotitla del Valle CP70420
Oaxaca, Mexico
tel fax 01 95-24-40-72
no website currently available

This family has a large airy open house/studio, they live and work here. This is a family business, everyone is involved, even the kids have small looms and make coasters and small weavings to practice with simple designs. They have gone back to the traditional methods and card, spin, dye, and weave on a vast number of wooden looms.

They are using the old traditional elements in the creation of the dyes for their wool; bugs, minerals, plants, etc. The demonstration on the dye colors was really interesting - first crush some bugs, OK very specific bugs and get one color - then add lime juice for another color, then a mineral pigment for a different, then baking soda for something else.

And of course they selected the youngest prettiest member of our groups hand to use as the demonstration pallet...

The shorter fellow is the weaver and gave the demo, and very pleasant funny guy. The taller fellow is Sergio, our guide and interpreter for the trip. He sets up all of our side trips and helps us with all the 'stuff' that can happen. He also acts as interpreter because not all of us are fluent in Spanish.

Some of the dyed wools

Weavers Working

A few additional weaver tools

Beautiful examples of their rugs and wall hangings

And of course, the altar

Here is some additional info on Weaving from From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Warp and weft in plain weaving

In weaving, weft or woof is the yarn which is drawn under and over parallel warp yarns to create a fabric. In North America, it is sometimes referred to as the "fill" or the "filling yarn", and in India, it is referred to as "baana". " Baana" word has been derived from another hindi word "bun na" or "bunai" which means making with threads or strings, as done in cane weaving and other forms of primitive weaving techniques.

The weft is a thread or yarn of spun fibre. The original fibre was wool, flax or cotton. Nowadays, many synthetic fibers are used in weaving. Because the weft does not have to be stretched in the way that the warp is, it can generally be less strong.

The weft is threaded through the warp using a shuttle. Hand looms were the original weaver's tool, with the shuttle being threaded through alternately raised warps by hand. Inventions during the 18th century spurred the Industrial Revolution, and the hand loom became the more robust spinning frame with the flying shuttle speeding up production of cloth, and then the water frame using water power to automate the weaving process. The power loom followed in the 19th century, when steam power was harnessed.