Down South to Mexico!

I have spent the last two weeks in Mexico, now returned to Toronto with a slight tan and perhaps a slightly too relaxed attitude, considering the school work that has piled up...

Anyway, Mexico.
The first couple of days were spent in Mexico City, visiting Frida Kahlo's house, walking through markets and trying to navigate the metro. We then bussed it down to Oaxaca (on a very nice bus with a very loud TVs..). Oaxaca is great - colourful, full of markets, food, artistry, music. We stayed at a pretty wonderful place right in the centre of town, quite a treat. Did a couple of day trips while we were there, out to Hierve el Agua and Monte Alban, as well as to witness the making of mezcal (similar to tequila) and the weaving of tapestries.

This is Monte Alban, an ancient city outside of Oaxaca. A huge site to walk around, and it was really hot. One memorable part of the trip was finding a colony of ants while resting under a tree, I watched them of a long time - incredible. I wonder how long they've been in this city...

 Oaxaca is a city of cathedrals. 

Road downtown.

I wish houses everywhere were painted such great colours... Mine will be!

One of many delicious food stands in the market!

Also went out to see this giant tree! The world's largest circumference, with a girth of 36.5m. Gorgeous!

And this is Hierve el Agua, natural mineral springs on a mountainside. I didn't get to swim as I had hoped... but it was still cool it see it.

Then in was on to the coast. A mini bus took us on the six hour trip over the mountains, as we watched the terrain change from drier grasslands into rainforest and then in coastal palms. Quite the winding trip, not for the sensitive stomach! We arrived at destination Puerto Angel at night fall and had to navigate our way along to beach to the other side of town where we hoped we would find our hotel. We did! A late night swim felt so good after the bus ride! Next day we awakened to explore the little fishing village. What a wonderful spot! We ended up staying there for the majority of the trip, thinking of leaving but finding it impossible. The days would begin with a walk to the next beach for a morning snorkel, usually a trip to one of the nearby towns, eating plenty of seafood, perhaps an afternoon nap and then another swim. Slows your pace right down, being in a place like that. I stopped taking pictures at this point, I'm not entirely sure why. Maybe the combination of swimming, heat and laziness all just made it too inconvenient. But here are a couple of snaps I did get.

This is the 'road' into town.

Eventually it cam time to leave, and we made our way up to Puerto Escondido where we stayed for two days. Again, a cool spot. I had a delicious swim on our last day, before flying back to Mexico City and then home ("home").

I had a traumatic experience in the airport on the way back where I got confused about the time difference. I was getting a connecting flight from Washington DC back to Toronto and totally misjudged how much time I had. Then on top of that I was at gate 2 instead of gate 24! So had to make a run down to the other end of the airport, all bags in hand, dodging mobs of people and yelling back apologies. I got to the gate after boarding had closed. The lady said oh you've come in from Mexico, must have got stuck  in customs. I said, yeah... when in fact I was sitting at a different gate for like an hour, eating a sandwich and doodling around on the internet... Whoopsies.

Back home, though, safe and sound. Now for the hermit days of winter and study.

Toronto Life

All going well over here. School work has become kind of hectic, so that has been my main focus of the last couple of weeks.
There was a really heavy snow in Toronto last week, so it has been rather novel dealing with proper winter life. Everything is just that little bit more challenging.. requires that little bit more effort.. But like I said, it's pretty cool for someone so foreign to the concept of snow.

I haven't been taking many photos, I think mainly because it is so cold and I don't like having my hands out of my pockets! But here are a couple of snaps to give an idea of my life at the moment.

This is my house! My room is the arched window on the top.

There is a very distinct style of building, I think it's cute to see them all lined up side by side.

View from my window.

Another view from my window.

Tomorrow I am taking a break from the cold and flying to Mexico!! Will be down there for two weeks, very excited :D

Back to School

I've been in Toronto for just over two weeks now. The transition into living here was really smooth, easier than I expected. I had organised my room before I arrived, and was very happy to find myself living in a cool area, right by a subway station. The first couple of days here I spent wandering the streets of the city for hours. Toronto has surpassed all of my expectations. The city has an energy that I wasn't expecting to find and was very excited to discover! Small little shop-fronts line the streets, languages from all over the world fly around the subway, the place is lively - despite the cold winter weather! Not a all the corporate city I was prepared for.

The transition into school has not been quite as willing... Everything is straight forward, and I'm happy with the subjects I'm taking. But, it's not the same as traveling! Not to worry, I'm sure the semester is going to fly by and before I know it I'll be making new plans!
The school itself (York University) is BIG and a bit out of town. The train ride out there takes a while, but I'm very happy reading and just glad that I'm not living out there.

This weekend I went out to the country, a little holiday I guess! I went to visit family friends, who I'd actually never met, but who were warm and welcoming as though I'd known them forever! I took the train to Kingston (saw Lake Ontario for the first time - I've never seen so much fresh water!), then travelled out into the sticks to a little lake house in the woods. That night we went to a "hootenanny" (a country-style music party) in a little hotel bar in a little near-by town. I was just as great as it sounds!

Next day I got to see the beautiful surrounds. A frozen lake lay before the cabin, with rugged hills curling in and around it. We spent the day in the snow and on the lake, walking, exploring, skating, ski-dooing (snowmobile, I even had a drive!), making snow angels, huddling around the fire and taking sips of fireball whiskey. A weekend full of cliches and I loved it!

Here's me on the ski-doo. Yee-haa!

This is the beautiful Kevin, a real snow dog.

Back home in Toronto now. Trying to get some work done...

Last days in the West

I have left the West behind, and made it to the distant land of.... Toronto.

My time in Washington was beautiful. So fertile and green, so much water! I got to explore Seattle and have city adventures, and also got to some incredible places out of town.

This is the view from Rattlesnake Ridge, just out of Seattle. The snow line is so cool!

For New Year, we went out to the coast for a few days. Out across the Olympic Peninsular to La Push. Unlike any beach I've ever been to. It sort of feels like the edge of the world. Freezing cold, but perfect sunshine. The beach is covered in driftwood.. Or maybe "drift-trees" is more accurate. Some of these relics would have to be the biggest trees I've ever seen! Where did they drift in from?! I was, once again, mind blown.

I know it's difficult to see, but that's a Bald Eagle flying above the trees. He was cool.

Here's me in front of some mad tree corpses. (Feat. my new snow boots!)

We did a bush walk over to Second Beach, through beautiful lush pine forests. Forest on the coast is new to me!

This is Second Beach, tide way out.

And one more picture. This is Crescent Lake, which we drove along to get out to the coast. It is stunning! So glassy! Little houses all around the edge, mountains surrounding.

And now I am far away from all of this... We drove back to Seattle yesterday afternoon, then I got on the plane at sparrow-fart this morning. Now I'm in Toronto. I'm sure there are many adventures to be had over here. I'm getting settled in my new house, nice to unpack the bags. Not even a drop of snow on the ground! I'm actually a little disappointed. I'm sure it will come.

So for now, goodbye to the West, I can't wait to see you again!!

Entering the Winter, I See Snow!

We crossed back over into Nevada, heading North for hot springs in Idaho.
We spent the night at Great Basin National Park. I was really excited to go there to see the Bristlecone Pines (the oldest non-clonal living things, some of these trees are like 4, 000 years old!). Sadly, upon arrival we found out that the road up to the trees was closed for the winter, due to snow... So we would have to hike the 10kms to get up there... We had intentions to do so, but after a freezing night (literally) camping, we were both too cold and stiff to feel like walking anywhere! So, back in the car with the heated seats on! I'll go back there some other time - the trees aren't going anywhere.

Today we made it to Sun Valley (Ketchum), Idaho. We're out of the deserts and into the snowy mountains!! This trip has been good to ease me into the winter - starting off in shorts in California and adding layers day by day! Now I'm getting kind of nervous knowing that I won't be in warm weather again for quite some time... But it's beautiful up here. We pulled in just as it was getting dark. The little town is all decked out with Christmas lights and there is snow on the ground! Feels like a "proper" festive season. I'm excited to explore in the morning.

Over the Colorado River... And on to ZION!

This is a view of the Colorado River from the bridge over it. We had to drive along the Grand Canyon for quite a way before we could cross it. Pretty cool to look down at the water that created it all!

So, our next destination was Zion National Park. I had huge expectations... and they were totally blown out of the water! What an INCREDIBLE place.
Mountains and rock faces rising up to enclose the sanctuary within. I hate to sound cliche, but this place really moved me.

On the first day we did a walk up to waterhole that runs into the river. We had to walk under a waterfall that ran over a hanging cliff! Then today we did a hike called Angel's Landing. Very, very steep, we got up to the top of one of the mountain heads. At the lookout, there was an option to continue along a treacherous, path-less, narrow climb up to the summit. I had heard the warnings, I knew it was not for the faint hearted, and yet I thought I was capable. I was wrong... I made it about a quarter of the way, clinging onto the chain that lead up the cliff-face, when I turned a corner and realised there was no way I could continue without my knees knocking and probably a constant flow of tears! I decided it was best for everyone that I turn back and just enjoy the lookout. A little disappointed, but the view was still unreal! Note the river and the road way, way down...

Sadly, we left Zion today so that we could make it to Bryce Canyon. But Bryce did not even compare... It's a pretty cool place, but coming from Zion made it seem dull in our eyes. Lots of sandstone pillars, standing in a natural amphitheatre. We had a bit of a look around, but ended up scooting out and heading north, looking for hot springs!

I guess my eyes are just being spoiled!

To the Grand Canyon

We headed towards the canyon, entering Arizona. We made it to Flagstaff, a town high up in the hills. Pretty cool place, but I was denied a drink anywhere I went because I wasn't carrying my passport! Guess I should keep it on me...

It rained for a few days, so we hung out in town, getting organised for the next leg of the journey. While waiting for the weather to clear, we did a quick trip to Walnut Canyon where there are ancient houses built into the cliffside.

Then on to the Canyon. We were planning to do a hike all the way down into it this weekend, but in the end we don't really have time... So we came out here this morning for sunrise, and have just done a shorter walk down into the big hole. It was still rather strenuous!

The canyon is beautiful. It's hard to comprehend something so big! Taking photos of it seems to do an injustice. I've decided that the best was to observe it is to just look at one rock face in particular and try to notice its detail, rather than attempting to take in everything!

Here's me having a good look down into the crevasse....

Into Nevada

Next destination was the Valley of Fire. A little far to get to in one day, so we stopped in Las Vegas for a night on the way. I was pretty interested to find out what that city was actually like, I didn't expect to really love it and I guess I was right. All very glitzy and glamorous, but I was in desert-camping mode.
We put down $10 on black, the minimum bet. We lost it, put down another $10 and lost that too. $20 down in a space of 2 minutes, and that was that for gambling.

We left Vegas early the next day to explore some mountains we'd seen on the way into town. Rainbow Mountain Wilderness, what a name! We walked around for quite a few hours, through desert and gullies to reach the base of the crazy cliff faces. We even saw a coyote!!

That after, we headed north to the Valley of Fire. And what an incredible place it is!!
Huge lumps of red rock protruding out of the desert floor, all rounded, twisted and full of holes. The rocks were perfect for climbing, rough like sandpaper, and home to all sorts of little creatures.
Our campsite was right in amongst it all.

This was the view from our tent!

It's hard to accurately portray the scale of these majestic landscapes in the desert... Just bear in mind that everything is HUGE.

Desert Time

We are on the road!

Since landing in Los Angeles last Thursday, I have traveled 1311.66 km (or 815 miles)!
Coast, desert, mountains and lakes have all flashed by my window in the last few days.

Our first day on the road got us to Death Valley. Traveling in from the coast, we watched the landscape become drier and drier as we got further inland. Death Valley's mountain walls loomed out in front of us while a sand storm (a small one) whipped around the car.
Up, up and over the mountain rim, and then down, down, down into the valley that was once an ocean bed, the lowest point in North America at 86m below sea level.

We spent the night camping, not quite as isolated as one might hope, I guess Death Valley is a bit of an RV getaway! But beautiful surrounds nonetheless.
At dawn we headed to the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes to watch the sunrise, then out to Zabriskie Point.

 (Look closely at the Zabriskie Point picture to see tiny little figures walking along one of the ridges! Gives some perspective...)

A quick stop really, but we had places to be and more to see, so out of Death Valley we zoomed!

Last Night In Australia

Well, night has fallen on my final day. An early morning tomorrow, I have to be at the airport by 6am. I am so full of emotions - excitement, happiness and love are almost equally balanced with nerves, worry and fear. But I think that's normal! Now I just have to get on the plane.

See you in the Northern Hemisphere!

Leaving Australia Behind (For Now)

One last romp around the bush with cousin Jess and brother Sayle, before I take off to North America in a few days.
A drive up Mount Alexander for the views of an already browning Victoria, boulder hopping on the mountain side. I will miss this landscape, but looking forward to fresh horizons!