Headed home

Guaymas,October 2015 was another very productive trip with "Los medicos voladores"

When we arrived, Guaymas had a whole new glow to it. Recent rain helped to make the plants happy and green. 

The views from the plane were beautiful as we landed. 

After getting through customs and doing all the paperwork, I hopped in a car with bill Harrison (our gracious host in Guaymas) to "help out" with set up at the clinic. 

When we arrived, almost everything was already set up. 

Two other volunteers with "Los medicos voladores"(LMV) we already there and a local volunteer dentist, Silvia, had done all the work. 

The clinic was to be held in the same building as in March,2014. The difference was that they added windows, AC, and a second story. 

After a brief exploration in the town center, we headed for San Carlos. San Carlos is where bill H. Has a house in the beach and his wife, Minerva, is quite the host!

San Carlos seems to be a town where many People go for weekend trips. 

The are many retired gringos there there too.  

The first evening was a nice time to get to know everyone who would be volunteering during the clinic. We had 2 dentists and oral surgeon, an acupuncturist, a chiropractor, and many other volunteers would would lend a hand with many services including translating and keeping the equipment clean. 

Once clinic started, I was shy to get started with PT. instead, I interpreted for mark while he did acupuncture and lily, while she chiropracted. 

I enjoyed doing some pre test and post tests: I ised my own ways to measure before and after the treatments to be able to measure the difference before and after. I was amazed to see the quick progress with both interventions. 

We had a full day of treating, went back home, rested up, to be ready for clinic the next day. 

On day two, we were much busier in the "wellness center". Word of mouth spread!!

People brough friends and families!!

We set up more chairs for mark to work and people lined the little narrow hallway. 

No hippa concerns here. No privacy regulations needed.

We just asked people what was wrong in front of the whole line up. 

PT was much busier in day 2! 

It was nonstop.

Lots of knee, shoulder, and back issues. 

 here. 

I'm learning to treat a little more specifically at times and a little more generally at other times. 

Sometimes, just a little hands in can make a world of difference. 

I did a lot of manual resisted stuff on the shoulders. Lots of education about disc issues. Gave simple exs. 

It was quite fun! A good experience to make work more playful and less work like. 

I think being able to work with lily and mark did me a world of good. Learning from a wellness approach vs. and impairment approach made the practice feel different even though it was mostly the same. 

It was also helpful because she would really be able to get people into alignment and I could give them ways to maintain it. I could educate them about their bodies. 

Guaymas

Trip to guaymas Octo 2015

As I look out the airplane window I see a thick blanket of clouds below me. 

I feel a surge of motivation. Inspired to write, and to ponder what will become of this weekend ahead. 

I'm on my way to guaymas, Mexico with a volunteer group called  Los medicos voladores- the flying doctors.  

I didn't think I wanted to go. I thought I wanted to stay home to rest. To go climbing, running, and mountain biking. I wanted to organize and plan some projects for the house. 

I was afraid to fly.  I was worried about the weather, or the plane malfunctioning. I was making things up. I was trying to envision this trip but all I could see was a hole. It was a dark hole and it was all I could see. 

While I had all those feelings, I started preparing for the trip. I bought some tools on the list I had compiled the last time I volunteered as a PT.  

I didn't get everything, but I'm glad I was able to get a few things. 

Another pilot, bill, had to cancel. Something was wrong with his plane and he couldn't go. 

I realized I could offer my spot to someone in his plane. Maybe this wast chance to stay home and bail without being a flake. 

It turned out, everyone had already made alternate plans. 

After all of that, I sit on this plane feeling exciting. As I start to anticipate the trip, the black hole is gone. 

Instead, I think envision the patients I might see. I question, How might I help? I day dream about the past time I was there. 

I wonder, Should I have them announce that I can treat certain cases of vertigo?? 

If there are people with bppv, I could really help them significantly!!

This trip help me learn and pushes me to think. It more work than it is fun. It's not relaxing. But, when it's done, I now know that it will be worth my while. 

I'm still sad not to be staying home. But, I'm excited to learn and meet to people. I look forward to prioritizing home time in November. 

Free bonus vaca day

When we arrived in Fairbanks, the leaves on the trees were changing into a sweet yellow color. The views were stunning! While mountain biking, I would look out into a clearing of bunches of aspen trees glowing in the distance interspersed with patches of still green spruce trees. After a 2 days it was noticeable there there were even more yellow trees. A beautiful, bright, schoolbus yellow. From there they turned golden, giving off a warm glow as you would round a corner and catch the vista of all the lovely trees grouped together. 

The winds started to blow and the leaves fall gently to the ground in layers on tops of each other. I was told that in the next week the trees will be bare and fall would be over. 

I was lucky to be here during this lovely weekend. Arriving on Thursday and leaving on Wednesday, I was able to see the progression of the season before my eyes. 

On Tuesday, I got up early!!!  My flight was supposed to leave at 6 which meant getting up at 4 to be able to leave for the airport at 4:30. 

I had slept outside to catch whatever glimpse of the northern lights that I might see. 

It was quite cold getting ready standing out there as I reluctantly got in the car to head to the airport. it was winter weather for this gal who grew up in San Diego. 

It ended up that the flight was so delayed that I wouldn't make my connections. 

Lucky for me, I gained another day of vacation. What a treat! It allowed me to catch one more day mountain biking amidst the gorgeous trees!

I make my way home and I am thankful for such a wonderful adventure spending time with wonderful old friends and making new ones along the way. It was a treat to explore such beautiful places!!!

Alaska

The sky is just Beautiful here.

We had a slow day when we arrived. 

We played outside with the girls, enjoyed some grilled cheese sandwiches and some amazing smoked salmon. 

Ashlyn's mom has a little farm so for dinner we had almost everything home grown including the chicken. What a treat. 

The next day had a slow start. I was stoked to be able to get out and do a little mountain biking. There is some great single track not far from where Ashlyn lives. Ester done single track. 

I started feeling low energy in the evening when sheree and I went to first Friday art gallery openings and woke up this morning with a fever. 

I've been in bed for hours. Here is my view of alaska today. 

The sky is beautiful. The photo Durante do it justice. Womp. Hopefully, I can bike again tomorrow...it's not looking good 

Holy smokes-flight path-whaaat

Aw, I'm always sad to leave. I have enjoyed meeting new people, learning new climbing skills, and playing at the beach. It's tough to leave a great city like San Sebastián. 

But, we have twins to transport to Alaska and duties to perform. 

We flew Bilbao-Frankfurt. 

Now we are on our way Frankfurt-Fairbanks via Anchorage. 

The Frankfurt airport is huge and wacky. I feel like I am in some sort of 1984 themed move and I'm being watched over. My decisions are being made by someone else as a going in elevators that go one floor up and then to moving walkways to more elevators. I think I'm looking for some gate c-19 as I move through this weird space. 

From here we get on a flight direct to anchorage. Apparently there are enough to people to go direct to Alaska to run a flight once a week this time of year. 

I witted things post from the plane as I watch a sleeping baby so that she doesn't roll off the seat. Sleeping baby!!!! So lucky so far! I hope I don't eat my words!

As I sit here and watch the flight path map on the seat in front of me, I realize where I am going. Holy smokes, we are going north. We go Past Copenhagen, where I enjoyed exploring by bike last week. We pass Gutenberg where I did some climbing with Niels. We fly over Oslo, and then zoop, over the Arctic Ocean. Looking at a map, it seems quite LOCO en la cabeza!!!

Well,here I go toy last little bit of adventure to Fairbanks. I had wanted to do some outdoor adventuring but might just learn woodworking skills from Ashlyn's dad instead. We'll see if Charley want to teach me a few things ;)

Im hopeful. 

Hugs to all! Arielle 

Last day in Spain: full of adventure

What a treat that Ashlyn and I were able to at least go check out the basque culinary center. Sadly, we weren't able to partake in the fancy meal the student chefs make because school was not in session. 

We took silly photos just the same!

From there, we went on separate missions. Ultimately, I went climbing and ash packed and took care of the kid. 

We head out tomorrow for Fairbanks. 

That will be a totally different adventure. 

I climbed with Gonzalo on the east face of "dos hermanas". It was supposed to be a 6-7 pitch climb. See below for info. 

But, we ended up on a super challenging climb to the right. One really long pitch of slippery limestone. My climbing shoes felt like ice skates. 

We may it to the top of that pitch safely only to find that there were no more bolts above us. So, we rappel led a short distance down and left and decided to do 2 pitches of the climb we intended to do in the first place. 

Amish more doable! At that point , our daylight hours were ending and we had to head down. 

It was a fun adventure. Gonzalo caught an awesome photo of me when I had dirt in my eye. Do I look hardcore or what?!?!?!

Well, getting back to town at 9:30 made me late for a party keypad frirnd was having and I found my way home in time to eat shower and pack. 

Sadly for me, it's time to leave beautiful donostia and head for Alaska (it would be so nice to stay here a while!). 

Big hugs and thanks for reading. 

Following others around

DI'm thankful to be connected with people while I am here in San Sebastián. 

My friend, juanxu, who took me mountain biking yesterday. 

And Gonzalo, married to one of Ashlyn's coworkers, tooke to his climbing gym. We wanted to go outside, but the weather did not cooperate. 

We did try! He took me a to a place called Santa Barbara just outside of town. It's a limestone crag with short climbs. 

The gym was small, but challenging. Lots of tough routes!

I was invited to enjoy lunch with Ashlyn's friend and family which was so nice. 

From there, i Went to the beach!!!

What a gorgeous beach!!!

And from another vantage point. 

If I only had a camera with me to take a photo of the view from the water...what a beautiful photo it would be!

Well, this town is hopping at night, even on a Tuesday!

So I explored the different bars, but eating pintxos is more fun with others...so I had a tortilla espanola and then headed for home. 

Too hot day 1, too hot day 2

Well, as it happens, it gets hot here, very hot...I had this thought/hoped that the north of Spain was exempt. 

Yesterday we decided to go to the small town of zubieta ("thubieta" if you want to speak like a spaniard). 

We went to play fronton, a basque style racquetball/squash game. 

We were probably there on the hottest day of the year and it was so hot we just couldn't do anything. The babies were crying and we had to drench them in water. Big mistake to leave the house. 

Lucky for us they fell asleep in the car and Kepa had the honor of driving them around for the entirety of their nap. 

Today, we were smart!

 We went to an area called Aralar where we went for a hike and had a nice picnic. The babies slept in the car on the way there making the walk and picnic a pleasant outing. It was much cooler in Aralar:)

From there, We went to a small town of lekumberri where they have an old "rail to trail" pathway and a "camping". 

Lucky for us, there were toys and things to play we in the shade. Exploring with babies is different, very different. -I now have first hand experience as to the whole new dimension of what makes a nice place to go. 

Anyway, it was a smart move because we got away from the heat and humidity of San Sebastián! Phew!

Above, you can see a photo of the old buildings in town and a sweet little garden. 

Can't complain

I I was lucky enough to make a friend on my way from the airport to San Sebastián (donostia in euskera/basque language). 

He has an extra mountain bike and offered to taker out on the local trails. We arranged to go this morning before the heat of the day.little did I know I was going to be in a pretty fancy mountain bike. My bike at home fails in comparison. 

Besides a guide, I had a personal photographer. I got some good photos!!!

San Sebastián is in the north of Spain, almost on the border with France. It has hilly terrain right on the coast. 

Everyone knows about the "camino de Santiago".... But not everyone knows that there are multiple routes. 

The northern route, el camino deal Norte, runs through San Sebastián and the surrounding mountains. 

It is the lesser known route and is often avoided because of the hilly terrain. 

We rode mountain bikes near this route. 

Here is a photo I took while my friend, Juan, was scouting the route. 

After a large vuelta on the trails, we took the quick way back into town. 

I helped Ashlyn by taking the little ladies out for a walk. The main goal was to give Ash some R n R and gets the gals to sleep. 

Success!!!! Two sleeping girls. Twins!!!

The rest of the day was full of shopping, playing eating, washing... 

Thanks for reading!

Copenhagen to Bilbao via Berlin

I'm in Berlin for just half a day. 

Last time I was here, I loved this city!

Coming back to town, I know that with my 3 hours, I want to go explore. But where to go??

I ended up just touring around by the train. It's easy enough to get lost that way. I headed straight to east Berlin after seeing some of West Berlin on my bus ride into town. 

What a dramatic contrast with Copenhagen. The main thing that stands out is the diversity of the people. My goodness---people from all over! Different languages everywhere!

It just feels so different yet they still have an amazing bike system. 

Had I found an easy place to rent a bike, it may have been easier to enjoy exploring. 

Anyway, this city is huge, amazing, and overwhelming, I'm glad to have been here again for a moment but happy to be staying elsewhere. 

Last day in town

I am finally getting to know my way around town. 

The bike friendly paths and the cute playgrounds are my favorite. 

One spot, called "red square" has a leftist theme. With cafe Castro on one corner and a poet trait of Salvador Allende pained on the wall across the street. It is at a point where the bike path opens up. 

In front of this mural are these cool swings. 

Making it a great place to stop and people watch while enjoying the nice outdoor space. The roof directly across the way has something written on it. When I asked Niels what it means, he was not sure. 

This was another art piece that I liked in the open space. Reading the inscription, the goal of the piece was to embrace diversity. I'm not sure if I'm more aware of public art because I'm in a new setting, or if there is just more of it here than at home. 

North coast by bike via train

Bike mishap!!! I went down stairs to get my bike... And it wasn't where I parked it. Sad!!!

How will I tell Niels that his beeter bike is gone???

So, I didn't tell him...until later, that is. 

Instead, I rented a bike, hopped on the train headed north. 

I biked all day along route 47. 

Initially, I was stoked! There were signs indicating every turn. "Route verte, take that!"

The north coast is known for pretty beaches and small towns. Lots of Danes come here for summer vacations. After Biking for 2 hours, I found the northernmost town, Gilleleje. 

This is where I found a larger than life scale bike on display. Of course, I'm in Denmark!

 Besides that, there are many little fish shops along the harbor. I ended up with some tastes of a couple of small things as fish and chips wasn't so appealing. 

That said, I didn't want to eat too much. Fresh Fried fish + bike trip = bad story. 

From there I continued along the coast. My route was not quite as clear as the clouds started to build. The sweet cute towns became sleepier and sleepier as I made my way west. With bad signage and cold weather, I decided to head home (back to Copenhagen) by train from Tisvileleje. 

How nice to be able to get around so easily. It's just what we need in the U.S. Of A but we care nowhere close :(

Exploring bike by and rock climbing-lots of time and no updates

I haven't been updating so well. 

It has been a fun couple of days exploring Copenhagen by bike on weds and Friday with a long bike ride (30km) on Thursday to a famous modern art museum on the eastern coast. 

The most notable beauty in the area is the pretty lingering light as the sun starts to set. It's like a magic 2-3 hours instead of just a "magic hour."

I was lucky enough to be in town in a weekend that Niels had climbing plans so I happily tagged along. 

Denmark has almost no climbing so we crossed the border by ferry in Sweden. 

The first area was called new mountain. Near the town of seglora. 

We did some fun sport routes mostly just past my skill level so I toprope do them. 

I lead one of the routs (rated 6)

The highlight of the weekend was this wonderful camp spot known only to Danish climbers. It had a shelter, a fire pit and a nice bench built around the fire pit. 

We went for an evening swim just before making dinner and a morning swim just after waking up. 

How nice that it wasn't too cold or too buggy. 

Danish style

I made it safely to Copenhagen!!!

Feeling so fortunate to have had a smooth flight and easy airport pick up! Thanks to Neils, who came to pick me up!!

He showed me his awesome new apartment, sleek and simple design with skylights and an open layout. I'm writing this in bed waiting for the Benadryl to kick in. All you get is my view. The ceiling in the guest bedroom. 

What else could I ask for? A bike ride around town-check!

Traditional food, check!

A set of guidebooks and maps so I can explore on my own tomorrow, check!

I'm thankful to be off to a nice start. 

Hugs to all and to all a good night. 

Opportunities an mindset

As Julia and I ventured from town to town, I note the continuous theme of figuring out where to go and how to get there. Most of the time people tell us how things work. For example, we were told You take a shared taxi or pick up from a certain place in one town. Thr difference is that with us, if something doesn't seem right or doesn't work well for us, we work hard to look for other options. If we can't find them, we try to create them. I realize that, with our opportunities we have had, we feel free to think beyond our immediate limitations. 

It was especially interesting in myanmar where there is not a lot of I fluency from foreigners. The life they live there is definitely modernizing in certain ways but not all ways. 

Since I was small, I have learned to apply myself, to learn, and to ask question always knowing that the effort I put forward would affect the end result. The way I was brought up was noticeable because it was not the way things  were for the people in myanmar. 

This difference was evident different instances during our travel in Myanmar. 

Moving quickly l...

From Bagan to sagaing and then to Mandalay and then to bangkok,we have cruised through some places. 

More than anything, wedding have much in the way of working wifi for a while so updates are slow. 

A morning run up sagaing hill past monasteries along the way was a highlight of the day. 

Then making our way to Mandalay was a slow and hilarious process on a "pick up" which is their form of a bus, we stop at each intersection waiting for 5 minutes to see if we can recruit more passengers. 

Finally deciding to pay a bit more just to get to our hotel, we hop out of the pick up an into the bed of a truck. 

A moto taxi may have been a safer option at that point. 

Luckily the numbered streets of Mandalay are on a grid allowing me to navigate us to the hotel as our driver was about to go I. Circles. 

Out to explore more soon

Bid farewell to Bagan

Our last day in Bagan was a relaxing one. I went for a short jog and then joined Julia for a bit as she did some yoga in the rooftop terrace. 

We ventured to check out some of the shops in town before our ride came to pick us up at the hotel.

In my way around town, I looked down and saw a bill on the ground. It was one I hadn't seen yet. 

I opened it up with the initial thought that Wondering If i could give it back to whoever dropped it. Realizing that no one rose was around, I figured that would be a challenge. Then I realized it was a 10 kyat bill. Haha, essentially, I just found less than a penny.  There are ~1000 kyat to the dollar. They will use American dollars here for certain things but they have to be in pristine condition. Dollars with ink stains or with creases are not accepted. The larger the dollar bill, the more value it holds so each single dollar bill had a lower exchange rate than the $100 bill. 

Anywya,  We arranged minivan to Mandalay with the hope that it would stop less often and  be a nice ride. 

The roads are a but bumpy and though distances are not to far, it does take a long time to get from one destination to another. 

We started in our way and made a few stops to pick some people up and fill the seats, pay a toll...

Then we stopped again, I immediately had a flashback a long overbight bus ride through Peru: Arequipa to Cuzco.  HavI g started on an empty bus we spread out to enjoy some space. As it grew darker, the road became more bumpy. With each stop, more people piled in. It could have been a twenty minute nap, or I slept for three house; I don't know. But, when I woken up, the aisle was full with people standing squished leaning to make space for more. 

My intuition was right on this stop and we picked up two more for aisle seating. Luckily, here, they had plastic seats to plop down in the aisle. 

Bumpy road makes for blurry photo :)

I'm looking forward to reading my book in this ride and to see what toilet stops we make along the way. It's always fun to see what kind of markets we stop by duri g our break time. 

That said, I'm reading George orwell's "Burmese says" which has great descriptions of the people here while giving some insight into the history/politics too. 

Big hike- mt popa

We organized a day trip to mt popa and recruited our new friend, Michael to join us. 

He happily agreed to be part of our adventure. We hiked up to the top of a dormant volcano looking down on a "nat" shrine. 

The people of myanmar are mostly Buddhist but also believe in spirits called "nats". 

This shrine that we visited was made for their most important nat and is very well visited. 

It was a day full of hiking ad was a great change for a day. 

Bagan photos