This time last year I was experiencing Christmas time celebrations in Granada, Nicaragua during the week before the Ultramaraton Fuego y Agua. I happened to arrive during the Purísma celebrations. This is a celebration of the Virgin Mary in early December that lasts about 2 weeks.
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Continuing the tale and stream of pictures of last year's trip to Patagonia...
After only one Full day in Bariloche, we boarded a bus to Puerto Varas, Chile. We traveled through a mountain pass over the Andes before stopping at the Chilean customs.
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A few posts ago I described some of my medical drama from this summer. I was touched and am thankful for all those who offered support or words of encouragement through various means after reading that. So perhaps it is time for a quick update for anyone who might still be reading.
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It was almost a year ago that my tour group with Gap flew from Buenos Aires to the city of San Carlos de Bariloche for the start of the tour through Patagonia. The first few days of the tour took us through the Argentina and Chilean Lakes districts in the northern region of Patagonia.
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Just over two years ago I joined some of my trail running friends on an incredible multi-day trail running expedition through the Peruvian Andes. I started writing about this trip before (1, 2) but never managed to finish the story. There was so much experienced that my words
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I arrived in Buenos Aires last November a few days before the start of a 3 week tour through Patagonia with GAP Adventures
. My flight arrived around 8:00am, and I signed up for a ride with a local bus company to drop me off at the hotel for 1/5 the price of a taxi.
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Last November, I had been staying in Buenos Aires for a few days before joining a tour through Patagonia. After reading this New York Times article, I had originally considered an overnight trip to Uruguay’s capital of Montevideo to coincide with the Saturday art markets. However, due to some last minute changes in itinerary, my time in
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I haven’t been posting recently, with good reason. Over the last couple of months I have been in and out of the hospital or else recovering at home following illness that affected my respiratory system.
The short summary is I went into the hospital with advanced respiratory distress (ARDS) a few months ago due to an uncommon condition known as
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I came home yesterday to find this fawn lying in my fenced-in backyard a couple of feet from the driveway. My backyard is enclosed by a fence. Adult deer can easily jump the fence. The fence is too high for this little guy to get over, so he must have been born recently in my backyard. It had been 3 days since anyone was at my house, so the mother deer must have considered my backyard a quiet enough place for the birth.
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The 2nd annual Ultramaratón Fuego y Agua (fire and water) was held on Dec 12, 2009 on the island of Ometepe in Nicaragua. The race had 25k, 50k, and 100k distance options. Ometepe Island is located in Lake Nicaragua. The island is formed by two volcanoes, Conception and Maderas, joined by an isthmus. The race courses involve climbing one or both volcanoes. Conception is an active volcano (hence the Fuego/fire) and Maderas has a lake in its crater (hence the Agua/water).
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The Calzado de Ometepe Kids 5k was a charity event held in conjunction the Ultramaraton Fuego y Agua on Isla Ometepe in Nicaragua, allowing the race a way of giving back to the people of the island. This race was for the school children of Ometepe Island to promote fitness and provide shoes for the children. It was held the day after the ultramarathon
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After the morning bike ride to visit the farming community (described previously), the taxi that was hired for the rest of the day picked us up and drove us to the city of Masaya for a visit of the city and nearby Masaya Volcano nature park.
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This 5th day in Nicaragua my tour guide, Jessica, had arranged a full day. It began in the city of Granada with a visit to the Empowerment International NGO, and bike tour out to the countryside to visit a farming community the NGO was working
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I haven’t eaten at KFC for some time, but I had a free lunch coupon and so I gave it a try.
One recent change at KFC’s in Austin is they no longer offer Extra Crispy chicken.
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My 4th day in Nicaragua began similar to my third day, escorted by my guide Jessica, catching the same local bus we took the previous day to La Granadilla, except this time we
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I ran the Austin Half Marathon last weekend. I am just getting back into training since break since following my last ultra run a couple of months ago. But this marathon/half-marathon event is the focus of so much the Austin running community, and I have participated in one of
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I visited the farming community of La Granadilla as a day trip from the city of Granada, Nicaragua. The morning started with an excellent breakfast prepared by the family with whom I was boarding.
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When you are watching the Winter Olympics over the next few weeks, watch out my friend Roberto Carcelen, one of three athletes from Peru ever to qualify and join Peru's first Olympic team to compete at the Winter Olympic games. I met Roberto two years ago when I joined a few running friends on a trail-running adventure across the Andes in the vicinity of Maccu Piccu.
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Last December, I arrived in Managua in the early afternoon after an overnight flight from Buenos Aires via Miami after 3 weeks in South America. The Miami connection allowed me to call home on my cell phone without the international charges. The flight was less than 3 hours from Miami.
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I was poking through Google Analytics stats for this blog. I was curious to see what people are looking for here, and
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