Exhausting Day

A wonderful ride was the plan for Saturday. We popped the road bikes on the car and away we went to Champoeg State Park. We decided on a 30-mile ride along a river road in an agricultural area south of Portland, we found the ride on Blueberry Rides.
The day was great. We started our ride at the Park and quickly realized that agriculture is vast in the area. There were these strange vines that were really tall - almost looked like ivy leaves. They were strapped to wires as high as telephone poles. We still don't know exactly what they were but they were everywhere. We also saw lettuce, flowers, berries, hay, alfalfa, apricots and so much we didn't have a clue of what it was.
The sky was a combination of puffy clouds, blue patches and bright sunshine. The temperature was perfect in the low 70's. We came across a church in St. Louis built in 1846 with the old cemetary directly behind. Once our legs had reached the 33 mile marker, we found our way to a winery about 2 miles from the park entrance and purchased a bottle of wine and sat outside enjoyed the remainder of the afternoon.

*Rest of the evening*
When we got home we both showered and sat around for an hour or so. Then we decided to take the town bikes out to dinner. We rode the trail down to Montage for a drink and made our way up Hawthorne to Aqui for Fish Tacos. We pedaled home along the river and realized we were both a bit tired after about 45 miles of riding.

What to READ?

I have had many great conversations with my hair stylist (Jamie) regarding books. I love the fact that she reads and is part of a book club. Her and I discussed creating a list of titles that we have read and passing them off to the other. Here is my list in NO particular order. Most of them have been read over the last year or so:

Teacher Man - McCourt
The Darling - Banks
FAKE: forgery, lies and ebay - Walton
Finding Manana - Ojito
Lipstick Jihad - Moaveni
Educating Alice - Steinbach
House on Mango Street - Cisneros
Running with Scissors - Burroughs
On Mexican time - Cohan
Caramelo - Cisneros
Dress you family in corduroy and denim - Sedaris
The other Boleyn Girl - Gregory
1000 Days in Venice -De Blasi
1000 Day in Tuscany -De Blasi
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Eggers
Kite Runner - Hosseini
Eats, Shoots and leaves - Truss
Reading Lolita in Tehran - Nafisi
Fahrenheit 451 - Bradbury
The Jungle - Sinclair
Fast Food Nation - Schlosser
Pride and Prejudice - Austen
Animal Farm - Orwell
Catcher in the Rye - Salinger
Spanish Lessons - Lambert
Bastard out of Carolina - Allison
Freakonomics - Levitt

*Richard Russo ALL - My favorite is Straight Man

Anniversary Love

The cow and I have been married for 7 years as of July 1, 2006! He gave me this plant that will bloom and say "love" on one side with a "heart" on the other. It actually worked. It is growing like crazy and soon it will be out the roof.

Summer Salad

The cow and I went to the Farm cafe for my birthday last week and we had the most delightful summer salad that he has started making it at home.

Romaine lettuce
Red onions
Slivered toasted almonds
Pecorino cheese (shaved, small amount)
Poppyseed dressing

but this is the best part! Are you ready!

Marionberries on top.

The berries with the onions and dressing are sooooo delicious.
I LOVE this Sweet Summer Salad.

Yee-Ha!

I am getting better at driving and snapping photos at the same time. Trust me I am very cautious while getting the shot.

This sticker made me laugh out loud. But then after much contemplation, I realized that Yee-Ha could be a foreign policy. Hell, Teddy Roosevelt gave the US the "speak softly and carry a big stick" foreign policy otherwise known as the Roosevelt Corollary. Nixon brought the US the great "Ping-Pong" diplomacy with China and Reaganites still banter and relish the idea of outspending the Soviets (that's Russia) with an arms race to end all arms races known as STAR WARS.
So, Why NOT - Yee HAW.

Party anyone?

While having a drink at Gino's we found ourselves being welcomed into a stragers home for live entertainment on Saturday evening. This gives a whole new meaning to the term: House PARTY!


P.S. If you can't read the details - the party is in an vacant/abondoned house.

Who's the cute blonde?

Man - those were the good ole days!

Today's my Birthday

Yes! Today I am 40 years old! As a surprise the cow bought me a new computer. It is an imac. I also got an Ipod Nano! It will hold more music than I could possibly know the words to. We picked them up last night and I have spent the entire morning either talking on the phone....thanks for the calls (mom, chris, she, shan, dad, krista) or playing with my new computer.
So far, I have surfed the net, installed office for mac and I have saved a word document (although I couldn't find where I saved it). I will say that the imac is light and sleek. There is going to be a bit of a learning curve that goes along with have a different operating system, but I read somewhere that learning keeps your mind young - I wish it could keep my body young too.

Zapotec Rug & Black Pottery Vase

I tried to explain my fascination with the zapotec rug weavers but I don't think as many people are impressed as I am. All of the colors are natural. The red is the cochineal bug that grows on cactus, the orange is from marigolds, the green is from a ceertain type of moss, the brown is from nut shells....beautiful.

The vase was found by the cow at a collective of native artisans combing their knowledge of pottery with more modern designs.

Oaxaca, Mexico - Strike, Election & Protest

We had another great trip to Mexico - specifically Oaxaca.
There was a bit of politics going on while we were in the city. The presidential election fell the on the day we arrived. Many people do not have any idea of the situation in the state of Oaxaca and the presidential election of Mexico which continues to be in limbo.

Please read the following for a brief understanding of events leading to our trip.
The blog is then set up day-by-day.
If you find the entry titled : 2 Julio 2006 - that was our first day.
If you would like to view all the pictures just click:
http://picasaweb.google.com/feralcow/Oaxaca2006


On July 2, 2006 Mexico conducted their national election for President and Congress. In one day the politics of the country would be decided for the next six years.
Prior to election day the teachers of Oaxaca state went on strike and marched to the Zocalo in the city of Oaxaca where they have camped sine May 22, 2006. The teachers were asking for better conditions for students, textbooks, chalkboards and an increase in wages based on inflation. The governor, Ulises Ruiz from the PRI party, refused to negotiate with them (his office is on the zocalo).
With the upcoming election drawing near, many groups joined the teachers. Some were also teachers from other states but many groups that showed up were political in nature. On June 14, 2006 Ruiz ordered the local police into the zocalo. Helicopters, police officers, dogs and tear gas were used to try and dismantle the protest. This attempt failed miserably. The protestors had crudely blocked all major roads leading to the zocalo. They fought the police with sticks and rocks and the police got out. Rumors circulated that 7 individuals were killed during the protests.
Election day was the day we arrived into Oaxaca - Sunday July 2, 2006. As we got into the cab to get to the city we asked who won. We were told that the new president was Obrador from the PRD party. Oaxaca state was very happy with this outcome because he campaigned for the people. The next morning we learned that the election was in limbo. It was too close to call. It came down to Calderon (PAN party) and Obrador (PRD). This cast a very different shadow on the zocalo.
I am trying to explain this situation because when you view the pictures and read some of my commentary of the trip you will see encampments, graffitti and many - many people in the zocalo. It was difficult to gather information regarding current situations because everyone had a different agenda.

14 Julio 2006

Travel Day
Oaxaca - Houston - Portland
Continental airlines in flight meal.
I can't wait for a meal prepared with love by the cow.

13 Julio 2006

Our last day in the city was spent shopping and drinking. We went to the market and picked up a couple of cool bags for me. We found this shop called black box where we bought a black pottery vase (tall and chic) we sat and watched the people on the zocalo with a jarra de cerveza and we took in the ambiance of Oaxaca.

12 Julio 2006

Our last few nights in Oaxaca were centered around Casa de la Bugambilas a wonderful little bed & breakfast around the corner from the Santo Domingo church. We tried to relax, shop and take in parts of the city we had not seen. Mexico is a contrast: breathtaking at one minute and overwhelming the next. The sites can be glorious - a botanical garden in a 16th century building. Or a site can frighten - the market with all the dead animals. The smells are intoxicating - chocolate, coffee, mole. Or the smells can repulse - the market and the exhaust. I am always impressed by the people though. They are proud to be who they are!

11 Julio 2006

The cow and the car. I think we blew the clutch out of this little beast due to all the Tope and buses, not to mention the up-and-down and back-and-forth of the road (that means we climbed many of mountains and had too many switchbacks to count). Our favorite part of driving was the Tope. In the second picture you get a glimpse of the beast. Every time you come to a small village there is a tope to make you slow down. In the middle of the village there is another. At the end of the village there is yet another. The best part about the tope is when they are unsigned and unpainted. You hit them at 40-50 miles an hour and you send the chevy flying. We probably crossed 250 topes easily on our beach excursion (actually maybe more than that). The cow drove for seven hours and safely returned us to Oaxaca.

10 Julio 2006

Playa la entrega.
We headed to the beach. When you arrive at la entrega you get bombarded by individuals who want you to camp out at their establishments (hard to call them restaurants). We found a couple of chairs and a guy helped us obtain an umbrella for the day (80.00 pesos - ripped off). We got all settled in, ordered some beers, I even think we had gotten in the water when a young mexican woman starts pointing at our chairs and saying something very quickly. It turns out the the beach chairs belonged to her establishment right next to the one we had ordered beers from. She was not going to allow us to sit in her chairs while buying beers from someone else. I quickly found the guy who helped us and relayed as best as I could that I did not want any problems. He started talking to the young girl and said, "no - no problema" so I sat my ass back down. About 5 minutes later a guy came out and started saying similar things. We happily gave up our chairs and when the girl/guy realized that we would rather sit on the sand than buy beers from them they were not pleased. Someone else found us another pair of chairs and we sat, drank and swam for several hours.
After a hard day at the beach we went to Crucecita and had lunch at Iguana (Onix owners). The food was good and simple. Happy and hot we went back to our hotel to cool off in the pool before settling in for the evening.

9 Julio 2006

Huatulco o Tangolunda, Playa el Arrocito & Crucecita
Huatulco is the haute all-inclusive clubs.
Arrocito is the bluff above Huatulco.
Crucieta is the town where all of the mexican employees work that power the all-inclusive clubs. We stayed in Arrocito at the Hotel Villas Coral. This hotel was prime before the onset of the all inclusive club. We were the only people staying at this place, ok - maybe there was one or two other guest, but we never saw them. We had the pool, the ocean view and the restaurant/snack bar to ourselves.
We went to Crucieta for dinner and snacks and found the Onix. Brand new haute restaurant overlooking the zocalo. The owner chatted with us for a bit and told us that they had owned the eatery downstairs for 18 years and wanted to try something a bit more upscale. It was great. We had a great bottella de vino blanco and wonderful pasta.

8 Julio 2006

Puerto Angel
We made it to the beach by 12:00 for lunch of taco pescado and cerveza. We had a bit of trouble finding a place to stay. Not because the town was booming but it was literally a ghost town. Many of the hotels/motels in the guide book were closed. We did some driving around and got ourselves more than frustrated and ended up at the La Buena Vista (it really wasn't) but it had a pool and was up a hill from the ocean. We swam a bit and went to the beach for a great dinner of pescado y camerones de ajo.

7 Julio 2006

San Jose del Pacifico.
On a clear day they say you can see the ocean, I really don't believe them. We rented a car and left Oaxaca about 10:30. We drove Highway 175 to the hilltop town of San Jose del Pacifico. We stayed in a cabin on the side of a mountain. The elevation is about 9500 feet. We sat on the porch the rest of the afternoon and drank beer and mezcal while playing dominos. The view and weather were great. One minute it was sunny and the next minute the clouds would saunter up from the coast and you couldn't see in front of you.
Notice the domino stack. I am getting my ass kicked. I have ten to lay down and the cow only has ONE. Yeah! who do you think won that game.

6 Julio 2006

Touring Oaxaca with Arnoldo
Take a look at the map (first picture)

Beneva Mezcal distillery between Ygul and Mitla
The process of distilling mezcal is very interesting. Just like tequilla it comes from the agave (maguey) cactus plant. It takes approximately nine years for the cactus to mature. The cactus is cut or torn from the ground and only the pineapple is used (think artichoke heart). It gets burned basically and then ran through a masher (donkey does the work in many places still). The mash then sits for many days to ferment and then the distilling process begins. Mezcal comes in basically three varieties: blanco (young), repasado con gasano de maguey and anejo (aged). All are pretty tasty I liked the anejo the best.

Teotitlan de valle - tradition rug weavers
This stop was fabulous. Jesus guided us through the rug making process from start to finish. It went something like this:
First they buy the wool. Then then scrub the wool with a natural cactus fiber by the river. The wool must dry and then they must spin it into yarn (notice my arm in the picture - my bracelet is made from a strand of wool that I spun). The next step is color: super interesting because they still used ALL natural product for dyes. All of the colors you see on my hand started from one insect, the cochineal, that grows on cactus. Once dried the bug is ground into a fine powder and used for a beautiful red. From that bug, Jesus showed how by mixing lime juice, nut shells, baking soda the colors change. He then took us through the process of weaving. There were five looms set up in their working area. The finished work is amazing and time consuming.

Our last stop was el Tulle, supposedly the largest tree in the world (according to Arnoldo).
We finished off an enjoyable tour with a game of Kuuduk and a cold beer.