happiness writes white

CEDO is located in a neighborhood called las conchas, about two miles out of the proper centro of peñasco. it's a really nice neighborhood - mostly second homes of people from the states, all gorgeous and white, complete with silly names like "casa de sueños" (house of dreams). it will be interesting to live where i work - but that's really what this job is all about. the beauty of the place makes up for any doubts i might have about not living in town.



[view from my porch]


the water here is currently a bit chilly (at 55F), but come summer it will be up to 90F and there's just miles of gorgeous beach all around here. every night, i walk along the beach to watch the sunset and often see pods of dolphins just offshore.

have i convinced you to come visit yet?

i understand if you want to wait until it's a bit warmer; there's no heating and the walls are fairly thick so the rooms odn't really warm up. i'm usually wearing a sweatshirt and warm socks in the office or in my room - a bit silly when it's in the 70sF in the warm sun. but beware summer - 100F weather with humidity. it'll be a bit rough. rooms do have air conditioning though!

but until you do come visit, here's a brief tour:



[entrance gate]


[main building with firepit. next week, i will move into the tower there on the left - best view in las conchas]


[patio with CEDO tiled pattern]


[visiter center with "earthship construction" - meaning that the building is constructed from old tires and aluminum cans. pretty cool]


[fin whale skeleton. second largest whale in the world and they live right here!]


but to me, what's most surprising about the area is that it feels like you are in the middle of a barren desert. this is the driest part of the sonoran desert, getting less than four inches of rain a year! there is no fresh water source here. the nearby colorado river no longer drains in the sea of cortez thanks to the states' damming and draining efforts. and yet, the biological importance of the area is massive: the upper gulf has fantastically high biodiversity (we get sharks, whales, dolphins, sea lions, sea snakes, the smallest and most endangered cetacean in the world (the vaquita marina), tons of endemic fish species, not to mention all the inverts); the estuaries are home to 140+ species of birds, are considered the third most productive ecosystem in the world; there is a volcanic region nearby that's a designated biosphere (the astronauts trained here before going to the moon). i won't babble on too much, but it's just incredible.

happy inauguration day !!!

today is a good day.

congrats to president obama and vice-president biden!

i get all teary-eyed.

español

i had my first completely in spanish conversation today (apart from the obligatory "hola, como estas" sorts of things).

i bought insurance for my car before coming here online, but needed to go into the office to pay for it. and i completed the entire task completely in spanish. of course, it was mostly me explaining what i needed to do, asking if i could pay in traveler's cheques, and then asking about the signature and what not, but still! i felt pretty good about it.

i'm still horribly incompetent and spend a lot of time trying to focus on what people are saying - zoning out will not help me! it's quite exhausting.

but, i feel ok about it. i know i'll be able to handle it, and just need to be a bit patient with myself.

just fine

the view from my porch, my first morning at CEDO:





i think i'll be able to handle this place just fine :)

first days in mexico

hola from mexico!

things here at CEDO are great so far. everyone has been so welcoming and helpful and my spanish is improving so rapidly and i just have a good gut feeling about the place. i haven't officially started work yet, but since i'm here, and the CEDO field station is a bit out of town, i've been following the current intern around and starting to get comfortable with the place and situation. yesterday, i tagged along to the "oyster experience" tour and spent the day in the sun on a beautiful estuary, collecting fresh oysters and then eating them. can't really complain.

plus i am staying in a most beautiful place, literally steps from the beach. i promise i will take photos soon to post them.

just wanted to let everyone know i'm here safe and sound (and ironically enough, the closest one to "home", since everyone else here is from other parts of mexico and peñasco is like six hours away from anything). more later!

the beatles love by cirque de soleil

my family loves the beatles. my sister and i grew up with them, and we basically know every lyric of every song and own every album and ... the point is that we love them.

so two years ago, when we heard about the cirque de soleil show based on beatles music, we all got a copy of the album and marveled at how cool the song reworkings were. [if you haven't heard it, go buy it. especially if you're familiar enough with the beatles' music to catch all the little combinations]

and then when my sister turned 21, my parents got the whole family tickets to go see the show in vegas!



[the mirage]


and so began a beatles filled weekend. since we stayed at the mirage (where the show was), the lobby had beatles music playing, there was a beatles lounge, and, of course, there was the whole theatre area.









the show was really amazing, although a bit more dance than acrobatics. but the music was incredible and the costumes were great and each song had a great theme and ... yes it was amazing. go see it.

we also got to see the bellagio fountain show, done to a beautiful version of "oh holy night".





so yea, first real visit to vegas was fun. won a dollar and learned rather quickly that gambling is a waste of money (ask my sister).