After my last couple of trips to (what I felt was a) pushy city like Istanbul, I’ve arrived again with my friends Caitlin, Branden, and Kate. Today begins our two week long adventure in the Middle East – a few days in Istanbul (their idea, heh) followed by the rest in Jordan, where I’m a […]

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Last week, Christine and I took a week-long trip to the American Southwest. She’d never been before, and I hadn’t visited since a 1996 trip with my grandparents – man, I loved that motorhome and I’m sure 1996-level gas prices were a good deal for my grandpa. We had a noon flight out of Milwaukee, […]

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Like most ancient ruins of ancient civilizations, the Zapotec/Mixtec ruins of Monte Alban are filled with big rocks. Built on a large mountain overlooking the modern city of Oaxaca (the priestly/ruling caste of the Zapotec had a thing for being able to overlook their subjects), Alban has a serene, tranquil feel to it even during […]

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It’s not proper IPA spelling, but hopefully Christine the linguistics Masters degree holder will forgive me. It’s been quite awhile since the last post, and instead of addressing things consecutively as I usually do, I’ll handle the food of the Oaxacan region first. On New Year’s Eve, Christine and I went out from Casa Giron […]

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We ate our way around some of Oaxaca’s plentiful taquerias and food stands. Second breakfast (after the omlettes served by Concepcion) was at Oaxaca’s number one rated restaurant, a bakery conveniently located only a couple blocks from Casa Giron. The owners were both there, two young Mexican men who spoke perfect English and made us […]

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Two trips to the Spanish-speaking world in one year! When Christine suggested it a couple months ago as our post-Christmas vacation, she said she could always use the language practice, and I agreed on the account that I could always eat more cheap tacos (I’m not kidding, that probably was my first thought). After spending […]

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