Letters from...San Diego

 (text in ENG)

   Although this trip was in September, I only write about it now… So, there was a 4 day holiday in Mexico, so we took off to San Diego. The original plan was to go to Guadalajara, the second biggest city in Mexico, but as it was Independence Day, we dropped the plan and rather “escaped” out of the country. (It is not only that everybody is traveling is such days and the traffic jams can be huge, but also the fireworks and parties on the streets can be dangerous – as it is said.)

   Fortunately we could get some sun in San Diego after almost a whole month of hurricanes and rain and cloudy weather in Mexico. That was the best part going out of the country! 

   As it was an almost last-minute trip, we went without any plans. Well, if it is San Diego, the first thing pops in is “zoo”, of course. (Although my husband has never heard of it – maybe because he never saw “Madagascar”…) So, one destination was the zoo and the other (after reading a bit on the plane) was USS Midway, the mothership in the bay. And shopping, of course…

   After arriving and picking up the rental car (which was a small, but cute Fiat 500), we headed to the center to check out some outlets. Not finding anything interesting in the outlet (despite the Chinese run Japanese restaurant that my husband loved), we decided to see the Midway. 

   The ticket includes the audio guide which is great, because otherwise I would never had had paid for it, although it turned out to be useful and fun walking around with it. For me, this was the first mothership to see in my whole life, so for me even its size was astonishing. In the inside of the ship there were many entertainment things like the model of the ship, real catapults, helicopter and plane simulators etc. Also, there was a part of the engine section where the audio guide has guided us. In this part veteran marines were explaining and telling stories about the function of the ship and details that an audio guide wouldn´t be able to tell. The route included the staff´s part (kitchen, bedrooms etc.) as well. It was interesting to see the difference of the hierarchy within the ship: the captain had a room just like any hotel suite while the staff´s beds were like those in prison.

   After checking out the engine and staff room, we went out to the surface, where the planes had been landing and taking off. Here, of course you could climb up the different helicopters and planes, could learn about the different roles of the staff (there were life size photos of the staff – apparently staff with different roles had different colored uniforms in order to be easily distinguished.) There was also a mini-tour with veterans climbing up to the control tower where we were explained how the captain would coordinate the landing and taking offs (apparently there is only 70ms to landing, 110ms to take off and there had been over 30 planes on the ship at one time!), we were shown the ship´s control rooms where the navigation plans and actual ship direction had taken place.

   As I was never a ship/plane fan (i.e. I know nothing about planes and ships), it was a whole new world to me, and it turned out to be very interesting! So interesting, that we got a parking ticket for exceeded the allowed parking time… and this became the task for the next 3 days, as we couldn´t pay it in person (office closed on weekends), nor by credit card (can´t pay with foreign cards), so we had to figure out how to pay the ticket so the rental car co. wouldn´t charge us three times of the penalty. Fortunately, the motel staff was nice and explained to us how and where to buy a money order, how to fill out and they even sent it by post.

   The next day (Saturday) next to the above battle with the parking ticket, we went to Balboa Park, where the famous San Diego Zoo is located. We arrived quite early, but it was worth the wait to be opened, as the number of people around noon was extreme! The guidebook said it was better to take the tour bus first which takes you around the zoo and decide the route after this ride. The bus tour was really great, about 20 minutes and it was really worth to be there first time in the morning, because apparently we weren´t the only ones who had thought to take the bus as the first thing in the zoo – the bus was full in seconds!

   Although it is said that the San Diego zoo is huge, I think it is rather just full with slopes which makes it seem to be huge because you get tired easily. (Actually, I think the Mexico City zoo is bigger for area –at least, it felt like it.) Anyway, the zoo was great, cleverly mixing animals and business: after each area there was a “commercial” area with food courts and shops that sold the related articles. Like after the panda area, you could buy Chinese food or panda toys, while at the elephant section elephant toys were sold. (Just like Disneyland.) I was interested in the koalas (had never seen one in live) and my husband is fan of pandas, so those were our first destination. There was a panda baby (it was sleeping up on the trees at the time we went, so we only saw a big, whitish fur ball among the branches), but strangely the adults were quite active. In other zoos, the maximum activity I had seen from pandas were eating, but here they were walking around, sitting down then standing up, so it was interesting to see them!

As for the koalas, they were far from active. There were some 15 koalas and the adults (I guess the males) were separated and everyone had a pole with eucalyptus branches and heating on the top. They were just hanging on the poles and sleeping. Even so, for me they seemed interesting to finally see them live. Although a lot of people say they are not as cute as their stuffed friends, I thought the real koalas were just as cute as their stuffed counterparts.

  We also saw a komodo dragon, which I believe is very rare in a zoo! I was always astonished by these huge lizards that don`t only look like dragons (or dinosaurs), but they even act like that! As they are lizards, don`t have huge fangs as wolves or tigers, so how do they kill a cow or deer...? They use venom! All they have to do is bite the animal and follow its trails as the animal wouldn`t go far. The poison in the lizard`s saliva goes straight into the bloodstream from the wound and the animal is dead in a couple of minutes! Quite scary, no?
  

 
  Of course there were the "standard" animals like insects, lions, elephants, polar bears (they were swimming in the cool water, it was beautiful), hippos (they as well were resting in the water which wasn`t the usual mud water, so fortunately you could see what a hippo does under the water), birdhouse and we even saw a few okapis, the mysterious, blue-tounged, giraffe-zebra mix animal. Unfortunately they were quite shy and couldn`t take a good picture, but they are beautiful! I can`t imagine how they could hide so good that despite their size, this species was only discovered in the early 20th century!

   Although it was only the part of the zoo we had seen, it was late afternoon when we finally got too tired to walk around more, so we headed back to our hotel.

   
   On Sunday we visited La Jolla near to San Diego. I´ve first heard of this town in a TV program in Fox Life, called “Property Virgins”. I don´t know if “Jolla” has anything to do with “joya” (jewelry in Spanish), but indeed the town seemed like a small jewelry box. Cute, clean and rich city with amazing views and beaches. Although we could hardly find a parking spot along the beach, it was worth to take 2-3 rounds, because it was amazing! Actually, the town (at least the center) is in a small hill, so there is a park along the cliff where families having picnic and children are chasing seagulls… there are stairs from this park leading down to the beach where you can swim with sealions! Yes, there was even one sealion sleeping just about 10ms from the people! In the water they were swimming along the people... (Apparently you don´t have to go to Peru to swim with them (as we did), it would have been enough to go to La Jolla). However, the life guard seemed to be very strict (shouting at people) about not touching a sealion. (As usual in the US, not because it would cause stress to the animal, but because it is prohibited by law…)

   Nearby there is a cave as well (also, full with sealions), where you can take a kayak tour (often included with snorkeling). 

   As we hadn´t planned kayaking or swimming, we just strolled around the park, watching chipmunks and seagulls, and went down the beach for a while to see the sealions. (I have to be honest, it wouldn´t be easy live nearby as the smell and the sound of these animals cannot be ignored.) 

   But not only the beachside, but also the town itself is worth to see around. Cute houses, interesting (though expensive) shops and great weather characterize La Jolla.

   In the afternoon we went to the other side of San Diego, to the Mexican Border. Although living in Mexico for almost 3 years, we had never been near to the border as everybody says it is not recommendable (drug cartels). (Not to mention that it is a “bit” far from Mexico City.) So, it was interesting to see the border - huge, tall walls with wires on the top all over the horizon and the Mexican-like one floor houses on the hillsides in Tijuana, on the other side of the border.

This we could all see from the border-outlet, the Premium Outlet which is located there clearly for the Mexicans (there were more people speaking there Spanish than English).

   

   The zoo, the mothership, La Jolla and some outlets were all we could fit in the 4 days at this time, but thanks to the nice weather in San Diego, we had a great time and returned to Mexico on Monday full with new memories.

Wedding in Mexico

 (text in ENG)

With the happy couple

   In the beginning of October, my husband was invited to his subordinate´s wedding. The wedding took place in Toluca, where we work.

   First of all, the invitation letter stroke me – it wasn´t a regular sized envelope, but a huge (about 40x40cms) letter. As in the Latin-American countries, this invitation was as well not of the bride and the groom, but of their parents and godparents.

   The invitation said “formal” dress code for the reception, which took me wondering; usually formal means long dress, but after reading and searching on the internet, my husband persuaded me that the dress code is not that strict in Mexico and no worries. One day before the wedding however I asked a colleague of mine who recently had her daughter´s wedding, and she said if it is at night and inside, plus the invitation says formal, then it´s definitely long dress. So, the next morning we went shopping…fortunately the wedding started at 6pm, so we had time. We found in a nearby outlet a great little shop where they sell such formal/cocktail dresses – not only that it was outlet, but it was on sale as well, so after trying on dozens of beautiful dresses, I chose one for 600pesos(!). My husband was joking to buy some more so I can wear them for everyday or for doing sports, taking out our dog etc. True, this dress was half of a jacket he bought the other day.

   I was thinking (from the Hungarian customs) that in Mexico as well the “forbidden” colors in a wedding are white and black. Black, because it is the color of the funerals and white (obviously), because it is the color of the bride. However, turns out in Mexico black is OK and instead red is not preferred because red resembles to blood and suffering. The white is just as in Hungary is a “forbidden” color to wear. It was good, that I finally didn´t choose a red dress, because it was one of my 3 final choices. 

The ceremony in the church...

    The wedding started at 6pm in the church. We were told horror stories that the wedding ceremony starts hours late and lasts for hours, but it wasn´t the case. We arrived a little bit late, but the ceremony has already started. Just as we arrived and parked, it started to rain and as we sat down in the church it became a storm so big, that within 2 minutes the church darkened – there was a blackout. Fortunately, the electricity came back in a few minutes, but it might have seemed as a bad omen for the young couple. L Anyway, the ceremony later went on without problem and lasted not more than an hour. After congratulating to the couple, we headed to the reception, which was held in an hacienda nearby. Although it was nearby, we had difficulties to find the place – after 2-3 guides by locals, we found the place but more by luck than by intention.   

   Haciendas are huge, both the house-complex and the surrounding land, so they are usually in remote places. This was the case at this time, as well – the hacienda was in the edge of the city between the poorest part of the town and nowhere. It was strange driving through in formal dress and perfect makeup on dirt roads, among stray dogs and tacos eating locals…

   But finally we found the place and the reception started soon. The place was beautiful, a huge hacienda, with old but good conditioned walls and columns. There were about 200 people sitting at round tables, and of course there was the stage for the band and place to dance. The seats for the couple were arranged in front of the inner garden, which was lightened up for the occasion. (There was even a spectacular firework show from this garden later in the night.)

   For me, again it was strange that in Mexico, where the family is so important, the couple would sit alone. In Hungary, the parents sit together with the couple in the front. But probably, because here it is not only the parents, but grandparents, godparents are equally important it would be difficult to sit everybody on the same place.

   

...and the reception/party

   The food was very good, but strangely little – for the food loving Mexicans, I think the portions were small. And thinking about the Japanese weddings, where people eat for 2 hours straight 5-6 course meals, the meal here was definitely small. But again, in Japan people don´t dance on weddings and here, it seems that the dance is even more important than food. So, around 10pm (one hour after the reception had started) the band started to play and everybody went dancing.   Of course, the majority was Mexican, cheerful music. The party was rather like a concert as people got presents (like balloons, blinking lights etc.) in the middle of the night, so the dance floor looked like a mass of fans in front of the band. We were also presented by little bells, bracelets of crosses, even with slippers(!) (I guess for the women to change their high-heels after dancing). 

   As for the guests, we have used “mesa de regalos”, the American custom for presents: a code came in the invitation to use in a department store and there we just chose our present, paid and the store did everything else: wrapped it and delivered to the couple. It is very convenient and useful (no double presents), but seemed a bit strange not to have an opportunity to give them the present directly. The couple went around the tables during the party and could congratulate them, but it was still a bit lonely so for me. Also, there were bouquet throw of course and (for the bachelors) garter-throw between the rest time of the band.

   The party continued all the way till 3am. I wonder how the Mexicans could stand so much dancing with only one meal in the evening! (In Hungary usually there is a “snack” in the middle of the night.)

   

   We had our wedding in Hungary, had worked part-time in a French restaurant planning weddings in the weekends in Japan and now experiencing one in Mexico, I had to realize again, that every culture is different and has different customs. However, wherever you are, there is one thing sure: weddings are happy occasions all over the world.

Letters from...Yellowstone (part 6)

   (text in ENG)

Castle Geyser

   Our last stay in Yellowstone Park was in Old Faithful, rather far away from Mammoth as we had to go south all the way on the outer loop. On the way to Morris Junction, there were two interesting spots, one the Obsidian Cliff – what we hadn´t found. We found a sign to the place explaining that the whole cliff is made of obsidian (a black, shiny stone, produced from lava), but the stone “collectors” had destroyed it, chipping off stones from the cliff… anyway, we hadn´t find it so went to the next attraction, the roaring mountain. 

 

Sheepeater Cliff

   On the way we found a smaller attraction, the Sheepeaters Cliff. This was a huge wall of hexagon shaped granite. In the front there were huge rocks fell down from the wall, and as the cliff is made of hexagon shaped columns, it looked like a giant had knocked over some of these columns. Regarding the sign there, Sheepeater was called the Indian tribe that had lived here before, therefore the name. Nearby the cliff there was a river running, so it was a perfect picnic stop. Suddenly, a squirrel (golden-mantled ground squirrel) had appeared from the rocks. First I thought it was a chipmunk, as it had stripes on its back, but searching on the internet, it turned out it was a squirrel.The squirrel was running around, stopping suddenly (like all squirrels), then running again, standing to his hind feet to look around… it was so cute, I could hardly leave him. 

 

golden-mantled ground squirrel

   But as my husband got eager to go further, we left Sheepeater Cliff and drove further.  Not far from the next attraction, Roaring Mountain, I spotted something on the field that turned out to be a sandhill crane. There were actually two birds, the second (maybe the female?) was a bit shy, hiding behind a smaller bush. A bit further, we spotted some geese grazing from the tall grass near the riverbank (I called them Niels Holgerson Goose, but they are “officially” Canada Goose). 

 

sandhill crane

   Roaring Mountain was easy to spot, especially in the morning when the steam coming from the holes and gaps of the mountain was seen more clearly. It made the mountain look like it was sweating. It is called “roaring”, because sometimes the water leaving the ground makes a hissing sound.

Roaring Mountain

   We stopped at Norris Jct. to see the Norris Geyser Basin and the Artists Paintpot. The Norris Geyser Basin seems to be a quite new discovery and a hotspot for the researchers as the view in the basin changes every year, showing the actual volcanic activity of the area. The people around here (in the western side) were much more than what we´d seen in the eastern area, forest area and it was frustrating to line up for parking. At Norris as well, we had gone there a few days ago, but it was so full, we gave up. This time, we were relatively early (around 9am), so we still found a parking space relatively fast.

   As the basin is quite big, my husband stayed outside in the museum (which, by the way shows the different volcanic activities very picturesque) while I “ran” around the basin. Here, the entrance is very dramatically made, as you first face a huge steam vent. 

the entrance of Norton Geyser Basin

    The basin further is full with holes filled with bubbling water or mud volcano and some more steam vents. Overall the hot water flows across the whole basin, creating small creeks of green, orange, brown colors.

Norton Geyser Basin

    Norris Geyser Basin is huge, there are many trails, but as my husband was waiting for me outside, I just took the smaller loop and went back to meet him in the museum.

   Not counting the smaller stops, we directly went from Norris to Old Faithful. Just as the Mammoth area, Old Faithful was as well rather a touristic spot than a national park – very well organized, nice and neat place. As it was lunchtime, we went to have lunch in the Inn´s buffet. The variation of the food was plenty and the seats were looking directly to the Old Faithful Geyser (it is called so as its eruptions are relatively reliable and on-time; about every 80 minutes or so). After lunch, we stopped at the geyser to see its eruption. As it was “smoking”, I thought it would erupt in any minute, but we had to wait about 20 minutes. Altogether the eruption took a few minutes, so it was like in Disneyland: you line up for hours for a 2 minute ride. The attraction at Old Faithful was like a sport event: there were benches around the geyser and it was completely full when the geyser erupted. This scene was just as interesting as the eruption of the geyser…

The crowd to see Old Faithful Geyser...

...and the show!

    As the geyser-show had finished, the crowd dispersed and we also headed to the reception to check-in. Although it was before 4pm, we could check in our lodge. As the Old Faithful Geyser, the lodges and other shops and restaurants were all in one place here, the parking lot was huge and the place very crowded. Fortunately, there were parking spaces at the lodges, so we didn´t have to carry our luggage.

   Later we looked around the area – there were souvenir shops, restaurants and on the other side of the village, the Old Faithful Inn, a huge, wooden inn. It had about 5 stories and the interior was all wood and logs, it looked beautiful. Unfortunately, not only the building, but its price as well is high, so we stayed in the Lodges, which were just as nice and clean as in any other part of the park. 

inside Old Faithful Inn

    We parked at the Inn to leave for the upper geyser basin. As well, we had only walked a small part of the basin (about 2kms), but it was the most fantastic hike we´d had in the park; the road is full with geysers and hot springs, so with every step you can see something new. First we went to see the Castle Geyser, but we had to take a smaller loop on the road as a bison had selected his spot to rest right next to the trail. The Castle Geyser is the biggest cone geyser in this area erupts the water up to 27meters high for about 20-30 minutes! We were lucky as the eruption just started in a few minutes after we had arrived, although the eruption is in every 10-12 hours. As for me, the cone geysers seem more interesting as the water here erupts in on, powerful jet. 

Castle Geyser

    Walking further we passed the Crested Pool (a 13m deep, turquoise blue pool), Sawmill Geyser as we arrived to the next big attraction, Grand Geyser. As the Grand Geyser is said to be erupted after the Castle Geyser stops, we stopped at the geyser to wait for the eruption. There are signs at the geysers saying the approx. time (in about 2-4 hours span) of the next eruption. The one at Grand Geyser said to be erupted around 3 and 6pm. It was around 4pm, so we waited. Unfortunately, finally we had to wait more than an hour under the hot sun… after about 20 minutes, I went to look around a bit: right next to the Grand Geyser were 2 little springs that started to bubble heavily, which I thought might be a sign for the eruption, but turned out not to be. A bit further was a pool called Belgian spring – regarding to a tour guide, it is called so because a Belgian scientist “discovered” this spring by falling into it when running towards the Castle Geyser. It was before the boardwalks were set up in the park. The pool is nicely blue, but I wonder if this Belgian guy had survived soaking into the hot water… A bit further were a twin-pool, called Liberty Pool.

 

Liberty Pool

   The wait was like waiting for a bus: “shall I wait or shall I go? If I go, it´s for sure that the bus will come in a minute and I won´t have time to run back to it… If I stay…how long do I wait?” Finally we gave up and were about to leave when finally the eruption started. It was huge! Apparently, it is the largest predictable (eruption in every 7-15 hours) geyser; the water reaches 60 meters (!) and lasts for a long, 15 minutes. It was interesting as there is another, smaller geyser (that apparently has the same canal as the Grand Geyser) that started erupting a few minutes after the Grand Geyser. The Grand Geyser was erupting water perpendicularly, while this other geyser shot the jet of water in an angle. As it was bright, shiny day, the water spray created a beautiful rainbow as well. The two geysers and the rainbow altogether looked like a spectacular water show of the nature. 

Grand Geyser

    After the “show” had finished, we continued our way towards the Morning Glory spring. On the way we had seen many other geysers and pools, like the Chromatic Spring, Beauty Pool or the Grotto Geyser. 

Beauty Pool

  We also had seen a beautiful footprint of a bear. A bit later we saw a handwritten sign, informing that there had been sightings of a grizzly with cubs, so it must have been a grizzly footprint. As any other animal, grizzlies as well are the most dangerous when they are with babies. Actually, the next day in Jackson Hole I saw an article in the local newspaper about a bear-attack (the first one in the park in this year); apparently, August is the most dangerous not only because of the cubs but as well because the bears become more anxious and easily irritated as the time is closing up to look for food before the winter.

grizzly footpring

    Morning Glory Spring is like the smaller version of the Grand Prismatic Spring: its colors vary from yellow to deep green. Moreover, as its name says, this spring has a shape of a morning glory as it narrows down from the surface. According to the sign, the spring had been originally turquoise blue in the middle, but due to vandalism (people throwing cans and coins into the spring), the color of the water has changed to green. Even so the spring is beautiful, but it is said that it might never change back its color to its original blue.

Morning Glory Spring

    The trail from Morning Glory Spring continues further, but from this point we headed back to the lodge. The trails are creating loops, so we didn´t have to go back on the same way, we could take another trail with some other more geysers.

   The next day was our last in Yellowstone and our hotel was in Jackson Hole, so we took the whole day to drive back the about 120km road without any rush. This day the only destination was the Grand Prismatic Spring, but as we´d seen the day before, it was completely packed, so we decided to go early in the morning (before checking out) so we would be able to avoid the crowd. It was a bad choice… as the spring is hot and the morning is still cold, we couldn´t see anything from the huge steam coming out from the spring. 

Grand Prismatic Geyser in the morning

   Disappointed we went back to the lodge, packed our stuff, checked out and went back again. (The spring was on the way anyway.) This time the view was better, but to be honest, I was still a bit disappointed. As it can be shown in the postcards, this spring is so huge (about 60ms in the diameter), that it really looks great only from above. I was wondering why the park can´t make an outlook for the spring on the nearby hill, because from the boardwalks, only the massive size of the spring can be experienced, its real beauty can´t be enjoyed fully. Anyway, it was very impressive, but we didn`t stay for long - after taking some pictures we left to head to Jackson Hole.
 

one "leg" of the Grand Prismatic Geyser

   The weather was still beautiful, so we took our time to stop by at the outlooks, especially in Grand Teton National Park. Those sharp rocks of the Grand Teton are just breathtaking; no matter how many times one sees them.

the beautiful Grand Teton National Park

    We arrived to Jackson Hole around noon, so after check out the location of the hotel, we drove around in the downtown. We found a Japanese restaurant and had lunch there – the owner was Japanese so, the food was authentic and delicious. After lunch, we strolled around the downtown; it´s a few blocks, so really easy to walk around. The center is the main square, with antler arches, nice lawns and benches. 

antler arch in the main square

in Jackson Hole

    People were resting in the park with their dogs, or sipping coffee on the terraces of the cafes and restaurants… the town felt very peaceful and overall it had a great atmosphere. The shops around the main square were mainly restaurants and souvenir shops varying from the usual “mass” souvenirs like T-shirts, toys, calendars to hyper-exclusive and expensive clothes or cowboy boots shops. There were some shops with stuffed animals, for me these were the most impressive: from animals living in the surrounding area, like foxes, raccoons or bears, wolves, cougars to exotic African animals like buffalos or antelopes, one could find everything here! 

For more pictures, click here! → Yellowstone (part 6)