Ouray Yoga™

The City, and the entire country, is one of the cleanest I have encountered in Latin America. Panama City is actually the only “First World” city south of the border. It has drinkable tap water throughout most of the country, and functioning water-treatment plants (something that Ouray is suffering for). Panama also provides public education, free health care, and I saw less homeless and litter than in L.A., or even Denver — all made possible by the capitalism of the Panama Canal. The Canal is an imperative supply chain between China, East/West US, and Europe. The Canal is so vitally important, the Chinese considered digging their own canal in a more authoritarian-friendly nation - but it proved too expensive. Which is substantive when you consider the passage fee is $1M per cargo ship. We hired a private tour of Panama through Viator . It was excellent. We walked through the Colonial old town, with many buildings still in use by the government, and many cathedrals. Two interesting t...

 This will not be my normal blog with all sorts of crazy activities to brag about. No, we did not scuba, or zipline, or helicopter over the city of Panama (although we thought about it). This vacation was probably the most quintessential beach cabana retreat most one-percenters luxuriously imbibe. (But you can do all that adventure stuff, plus a monkey island and sloth reserves.)  But first, per usual, the adventure begins way ahead of our arrival. It took us seventeen-and-a-half hours to get there — if you do not include food, gas, overnight with mom, and pee stoppage time.  Casa Azul Actually, it took the whole pandemic to get there. Our trip to Panama was originally schedule for Spring Break 2020 — when the World shut-down. Our booked vacation rental (thankfully) offered us a full refund, but Copa airlines only offered us a voucher. So, we waited. We watched our children stay-at-home, we watched the Distillery close-down. And then extended due to executive orde...

On a corner of Piccadilly Circus is the original Hard Rock Cafe , and John and I had the whole of London to entertain us.  Over the next two days, our darling girl had classes, a mixture of online and field trips around the fashion world of London; exploring fabric shops in London sounds so romantic.  We walked along Regent Street , up from Piccadilly, and down memory lane. Both of us having visited in our ‘80s youth. Gone are the Anarchists and English Punk , who made London vibrant. Yes, as a twelve-year-old, the Punkers were scary and authentic — they were a heartbeat who made the whole world a bigger heart. Queen Victoria at Windsor Hard Rock Cafe! Inside Hard Rock, the hordes of energetic Americans are missing, the encased costumes are of current performers we hardly recognize. The burgers are still terrible. And, it made me nostalgic for our cultural individuality. St. Pauls Cathedral Where are the anarchy-punkers? We found London homogenized. There is a Starbucks, or F...

Wow! It has been a long time since I blogged about a trip. F'ing Covid.  Ghost Ranch Corral It's not that I haven't travelled, I have travelled, but all for necessary things. From Corvallis, to Boise, to Logan, to Salt Lake City to Home. All in an effort to bring home my eldest from OSU, and show my middle possible colleges of the West. My middle wants to be west of the Continental Divide (maybe Front Range -- if she must) and she has always loved horses; however, she never became a proper cowgirl -- likely because her father is an L.A. city slicker. But, she is not ruling out the opportunity to meet a handsome young cowboy (or Aggie as the case may prove to be). More importantly, she wants to find her inner history-buff, education slinging, surfing, cowgirl. Drive-by Campus Tours Marcy Street What I didn't do is blog about my trips, because they were not American sightseeing tours. I failed to take the time to appreciate the Great Basin wonders. It wasn't play tim...

Front St. Dinner We just happened to travel to Bermuda on a national holiday weekend, National Heroes Day . The island itself is made up of a mixed population of descendants from freed Africans and emigrated Europeans. Our white relatives speak of a subtle reverse racism, and there is a feeling of separation, an awkwardness. And on this holiday, the black population have created a Carnival-like parade. Whites are welcome (and I truly mean that) but it is clearly a nod to the Caribbean roots from the South Americas. As well, Front Street, the main shopping/business district for Hamilton and primary parade route, has architecture reminiscent of Bourbon Street. Unfortunately, the parade fell very flat, only 3 floats, and most townsfolk were participants with very few spectators, and even fewer white spectators. I hope it grows, a lot of time and money is spent on ornate costumes and on city barricades, but without an open-armed, inclusive spirit with the fairer-skinned and/or promoti...