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Friday, May 24, 2013
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Useful Camping Tips: The Little Things That Can Make a Big Difference
A mutual friend of ours introduced us to backcountry camping a years ago. We set out on our first backpacking trip with borrowed gear. We completed the trip with painful blisters on our feet and loved every moment of it. Since then, we've spent every weekend available exploring the outdoors through back-country camping. Along the way we've learned a few things that have made a big difference for us, hopefully these tips will do the same for you.
Bring Fire Starters
Assuming you have the right gear, sleeping through a rain storm while camping outdoors can be quite a soothing experience. Unfortunately when it comes to time to leave your tent the next morning, starting a fire with wet wood and frozen fingers is no fun, not to mention nearly impossible. Louis and I learned this the hard way. We had slept through a rain storm the previous night and woke up the next morning refreshed and ready for some hot breakfast next to a warm camp fire. After twenty minutes of failed attempts to start a campfire with moist tinder, we were ready to give in to our hunger. Luckily, a seasoned backpacker came to our rescue with a handy fire starter made from dryer lint ball.
Bring Fire Starters
Assuming you have the right gear, sleeping through a rain storm while camping outdoors can be quite a soothing experience. Unfortunately when it comes to time to leave your tent the next morning, starting a fire with wet wood and frozen fingers is no fun, not to mention nearly impossible. Louis and I learned this the hard way. We had slept through a rain storm the previous night and woke up the next morning refreshed and ready for some hot breakfast next to a warm camp fire. After twenty minutes of failed attempts to start a campfire with moist tinder, we were ready to give in to our hunger. Luckily, a seasoned backpacker came to our rescue with a handy fire starter made from dryer lint ball.
Being new at backpacking, Louis and I consoled ourselves on this little oversight and vowed to never forget to bring fire starters, we really love our morning camp fires.
Make sure to take into account elevation when planning a back country trip
This is a problem we often run into at the beginning of backpacking season in spring or even early summer. Personally, I blame the perfect Pacific Coastal weather in Orange County! ;) Last spring, Louis and his friends decided to backpack Mt. San Gorgonio (San Bernardino National Forest) in mid April. The weather in Orange County that week was in the mid 70s, the boys did their due diligence and called the ranger to inquire about the trail condition. They were told by the ranger that the trails were in great condition,unfortunately for them, this turned out to be the incorrect information. At mile 2 they ran into ankle deep to knee deep snow. With no snow shoes and lack of proper winter gear (two of the boys were wearing shorts!) they headed back down the mountain after completely losing sight of the trail 7 miles in. Lessons learned from this trip, don't always trust the park ranger (see below), check the snow reports and read online blogs or forums to check real time trail conditions.
Don't just rely on the park ranger
Don't get me wrong, most of the park rangers we've met while hiking/camping are very helpful and knowledgeable. Most of the time, the more popular the trail or park is, the more knowledgeable the rangers are. We do most of our weekend backpacking in Los Padres National Forest in Southern California. And every year, there is one ranger there that ALWAYS provide us with false information about the availability of water and trail condition. I don't think he means to but it's starting to get REALLY annoying. The two most frequent questions we ask the ranger are 1.) is there snow on the trail 2.) where are the stream crossing locations for water. Unfortunately, we've been given unrealistic answers to both questions on various occasions. It's important in the backcountry to know where your water sources are to correctly ration water for the duration of the trip because ending your day thirsty is no fun. As always, in addition to talking to your park ranger,try to find online real time trail conditions and be sure to read log books in the beginning of the trail when available, they can be very useful!
Helpful links for to check for trail conditions at Los Padres National Forest:
http://www.ventanawild.org (Northern Los Padres National Forest, Big Sur Region)
http://prdp2fs.ess.usda.gov/alerts/lpnf/alerts-notices/?aid=10432 (Los Padres National Forest road closure and conditions)
Bring an extra shirt for the car ride home
Sure, after a couple days in the wilderness you and your travel companions will smell the same. But if you are like us, we usually indulge ourselves with delicious food immediately after leaving the campsite. Leave a clean shirt in the car for the restaurant, trust me, people at the restaurant will thank you for it.
We'd love to hear tips and tracks you have when camping out in the wilderness!
This is a problem we often run into at the beginning of backpacking season in spring or even early summer. Personally, I blame the perfect Pacific Coastal weather in Orange County! ;) Last spring, Louis and his friends decided to backpack Mt. San Gorgonio (San Bernardino National Forest) in mid April. The weather in Orange County that week was in the mid 70s, the boys did their due diligence and called the ranger to inquire about the trail condition. They were told by the ranger that the trails were in great condition,unfortunately for them, this turned out to be the incorrect information. At mile 2 they ran into ankle deep to knee deep snow. With no snow shoes and lack of proper winter gear (two of the boys were wearing shorts!) they headed back down the mountain after completely losing sight of the trail 7 miles in. Lessons learned from this trip, don't always trust the park ranger (see below), check the snow reports and read online blogs or forums to check real time trail conditions.
Don't just rely on the park ranger
Don't get me wrong, most of the park rangers we've met while hiking/camping are very helpful and knowledgeable. Most of the time, the more popular the trail or park is, the more knowledgeable the rangers are. We do most of our weekend backpacking in Los Padres National Forest in Southern California. And every year, there is one ranger there that ALWAYS provide us with false information about the availability of water and trail condition. I don't think he means to but it's starting to get REALLY annoying. The two most frequent questions we ask the ranger are 1.) is there snow on the trail 2.) where are the stream crossing locations for water. Unfortunately, we've been given unrealistic answers to both questions on various occasions. It's important in the backcountry to know where your water sources are to correctly ration water for the duration of the trip because ending your day thirsty is no fun. As always, in addition to talking to your park ranger,try to find online real time trail conditions and be sure to read log books in the beginning of the trail when available, they can be very useful!
Helpful links for to check for trail conditions at Los Padres National Forest:
http://www.ventanawild.org (Northern Los Padres National Forest, Big Sur Region)
http://prdp2fs.ess.usda.gov/alerts/lpnf/alerts-notices/?aid=10432 (Los Padres National Forest road closure and conditions)
Bring an extra shirt for the car ride home
Sure, after a couple days in the wilderness you and your travel companions will smell the same. But if you are like us, we usually indulge ourselves with delicious food immediately after leaving the campsite. Leave a clean shirt in the car for the restaurant, trust me, people at the restaurant will thank you for it.
We'd love to hear tips and tracks you have when camping out in the wilderness!
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Traveler's Diarrhea- Mexico City Part 6
We've heard about it, prepared for it on most trips but have been lucky enough to avoid it until Mexico City. It's usually caused by our fascination with street foods, the better the food is, the bolder we get. Cooked foods and beer are usually safe, but beware of the raw vegetable that usually accompany soups or ice with tasty drinks. I usually try to stay away from uncooked foods for the first couple days when visiting a new country, as I become more acclimated with their food, I start becoming more adventurous.
Traveler's diarrhea usually starts with a slight discomfort, then the stomach cramping starts, many times the cramping will become unbearable and looking for the nearest bathroom becomes your number one priority. I know this is not a sexy topic to talk about but it is very important to let your travel companions know you are feeling under the weather. Ignoring the symptoms can become very unpleasant when it can be easily cured by some antibiotics. Cipro is usually the antibiotics we bring with us when we travel, they are also obtainable for 5 dollars without a doctor's prescription in Mexico.
Lisa was the first one that came down with travelers diarrhea on our second day in Puebla. Like a trooper, she tackled the pyramids of Cholula without any antibiotics. Louis became the second victim to come down with traveler's diarrhea. Luckily, he was able to get it out of his system after a handful of trips to the bathroom that morning.
Riding the Metro- Mexico City Part 5
Traumatized by our car rental experience in Costa Rica, we decided to rely on public transportation in Mexico City. We relied mainly on the metro system during our stay in Mexico City and found it easy to use and extremely affordable. Regardless of the distance, one way ticket on the Metro is 3 pesos, yes, 3 pesos ($0.20 USD) and it goes everywhere! At the metro station, you will have the option of purchasing a metro card, which is 10 extra pesos on top of your single fare or single trip tickets. Frequent commuters often use these cards because tickets are easy to lose and purchasing lines are often long. And if you want to hop on the Tren Ligero to visit Xichimilco, a metro card will be required. The metro is very user friendly, all the lines are color coded and named after their final destination, making it easy to navigate the stations even if you don't speak the language.
The metro also turned out to be quit an interesting place for people watching. All day long vendors move in and out of the trains selling anything and everything, from mole recipe books to hand held sewing machines to 90s rock music, you name it, it's available for purchase. Watching these vendors' salesmanship, or at times, lack of salesmanship became our main source of entertainment during the time we spent riding from one destination to the next.
Unfortunately, not all of our metro riding experiences were pleasant. We hit the peak commuting hour on our last day in Mexico City. Even with its efficient schedule, the train could not keep up with the number of people, the rider demand was just too high. Be careful while getting on the train, the doors do not seem to have motion sensors, we saw it close on a man's briefcase while he tried to cram the rest of his body inside the train. As if getting on the train was not difficult enough already, getting off the crowded train proved to be an equally difficult feat. If you are existing one or two stop away, make sure to squeeze/push/shove your way near the train door, failure to do this until the last minute could leave you stranded on a the train for a couple more stops.
The metro also turned out to be quit an interesting place for people watching. All day long vendors move in and out of the trains selling anything and everything, from mole recipe books to hand held sewing machines to 90s rock music, you name it, it's available for purchase. Watching these vendors' salesmanship, or at times, lack of salesmanship became our main source of entertainment during the time we spent riding from one destination to the next.
Unfortunately, not all of our metro riding experiences were pleasant. We hit the peak commuting hour on our last day in Mexico City. Even with its efficient schedule, the train could not keep up with the number of people, the rider demand was just too high. Be careful while getting on the train, the doors do not seem to have motion sensors, we saw it close on a man's briefcase while he tried to cram the rest of his body inside the train. As if getting on the train was not difficult enough already, getting off the crowded train proved to be an equally difficult feat. If you are existing one or two stop away, make sure to squeeze/push/shove your way near the train door, failure to do this until the last minute could leave you stranded on a the train for a couple more stops.
Map of the routes |
Train doors without motion sensors closing its door on the man's bag |
Waiting for the train |
Mexico City Sights- Part 4
Mexico City has always been a place I want to visit, with it's rich history, delicious foods and ancient pyramid ruins, a week around the city sounded like a perfect getaway. As always, thanks to travelzoo, we were able to snagged super cheap plane tickets! We arrived to Mexico along with two of our friends late afternoon on Wednesday, May 1st, the short three hour fight with Air Tran out of John Wayne Airport was uneventful and quick. Once we arrived in Mexico City, we took a taxi from the airport to the Condesa neighborhood and stayed at a local B&B Condesa Comtesse for the next three days.
Day 2
We arrived at the city's Zocalo (town center) shortly after breakfast and realized we picked the same day to visit the city center as President Obama. Due to high security measures taken around the area, none of the museums were open for viewing.
With the help of from the friendly locals, we changed our plans for the day and headed to Coyoacan and Xochimilco via the metro. First stop was to Coyoacan to visit Frida Kahlo's famous blue house- Museo Frida Kahlo. It's a bit of a walk from the metro station and most locals didn't seem to know where the museum was. Thanks for our handy Lonely Planet book, we found the museum. The tickets to the museum was 80 pesos, it is an additional 60 pesos if you wanted to take photos inside the museum. I highly recommend this museum even if are not too familiar with Frida's work. The house is beautiful, it is the home Frida spent the most of her life in. Her husband Diego Rivera donated the home with its contents in the mid 1950s in honor of Frida. I was impressed with the architecture of the building and the large collection of personal belongings they still kept within the house.
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Party boat, Mexican style |
Teotihucan is the main reason for our visit to Mexico City. It is the world's third largest pyramid next the pyramid in Giza and Cholula, Mexico (which we plan to visit later in the week). Getting to Teotihucan requires taking the bus from the Autobuses del Norte metro station. The bus tickets to the pyramids were 36 pesos each way and the trip takes about an hour. Buses come and go every 15 to 30 minutes until the pyramids closes at 6PM.
Be sure to look for the Teotihucan sign at the bus station, not all buses go to the pyramids!! |
One of the smaller pyramids near the entrance |
View looking down from the Temple of the Sun. This is a HUGE site, make sure to wear comfortable walking shoes and sunscreen, we walked about 3-5 km around the pyramids! |
Top of Temple of the Sun, the pyramid far ahead is the Temple of the Moon. |
One of the few original pieces of the pyramid, almost every part of the pyramid has been rebuilt due to structural damage. |
Day 4 Mexico City's Zocalo and it's surrounding area
Since the National Palace did not open until after lunch, we decided to tour the Templo Mayor first. Situated in the middle of the city, this temple was not truly discovered until the mid 1900s. According to the Aztecs, they believed the location of the temple was at the center of the universe, it must have been a prime real estate spot since it was rebuilt by different rulers seven more times. The ruins are great to look at but be sure to leave time for the museum in the end. It had tons of great information and air condition to escape the heat on a hot day :)
Day 5: Puebla
The smog in Mexico City was becoming unbearable so we hopped on a bus and headed to Puebla for the weekend. The bus ride to Puebla was 140 pesos one way and it took about 2 hours to get there.
Mole galore! Pubela is known for it's vast variety of moles
Beautiful architecture in DT Puebla
Lunch! Mole sauce that tastes like chocolate, what's not to like?
Day 6: Pyramids at Cholula
Cholula is about a fifteen minute taxi cab ride away from Puebla, if you are traveling in groups of three of more, I would advise getting a cab since it comes out it's comes out to be the same as the cumulative bus prices. Even though this is the second largest pyramid in the world, the majority of the structure remains buried today. Currently there is a Catholic church on top of the pyramid that people still come to worship. It is an interesting site to visit if you are already in the area visiting Puebla, otherwise, I wouldn't advise traveling a far distance to just see the pyramids, as there is not much to see.
Excavated tunnel of the pyramid at the entrance.
Partially excavated ruins with the Catholic church in the background.
Day 7: Last day in Mexico City
We put our learning caps on and visited the Anthropology Museum on our last day in Mexico City. This is one big museum, each building is broken up into a different period of time so make sure to give yourself plenty of time (we failed to do this) and visit all the buildings in chronological order(we also failed to do this).
Eating in Mexico City and its Surrounding Areas: Part 3
My Al pastor with avocado torta, it is as delicious as it looks! The avocado tasted amazing on with the pork. |
Awesome market we found after our not so awesome boat ride in Xochimilco. |
We found a street vendor selling jamicha. The kart has all sorts of condiments you can sprinkle on your jamicha, when in doubt, say yes to chili and lime toppings it goes surprisingly well with...everything.
Zocalo: Mexico City
Pubela
Edwin's facial expression after trying the chapulines. If you can get over the fact it's a grasshopper, eating it should be no problem. They really just tasted crunchy and the flavor it's been marinated in.
Mexico City, Metro Chilpancingo and Condessa Neighborhood
Right off the metro station Chilpancingo there is a huge variety of street food in between Insurgentes and Baja California. On Calle Chilpancingo, we decided to have flautas for lunch.
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Mexico City Part 2- Cuando Es?
Normally I budget $1,000 for one week in Latin American per person including airfare. Obviously, depending on what you want to do and when you buy the airfare, the prices can differ dramatically. Since our jobs do not limit us on when we can take time off, our trips in last couple of years have been driven by Travelzoo's flash sales. We bought the plane tickets to Mexico City from the John Wayne airport in Orange County for $280 RT including taxes and travel insurances and started planning from there. The next big chunk we spent on was our room and board. We seldom book hotels because they are 1) expensive 2) lack character. We tend to stick to hostels in touristy areas and bed and breakfast in less traveled regions.
Brief break down of our trip expenses per person for 8 days:
Airfare (Air Tran direct flight from Santa Ana, CA to Mexico City): $280
Bed & Breakfast (4 nights at Casa Cometesse and 3 nights at Bed and Breakfast Pubela La Paz): $227
Transportation (Taxi, buses and metro): $25 per person
Dining and souvenir: ~$270
Total: ~$800 per person
For $800 per person, this is the cheapest trip we've had in the past couple of years. This is just another great reason to visit Mexico right now!
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