Veracruz

We have started our trip to and around the Yucatan Peninsula. Our first stop is the city of Veracruz in the state of Veracruz. It's only a 4 hour drive now (used to be 8 hrs) but you have to add 2 hours to cross Mexico City.

The hotel where we stayed used to be a very flash hotel back in the 1930-50's. It's still a big hotel today and although it's old, it has its charm. There had been a big wedding that night and a TV crew even came to cover the event. Dunno who they were.

Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to get to see the city because we still had to drive quite a long way. We had a great breakfast and Jenny was able to try some of the typical dishes you can find in this region.

Teotihuacan

These pyramids are located just outside Mexico City. It is believed that they were built way before the aztecs had their empire. This is the highest one in Teotihuacan and it's known as the pyramid of the sun.


This is a random flower and unfortunately I don't know the name of it. :(


Painting of a puma (mountain lion /cougar) on one of the facades of the temples. Most of its head is gone but you can still appreciate the original colors of th body.


View of Teotihuacan looking down from the pyramid of the moon. The main street is called the Street of the Dead and it's 4 km long.

Taking off

Great day to start the trip. It was a classic beautiful Wellington day.
Jenny finds herself a bit lost in the airport. I told her that she had to pay attention to things and not rely on me completely. So I asked her if she knew what gate we were supposed to leave from and where that gate was. Her reply... "I'm confused".

After some minutes of her panicking I told her to look behind her. You can see gate 21 and our plane just in the background.


That red suitcase is Jenny's. Hope it doesn't get lost, hehe.

A sea of clouds! Underneath that, we could see Kapiti Island.

In Auckland we started getting hungry. Time to chow down!! Squid was on the menu and it was sooooooo good.

Jenny started having a reaction to the squid, it seemed like there was some fish somewhere on the dish but it was ok in the end. Her throat closed and I had 5 minutes of quiet, hahahaha.... just kidding!

I'll keep posting. Bye bye NZ!!

Settled in

Here are the pictures of my new place. Most of the things are in their place now although the walls are still a bit bare. Once I come back from my trip, I'll take care of this situation.

Moving in

ATB has been silent these past weeks because he's been relocating into new living quarters. These are some shots of the new setup. The place used to be an old church (dunno how old though) and has been completely redone. There are six apartments in total and they're only 2 years old.

With two bikes parked at the side, you never know what ATB will be up to.



This is the lounge viewed from the entrance. Nice hard wood floors and an open living area. The kitchen and dining room are in the background.

Viewed from different angle. The door in the background is the entrance door. The set of doors next to the sofa in the foreground is the actual washing room, needless to say, you can find the washing machine and the dryer in there. There's also some extra space for storing other bits and pieces.


This is the view of the kitchen from both angles. You can appreciate how the old exterior of the church is now part of the interior. By connecting the old church ground to the living quarters via window panes as a roof, there's an amazing amount of light that floods in. Giving the area a sensation of wide open spaces. Preserving the actual brick structure and combining it with the modern fixtures creates a nice visual balance. The door in the second image, used to separate the public church grounds with the more private garden, today, the door remains but only leads to a coat closet about 30 cm deep.

ATB's lair has one of the church's beam running right through the middle of it. An interesting feature which helps to divide the area of the bed and that of the study. With a massive closet, he won't have trouble stashing all his trinkets.

ATB and iPod

Rainy days

iPod iWant now

Ahoy!

AngryTeddyBear in Te Papa

Gone fishing

This weekend was awesome because of its great weather, it seemed like everybody was down by the waterfront enjoying themselves. People were in-line skating, having an ice cream, diving into the cold water, skateboarding, you name it... people were just having fun in general. ATB was not to be found indoors either. He was spotted fishing close to Te Papa although he was annoyed because he wasn't able to catch any fish. He blames it on the fact that he can't put the bait on properly due to the lack of fingers. Despite his ability as a fisherman, he certainly knows how to go fishing in style. Sporting an Akubra hat and a brand new pair of waders, he was able to snatch our attention.