We went swimming under the ground

This morning, joined by a brother and sister from Florida we met at the hostel, we decided to see some cenotes.  All over the Yúcatan, the water seeps down and creates these large, deep waterholes.  Eventually the ground above them caves in, or at least enough for people to figure out a way to wander inside.  What you get are these marvellous caves filled with crystal clear water, perfect for swimming.

We took a bus out to the town of Cuzamá, then got in a pedicab to take us another 5 kilometers to an old Hacienda where the tour starts.  Using the train rails left over from the heyday of the Hacienda henequin plant, we got on a horse-pulled cart that took us to three different cenotes in the area.  Standing just feet away from the entrance, you would have overlooked them, the ground is as flat and dusty as everything around it.  But when you look down into the small hole in the ground, you see a unexpected blue world just beneath you.  Two of the cenotes we went to had small staircases to take us down, the other was just a ladder down through a small (and long) hole.  Down inside, the caves were enormous, with huge stalagtites and the roots from trees cascading down a good hundred feet from the ground above down into the water.  The water was clear as glass, with a few fish the only thing obscuring the view down to the bottom of the well, often a good 50 - 75 feet below.  But more amazing was the color, this crazy turquoise blue that would light up whenever the sun could find a small opening to shine through.  I was afraid the water would be cold, but while cool it was definitely refreshing from the hot day outside.

I tried to take some photos, but the light was pretty poor for photo-taking.  We came home exhausted from all the swimming, so we stopped at a food stall and got ten turkey tacos (with avocado and onion and tomato) plus two liter-sized juices for about $5.  Too much food, but it was so delicious I couldn´t stop eating. 


We haven´t made our final plans yet, but I think we will be heading to Campeche tomorrow morning, just to check it out for one night before making our first big travel, a seven hour bus ride down to Palenque. We have loved it here in Mérida though, if ever we decided to move to Mexico, this would probably be our first choice.

The dog followed us for hours, even to the top of the pyramid!

A few more photos just to catch up

Sitting in the Plaza Grande eating homemade coconut ice cream...

We are now in the lovely city of Merida, which is on the Northwest side of the Yucatan.  We spent one night at Chichen Itza, which turned out to be far more impressive than I had been led to believe.  Some people are turned off by anything that becomes "too touristy", and with busloads of people heading to Chichen Itza from Cancun, it definitely qualifies as too touristy.  But just because something is popular doesn´t make it any less interesting.  We arrived at 8am, so even though we stayed almost three hours none of the busses had yet arrived.  That meant that the hundreds (and I mean HUNDREDS) of tables of locals selling crappy souveniers weren´t yet up and running either, so we definitely had a better experience than probably many do.  The night before we went to a "sound and light show", which basically was sitting in the dark listening to a Spanish presentation while the temples lit up blue! then green!  then red!  Boring, except for just as it started a huge shooting star shot right over the pyramid, which was amazing.  Living in the city for so long I´d forgotten what the stars look like.  David leaned over and said "I´d forgotten stars came in different colors".

We´ve been in Merida for three days now, and we love it.  A very beautiful city, with narrow streets and even narrower sidewalks, but somehow the claustrophobia is charming and even comforting somehow.  There seems to be quite a community of American expats living here, and I can see why.

Yesterday we hopped on a two hour bus to Celestún.  (Holy crap, I FINALLY figured out how to make the accent mark work! I´m telling you, these keyboards are confusing!)  We were lucky and were able to very quickly get together with other people to make a group big enough to hire a boat for.  The first one they put us in had a little engine trouble, but we made the best of drifting around the harbor by watching the flocks of pelicans and other birds.  It took about a half hour but we finally got to shore and got in another boat.  We then zoomed out into the ocean, which was this bizarre color, sort of a milky green.  We sped along within feet from the shore, until we hit the mouth of a river.  As we crossed through, there was a clear line separating the fresh and the salt water (even though the fresh water still tasted very salty).  From here was a massive mangrove forest, we were able to walk around a bit and saw an area where the salt water seeped into the trees and literally petrified them.  The mangroves somehow stain the water, so unlike the milky green of the sea, here it was a deep brownish red.  You don´t get to see red water very often, very interesting.

The biggest reason people come here though is to see the flamingoes.  They were bright pink clustered in groups all through the area.  We couldn´t get close enough to get very good photos, but it was amazing to see so many.  And this wasn´t even high season, which begins in March.  We also saw lots of egrets and herons and hawks.

Our boat driver was zooming us all over the place, and suddenly he banked hard and headed straight for the shore.  Just when we thought he had gone crazy and was going to kill us all, the trees parted to reveal a small passageway of water.  I´m sure that is the drivers favorite part of the entire tour.  We stopped at a small dock, and they showed us a place where the water is bubbling up from the ground.  David and I were the only gringoes in the group, but there was a girl from Barcelona who spoke decent English, and the other passengers kept ganging up on her to make her translate everything for us.  I felt a little bad for her, but we were grateful for what she told us, and anyway she had a huge personality and I think she enjoyed the attention.  But we think the spring was one of many that feed the river.  (There aren´t any rivers in the entire Yúcatan, at least not above ground. The water all seeps to low underground rivers.)  Here David and I jumped in the water and were able to swim a little.  The spring water wasn´t warm exactly, but it wasn´t as cold as the ocean water anyways, so it was bearable for a few minutes.  Fish were swimming all around us, I guess eating whatever was coming out of the spring.  It was really pretty awesome.

We are taking it easy in Merida today, and tomorrow plan to visit some cenotes, which are areas where the ground has caved in over huge wells of water.  You can climb around in the caves and go swimming and stuff.  The next day we will go to another Mayan ruin at Uxmal.

We´ve changed our route from that point about a dozen times in the last few days, but at this point I think we´ve decided to go down to Palenque, and then head west into Chiapas (to San Cristobal de las Casas), and go down into Guatemala from there. There are ruins we want to see in every direction, and we just can´t see them all, and we are itching to start our language lessons.  We are getting by, but once we can speak a little more of the language it will greatly enrich the experience we are having.  We will save Tikal for later on in the trip, which will also be good to give it some space, I don´t want to be suffering from temple fatigue when we get there (although at this point there is no signs of that happening, I am loving all of these places.)

Oh, and Chrisy, our room has a balcony that looks right over the main square.  We love it!

It only took me a week to lose my first pair of sunglasses

Reluctantly we left Cozumel (but not before we were taken to this awesome taco stand that made the best tacos I´ve ever had), and headed down to Tulum.  Tulum is a gorgeous beach, with the added bonus of having a Mayan ruin perched up above the sand.  If we had more time I would have loved to stayed longer and just become a beach bum, which, considering the ridiculously dark tans we saw, many people actually do. 

Instead we hopped the bus to Coba, our first large ruin that is located right next to a crocodile-infested lake.  We spent the afternoon counting crocs swimming in the shallows.  We walked around the lake a bit through the small town while the kids made fun of us and the stray dogs treated us like their long lost owners. 

We slept in a very basic hotel last night, with no hot water (something to get used to, because that is often the case, although in the heat sometimes a cold shower can be more refreshing than it sounds) and only a very slow ceiling fan to relieve the heat.  We´d been warned about loud barking dogs, but all we heard was the rooster when the sun came up.  We wanted to be up early anyways, so we could get over to the ruins right at opening time.  A lot of the ruins are very popular and busloads of tourists arrive to get in the way of your photos, but if you go early in the morning you can beat the rush and have a nice visit to yourself.  Indeed, we waited at the gate with only three other backpackers, and were able to climb the main temple all by ourselves which was nice. 

The pyramid was pretty impressive, I´m not sure but I think of the others we will see only the one at Tikal is bigger.  We also saw some very colorful birds, some vultures, and of course we picked up another dog.  These dogs just seem to love being around people, they run up to you and then follow you around for miles.  This one even climbed to the top of the pyramid with us!  I couldn´t vouch for his health status, but they are a far cry from the packs of mean stray dogs we encountered in Taiwan.

We had intended to take a nice leisurly pace through the Yucatan, and had even come up with a new route that would have allowed us to see much more of some more ruins as well as Chiapas.  But last night I started looking in the guide books reading about Honduras and El Salvador and realized how much more we have to see.  We are loving Mexico, but I guess we don´t have to spend two nights in every cute little town we pass.  So we are skipping over Valladolid and are heading straight for Piste, where we will be able to see the World Wonder Chitzen Itza tomorrow morning (first thing!), and then on to Merida tomorrow night. 

Our Spanish is improving as we learn phrases and vocabulary, but I am certainly looking forward to starting a class somewhere.  People are very gracious with our limited language ability, and I know as we improve people will be even more friendly and interactive. 

And our farmer tans are coming along very nicely.

If the sun kised me in Cancun, it made out with me in Cozumel

Considering the reputation Cancun has, we had a much better time there than we expected.  Eating at stalls the food was cheap and, more imporantly, DELICIOUS.  Half of the things we eat we don't really know what it is beyond what kind of meat it is and what color the sauce is, but while some things have had rather strong flavors that can be overwhelming after a while (I'm talking to you, mole enchiladas!) everything has been good, we haven't had anything we just outright didn't like. 

Our couchsurfing hosts were great up til the end, and even let us stay a day longer than expected.  Another surfer from Germany arrived as well, and it was fun meeting him.  Our last morning they cut down a coconut from their front yard (next to their turtle pond) and let us eat the meat.  I've never had fresh coconut meat before, and it was not at all what I expected, with a nutty flavor.  Very good.

We then took a colectivo, like a mini-van, down to Playa del Carmen, and jumped on the ferry over to the island of Cozumel. Our new couchsurfing host is also amazing.  She is originally from Boston but has been living here a dozen years or so working as a wedding planner.  (lots of people like getting married in paradise!)  She and a friend of hers who is also visiting here took us on a car tour of the whole island, which is 9 miles wide and, I'm totally guessing here, but I'd say about 25 miles long.  The beaches are awesome, and since she is a local she stopped and was able to show us some fancy hotel rooms, and even showed us the place she hosts her weddings.  (Gorgeous.)  I know I sound like a commercial for couchsurfing sometimes, but it is such an amazing thing to be able to have an instant friend in a place like this.  After the car tour she took us to the local square where she knew a latin band was going to be performing.  We sat out in the square and listened to the music while people danced, it was so much fun, what a great day. 

Yesterday she had to work so we walked out to the beach.  It was a beautiful day, and we got a little more sun than we should have.  I'm more pink than burned, but still a lot more sun than I'm used to getting!  We found another stall to eat at, I had the most delicious pozole, a little different than the kind I had in New Mexico, but just as good, with lettuce and radishes served on top.  It was a little more expensive than the places we ate at in Cancun, but at $3, still nothing to complain about.

We struggled with our decision to hold off on diving for now, it seems such a perfect place for it here.  But we know we will have more opportunities in Belize and Honduras, which are along the same barrier reef.  We'd been thinking about going snorkeling today, but we got so much sun yesterday we might take a day to do some laundry and re-pack (and blog) and just get some stuff done.  Definitely want to catch the sunset tonight, we missed it last night because my pozole was so good I just couldn't rush it. 

We leave here tomorrow, we'd been planning on going to Tulum, but might head for Coba first to get a little jungle action before we run out of beaches. 

Also, my sister wrote me and said she had been talking to her kids about the devastation following the earthquake in Haiti, and then yesterday they saw there had been an earthquake in Guatemala and the kids got very scared about David and I.  So, for the record, we are fine!  (And nowhere near there yet.)  But I read a "fun fact" before i left that said more people die every year eating shark than are eaten by a shark.  We are being careful, but we aren't anticipating any trouble. 

Lastly, I'm still trying to figure out how to post pics.  The files are large so it takes a long time to upload, which I don't always have.  Rather than post pics here I may just start an online album somewhere to direct you to rather than having to upload everything twice.  But experimentation continues.

El Rey

Don´t have a lot of time to write, but here are a few photos to keep you satiated.  These are from El Rey, a small ruin located in Cancun that we went to yesterday.  There were hundreds of iguanas running around, which of course thrilled us! 

Oops, had another one up but somehow deleted it, and my time is almost up so gotta run, but there is David anyway!

The beach (with turtles)

This entry will be short, but I just wanted to gloat about the fact that I´m in Mexico.  HAhahahahahahaha!!! 

OK, got that out of my system.  We arrived in Cancun yesterday afternoon, and the first thing I noticed was the smell.  Asia had a smell too, here is more subtle but just as wonderful.  Our couchsurfing hosts are terrific.  David and I tended to host people once, maybe twice a month, but these guys have an almost steady stream of visitors.  Someone left the day we arrived, and someone from Germany is coming in the day we leave.  They are right in the heart of the city center, so we are in walking distance from lots of restaurants and stuff.  Last night after we talked a while, they sent us to this little park that is surrounded by food stalls.  We had no idea how to order or even what to order, but after watching a while we ended up with some tortas, which are sort of similar to a hamburger.  We also had two big glasses of fruit juice, one was mango and the other was...red.  Everything was delicious, and was only $4.  So our budgeting prowess continues!!  ;)

Today we took a ferry over to Isla Mujeres, and spent the day walking around and enjoying the beach.  We went to a turtle sanctuary, we´ll have to see if the pictures turn out (sorry, but no pictures now, this visit was spontaneous and we don´t have the card reader with us) but we got some pics of a seahorse with all these little bits of weed floating around that on second look turned out to be TINY little babies. 

Anyway, so we are safe and well, and having fun.  It will take a while to get a little tan and break in our tender feet to all the walking we are going to be doing, but we are happy and excited to be here. 

Question: Is it in or out for a boy to wear capri pants?  We say out, but we saw someone wearing them today.

Also, typing on a spanish keyboard is really weird, they have all these extra letters (ñç¡¿) and all the symbols are rearranged.  That is gonna take a while to get used to.

Tomorrow we will head to the hotel zone of Cancun and see what all the fuss is about.  Then Cozumel on Sunday.  We´re already considering rearranging our itinerary a bit, but that was expected.  I´ll keep ya updated as we go!  Pics next time.

The Final Countdown

Well, this is it folks.  If you think this process has been dragging on for WAY TOO LONG now, just think how I feel!  

The plan thus far:  We arrive in Cancun at 3:30pm tomorrow.  We’ll take a bus from the airport into town, where our first couchsurfing host has offered to pick us up.  Thanks to google maps we were actually able to get a street view of their house, which looks like it has a jungle out front, which is kind of cool.  We will be staying with them for three nights, then have a free night that we aren’t sure what to do with yet, maybe stay another day in Cancun, or we could head down to this little town Puerto Morales, or maybe spend a night in Playa Del Carmen.  Then on Sunday we’ll take the ferry over to the island of Cozumel where we have another couchsurfing host lined up for another three days.  (She just wrote to tell us she is taking us to dinner at her parent's house the first night.  Love it!)

I’m glad to have the first week sort of planned out, as it gives us some breathing time to adjust and get on the right schedule.  These will also be some of the most expensive areas we’ll be, so having a free place to stay (and hosts who can tell us where to go and what to avoid) is extremely helpful.  

Yesterday we put everything we were taking out on the bed.  In general I think we are doing pretty well with the “stuff” quota, but I think we may be bringing too many clothes.  I mean, we are only bringing two pairs of shorts, two pants, two t-shirts and two button up shirts each (with an extra t-shirt and button up to share between us).  But I expect we will end up buying stuff along the way that is more appropriate and comfortable, so we’ll see how long this stuff lasts.  As usual all the guidebooks stress how only kids wear shorts and that you can’t really wear shorts away from the beach towns and expect any kind of respect from the locals, but we’ll see how that works out. They said the same thing in Asia and I never noticed any problems with my incessant short-wearing there.  But I’ve got pants if’n I need ‘em.  In the end, we each have plenty of spare room in each of our bags, so we should be fine.  

We’ve got one more stop to make today, plus a trip to the post office, but otherwise we are packed and ready to go.  Oh, I had another great talk last night with my family about getting finances worked out.  (After Melissa made the most delicious homemade lasagna.)  It is really exciting watching everybody setting goals and getting prepared for the future.  It is such a relief when you can set aside the social stigma we are all taught that talking about your money is somehow impolite or whatever.  When you all get together and brainstorm and are able to rely on each other for encouragement and support, amazing things can happen.  I’ve even gotten to do my favorite thing and play the big brother card.  We all made six month goals, and I told them in six months I will be back to check up on their progress!  lol  

I spent the weekend in the shadow of Marie Osmond

The plan had been to write every day until I left, just to get myself primed for frequent writing during the trip.  But the internet connection here at my sisters is erratic (the guest room is just too far away from the wireless router upstairs I guess), and then we had a mini-family reunion this weekend so I've been busy catching up with cousins.  My uncle plus four of his kids (and their wives and kids) all came down from Salt Lake, and another aunt and uncle came from California.  I haven't seen them in four or five years, so it was a lot of fun catching up.  A couple of them went on a trip through Guatemala and the Yucatan a few years ago, so they had some really great tips for David and I as well.  After talking with them I think David and I are pretty set on heading to Palenque, which messes up the route to Belize, but I'm sure there will be a way to figure that out  depending on what we want to do at that point.

I always love talking to people about travel, because no matter who it is, this fire lights up in their eyes as they tell you what they did and saw.  Our route is going to be much less straightforward than theirs was (and backwards), so every time they mentioned something that we said would probably be too far out of the way for us to get to, they'd practically yell at us, "But you can't miss THAT!!!"  It was really funny, but I'm sure I am the same way every time I talk about Cambodia or Indonesia.  Travel is exciting because it is an intimately personal experience that can be shared with everyone.  And when you find someone who is truly interested (often because they've been or are going to the same place you did), it brings those memories and feelings back in a vivid and vital way.

I had another cousin show up who was attending the CES tradeshow, whom after we talked we realized we haven't seen each other in 19 years, which was scary.  In my mind he was still this little kid, and now he is all grown up and running for Congress.  We had a few interesting discussions, and he quickly pulled out the policy nerd in me talking about the Fair Tax, which I'd never heard of before. (Basically the income tax would be replaced with a national sales tax.)  I wanted to talk more politics but wasn't sure it was polite dinner conversation, especially when Sarah Palin came up.  ;)  But here I am getting ready to go travel through the Yucatan and I want to go to a bookstore to buy the Fair Tax book to take with me so I can evaluate the idea.  Nerd!  Nerd!

My cousin Troy made a very insightful comment, about how when you are apart from family for a while, and all you get are occasional comments on Facebook, after a few years it is easy to start to feel like people are changing and how you might be growing apart or something.  But then you get together again, and everyone is just the same as you remember, except fatter and more gray.  I'm glad we all get along so well, and that David can enjoy himself with them as well, because I feel blessed to have the family I do.  (Even when they are crazy, and believe me, they are crazy.  lol)

I missed the best part of the weekend though, when the family went to church and accosted poor Marie Osmond in the corridor.  Come to think of it, I'm glad I wasn't there, cause I'm always super uncomfortable meeting celebrities, but still thinking about it makes me giggle.  Poor Marie, it must suck to be the most famous Mormon.

Today is Thursday, right?

Yesterday we had lunch with another old friend from Sacramento, Jay Joseph.  He has been living in Vegas for about ten years now, and it was great to catch up with him.  In another blow to Albuquerque he had some first hand knowledge about salaries for RNs here which was much higher than I'd anticipated.  I'm glad I have this big trip to think about instead of having to decide where I want to live when we get back, because I have too many options that are all so appealing! 

I was afraid that with four weeks in Las Vegas, we'd be totally bored by now, but in reality we have so much to do that we haven't had a chance to get bored at all.  Every day we accomplish a little bit more.  At this point the only "big" things we still have to do is figure out how we're gonna file our taxes, decide if I'm gonna feel safe paying a few bills online from internet cafes or if I need to set someone up to pay them for me from here, and then cross my fingers that my final paycheck from work is going to show up in the next few days.  I also still haven't had any mail forwarded from our old address yet, which is very unnerving.  They said it can sometimes take two weeks for it to catch up with you, so there isn't necessarily anything wrong yet, but I wish it would just start arriving so I could relax about it. 

We'd wanted to buy a sink plug to take with us (to wash clothes in the sink) but are having the hardest time finding one.  Also it took us about fifteen different stores to find a 1oz tube of Neosporin cream.  Everyone only had the ointment, or had the cream in the 0.5oz size.  Am I weird, cause I hate ointment, it is just so messy, but apparently it sells a lot better than cream does.  Anyhoo, we finally found it at Kmart (of all places).

Like I've said we have a couchsurfer host lined up for Cancun, and possibly one for Merida.  We're now trying to get one for Cozumel, but haven't heard back yet.  Maybe today will be the day!

Better this than "Jersey Shore"

We went to the Venetian last night and saw "Jersey Boys".  (Thanks to Brenda and Scott for the awesome Christmas present!) We took a look at the cast list just in case we knew anyone from NY, and it turns out we knew someone...from Sacramento!  I swear, Sac-Town has sent quite a group of kids onto the Broadway/performing circuit.  The show was a lot of fun, and while I enjoyed it I think my parents thought it was one of the best things they'd ever seen.  I had fun too, because the last thing I did before leaving NY was spend five minutes considering becoming a stage manager, and I worked on a show called "Sinatra" with the Rockettes directed by the same guy who did this that was a clear parent to "Jersey Boys".  No Rockettes here, but a smoother timeline, and still a lot of good fun.

Before the show we walked around the strip a little (I'd never been down as far as the Venetian), and after the show we got to catch up with our friend, Jeff Liebow.  I haven't seen him in about 15 years so it was great to catch up.  We did a production of "Chess" together back in 1994 at Davis Musical Theatre Company.  He was terrific in the show (as was Deven May, whom I couldn't even imagine as "Bat Boy"), and proudly showed off pics of his 5-month old baby who was ADORABLE.  Thank goodness all actors nowadays have their own website, cause that is how I contacted him to let him know we would be there.   I swear, how did people survive before the internet?  ;)

I'd collected 4 quarters and had intended on winning a million dollars in a slot machine, but then I forgot to play.  Darn it!

Tuesdays are for Supercuts

Today was another lazy day.  We were waiting for a package from UPS so had to sit around until they finally came.  At one point I told David, "Go check the door and see if they've come yet."  He opened the door just as the UPS truck turned the corner and stopped in front of the house.  Hmmm,  maybe I need to head on down to the strip tonight.

Hey, I AM going to the strip tonight!  For Christmas my sister got us all tickets to see "Jersey Boys".  Most of the family doesn't want to go on a school night, so I think just me and the parents are going tonight.  I've got two quarters in my pocket, and I'm feeling mighty lucky tonight!  :)

I got a haircut today at Supercuts.  My Dad says I look like a Marine, but I wanted it short.  Who wants to deal with bedhead when you are traveling?  Pics will be forthcoming.

Monday morning

I keep seeing ads for LOST, which are no doubt placed there with the sole intention of driving me crazy.  Giving up TV to go travel is a no-brainer, but that dang stupid LOST is something I've been following for years now, and I don't see how I'm going to make it back without someone ruining the ending for me.  Twist ending movies are ALWAYS ruined for me before I see it, whether it is "Sixth Sense" or "The Crying Game" or whatever, somehow I always stumble into a conversation at just the wrong time.  ::sigh::

Today we are going to get the typhoid immunization, and do some more shopping.  We're also dropping Kyle off at the airport, so he can fly back to Albuquerque before flying to England tomorrow for his semester abroad.  I'm so excited for him, he is going to have such a great time.  Plus, he doesn't have to worry about dengue fever or malaria.  (Although I'm gonna get a much better tan.)

We've found another potential couchsurfer host in Merida which is good news.  It just gets tricky since our schedule is so open-ended, we aren't exactly sure when we will get there.  If Coba is a great place, we might stay a few days.  If it isn't, we might stay only one, and we have a few stops like that before we hit Merida.  So we'll see if it works out, but it is nice to have it as a possibility.

Yesterday was a lazy day while I fought off this cold.  Still feeling it a bit today, but it is still mild and is going to pass soon, I can tell.  Just a bit more tired than usual.

Hiking at Red Rock

Yesterday we went hiking just outside of Vegas at a place called Red Rock.  I went last week as well, but we went later in the afternoon so didn't stay long as it was getting dark and cold.  Yesterday was much warmer and we had a great time.  The kids are like fearless mountain goats.  I kept up with them most of the time, but every so often a little voice would say "You are leaving the country in a week, so this would not be the most opportune time to sprain an ankle".  That voice was usually coming from David.  Unless it was me saying it to him, cause he of course is a lot more wiley than I am.  Places like this give me the opportunity to consider living in Vegas, cause there are enough hiking and exploring trails to keep me occupied for a long time.

And look at that pic, aren't "my" kids totally adorable?

Everyone here has been getting sick with some kind of cold.  David caught it two days ago, and I've been hoping I would get it sooner rather than later.  I was rewarded this morning with a sore throat.  That gives me over a week to get better, which is plenty of time, so WHEW!

Movies

Been seeing a lot of movies while we've been here in Vegas.  First was "Avatar", which I thought was pretty amazing, if not terribly engaging.  (Plus, Sigourney Weaver's avatar kind of freaked me out.)  Then we saw "The Princess and the Frog" with the kids, which I thought was fun, even if all the Bayou stuff kept reminding me of "The Rescuers".  (But I loved the firefly!)  We rented "Up", which continues the Pixar domination of unexpectedly interesting and touching animated movies.

Today my brother Kyle took us to see "2012", which has been out a while, but as a reminder we generally see maybe three movies at a theatre a year, much less in a single month.  It was just as bad as I expected, but it was also just as awesome as I expected.  The movie could have ended after the destruction of LA and I would have been satisfied.  The moralizing nonsense at the end was annoying (I agreed with the politician), but I was happy to go along for the ride.  Woody Harrelson was great.  The biggest distraction was trying to figure out where I'd seen the little boy before, and that Amanda Peet looks like the 10 year younger twin sister of Catherine Mary Stewart.  Then I found out Kyle has never seen "Night of the Comet", which is one of my favorite 80s movies ever, right up there with "The Last Starfighter", which ALSO stars Catherine Mary Stewart.

I can't wait for the night when a hostel in Guatemala gets the pirated DVD of "Prince of Persia", because that looks like fun.  I saw the first "Charlie's Angels" in a hostel restaurant in Thailand, so I know it can happen.  :)  Ditto the remake of "Clash of the Titans", which Kyle has also been ordered to rent.  I watched that again a few years ago, and it was amazing how bad it was, when it had seemed so amazing when it first came out.  Cutting edge in 1981 sure doesn't hold up much anymore!