Sporadic Ruminations

Friday, December 26, 2008

AZ/MX Trip - Post 3 - Phoenix

Dilly wanted to come with me on my trip...she packed herself:

I stayed with my friend Maria while I was in Phoenix (pictured with her son, Luke):

To reminisce, we went hiking in South Mtn Park near where I used to live (my old house is in background):

Since I never got a picture while I lived there, I visited the capitol building:

There was an xmas tree set up in the lobby:

I couldn't not take a picture of the old wooden water main in the museum:

Interesting sign:

Funny ostrich law:

Test run of the PHART (Phoenix Area Rapid Transit)...okay, so that wasn't really what they decided to call it:

I also visited with previous co-workers and Water For People friends (sorry, didn't take any photos...)

Another favorite hike in South Mtn Park:

Petroglyphs in the park

I got to meet my friend Hiriti's son, Aman, who was about 6 months old:

Yet another hike (can you figure out what I miss most about Arizona?) - Camelback Mtn. View from partway up looking back down at the parking lot:

View of downtown Phoenix from the top:

Zooming in on downtown:

There was a decorated tree at the top, must be an xmas tradition:

View from top looking NE:

View from top looking NW:

View from top looking South toward where I used to live:

Maria and Luke opening presents:

Luke's special song:
Full rainbow

AZ/MX Trip - Post 2 - Puerto Penasco

Here are some photos from the rest of my trip to Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point) in Mexico

Our hotel

Hotel (across the water from 'downtown') where I stayed on a previous trip:

The harbor:

Queenie, Maria, and I:

Beautiful sunset from the restaurant where we had dinner after volunteering at the clinic all day:

Since the hot tub never got hot, our evening entertainment at the hotel (we're peeling crayons, and no, I can't tell you why because of soon to be copyrighted information):

Walking to the beach from our hotel on Sunday morning:

Look, a dolphin!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

AZ/MX Trip - Post 1 - Medical Clinic

After my semester was over, I hopped on a plane and headed to my old stomping ground of Phoenix, Arizona. While I was there, I went to Puerto Penasco with friends to volunteer at a medical clinic. The group was called:

Here's the clinic - basically it was two trailers (and a third for storage). Unfortunately, they didn't have electricity since someone stole their generator. And although there was a bathroom, they didn't have running water so we had to flush the toilet with a bucket of water.

I helped file medical records with the clinic organizer's mother, who was also just visiting.

My friend Sean is in medical school studying to be a naturopathic doctor. We went with a bunch of his classmates and one doctor from his school. Seeing patients:

My friend Maria, a speech pathologist (and also became one of our spanish translators), also joined us and worked with some of the children.

And a neighbor of Sean and Queenie is a dentist, Greg. Greg and his wife Keerat came along too. They did checkups and showed the kids how to properly brush their teeth: