December is non-stop

I was surprised at my ability to hang with partying on Saturday night and waking up early for brunch, a football game and bar hopping well into the evening. But I am tired! Last weekend was even better at Point Lobos, Carmel to enjoy the sunshine and ocean air. We went with the BF, my sister and her BF for a surreal hike through hidden beaches, China Cove, Granite Point and other sites along the coastal trail. Funny how fast the weather can change around here though!My stupid computer deleted my pictures or I would have posted them here. Ugh! But I have a couple of pics from the Los Amigos Invisibles concert last week. Enjoy!

Dia de los Muertos

It's a Mexican tradition, the "Day of the Dead"- when the dead are not just remembered but death is celebrated and highlighted as a natural part of life's cycle. In honor of the dead, altars are constructed with objects, gifts, and other things that commemorate our loved one's life. It's also believed that the dead 'visit' on this day and many of the effects on display at the altars are meant to welcome visitors from beyond.

Creepy.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures from the U.S.'s largest such festival, the Fruitvale's Dia de los Muertos celebration in Oakland, CA. Although SF's march through the Mission and altars at Garfield Square are also pretty cool, but a little gentrified these days. This is the closest you'll get to an authentic experience outside of Latin America.

Halloween

Tickles and Bubbles have a little champagne before starting the night. Although, we should have taken more pics as the makeup got pretty gnarly as the night wore on.

I'm not known for my love of dressing up for Halloween, but I did manage to come up with a cool concept for this year while in Mexico shopping for ceramic Dia de los Muertos dolls.

We got a late start but had time to kick it at Lisa's in her cute sailor costume to have a little champagne. Next was Jose's place in Russian Hill for the Rock Band party. Hence the photo of Tickles singing some 'Pixie's' song with Sister Chan on guitar and Elmo on drums. Wow. The night ended at El Balazo where not only were we partying with gorillas, devils, superheros, and fairies but my boy Sam got his 3/4 full bottle of tequila snatched by a fake fur wearing wanna be gangsta'. Ha, ha! Was a fun night.

Tulum, Mexico

Following the tropical storm the day before, snorkeling in Puerto Morelos was out. Instead, we headed south toward the ancient Maya cities of Tulum- a strategically placed coastal city important in Pre-Colombian times for trade and further inland to climb the temples at Coba. Some photos below.

Merida, Quintana Roo

Here's some pictures from one of the first and largest colonial era cities in the Yucatan, Merida. The architecture, people and food were amazing. See for yourselves.

Puerto Morelos, Yucatan

All Terrain Fun

Our first day in Mexico was punctuated by two things, thundershowers and ATV's. We didn't stay in Cancun as we were fleeing from the resorts, tourists, souvenir shops and other tourist traps. Instead we rented a condo just two blocks from the 'strip' in Playa del Carmen. The town is one of the fastest growing cities in the country if not the world. With mega-resorts and condo development, the quaint city with boutique hotels lined along Quinta (5th) Avenida resembles something more like San Francisco's Pier 39 but with turquoise water, white sand beaches and local police/federales carrying M-16's.

We drove north to Puerto Morelos and happened upon an outfit that offered a virtually unsupervised ATV tour on brand new ATV's and a swim in a Cenote- a natural water swim hole where it's rumored that the Maya's sacrificed virgins. I went swimming before I noticed the bats in the cave and heard about the sacrifices. We ended the day by zip lining into the bigger cenote and splashing through the rough terrain in the rain, freakin' awesome!


Ziplining into the cenote (yep, that's me!)