Climbing in New Zealand

Last week I did 5 days of Rock Climbing in Wharepapa New Zealand. It was awesome! I just love climbing with the Kiwi's, they are so relaxed and just love being outdoors, it was a real pleasure! I stayed at this really cool Hostel, Bryce's Hostel, where they had their own bouldering wall and climbing shop. Bryce knows all about the area, climbing equiptment, and was really cool to just chat to. He took me for a climb, it was great climbing with the area master!

I climbed a lot with this German guy, Reinhart. On the second day we got lost on a farm looking for a climb. It took us a little over 2 hours! The climb was well worth it, it was up a tube. I got sunburnt, and I really never want to see another cow again. They would moo at me while climbing! It was definitly a unique experience. The farm land (Smith's Rock) looked like something directly out of Lord of the Rings.

I am working on a website with my climbing pics, I will link it soon to my climbing page. They are on http://www.serablue.com/kristi/smithspics.html, and http://www.serablue.com/kristi/waipapapics.html.

New Zealand

So today I am off again, flying to New Zealand, and arriving 2 days later (I arrive on the 12th). No more Winter for me!! I am going to summer:)

My first few days I will be rockclimbing in Wharepapa, then off to Auckland to photograph the Big Day Out! After the Big Day Out I am going to go to the very North of the north island and hopefully learn a bit about the Maori.

New Page

I put up a new page on my site for some of Dave Scales' travelling pics. He has recently travelled to Damascus, Chatila and Beirut. I have him linked on my Friends page under "pics from my friends travels". The direct link is http://www.serablue.com/kristi/scales2.html. Check out his Blog for his travelling stories, http://tnfalpha.blogspot.com/.

Please feel free to send me pics for this section of my site. I really want to get pics from all over the world from people who travel or live in different countries.

This is Charles, outside his Kitchen in the Jungle. He made me as well as 3 others, Dr Lau (leading cacti botinist) as well as a German author and her son, a New Years FEAST in this kitchen. He took all these herbs from his Organic farm and gave us all a meal to remember.

more San Miguel Kids

Kids in San Miguel

Life is Rich

It is crazy how people who have nothing in the way of material possessions can have so much in the way in way of life. I have seen way more smiles in poor villages then I have in New York City, Atlanta, or even London. These village kids really taught me that life is rich, no matter how poor you are. Sometimes I think that all the western world has built has taken people further away from what is truly important in life. People are so busy trying to make it, or be rich, or successful that they have forgotten about life. I feel like our progression in a way is pulling us further away from enjoying the simple things.

Mayan Village

After an overnight in Belize City I flew down to Punta Gorda in the Toledo district of Belize. I decided to stay in a Mayan Village to learn a bit more about their way of life. I had read that the Toledo district was for "those who are truly adventurous" as well as "be prepared to rough it". Did I listen, not really.

I woke up my first night in the village to go use the bathroom only to find two huge black transulas. I don't know much about these spiders so I decided it was best to just stay away. Then I went back to sleep. I woke up early, (it was still dark) turned on my headlamp only to see a scorpion right next to my head! It was inside of the mosquito net with me, so it probably slept with me the whole night! The little village children said that they have all been stung and if the scorpion bites to kill it, and squeeze the green stuff out of their bodies and rub it on the bite! Luckily I was never stung.

I learned a lot about the Mayans during my stay in the village. I really wanted to learn a bit about their religion so I started asking questions. I found out that in the villages, the people were either Catholic or Christian. The Mayans I met didn't know much about the Mayan religion. I had this group of women try and sell me a carving of a Mayan God in a rock. I asked "which God is this" and then replied " I am really not sure, I think that it is the God of Corn". I just thought it was crazy to have people continue with the arts celebrating the religion, but yet know nothing about the religion itself.

I did meet some lovely people in the village. The girls in the pic below are from the Choco family and I just loved hanging out with them and their family. I would sit on the porch and the girls tried teaching me their language Katchi, and we would watch the other villagers. These little girls knew 3 languages, English (the official language of Belize), Spanish, and Katchi. The families in the village are usually quite big with up to 10 people sharing a small room and sleeping in hammocks or on the floor.

With the Choco Girls in an Mayan Village

I'm off

So I am off today to start the second part of my trip. Off to Belize!!

Movie thoughts

I realized tonight as I sat watching a movie at the cinema, that so many people go to movie to escape. To totally get lost in the film and kind of forgot where you yourself are. It cuts down time to think about your own problems instead you are thinking about the characters on the screen.

There was a child somewhere talking, quickly followed by numerous people saying "shhh". I smiled, then wondered why I wasn't upset by the disturbance. Most people get annoyed because it kills the whole illusional escape. It made me really happy that I wasn't annoyed, but instead I enjoyed the interuptions. Interruptions made the theater full of life, and that was somewhat beautiful. From the kid talking, to the phone that went off right after a really intiment scene, to the people getting upset at the kid, and finally to all the youngsters leaving early for their curfew. I guess once I sat back and relaxed I realized that it is silly to be annoyed, and even crazier not to realize that these little quirks are kind of unique and beautiful.

Throw Santa

Hey I came across this today, http://www.fetchfido.co.uk/games/slingshot_santa/slingshot_santa.htm See if you can see the reindeer (he is at about 340 meters).
My high score is 346.1
Charles scored 348.3
see if you can beat Charles.

gotta luv the couches

In 2004 I have slept on many couches, some more lumpy then others, but I have been thankfully for each and every one. Here is the list of all the placed I have slept in 2004...
1. Sydney - my futon (ok so sometimes I fall asleep in front of the TV)
2. Sydney - Christine's pull out couch bed - I had my very own room, I was very comfortable
3. Hong Kong - Paul's couch, he gave me his key and flat for my week in HK, very cool
4. Finland - Jossu's floor, his put down a little mattress for me
5. Sweden- Kristina's friends rollaway bed- I even got woken up on my birthday with a Swedish treat
6. London - Jen's floor - her apartment complex had an extra air mattress
7. Atlanta- Bill and Banish's couch - lots of good movies and I always felt welcome
8. Atlanta - Dereks couch - lots of pillows, very comfortable, and some good company t00
9. Atlanta - Fil, Chris, and Tourbans - the cats wanted to cuddle all night
10. Atlanta - Dave Taylors basement couch - no windows, always a good place to sleep in
11. DC - Marshalls couch
12. Connecticut - Dave Scales Futon
13. Massachusetts - Brad's parents basement - I loved Cape Cod, but learned that when a local says that the water is cold, that it is freezing
14. New York - Some of Bob's friends couch
15. North Carolina - Darci's couch - I had a cool dog to keep me company

That is all I can think of right now. I have slept in lots of tents, busses, trains, a few planes, more hostels then I can remember, and of course chewy (the 86 pathfinder I drove in Australia) and my new car. Overall I have become a bit of a heavy sleeper.

San Miguel Village

I am really excited, I have been working on my travel plans to Belize and it looks like I going to be staying in a small Mayan Village, called San Miguel. When I spent some time in Peru learning about the Incans, I started becoming very fasinated with them. I have been reading up a bit on Mayans and really want to spend some time seeing what else I can learn. Here is a link to the village I will be staying in http://www.southernbelize.com/vil_sanmiguel.html

It's crazy to think that I am going to one of the best diving spots in the world, and I don't even know if I am going to dive. I would much rather learn about the people in the area.

I photographed some kids over the weekend, here is the link, http://www.serablue.com/kristi/wkids.html. It is crazy, i have done 3 shoots with this company, 2 of the parents, and 1 of the kids. I find it pretty funny how much easier it was to shoot the kids then the parents. Kids show their personality, and usually will do anything for the camera. With adults it is pretty hard to get anything other then a headshot. I really enjoyed this shoot.

Quotes from the good ole south

So I was talked into watching the Dale Earnhardt movie the other day (3), and here are some of my favorite quotes...

1) Soon I will be wearing diamond the size of horse terds
2) You are such a man that they couldn't castrate you with a chainsaw

Those are the highlights.

Bunnies

K so I am copying my friend Mo's blog today. This website was pretty funny.
http://www.angryalien.com/

We are ALL Losers

I went out on Sat night to a club, went up to the bar and asked for a water. The conversation with the bartender was as follows:
Bartender: why are you ordering a water?
Me: cause I am a loser
Bartender: Well you are at Hole in the Wall (the name of the club)
Me: Are you saying that everyone here is a loser??
Bartender: Well depending on how you look at it, we are all losers?
(I eyed the bartender strangly)
Bartender: Well put it this way, have you ever played the lottery?
(I laughed, he had won, pretty much everyone has lost at least once at the lottery, so with this train of thought, we are in fact all losers)

So tonight at a restaurant I was discussing this story with my friend Dave and his responce was:
Dave: everyone in here is a winner in a way... Well we all were the first sperms to make it to the egg!

Travel plans

So here is my next trip
December 28- Belize
Jan 7th - Denver
Jan 10th - New Zealand
Feb 1st - Sydney

I got really excited today, I can't wait to get back to Sydney!! I have missed that city a lot! Soon I will be out of Winter and back hanging out with my Sydney friends on the beach!

New shots for me include:
Big Day Out in Auckland (Beastie Boys, Chemical Brothers, the Music- www.bigdayout.com),
Rod Stewart in Sydney,
and Norah Jones in Sydney.

One of my personal favorite travel photos, the crazy thing is I did even notice the fingure up the nose when I took it.