Reflections

It was a long Monday...

Kirkland Marina Park

Went for a walk to the Kirkland Marina in the afternoon. The park has a great view of Lake Washington and is great for enjoying the sunset. However, it was too cold to stay around for too long. At the end of the pier in the distance, you can see a part of the Seattle skyline. See this location on Live Maps.

January at Marymoor Park

When I moved to Seattle, I was told that it hardly ever snowed here. Yet, this is the third time it snows this winter. I suppose I can thank El Niño for this.

On the may back from the grocery store, I drove through Marymoor Park in Redmond. I'm not sure what these geese are doing back here in January, I thought they came back in a couple months. But hey, I'm not a biologist. I like the way they are all looking in different directions.

This windmill is near the entrance of the park. It overlooks the Sammamish River which I bike next too in warmer weather. See this location in Live Maps.

Snow

Snow covering a plant.

After a Night of Snow

These are a couple pictures I took on my way to work today in morning. I love the way the snow falls on the evergreens and makes them all droopy looking.

My walk to work usually takes about 10 minutes. But since I stopped to take pictures every few minutes, it took me twice as long. By the time I made it to the office, I really didn't want to go in. I wanted to be able to stay outside and enjoy the view. How I wish my office had a window...

Snow After Work

I love snow. I suppose I love it because I don't really have to deal with the hassles it creates. I've always lived close to work or school and I am able to walk when it snows. Also, I've never lived in places where it snows frequently.

It's pretty rare for Seattle to get snow. Usually, it's just a long rainy winter, so a change in the monotony is welcome. It was actually supposed to snow last night but only in the northern areas of Seattle. Instead, it decided to defy the weatherman's prediction and snow in the southern areas. So when I woke up today and didn't see it all white, I was disappointed. But thankfully my disappointment was gone when I walked home as it snowed.

Today's walk home was a bit different, even somewhat weird. Normally, you can hear all the hustle and bustle of the traffic; the honking, the motors, etc. But today, a silence fell over all the traffic. There seemed to be more traffic than normal, but it was so quiet you could hear the snow fall on the ground. Near the cars you could hear the fresh snow crunching under the tires.

When I got back home, I looked like the abominable snow man because I was covered in snow. I took my camera and tripod and took a few pictures. This one picture below is from behind my apartment next to a small lake in my apartment complex.

Green

On my walk to work today in the morning, I couldn't help but notice that almost all tree trunks are green. Not totally green of course. But most trees are partially covered with different kinds of moss. It's actually an interesting sight, especially if you are used to cold and bleak winters where everything is gray.

French Press

A view of my kitchen and part of my dinning room. Reflection is from the top of a french press my brother gave me for Christmas. Thanks Jose!

Seattle at Dusk

A little over a month ago, I went to Gas Works Park which has a very nice view of Seattle. Since then, I've wanted to return to take a picture of Seattle at night.

Going Home

Sadly, I returned to Seattle today. I like Seattle, but I wish I could have been in Mexico a bit longer. Anyway, today was a very long day. United was nice enough to cancel my very early flight and make me wait in line for an hour and a half before they could rebook me. I ended up taking three different flights and three different airlines.

My initial anger disappeared as soon as I realized they had booked me in first class from L.A. to Portland. I've never been in first class before and wow, the seats and service are so much better. However, after arriving in Seattle in this small plane, they decided my trip hadn't been messed up enough and they lost my luggage!

Anyway, this is the small plane that I took from Portland to Seattle. I've never been on a prop plane before. I sat right behind the propeller and got to see how it starts up. Maybe I'm easily amused, but I thought it was neat. The only problem is the noise! They are so much noisier than jet planes. You nearly had to shout to get the flight attendant to hear you.

Frida, Trotsky and Coyoacan

Zocalo

Maguey

Tortillas

Xinantecatl

Today we took Justin to the Xinantecatl or Nevado de Toluca. I've been there several times but I always enjoy going. This volcano is renown for a few reasons. First, on clear days, Toluca enjoys a nice view of the volcano. It used to be snowed for most of the winter (hence the name) but nowadays it's only snowed during late winter. The second reason it's know is for two lakes inside the caldera. The larger one is called Lake of the Sun and the smaller is called Lake of the Moon. The third reason this volcano is interesting is because it's the only volcano in the world where you can actually drive into the crater.

Anyway, on clear days such as this one, you are able to see the Popocatepetl and Ixtazihuatl on the other side of Mexico City. I took this picture from one of the smaller peaks. It is also said that if you are at the tallest peak, you can see the Pacific Ocean. I've been up twice, but never on a clear enough day to see if that is actually possible. Maybe I should just do the math.


Well, I climbed one of the smaller peaks as Ili, Roberto and Justin went down to the lakes. I eventually caught up with them and we walked around the lakes. The Lake of the Moon was nearly all frozen over. Roberto and I enjoyed breaking chunks of ice and throwing rocks through the ice. We did the same when we got to the lake of the Sun, but it wasn't all frozen. In this picture bellow you can see Roberto walking ahead of us.

Three Cultures

Today was a day full of activities. Ili's friend from Australia arrived yesterday in the afternoon, so today we took him to several places. We fist went to Calixtlahuaca which is about 10 minutes from our house. These are some ruins originally build by the Matlazincas in the Toluca Valley. It was eventually taken over by the Aztecs and this urban center was used to control a large portion of the Toluca Valley. The most interesting structure is the round pyramid seen in this picture. There are only two or three round pyramids in the world and this is one of them. Since the cite is rather small, it's a nice place to avoid tourists and enjoy the views of the valley. See this location in Live Maps.

On our way back from Calixtlahuaca, we stopped by the old church in Tecaxic. I'm not too sure about the history of the church, but I do know that it has gotten some write-ups in tour guides about Mexico. So, I guess it must have some nice architecture on the inside. Unfortunately it was closed, so we couldn't see inside. However the outside is very nice.
See this location in Live Maps.

Later in the afternoon after lunch, we headed to downtown Toluca. The main place we were going to visit is the Cosmovitral. Toluca isn't a very nice city, but if you ever go, you must go here. The Cosmovitral was an old market turned into a gorgeous botanical garden surrounded by stained glass windows. The garden is nice, but the main attraction are is the stained glass windows that surround the entire building. The design of the windows show the creation of the universe and good(day) and evil(night). The central piece is the representation of sun which looks spectacular as the afternoon light shines through it. See this location in Live Maps.

That evening when we were back home, Justin commented that it was amazing to be in places and building that were much older than anything in Australia.

You can see more pictures of Calixtlahuca, Tecaxic and the Cosmovitral in my Picasa Web Albmum.

Christmas Day

The Christmas tree surrounded by gifts on Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve

Today is Christmas Eve! This view is looking west from our back yard. Here you are able to see the Moon high in the sky and Venus just above the horizon.

Cow

One of our neighbors down the road has several sheep and cows. Next to our house near Tecaxic there is a big field where he takes his cattle to graze. In this picture, one of the cows is eating some dried leafs that are on our backyard fence.

Mexico City

We went to Toluca today to spend Christmas there. Roberto took this picture on our drive out of Mexico City. This is a typical Mexico City cab. The street you can see in the background is the Periferico. It is sometimes known as the largest parking lot in the world, can you guess why? Since it's Christmas and many people are out on vacation, the traffic isn't so bad. This picture was taken by my brother Roberto.