Carnival and barbeques
I’m a bit late with my blogging this week because we’ve had a long weekend too (Memorial Day) and I was frightfully busy at Shanti yesterday. Anyway, what have we been up to? Well, the weather was a bit disappointing: I think the summer fog season is starting, although at least it clears for the afternoon most days. We went hiking in southern Point Reyes on Saturday and experienced the good old Bay Area microclimates – started in thick, cold fog by the coast and moved into glorious sunshine inland over the hill. We did an 11-mile hike (actually pretty easy after Kauai), mainly through woodland, so not as exciting as some of our previous ones. We didn’t see any bobcats this time, but we did see deer and snakes. After the hike, we headed down to hippy haven Bolinas, and enjoyed another delicious dinner at Coast Café. It’s our third visit there, but I don’t think I’ll ever tire of it – it’s so close to perfection, so why go anywhere else? We did eat far too much, though! After dinner, we looked out across the channel at the opening to the Bolinas Lagoon at the long spit of land on the other side, which forms part of the community known as Stinson Beach, musing on whether it would be possible to wade through it at low tide and come to dinner at Coast Café (since I have a friend whose parents own a superb holiday home in Stinson), avoiding a drive of probably at least 10 miles – our musings were inconclusive! Saw a seal swim in, though.
Sunday was the day of the Mission Carnaval (yes, that’s how they spell it!), a wonderful explosion of Latin-American culture in the Hispanic quarter of the city, known as the Mission. It is definitely the best carnival I’ve ever seen: we stood for two hours watching the colourful parade, enjoying the dancing and thudding beats of the samba, and it was still going on when we finally came away. Pretty much every Central and South American country was represented, from Nicaragua to Colombia. We met up with my friend Randan from Shanti there, as she lives in the area, then went to the home of one of her neighbours for a barbeque afterwards, although it was far too chilly to be outside for too long.
Monday was a holiday, so we started with our run to Crissy Field and back. In the afternoon, we headed to the house of a friend of mine from Italian class, Gami. The weather was actually much better: lovely and warm while we sat in the garden (or “backyard”, as they call it) eating barbeque food and being entertained by Gami’s hilarious housemate, Monique. We even saw a tiny green hummingbird! When it started turning cool, we headed indoors and played a really good card game called “Apples to Apples”, before returning home.
As I said, I had a hectic day yesterday – the Shanti event is on Thursday, plus I’ve begun applying for jobs again. Looking forward to the weekend when Karen and Duncan (our old neighbours) visit, though. Photos of the Carnaval are on the Fotki site.
Sunday was the day of the Mission Carnaval (yes, that’s how they spell it!), a wonderful explosion of Latin-American culture in the Hispanic quarter of the city, known as the Mission. It is definitely the best carnival I’ve ever seen: we stood for two hours watching the colourful parade, enjoying the dancing and thudding beats of the samba, and it was still going on when we finally came away. Pretty much every Central and South American country was represented, from Nicaragua to Colombia. We met up with my friend Randan from Shanti there, as she lives in the area, then went to the home of one of her neighbours for a barbeque afterwards, although it was far too chilly to be outside for too long.
Monday was a holiday, so we started with our run to Crissy Field and back. In the afternoon, we headed to the house of a friend of mine from Italian class, Gami. The weather was actually much better: lovely and warm while we sat in the garden (or “backyard”, as they call it) eating barbeque food and being entertained by Gami’s hilarious housemate, Monique. We even saw a tiny green hummingbird! When it started turning cool, we headed indoors and played a really good card game called “Apples to Apples”, before returning home.
As I said, I had a hectic day yesterday – the Shanti event is on Thursday, plus I’ve begun applying for jobs again. Looking forward to the weekend when Karen and Duncan (our old neighbours) visit, though. Photos of the Carnaval are on the Fotki site.
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