hike on the sleeping indian

After a bit of time at the top, we started down.  Stephen started down first - continuing the hike in order to complete the trek to do the entire trail and not "back track" the way we came.  As you can see it was quite steep to go down the "neck",  I turned around and went down like it was a ladder.  

Jose and Stephen started out across the grassy trail along the edge of the volcano and to the right stretched jungle and more mountains and eventually the ocean (wish I had taken a picture) and to the left the valley with El Valle, the little town in it that was enclosed by the ring of mountains. 

This picture below captures the valley surrounded by the volcanic ring.

It was a great adventure and if ever in El Valle I would recommend doing the hike/trek.  It was great fun and I hope to do it again.  Stephen and Jose are great hiking companions and Jose knows all sorts of wildlife and such.  His English is less than my Spanish ability if that is any guidance to you on your language needs.

After the hike we went to a very nice little restaurant in a home for a formal meal.  Stephen was a bit more tired than I.  Only I faked it better.  - for a while anyway.

hiking the india dormdia

The mountain in the background, the sleeping indian, is the hike Stephen took me on while we were in Panama.  We entered the mountains at the edge of the valley - which is a large caldera- about at dead end of the street Stephen lives on -- see previous post.  In this picture it would be against the mountain about where the wire is hanging down.  We started out climbing towards the right rather than up the sleeping Indian's head.

Our guide and hiking partner was Jose, a neighbor and friend of Stephen's who was of some degree of local fame as one who was able to make the trip very fast in an annual race.

At various points in the early hiking it was quite jungle like, complete with the jungle sounds, and very very wet.

The water fall is a famous tourist spot and has some indian carvings which I will show in the next post, (I forgot to up load the photo and do not know how to place a photo where I want it with out starting over)

As you can see there were points where the hiking was quite rough and over an "uneven trail" and in other places very very steep.

In the photo below you can see the lip of the volcano and the path along the edge, the wind was quite strong as we approached the top at this point and was the point from which we first began to see something other than plants.  

The proverbial "at the top" photo and extremely strong wind- hence my willingness to remove the hat.  and our knelling down rather than remaining standing on the edge with strong gusts of wind.  You can also see the valley in the background.

next post.  the rest of the trip.  and some photos I forgot from the trip up to the top.

Visiting Stephen and Jen

Patt and I just returned from a trip to Panama to visit Stephen and Jen and what a very nice time we had midst the heat and rain of Central America.  Our hosts were wonderful, treating us to a trip into the interior of the country to their see "new"  "hometown".

above,  the coffee shop -- no double "p" spelling with an "e" on the end either.

The little grocery store at the dead end of the street where Stephen and Jen were living and at the foot of the ring of mountains or edge of the volcano that surrounded the valley

passing what would pass for a subdivision ( a house) on the road back to their place for February -- S and J are moving to another next month

just another house, I think I thought  that  it was where they were moving, but it does capture the low hanging rain clouds which were so present for a couple of days.

Stephen's office, seriously, it is his office, internet provided by the hotel above. the resturant

Patt and Jen in front of the house - now former residence.

We had such a good time.  Next post, Stephen takes me on a mountain climbing expedition along the rim of the volcano. 

it was you know who ... and that meant dook

Yes sirree, their number one fan was in the house, and it was gold and black and loud.  We had such fun.  (the photo was taken by me returning to my seat at the close of halftime when I had to walk by)  -- he was busy changing his script I am sure.  The big grin on the guy trying to talk on the cell (at half time mind you ) was because we were giving a lesson to  the boys in dark blue--

The lesson specialty was defense as we kept them from getting the ball in the basket, notice how far they are from the basket, notice who they have to get past to get to the basket, notice who is bigger, (I always thought size had something to do with success in this game) and notice who has their hands helping the boys in blue stay away-- no harm no foul.

well now I have seen three consequtive games in which a team which has been ranked number one in the nation has lost (unfortunately one of those was mine) all in the same season, all on the same court, and a shared experience with perhaps 8,500 to 9,000 -- my estimate -- other people.  The stadium holds 14,000 and there were some one time attenders for sure at each game.    Someone with even less to do than me knows just how unique that is.  

trip to Grandmothers

The view of the pastures of course is always beautiful and restful.  And of course if I pause as I look across the fields to reflect, I can recollect various points where I worked on a host of farming activities ranging from fence repair, to mowing, to tractor driving for the hayrides, drainage ditch repair and of course equipment repair, cattle moving around for various reasons and much much more with Buck, Ed, Gene and Art.  

and if you note the screen saver on Grandmother's desktop, our two favorite Granddaughters in one of our many "favorite" photos.  And that statement can be made regarding so very many photos.

and as you can see though we came to see Grandmother, I still do not have the picture arranging thing down right, hers should have been first, so I loaded it first, forgetting that you have to load in reverse order.  You will note that since Grandmother did not have enough to look after she has added goldfish.  

and we have had a very very nice time here as is our custom, and one which we enjoy a lot.

a snow day

Sunset looking across the deck at our Christmas tree, in a fresh snow sure was pretty-- as was the whole day.  This morning when we woke up, we knew that school would be closed, and work would be delayed if it were even to open.  That is a good way to wake up here in Wake County.

The tree is a very recent addition to our deck.  It just left the den where it almost set down roots.  It stayed up through the 18th - I think a new long term record for time into January, but since it did not get decorated until about the 18th of December, the month was probably about average for us.  When the weather gets a little nicer, the tree will migrate down the hill the resting place of some 20 or so of its predecessors.

and tomorrow we will be back at work.   The roads look pretty clear and the snow was melting.

it was a goooood time

Last Sunday evening, Eric, Charles, Kelly and I went to Winston to observe a proper thrashing and it was such good entertainment.  I called Mark and held up the phone so he could hear the sounds of encouragement we were directing toward the players-or in the case of those in baby blue, hoots of direction.  

Number "O" put a lot of not "O"s on the scoreboard, here he goes around and through the matador defense that the opponents were playing extremely well.

and of course it was show-time before the game-- with appropriate lights and sounds

I have decided I just like show-time -- and we are getting it right.     

and I figured out how to write around pictures and by default (load them in reverse?) how to get them in appropritate order - a feat yet to be accomplished.  At least I did not double one this time I do not think.

Visiting Andy' and EA' kids

We had just the best time visiting with the neighbors of Julianna and Lydia who just happened to be in Mebane!  While visiting Julianna and Lydia a month or so ago we stayed in their apartment.

Emma Grace and Jack are such joys and Patt especially enjoyed holding Jack.   After dinner he slept so soundly while she held him.  Here are some photos of the evening--well there are some photos of the evening, I reckon I will figure out how to get words around and above pictures later.

Last night, with EA, Andy and EA's Mom and Dan,  we laughed at ourselves as we from time to time realized in our conversation that we came back to quoting children and being amazed at them - the joys of being Grandparents and new parents are wonderful.  Not that we did not work on some of the worlds problems, but we did spend some time being amazed at little children, which I reckon is wonderful.

Visit to Oak Island

After the hoopla for New Years I went with Charles, Linda, Kate and Emily to Red Sky at Oak Island.  Gray and cloudy outside, football and conversation inside, though we did walk and go outside on occasion.  Charles, Emily and I walked around the end of the Island and across the dunes behind the big houses on their beach access paths, quite beautiful!!

a Second post on Oak Island

That first post was done while at the Apple store in my "one to one" training class.  We, my trainer and I decided not to use the mac offering for a blog and so we went with bloggspot and the guy helped me figure it out.  and there you go.  Now I am at home and trying to figure out a second one.  So far so good.  We will see how it goes from here.  I would advise against holding your breath.  Next thing I will try is seeing where the photos go.  

and some how the time on my first post is wrong, so I reset the time on this one to match the time on my computer.  

the pictures were made on two different days - one gray and the other during a brief clear bright stretch.