Beware of the Beard

Last weekend we took a day trip to "Hierve el Agua" which is about an hour and a half outside of Oaxaca.

Hierve el Agua is a natural warm spring which contains air trying to escape, hence the name "Hierve el Agua"which means “the water boils”. The water is also full of minerals, so as it runs off of the edge of the nearby cliff, calcium carbonate and magnesium in the water create a petrified waterfall, and the sulphur ads nice yellow accents in places. There are only two such sites in the world, the other one is in Turkey.

It has several pools which you can swim in which I found quite refreshing under the hot sun. Tootsie of course couldn't be left out of any opportunity to go swimming, no matter how illegal it was.

There are also a few miles of hiking trails around the waterfalls to get better vantage points. Tootsie followed us all day off-leash which has been a great development over the last few years. The only draw back is that sometimes she gets a little too far ahead and can get into trouble. This time she managed to find some scat to roll in which was completely unpleasant to wash of and endure in the long car ride home. Despite that, Tootsie is a great hiking companion. Unfortunately we've begun to notice more and more the day after long hikes, she will limp around favoring a paw or joint. It's so sad to see her getting old ...

As Meri can attest, hiking in the dry desert heat was more than a bit challenging.

I also wanted to throw in some random pictures of past weekends that didn't merit their own post.

This is Me and Jason (Meri's colleague from Chemonics) wathing the superbowl at a bar in Oaxaca. Meri and John were there too. I can't believe I rooted for the Giants but I did.

Me, providing for our family; carrying our water source (50lbs) over many miles back to our house from the store. Correction from Meri...definitely not 50 lbs and the walk is maybe a mile at best.

Ben, Noemi, Amelia (hiding), Meri, and Me at the organic farmers market, El Pochote, in Oaxaca enjoying some breakfast.

And the coupe de grace my ever growing man beard. The grouping of the right and left lobes on my musache is all natural (no trimming) and the anchor-shaped beard has been maticulously crafted. Remember this is only a month and a half of growing which is no small feat. I've dedicated the growing of my beard to a speacial cause, for David Carouso of Miami CSI to start talking normal. Why does he always growl? And why does my wife make me watch it all the time? And why does Mexican cable air that show out of all of the other U.S. sitcoms?