Somewhere In Mexico, Maybe

I had a conversation with a girl who shared a hostel dorm in San Miguel de Allende Mexico and told her of my 'magnet project'. She seemed interested but I missed her because we both left the next day. In my next hostel, in Guanajuato, I met yet another person from the previous hostel and he mentioned he would be seeing her at the next stop. I sent one magnet to go to her and another to take to his home in Spain.

I did get an email response from her and a link that I'd like to share:

"Thank you for my lovely magnet!!! - it is Great!!!...a wise little owl to guide me on my way. :)

I was in my dorm the other day and Issac popped his head around the corner!! :) It was such a nice surprise and an even bigger surprise to receive a present from you through him. I think your magnets are great and I think the whole project is Great. It's big. A really magic idea. 

 

Here are the details of Las Pozas, the sculpture park built by Edward James, near the town of Xilitla (it is in the very south of San Luis Potosi). Primera Plus busses go to Xilitla - you can check on their website where from - http://www.primeraplus.com/. Here is a website with more info http://www.xilitla.org/. Images are here https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Las+pozas+xilitla&hl=en&rlz=1C1CHFX_en-gbGB483GB483&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=wnk2UZbdFIqfrAHEr4GIBg&ved=0CDIQsAQ&biw=1137&bih=527

 

Cenotes are amazing Mexican caves filled with turquoise water, that have vines growing down often through an opening in the roof, that the sun steams in through. You can swim in them, and they look like this. They are all over Mexico (mostly in the south I think) and they are magical to be in."

 

 

Aprylle is British but would like to settle in Mexico City and the above are some of the places she has visited. I haven't a clue where she or the magnet will end up but, for now, I will tag it in Mexico.

 

China

An acquaintance was teaching English in China after having taught before in South Korea where she actually left a magnet. I just don't recall those details. This time around there were some health issues so I don't think her stay was the best. Below are some comments from her emails:

The students are delightful and exhausted due to a rigorous schedule.  Some still email me and I still hear from one in Korea. I have a photo album to remember them as a gift. I feel for the students, 10 hour days in school. I was unpacking and one of the teachers in the dorm admired your magnet and I gave it to her.

I am sick again, and in a country that you need a prescription for aspirin. For some reason there is some anti-Obama sentiment with the kids. I do not talk to the adults about it. 

 

Alaska

On a cold, windy, rainy day in Juneau my family went on a whale watch excursion, if you can call it that. Our guide was Cap'n Allen of Adventures In Alaska. Had we not made our reservations well in advance we would certainly have chosen a better day for it. As it turned out, we were the only ones on his boat so we got a custom tour. We saw several humpback whales but only their backs and tails, not fancy leaps from the water. We saw a sea lion popping up in the wake of another boat and, seeing that we enjoyed that, Captain Allen took us to a buoy where the sea lions hang out so we could get a close look.

These whales head south for the winter just as a number the people and birds from this climate tend to do. The whales come back through about this time of year to feed on the herring and krill, about a half ton a day. They blow just before they surface and a little misty spout can be seen above the surface of the water. Then the back shows as they ready for the next dive. The tail is the last thing seen before they disappear for six to ten minutes. Its hard to tell just where they will resurface so the boats just hang around and wait...and hope. There are so many whale watch boats that there is a CB radio channel specifically for whale watch and the captains help each other out by broadcasting the general locations of their sightings.

Cap'n Allen now has a bear magnet on his boat. It was a challenge finding something metal on that mostly fiberglass boat to stick a magnet on. He was even kind enough to ham it up for the camera.

India

In the Dallas airport while flying to Alaska with my daughter and her child, we sat in seats back to back with a family from Chennai, India. This meeting actually came about when the two youngsters, two year old Amia and nine month old Druva Sri found themselves facing each other over the shoulders of their mothers. The attraction was immediate and I couldn't resist taking a photo that we showed the parents. I learned that the family was here for the father's job and would be returning so I fished out a bunny magnet and presented it to their well behaved daughter, Vidura Sri who will take it home with her.