National Geographic Magazine - the bucket list generator!

In the late nineties, my cousin in the US gave a subscription to the National Geographic Magazine. The very first few issues that we got blew our minds. One was about the Serengeti National park. It is still being talked about in the house. The pictures, the occasional map that was packed inside the magazine, the posters, the big official looking certificate that stated that I was now an explorer.. not to mention the fact that the mail was actually addressed to me.. priceless!

That membership lasted two years and it was a window to the world for me and my brother! 

One of the things I learned in that magazine was that there was such a thing as a glasswing butterfly with transparent wings. It was to be found near a natural wonder of the world called Iguazu falls. 

Many years later I ended up in the US and got my own subscription to the bucket list generator magazine! There is a long list of places I told myself that would be visited in this lifetime. After getting married the wife was told about this long list of items. She was not aware of most these places. The kids would shake their head and go "no wonder you two are married.. there is nothing in common between you two! Appa raves about all these places and you have never heard of them!". Needless to say, when it came time to visit any of these places, the kids would give excuses to bail and it was my darling wife that would actually force them to come and also plan the entire thing.

She got tired of me mentioning Iguazu. She did her research, found that this was in the middle of the amazon jungle, part of this visit involved a boat tour that was dangerous, vegetarian food there was going to be a challenge and there were insect bites to deal with (which was a strict no no for the little one). In spite of all this, she did an amazing job booking everything. There were a few last minute twists but we handled them well as a collective, given our last day in Greece during Labor day!

This is going to be a series of blog posts on this trip to Iguazu.. as an added bonus, given we don't visit this part of the world that often, we decided to go to Rio to see "Christ the Redeemer" as well as the world famous beaches there. Then there was Buenos Aires, our first stop before flying into Iguazu at the Brazil Argentina border. 

Given my status as a frequent flyer is questionable, we had to go a week early. The kids were not thrilled with a 9 day international trip the day after they got back home from college. We had both taken the week off before Christmas to beat the crowds and it was a good move, except having to spend Christmas in the southern hemisphere where it is summer and it is not exactly festive like in the northern hemisphere. A summer Christmas is intersting! You start feeling bad for the mall Santa in 95 degree heat!

We made it back from South America in one piece and in good health. A new years party took some of us out. My throat is still recovering and I could not even speak for a few days last week. Thinks are just slowly getting back to normal. 

Word of caution to bay area peeps. Start wearing masks and sanitizing hands again! Did take the covid and flu shots in October. Know this is not COVID or flu but some other respiratory virus that takes aim at the throat. Trying to sing songs I like did not help either (given I sing them 50 times back to back till a version clicks). 

Right now all I can do is type.. hence the blogging to distract myself!

The travelogs follow..

Fun fact: We did not see the glasswing butterfly during this trip.. but we did see the falls in all its glory. Jr. and myself made it to the "Devil's throat" within the falls, which was the real core of that bucket list item!

A long gap

It has been a month and a half since I blogged about any hiking or trails.. We did go on three trails.. one a little strenous and two were more little walks than serious hikes. 

I started a new job during COVID times and that has been an interesting transition in itself. Still for a guy who always posts something every week, it has been odd not to go type anything. 

Well, here we are. Things have not been easy as every day we wake up to news of someone passing away in India from COVID in the last few weeks. It is not unknown people anymore this time around. So did not feel like writing anything. Sometimes if you have nothing postive to share, silence is golden!

The three hikes we went on were a walk to Mori Point in Pacifica to see the sunset, a short stroll in Quarry Trail in Saratoga (which was 15 minute drive from home and a rather short but intense climb to see the valley from a nice vantage point) and the last one to Little Yosemite in Sunol area after a rave FB recommendation from a friend. 

Here are some pictures and a slide show from the three hikes..

a picture that sums up sunset at Mori point..

A early morning foggy view of silicon valley from Quarry trail hike..

Sunlight coming through the lone tree on an otherwise barren landscape in Little Yosemite trail

A watering hole on Little Yosemite trail for cows that made for a reflection photo spot..

Views of the reservoir from the top of the hills..

Mori piont was amazing. The flowers, the swing at the end of the trail, the sunset, the moon rise, it was something!

Little Yosemite would have been more fun if we had taken the opposite route on the trail. We went on the hike up the hill first and then came to the falls that is only a mile from the parking lot. It was a long hike without a clear path in most places in the barren heat.. the falls ended up being too crowded because by the time we headed back, it was a lunch picnic spot. Lots of folks without masks. So we just kept moving to the car and drove back. (this was almost 3 weeks ago). 

Since then any attempts to go hiking have been put on hold. The yoga studio has opened with a lottery system. I have been lucky enough to get through a dozen times in the last month and that is good. It is still not open anywhere close to capacity and hope the day arrives where you go and walk in and don't have to be lucky to do hot yoga. I could always do it at home with the space heater, but once you go to the studio a few times, it becomes harder mentally to fire up the space heater. When there was no studio, the space heater was a blessing. That shows I have a lot more yoga to do to treat the space heater and yellow walls with the respect they deserve! 

It is just a question of days before we go back to office again and that means things get even more interesting with time management, lottery management etc. My hiking shoes may have seen their last days for some time to come. If there is one thing I would choose between doing Yoga and hiking, it is always yoga. Sitting still is something that I have to work hard for and I plan to keep trying my best to do that!

Hope this post brings me back to blogging about things on a more regular basis!

Happy New Year 2019

The 2000's turned 18. That was a big deal.. When it turns 21, we might subconsciously associate it with another "big year".. Turning 16 was a good thing.. in an American context.. 

19.. seems to be something we skip through! Don't exactly remember going through my 19th year. Hopefully 2019 goes by like that!

2018 was a monotonous year for us with the exception of four things..

1. A visit to India for my nephews Poonal ceremony and being with my parents, brother and sister under one roof even if for two days

2. A two week magical trip to Europe in Summer

3. Jr.'s dance Arangetram

4. A wrap up of the year in Belize for a week

The rest was a routine. Did manage to do yoga 224 times in 2018. As most of you know, the goal is at least 200. So checking that one off. 

The time outside of yoga was mostly spent in picking up and dropping off kids from classes. 

Did 10 trips to Asia this year instead of 12 but had three international personal trips to make up for that.

There was no major sickness this year and that was a big plus. The only negative or scary thing that happened was my father slipping and falling down in October and my mother insisting that I not visit till he is walking again.  He is improving slowly but steadily and that is a good thing.

One regret we did have was not being able to attend my sisters kids Poonal as it crossed with the pre planned Europe trip. We have moved on from that given both the Europe trip and the Poonal went very well. 

The job continues to be interesting and challenging and we are quietly ploughing through challenges one at a time. The hard part of working in a startup is to get a group of folks who don't waste time questioning the problems but just go tackle it. From that stand point, glad to have a bunch of folks who are all in that mindset. Feel the the time at work is being well spent. 

2018 was good on retrospect. 2019 is being welcomed with hopes of the kids doing well in school and work reaching significant milestones.. but what matters is to keep San smiling next to me and have good health throughout the year and cherish friendships old and new! One has to be really fortunate to have good friends and we are blessed in that department!

and yes.. resolutions.. now that yoga 200 times a year is not a resolution anymore (it is a habit), the wish and hope for 2019 is to learn to swim properly. Went for 10 classes in 2005 when Jr. was 3 years old as part of a parents and tots swim class. Could float and swim the length of the pool with two three stops. We went snorkeling in Belize and I stayed 5 feet from the boat at all times because of fear. The ATM trip was also scary going against the river in darkness. 

2019, overcome fear of deep water and waves.. Let's see if I can get that done..