I feel better!!!

Good news... I am feeling much better. After a few days in bed on the liquid diet i am ready to enjoy the last few days of our trip. Unfortunately after we put some plans in action for the end of the trip John woke up with the same illness, fever and stomach pain. He pulled himself together and survived a long bus ride back to Antigua (near Guatemala City) where we could be near some of the comforts of home while he got better. The best part is the town is in the mountains and the air is cooler, i was getting tired of the jungle heat. Now we have 3 days to explore the streets of Antigua, the various coffee shops, read another book or two and listen to music around town, not a bad way to end the trip.
We return home on the 30th, just in time to celebrate New Years in Michigan!!! We hope your holidays were wonderful. We had a quiet Christmas at a hotel on a Family Farm in Rio Dulce. The hotel was essentially closed so the family could celebrate Christmas so we had the run of the place for a few days. Thanks to my illness Christmas Dinner consisted of crackers and gatorade and for john... cold pizza. (yumm)
Be Well

Life on the Sea....

Soon after our spanish school ended we were on a bus headed for Rio Dulce. This small town sits near a beautiful lake that provides access to the carrribean sea. There is a busy market street and the dock is frequented with dingys coming from a variety of sailboats and small communities spread out along the lakeshores. It was from this dock that we departed for a week sail out to the Cayes (or reefs) of Belize. Our craft was a 46 foot plolynesian catamaran with a crew of 3 and 7 other passengers.
On board all was well, the people were friendly, the food fantastic and our accomodations in the hammocks slung out front between the two hulls were comfortable and airy. Things soon changed...
As we sailed out to the cayes the wind was perfect and the waves somewhat big, it took some focus not to get seasick and we pulled up to our designated moreing just as a rainstorm came in. It rained thru the night but we had a sturdy cover. The boat rocked and splashed and the wind blew for the next few days making snorkeling difficult and chilly. Despite the fact that the weather was not ideal we enjoyed the place and made the best of it.
Unfortunately on the 5th night the wind blew cold and we got soaked in our hammocks, Elie soon got sick and had to fend off illness during our early return to Rio Dulce and Lago Izabel. Since then we have had a few days to rest and plan for the final week, it is christmas eve and not much is going on...our best go out to friends and family.

Spanish School... DONE

Well we finished our last spanish class yesterday and our brains are all jumbled with verb tenses and new words I feel like i understand less but I am sure I know more my brain just needs a break. We had a great time in the small lake side town of San Andres. Our homestay family was very welcoming and our days were spent on the front stoop watching the local kids slide down the steep streets on plastic bottles and cooling off in the lake. The temperatures were WAY higher than in Xela (our first spanish school town), at times it was hard to think it was so hot.
We took a weekend trip to the Mayan ruins site of Tikal last weekend and had a great time climbing the temples and viewing the jungle from a top ancient structures. We camped in hammocks near the park so we could watch the sunset from the top of the temples and enter the park at 6am before the tour buses arrive. For the most part we had the park to ourselves which can be a little scary when you hear the howler monkeys coming close to you... the sound like LARGE tigers, luckily they just throw poo at you if they feel threatened!!! (we stayed clean!!)
This morning we caught the bus to Rio Dulce, another lake side town in southern Guatemala but this time the lake accesses the carribean. We are now in a cafe waiting for a boat which we are going to sail on for 7 days to the belize cayes (which are actually off the coast of Guatemala) and back. It sounds like a great trip and a special way to spend christmas, now we just need all of you to share it with!!!
The temperatures definately dont feel like christmas but the people remain festive, there are fake trees made out of green streamers and adorned with flashing Gallo lights at the top (Gallo is the local beer in Guatemala and they have managed to get their name on everything).
I hope this message finds everyone well and excited for the holidays.
Best wishes...

Down into the Heat

We started our journey north toward the province of Peten and the well known mayan ruins in the area. We decided to break up the trip north with a stop over in the small town of Lanquin and it has turned into my favorite stop so far. The hostel is definately a major stop on the gringo-backpaker trail, which i could do without, but we have a private bungalow on the river so i cant complain. yesterday we went on a tour to the local park... semuc champey... a park not to be missed when in guatemala. The tour included a trip into a cave, jumping off idilic waterfalls, a steep hillside hike, 5 minutes of tubing in the river and a few hours of free time in beautiful limestone pools. I am a bit biased as floating in limestone pools is one of my favorite activities.
Today we are taking more time to relax, walk around the small town, sit by the river, lay in the hammock, try and practice some spanish because we start spanish school again on monday in San Andres, Peten. The lodge has done nothing for our spanish since everyone speaks english, even when i try to speak spanish.
enjoy the pictures, one of john and i at semuc champey, one of lake atilan, one of me teaching the kids in xela to be elephants!!!

a weekend off...

We finished up our classes in Xela and hit the road for the weekend. Xela was great but it is really nice to get out of the city and into the fresh air (until a truck pushes the gas in front of you and you are surrounded by disel smoke). We spent the weekend in a truely beautiful town on Lake Atilan, the town is called San marcos and access it by boat, the boat ride was a great trip in itself. The town is popular for yoga and relaxation so in the spirit of relaxation we enjoyed another traditional sauna, glorious. Unfortunately the lake is polluted so we could not swim but the views, the gardens, the people and the hiking made the weekend great.
After a relaxing weekend we decided to take this week off spanish classes and let some of what we leared last week soak in so tommorrow we are off the Semuc Champey, a river and park in the middle of the country, it looks beautiful.
We will resume spanish classes next week in San Andres, a small lake town in the northern part of the country.
Blessings to all.

The latest from Guatemala...

Hola friends! Thankfully we have learned more spanish in the past two weeks than just this greeting. We are enjoying the day to day goings on of life in Quetzeltenango (Xela) each day seeing some of the same sceens on the street and feeling more apart of the scene. Tomorrow we bid farewell to spanish class for a week and travel to Lake Atitlan for a bit of relaxing. The lake hosts a myriad culture of new age studies schools, yoga shops, middle easter restaurants and hostels made of recycled materials. The lake itself sits in the caldera of an ancient collapsed volcano. It is surrounded by 5 other volcanoes so there may be some hiking and we plan to visit one of the nature preserves in the region. This said the adventure begins on Saturday as we take our first long ride on a "Chicken Bus" the local version of an economy coach. I don't know if they got this name because of their cargo or because of how the drivers careen down the roads taking on all challengers! More to come....

A Fun Weekend

We are back in class for the second week and our brains hurt but it is going well. i had a basic level of spanish when i got here so the first week was some review but now... lots of new information, aye.
For the weekend we took a break from studying and hiked up a near by volcano. many people told us we should use a guide but we felt like we could find the way, luckily we had some spanish comprehension because we missed the turn and had to ask the nice farmer where the trail was, he drew us a map with his machete. The hike was arduous, up and up and up but the view was great, we got up there too late but apparently if you get up there early you can see another active volcano erupt!! After a long hike up and down we decided sunday was a great day to relax so we found the local chicken bus or local bus (they are old school buses painted in fun colors) the bus took us to a town 30 min away with natural hot springs and saunas. We enjoyed a natural sauna at a nice hotel, so relaxing. A great way to get back to studying.
Class has been going well, today we had a big group activity where the teachers taught the students how to make tortillas and the history of corn in the area, i had to translate for a new student... slightly comical but it was fun to see my progress.
Tommorrow is Thanksgiving... i dont think there will be any turkey on our table but we will enjoy so corn tortillas!!! Hope the day is wonderful for you all!!!

Week one of Spanish study done!!

We have settled into a nice routine here in Xela-quetzaltenanango. Our house family has been treating us well with typical meals and a nice house, I cant say the same for the bed which has obviously been used by many people as it has a huge sink hole in the middle but, what are you going to do- the question mark doesnt work on this computer so imagine there is one there- Luckily we are so tired everynight from all the new words we learned we dont notice the wacky mattress or the OLD pillows, at least they are clean!!

The language school has been great, it is the off season for studying so there are only 3 students at the school, John, Me and one other person!! that is great for studying but the school depends on the students to run the community center for local kids in the afternoon. The program is great but with only 3 spanish students we have alot of work to do to teach the kids in the afternoon. This week we contructed volcanos and today we will do the age old baking soda and vinegar experiment to make them blow up!!! Very exciting.

With the weekend here we have been talking to several other tourists to hear what we should do with our 2 days off. The plan for now is to climb a local volcano from which you can see another active volcano erupt every hour!!! After a big hike on saturday the only logical thing to do would be to find some hot springs to soak in on Sunday and as luck may have it we have found some so, thats the plan but in Central America it is always a good idea to be open to other options so we will see!!! Be Well... Elie and John

We Made it!!!

After weeks of waiting and intermittent planning we finally loaded the plane and flew down to Guatemala. We had alot of anticipation and curiosity about how all of our plans would fall together but each phase is working out just fine. We started in the airport where we felt like movie stars exiting into a crowd of people yelling and trying to get our attention... they wanted to take us to where ever we wanted to go. We spent the night in a small colonial town 45 min. south of Guatemala City called Antigua. The town was a safe immersion center as it is full of tourist. we only had 1 day to spend there so we took advantage of a popular volcano hike, little did we know that the rest of the town had the same plan. The tour up the volcano was the epitome of Latin America, we were packed into a small van, trucked up the mountain where several other tour groups also arrived, we were set up with a guide and started hiking along with 100 other people. Locals with horses followed us in case we got tired they could sell us a ride on the horse and to aid the men with the horses our guide made sure we hiked really fast up hill, a few sells were made that way. The trail was steep and rocky and the streams of people overwhelming but at the top we stood 5-10 feet away from flowing lava... amazing, people where roasting marshmellows!! All in all it was a good experience but I never had a minute where someone wasnt within 5 feet of me.
This morning we loaded a bus and travelled to Quetzaltenengo where we will study spanish for 2 weeks. We found our homestay house and got settled in, a nice feeling... tomorrow we start studying spanish, we need it!!
Be Well...Elie and John

We are Leaving!!!

4AM... (gesh who scheduled this plane flight!!) We are leaving the house and heading to the airport in the early morning. With so many transitions in the last few weeks we finally set down today to really look into our plans for the next few days and weeks, needless to say there are a few holes but I am sure they will be filled!!

We will be doing our best to keep the updates coming. Until then here are a few pictures of the Halloween Pumpkin Chuckin festival in Moab!!  I worked at the first aid tent and luckily I didnt see a single client and John helped one of the teams reach victory in the slingshot catagory... chuckin a pumpkin 98ft...(They were the only slingshot).

Phase One Complete...

The trailer is all packed up, our stuff is stored away in a variety of different places (hopefully we can remember where everything is) and we are in Michigan enjoying a few warm days, what a treat for this time of year. Early Nov. John packed up the last few pieces of our stuff and drove out to Michigan with Mason, the plan was that i would join them but i had a some last minute stuff to do for work and the prospect of school in Salt Lake City so I flew out to Michigan. But, now we are all here and I have already over done my TV watching and snacking, what are we going to the rest of the week? Golf? Bowling? A movie at the IMAX? so many options but either way it is a nice transition time before we head down south. Mason is still not sure about this place and what he is suppose to do but I am sure he will settle into the routine, he has already taken to getting up at 5am for breakfast but, he thinks he should eat again at 8am...hummm.

Well it is time for me to take a run around the neighborhood, I can only sit for so long!!!

Its been a long time!!!

Well, it has been a long time since i sat down and wrote a post but my up coming transition has inspired me to write again. I have been in Moab since August and the time here has been delightful. The red rock country is beautiful and now that the heat of the desert has lessened in intensity I can explore some of the trails and endless open space in the desert. It never ceases to amaze me how everyday can be so nice around here, even the really rainy ones that come through to break up the sunny days. I have been given the chance to take some time off working and relax here in Moab, one thing i have learned during this time is that i really enjoy having a purpose, something to work towards or work at so while this time has been a blessing it has also left me restless for the next thing. 

What is the next thing? A trip to Guatemala is in our future!!! John's work ends in the beginning of Nov. and we are driving to Detroit where Mason gets to spend the months of Nov. and Dec. with John's parents!!! They have to kindly offered to take him while we go to Guatemala and study spanish!! I have been wanting to do this for a while so I am very excited that the time has presented itself. We will keep this posting during our travels as a way to share the experience with everyone. Until then the pictures are from some of our recent adventures... Westwater Canyon Rafting and John's 24 hours of Moab Mountain bike race.

Happy fall

Settling In

Well, I made it home and that was exciting and busy and now a quiet calm has settled on my life which always makes me wonder... what to do next? 

Settling into the trailer was easier than i thought it would be, after shoving my stuff into drawers i noticed i had several empty drawers to use, yippee! Thank goodness i don't have very much stuff. Moab is as beautiful as I remember it and breathing the clean air (vs. the polluted city air) is a dream come true. I am settling into a wake up early/exercise then sit inside all day schedule which will probably take me through the 100+ degree temps of August and people keep reminding me how glorious the fall is down here (come on down... our trailer is always open for visitors). Now that all of that is settled I need to settle the what am I doing now question!!! John's job goes until Oct 31st so it is not beneficial for me to find a job that i will leave in 3 months so I have made myself available to help at John's work (Canyonlands Field Institute, CFI)  and I also put myself out there for other rafting companies in hopes that they have some fall need. 

For the month of Aug. I am taking advantage of the free time and I am studying for the GRE. A nasty test that is doing a great job of kicking my butt but i plan on taking the test early Sept. to complete my application for school that would start fall 2010. There are a few trips with CFI this month and next that will get me out on the river and away from algebra and vocabulary but I am always keeping my ears open for short term work. Come Nov. John and I hope to study spanish in Central America for a month or two... something i have wanted to do for a while. So to sum it up, there are many ideas out there, I pick a new one everyday but until I settle on one the Moab mornings continue to be the best times to explore this amazing place and the sunsets continue to take my breath away!!  

Back Home

a few pictures from the last couple months, i have been unable to up load pictures because the connection on the ship was so slow but... I am home now.

After the ship (which is pictured here) i met up with John in Colorado and we spent some time on with my family and in our kayaks...a great way to celebrate the summer. 

The end is nearing!!!

It has been a long time since i have written thanks to the GREAT internet connection on the boat. It is very touch and go, whether it works or not.
We are in EL Salvador and nearing the end of this country with 1 day of surgery left. We arrived in El Salvador on June 21st after a 3 day sail up from Colombia. The sail was amazing with dolfins jumping along side the ship and i even saw a sea turtle!!! The anchorage location is amazing here in El Salvador, we cant see the city we are working in, we are surronded by lush green volcanic islands. I have been practicing yoga on the deck every afternoon and when the helicopter isnt running or the diesil engine isnt blowing exaust, it actually feels like a yoga retreat!
I have been on the ship most of this country, working in the ICU. We have been relatively busy, the patients arent critical but there are more being admitted to the ICU than in the other countries. I was slated to go to shore for the first 3 days and stay in a hotel but...I missed my flight on the helicopter the first day and they couldnt get me out until the 3rd day...I was really bummed but what can you do. I made it out to shore one day and it was great. I blew bubbles with the kids and helped do some patient education. The ship is anchored about 12 miles away from the pier so transport to and from the clinic sites take most of the day...mildly inefficent but i am getting used to it.
We leave on July 2nd for Nicaragua, our last country and the place i fly home!!! I am ready, it has been a good experience but it will be nice to be home again.

Juanez!!!

That is right...the ever popular Colombia musician (i don't know that i had heard his music before last night) was on the boat last night. Juanez came on board yesterday to perform a concert for the patients and staff of the Comfort. It was a great night, the Air Force Band played for a while (they are awesome) and Juanez and the band did a few numbers together. You could not have asked for a better venue...the top deck of the ship, 12 miles off the Colombian shore under a full moon!!! The Colombians in the crowd where going wild...he is an icon here.
The last week has been an exciting one aboard the Comfort. It started with a beautiful cruise through the Panama Canal. It was great to see the lock systems but the reservoir was by far the best part...sailing through a lake in the middle of a rain forest...wow!! Once we entered the Pacific Ocean we had 3 days to get to Colombia and we were ahead of time so we took a quick detour to cross the equator and turn around and cross it again!!! Sounds silly, yes, but there is a big navy tradition associated with crossing the equator and I got to participate this time! It is called a crossing the line ceremony at which time all involved become "shell backs". The people on the boat that had already gone through this acted as our guides as they put us through a series of push ups and sit ups, squats and crawls through garbage and fire hoses all starting at 0400 and not ending until the shell backs consider you worthy. Luckily they let me finish around 0900 so the ceremony was relatively painless, cleaning up the ship was the hard part.
We begin surgeries tomorrow so there should be patients in the ICU tomorrow evening...time to get back to work.

Panama

It is the morning of our 5th day in Panama and I am back to work in the ICU. Our first 2 days in every country are spent on shore screening and organizing the surgery patients then day 3 or 4 the surgeries begin and the ICU starts jumpin!!! I worked at the clinic site yesterday, herding cats aka patients. It was a good day, the clinic site is in a run down gymnasium so it could get a little loud and the patients often got lost moving from the check in to the general medicine line so my job was to find them and direct them to the appropriate places. There were tons of children so most of my day was spent playing kick the can with them around the gym...a good time as had my all.
The ship is port side here in Panama which has been great for efficency in the morning/evening, getting to/from the clinic sites and we can get off the boat at night and enjoy a stroll on the pier. Not quite as nice as it sounds, the pier is a shipping yard so there are boxes all around and lots of disel fumes but, it is land and there is a small mall structure set up for ships.
In Columbia we were joined by 20 more Project Hope volunteers so our presence is stronger on the ship, for a week or so there were only 6 of us. The new excited energy is a nice addition to the ship's crew.
We are here in Panama until June 2 and then we travel through the canal on our way to Columbia... I am excited to see the canal. I am told there is a web cam on the canal on which you can see us as we pass through...check it out. I will work on finding the web site but until then google panama canal web cam and look for us on June 3rd!!!

Workin on the night shift...

Its my first night shift on the boat, I have been dreading this day but of course it isnt as bad as I thought it would be, talk to me tomorrow! I was able to get a good nap in today despite the continuous anouncements during the day. I woke up, went to a great spinning class and taught yoga under the stars on the top of the ship...all in all a pretty nice evening. We have 2 more days in Antigua (we set sail on sat) so the surgeries are slowing down and we are moving lots of patients off the boat. This week was nurses week so many of the nurses on board went a shore and celebrated with the Antiguan nurses association, a fun way to celebrate nursing. I didnt go to the celebration but I did teach BLS, ACLS and PALS which were well recieved by all the participants. I have been able to go to shore several days in this country which has revitalized my excitement for being on this mission. Next stop Cartegena, Columbia for 3 days off...Freedom!!

3 days on shore!

It is unheard of...it was fantastic...I just completed 3 days on shore. As we sailed toward Antigua we heard about the prospective lack of patients and work to do on the boat and we worried about how bored we would be, luckily some options for work on the shore started to pop up and I grasped at any of them I could. I started by getting on the list to go to the NGO gift giving ceremony that goes on in every country. I showed up that morning and I was asked to teach CPR instead (great with me, it put me to work all day). The class was in the new hospital here in Antigua and it was really nice, they have some great facilities and thier skill base is coming along. The next day I was already scheduled to teach ACLS at the university and lucky for me the university is about 200 yards from a really nice beach so I took the chance to walk down the beach and once i was far enough away I jumped in the water!!! I try to keep that part of the story quiet since I am sure that there is a rule against swimming. Yesterday, I clung on to one of the people conducting surveys at the clinic sites and I questioned clinic visitors as they were leaving to see how they percieved the US military and how effective the mission was. Overall a great 3 days and now I am back on the ship for a evening shift in the ICU...we actually have patients.
Tomorrow starts nurses week and we are doing some activites with the Antiguan nurses association. Happy nurses week to all the wonderful nurses out there, I am off to my deck chair to enjoy my morning off!!!

The Land of 365 Beaches

We sailed through the Caribbean for the last few days and made it to Antigua yesterday morning. Good news, there is no shortage of beautiful beaches and big houses but the needy patients are limited. I am embracing the experience (embrace is my new favorite word for this trip) and I have made myself comfortable on the deck of the boat with my book and my music, I take a break to exercise and I have been teaching yoga to keep it interesting.
The trip here was wonderful. There is something really special about being far out to see with nothing in sight, the stars are amazing, the breeze is amazing and you are all alone. we had a picnic on the flight deck with live music and games, a great way to make a travel day fun. We also had a resupply during the trip to Antigua. A boat sailed down from Virginia with food and gas for us, they pull up next to us while we are both moving about 12 naughts and we pulled the fuel line across to collect fuel for 4 hours while the Helicopter picked up pallets of food and dropped them off on our ship. I got to watch the event from the Helicopter tower, A great perspective.
I am finally heading to shore tomorrow for a community relations event (we are probably picking up trash) it will be great to be on land.
Be well...Happy May

Soccer!!!!

That's right... today I join the Naval Soccer team for a big game against the Dominican Republic Navy soccer team! Really I am just taking every opportunity to get off the boat and run around. There is a big chance that the DR team is a bit better than we are but it is going to be fun...go out there and score some goals! The team practice consists of playing hacky-sack on the flight deck which alone is a very fun activity. Hopefully there will be some good pictures/video of the game.
On the health care front (since I did not come here to play soccer) I spent the last two days on shore. The first day we were set up at a school. When we showed up in the morning the streets were full of kids and families waiting to be seen...an exciting way to kick off the day. Mid-day we moved our stuff to the VA hospital and opened a clinic there the following day. We saw primarily older people and people wanting to get their eyes checked out at the VA but it was still a good day. It seems everyday around here the are several speed bumps to work through but things are smoothing out and the team seems to be working better together. Right as the team is building 125 people from the team are leaving and we will get a new group on Friday...should create an interesting dynamic... it seems we are always on our toes around here!! When I am on the boat I am still working in the ICU and that is going well, no real ICU patients because they would not do surgery if the patient can not leave the boat before we leave port.
Well, I am off the get warmed up for the big game...Go Navy!!!!!

Peace and Quiet!!!???

In all honesty, peace and quiet does not exist on a naval ship. I have been searching for the one place you can be alone for more than 5 minutes and all i have found is the bathroom and as for quiet...it really doesn't exist...white noise everywhere and some times the whole place shakes because the engine is working hard or the helicopter is taking off. I am beginning to accept and find peace in the white noise and constant company.
We made it to the Dominican Republic this morning after a successful mission in Haiti. It will be interesting to see how the clinics and the hospital flows now that we have worked out so many of the bugs. Over all the Haiti trip was great, we did about 25 surgeries a day for 8 days, we left 1 day early because Haiti was have elections. The people were great but i am excited to be in a spanish speaking country now...at least i can communicate a few words.
The Dominican Republic is way more developed from what I can see compared to Haiti. We don't get to go exploring, unfortunately. The boat stays out in the bay and we drop anchor, to get to land you have to take a smaller boat and stay with the group which means staying at the clinic site...oh well maybe some other time i will get to see the places I am visiting.
Well i hope everyone is enjoying spring...it is still really hot and humid here but I did see some dolphins on the way to breakfast.

On Land...

I finally got off the boat for the whole day!!! I have been working in the ICU on the boat and the growing pains are increasing each day, it feels like we are trying to open a hospital from scratch with supplies and charting from the 70's and despite the lack of organization patients keep coming and we try and figure it out!!!! Everyone gets one or two days to go to shore and help out at the clinic sites. We have two sites currently, one is in the UN base so it is enclosed and we operate out of several old concrete buildings. The other is in an enclosed field, I havent been there but i have been told that there are double thick walls with huge coiled barbed wire on top...not quite the welcoming medical clinic I imagined but I guess it helps with crowd control. The surgery schedule was filled on day 2 so now the clinics are offering basic general medical services, dental and optometry services. There are so many people that need surgical care it is upsetting that we cant do more but we do what we can. The question remains...how beneficial what we are doing is and how the Haitians percieve us but I am glad to be here even if it is only for my first post-surgical patient who told me she loves me 8 times this morning!!! Or the cleft palate child who saw his repaired face for the first time this morning and got so excited his whole body was shaking!!!

Today the government and the NGO's are having a gift giving ceremony at the main port in Haiti to commenerate all the palates of food and supplies we brought for the country. They needed some representatives from Project Hope to go so I volunteered and we get to go by air!!! So I must go now and prepare for my morning helicopter ride!!! YeHaaa

stand by to stand by

Well, I getting an idea of what it is like to be in the navy (on a very relaxed scale). It seems we have mastered the hurry up and wait process and I am trying to enjoy the days off but I have had several so far and the activities are limited on a large boat. I am sure I will be dreaming of these days in the future.
We have been in Haiti for 3 days now and our crews on shore have been triaging patients and preparing for education at the hospital. Yesterday a nurse went to the general hospital and said there was 1 nurse for 150 adult patients and 75 children...talk about a stressful nurse to patient ratio. Our plans for many surgeries starting today was limited by Easter weekend in a very Catholic country, not as many people came out for the triage and health camps but we did admit a big 1 patient yesterday!!!
I will continue to update this blog but if you are interested in reading our public relations officer's blog go to www.projecthope.org and click on the continuing promise mission or USNS comfort 2009 and you should be able to see some pictures. Happy spring...it is Hot and Humid here.

Out to Sea!!!

All I can see is blue water!!! That is right, I am on board a naval ship and we set sail on monday heading toward Haiti. We will arrive on the 8th at night and start to see patients on the 11th after a day of set up. I will be working on the ship as an ICU nurse and I will hopefully get a few days to go on shore and do some work there. Most of our patients are preassigned for surgery and we have a tight surgery schedule!!
The ship is amazing, 10 stories high, 900 feet long and there are 950 people on board. We have the capacity for 125 ICU patients and many many more med surg patients but the ship is not operating to full capacity. It has taken the last two days just to get a hang of where I need to go and where my bed i located...I am still having trouble with the restroom locations!!!
So far all is well, the ship is rocking a bit and I walk around like i have had too many drinks, I suppose i will get used to this!! Until then I wander back and forth in the halls and fall to sleep easily as the slow rock and engine noise droans on.

SNOW??!!

It is dumping here in Silverthrone, CO (my sister's house) and it is taking a little getting used to. I was just settling into my flip flops and shorts on the canyon and now I am going skiing!!! I guess that is how spring usually is, I cant complain.
Well John and I drove the stuff we need for the summer down to Moab and moved into the single wide trailer CFI rented for us. It is in a really nice spot with a view of the La Sals and a small creek in the front. I (elie) spent 2 nights there and packed up my stuff to drive to Colorado in a big snow storm. I figured I would spend some time with my family before I leave for 3 months to Central America.
Yes, the time has finally come for me to do the nursing volunteer work I have been wanting to do. I will be working on a retired naval ship that was turned into a floating hospital, there are 4 ICU beds so I will be doing the work I have been doing!!! The mission is divided into 4 rotations but since my schedule allowed it I will be doing all of them. The company is called Project HOPE. So, my bags are packed and I fly to Miami on Sunday to board the ship!!! Oh boy, I really dont know much about the trip so it will be truely exciting. Until Sunday I am going to get out and enjoy some of this COLD, fluffy white stuff!!!

We are back....

Back to cities, cars, cell phones, computers, email, schedules....eeek!!! We are trying to take some time each day to slow down and remember the canyon; the tall walls, the morning sun, the call of the canyon wren echoing down the river and the slap of the oars hitting the water as we near the next fun rapid!!! Yes we are back from the Grand Canyon and we had a great time. We were blessed with great spring weather, only one rainy day which only brought more colorful flowers. The group was great, 16 people from New York, Connecticut, Idaho, Montana and Utah. 5 rafts, 6 kayaks and some great passengers getting to know river life for the first time... what a place to learn.

Our trip started with a rainy rig in Salt Lake, we drove off after the rig and camped near st. george only to wake up to 5 inches of snow on our sleeping bags!!! All i could think was... oh dear i have to go boating in this?!! but luckily that was the last we saw of the fluffy white stuff. We met up with some folk in Flagstaff and spend the day driving around Flagstaff trying to buy 40 cases of beer for the trip (thats a lot of beer). With beer in tow we met the rest of the party at the put in and the adventure began. 

Every day was filled with its own excitement, beauty, peace and individuality and together they made a wonderful trip... we are ready to go back!!!

We took out on March 28th and have not stopped moving since!!! The day began with the final 5 mile float, soaking up as much canyon as we could cause once we hit the boat ramp the derig began. Once the truck was loaded we drove to flagstaff, loaded the next truck and began the drive back to Salt lake. We like to pack the fun in so we gave ourselves less than 24 hours to pack up our stuff and be in Moab for john's new job....well we made it...tired but settled in the single wide trailer in Moab.... you all come on down and see us.

Heading to the big ditch..

After spending 5 days in Salt Lake it is now time to leave again. Thankfully we are looking ahead to three weeks in one of the most unique places on the planet, the Grand Canyon! This will be Elie's second trip on the canyon and her first trip in our own raft, Pedro. I will be kayaking most of the 277 miles if not all. I just can't stand sitting on a raft doing nothing but freezing my butt or numbing it from sitting. 

As we head out I want to say a huge, huge thanks to family and friends who have helped us with our transition and all that it has involved. We appreciate it very much and hope to return the many favors in time.  

Back in the City of Salt

Southern Oregon gave us a good look at an early spring in the hill country near our friend's house... endless road biking, orchards and farms but not a lot of skiing so we travelled on to Eastern Oregon. First stop on the way was the bustling city of Portland to spend the night with some friends from our last Grand Canyon trip.... it was great to catch up but the stay was short, enough time to enjoy a dinner of the hearty veggies left over from fall's harvest... impressive. We packed up in the morning and followed a windy rain storm through the Columbia River Gorge and towards a small Eastern Oregon ski area called Anthony Lakes. Thanks to its location there are not enough people to support its operation throughout the week so we camped in the parking lot of the closed ski area and left before they opened for the weekend. The area was a hidden gem with easily accessible back country skiing and the option for a run or two up the ski area. We had a great time but the cold nights in the van sent us packing toward the low lands and the hot springs on the Payette River in Idaho. After a relaxing soak in the hot springs we loaded up in the van and completed the final leg of our ski tour... back to Salt Lake City. We explored many of the two lane highways and small towns on our way home and at times went way out of our way to find a scenic spot. 

The reintroduction to the city is always a shock after traveling two lane highways so we did some laundry and drove up Big Cottonwood Canyon to stay at our friend's "ski Chalet" for a few nights. It is so nice to be back in the mountains and even though there has not been more than 2 inches of new snow in a while we were able to find some fun skiing on a really warm day here. Now it is time to dive into our stored stuff and get ready for the river! Hooray!!! 

(sorry for the lack of pictures, we are working on that!!!)

Southern Oregon Sunshine...

Well we left the Sierras just in time to avoid most of the 4 feet of fresh snow they got last weekend. Our drive over Donner summit required chains and the road was super slick. Vanny almost rear-ended a Hummer at one point but we steered her to the burm and some fresh snow and traction, whew!!
After the Summit we drove with chains for an hour or so motoring along at 20 mph and soon found ourselves at lower elevation where it was wet and rainy. Tired from the drive we parked in the Grass Valley fairgrounds RV park and slept. The next day was wet. It rained all day as we drove up the verdant Central Valley of California. Along the way we saw many different bird species, Herons, Egrets, Raptors...and lots of little un-identifiable birds too.
As we made our way North the hills began to rise beside us along with the snow pack. Soon we pulled over in Mt. Shasta where they had received 5 feet of snow in three days, 7 feet on the mountain!!! We were not going skiing this day since the access road would have given our mighty van a run for its money. Instead we kept going north to Phoenix, Oregon, just north of Ashland.
Our friend lives in a little house up on an oakey hill outside of town. In the morning the birds sing like it is springtime...probably because it is springtime here!!
We attempted to climb nearby Mt. Mcgloulin and after 3 miles of orienteering through the dense forest finally spotted the summit ridge rising 2000' above. After a valiant attempt we turned around at treeline. Most recently we drove south to the Scott River Valley to ski some locals only shots with..the locals. It was fun and fairly good snow quality for this part of the country, powder, packed powder and cold temps. Today we plan to take advantage of the sun and do some hikes and a road bike ride around the rolling hills of the Rogue River Valley; some of the best road bike terrain I have seen.
Next stop....who knows?

Still in Bishop

Yep.... we might move in. Conversations about leaving Bishop have started but every time we set a date and make some plans another storm rolls in and we go skiing!!! Although we seem to ski everyday John cant get enough, so much so he and jeff are writing a song about skiing right now! Despite the storms that roll through most of the snow falls around Mammoth Ski Area so we have been exploring the backcountry spots in the town of Mammoth Lakes. The approach to the ski runs are a bit longer than in SLC and today it required that we ski across an open meadow in a blustery storm... burr. It looks like we will ski around here again tomorrow and then i will be begging for a rest day.

Lovin' the East Side

For the past few days we have been pawing around at the local mountains looking for some fresh turns. Admittedly the Wasatch mountains have spoiled us with their quick access and straight forward approaches. Two days ago we skied the backcountry near Mammoth mountain and found 20" of light pow. After a few laps we headed back to Jeff and Sarah's for some r and r. 

Yesterday we set our sights on a route near Convict Lake. It ascended a brushy slope where we hiked our skis then slogged over marginal coverage towards some spectacular terrain. (the large drainage coming in on the right) Being that it was day 5 in a row for skiing our "team" opted out early in the journey and enjoyed some fun turns down the main drainage. If nothing else we spocked some great terrain to be had during the next visit. 

Big Storm!!!

John Malloy actually skied at the ski area!!! We skied a full day at Mammoth Mountain last friday using every last bit of energy we had in our legs. Sat and Sun we skiied up to a hut outside of bishop during a storm and it kept snowing all night. We toured both days we were up there but despite the big storm there were too many rock and logs to get any turns but the scenery was amazing. Check out some picutres by clicking the link on the left!!!
We are loving the schedule around here...early mornings, active days and early to bed to do it all again!!!

Road Trip Part 1

Well we made it... home from Michigan safely, we packed the hubbard street house into the basement, parked the car and the trailer in their spots for the month, gathered the last bits of important paperwork... tried to think of something we forgot and we headed out to cali!!!

The road out of Salt Lake City was amazing, the snow capped mountains in the middle of the lake, a beautiful sunset and great weather for driving... we felt blessed. We spent the first night near a river in Battle Mountain, NV, sleeping in the van. The next morning we made our way to Trukee, Cali, a cute town near the highway with a lot of national forest near by. John went to his conference at a research center in the tahoe national forest and Elie spent some time alone with the Mason exploring the forest skiing and because there is very little snow... running!!!! Yes, the sierra mountains are in need of a little snow but we are enjoying the 40-60 degree sunny days until the snow falls!!!

After the conference we hit the road for Bishop, CA on the east side of the sierra. Another beautiful drive following the tall peaks of the Sierra range. The drive was dry and our talk of skiing turned into ideas about climbing and hiking!! We arrived at our friends' (Jeff and Sarah) house in time for a beautiful sunset over looking Mt Tom and the Bishop Valley. Despite our worries that there was no snow Jeff and Sarah took us out on a great backcountry tour near Mammoth Ski Area, I am endlessly amazed by the mountains in this area, they are breathtaking. Jeff and Sarah went back to work and we enjoyed some of the trails near their house in shorts!!! (another warm day) The afternoon was spent with the house doors open doing some yoga on the deck and some bouldering in the afternoon on some of the world class boulders here in bishop. The trip has been fun and it is just the beginning!! 

At the Malloy Cottage

After spending two evenings in Detroit we quickly left for the North Country, the Lake Michigan shore along Grand Traverse Bay. It felt more to me like home than Birmingham does these days and it was good to get out into the woody country. We piled into the Sportsmobile attack unit and rattled and shook our way up I-75 arriving at the cottage near dark. At first glance I noticed the diversity of tree species, pines, firs and cedar all clustered around the "yard".

Since our arrival we have enjoyed a causal atmosphere, some short hikes along the snowy shore and some cross country ski excursions. Soon we will return to Detroit for a day and then back to Salt Lake to pack up the house and make our way across the Great Basin headed for Truckee, California and the Headwaters Institute annual meeting.

MI

We made it to Michigan, it still feels like we are on a vacation and it will be time to head back to work soon but, NO!!! We flew her on inauguration day, a very exciting day. The weather is cold but it has been a good place to relax, catch up on some sleep and bundle up with a hot drink after a few hours of playing in the snow!!! Today we head up north to lake Michigan were John's parents have a cottage. It may be a few degrees colder and those hot drinks will taste that much better but i am excited about the quiet, still winter beauty!!!

The time has come!!!

Horray...the time has finally come to leave SLC and hit the road. We have spent alot of time getting ready...renting the house, packing all of our stuff into the basement, ending our jobs and packing up the van for the first stage of the trip.
Over the last 2 months we have put our plans and dreams into action. John decided to take a job in Moab as the field manager for Canyonlands Field institute, this job starts in April so we decided to take 2 months off first!!! We both quit our jobs, with our last days in mid-january (very exciting for both of us). The trip starts with 7 days in Michigan, some family time that didnt happen over the holidays. Then we head to California to visit friends, ski and hopefully spend some time at the beach. After cali its down to flagstaff for 21 days rafting the Grand Canyon!!!! The grand canyon ends just in time to start John's new job in Moab. Elie still isnt sure what she is going to do in moab but it will probably include nursing...stay tunned!!!
For now, the last few items are getting packed away, mason is pacing the house anxiously wondering where all of our stuff went and the excitement builds!