So I arrived in Seattle about a week and a half ago. It seems like a great city. On my first night here there were 3 concerts I wanted to see! I ended up going to Moby at the Paramount theatre, which was awesome. I had some awesome African food before the show. There are so many good vegetarian-friendly restaurants here. Love the hills, the views of the mountians and the water. Seattle is a beautiful city. There are lots of clouds, but it hasn't rained that much yet...
My friend Erica, from Boston came last week. We explored the major downtown sights. (If anyone wants some fish shipped from Pike's Place, let me know.) After stopping by the bigggest, coolest REI, we took a road trip (and a ferry) to Orcas Island, a 1.5 hour trip. We camped for two nights there in a beautiful campsite on a mountain lake... pictures to come soon. We hiked up Mount Constitution (7 miles roundtrip) and good a good view, although we couldn't see Vancouver or Seattle or Rainer because of clouds. We then went sea kayaking and saw a BALD EAGLE and Orange and Purple Starfish! On the way back we stopped at two places to taste some wine. It was a fun trip with a good friend.
I started work in Family Medicine on Monday. Swedish First Hill Med Center seems like a great place and the residents are really cool and smart. Now relaxing this weekend.
More adventures when they happen...
Yes the title of this blog is SPANISH culture and I'm showing a picture of Arabic writing. Spain was a cool mix of cultures. The Spanish culture was awesome with it's wierd work hours, siestas, chocolate/churos, and laid back atmosphere. But there has been a lot of Muslim rule in Spain, which brought the country interesting Islamic areas, beautiful architecture, and more vegetarian food! 
One of my favorite parts of my recent Spain trip was the architecture. Here is one of Gaudi's famous buildings. Check out the cool balconies, colorful facade, and the lack of any straight lines. He rocks. 
Immersion Spanish is tough work. 4 hours of day in the heat is rough sometimes. Plus the rest of the day you are using your brain constantly to try to talk in a new language. Thus, I needed a break sometime. Here's one of my ventures at surfing. 
Living on the East Coast I don't see many sunsets over the water. This is one of many pictures. 
The best thing about Costa Rica was the people (Ticos). I stayed with a Tico Family near Tamarindo. I had a load of fun with the kids.
The wildlife in Costa Rica was great... but hard fo photograph. The wave of ecotourism in a developing country like Costa Rica has pluses and minus. While all the tourism brings in lots of money to a previously very poor country, all the development seems to destruct a lot of the precious rain forests. Luckily, the government of Costa Rica has some great plans to allow tourism to continue in an eco-friendly manner. 
San Fran is a beautiful city. The Golden Gate area and the beach were areas I really didn't visit on my first trip there. I went with my sister on a nice day and we drove around the area in a GoCart. Lot's of fun, but not as much exercise as my idea of biking over the bridge. 
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