We made it...

Hi,

We made it safely to our new home away from home in Cuernavaca. Our flight from SFO left ten minutes early, was only about 75% full, lasted about 4 hours 20 minutes, and was very quiet. Most people slept even though it was the middle of the day. There was some kind of celebrity on board, too. The reason I'm saying that is because when we got off the plane to go through customs, he was hounded by some of the workers working in one of the airport kiosks. They asked to have their pictures taken with him. It's funny 'cause he really did have that "celebrity look" and the chick he was with was, of course, gorgeous. So, thankfully our bags appeared and we found the driver who took us through the heart of Mexico City during horrific rush hour traffic. That city is huge! By the time we got to Cuernavaca it was dark, but he found the address we're staying at. Our new casa is spacious and a bit quirky! Very Mexican to say the least! The common areas are very pretty, and it's very peaceful out by the pool. There are loads of birds constantly singing away. The weather is warm but cools down in the evening. We went to the school today to see how far away it is. OMG! It's like a setting out of architectural digest! The gardens are spectacular and the buildings are so colorful. There were tons of students mingling, so I think it will be a great place to study or at least spend five hours a day for the next six weeks. Within about 7 minutes walking from our casa, there is a convenience store, a burger joint, a bank, and a nice family restaurant. I figure that I won't be doing much cooking, so we're trying out different places that we may want to frequent on a daily basis. The prices are much lower than Japan although not as cheap as they were years ago when I was here. Taxis are cheap. Cuernavaca is definitely an interesting city. It's built on about 8 ravines so the whole city is hilly and the streets curve every which way. We'll probably go to the city center on Sunday to check it out. Well, here are a few photos...

The greater LA basin...

The gardens here are full of flowering plants and trees...

Little alley way...

The swimming pool...

There's lots of tile work all around this place...

We're off to Mexico

On Thursday we fly to Mexico City and get picked up by a driver who will take us to our "villa" in Cuernavaca. Here are some links you can check out. If you look at the map, Cuernavaca is just a little bit south of Mexico City.

http://geology.com/world/mexico-satellite-image.shtml

Here is a link to the villa we'll be staying at for 37 days. After that we do a "homestay" with a Mexican family for one week, and then we travel around the Yukatan before flying home on the 22nd of April.

http://www.cuernavaca-villas.com/crental4/rental_houses_cuernavaca_homeEN.html

We'll be studying in an intensive Spanish language program at the following school:

http://www.cuernavaca.ch/spanish/e/cbe/centrobilingue.html

Hope to send updates soon from sunny and warm Cuernavaca...

More photos from Kyushu Island

Here are a few more photos from Kyushu Island.

Nagasaki's "Dutch slope" where many western style homes can be found...

Restored Dejima Island area where foreigners resided during Japan's period of national seclusion...

Shokakuji Temple near Chinatown...

Late afternoon view of Sakurajima from Kagoshima's waterfront...

Statue of the missionary Francis Xavier, who brought Christianity to the island in 1549...

Another Japanlish sign...

Outside of a traditional Japanese inn in Beppu...

View of mountains from Beppu's waterfront...

Typical street in Yufuin...

Viewpoint in Beppu...

One of the jigokus...

Osaka

We left Beppu Saturday morning to crystal clear skies and very chilly temperatures. We caught the express train to Hakata where we transfered to the Shinkansen Railstar, which whisked us off to Osaka for our last night in Japan before flying home. Here's a shot of the space-age looking cabin we were sitting in. Hardwood floors, red leather seats, and plenty of overhead storage...

Our railpasses expired one day short of our departure, but they were the best part of this trip. They allowed us so much freedom and saved us tons of time by not having to wait in lines to buy tickets. All we had to do was flash our pass and we were let through. Here's what they look like - along with my very helpful Japan by Rail guidebook...

We got into Osaka at around 3 pm and found our hotel. We spent the last remaining hours of daylight cruising around the chic downtown area near Osaka Station. Osaka actually has two downtown areas. The one we checked out had a lot of sidewalk musicians entertaining the crowds. Once it was dark, we found our way to the famous Umeda Skywalk Building, which is one of the signature buildings in the city. We got spectacular views of the night lights from the "sky gardens" on the top of the building. Sorry, no photos of that, but here's one of the street bands we ran into...

The next day we checked out of our hotel at 11 am and found our way to the train station that took us to Kansai International Airport, which is built on an artificial island about an hour outside of Osaka. We missed our train by a couple seconds; it literally left as we were running after it! But no problem, another came by in half an hour, so we just hung out on the tracks. Here's Zach passing time listening to his ipod...

Kansai Airport (KIX) is a fabulous airport. It has tons of restaurants and stores where we spent our last few yen. It also has wifi areas, so we could access the internet on our laptop.

Our flight home was jammed packed, but we got a nice view of the sunrise over the Pacific.

All in all, 22 days in Japan...what an adventure. We're home now, but in 12 days - if all goes as planned - we'll be blogging from Mexico. Until then!

Last day in Beppu

It's our last day in Beppu, so we tried to squeeze in as much as possible.

We met my friend at Beppu Station...

He drove us to Usa Shrine, one of the largest and most important shrines in Japan...

 

Here we're entering the grounds of the main shrine...

Here's a look inside the main shrine...

We read our fortunes and hung them up...mine was very good!

Z prayed...

We ate tempura for lunch...

Then we drove back to the university train station...

I took a stroll along the downtown waterfront...

We ate sushi for dinner...

And drank our last beers together...

Tomorrow we'll be in Osaka. Thank you to all my friends in Beppu who made our stay so special. Domo arigato gozaimasu.

Aso Tableland

In order to get from Kagoshima to Beppu, we chose the Aso Express train. It runs across the island, through the scenic Aso Tableland, which is made up of spectacular mountain and valley scenery. Mt. Aso, which you pass at the mid-point of the journey, is an active volcano and part of the Aso National Park. It actually consists of five peaks which make up the entire caldera area. I've had the opportunity to visit it close up the last time I was here. You actually get to peer down into the gurgling center of it. This time, however, we didn't get off at the Aso station; we just stayed on the train and enjoyed the passing countryside. We got to sit right up front, next to the conductor, so we literally got to see the "light at the end of the tunnel".... This train ride was much slower than the Shinkansens we've been on, and it was also a lot rougher. The train did a lot of swaying side to side. But it's a popular train journey and one that is highly recommended.

Our front row seats

Typical mountain scenery...those are wind turbines (in the center of the photo)

Mt. Aso in the distance

One of the many train stations along the way

Images of Beppu

View of Beppu and Mt. Takasaki from Mt. Jissoji peace memorial

Our hotel in Beppu...one minute walk from the train station

"Hand" onsen outside of our hotel

Kannnawa Onsen area...that's onsen steam rising from the buildings

Another Japanlish sign

Z and the "Red Demon"

Tourist billboard about Beppu

My old apartment building in Beppu

The "yellow one man diesel car" that gets us around