Just like Laguna Beach but no white people

Slowly but surely, we continued to submerge ourselves into that aforementioned melting pot / cultural hot tub...
Next stop, 4 hours north east of Cartagena, along the Caribbean coast, lies the small town of Santa Marta and 30 mins east of that town, lies the ridiculously small fishing village turn hippie hang out of Taganga beach...
It is from this town we depart into the mad jungle tomorrow morning.
Had to get our last nibble of civilization before plunging right into waterfalls, dense bush and giant snakes... wait, what? did some say snakes? I HATE snakes!!!

Small little bay, beautiful warm water, plenty of activity...

including some beach futsol...

Continue to stun with the street art... I mean, it is no "ski jumping sumo" but pretty darn good...

One side of the bay is sun seekers and frolicking in the water, the other side is straight up fishing, which means fresh, delicioso fish fish fish... get into our bellies...

Maize torta, stuffed with, wait for it... fresh fish. yum!

 Grilled fish, well nothing to really wait, for... grilled fish... double yum yum!!

Fruity jugo naturale, Lulo and Mamoncillo... literally no idea what those are, but freakin delicioso

And it would be Heather if we didn't end the evening with something sweet... as if I am not sweet enough... hee hee hee... crepe con dulce de leche

No Four Seasons in this town... retiring for the night at Hostal Casa Maria... Riad gets the top bunk...

Pipper down, we have a Pipper down

Our Colombia trip crown jewel is a 4 day hike into the Parque Nacional Natural Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta to visit La Cuidad Perdida ... but one does not step off a plane unto a burro and just begin... one has to eeeease themselves into the cultural hot tub, one toe at a time.
Our metaphorical toe dip involves getting lost in the first city...
We landed in Bogota mid afternoon and immediately jumped on a metro heading "centro de la ciudad donde está la acción"

Our toesys were not disappointed...

One of the best things about South America... the street food absolutely kills...
Started with a little grilled corn on the cob...

Finished off with fresh mango with lemon juice...

Well feed, we continued to explore...
Hamish, a mad Scotsman, who's calling was to bring the world the sweet sweet sounds of his bagpipe, busking the mean streets, doing more for Scots / Colombian relations than any UN summit could hope for.

Searching for the next Bobby Fisher...

The graffiti and sidewalk art is out of this world funky... Banksy has nothing on "ski jumping sumo"

By now, it is nearing the witching hour, the freaks are starting to arrive... the electric bus, non stop from funky town...

Plenty of randoms, dressed up as "giant metal robots who move when you drop a coin in the jar", but this guy definitely turned that concept to an 11... kiss the baby, or he'll HAUNT YOUR DREAMS... ha ha ha ha... Heather woke up this morning screaming "BABY clown, BABY clown!!!"

Of course the piece de resistance had to be the guinea pig races / bet.
Pretty simple really... kinda like fantasy sports with small rodents.
Multiple plastic "homes" for the pig... you bet on which one he will go to...

I am actually typing this blog entry whilst sitting on the sidewalk the next day... upside of getting lost, super cool adventures to be had... downside of getting lost, still trying to work out this damn transit map...

Merry Christmas and we are off... to a random lost city in the middle of a jungle

Rounding out the holiday season is the BIG one, (no offense to the consumption of turkeys and a galaxy far far away's big release)... but it really is all about JC's birthday... Merry Christmas.

Standard Christmas fare...

• Careful, thoughtful, and ridiculously expensive gifts on our favorite Klowns.
• Amazon two nights before for everyone else.
• Eat way too many treats... repeat until guilty enough to run again.

Nothing starts off the frenzy than South Coast plaza and it's ginormous tree...

We hit two two two shows at the OC Performing Arts Center... the American Ballet Company presents the Nutcracker AND the Pacific Symphony and Chorale group sing Christmas favorites.

Hit the Saddleback Church Christmas tree lighting ceremony where we were treated to a rockin key-tair solo... seriously? key-tair... awesome.

Neighbours turned it to an 11 again this year... full scale recreation of Whoville.
They had the movie playing on a big screen on the drive way, a real life Grinch for photo ops and heaps of cookies and nog.

I saw Heather kissing a topiary reindeer..

 Giant wreath, beautiful wife... ahh I love Christmas.

Is it cruel and unusual to subject your dog to this for the sake of a gratuitous Christmas shot?

Literally jumping for joy because...

#1 - We live here... Dana Point in the morning...

#2 - We are about to board a plane to here (aforementioned titular lost jungle city)...



#3 - And best and most importantly... I am going with her

...

Jar Jar is a Sith Lord

With Thanksgiving in the bag, one would imagine that rounding out the holiday season is Christmas, well on a normal non Episode VII year, that would be true, but 2015 was the year... The Force Woke Up... err The Force Awoke... shoot... The Force Awakens.

For those of us at a certain age, Star Wars was more than a movie, it was the realization the wildest adventures of our imagination could actually be seen... space ships, blasters, rogues, aliens, and wait for it... wait for it.. light sabers... i mean seriously... light sabers?!?.
My brother, and I and the entire neighbourhood crew, spent countless hours acting out scene after scene... with Hoth, the ice planet being a particular favorite, given we lived in Edmonton, the ice city.

So it is with considerable anticipation and glee that I was finally about to be woken from my long slumber by a new Force... (see how I did that with the title of the movie and being woken back up... pretty clever, eh?)

Rule #1 of serious fandom... see the movie Opening night.
And by opening night, I don't mean the weekend it opens, or even Friday night, NO... I mean Thursday, first show.
This often means the midnight showing BUT the geniuses in marketing decided to opener up even earlier... 7:00 pm.

Rule #2 of serious fandom... dress up.
And by dress up, I don't mean a ole-t-shirt, NO... I mean full Stormtrooper armor, Vader's cape, Leia's hair (or even better slave girl getup).

So thankfully my world is filled with just the right mix of quirky oddball characters that would find these "rules", not freak adages of Nerdom, but a warm blanket to wrap themselves in.

Quirky character #1
Natasha Scrivner and her brother's dad pulled them out of school in May 1977 to see the first Star Wars and for every single episode release since, they have made it a BIG BIG deal.
How big a deal... well they rented out an entire theater at the Irvine Spectrum for the very first showing, Thursday night 7:00pm.
Rule #1 check.
Well is that all? o
Oh no, there is more...
Every lucky friend who was blessed with a golden ticket HAD to dress up, like "can't get pass security unless dressed up" dressed up.
more? yeppers...
Hired a group of actors to play the major characters (Han, Leia, Chewy, Vader, Stormtrooper) and interact with the attendees.
and finally...
In the theater, a n hour before showtime, games, sketches, prizes, trivia... seriously a show before THE show.
The invitation was very intricate...

Super sexy Stormtrooper (Lolly Parker)

Sandperson (Ryan Parker) and his motley crew)

Jabba the Hutt? total dedication to dressing up.

Tons of stromtroopers and yours truly with Chewbacca himself.

 

But the BEST costume, hands down... yeah, the main man himself, WITH that condescending smirk that TOLD us Jar Jar Binks belonged in HIS universe.

Quirky Character #2
ME
So somehow I found myself responsible for a client's IT team Christmas party, and feeding off my dear quirky friend Natasha, a Star Wars themed party seemed like the right thing to do...
We re-created magic in a bottle the very next day.
Tickets to a mid day show.
Dress up pre-party
Games, trivia and prizes plus one little detail to top it off...
Only thing better than a guy in a Wookie suit, how about a Tres Leche wookie cake? yum yum.

Oh and what was my costume?
A little Dark Side and a dash of Christmas cheer... ElfTrooper, building toys for the Empire's evil little ones.
Bright red sleigh socks with my Elven green Adidas

Ugly Christmas sweater... Santa riding a Stegosaurus

Burberry scarf and a First Order trooper helmet

A pretty decent Thursday

So before we get into the dirty details of the new H&R adventure, a quick update on a magical holiday season.
Turkey day
One of the many bonuses being married to a lovely American is enjoying Thanksgiving with family.
Plymouth Rock, pilgrims, Pocahantas and pigskins... Americans love Thanksgiving, and my wife's family super loves Thanksgiving...
But I have to admit, as a Canadian, it's a Thursday, and given late November, a freakin cold Thursday.
So when a good friend invited us to join his family for the big day, we said... "Why not mix it up a bit, eh?"
All bundled up against a bracing and frigid SoCal fall (70 degrees and sunny), I headed out to Simi Valley and a Parker Thanksgiving feast.

I have been strictly Paleo, which means only eating things that can be hunted or gathered, and please hold any derogatory comments and feedback on the lunacy that is my dietary choices... I have heard it all... can I just tell you that my ass looks fabulous in those jeans.

But master chef Lolly Parker hunted and gathered a serious meat and vegetable wonderland...

Buffet style and TV table trays whilst we watched the game?... HA! only if you are a knuckle dragging Neanderthal... at the Parker estate, one dines at a table, with real plates, on a charger (seriously who does that anymore???), with silver (two forks), fresh cut center pieces and little calligraphy'ed name cards... BOOM take that Martha Stewart, what's my name... Lolly Parker, that's who.

The full crew, grinning, mostly because we just learned that there is a stack of to-go containers and we are eating like champs for the whole damn weekend.

And for those of you whom believe eating Paleo means denying yourself of some of life's great pleasures, please allow me to introduce you to these two beauts...
Beaut number one... Paleo pumpkin pie, with pumpkin puree mash, cinnamon, nutmeg and an almond and coconut flour crust...

Beaut number two... layered Jello squares from an ancient Bangladeshi recipe



Both freakin delicious and I still look great in those jeans.

After eating and eating well, we settled for some interesting, intense discussion on the state of the mankind... conflict in the Middle East, medical ethics of gene therapy, future of artificial intelligence, oh and please rub my tummy, I really need to burp...