Chiapas 2013

Julia, Suzan, and I took a trip to San Crisotbal de las Casas in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. We stayed at Parador Margarita, a charming inn not far from the Zocalo. The service and breakfast were fantastic. Our first stop was Sumidero Canyon which was simply amazing. For me it was the sharp rise of the ocean floor as the river cuts through the mountains exposing the extremely slanted layers of limestone that was most impressionable. The air unfortunately was a little hazy due to the farmers burning their fields. The next couple of days were spent exploring San Cristobal and its markets where locals sell their handmade stuffed animals. We found a some great restaurants especially Comida Thai. How we craved Thai food! On the last day we drove to Chamula de Chiapa, an indigenous village in the mountains. To view the entire album click here.

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Riviera Maya 2013

The last time Julia and I visited Riviera Maya was back in 2006 and my has it changed. This time we stayed at Maykoba and while it was set back from the beach, the room was private and our balcony oversaw what to us appeared like a jungle. We saw all sorts of birds and heard the clean wind blowing through the trees. A much needed break from the city life. Seven years ago we visited Akumal and we were literally the only ones there and after snorkeling we had lunch at a tiny fish shack. This time, however, there were a lot of tourists and a plethora of restaurants unfortunately priced for the tourist. We snorkeled and saw plenty of fish and were able to swim with the turtles again. This was my first time filming underwater with my GoPro so the video is not perfect by any means. We also re visited Dos Ojos Cenote and again it was a bit more packed with tourists. The cenote was still fantastic and I would highly recommend visiting any of the cenotes in the Yucatan.

Below are some links to our videos. Akumal - A compilation of esnorkeling videosDos Ojos Cenote - Julia and I esnorkeling basically...Dos Ojos Cenote - Another video of Julia and I snorkelingDos Ojos Cenote - Snorkeling above scuba divers

To view our album click here.

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Posting Pics on Flickr

I've purchased yet another lens, Canon's EF 35mm f/1.4 USM, and have been looking for ways to share my pictures. Creating a blog may be a little too much so I've decided to post random pictures of everyday life to my Flickr account. For whatever reason Instagram has made it a pain in the ass to share pictures from Flickr or my computer. Until I figure out a way an easy way to share to Instagram, I'll continue to use Flickr. I've made my Flickr photo stream public. Hope you enjoy!

salvelazquez's Flickr Photostream

Hipódromo De Las Americas

Julia and I along with some good friends spent a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Hipódromo De Las Americas (http://www.hipodromo.com.mx) for some horse racing fun. I had no idea that a horse track and casino existed just in the outskirts of Polanco. The food at this family friendly venue was tasty and so were the drinks! Our time here in Mexico City is slowly coming to an end...

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Park City Snowboarding Trip

We took advantage of the long Superbowl weekend by grabbing a number of friends from Mexico City and heading to the slopes in Park City, Utah. The Mexi-crew enjoyed some good American cooking, slope-time, hot-tub time, shopping, a sleigh ride, and cigars. And then it was back to the tacos... Videos can be seen at: ParkCity Video #1ParkCity Video #2 (Viejo Tiene Tumbao)

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Velazquez Reunion 2012 - 2013

This past Christmas I was lucky enough to spend time with family that I haven't seen for quite some time. My brother Andresito who is currently living in Puerto Rico, my nephew Luisito currently studying medicine in the D.R., and my cousin Luis Felipe and Uncle Luis from Miami all flew down for the holidays. It was great to see everyone and one could only hope that many more reunions like this continue especially with our upcoming move to Quito, Ecuador. To view the entire album click here.

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Thanksgiving Vacation 2012

Julia and I were fortunate to travel back to the East Coast for the Thanksgiving holiday with stops in D.C., Roanoke, Virginia, Summersville, WV, and Thomas, WV. Many thanks to those who hosted us and met us along the way. Below are some pics from our trip. Click here to view the entire album.

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Roanoke, VA

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Bright Family

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Uncle Bill carving the turkey

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Silas and Julia

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Daisy and Silas playing hide and seek

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Sunset over Thomas, WV

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Greg, Maggie, Julia, and Sal

Positano 2012

Our second stop in Italy was Positano on the Amalfi coast. We spent 3 days climbing up and down the stairs of the town (sweaty!), swimming in the Mediterranean Sea, and watching helicopters and planes drop water on the forest fires raging above the town. We closed this portion of the trip with a memorable sunset dinner at Le Sirenuse restaurant.

Volare oh oh Cantare oh oh oh oh Nel blu dipinto di blu felice di stare lassu

To view the Positano photo album, click here!

Tuscany 2012

For our R&R we took a trip to Italy - first stop, Tuscany. We stayed just outside of Montepulciano at the Ortaglia B&B perfect with a great view of the town on the hill and surrounding vineyards. To view the entire photo album from our trip, click here.

Terenzio and Mara were fantastic hosts. Terenzio has a wealth of knowledge of Tuscany and its history and we enjoyed exploring the area each day and relaxing by the pool in the afternoons. He explained why many of the towns were atop the hills to better defend attackes from the barbarians. He also showed us various towns many of which were along the path for pilgrims from the north enroute to Rome. Most of the pilgrims stayed in ospedales (overnight hospitality centers where travelers stayed inside city walls for protection). Towns visited were Castello di Vignoni Alto, Bagno Vignoni, Abbey of Sant'Antimo, Montalcino, San Quirico d'Orcia, Pienza, Cortona, Castiglione del Lago, Siena, Montepulciano, and Orvieto.

We also took 3 cooking classes most of which were hosted by Mara, who showed off her impressive culinary skills and taught us about real Tuscan cooking. For starters, the Italian sofrito begins with olive oil, onion, carrots, and celery. She showed us how to make pici (homemade pasta typically with just flour and water but we added just one egg) with Sugo All'aglione (garlic sauce which is the traditional sauce for the pici in the territory of Montepulciano). Julia and I believe we have the consistency of the dough right and can't wait to try to make it on our own. We learned to make Pappa Al Pomodoro and an easy technique for peeling tomatoes which is to simply drop the tomatoes in boiling water for a few seconds. Among other recipes we made were Scaloppine Al Limon, Zucchine Trifolate, Peperoni con Capperi and Scottiglia (Combination of mixed meats).

Finally, we also got to enjoy some of the areas finest wines including Brunello de Montalcino and Nobile de Montepulciano.

New England Trip

There's something to be said about summer time in New England. For Julia and I, we welcomed the heat and humidity but more importantly we welcomed food and family. Many thanks to Kristen for hosting us and the Reynolds family reunion and for our fantastic trip to Block Island, RI. Thanks to John for allowing us to stay at his place for two nights. More importantly thanks to my mother in law for cooking us some steamers, corn, and lobsters! Pics from our New England trip below. Click here to view the entire album.

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Rainy Election Day

An early afternoon thunderstorm brought some good rain and cool fall-like temperatures to the D.F. but nevertheless voters headed to the polls. To celebrate our host country's election, Julia and I made some banana bread (yes I helped!) and smoked some spare ribs - important ingredients for watching election results tonight. Here's to no sore losers! Thanks to Mike for the new recipe. I put the mop sauce too early and the sugar caramelized a bit. Guess I'll have to try again.

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San Antonio - Austin trip

Our trip to Texas was intended for furniture shopping but instead became a fantastic long weekend to catch up with friends and family. Oh yea...and let's not forget the food! Many thanks to Lisa and Andrew for meeting up with us for brunch and Sangrias at Picnikins. To Michelle and Vince for hosting us in Austin, taking us to a fantastic Thai restaurant (2 thai peppers!), and giving us some good ole fashioned Texas BBQ! To Allen, Aixa, Aleina, and Ailani for taking us to Joe's Crab Shack for some great crab legs and then spending the afternoon chillin' in your backyard patio. Flights to San Antonio are very reasonable from here so we definitely look forward to paying you another visit! :) To view the entire album click here.