Ike & Tina, home safe!

R.I.P. Sony CyberShot

The timing is perfect. Weirdly perfect, in fact--our camera finally died on us, five days after getting home.

As some of you know, our camera got a little taste of Mediterranean saltwater last October, and since then we've had it on an informal "death watch", waiting to see when corrosion would get the best of it. We'd noticed a gradual decline in picture quality over the past few months--it became more and more difficult to get things like focus and exposure correct. We found ourselves taking multiple shots of a subject, hoping at least one would be sharp and in focus.

Finally back home, it gave up completely. We're not able to shoot much of anything anymore--notice Jacqueline's hand:


So long li'l CyberShot, you served us well :-(

Gung hee fat choy

Hello everybody, we made it home in one piece.

We were just in time to check out the Chinese New Year festivities (I like to imagine it as our Homecoming Parade;-) and it was a good reintroduction to the city. Strangely giddy, we stood out in the freezing rain in Union Square, waving and clapping at the floats going by; marching bands were dressed in giant rain ponchos and even the big dragons were covered in clear plastic bags for protection. We worked our way over to the Buddha bar on Grant St and drank Anchor Steam as firecrackers blew up right outside the door. Ahh, home.

For the most part SF looks pretty much like we left it. The past six months have raced by, and in many ways it feels like we've barely been gone. Some people have asked us if we've gained any great insights or been changed by the trip.... um, well, yes and no (sorry to be so cryptic) ...I think those kinds of topics are far less interesting on a blog than they are over drinks, over the phone late at night or at some kind of dinner party... So, maybe later:-)

We're slowly adjusting to life at home...we've been going through piles of mail, reactivating cellphones and subscriptions, and getting ourselves reaquainted with the contents of our closets, cupboards and drawers. It's a pleasure wearing our "real" clothes again, and not the same REI/quickdry/tourist gear over and over. It might sound odd, but we're very happy to be cooking our own food in our own kitchen again. Oh yeah and doing our own laundry in our own building is pretty satisfying too.

We're not quite done with the blog yet; I'll be posting photos from Argentina and Ecuador soon, maybe some additional ones from Chile and New Zealand (I was also thinking of writing a post or two about the logistics of the trip, fill in some blanks, we'll see..)