Carlos Almendárez Jr

Writing seems to be a dying art for me. Writing…and not typing is downright obsolete. As what I can only describe as a person easily duped by nostalgia I am going retro-romantic on this trip and bringing my blog…to paper. One phenomenon I try to be weary of is faux culture or the standardization of traditions by the acceptance of those on the outside looking in. Take Chinese food in the United States. Most of the foods most Americans think are Chinese are really American creations, but standardized in our culture as “Chinese” despite that being far from the truth. In this case – the reality is created by outsiders looking in at an authentic experience.

I wonder – when I go to Spain: is that paella hyped up because that’s what I want to believe is authentically Spanish? What about that sangria? And the patatas? What does Jose six pack have at home? THAT is the experience I am looking for. What is the experience of the working class people in any given country. Even that may be somewhat of a delusion of grandeur as I am “slumming it” to partake in traditions I may not be a part of by default.

My hope is to be able wrangle myself into situations with locals. Are Spaniards loud, long haired extroverts that drink sangria, massacre bulls and sleep at noon while us Americans are hard at work making America safe for democracy?

I don’t think it’s a secret that I harbor many biases. I’m always seeking the “real”. The real American. The real Angeleno. The real San Franciscan. I’m hyper vigilant of gentrification. Highly aware of redevelopers that slowly usher away low and working class families that in my mind perpetuate an authentic sense of national culture. Why do I favor these people? Why is there experience more valid than those who have more money for example? I apologize if that’s the way it came off. Basically – the majority of the population is low and middle class. I believe the key to understanding our culture starts with these people. Doing things that I would consider the doings of the upper class (like this trip to Spain for a month, for example) are certainly valuable and no less real, just not representative of how most people live.

I’m hopeful in my expectations. I’m hoping to meet people people, see the sights, eat what locals eat and stay out REALLY late preferably engaging dark-haired Spanish beauties. But – who knows?

All I do know is I’ve always managed to find fun in the past and somehow return to the U.S. with a greater sense of self awareness.
Some people say trips change you. I tend to think that they help you discover who you are, not necessarily change you. I’m definitely hoping for more of the latter.

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The million dollar question, from what I hear is : Madrid versus Barcelona, and I’m not referring to El Superclasico.

Today was our 2nd day in Barcelona. The first day we arrived pretty late and thus just went to the room to crash.

Our second day was met by rain but we were lucky enough for it to clear up and were fortunate enough to see the Tour De France whiz by. The last time the Tour De France was in Spain was back in the 1960’s so it was fortunate timing on our part.

While I speak fluent Spanish it has been interesting listening to the different words Spaniards use for common objects. The catalan they speak in Barcelona is complete gibberish to me. We did pick up on some of the buzz about the running of the bulls in Pamplona and we will be here in time to see the San Fermin festival which is a weeklong party so we made some changes to the itinerary and will head to basque country (San Sebastian/ Bilbao / Pamplona).

On the tech side of things – my Canon 24-70 f2.8 lens is not working for some reason. On top of that I dropped my point and shoot Samsung and I’m getting card errors so hopefully getting a new card will solve that. My Canon still works with the 50mm lens which is comforting though a bit limiting. Hopefully my luck with tech items will get better.


It is now Saturday morning. By this point we’ve definitely got a sense of the feeling of Barcelona. I can’t say I’ve ever experienced anything like it. As the light sleepers in our group can attest to – people are up until the wee hours of the morning. The city is brimming with life. I feel like the Spanish life timeline allows you to squeeze that extra bit of excitement from life.

With dinner starting at 10pm it gives you a good 4 hours extra to be out and about. With things not closing until 3am (and later on the weekends) you can definitely pack a ton of fun into your agenda.

Our apartment is in the barrio gotic, which is what I called the “Pier 39” of Barcelona, but I can’t complain since our apartment is centrally located and inexpensive.

One of my favorite attractions thus far has been…not an attraction, per se. We did several of the Gaudi buildings and the Picasso museum but while those are impressive my favorite thing thus far has been the Park Guell. It’s an amazing park that overlooks the city of Barcelona with stunning views of the ocean, La Sagrada Familia and the city landscapes. While heavy on the tourists, the park has an architecture and vibe unlike any I’ve seen in a city park.

Another one of my favorites on the trip has been dinner on the plaza. I have always been a fan of eating outdoors. In Barcelona, several of the restaurants we’ve attended don’t even have indoor seating and rely on the good weather to seat customers outside. Eating on the plaza feels so…Spanish. At this point I’m a fan of horchata, patatas bravas (favorite by far), San Miguel Beer, jamon Serrano and empanadas.

Our time in Barcelona is coming to an end, but in summary I think it’s a modern city with out of the box modern architecture with a varied and lively nightlife.





We left the United States by having some bbq at the Fort Worth airport in Texas. It doesn´t get more American than Texas, right?


Caption (above): Major challenge number 1 was getting into our apartment in Barcelona. We had no cell phone and all of the public pày phones were broken. The ones that were working were impossible to figure out. Lindsay and I joked about how many Americans it took to make a phone call.

Caption (above): Our apartment in Barcelona was in the Barrio Gotic. I describe it as pier 39 in Barcelona. It was completely overrun by tourists. Regardless, it was centrally located and was a comfortable place to start our adventures in Spain.


Caption (above): Our room in Barcelona was small but comfortable minus the horrible foam mattresses. Seriously, every place we have stayed in has foam mattresses. What is up with that? I ended up sleeping on the floor. It was much more comfortable.


Caption (above): Spanish horchata was pretty good. Comparable to the Salvadorian and Mexican horchata I am fond of.

Caption (above): Ah, the Spanish.


Caption (above): The very first day we got in we were lucky enough to see the Tour de France go by. They hadn´t visited Spain since the 1960´s so we were definitely in luck.


Caption (above): These guys went by SO fast. Lance and Levi were in front of the pack and they went by so fast I couldn´t even make them out. AMAZING athletes.


Caption (above): Kinds of legs it takes to be in the Tour De France.


Caption (above): For some reason I found the snot rocket and blood on shorts interesting.






Caption (above): Getting these shots was pretty difficult. For starters it was incredibly crowded and it was difficult to sneak in the front row. On top of that my 50mm lens (only option at the time) made it tough to have options since I wasn´t allowed to walk in the street (for obvious security reasons).


Caption (above): Spanish empanadas for less than 2 euros is a steal! Very comparables to the other empanadas I have had.


Caption (above): My favorite Spanish beer thus far.


Caption (above): Patatas bravas. I think I´ve managed to order this every night in Spain so far. One of my favorites. It is just potatoes with some sauce.


Caption (above): When you see rabbit on the menu, how do you say no?


Caption (above): Even the vegetarian had a nibble!


Caption (above): With my rabbit friend. It actually tasted like a drier chicken, which is what everyone always says about any exotic meat, right?


Caption (above): Sarita and her guidebook. jaja






Caption (above): No visit to Barcelona is complete without a stop at La Sagrada Familia.


Caption (above): Gaudi is king in Barcelona so we paid a visit to all the major buildings he designed.


Caption (above): One of my favorite places so far has been Park Guell. It is kind of an odd park but had such a great vibe. Behind us is the city of Barcelona, the Mediterranean and the sagrada familia.


Caption (above): Some music at Park Guell


Caption (above): Park Guell had this interesting corridor that we decided to stop at to take pictures in. I figured the background would make for good portraits.




Caption (above): Lindsay and Sarah´s portraits



Caption (above): I figured if they had portraits I should have one too!


Caption (above): tree huggers!




Caption (above): Lindsay and Sara on top of the park.


Caption (above): Barcelona skyline



Caption (above): Some of the funniest bathroom signs I have seen.


Caption (above): A rare shot of the three of us.


Caption (above): Sarah practices her espanol! (guidebook in hand of course)


Caption (above): Eating outside has been one of my favorite things so far. The weather is great and the opportunity to just relax and people watch is very enticing.


Caption (above): The impromptu flamenco show on the plaza was fun. The dancer and guitarist were really into it, unlike the show we paid 7 euros to see which was lackluster.




Caption (above): Pyro girl on the plaza was entertaining and made for some cool shots.


Caption (above): Barcelona´s official beer is no bueno. haha


Caption (above): Even the chips have jamon!


Caption (above): Jamon is everywhere! A vegetarian´worst nightmare!


Caption (above): We went all out our last night Barcelona. You know – we had to go big for Sarah´s birthday. We found an amazing place for dinner. From start to finish everything was amazing. Of course we got there at 10pm. OPf course we were loud. When the Spanish are telling you you´re being loud that means you are REALLY loud.



Caption (above): Salmon steak and flan were amazing.


Caption (above): Definitely one of my favorite dining experiences. A top 5 in my book of places I have dined at. Final tab was less than 25 euros per person with a bottle of wine, bottle of cava and 4 entrees and tapas.


Caption (above): sangria on the plaza is something I´ve always wanted to do. Doig it at 3am is even more fun. Apparently that is still early for weekend nights, or so I heard from passers by. Oh, no worries, it isn´t like all of us didn´t have buses to catch at 7am that morning.


Caption (above): Gelato…at 4am on the rambla!


Caption (above): Sarita makes friends with the bouncers at the local funk club. I believe we got there at 130 and hey told us it was too early and to com back later. Haha. Espana!


Caption (above): 1 euro samosas on the street were incredibly tasty. Never mind that is shoebox we are getting them from. Ultimately we wouldn´t get any sleep and went straight from being out and about in Barcelona to the bus station at 7am. Mission accomplished.


Caption (above): I think markets are a great way to observe locals at work. This is La Boqueria in Barcelona.


Caption (above): Fresh juice for 1 euro is awesome.


Caption (above): The colors are a photographer¨s dream


Caption (above): Lindsay is all about the organic goods.




Caption (above): I would like some ham, ham and more ham.



Caption (above): Lindsay and I order some jamon Serrano. It was SO good.


Caption (above): Carlos with the jamon. Also representing for Team USA .


While those are a lot of pictures ALL of the pictures are at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/calmenda/sets/72157621094375133/

You’d be tempted to think that this post was inspired by Anthony Bourdain…and you’d be right.

I recently went home to Los Angeles. If you’ve read this blog for some time you’ve probably noticed that Los Angeles has a way of grounding me. Los Angeles is a reminder of who I am and what is important to me.



It’s no secret that I don’t do much cooking in San Francisco. I primarily eat my meals at restaurants. While that has its advantages, being exposed to the food of my childhood has a way of bringing a flood of memories to my mind.





That pupusa, which you may be thinking appeals to me because it’s $2 – it has a way of reminding me of my mother on a weekend afternoon in the kitchen.

I often find myself in the mission on a lunch break enjoying a pupusa and think about my other. While she is 400+ miles away in Los Angeles I can’t have pupusas, horchata, empanadas or tamales without thinking about the simple pleasure that is home cooking.

While obvious once you think about it – food is like a roadmap to who we are.



Home for my birthday – I took some video of the food my mother had laid out. Sometimes this blog and the pictures and videos within it serve as a reminder to me of what is around me and what makes me…me.

As I meet other people and experience other cultures I can always appreciate big families and families that get together for whatever reason. In this case – my family got together to celebrate my birthday and it was a wonderful time.

I left San Francisco for the weekend to avoid another bar or another series of drinks. Don’t get me wrong – I have great memories engaging in that type of behavior with great friends – but on this particular occasion I felt I wanted to spend the week with my family.



If you watch the video above you’ll see that my family is a bunch of jokesters. Being loud and making fun of family members is a process of endearment. I jokingly told a fellow Salvadorian recently: if you don’t have a nickname and people don’t make fun of you you’re not really loved.

My family, as you can tell in the video, has a tradition of taking birthday cakes and smearing part of its contents all over the face of the person whose birthday it is. In this case, that would be me. It’s these kinds of silly things that make me happy. It’s something that could easily be taken for granted but no matter how old I am, where I live, or where I am in my life will I forget these small traditions that have made me who I am.

Again, going to Los Angeles makes me pensive. This blog is evidence of that to some degree. As well all gather I start thinking about why we gather, how we gather and what we do when we gather. It isn’t really that I start thinking about generalizing Salvadorians as a whole or Salvadorian-Americans in Los Angeles as much as MY family and how I see our interactions.

More pictures from our birthday BBQ:





Caption (above): The calm before the storm


Caption (above): The nachos were popular with the youngsters


Caption (above): Niece peeking through the fence cracked me up. Reminded me of Sandlot for some reason.


Caption (above): Nom nom


Caption (above): The family has arrived


Caption (above): More nacho cheese


Caption (above): Pollo!


Caption (above): It’s a miracle my aunt smiled. Ok – I kind of tricked her into it.


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While in Los Angeles I was able to attend my cousin Jr’s middle school graduation.






Caption (above): With my cousins at Newport Beach.


Caption (above): It cracked me up that my aunt made us breakfast and our other aunt brought us In-n-out. I devoured both. That was easily a 5,000 calorie breakfast. Jesus.



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Speaking of traditions…I try to visit Six Flags Magic Mountain at least once a year. This year I went with my cousins and good friends.


Caption (above): You’re never too old to pose with cartoon characters!


Caption (above): Group shot!


Caption (above): You can’t do Six Flags without funnel cake. I waited in a line about 50 people deep to get one of these.


Caption (above): Terminator: Salvation Jeep


Caption (above): Is she flashing my camera? Sucia!






Caption (above): The batman pics were popular




Caption (above): With Speedy Gonzalez. That was briefly my nickname in high school. haha


Caption (above): This guy got bored and brought out the circus tricks!


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Caption (above): My cousins


Now that you’ve seen some pictures, here go some videos:



Caption (above): Video of the full REVOLUTION roller coaster. I could only tape two rides since all the others were far too fast and the camera would have hit me in the face at 100mph which would not have been good.


Caption (above): Colossus Roller Coaster


Caption (above): This little kid tried to escape the tidal wave. Yeah, didn’t work.


Caption (above): Tidal wave is always fun.



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If you’ve ever doubted Los Angeles is a big city. See:


Caption (above):


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This has been quite the week for me.



First, El Salvador beat Mexico in soccer! That’s always great news as El Salvador and Mexico are huge rivals. Being honest and all – it hasn’t been much of a rivalry with Mexico almost always dominating El Salvador. On this occasion – El Salavdor emerged victorious!

Beating Mexico is like Cal beating StanfUrd: it doesn’t matter if that’s the ONLY game Cal wins, you need to beat StanfUrd.

For a game recap see: http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKN0627290720090607


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Continuing with the sports theme, the Lakers are the 2009 NBA Champions. You’d have to really not pay attention to know that not know that I LOVE the Los Angeles Lakers.





The Lakers are the one team I have watched consistently since I was a child.

Since then they have delivered some great memories with many championships in my lifetime. In the time I have been alive the Lakers have taken away championships in 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988, 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2009.

Needlesss to say, I have come to expect excellence from them.

While I had planned on being in Los Angeles for the championship parade I didn’t make it on time. I arrived a couple of hours too late due to plane/ work schedule.



On the upside I was able to score some Lakers locker room gear commemorating the championship.

I figure the least I could do was add to my Lakers collection and wear some gear that you won’t see out on the street every day.

The Lebron / Kobe Nike ads were hilarious but my faovorite had to be the one celebrating the championship:




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This cracked me UP:






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I recently saw “Away We Go”. While I was initially hesitant to see it, I left the movie surprisingly touched. Without giving away the plot I’ll say that one of the things that resonated was young love and the idea that regardless of how much or how little you have if you are committed to your partner everything will be okay.

While my description may be cheesy the movie is actually hilarious.

I highly recommend it.


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I love ESPN, but I HATE ESPN when it comes to their soccer coverage.

For starters, they rarely play games I’d actually want to watch (the lack the licenses for this). Second – their announcers are ignorant and don’t even pretend to care about soccer amidst all the baseball, basketball, hockey, spelling bee and poker coverage.

This clip, which I took on my camera from my TV is a perfect example. It doesn’t so much bother me that they can’t say Copa Libertadores as much as the fact that they laugh at their ignorance.

Beyond ESPN – it is certainly en vogue to pronounce other languages correctly (particularly French and Italian) all the while dismissing Spanish as some peasant language.

Think about these words/expressions:

à la carte
crème brûlée
critique
cuisine
debutante
déjà vu
encore
faux pas
fiancée
hors d'oeuvre
maître d'
petite
soirée

I’m not too concerned about people without advanced levels of education not being able to pronounce Spanish words, but when you decide to make a career of being a sports announcer it CANNOT be that hard to ask someone “hey, how do you say this?”

ESPN: get a clue.


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This is a picture from a recent Cal Young Alumni event.

My: F*ck Stanfurd shirt was pretty popular.

☺

Tasteless perhaps, but popular.

Another school year has ended! I’m grateful that everything went off without major problems this year and funding is secure for me and my programs to continue next year. With so many teachers being laid off it’s a bittersweet celebration but I am happy to announce that the 12 programs I oversee that serve over 1,000 low income and academically at risk students in San Francisco will continue for the 2009-2010 school year.

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I’m all about free social events. One event that I look forward to is “opera in the park”. Basically – the SF opera does a simulcast at the Giants ballpark and tens of thousands of San Franciscans come to watch…for free!


Caption (above): We got to enjoy “Tosca” on the jumbotron. This also gives you an idea of how many people show up. I believe the estimate was 25,00 people.


Caption (above): Some video from the event.


Caption (above): It was cold so I brought my ugly blanket. While it may be ugly it sure as hell kept us all warm. haha


Caption (above): I don’t know; I just went with it.

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This weekend was my buddy Piotr’s birthday. As is customary, we all gathered for a night of delicious food and some good music.

If you’re in the mood for some delicious indonesias food, see: http://www.yelp.com/biz/borobudur-restaurant-san-francisco

The night started off at Borobodur and ended at our favorite local dance spots, Le Colonial and Tunneltop. .


Caption (above): Blast from the past. Sarah donated her copy of Warren G’s Regulators to me.


Caption (above): With birthday boy on right and buddy Yuwynn.


Caption (above): Cheese!


Caption (above): With my long-time friend Jen


Caption (above): At Le Colonial.




Caption (above): My two dates to the formal the next night. This is the before picture. You will get to see us in our formal attire in the next set of pictures.


Caption (above): Welcome back from Spain and France!

Caption (above): At tunneltop. I don’t know what they were looking at, but it looks fun nonetheless.


Caption (above): fun times

Caption (above): Self portrait

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I consider myself to be a pretty casual guy. When not at work you’ll rarely see me outside of sweats and some form of Lakers attire.

Every now and then a coworker will see me on the street and not recognize me as they are accustomed to seeing me in a suit or slacks and a dress short for work. This weekend we mixed it up and I was invited to a formal dance at the fancy schmancy Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. To top it off it was in the penthouse suite!

To get an idea of how beautiful the place was, a grand video tour that I threw together can be seen here:



Caption (above): Not gonna’ lie, I felt like James Bond in a tux. No Aston Martin to drive away in though.


Caption (above): I consider myself to be silly and definitely pretty cynical/skeptical. Since I was going to the Fairmont’s $8,000 a night penthouse suite for an event I thought it would be funny to poke fun at the whole thing by going to Denny’s for dinner. I asked if she would be up for Denny’s and I expected an awkward silence but she was enthusiastic, which was awesome. Other folks that I ran the idea by thought it was stupid. It’s definitely a lot more of an interesting story to tell than we went to *insert fancy restaurant here*. I doubt years from now I would be inclined to talk about the 4 star dinner I had at some restaurant whereas I will always get a chuckle from showing up at Denny’s in a tux.


Caption (above): I told her to ask for a side of Grey Poupon. haha


Caption (above): You know, to avoid any confusion.


Caption (above): My first time trying absinthe. Nothing to write home about.


Caption (above): My two lovely dates


Caption (above): With some of the ladies


Caption (above): Two of my favorite people


Caption (above): With Jen


Caption (above): Female : Male ratio 10:1?


Caption (above): Laura is awesome.


Caption (above): The butler did it! A whodunit indeed.


Caption (above): In the map room


Caption (above): Con la senorita Barenchi


Caption (above): Last group shot, I swear


Caption (above): Gotta love photobooths


Caption (above): We got 4 pictures. We decided on smiley and gangster. This one is smiley/silly.


Caption (above): This one is our best attempt to keep a straight face while trying to be gangster in formal attire in a penthouse suite.

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These children are amazing. When I watched the video I paid more attention to their demeanor. They look genuinely happy and engaged in what they are doing. As educators this is the look that we seek to get everyday. It doesn’t always happen and sometimes it doesn’t happen frequently but this is certainly why we do what we do. As I watched this video it did make me sad that the first thing to go in a budget crisis is the music and visual arts programming at most schools. May this video be food for thought about the value of music education in our schools.

I’m baaaaaaaaack.

I won’t lie – my knee injury has been frustrating to say the least.

My surgery was on May 3rd and it has radically changed my life. One of things I love most in life, playing soccer and being outdoors, has been taken from me and my social life has been limited but slowly getting back to normal as my range of motion increases.

Per usual, the lull in activity has resulted in weight gain since I can’t exercise and if you know me you know that I thrive on competition and the lack of organized sports is a huge hit to what I consider to be a significant part of my identity.

All is not lost though. I am very happy with my life and while it is not complete without having full control of my leg but that will come very soon.


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Since I can’t play soccer for the time being, there’s nobody stopping me from checking out some professional soccer. While I’m a Los Angeles Galaxy fan, I sucked it up and went to San Jose to see the San Jose Earthquakes take on the Real Salt Lake.



There’s no comparing the enthusiasm of a crowd watching an international match to watching the MLS (the US professional soccer league) but these kids in the video above cracked me up. I hope my kids grow up with this kind of enthusiasm for the game!



Caption (above): One annoying thing was that they sell alcohol at the game before you enter the stands and then they don’t let you bring it in the stands for some unexplainable reason, forcing people to consume their drinks while NOT being able to watch the game. Absurd.


Caption (above): The KFC story is pretty amusing. They started throwing out these empty buckets of KFC chicken. Each one had a coupon for free 8 piece chicken meals. I hobbled over and jumped over about 5 kids in order to get the free chicken. It was a pretty amusing sight. Haha. Free food!

The game plan was to head to the game in San Jose and rather than go back to SF, we wanted to mix it up and enjoy the San Jose nightlife. I LOVE San Francisco, but sometimes you have to switch things up to truly get a sense of what other cities are like and to truly appreciate what you have at home.

We started off the evening with Mexican food.


Caption (above): Giant horchata!


Caption (above): The enchiladas were tasty. I’m all about large portions for less than $10.

We opted to go out in Santana Row. My initial impression was that it reminded me of Los Angeles. For our San Jose experience we chose to visit the V bar at the Hotel Valencia. See: http://www.yelp.com/biz/v-bar-san-jose







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One of the traditions I’ve enjoyed for quite some time is meeting up for brunch at friend’s houses on the weekends.




Caption (above): I had to start the morning by googling where I could get some of the bacon we had at Ad Hoc a couple of weeks ago. It was no surprise that it would be found at the foodie hot spot that is the Ferry Building. Pssst – if you are into food and into attractive women (not of the Marina veariety) go check out the farmer’s market on the weekend. Did I say that out loud? Oh oh.


Caption (above): Bacon is life! Also a tradition is a picture of me from brunch eating bacon.


Caption (above): Cook extraordinaire, J-dub. This man has skills in the kitchen.


Caption (above): My skills are limited to the computer so I generally instigate some kind of computer-related activity. Last time it was analyzing people’s facebook profiles while this time it was political parodies on youtube.


Caption (above): My favorite pictures tend to be candids. I liked this one.


Caption (above): I met Therese at the last brunch and we’ve been buddies ever since!


Caption (above): Some quality youtube time on my laptop.




Caption (above): Ladies who brunch


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It’s funny because I’ve had most of my friends in the bay area for quite some time but a welcome addition to my close friends has been Megan. While I don’t make a point of going out on Tuesday nights it was fun to see all of our friends to celebrate Megan’s birthday. True to Megan’s easy going and fun-loving nature, a great time was had by all.



Caption (above): This is how you start a crazy evening.


Caption (above): The ladies


Caption (above): A bold statement on commercialism: Burberry rifle and Disney crucifix?


Caption (above): With the birthday girl


Caption (above): I planned ahead and started the evening with a plaintain burrito. Something very different from any burrito I’ve had. Available at Little Chihuahua on Divisadero. See: http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-little-chihuahua-san-francisco

We really couldn’t help taking pictures with a mural that was in the bar. See:








Caption (above): Jen and I have been buddies since our first days of college. Wow, I feel old saying that. That was 1999!


Caption (above): Jen + birthday girl Megan


Caption (above): I want a picture with an anonymous blonde kissing me!


Caption (above): My hat always manages to make it in pictures. We were totally joking around on this one but I still found it hilarious.


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Caption (above): Everyone else buys imported stuff. Andrew and I stick to the classics. haha

If you’re familiar with the song “regulators” and are into politics, see:




Some other youtube videos that also cracked me up:



Caption (above): The syncing of the song with the grand theft auto footage is pretty funny



Caption (above): These commercials have cracked me up


Caption (above): And in Spanish!

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These pictures of me as a kid keep coming in. This one cracked up. Wow – the yuppiness.





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Congratulations are in order for my buddy Yuwynn who graduated from UC Hasting School of law!










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You’d probably think I’d be out of town this memorial day weekend, but with a bum knee I decided on a stay-cation.

I met up with some friends for exactly what I needed: a chill bbq.


Caption (above): For a last minute gathering, I think we had a decent turnout.


Caption (above): Rahim, Ironman and kite master extraordinaire


Caption (above): Puppy time!


Caption (above): Michigan kite champion






Caption (above): Rahim and Brett show us how to juggle


Caption (above): Hello patches!



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Carnaval was great…but, what about the afterparty?

My initial plan was to stop by and say hello to a friend and go about my way.

When we arrived we realized we knew the host! I find that SF is getting smaller and smaller as I live here longer.

It was an awesome loft party. I can’t say I’m one for day parties but this thing started at 3pm and I left at around 11pm. Good times were had by all!

From bhangra dancing to an accordion player who was accompanied by a guy beatboxing and doing freestyle, the randomness of the party made it incredibly entertaining.


Caption (above): Dance party!


Caption (above): Happy birthday!








Caption (above): The signs all over the apartment made for entertaining pictures



Caption (above): Frank Chiu!


Caption (above): Dance party!


Caption (above): This is how we do it! Ok, not really. I don’t have a car. haha


Caption (above): The accordion player was a hit! The guy who freestyled next to him was awesome too.


Caption (above): Pensive


Caption (above): Portrait


Caption (above): On the way home I got a crazy disco cab. The party continues!

You want festivals? Weve got your stinkin’ festivals!

San Francisco is the place to be… for festivals.

San Francsco is a manageable 7 by 7 miles and with less than a million folks we have more festivals than any city I’ve ever lived in.

If you read my blog you’ll get a sense of the major festivals. Last week was bay to breakers and this week was Carnaval in the Mission (more appropriately named La Mision).

For the parade I took close to 3,000 pictures, of which 237 made it to flickr.

You can see them all at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/calmenda/sets/72157618812272626/

Lately, I feel like such a traveler. Maybe it’s because I am still hurt so no sports or running for me yet. It may also be all the travel channel I watch now that I wouldn’t normally watch if I could be out. The travel bug has definitely hit me.

You know what? I don’t mean that I need to travel to exotic foreign locales; I am perfectly content walking around this city and taking in the sights. There is so much of this city that I have yet to explore and this is such a small place.

I think that’s what has always driven me – a desire to know the places I live in fro the inside out.

One thing that struck me about carnaval was how happy people were.

Seriously – as I went through the thousands of pictures I noticed – people seem genuinely happy.

That is what I love about SF. I feel that San Francisco makes an effort to bring these festivals to us as a way for us to enjoy our lives and enjoy the varied landscapes of the city. While the parade was carnaval, another thing that surprised me was how inclusive the parade was.

The parade started at 930am and we got there around 830am to photograph people as they got ready.


Caption (above): Smiles


Caption (above): This parade was very inclusive of children, which I am always a fan of. It’s great when kids have something to work towards and at the same time take pride in their culture.





Caption (above): This capoeira guy was intense.





Caption (above): More capoeira action


Caption (above): Ah yeah, lowrider bikes! I felt like I was back in LA.


Caption (above): Whoa – this thing was about 2 inches off the ground



Caption (above): Would the correct usage be “Chicano Pride”?


Caption (above): Viva Colombia!


Caption (above): (Looks up Colombia on Map)


Caption (above): That’s it. My next vacation is to Colombia. Navidad?


Caption (above): Insert jokes here


Caption (above): This kid jumped out at me.


Caption (above): I saw this guy at Dia De Los Muertos last year. He freaked me out.


Caption (above): The kid rapping was cute



Caption (above): The beauty of the parade is also that there are people of all shapes and sizes taking part and loving it


Caption (above): Something for everyone! The king and queen of carnaval. Both are from Brazil.


Caption (above): This guy was dispensing happy juice at 830am.



Caption (above): ☺


Caption (above): More smiles


Caption (above): For the ladies




Caption (above):




Caption (above): The pirate crew was intense



Caption (above): More smiles!



Caption (above): Let’s just say this cop was mesmerized by the…parade. Yeah, let’s say that.


Caption (above): Celebrate!


Caption (above): The voodoo group freaked me out a bit



Caption (above): Ladies galore!


Caption (above):

Insert Juanes lyrics here:

Hola que tal nena como estas
Me llamo Juan t ú?
De donde eres donde vives
Trabajas o estudias
Viniste sola o viniste con tu novio

Ah que no no tienes novio
Ah que bien eso me suena a mi mucho mejor
Porque no vamos entonces a bailar
Perdón mejor debo decir primero que quieres tomar?



Caption (above): Dancing queen!


Caption (above): All hail the queen of carnaval!

Bay to Breakers was this weekend. Officially it’s a 12k race. Unofficially it’s a party that starts at 730am and ends at around 4pm when drunk people finish the 7 or so mile run.

At first glance you will notice nudity, alcohol, drugs and all kinds of debauchery in the streets and think something like this should be regulated.

Sure, San Francisco has laws against drinking in public, public nudity and drugs. For Bay to Breakers all those things go out the window.

And therein lays the beauty of San Francisco – it’s a city that lets people be. You could be gay, straight, normal or outright freakin weird but this city accepts you for who you are and allows you to flaunt that.

As a disclaimer I will say that I was fully clothed, totally sober and drug-free for this event. Even though I am still recovering from surgery there was NO way I was missing Bay To breakers. I managed to find a spot to take pictures without moving too much.

With that disclaimer out of the way I felt great at the event. People were having a blast and it was a true reflection of what this community is like.

I love that SF is a city that doesn’t repress people and allows people to be themselves. I can definitely stand for that.

Below will be some of my favorite shots from the race:


Caption (above): Stolen from a friend. This will give you a sense of the big crowd. I wasn’t a part of this madness. I posted up towards the middle to avoid crowds.


Caption (above): Not the best picture but from from away I laughed my ass off when I saw the cable car with these off characters. Definitely not something you see every day. If I had a good leg I would have run after it to get a better picture.




Caption (above): Standard drunk reveler. It was REALLY warm out so it was a good excuse to lose some clothes .



Caption (above): There were several “stimulus package” present. Ah, SF and their current events geeks.


Caption (above): There were plenty of scantily clad runners. I didn’t get many of those this time around since I couldn’t walk.


Caption (above):


Caption (above): I don’t know what this was, but it was a bit disturbing.


Caption (above): Yeah, don’t even know what’s up with this one.





Caption (above): More stimulus package


Caption (above): Kiss me I’m Filipino! haha



Caption (above): I’m soooooo sure they acquired this legally



Caption (above): This one cracked me up. Find a black friend and everyone else dresses up in a dark suit and voila you have Obama + Secret service!


Caption (above): My favorite costume of the day


Caption (above): Seriously though? Who runs it?


Caption (above): There was a ban on kegs this year. TOTALLY worked.


Caption (above): Anything dealing with H1N1 (swine flu) was also popular.


Caption (above): Niiiiiiiice


Caption (above): hahahaha


Caption (above): LOL @ pimp tigger


Caption (above): LOL @ pimp winnie


Caption (above): Ok, I really liked this one. Original.




Caption (above): Some of these floats were very elaborate.


Caption (above): ROFL!


Caption (above): I’m throwing this in for the girls who read this blog.



Caption (above): Girl dancing up a storm


Caption (above): A random person on Haight street showing me a card trick


Caption (above): Saddam




Caption (above): This girl was popular with the photographers


Caption (above): muahahahaha



Caption (above): Awwww, match made at Bay to breakers!


Caption (above): Howdy!



Caption (above): Heather licking the fun police


Caption (above): Sara with…I don’t even know what to call that guy. haha


Caption (above): Valderrama! Viva Colombia!


Caption (above): This Miller’s for you?


Caption (above): With Whitney

It’s official: Carlos Almendarez is finally heading to Europe.

Booyah!

You might be thinking: so?

For me it’s a big deal. I’ve never been to Europe and to be quite honest – I’ve been reluctant to visit because I have felt that there is so much to see in United States and in the Americas that I wanted to experience a bit of those first. I’m fairly confident in that I have seen a lot of the US. I plan on continuing to see the U.S. as long as I live, but for now – an unreasonably cheap $600 roundtrip ticket to Madrid, Spain is too hard to pass up.



The timing for all of this was perfect. My cousin Nanci is a PhD student in Spanish and will be in Salamanca, Spain all summer so we will be staying with her.

My impression is a lot of people want to backpack through Europe and visit tons of countries. My goal is to spend time in Salamanca and truly experience the town. I have ambitions of playing futbol, dining with the locals, having a couple of drinks with random people I meet in the plaza, having dinner at 11pm and being out until 6am! In short – I plan to enjoy my vacation. I have 25 days to hopefully do a little more than SEE Spain, but hopefully truly experience the Spanish lifestyle.

Deep down I’m afraid it will be everything I have always wanted: soccer, Spanish, music….people who live with some gusto. Who knows? Maybe I’ll come back and realize they’re just…people like most Americans: work, eat and sleep and repeat.

I’m definitely up for the challenge of finding out.


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I saw this on Youtube the other night: hilarious!



I’m a huge fan of political satire and parodies so this is right up my alley.


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It’s official: I have joined twitter.



Link: http://twitter.com/lacarlos

As you can see, I stuck with my Love LA motif and made my twitter name LACarlos.

I’ve been using it for a month now and to be quite honest it’s pretty redundant.

I find it to be like facebook status updates that are much shorter and used by less people.

If 90% of my friends are on facebook and will see my status updates, why join a service like twitter that only 15% of my friends are on and has less characters in which to express myself?

The one thing that is very useful is following organizations, teams and indivduals you find interesting. Unlike facebook, you can see everyone’s tweets (the name for a twitter update).

I will continue using twitter even if just to follow the Lakers. It has been AWESOME to follow the official LA Lakers twitter feed.

See: http://twitter.com/Lakers

I can also follow NBA players like Derek Fisher and Lamar Odom

See: http://twitter.com/derekfisher

Surprisingly, the best twitter feed so far has been that of the Executive Vice President of Los Angeles Lakers, Jeanie Buss (who is the daughter of owner Jerry Buss and dating the coach of the Lakers, Phil Jackson).

See: http://twitter.com/JeanieBuss

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The other night I went on an art studio walk in the Mission and a pro photographer took pictures of us as we walked around. See:






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Here are a couple of late-comers from the fundraiser I went to a couple of weeks ago:






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The other night we went out for Katya’s birthday!

We had dinner in the Mission at one of my favorite restaurants: the Senegalese restaurant, Bissap Baobab.

See: http://www.yelp.com/biz/bissap-baobab-san-francisco

We also went around the corner for some dancing at Little Baobab.

See: http://www.yelp.com/biz/little-baobab-san-francisco

In case you’re wondering – I’m still on crutches. I can walk a bit but for the most part I’ve been trying to stay on the crutches and while I have been going out I have stayed away from large crowds in small spaces.

Some other pictures from the night:










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It was surprisingly hot this weekend. For SF, 80+ degrees constitutes a heat wave.

We took the opportunity to BBQ with our buddy Yuwynn who graduated from Hasting school of law this week.








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As most of you know, I injured my knee a couple of weeks ago on March 8th.



I had surgery to repair the meniscus in my left knee earlier this week on April 29th.



If you’re curious about meniscus knee repairs:



You’re probably thinking – what took them so long? At this point you won’t be surprised to know that I wanted to squeeze out as much fun as I could out of the last month. If you look at my blog you’ll see that I have been getting out despite having a shredded meniscus. I haven’t been able to run but I have been able to walk and hike so I’ve made the most of it.

You rarely hear me complain on this blog and the one time you might hear something approaching that is when I’m out recovering from surgery.

It’s amusing to me how much I miss out by the hurried nature of my normal life. I’ve spent the last couple of days sitting on a couch, watching tv and really thinking about a lot of things.

To put someone like me on a couch without the ability to move for a couple of days is painful. My idea of a good time is being out on a soccer field, restaurant, bar, club, hike, photo walk etc.

Thankfully, I will say that this rehab experience has also been a good excuse for people to catch up with me. I’m extremely grateful for all the friends who have stopped by, facebooked, twttered, called, emailed, texted or otherwise reached to see that I am okay.

I am particularly grateful to my mother who once again with on hesitation left Los Angeles to be with me while I recovered from my 4th knee surgery (yes, she has been here for all of them).

Good news is I will be back to sports in 4-6 weeks.



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I can’t say there are a lot of people I’m jealous of…but Anthony Bourdain is one of them.

I’m not jealous in that usual “oh, he travels all around the world for work kind of way” but jealous of his outlook on life and how he travels. He doesn’t travel to glamorous places though he certainly could afford do but instead chooses to focus on places off the beaten path and the foods that every day people eat rather than Michelin –rated joints (though there is certainly a time and place for those).

I think I’ve always been fascinated by this idea of “every-day-ness”. When I heard of this new book, it sounded like something definitely up my alley:

http://www.usanetwork.com/characterproject/

Thankfully – I have the opportunity to engage in my own Bourdain adventures over the summers. On the radar right now is El Salvador, Spain/Italy, Southwestern US road trip, Maui and anything else that comes up.



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I recently attended a charity fundraiser for City of Dreams, a mentoring organization in SF.

http://www.city-of-dreams.org/

Below are some pictures:


Caption (above): Had to dust off the hat


Caption (above): Katya and Megan all glammed up


Caption (above):


Caption (above): Someone ALWAYS takes the hat and takes a picture with it. haha



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I recently received these from an event I went to a couple of months ago. Courtesy of

http://www.kristenloken.com/


Caption (above): Symphony courtesy of BMW and the new 7 series. I don’t know how I got on that mailing list – but glad I did.



Caption (above): Check this out – you think I can afford an 80k car? haha



Caption (above): Meeting the conductor


Caption (above):


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These commercials crack me up:




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Link: http://www.yelp.com/biz/ad-hoc-yountville-2


Last but not least I have been wanting to visit a Thomas Keller restaurant for AGES. I am not able to afford a $300 a person pri fixe meal at Per Se or The French Laundry but his mid-ranged option Ad Hoc is good enough for me.



The food was AMAZING. I decided to go when I heard the brunch menu dropped from $40 a person to $28 for a 3 course brunch. The food was phenomenal.


Caption (above): Crackberry break


Being in Napa county – why not go do some wine tasting?

We all have our happy places. You know what I’m talking about. For me, Yosemite National Park, is a happy place. It’s a place in my backyard (3 hours from SF) where I can go and enjoy unparalleled beauty. This weekend was my last hoorah. If you’ve followed my blog the last two months I’ve been on a whirlwind tour of the west coast and the southwest. This was no mistake. I’m having knee surgery on April 29th to fix my meniscus as a result of a soccer injury. Chances are I will be on crutches for a good month or so and will thus be unable to live the type of active life I have come to enjoy.

While its only a month – those of you that know me know that it’s an eternity for me to not be able to do all the things I love: socializing, running, soccer, hiking, climbing etc.

My hope was that while I was down I could look back at these pictures and really appreciate all that I have. Some people have neither the resources nor physical or mental ability to take part in outdoor activities so I am very grateful that I have always been an able-bodied person.

Without getting all sappy I want to say: life is good.

I know I said this before but there is definitely an overwhelming negativity in people these days. No joke – I feel society has gotten to such negativity where I can be told that I’m a show off for feeling talking about the things and people in my life that make my happy while some people constantly complain and get a sympathetic ear. It’s kind of a shame. One needs to look no further than the website:

http://www.fmylife.com/

to see that it’s “in” to complain.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been on this site and contribute to its hits as I find it more funny than anything.

When did it become ok to NOT be happy? Is that what our generation is about? I don’t know – I talk to a lot of older people (one of my favorite things to do) and the message that I take away is that people grew up with a lot less and still managed to enjoy their lives a lot more.

You should see how often people approach me and think that I’m doing something supernatural by going out to explore, getting out or simply enjoying my life. There’s no secret to it, really.

I’m not rich (my income is right at the average for the US househould). I don’t have a car. It’s not just because I’m in education and I get all this vacation time because I can assure you I know a lot of educators and a lot of them don’t do very much with their vacation time. As with anything, I’ve always believed – it comes down to a choice. You choose to live a certain way. You choose a profession that allows you to live a certain life. You choose a certain type of friends that allow you to be who you are.

We…yes, choose the life that we live.

Some of you are out there thinking that life is rough and it chooses the life that you live. I’m right there with you – life is tough and I can sit here and swap stories with most people about how tough life is but ultimately we choose how we move forward. There’s a line from one of my favorite movies (Shawshank Redemption) that always inspires me: we either get busy living, or we get busy dying.

So that’s my rant for the week. Live your lives, enjoy it.

Instead of “F my life” I’m going to go with “F, my life is awesome”.

Okay – cheesy, but true.


Caption (above): It is tradition now to get a picture of the sign.


Caption (above): My two favorite places? What would Robert Frost do?


Caption (above): I think April is the perfect time to go to Yosemite. The snow melt creates amazing waterfalls and at higher elevations you can still see snow. Otherwise, the weather is beautiful. It was about 70 degrees most of the weekend.


Caption (above): The group at Yosemite falls


Caption (above): Yosemite falls. The hike to the top was 3.5 miles straight up hill with a 2,700 foot elevation change. It took us about 6 hours round trip.


Caption (above): Ommmmmmmmmmm


Caption (above): I won’t even lie – I could NOT do this. It freaked me out to look down and I’m not even afraid of heights.


Caption (above): I had NO blackberry service all weekend. I tried testing reception everywhere. No go.


Caption (above): The group rests


Caption (above): Megan shot




Caption (above): Those hikes are no joke. Distance wise I have done 3x as long but these are straight up mountains with few straight parts


Caption (above): Snowy half dome


Caption (above): Piotr enjoys blackberry access


Caption (above): resting at the top. I was EXHAUSTED.


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The last 3 days have been insane. Since when is it 80+ degrees in April in SF? Despite my sneaking suspicions of global warming having a hand in this the city has gone bananas taking in the sun, eating ice cream, wearing sun dresses and otherwise living like people in LA do all year long.





That Frisbee is just gangsta’


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This video is HILARIOUS. Definitely funnier if you speak Spanish and are familiar with Ricky Martin songs:

http://creativity-online.com/work/view?seed=f741d305



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Facebook Manners:





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It’s April and where is Carlos? You guessed it: watching the Lakers kill the opposition in Playoffs basketball. This article talks about the supremacy of the Lakers in Los Angeles:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124027211694837163.html


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Some random pictures that someone just sent me:


Caption (above): 10 large on the Lakers. You heard me! (apparently I’m loud on the phone while at Costco)


Caption (above): paparazzi action


Caption (above): camera happy

Holy Jesus – I laughed so hard when I first saw this:



I’ve always liked people who don’t have a hard time making fun of themselves. Kudos!


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To twitter or not to twitter? That seems to be the question of the day lately. EVERYWHERE I go I am bombarded with twitter.

On the news – twitter.

At the museum – follow us on twitter.

Want to find a taco truck – follow us on twitter.

Want to find ground breaking news…you get the idea.

We’ll see. I am still a hold out. At this point – who am I fooling? It’s just another app to add to my phone that I can keep up with the way I keep up with all my other social media.

I may succumb. You’ll be the first to know. For now – I’m holding out.

On a related note – I got to meet the founder of Twitter at an event the other night:



My friend Laura described the event well. See: www.latinageek.com


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Whenever I think I’ve seen everything there is to see in SF I get a curveball!

Going out until 2 or 3 am on the weekend is somewhat normal, right? Place closes, you hang out or go grab a bit to eat. Normal.

Now – you run into a Spanish and Peruvian girl (along with some other friends I know) and they ask – “where now?” You mean after 2am? Apparently everywhere other than California the world doesn’t stop at 2am.

We ended up at 1015 Folsom (see: http://www.yelp.com/biz/1015-folsom-san-francisco) until 6am. We missed closing it out by an hour! It wasn’t really about the scene as much as the freedom to be out late if you wanted to. We didn’t really dance with anyone other than the people in our group and we genuinely had a great time. I suppose this is one of those things that you look back on when you’re older and reminisce. Now – let’s not do that again anytime soon because it messed up my sleep cycles for two days. Haha

Some pictures from the night:



Caption (above): We started off the evening at a local spot and I wasn’t expecting to be out out so I was sporting the Lakers gear. This would be a problem later as I tried to get into an actual club (which I rarely go to).


Caption (above): Denny’s at 6am! Whoa – that was a fast forward. Let me show you the pictures that led to this. It is a bit funny to see people come in for an honest to god breakfast while we are leaving the place in “club” attire getting ready to go to sleep.


Caption (above): Get low, get low, get low




Caption (above): Those poles are like magnets it seems


Caption (above): Group shots


Caption (above):



Caption (above): My brother got me this shirt and I love it. It reads: everything is better in the city of angels (Los Angeles Lakers).


Caption (above): I don’t usually wear my hat backwards. I only do it for pictures because otherwise the hat creates a shadow and you can’t see my face. That was way too technical. haha


Caption (above): Obligatory shot on crowded dance floor with only inches to move: check!


Caption (above): Blessed amongst the men!


Caption (above): Damn I look serious. I’m thinking it’s 5am so I have a right to be tired. haha



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I got these pictures over the weekend. I hadn’t ever seen them before so they cracked me up a bit:


Caption (above):


Caption (above): Baby blue lacoste with a popped collar!? I guess I was genetically pre-disposed to be preppy? jk


Caption (above): Overalls and curly afro!

So…I met my father for the first time last week (Sunday April 5th , 2009 to be exact).



If you’ve read this blog for some time you’re not entirely surprised by this point if every now and then I write about something that other people may not necessarily publicize or may very well only tell close friends.

I am lacking that filter apparently.

The first question people ask me when I say that I met my dad for the first time last week is “how was it?”. The response to this one is easy: it went fine.

Elaborating on that a bit – you have to admit it’s a strange scenario when you put a father in a room with a son he hasn’t seen in over 25+ years (I’m 27).

We did some of the usual conversation about how our lives were and learned a bit about each other but then the question becomes: what’s next? And that my friends is where things get tricky.

As a man he is a good person and seemed to have good intentions. As far as I am concerned I am a grown man with a very set course in my life and my time in which I needed a father is far-gone. I had a wonderful mother who raised me and did an amazing job given the conditions we lived in and I really have no intention of now needing a father.

I’m not a cruel person so I have no intention of ignoring my father or of being disrespectful but at the same time I need to set that boundary that we don’t have a father-son relationship and never will.

I admire my father for making the effort to reach out to me and explain the why and how of the circumstances that made this situation what it is.

I’m not angry, bitter or anything like that. Really – I’m indifferent. I’m very happy with my life. I love my job, friends, family and my life is set.

My loyalty is to those who have been with me from the beginning. I am always there 100% for my family (even though they are in LA) if they need me and I have nothing but love and respect for them.

I know my father is reading this so I hope he doesn’t see this as disrespectful. To me it’s more about a boundary. I understand his need to reconnect and I respect that but I wouldn’t want the expectation to be unrealistic.

So now you know a bit about my background. My dad does live in Canada, so if this country ever goes down the tubes I can resort to the usual liberal threat of moving to Canada pretty easily! haha

My mother recently became a U.S. Citizen. I won’t lie to you – I was pretty surprised when this happened. Your first reaction may be to think “why on earth would someone NOT want to be a US citizen?”



I won’t pretend to be a voice for other immigrants, but my mother has been in this country for 28 years and while eligible to be a citizen back in 1999 waited until this year to apply for citizenship.

There are a couple of reasons that I could come up with.

First, like many immigrants from Central America my mother came to this country not knowing English and having a spoken fluency in Spanish but with an education level that didn’t really allow her to be completely fluent in reading academic-level Spanish. Both the old and new U.S. citizenship tests require a pretty intermediate understanding of the language which is a huge barrier for some immigrants, even those like my other who have lived in this country as long as I have been alive.



If you don’t believe me you can take a look at some of the questions on the citizenship test at: http://usgovinfo.about.com/blinstst.htm

I will admit that it was cute seeing my mother study for the first time in my life and listening to audiotapes with the citizenship questions and listening to them for months on end to prepare for the test.

While not something she would admit – I feel that on some level my mother held out on becoming a citizen because deep down like many immigrants she always had a hope that at some point in her life she would go back to El Salvador. Growing up – she always alluded with a particular nostalgia about all the things she missed about her homeland.

For all intents and purposes I can say my mother achieved the American Dream. Fleeing from a country divided by civil war and moving to the United States illegally she came speaking no English. I can truly say that I don’t know anyone who is a harder worker than my mother. As a single mother managed to raise my brother and I on a housekeeper’s salary and managed to keep us away from any criminal records and even helped steer us to being high school and college graduates. For some of the people reading this having two sons graduating from high school and going to college may not sound like much of a feat. If you’ve spent time in Los Angeles Unified District schools and have worked with the low-income latino male population you’d know that this is definitely a case of beating the odds. At my high school alone I recall the dropout rate being somewhere in the 40%+ range.

I’m proud of my mother for sacrificing herself to send us to non-ghetto (at least relatively speaking) schools, for making the time to drop everything when she needed to be there for us at a moment’s notice.

This certainly isn’t a rag to riches American Dream story…but it certainly is one of a humble and hard-working person being in this country, finding employment and raising two children who are functional members of society.

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Despite being on my 2,000+ mile road trip I manages to swing by Las Vegas and Los Angeles for a couple of hours to say hello (and subsequently photograph) the newest additions to the Buiza family (yes, that’s my family name. I took my dad’s last name).

From Los Angeles, California we have Melanie Buiza, daughter of my cousing Blanca Buiza.















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And from Las Vegas, Nevada we have Ian Buiza, son of my cousin Freddy Buiza.







His dad is from Los Angeles and there’s no NBA team in Nevada so I’m cool with having him sport the Lakers gear. Haha

I think it’s official that about 85% of my cousins in my generation have kids even though most are younger than I am. No pressure, right?

I love kids to death and would love to have some someday but for now I’m going to have to stick to working with children and enjoying my time with my nephews and nieces when I’m in Los Angeles.

Day 3: Arches National Park + Canyonlands National Park


Caption (above): In terms of favorites, Arches was a very close 2nd to Bryce Canyon National Park. We saw maybe 25 arches in the day we were there and there are over 2,000 from what I read. You could explore for weeks and not see all the sights. I’m up for the challenge in the future!




Caption (above): My brother and I at the entrance. I laughed SO hard when my brother went into an arch for the picture.


Caption (above): Arches is right outside of Moab ,Utah. I swear 4 of every 10 cars is a jeep. It’s a great place to rent a Jeep and go off-roading. That’s definitely on my to do list for next time I’m out there.




Caption (above): The balanced rocks were both scary and impressive




Caption (above): Had to poke fun just a little. haha


Caption (above): Some Utah scenery


Caption (above): I believe these are called cairns and they are used to mark primitive trails.


Caption (above): My brother Steve at a VERY VERY large arch




Caption (above): Steve and I at the arches


Caption (above): I just had to. Funny thing is I almost got blown away it was so damn windy.


Caption (above): This cracked me up.



Caption (above): Whatever this is called, I liked it.


Caption (above): MASSIVE. I was a good ½ mile away.


Caption (above): I was fascinated by the cacti for some reason




Caption (above): The clouds looked so amazing as the backdrop to the rocks






Caption (above): I LOVED this series of pictures. I spent a good 25 minutes photographing this thing. It was windy and crazy sand storm hit and I had to just stay down for like 3 minutes to avoid getting it in my eyes and face. Mental note: wear pants during sand storm because it HURTS.


Caption (above): More amazing clouds


Caption (above): The delicate arch is THE arch at Arches National Park. Unfortunately I got there with the sun right above me so it was hard to photograph it. I FREAKED out here. It was REALLY windy and any misstep meant falling a couple of thousand feet. I saw two people lose water bottles and have them roll down the canyon. It was AMAZINGLY beautiful beyond what the pictures show but it was definitely dangerous.


Caption (above): I also really liked this one.


Caption (above): Trail to heaven?


Caption (above): Mountains, snow, clouds, etc. Such varied landscapes.


Caption (above): WOW. I wish you could see this in person. The picture is about 1/100th of how beautiful and grand it is in person.


Caption (above): My brother Steve



Caption (above): Yo




Caption (above): We had to hike to find this little valley.


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Caption (above): The sand dune arch was beautiful but Jesus was it painful to hike through a sand storm. The sand is going so fast that it hits your face and legs and stings like crazy. It also is difficult to see if you’re not wearing sunglasses.


Caption (above): My favorite picture with a cactus in it.


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Caption (above): Canyonlands was the mini Grand Canyon park. I loved it. It was the most remote of all the parks and you could spend weeks on a 4x4 exploring this place.




Caption (above): At the entrance.


Caption (above): I completely FAILED in not bringing a wide angle lens. The scale of these canyons was unbelievable.


Caption (above): My lucky hiking / road trip hat.


Caption (above): Funny that my favorite arch was NOT in arches national park. This thing had a view of mountains, snow, canyons and if you took one step back you’d plummet a couple of thousand feet to your death.




Caption (above): One of my new favorite places on the planet.



Caption (above): What I look like when I don’t shave for a week.




Caption (above): More canyons




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Caption (above): My brother was such a great road trip buddy and I’m glad he joined me. It wouldn’t have been the same without him. I especially liked our finding a sports bar MILES outside of Zion to watch the NCAA finals. haha

We spent the second day at Bryce Canyon National Park. We LOVED it. I could have easily spent a week there but unfortunately we only had a day. Overall it was the best park we went to with Arches national park in a very close 2nd.





Caption (above): At the entrance


Caption (above): The first thing that struck me about Bryce was how freakin’ cold it was. It was 25 degrees. Being from Los Angeles and living in SF, I’ve never experiences temperatures so low. Burrrrrr




Caption (above): The word of the day when talking about Bryce is hoodoo.

“A hoodoo is a tall thin spire of rock that protrudes from the bottom of an arid drainage basin or badland. Hoodoos are composed of soft sedimentary rock and are topped by a piece of harder, less easily-eroded stone that protects the column from the elements. They are mainly located in the desert in dry, hot areas. “


Caption (above): The valley of hoodos was amazing. This one was called the Queen’s Garden.




Caption (above): As we hikes for miles, every now and then we’d turn a corner and be completely blown away by the sight before us. This was one of them.



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Caption (above): I liked this picture.


Caption (above): I lieked the little tree with the valley in the backdrop.










Caption (above): My brother and I pose in the hoodoo valley



Caption (above): At this elevation it feels like your lungs are working 3x as hard. I’d hate to be out there in the summer.


Caption (above): The colors were all a bit surreal to me.


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Caption (above): I LOVE taking pictures of open road.



Caption (above): We totally lucked out on the weather. It was clear and beautiful the whole time.




Caption (above): Steve and I at the Bryce point overlook






Caption (above): I chatted with a woman at the post office and she left quite an impression on me. She had been working at this post office in what I would describe as the middle of nowhere and had been working there for 18 years. Her post office was adorned with tributes to fallen soldiers which I found very admirable. I don’t even know why but she left such a profound impression on me and as I chatted with her I felt like I was interviewing her for This American Life.







Caption (above): We briefly stopped at Capitol Reef

Caption (above): One tradition I have on roadtrips is getting a picture with the state sign at every crossing. Here are some of my brother and I.


Caption (above): Our ride for the road trip was a 2009 Chevy Equinox LT that I rented from Enterprise. I was pleased with the $250 weekly rate. The car also went close to 450 miles on one tank of gas so that also was awesome.




Caption (above): First stop: Zion National Park (Utah)


Caption (above): I wont even lie: I wasn’t that impressed by Zion. It seemed way too structured. Some people may like to be shuttled around to the trailheads and not being given the option to drive but I didn’t really appreciate it. I completely understand that it cuts down on emissions but I just felt trapped at Zion and it probably interfered with my opinion of it since everyone I know that has gone there has raved about it and I thought it was just ok.


Caption (above): If I had to sum up Zion and most of my trip the one word I would use that sums up everything is “scale”. The size of these rock formations awe-inspiring. I had never seen such massive structures in my life.



Caption (above): Random, but I enjoyed seeing thing I normally wouldn’t find naturally in a big city.


Caption (above): Everywhere I went I kept seeing shapes in the rocks. This one reminded me of an eagle.


Caption (above): The “waterfall” at lower emerald pools


Caption (above): The size and texture of this mountain blew me away


Caption (above): More so than when I walk around normally, having a camera forces me to look for textures and things I would normally ignore.




Caption (above): I was really excited to be able to capture this on film (er, digital).


Caption (above): The Chevy never let us down. haha


Caption (above): The checkerboard mountain and tree made for an awesome sight


Caption (above): I saw this from the side of the road and it just looked so beautiful so we hiked in to photograph it.


Caption (above): Cacti and the mountain


Caption (above): My brother was the adventurous one and climbed the mountain to see a little tree he spotted at the top.


Caption (above): If you know me, you know I’m a pretty mellow guy. Thi strip, however, really gave me the opportunity to not worry about anything. My only focus was on enjoying myself and taking in the experience of the road trip and all the beauty that surrounded us.

I left San Francisco on Sunday April 5th, 2009. While my initial plan was to do the trip by myself I was fortunate enough to have my brother Steve join me. This was a pleasant surprise since my brother lives in Los Angeles and I don’t get to spend as much time with him as I would like. He made for a great road trip buddy.

The itinerary was:

Day 1: Zion National Park
Day 2: Capitol Reef National park + Bryce Canyon National Park
Day 3: Arches National Park + Canyonlands National Park

Reactions to this trip ranged from “I’m jealous” to the more common “why” when people were told that I was going to Utah on my spring break.

I’ve always found it fascinating how people place a value judgment on the places you choose to travel. I often hear the expression that someone is well traveled but rarely do I hear it used in reference to domestic travel. Believe me that I am not one of those Americans that believes that America is the greatest place on the planet and therefore that’s an excuse to not have a passport and never leave this great land…but there is something to be said for exploring this great land we call home.

And that my friends is the reason I have been so bent on exploring the national parks system. For one, I feel that the national parks system is a gift to all Americans. These are lands that were set aside for their unique beauty for all of us to enjoy for generations to come. The idea was that these lands represented the best of the U.S. and were to be conserved for us, our children and our children’s children to enjoy.

Going back to foreign versus domestic travel - while I have been abroad (though admittedly only through Latin America) I find great value in exploring the different cultures, ideologies and geography that grace this land. This country is so remarkably different (and similar) from state to state that it would be a shame for us to confine ourselves to our home state regardless of how amazing it may be (PS: California rocks).

I’m no tree hugger. I’m a guy who grew up in the inner city of Los Angeles and never went on a hike until his sophomore year in college. By no means was I born into a granola-toting family, but now that I’ve been exposed to the great outdoors you can be certain that my children will be exposed to something other than a major metropolis and its concrete jungle.

As I travel through the country I come to realize that as Americans there are things that certainly divide us, but there is also beauty in those things that bond us regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or other things that otherwise differentiate us.

I hope this next series of journal entries will inspire you to pick up and explore your city, state, neighboring states and perhaps even inspire you to take a cross country road trip some day.

Some stats from the trip:



3 states
5 national parks
2,427 miles. (keep in mind LA to NY is 2,791 miles)

A video recap in pictures:



You can find all the pictures from the trip at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/calmenda/collections/72157616485856175/

If you’ve kept up with my blog for the last couple of years you know a couple of things:

1) I hate to stay home.
2) When given a vacation I LOVE to go on road trips.

Next week is my spring break and as tempting as it is to party it up with 19 year olds in Mexico, Florida or Arizona I’m going to take a different route.

For years now I have wanted to visit Utah. I know immediately some eyes will begin to roll. And I second that … to some extent. However, Utah is supposed to be one of the most AMAZINGLY beautiful states in the Union from what I have heard from friends who have travelled there.

I’m packing up on Sunday (April 5th)and not returning until the following Sunday (April 12th).

At this point it’s a solo trip. I think it will be good for me. Solo trip translates into really long and wordy blogs of a very reflective nature. You have been warned. Haha





My itinerary is to drive from SF to Las Vegas where I will visit a cousin. From Vegas I will head to Utah and do the Grand Circle that hits the 5 national parks in Utah.

I think this trip will be a nice change of scenery for me. I love the coast and haven’t been exposed much to the southwest and desert environments.

These are some pictures from some of the places I will visit:





















I will have my laptop and hope to update from the road, but we’ll see if that is actually possible.

I rented a small SUV for the week so the plan is to sleep in that. We’ll see if that pans out. If the weather is decent I will sleep in a tent, but that remains to be seen.

I expect this to be a great learning experience for me and I am hoping for some awesome pictures.

Wish me luck!

I like to think I’m persistent. I also hate to stay home so when I injured my knee a couple of weeks ago it stopped my training but that didn’t mean I couldn’t socialize with my triathlon team or help out.

Last weekend we went to the Wildflower Triathlon Training weekend at Lake San Antonio and I was able to be the roving photographer.



Caption (for picture above): The campsite overlooked Lake San Antonio



Caption (for picture above): This video will give you an idea of what it was like at our tent site



Caption (for picture above): Our “two” man tent was very…cozy



Caption (for picture above): This will give you an idea of how small that tent was. Haha ** insert brokeback mountain jokes here **


Caption (for picture above): It was a pretty large group so a great opportunity to
socialize and meet other triathletes.


Caption (for picture above): If you can’t beat them, join them.


Caption (for picture above): Hyphy or raver. You decide?


Caption (for picture above): Swim cap and lae?


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Here go some pictures from the actual training weekend:


Caption (for picture above): Phototegenic even in the freezing water @ 8am!



Caption (for picture above): I spy you!


Caption (for picture above): I love that she wore the lae on the ride


Caption (for picture above): Hook em horns?


Caption (for picture above): The lone rider


Caption (for picture above): Ipod ad?


Caption (for picture above): The little sombrero CRACKED me up.


Caption (for picture above): Bad picture but I’m glas I was able to capture the moment


Caption (for picture above): Piotr almost hit me. oops


Caption (for picture above): We’re happy runners


Caption (for picture above): It was pretty warm out there


Caption (for picture above): More high energy people


Caption (for picture above): I want a breaking a sweat picture!


Caption (for picture above): Totally a joke we were playing– the Michigan gangster. haha


Caption (for picture above): Classic shot


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On the way back from the Wildlfower Training weekend we decided to take Highway 1 rather than the much quicker 101. It was DEFINITELY worth the extra hours it took us so we could enjoy the views of the Pacific Coast Highway.


Caption (for picture above): Julia Pfeiffer burns waterfalls


Caption (for picture above): I’m a big fan of the flower and the scenic background picture


Caption (for picture above): It was so pretty it makes you want to picture text your relatives in freezing climates. haha


Caption (for picture above): The coast in Big Sur


Caption (for picture above): My paparazzi zoom in action


Caption (for picture above): More paparazzi zoom. Megan embraces the fields.


Caption (for picture above): Group shot


Caption (for picture above): Whoa, I get a solo picture! (as the photographer I don’t have too many pictures of me floating around – relative to the number I take anyways)


Caption (for picture above): Megan @ the falls


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So, apparently I made it to the front page of the SF Chronicle with y Snuggie antics.

This is the photo from the article:



The article is at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/29/LVTI16LG23.DTL

There is also a video. Video is at: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1407952648?bctid=17895853001