Looking to the new year

When I was an emo high-schooler and had a xanga blog at the end of December I used to always fill out and post this super-long questionaire about all my firsts, achievements, highlights, song lyrics describing the past year, etc.  Since I'm trying not to be that emo anymore but I'd still like to write something to conclude the year, I've decided to go with a list of PLANS (not resolutions, because I never keep those) for 2011:

1.  We'll start with the obvious one:  weight.  Ugh, I hate this.  Over the past few years I've pretty much realized that my natural "eat-whatever-I-want-and-occasionally-exercise" weight is a good 20 pounds more than I would like to be.  That sucks!  Oh, how I hate those people who can eat whatever they want and never gain a pound!  (Like my boyfriend, argh.)  I am SO TIRED of fighting my cravings and trying to lose it.  I know that if I could just suck it up and stick to a diet it would only take a few months to lose that pesky 20.  I've done it before, around junior year of college.  But of course I gained it all back a year or so later with my pre-Peace Corps feasting.  So this year, I've gotta do it!  I have the gym thing down (surprisingly, I never thought I'd be able to make myself a morning exerciser, but I've gotten in the habit thanks to sharing a car and Zach's early work schedule) so the diet is the missing piece.  I'm going to try to really discipline my calorie intake and only splurge for special occasions.  My goal is to be high-school weight again by the end of March.  So now it's on the internet!  Anyone who reads this better hold me to it!

2.  Get some nifty camera equipment.  It has been far too long since I've done anything with my major and my passion for documentary.  Now that I've at least got a steady paycheck, the goal is to pick up a few big things I need in order to start churning out work again.  This plan is also an integral piece of my latest big scheme (below).

3.  Be happier and less whiny.  I'm afraid to say the tumultuousness of the past year has too often made me into an unpleasant grump.  Zach faces the brunt of this, which is not at all fair.  Sure, my life took a complete 180 this year and I went through a lot of huge changes and emotional turmoil.  But I'm feeling more settled now and focusing a lot less on what I gave up (Peace Corps).  Sure I don't love my job now but at least I have one!  And, I have a grand escape scheme (below) to look forward to so I'm going to start looking on the bright side and being more cheerful in my day-to-day life!

4.  Study Spanish.  I have so much free time at work that I need to use for something other than internet surfing.  This also relates to the upcoming big shebang (below...don't you love how I leave it to last?).

Okay, here it is:
5.  Continue planning and begin LA AVENTURA PROJECT!!!!!!!  "What," you may ask, "is that?"  Well, friends, La Aventura Project is the latest, greatest, and biggest travel scheme which Zach and I have come up with.  As you all know, I can't stay in the US for more than a couple years straight without going nuts, and Zach has never really left the country (I don't count Canada and the Bahamas).  Add our good friend  Melissa, who is also feeling a bit bored with the 9 to 5 and itching for an adventure.  Then add the cheapest other continent to fly to from the US, and thus, most appealing destination at this time.  You guessed it: South America!  Here's what's going down:  In October of 2011 the three of us are going to take one backpack each, my camera equipment, our (sure to still be) very limited knowledge of Spanish, and $6,000 each and fly from Columbus to Colombia.  The rough plan is to spend an entire year and travel around the whole continent on $17/day each.  We will volunteer on organic farms (through WWWOOF.org), orphanages or other NGOs, and couchurf in order to get free accomodation and spend less money.  I will also make a sweet-ass documentary about our travel experiences and all the awesome stories we're sure to find.  So yeah, that's the big plan.  It's going to take a lot of fundraising, saving, and planning.  And it's going to be awesome.  We are setting up a blog for the trip, which can be found here.  So bookmark that now, yo!  I'll be sure to post updates as we get more prep done and get closer to the trip.  It's gonna be awesome.

So those are my basic plans for 2011.  Let's get to it!

Arizona Adventure: Verde Hot Springs

Last weekend Zach and I took a mini-trip 2.5 hours from home to the Verde Hot Springs. The springs are located just outside of Camp Verde but the dirt forest road you take for the last 30 miles of the journey takes at least an hour to traverse. The road was not at all well-maintained, really rocky and full of potholes. Also the fact that it ran up and over hills right on the cliff's edge made it quite white knuckle! To say that it reminded me of roads in Tanzania would NOT be an exaggeration at all.  The only difference was at least we were not in a huge rickety bus packed with people and chickens!  We saw one abandoned car that had run over the edge and crashed into a tree part-way down a hill. Who knows how those poor people fared? We had a truck and I would say a high-clearance vehicle like that is totally necessary, although we did meet a couple people who somehow made it there in their compact rental car (they figured "it's a rental...we can trash it.")

The natural hot springs are right along the Verde River. In the 1920s someone built a huge resort and hotel right on top of the springs and it existed until being destroyed by a fire in the 1960s. It was never rebuilt and now all that exists is the concrete foudations along the river. We parked our car in the "campground" (no amenities and only a few other people) and hiked about 1/2 mile upriver to the crossing. Yes, the campground is on the opposite side of the river as the hot springs so you have to ford the river to get to them. No bridge! We found the best place to cross with the help of a random old man and plunged in. It was COLD!! This is December after all, even if we were in the desert part of Arizona. The water was a little above our knees and the current was stronger than we expected. On our first time crossing I totally fell in and got soaked up to my neck and Zach lost a flip-flop to the current. (He needs Chacos!)  As soon as we made it across we were totally breathless from the cold water! Luckily, the hot springs were only a few bends and steps away!  Here they are in all their glory, the Verde Hot Springs:

(the stone wall encloses another pool inside with lots of cool artwork all over the inside walls)

The springs were soooooo pleasant and relaxing!!!  The pool inside the stone structure was A LOT hotter, probably because it's smaller.  It was basically a hot tub.  The outside one was still plenty warm and the view from there was stunning.  So we basically had to alternate between one tub and the other every half hour or so to maintain perfect temperature.  We did meet a few other people there since this place is still quite popular among hippies.  Despite the resort being gone for 50 years now apparently volunteers still come down several times a year to clean and maintain the pools.  I'll try to post some pictures of all the cool grafitti and murals once we upload them.  One other note: this would be a perfect place to get rid of your tan lines, seeing as one of the steps has the phrase "No clothes required!" painted onto it, and people do indeed follow this instruction.  So be prepared.

Overall, we had a great time at the hot springs and I am excited to explore some more natural hot springs since they are all over the west!