We have arrived in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan!

Last you heard from us, we were in Madrid, Spain and getting ready to head back to the airport for our flight to Istanbul. 

And seeing as we were going back to the airport anyhow, they had said that we should be able to pick up Ruth's carry on bag that had been on an adventure of it's own when it went missing.

"There has been an incident with your baggage"

Well, we have arrived in Madrid, Spain... but it wasn't a totally smooth travel day!

And the problems started right at the beginning. We always take the bus from our nearby town of El Arco into Mexico City. We've done it many times and there have always been lots of empty seats. So we never book in advance. Well, it turns out that we have never done it on a Sunday!

And we're off... but with one little glitch!

We are starting a three day travel marathon this afternoon. First we have the two hour bus ride into Mexico City, then a half hour metro (subway, underground) ride to MEX airport.

Our flight doesn't leave for Madrid until 11:55pm, so we have lots of time and don't have to rush.

8 Flights over the next 2 months!

The excitement is building for our first ever around the world trip!

All flights and accommodations are booked for the whole trip, and while that sounds a little too organized for our liking, there is actually a lot of flexibility once we arrive at our destinations.

What's the plan for Japan?

We were originally going to fly back to Mexico City from China. But there's only one direct flight per week, and it's ridiculously expensive. So we decided we could hop, skip, and jump our way back for much less money.

And so we found flights from Hong Kong to Tokyo to Vancouver to Mexico City for almost half the price of the direct one.

Rainy season has begun

I think we're going to enjoy it when we return on July 23rd. We'll be back here at the house for a month until August 20th.

Yesterday, they were calling for a thunderstorm, and boy did we ever get one!

Caught in the rain!

First of all, thanks for all the anniversary well wishes yesterday! 

We had a good day... we had to go into town anyhow, so we timed it around lunch and went out for a meal to our favorite enchiladas restaurant here in Valle de Bravo.

And they said it wouldn't last...

Actually, only one person said it wouldn't last... my friend Paul, who at the time said we hadn't known each other long enough and he gave it five years. He has now been married three times!

Ruth and I met on March 5, 1983 and within two months we had decided to get married. But we didn't tell anyone yet because they would have thought we were nuts!

Thought this was funny...

I didn't leave the house all weekend! Unbelievable. This trip planning is fun for me, and I enjoy it, but it sure is time consuming.

Ruth did manage to get out and pick up a few groceries from the local shops.

Our China trip plan... the planning is half the fun!

I spent much of the day yesterday doing trip planning for our upcoming three weeks in China.

We arrive in Chengdu on June 21st, and up until yesterday that was all we had planned or booked. We had an idea of some of the places we wanted to go, but didn't have a route or accommodations booked. That is now changed, although I'm not done yet!

That's it, we're going back to Canada!

"That's it, we're going back to Canada!". As we joke to each other sometimes when we have a frustrating day. But it's definitely just a joke. A bad day in Mexico is better than a good day in Canada!

So we had three problems yesterday, two of which are still not fixed despite literally hours of trying.

Lots to keep us busy for the next ten days!

The other day, we were invited to our friends Fernando. Yessie, and their daughter Aminah's house for lunch. 

Fernando had been away on a business trip to Bangladesh, so that was really interesting talking to him about that.

We are well stocked up on wine!

Coming home to an empty fridge and cupboards meant we had to get into town and do a grocery shop yesterday. 

There's a discount store in Mexico called Tiendas 3B that often has some great deals, and we learned recently that they have a boxed red wine that is quite good.

I can't believe we made it!

A bit of a long travel day, but really, considering that we sat on buses for 9 hours, we felt the time went by fast enough.

Our hotel in Oaxaca, the Hotel Posada San Rafael was a bit of a disappointment though.

An evening in Oaxaca City

We spent the morning and into the afternoon getting Igor all cleaned up and ready to be stored. At least he'll be clean when we return in October. Other than a layer of dust I expect!

Then we drove over to the storage place. This is the old Oaxaca Campground that we stayed at several times in the past.