Warming up for Guinea in Corpus Christi, Texas

I'm writing this post from sunny, hot, Corpus Christi, Texas. I'm not kidding about the heat. There is no sign of autumn here. None. No red or yellow leaves, no crisp air or chilly nights. Okay, so I've seen a few pumpkins around and kids are talking about Halloween. But the parents and grandparents with whom I've spoken have talked about making sure the little ones wear light, cool costumes so they don't get overheated! What?! I remember dreaming about this kind of weather during those cold winter nights in Missoula. I guess I hadn't factored mosquitoes or sweaty sheets into my fantasies. Of course, this is wonderful practice for Guinea where it will be just like this except without air conditioning- ouch!

My dad and I are here visiting Matt and his family as well as my dad's sister (aunt Mirta) and her extended family. I'll be at Matt's family's house until October 24th. I'll then fly back to California and Matt will drive back a few days later. At that point it'll be crunch time in terms of preparing for our trip. In the meantime, though, I'm having a great time catching up with family here. It's been over 3 years since Matt and I have been to Corpus Christi and it's nice to be back. The food here is amazing. We've been eating Tex-Mex everyday. The other specialty in South Texas is something the Texans call BBQ. This confused me during my first visit. I assumed that when people invited me to BBQ they meant some sort of backyard thing- A grill, a guy in an apron, some macaroni salad, etc. etc. I was wrong. BBQ is a whole class of restaurant that specializes in meat. I've been to casual BBQ places and I've been to fancy places. Aside from serving meat, all of these places seem to have at least a few animal horns hanging on the wall. I've been here almost a week and haven't yet been to BBQ. This scares me since it means that all of my inevitable BBQ experiences will probably happen all at once toward the end of the trip. This could be an intestinal nightmare.

This last month (in California and now in Texas) has been full of all kinds of little tasks to get ready for our trip. Lately it's been about buying things- gifts for our friends in Guinea, a backpack for Matt, and now a camera. I *finally* bought a digital camera. I dragged the process out a long time but feel really good about what I ended up with. I got a lot of help from the local camera shop in Missoula, The Dark Room. I bought the camera from them via the phone and they sent it to me in California (it would have been too easy for me to buy it while I was actually in Missoula...). The people at The Dark Room have been amazing- so helpful and friendly. Hats off to them for putting up with me and all of my questions. Now that I have the camera I'm still calling them with questions about how to use the darn thing! Here are some photos of Corpus Christi that I've taken with the new camera.

Matt and his mom

Matt and his dad

My dad and me

Matt, me, my dad, aunt Mirta and her dog Willy at my aunt's house

A small beach across the street from Matt's neighborhood where we went swimming a few days ago. I couldn't believe how warm the water was! It was like taking a warm bath.

Matt Jumping rope near the warf.

A memorial for Selena- Corpus Christi's pride and joy

(I'm not sure why they decided to immortalize her without a shirt)

Shots from our walk along the water: