Matts teaching tequnices

I had the opportunity to take photos of our friends girlfriend getting a lesson from Matt. Laura not only did awesome in her lesson she made the pictures beautiful! We're hoping we can market this as an extra option to someone that would like their whole experience documented to share with family and friends. Thanks Laura!!!

Getting the trainer kite rolled out

Learning about the trainer kite and bar

Launching for the first time

Matt giving instructions on what he wants Laura to do

Time for the big kite

Learning how to hold the kite

Learning about the more intricate bar

Laura feeling what it is like to have all her weight on the harness not her arms like the trainer

Safety one let go of the bar

Safety two pop the chicken loop release

Safety three pop the leash release and let the kite go

Learning how to make a larks head knot to attach the bar to the kite

Matt showing Laura how to launch the kite

Now its Laura's turn

Matt using his kite instructor leash

Time to go body dragging through the water

In they go the water is a chilly 82 degrees

Off she goes!

El Yunque Rain Forest

We explored a bit of the El Yunque Rain Forest yesterday. The directions said it was 36 mins away I would say it was more like an hour away but next time we go it won't feel that long because I won't feel like I'm lost. There are several trails to explore and even a guided tour you can go on with the US forest service for a donation of $5. We were too late to join a tour so we just drove to the end of the road and started with a 30 minute hike to a look out tower.

As you can see it was beautiful but my favorite part was when the heavens opened and we got drenched! We had to find some shelter so I could put my coat over my backpack and we happened to pick a tiny shelter that was already full of people. The funny thing was Kristah and Sins wanted to get out of the rain just like everyone else and there was a lady deathly afraid of dogs, she just had to deal with it.

We made it up to the tower and it was "socked in". The clouds would roll through and if we were lucky we would get a sneak peak of the ocean. We plan on going up there again on a clear day. On our way home we stopped off at a road side restaurant where none of them spoke any English and the only thing we recognised on the menu was "camarones". We got a plate of shrimp and tostones which are fried mini pancakes made out of plantains, delicious!

Our Big Puerto Rican Adventure

02.17.2011
We've been here for a week now and have finally been able to relax but not completely. Matt started to get a back ache (not in the same spot but in the same area) right before we left Seattle, he is on steroids and that is helping. He's had two full days of work in a row and is really enjoying it. There are no scheduled lessons today and it is his last dose of steroids so he will be taking it very easy.

When we arrived at SeaTac Airport the girls (Kristah & Sins) didn't know what was going on because they've never been able to get out of the car when we have been to the airport before. Inside they were on their best behavior (or maybe it was just so early they didn’t bother making any ruckus). Matt dealt with getting the girls paper work and flights situated and we walked them with the airline representative to TSA so they could preform their standard inspection of the kennels before we said goodbye to them. We had been kennel training the girls for this very moment and Kristah couldn't have done any better getting in (at one point she ask if she could get in her kennel early by scratching on the door because she was tired). The airline representative even commented on how easy she was. Sins on the other hand took a little more persuading with treats.

In Dallas, TX we were able to watch them get the girls off the plane and put them in a “holding area” until they were transported to the next plane. Matt had his binoculars and was able to see up close that they were fine. Sins was even drinking out of the hamster type bottle made for dogs that we attached to the kennel doors! It was so great to see that they were not bug eyed, panting or foaming at the mouth.

We arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico at 10:30pm local time. It was so hot and humid, more so than Belize. We rushed down to the baggage area to get the girls. They came out on the conveyer belt and the workers got them off. Kristah was scratching and winning to get out even before she saw us. We got them out and I took them straight outside to go to the bathroom. They were so happy to be there. Matt was collecting the baggage and realized we were missing one bag, our clothing bag. He put a claim in as I walked outside with a porter, the girls and all our things.

The taxi cab didn't quite know where our hotel was thankfully I could get to my email on my phone to get the address. Matt checked us in as I waited outside. Two girls walked by and said hi to my girls. They were so excited for us when I told them what we were up to and they said my girls would have so much fun running around on the beach. They went into our hotel and out again and said the bar was closed. That was too bad because Matt and I wanted to get a cervesa as soon as we put our things in our room.

We had a good chat with the hotel receptionist and he told us we could walk down the street less than a mile and there was a bar that would be open. We saw the bar but we didn't think that they would let the girls in or sell us a beer to go so we kept walking. We ran into two police officers standing on a corner. Matt did an excellent job asking them where we could find a beer and snack. They pointed us to the Super Max a grocery store a few blocks away. It felt more like a few miles away but we were successful and headed back to the hotel.

We didn't sleep very well knowing that we had a lot of work ahead of us. We took the girls out to the beach for their morning walk and was surprised with all the early morning dog walkers. It was like an off leash dog park beach! We headed back for our continental breakfast and to call Mrs. Sanchez the realtor I have been talking to via email for the last couple of weeks. Breakfast was the best continental breakfast we'd ever had and the coffee was delicious as well.

Mrs. Sanchez called me back and said she would pick us up at 2pm. Matt took a nap and I did some more research online for a place to live just in case she didn't have what we were looking for. 2 pm rolled around and Mrs. Sanchez called to tell us there was a lot of traffic but she was on her way. 3 pm rolled around and she called to tell me she was lost. I text her the address and got Matt and the girls up ready to go. We waited out on the beach for her to call.

She took us to a huge apartment/condo complex in Isla Verde that we later found out she lived in as well. The place was nice but not completely furnish like we had asked for and was at the top of our budget. We think she took offense to us telling her that is was not what we were looking for and tried to explain what we were looking for. I was starting to get irritated because I had a feeling this would happen. You tell a realtor what you are looking for and they just show you what they want you to buy. As we drove away she kept saying that all the things I was looking at on the internet were for long term contracts and they probably did not allow dogs. I wasn't going to argue that I only looked at places that allowed dogs and I contacted every ad asking them if they would do a 3 month lease.

She dropped us off telling us that she would do some more research and call me tonight with some more things to see tomorrow. When she didn't call me that night I knew she would not be coming to pick us up the next day. All I have to say is that Mrs. Sanchez is a cow.

The next day Matt and I got busy calling ads we thought might be what we were looking for. A realtor by the name of Brenda picked us up and took us to an apartment that her husband was the contractor of the building. Once we took the tour we new it was perfect, again at the top of our budget including utilities but we were getting desperate. Brenda took us home and we went for a walk down the beach. There were some kiters at the very eastern part of the beach so I suggested we walk to them and find out if it is Matts future boss. We met Justin and Poulo who did in fact work for Phil at Kitesurfing PR. Justin told someone to go and get Phil while we chatted. Justin asked us if we knew a guy by the name of Formo. We told him ya we knew Jason & Lauren and that we hang out & kite with them back at home. He told us a funny story about Jason in college (Jason I'll tell you later ;-) Phil came out and was excited to meet us. His wife Karla came out and introduced herself and told Phil there were some people wanting a lesson tomorrow. He gave Matt a look and said we need you dude. Matt laughed and told him that we were still getting settled in. We got to talking about what kind of places we had found and both Phil and Justin said there must be some places for rent in the neighborhood next to us (when the place we found was only a few blocks in land of where we stood).

We got a rental car the next day at a steal because nobody came to pick us up when we had arranged for one and when the guy did finally come to get us he got lost and was pretty late. It felt good to have our own transportation to look for places by ourselves. We checked out of the hotel and went searching for rent signs in the neighborhoods Phil and Justin told us about. I called and or talked to every sign we saw. The places were either to big, to expensive or unfurnished. We thought we should find another hotel to sleep in one more night but couldn't find a room. Matt called Brenda to ask what she could do for us to get us into the place she showed us.

Brenda and her husband met us at their office after business hours to sign the lease. We drove a few blocks to the apartment where we did a walk through with a check list of what was there and what things needed to be taken care of like a few spots needed to be painted, nothing big. They handed us the keys and we had a new home for the next 3 months!

We knew it was going to be stressful but not that stressful. The last few days have been running errands to stock up on groceries and little things that we will need, putting stuff away and trying to figure out how to get internet. The building isn't full but we have met 3 of our neighbors Brenda (not the realtor), Rebecca and Milton all very nice people willing to help us with anything and they all love the girls. As I said Matt has been working and really enjoying it and is now resting his back. That gets us all caught up for now I'll be advertising through facebook again when I have added more.

Belize 2010_40

LAST DAY IN PARADISE!!! So sad.

We woke up at 6am and hauled all of our luggage out to the boat. I rode Cinthia in on my bike so she would be some what worn out. I met madre' at the BC's dock and we went to the airport so I could grab my money and Cinthia's kennel. I walked the kennel and madre' rode my bike with Cinthia to Tropic Cargo. Alberto was there just like he said he would be and we paid for Cinthia, crossed our fingers that she would be on our flight and headed back to the main terminal to wait for our flight. About 5 mins before we were to board madre' saw Cinthia being wheeled to our plane. That was a stress reliever. We said our goodbyes with lots of hugs and kisses (thanks again madre' & padre', love you!) and boarded the plane without making eye contact with Cinthia. We sat at the front of the plane and we saw Cinthia being wheeled away and the plane doors being shut! WTF!

There was nothing we could do but hope that she would be on the next flight out. We flew to Caye Caulker expecting the plane to fill up with more people and maybe two people got on! We were very confused as to why she didn't make it on our flight. We got our luggage at Belize International and Matt went straight up to the Continental desk before they were even open and told them what was going on. The Tropic Air manager walked by and he explained everything to him as well. The manager was irate that cargo didn't fill the plane as they were supposed to. They told us that they would make a few calls and let us know what was going on. Another employee from Tropic air was very helpful in letting us know that cargo didn't fill the plane like they were supposed to because there were supposed to be some passengers on Caye Caulker that didn't show up. They were doing all they could to get little Cinthia on the next flight but they new as the day went on the flights were getting full.

All we could do was sit with our baggage and hope to see her come around the corner. At this point everybody working at the airport knew what was going on. We were told to check in for our 3:50pm flight to Huston, TX and if Cinthia made it in time we could change to the 11am flight. After we were checked in William arrived and we let him know what was going on and would she make it in time to get everything taken care of? He had me give him all of her paperwork so he could start processing it just in case when she arrived all we would have to do is slap some stickers on her kennel. It turns out that Continental hires another company to do all this paper work and that is what the extra $200 BZ is for. William was very professional and efficient. He got all the paper work sorted and we were told that she would be on the 10:15am flight, so says the captain of the plane.

I went down to tell this to William and ask if we should even bother changing our flights or would it be too late? He said yes do it and I looked at the massive line for Continental. He told me to get in line and he would see what he could do. Matt had all of our documents so he took Matt up to the front of the line and spoke with a Continental employee and I could see that they were doing something. William came and got me out of line and told me that they had figured everything out and our flights were changed. What a good guy! We walked down to his desk to pay for Cinthia and he still needed the $200 BZ handling fee, in cash don't forget. I was about to cry from all the stress but I didn't need to worry because my man took care of everything. William ended up taking $50 BZ (that was all the cash we had) and writing us an official receipt for the handling fee. Damn my mans good.

As we were paying for everything Cinthia showed up and was so excited to see us. Matt gave her some kibble and she looked pretty normal for what she had just gone through (not like Kristah who would have been freaking out!) William put all the stickers on her cage and they took her back with the luggage. After we were through security we had enough time to grab a hot dog and a coke for breakfast and then it was time to board. We got the emergency exit and it was so spacious. Once we had landed and got through immigrations we picked up our luggage. We thought for sure that we would have to pick up Cinthia and all go through customs together. We asked several different people and we got "yes" "no" "yes""no". We didn't know what to do. I saw someone at the Continental baggage desk and asked her. She clarified how Cinthia was traveling and said no she will go straight through to Seattle.

We had to trust her, go through customs, recheck our luggage, go through security again and find our gate number to Seattle. I think I could breath at this point and thanked Matt so much for all his hard work communicating with everyone because we both knew if I had to do it, it would come out but, but, but. We had Wendy's for lunch and waited for our flight. This flight is always packed and we took off a little later than expected due to finding space for luggage. Our seats were the first ones in coach but there were two ladies sitting in our seats. Once Matt asked me what seat numbers we had they acted as if they made a mistake and we knew that they did it on purpose because of the leg room at the front...bimbos.

A few of us had to put our luggage in first class because there was just no more room. There was this older man trying to shove his extremely full little suit case in the overhead compartment and the stewardess was almost yelling to him that it would not fit so stop shoving. She told him that they would have to check it and he would have to pick it up at baggage claim. I swear I saw this 70 year old man turn into a 7 year old having a temper tantrum. I squeezed by and sat in my seat. When we landed we let all the first class out so we could get to our bags and the old man saw that someone (the stewardess) had put our laptop on his clothes bag (the kind a suit goes in with the hangers sticking out the top) and he freaked out and threw our laptop into the next overhead compartment. I laughed to myself and told Matt, the stewardess heard me and apologized for the old mans behavior. We caught up to the old man and his wife and Matt politely told him that just because he was upset with the airline does not give him the right to throw around other peoples luggage.

At this point if he was a cartoon his head would be filling with steam and it would be whistling out his ears. He yelled something back and we just laughed at him as his wife was standing in between us trying to direct him forward. It made for a pretty entertaining flight. We got our bags and asked where we should pick up Cinthia. They gave us a map and said the cargo building a couple of miles away.

Karlene was right on time and we headed straight for the cargo building. With the way our day was going I thought for sure that it would be closed. They were open and we signed for Cinthia and got her from the back. She was so excited to see us and I leashed her up and we went outside for a potty. I wanted to give her a drink but her food and water bowls were not with her kennel (like the website told us to have accessible). I went back in to ask were they were and they said they did not see them but gave me a little bowl and water.

As we drove home we sussed out a plan for Kristah to meet Cinthia. I knew if we walked her in the house Kristah would freak out and bark at her so we had Karlene hold her on a leash in the front yard while we went in to say high and get love. She loved us all right but could smell Cinthia all over us. After a couple of minutes we opened the door for them to meet and it went pretty well. Kristah didn't bark once but she wasn't wiggling her tail she was too busy investigating. Cinthia of course wanted to jump all over Kristah so we took them both in the house and out to the backyard for another potty before bedtime.

Belize 2010_39

Its our last full day in paradise and we decided to walk up to Captain Morgans to give the coffee guy one last chance. He said he was still waiting on his stronger coffee to come in (he's from Portland, he knows how we Seattlelites like our coffee). He told Matt that he would make them as strong as we wanted no extra charge. They were still weak and I think we nailed the problem. We think he was using regular ground coffee for espresso coffee. I tried that once because I was desperate and it tasted exactly the same, watery! Oh-well we tried, at least Cinthia liked it ;)

We had to have our last breakfast at My Secret Deli but Oscar wasn't even there to say goodbye. He was in Belize City on business. As we were finishing up padre' got a call from Continental Airlines, for me. William the guy setting up Cinthia's plane ticket home called to tell me that we needed to get her to Belize International 2 hours before our flight to process all the paper work and she would need to be in the States 2 hours before we flew to Seattle to clear customs (we only had a 1 hour and 51 minute layover) or she would have to stay overnight for $100 US. That was not the disturbing part, he also told me that there would be a handling fee of $200 BZ ($100 US) that needed to be paid in cash to him. I wanted to scream out loud! I am so done with Continental Airlines they are pathetic. We were already knee deep with getting Cinthia home so I just dismissed that and started the process of changing our flights to get her to Belize International 2 hours before we flew out and an earlier flight to Huston to clear customs.

First stop after lunch was Tropic Air, they are the airline that flies from island to main land. We had no problem changing our flight except the lady said that the dog will have to fly in the back of the plane and will be charged anywhere from 1 seat to 3 seats. Just to let you know 1 seat is $100+ US! We told her that Tropic Air Cargo told us that she could fly free. She called over to the cargo building and said that nobody there talked to us about that. We rode our bikes the few blocks down the road to the cargo building to explain our situation. The man that told us Cinthia would be no problem, as he put it was not there. Alberto was at the front desk and he was a great help calling the main terminal to ask why she would be a problem and help us in figuring out a way to get her to Belize Int. We finally decided she would fly for $15 BZ as cargo but that would not be guaranteed (cargo only flies when there is space on the plane). We took a gamble and said we would be there to drop her off at 7:30am for the 8am flight.

Back to Tropic Air to change our flights for good to the 8am flight. They have no problem with customers changing flights no charge as long as the flight is not full. When the flights were all taken care of we rode down to SAGA to officially pay for Cinthia and Madre' gave a very generous donation. Ingrid said good bye to Cinthia, thanked us for all our volunteering and gave us the last donation bucket (which had a few more dollars in it). After all that stress we had to go for ice cream. The gal at Mariano's Arcade that scoops our ice cream gave us an extra scoop because padre' came in after breakfast to get an ice cream and head home but he just happened to mention that we were leaving tomorrow. Thanks padre'!

On our way home we ran into Jean and her dog Snoopy. Cinthia and Snoopy got along like they were long lost buddies, Jean was so surprised and happy. We let them play for a good long while before we had to separate them so we could go on our way. As soon as we got home we started the daunting task of packing. We were planning on going out but I didn't feel like it as we were packing. We got done around 8pm and madre' convinced me that we should go out. So glad she did we had a great last night at Legends Burger House for Jam Night. We thought we would only stay for a few songs since we had to get up super early but we ended up staying until we got kicked out. We said goodbye to everyone and headed home.