Friday, October 12, 2007

First week in Mexico!

Hello! Kristin and I are wrapping up our first week in Mexico, in which we are participating in a instruction-based tour with Motodiscovery. We met Sam, Rob, David, Bryan and the rest of the gang in El Paso, TX. We crossed into Mexico and worked our way south to Creel, which sits on the northern edge of Copper Canyon National Park. This canyon is INCREDIBLE. It is deeper than the Grand Canyon, and believe it or not, probably more rugged. We have been learning to ride our dual sport motorcycles, and just spent two days riding into the canyon. We are learning a tremendous amount, and definitely considering this region for future Alzar trips.

Probably the neatest thing we have done so far, though, is to drop off the large box of school supplies that we brought. We found a VERY rural school for indigenous peoples in the town of Quirare. Thanks to the Key Club at Boise High for gathering the majority of the supplies. The kids really needed the supplies, and appreciate them. We´ve got pictures and will be posting them on our website when we get back.

Tomorrow we head off on our own… just two Bierle´s and the road. We will probably spend another day or so in this region, before heading even further down south. Our helpful guide, Alfonzo, has helped us plan a fun, safe route that takes us along the Pacific Coast, south of Mexico City, and up to Veracruz, our last stop before heading to the States. We´ll try to post to the blog as often as possible, so stay tuned!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Down the Green River (UT)

Once again, we’re back in Boise! We just finished our NOLS course on the Green River, near Vernal, Utah. We spent 18 days exploring Desolation and Ladore Canyons in rafts, kayak, and canoes. This was the professional instructors’ course, designed for folks with more than five years working in the outdoor education industry. The purpose of the course is to train new NOLS leaders and to bring new teaching ideas into the NOLS system.

In the canyons, it was very HOT, and dry, as to be expected in the desert. The Green is the main tributary to the Colorado (which carves out the Grand Canyon). Famously, Major Powell rowed oak boats down the Green after the Civil War. We saw lots of cool wildlife; bears, big horned sheep, whiptail lizards, and heard tons of coyotes. We paddled with three crazy Canadians who kept us laughing, the head of Outward Bound Costa Rica, and two other instructors for NOLS. The oar framed rafts we used were 18-feet long and had to weigh a ton (literally).

We are back in Boise working on raising money for our scholarship initiative to help everyone have access to our programs. We’re hoping to raise at least $1500, which would help us support a Chilean student on one of our expeditions and provide partial scholarships for US students. Please check out the Scholarship Initiative section of this website for more information. We are preparing for our ‘Motorcycles to Mexico’ trip and are collecting school supplies for rural villages we run into on our journey. If you would like to donate supplies please contact us at info@AlzarSchool.com