First days in Argentina, BsAs

We have had a great time in Buenos Aires so far. It has been 4 days which went by so fast feeling like a couple of hours. the trip was good, the 9.5 hour flight from mexico city to BsAs was too long though my back was hurting by the end of the trip.

we covered alot so far and extended our stay for 2 more days before heading to Patagonia. We did book out flight to El Calafate to see the glaciars, then we will take a 4 day car ride up the 40 route in Argentina  to Bariloche.

Buenos Aires has been amazing so far. the first two days we stayed in Puerto Madero then got a hostel in San Telmo. We visited Centro, Palermo, and Recoleta. Tomorrow we will explore La Boca and try to find a Tango show in our area. We did go see a "football" match last night whitch was an amazing experience. I Sure did learn a whole lot of new curse words but wow, do the fans have an amazing energy.

So far Argentina feels so different than I thought it would. I would say less Latin and more... European? or just they are their own breed - Argentines

 

Mexico City Airport

walking around BsAs Centro for 6 hours

Parilla

 

exploring BsAs Centro

Floralis Generica

Matthew plugging away at the Hostel

All packed up

We spent the last couple of days moving out our furniture and belongings out of our apartment to a storage unit. We are officially homeless. All we have is a 35/40 pound bag on our backs ready for adventure. It took me about a month of slow packing, starting with my studio immediately after I finished my last commission, moving onto the kitchen and going through our closets. We ended up making three runs to goodwill trying to eliminate the unnecessary and clutter out of our lives. We spent most of yesterday getting the furniture packed up. Thanks Billy, Andrew and Magda for your help :D , and thanks to all those who offered. We might need some help moving in. Matthew, Billy and Andrew did an excellent job packing everything into a solid 10x12x12.5 of stuff. glad to be 80s kids and experts at Tetris. We are currently in San Jose visiting the Comianos family and my sister Reem. Tomorrow we head out to Petaluma to visit the Bazzaris and leave to Buenos Aires on Wednesday.

Architectural | interior Photography

A venture for studio MAHA: commercial architectural photography.
I have the experience of working as a designer in architectural offices for around 10 years. My love for architecture lead me to, at first intern, then work under my professor Steve MacCracken on high end residential and small commercial projects. That was a great company to start with. Initially, I was intending to get my masters degree in architecture, but decided to continue with interior design where I experienced more personal interaction with my clients and a faster completion time on projects. My love for architecture is as alive now as it has always been and I am delighted, through studio MAHA, to be working on capturing and finding the beauty in these wonderfully created human structures.

 

blogging - photo transferring machine

About a week left until we leave on our journey. A lot is left to do. We are not only traveling, we are moving out of our current apartment, and putting our belongings in storage. Once we come back to California we will have to find a new place to live. Yes, double whammy may I say, Along with finishing many of my photography projects that are still in progress and have to be finished before the trip.

One of the many items we checked of our list is getting a "travel friendly" Internet machine! We will not bring cell phones nor laptops. Just a netbook to surf the net, research, and connect with family and friends. AND if any of you know me well, you know no matter how many memory cards I bring, I will have to transfer my photos to external drives and send them home!

The best thing about moving is

PURGING..... This is the 3rd day I'm working on cleaning out my closet. Wow do I have a lot of stuff. 
My issue is not being able to let go of things, primarily because they bring back memories. But I have items that have been sitting in my closet untouched for 10 years. I think it is time to let them go.

I remember reading somewhere that when you purge and can't get rid of items because of emotional ties, just photograph them. I guess I'll be having a photoshoot party with all my old shoes and dresses :D

Shots - make Maha a grumpy gal

Walking into kaiser to take our shots filled me with excitement. Hey, I'm at kaiser without being sick and getting those shots will allow me to travel? oooh Yeaah
We go to the front counter, check in, and wait for 45 minutes to be called back!!!! Matthew starts first, without even a flinch or a facial expression he takes two shots per arm. That was easy. My turn comes and the nurse asks are you right or left handed, I say I'm a lefty. Supposedly certain shots effect your muscles differently (Now both hurt equally). I take the first two shots in my right arm, OMG, they hurt! three years back we took shots to go to Egypt, KSA and Jordan but I don't remember them hurting that much. Then the nurse proceeds to my left arm, the first one goes as expected, except for the last one, TETANUS, it goes into your muscle like a 5000° burning metal rod. It burned so much it felt like my eyes were on fire.

Shots were DONE, Between out last trip to the Middle East and this trip to South America we have a wonderful cocktail of vaccines in our bodies. (Tetanus/ Diphtheria, Tetanus/ Adacel, Hep A(1), Hep A(2) Hep B(1), Meningococcal, Yellow Fever, and Typhoid) with all these you would think we are going to Mars.
We proceed to the pharmacy to pick up our meds ($100 worth) of Acetazolamide (altitude sickness), ciprofloxacin (severe diarrhea) and Doxycycline (Malaria exposure).

The after effect of it all is I'm laying in bed, with a cold, not able to lift or move my arms, and having a whole house to pack!

my neighborhood

Some photos taken around Little Italy, San Diego. We have been living here for over four years. I thought of documenting some of it before we leave & preserve our memories. What a charming neighborhood.  Once we come back from our trip we will be exploring new areas of San Diego to live. We'll see where we will land upon our return. 

    

        

                                 

© 2011 studio MAHA

Progress

It seems that our departure date is approaching very rapidly, March 10th. We head to the Bay area first to see our families and leave out of SFO to Buenos Aires.

We got our storage unit yesterday, a 10'x12.5' that we will store all our belongings in, Tomorrow we get our travel shots and medication from Kaiser. EEEK

My studio is all boxed up :( miss all my paints and the fumes already. But at least I have my camera and working on many projects until the day we leave.

will miss my view

Now that the packing for South America started, I'm already feeling sad about the thought of leaving my small apartment in Little Italy. I will miss the whales mural, the walkability of my neighborhood. I will miss Craft and Commerce, Influx, Blicks, And most of all I will miss my Balcony and the daily dosage of beautiful sunsets.

and let the blogging begin

In the midst of starting my Art and Design business, my husband and I decided to go traveling through South America. We are going backpacking primarily through the west and south side of the continent. We will be stopping in Peru, Chile, Argentina, possibly Bolivia, Colombia, and end in Panama. We have no specific route, We will book our plane ticket to Lima and just go wherever life takes us. We are planning to spend up to 2 months.


I have been thinking about starting this blog to share with my clients, followers, friends and family my inspiration and design process. This trip will be the start of my creative journey and an inspiration to new works to come from studio MAHA.