Jade - Lili on the Loose

17 04, 2017

Museum Monday: Jade Museum of Costa Rica

By Lili|April 17th, 2017|Categories: Museums, Travel|Tags: 2012, Central America, Costa Rica, Costa Rica Adventure 2012, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, Jade, Jade Museum, Museo de Jade, Parque Morazán, San Jose|0 Comments

The old Jade Museum in San Jose, Costa Rica was dark, quite, and cramped. (It's since moved to a large 75,000 square foot museum in 2014.) I had heard from other travelers it was hard to get in as its hours would close randomly and at the whim of the guards. When I arrived, I was informed it was closed. After some back and forth they said that the staff was at lunch. I smiled and asked the guard if I could sit on the stool in front of his desk and wait. (I had nowhere else to go.) He

Egypt Travelogue: Day 3 – Jet Lag in Giza

By Lili|February 9th, 2016|Categories: Travel, Travel Memories, Travelogue|Tags: 2015, Africa, airport, bomb, buffet, Cairo, customs, Dream of Egypt, Egypt Travelogue, Egyptian Sidekick, Emeralds, G Adventures, Gadventures, GAP, Giza, Grand Egyptian Museum, Great Pyramids, hibiscus, Hibiscus Tea, Holland, immigration, Jade, jewelry, Middle East, necklace, Poland, Pyramids, Saqqara, Scarab, Windmills|1 Comment

This is my travel diary of my trip to Egypt. It contains in detail my memories of what I did and saw. Saturday October 24, 2015 Egypt: Day 3 - Jet Lag in Giza It was hard to sleep on the plane, especially knowing that it would arrive to Cairo at nearly 2AM. The girl and I spoke some more. She was from Holland, but I was so tired I kept asking her about "Poland". She told me how its so flat and there are windmills everywhere. It actually sounded pretty idilic. As we entered the terminal, my G Adventures airport transfer

Souvenir Saturday: Guatemalan Jade

By Lili|January 24th, 2015|Categories: Souvenirs, Travel|Tags: 2013, Antigua, Aztec, buying guide, Central America, Guatemala, Jade, jadeite, Mayan, Mayan Encounter 2013, necklace, nephrite, Olmec, shopping|0 Comments

When traveling to Guatemala, I knew I wanted to get a piece of Jade jewelry. There are two stones that are considered “Jade”: nephrite and jadeite. Nephrite is more common and is often used for carvings, while jadeite is harder and denser and so is often used for jewelry. Guatemalan jade is of the jadeite variety and comes in a variety of green colors as well as more unique finds like lavender or black. Jade was precious to the ancient Mayan, Olmec, and Aztec civilizations as it was a status symbol of wealth, power, and life itself. Thus, jade makes