JUST FOR FUN

LEARN SOME SPANISH

Given that Los Algodones and San Luis Rio Colorado are just minutes away by car, you may have occasion to go across the border for some shopping or dining.

Here are some Spanish phrases you may find useful: Where is the bathroom: ¿Dónde está el baño? (DOHN-deh es-TAH el BAHN-yo?) Please give me a beer: Por favor, déme una cerveza (Por fah-vor DAY-may oo-nah ser-vay-sah) It’s hot: Hace calor (Ah-say cah-lor) I love you: Te amo (Tay ah-mo) or Te quiero

(Tay key-eh-ro) I’m cold: Tengo frio (Ten-go free-oh) or Hace frio (Ah-say free-oh) Good morning: Buenos días (Boo-eh-nos DEE-ahs)

Good Buenas (Boo-eh-nahs afternoon: tardes tar-thays) Good Buenas (Boo-eh-nahs night: noches no-chays) How Cuánto much vale does it cost: (Coo-AHN-toe or Cuánto cuesta vah-lay) (Coo-AHN-toe Merry Christmas: coo-es-tah) Felíz Navidad (Feh-LEEZ nah-vee-thod) Happy New Year: Felíz año nuevo (Feh-LEEZ ahn-yo noo-eh-vo) I’ll see you tomorrow: Hasta mañana (Ahs-tah mahn-ya-na) Pardon me: Perdóneme (Pear-DOH-nay-may) or Disculpe (Dee-school-pay) VOLUNTEER

The Yuma area offers many opportunities for full-year and winter residents who like to devote their time and energy to helping others.

Yuma Regional Medical Center, for example,makes use of volunteers in a wide variety of ways to provide the best possible care for patients.And volunteers can do their part for education by serving in different ways in the area school systems, including in the classrooms.

Various departments in Yuma County government offers volunteering opportunities,as do the county’s libraries.

And then there are dozens of nonprofit organizations around the Yuma area who depend on the help of volunteers.

To find out more about volunteering,call these organizations individually, or call the United Way of Yuma County, at 928-783-0515.

STARGAZE

The comparative lack of light and air pollution makes the Yuma area a great place for amateur astronomers to gaze at the stars.Grab your telescope or binoculars and head out to one of many places where you can see the heavens.

Reetika Dhawan, a math and astronomy professor at Arizona Western College, recommends the Foothills,the Imperial Sand Dunes and Kofa National Wildlife Refuge as good places to see the stars.

GO GEOCACHING

Geocaching is an outdoor treasurehunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.There are several thousand found around the Yuma area.The website geocaching.com is an online database that holds GPS coordinates and other relevant information about each geocache in the world (over 2.5 million active).

South West Arizona Geocachers is based out of Yuma and was founded years ago. Since then, the organization has grown to more than 150 active geocaching members. Since 2004, SWAG has organized the annual Yuma Geocaching Event, which began with 35 attendees and, in 2013, became a Mega Event attracting more than 1,000.This annual geocaching get-together has become the largest geocaching event in southwest Arizona with visitors from all over North America attending.The membership supports the annual Yuma Event through fundraising, 50/50 draws, sponsorships, and donations.

More information about SWAG can be found at yumaevent.com.