Traveling the America´s

Bolivia-The Altiplano

2008-08-07T13:19:00.004-04:00

"The Altiplano (Spanish for high plain), where the Andes are at their widest, is the most extensive area of high plateau on earth outside of Tibet." (Source-Wikipedia). The variety and beauty of the landscapes in this region of the world is astonishing. I was fortunate to get to experience the Altiplano in Bolivia with my friends; Vjen from Belgium, and Zoe and Giddeon from London. The four of us spent time in Sucre, Potosi, Tupisa and traveled on an organized 4 day/3 night trip through the Altiplano including the Salar De Uyuni. It was an outstanding adventure with a wonderful group of fellow travelers.

North American Homecoming

2008-06-25T05:27:00.003-04:00

Date-Time: 6/25/08-About 5:30 in the morning (La Paz time).
Location: La Paz International aiport
Event: Flying back to the United States today after 6 months in South America.

I sit here at the call/Internet center at the airport composing this blog entry. The pace of my travel accelerated significantly upon leaving Banos in Ecuador on May 13th. It has been a bit of a "Whirlwind" pace the last 6 weeks moving through Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Made a great group of new friends that I shared much of this last 6 weeks with. When I get back to the states I will put up many new photo galleries of Peru and Bolivia.

Looking forward to being back in the states and being with family and friends. Have an idea for a way to make some money while realizing a long held dream. Will mostly not say more about this until the end of the year. If my plan to make money works out, my return to South America will be much sooner. If it does not work out, the plan is to go to the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East to teach English. Regardless of whether or not my plan for making money from July to December works out, I will be pursuing my dream and that is what matters.

Big Love,

Don

Bolivia-Where the Rich People Live

2008-06-08T19:21:00.003-04:00

Strange, finding myself here in Bolivia, in a city called Santa Cruz that is so wealthy it is leading an autonomy movement against Eva Morales who seeeks to keep power centralized. Today I went with my two traveling companions of the moment, Vjen from Belgium and Jill from Australia to an outstanding "Butterfly-Aviary-Swimming-Brunch" park in the jungle on the oustskirts of town. This city has oil, gas, cattle and massive agricultural enterprises that make it very prosperous. It reminds me a bit of Caracas, Venezueula where you have incredible wealth and many folks driving around in brand new SUV´s enjoying the "Good Life". There is also a beauty pageant culture here also and physical enhancement looks to be quite popular.

Kids' Chalk Art Project-Guiness Book of World Records

2008-06-06T13:04:00.005-04:00

Late Notice-My friend Mark Wagner, along with thousands of kids and adults, is culminating a record breaking chalk art drawing at the Alemeda Naval Air Station. This is happening tomorrow, June 7. Everybody is welcome. Follow the links below for more information. Big Love-Don

Kids Chalk Art Project
http://www.reenchantingtheworldthroughart.org/

Blog on the Project
http://reenchantingtheworldthroughart.blogspot.com/

The Kids' Chalk Art Project is an event to celebrate and invest in the creative spirit of our kids.

Machu Picchu

2008-05-28T22:07:00.004-04:00

The Lost City of the Incas, Machu Picchu is seared into my memory. Wow, the last 3 nights and 4 days, culminating in hiking up to, and all around Machu Piccu has been truly remarkable. I now have three new friends from Belgium and one from Spain that also shared this adventure. Here is a picture of the 6 of us with the driver of the van in the red outfit. When time permits, I will upload a gallery of shots from this four day adventure. Below is a brief description of the journey:

INKA JUNGLE-Mountain Bike and a Jungle Trek to Machupicchu

Itinerary
Day 01: Cusco to Santa Maria:
Tour Company Van with 3 Belgians (Valentin, Pierre, Mathias) Spaniard (Victor), My good Mexican friend whom I met in Banos (Victor), myself and the our Peruvian guide, Edgar. We started at 8 am and passed through the Sacred Valley, stopping in Ollantaytambo. Then climbing until the Malaga High Pass at 4,500 meters (1,4850 Ft). We then Rode mountain bikes down to Santa Maria, a Jungle Village(1,500m or 4,950 Ft.)

Day 02: Santa Maria to Santa Teresa:

Walk in the jungle on segments of the original Inca Road to thermal baths in Santa Teresa. Take a cable car across the Vilcanota River (River sacred to the Incas) . Thermal baths at Santa Teresa are 5 Star and very relaxing.

Day 03: Santa Teresa to Machupicchu:
Santa Teresa is at 1,900m (6,270 ft). We modify the planned all day hike to Aguas Calientes and take a Minivan to an area near a spectacular display of raw power with water coming out of the rocks. There is hydro electric generation going on here without a dam and it is also near a train station. We hike along railroad tracks to Aguas Calientes Village in the Afternoon and hike up a massive mountain that sits directly in front of Machu Picchu.

Day 04: Machupicchu - Cusco
At 4:30 in the morning, we begin to walk to Machupicchu. It takes us less than a hour to reach the site from our hotel and only about half an hour from the the river. All of us hike to the top of Wanna Picchu and I kike to the Sun Gate (Incapunktu). Hike back down the mountain and enjoy two massive dinners, some drinks and the combination train and bus ride back to Cuzco.

So much more to say about this adventure, but gotta run.

Machu Picchu

2008-05-23T22:46:00.002-04:00

Headed off on a four day excursion that culminates at Machu Picchu. Will ride bikes for day one of the journey, hike parts of the Inca Trail through the jungle on day 2, more hiking on day three and finally on day 4 get to Machu Picchu at 6am and come back to Cuzco on a combination of train and bus. Very excited to see one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. My friend Oscar and I spent the evening of Corpus Cristi closing down various musical venues, dancing and generally having a really good time. We talked last night about our dreams for community and making the world a better place. We are doing the Machu Picchu trip together. Its great to have a traveling buddy who I can conspire with.

Cuzco

2008-05-20T20:21:00.004-04:00

Arrived in Cuzco after a 20 hour ride on a luxury Cruz Del Sur bus. The ride took me through the Andes from Lima and it was very posh. They served us a very nice hot dinner and and even a breakfast. It was a double decker bus with a person assigned to each floor to serve food, drinks and give you blankets and pillows. We watched 5 movies; Harry Potter, Ghandi, Man of the House, Adrift (All in Spanish with English subtitles) and one Spanish only movie about a great teacher who, with the help of his kids, defeats the bad guys and gets the girl in a Mexican town. Had two seats to myself for most of the trip but at the very start, shared a seat with Fidel (pictured). On the second picture on the right hand side after going through the arch is the the Loki hostel where I am staying. The building is 450 years old. So many of the buildings go way back. Walked into one of the churches and it was built in 1523. There are no tall buildings here as they have a restriction that you can´t go over 3-4 floors. Walked up the hill to a community and am happy to say that the kids are curious and full of life. From first glance, Cuzco seems to be a pretty magical place.

Leaving for Cuzco today

2008-05-19T14:44:00.003-04:00

Had a great breakfast with family from Canada who has been traveling the world for the 6 months. They have gone to Egypt, Turkey, Africa, China and many other places. The other two at the table are my friends I talked abootin my last blog entry. Bus trip leaves at 5:30 tonight and will take an estimated 20 hours. Will pass through Nazca but will skip spending the day there to maximize time for Bolivia. Definitely coming back to Peru. So much to see and do.

Peru

2008-05-18T19:41:00.002-04:00

Covering some ground lately. Went from Cuenca Ecuador to Trujillo Peru in about 30 hours, with about 24 of those hours distributed on 4 seperate bus rides. Cruising through the Northern Desert in Peru was truly awesome. Reminded me of the immensity of the Black rock desert in Nevada at times, and then Death Valley at other times. The poverty in Piura and Chiclayo reminded of India. Grinding dirt poor, urban poverty is harsh on the sensibilities. Both cities swarmed with little three wheel motorcycle taxis. Unemployment is so high here that it seems that half the population drives a tax of some sort to make ends meet. I finally landed in
trujillo where I visited the ruins of Chan Chan and Huaca del Luna where we could also see the Huaca del Sol. These Moche and Chimu sites are Pre Inca and go "Way Back". After I got off the bus in Lima, after my 8 hour journey from Trujillo I "Bumped" into two friends from Banos. I had helped set them up for a jungle trip with my friend Shakai. We found a really nice hostel in the Mira Flores area, settled in for a great breakfast at place with really BIG chairs and talked about our Ayahuasca experiences. Spent the day exploring Lima. Will probably push off for the Nazca lines tomorrow.

Peru Getting Closer

2008-05-15T22:50:00.005-04:00

Currently in Loja at the moment about an hour away from my 11PM bus to Peru. It´s great to be able to use the Internet at a bus station. Cost is $1 an hour. Really tough leaving Cuenca today as it has much to offer and I barely scratched the surface. It´s one of the underlying themes of this journey in South America that everyplace is hard to leave. There is so much to be experienced here. So many interesting people and incredible places to know. Plan at the current moment is to head back to the states from La Paz to be back for a big family wedding June 29th.

The Devils Nose Riobamba-Cuenca-Ecuador

2008-05-15T11:57:00.009-04:00

New found friends and I all were glad we waited for the ride caused by United States Ambassador taking the earlier train as a big ceremony celebrating the 100 Year Aniversary of the Quito to Guya, it was Amazing! Arrive in Riobamba the the night before for some amazing views of earths highest mountain (measured from the equator) Chimborazo.

The Devils Nose is a famous section of a rail journey in Ecuador.

A Different View of History-For Your Consideration

2008-05-09T15:51:00.003-04:00

Since are so called leaders have a difficult time telling the truth, isn´t it time we dicovered for ourselves what´s the truth is? I leave it to you dear reader to do what you will with the thesis put forward in the book by Riane Eisler called The Chalice and the Blade. It asserts that the period of Neolithic agrarian life from 8000-3000 BC was the basis for the development of civilization. That it was marked by Goddess worship that had people view the earth as alive and live in harmony with all life. Notice the message that the indigenous societies that still exist today convey a similar belief. In my short time in the jungle with a Shuar community it was clear that these people live in harmony with the land and treat it with reverence. Is it possible that the Bible, the Koran and other religious texts that have replaced the Divine Mother with the Divine Father, did this to brainwash the population? That they don´t want people to know the truth? Why has so called modern history been marked by a few people lording over the many through the use of force? Why have we come to this moment in history where the acitivities of man now threaten the very existence of the life support systems of the earth that human life depends on? Do the last remaining sections of the rainforrest need to be cut down to answer these questions?

Leaving Banos-Towards Peru

2008-05-08T17:04:00.005-04:00

Headed South to Riobamba to take the Devils Nose train trip. From there I push further South to Cuenca. It has definitley been GREAT being here in Banos. It´s hard to leave this place that I have made so many great friends and feel really at home in. For me to make it through Peru and also have 2-3 weeks in Bolivia it´s imperative that I leave shortly, so my plan is to leave in a day or two. The one thing that is making it somewhat easier to tear myself away from this place is knowing that I will be returning someday. I have earned a nickname among some of my friends as the King of Epiphanies because I seem to have so many of them. This one came in the form of the need for a daily physical practice such as yoga and meditation to continually increase my health. To celebrate my realization I treated myself to a banana split at one of the local ice cream joints.

Total cost was $1.80 and it was fabulous.

Dream Home for Sale in Ecuador

2008-05-07T17:05:00.004-04:00

This custom built home in Rio Verde is almost finsihed. It is set on a parcel of land 2000 square meters. There is already a healthy garden on the land. The back of the house sits on a river rich with trout. A short distance up the dirt road is a hiking area that leads to a lake that is fabled to be where the Inca´s hid all their gold. The house has three bathroms. The master bedroom upstairs looks out onto the river and has it´s own bathrom with tub. There are two smaller bedrooms upstairs with one shared bathroom. The house has it´s own septic system, and receives its water from a local aquifer. There is a deck on the main floor overlooking the river. Their are many custom features to this house including tile in the bathrooms, windows and reinforced palm support beams. The home is a beauty to behold and is located a short 10-15 minute drive from Banos. To see more pictures of the home click here. The seller of the house is Fredy Villamarin. Feel free to contact him at gasolinaextra@yahoo.com or by calling him directly in Ecuador from the U.S. at 001-593-327-40810 Fredy speaks perfect English having spent considerable time in the states. The asking price is $90,000.

Off the Gringo Trail-Into the Jungle and the Spirit World

2008-05-03T22:00:00.016-04:00

Spending one week in the jungle, near Macas, within a Shuar community has given me an incredible experience to see the world in a different light (To see photos click here). My Shuar friend Herman Shakai took me the place in jungle where he was raised along with his 12 siblings. We visited his mother and fathers place and then went down the river by dugout to visit other comunities, finally ending up in community of about of around 50 people called Sant, named after the Shaman. We visited many of the homes here and in the surrounding area. We drank lots of Jungle Beer (a fermented brew of the Yucca plant). "The Shuar are the second largest and one of the most studied Amazonian groups. They have a long history of survival and defense against outsiders, and have long had a reputation as headhunters and savages. They live in the southeastern part of Ecuador between the Pastaza and Marañón Rivers, east of the present city of Cuenca along the contested border region with Peru".

In a nightime ritual in Sant, the Shaman guided us during an Ayahuasca ceremony where we drank a foul tasting combination of the liquid from two plants cooked together over an open fire.
I saw how the word "TO", as in; why is this happening to me?, implies being a victim and not responsible for ones life and the word "FOR", as in; why is this happening for me, implies gratitude and appreciation for everything that happens and being responsible for ones life.

We saw the devastation being wrought by a road being built nearby to the frontier border with Peru. In general the people were the happiest and healthiest of any group I´ve ever had the pleasure to meet. The children played together in freedom and their smiles were truly contagious. The people of the jungle don´t need so called civilization. IMHO, those of us in the so called "Modern World" need more of the simplicity in which they live their lives. These people are "Spiritual" in the best sense of the word. These people fiercely hold onto their land despite every attempt by the interests of so called "Progress and Development" to get them to sell off there land and be assimilated to more modern ways. These peole provide an anditote to a world of material affluence that has become disconnected from the world of spirit. I believe that the Shamans in the rainforest understand that the reason the rainforrest is being destroyed is this loss of connection to the spirit world. Giving our power over to something outside ourselves such as a priest or political leader. A great number of people in the west are asleep to their own power. Allowing themselves to be programmed from the outside to support the stupidity of war and violence in any form. It´s important to wake up to our own power so that we can protect the last remaining wild places of the earth so that human kind does not go the way of the dinosoaur. The Shamans stand waiting for us to ask for their help.

Listen to a youtube piece on reestablishing our connection to the world of spirit from an interview on Coast to Coast with Graham Hancock.

Thinking for Yourself is Now a Crime

2008-04-17T13:42:00.004-04:00

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration and in the story below he writes about a bill called HR 1955 that was passed by the House of Represenatives by a very wide margin. IMHO, it would be prudent for every American to know what this bill will do if it becomes law. One House Representative jokingly called the bill a "Thought Crime bill".

January 4, 2008
Jane Harman and Liberty's Lost Light
Thinking for Yourself is Now a Crime
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

What was the greatest failure of 2007? President Bush's "surge" in Iraq? The decline in the value of the US dollar? Subprime mortgages? No. The greatest failure of 2007 was the newly sworn in Democratic Congress.
The American people's attempt in November 2006 to rein in a rogue government, which has committed the US to costly military adventures while running roughshod over the US Constitution, failed. Replacing Republicans with Democrats in the House and Senate has made no difference.
The assault on the US Constitution by the Democratic Party is as determined as the assault by the Republicans. On October 23, 2007, the House passed a bill sponsored by California Democratic congresswoman Jane Harman, chairwoman of a Homeland Security subcommittee, that overturns the constitutionally guaranteed rights to free expression, association, and assembly.
The bill passed the House on a vote of 404-6. In the Senate the bill is sponsored by Maine Republican Susan Collins and apparently faces no meaningful opposition.
Harman's bill is called the "Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act."When HR 1955 becomes law, it will create a commission tasked with identifying extremist people, groups, and ideas. The commission will hold hearings around the country, taking testimony and compiling a list of dangerous people and beliefs. The bill will, in short, create massive terrorism in the United States. But the perpetrators of terrorism will not be Muslim terrorists; they will be government agents and fellow citizens.
We are beginning to see who will be the inmates of the detention centers being built in the US by Halliburton under government contract.
Who will be on the "extremist beliefs" list? The answer is: civil libertarians, critics of Israel, 9/11 skeptics, critics of the administration's wars and foreign policies, critics of the administration's use of kidnapping, rendition, torture and violation of the Geneva Conventions, and critics of the administration's spying on Americans. Anyone in the way of a powerful interest group--such as environmentalists opposing politically connected developers--is also a candidate for the list.
The "Extremist Beliefs Commission" is the mechanism for identifying Americans who pose "a threat to domestic security" and a threat of "homegrown terrorism" that "cannot be easily prevented through traditional federal intelligence or law enforcement efforts."
This bill is a boon for nasty people. That SOB who stole your girlfriend, that hussy who stole your boyfriend, the gun owner next door--just report them to Homeland Security as holders of extreme beliefs. Homeland Security needs suspects, so they are not going to check. Under the new regime, accusation is evidence. Moreover, "our" elected representatives will never admit that they voted for a bill and created an "Extremist Belief Commission" for which there is neither need nor constitutional basis.
That boss who harasses you for coming late to work--he's a good candidate to be reported; so is that minority employee that you can't fire for any normal reason. So is the husband of that good-looking woman you have been unable to seduce. Every kind of quarrel and jealousy can now be settled with a phone call to Homeland Security.
Soon Halliburton will be building more detention centers.
Americans are so far removed from the roots of their liberty that they just don't get it. Most Americans don't know what habeas corpus is or why it is important to them. But they know what they want, and Jane Harman has given them a new way to settle scores and to advance their own interests.
Even educated liberals believe that the US Constitution is a "living document" that can be changed to mean whatever it needs to mean in order to accommodate some new important cause, such as abortion and legal privileges for minorities and the handicapped. Today it is the "war on terror" that the Constitution must accommodate. Tomorrow it can be the war on whomever or whatever.
Think about it. More than six years ago the World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked. The US government blamed it on al Qaeda. The 9/11 Commission Report has been subjected to criticism by a large number of qualified people--including the commission's chairman and co-chairman.
Since 9/11 there have been no terrorist attacks in the US. The FBI has tried to orchestrate a few, but the "terrorist plots" never got beyond talk organized and led by FBI agents. There are no visible extremist groups other than the neoconservatives that control the government in Washington. But somehow the House of Representatives overwhelmingly sees a need to create a commission to take testimony and search out extremist views (outside of Washington, of course).
This search for extremist views comes after President Bush and the Justice (sic) Department declared that the President can ignore habeas corpus, ignore the Geneva Conventions, seize people without evidence, hold them indefinitely without presenting charges, torture them until they confess to some made up crime, and take over the government by declaring an emergency. Of course, none of these "patriotic" views are extremist.
The search for extremist views follows also the granting of contracts to Halliburton to build detention centers in the US. No member of Congress or the executive branch ever explained the need for the detention centers or who the detainees would be. Of course, there is nothing extremist about building detention centers in the US for undisclosed inmates.
Clearly the detention centers are not meant to just stand there empty. Thanks to 2007's greatest failure--the Democratic Congress--there is to be an "Extremist Beliefs Commission" to secure inmates for Bush's detention centers.
President Bush promises us that the wars he has launched will cause the "untamed fire of freedom" to "reach the darkest corners of our world." Meanwhile in America the fire of freedom has not only been tamed but also is being extinguished.
The light of liberty has gone out in the United States.

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions. He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com

Adventures In Ecuador

2008-04-16T12:07:00.003-04:00

Banos is a place that I could stay a very long time. It´s a place that has a great climate, both from the weather and people perespective. If you like adventure, Banos is a great spot to be situated. The Jungle is close and many 6000 meter peaks are in easy striking distance. Like everyplace that I have been in South America, this one is tough to leave. If you want a Bike ride or a group hike or a solo hike, the Banos area is a great place. It even has some good night spots and don´t forget the reason many people come here is to soak in the thermal baths, get a massage and simply rejuvanate. Banos is small and enjoys that small town feeling.

Click here for my pics of my 4 days in the Jungle
Click here for Bike ride from Banos down canyon towards Puyo
Click here for pics of a group hike to view an active volcanoe
Click here for pics of a night out in Banos
Click here for pics of a solo hike from Banos
Click here for pics of city scenes in Banos

Banos Ecuador

2008-04-08T22:37:00.003-04:00

Arrived in Banos today around 4pm from Quito. Finished one full month of language study with three weeks of that living with a family. Click Here to see some pictures of my recent trip to Otavalo, my host family and Banos. See that I really don´t have much passion for learning to write spanish, so my idea of doing my blog entries in both spanish and english resulted in me simply doing no blog entries at all. My time in Quito was really focused on studying spanish so I spent a great deal of time, including on weekends, with my hoist family. Stela, the 84 year old mother of 10 and her two daughters, Eualia and Emelia, adopted me and we would talk for hours about all manner of subjects. Albeit the conversations were not the most "correct" in terms of depth of vocabulary or proper usage, nonetheless communication with the big "U", UNDERSTANDING. Wow, what a miracle that is, to understand another human being. On the subject of understanding, Henry Block a mentor and friend who I felt really understood me, passed away last week. He had been battling cancer for some time now and his life is a testimony to how much one man can impact the life of countless others. A piece of Hnery will always live inside of me. Henry Block, Henry Block, Henry Block Welcome. The calling of the name three times comes from a ritual I learned in my mens group (The East Bay Nation of Men). For me this ritual helps me to visualize this person and remember them or send them my prayers if they are in need of some form of assistance. Many people would dimiss this type of ritual, ask me if I care? Back to Henry, a truly remarkable man and I am just happy that I got to know him and that he was part of my life, nuff said.

Richard Moore-Thelma and Loise

2008-03-30T18:22:00.002-04:00

All, I just finished reading something from the moderator of the Cyberjournal.org website which is dedicated to the liberation of the human spirit and the establishment of a livable world. Richard Moore wrote the book Escaping the Matrix and the review for the movie Thelma and Loise that follows. I do hope you find the time to read this thought provoking review as it gets to heart of our current global predicament. Big Love-Don

Written by Richard Moore:
Friends,
I re-watched Thelma & Louise last night and finally understood what it is really about. It is neither about women's empowerment, nor is it anti-maie, although those have been the most common assumptions. Indeed it is a put-down to women to assume that a great film with female stars must be about "women's issues". Do we assume that a great film with male stars must always be a "a man's thing"? Thelma & Louise is an epic saga for every one of us – it is about liberation and empowerment on a universal canvas. I picked out two key lines of Thelma's to share with you that make this clear...

(1) As they're driving in the desert near the end of the film:
Thelma: I don't know, somthin's, like, crossed over in me , I can't go back, I mean, I just couldn't live.
When she says this, it is clear from context that she is not talking about a fear of going back and facing jail. She is talking about going back her old life, her old world, the 'normal' life with house & husband and all. Even with a battalion of police and FBI agents after her, if she had the choice, she wouldn't undo her predicament and go back to how it was. Freedom to be herself had now become the most important thing in the world to her, more important than life itself. She hadn't realized that she had given up who she was in order to live in her old world – our world, our society.
When she says, "I just couldn't live", she becomes the voice of all of those indigenous peoples throughout history who have preferred death to giving up their way of life, as the curse of civilization reached their territories. They had always been free and liberated and they could see what we can't see, that civilization is a cage they simply could not live in, a cage that no one could live in and still be free, even in a leading role. Thelma had experienced real freedom, and would never again give it up.

(2) Later, still on the road:
Thelma: Are you awake?
Louise: I think so.
Thelma: I'm awake. I don't think I've ever been this awake before. Everything seems different.
If you add to this the keenness in her eyes, and the radiance of her face, it is clear that she is talking about 'awake' in the same way the Dali Lama or Buddha uses the term. She had become fully awake to life and the universe, free of fear, a free spirit. This isn't a gender thing at all, or even a species thing; it's about the essence of life itself and about consciousness.
I've seen that look in eyes before, but only rarely in the eyes of humans. Many years ago I visited some friends in Nairobi and went on one of those low-budget safaris, where they take a group of us out in a truck to watch the animals doing what they do in the wild. It was migration season for the wildebeest and we had lots to see, so I stood up on the railings to get a panoramic view. At first I was trying to identify different species and similar tourist-type things. After a time, I just relaxed and let the whole scene sink in. And then it hit me – the gestalt of what it means to be wild.
Every wildebeest out there knows there are predators on the prowl, desperate for their next meal, formidable and dangerous. There are no sanctuaries to hide in, and no defenses other than alertness and fleetness of foot. I suddenly realized what that meant in terms of 'being awake'. Every moment they must be on guard, always ready to run for their lives. I could feel in my bones the heightened consciousness that is a constant part of being wild. It was a feeling of exhilaration, and of being fully alive.
I was feeling for the first time 'the call of the wild', and for the first time I could feel that we are missing something essential in the way we go through life, always worried about our future security, trying to insure all of our risks, subject always to stress or to boredom. Bob Dylan captured it, as he does so well in a single line, "...their life is nothing more than something to invest in". I thought of the others in the truck, who were mainly comparing notes of where else they'd travelled, unaware of the magnificent drama all around them, and I felt sad.
In the metaphor of the moment I felt the gestalt of civilization: it's all about being asleep to the world around us, doing everything we can to insulate ourselves from the world. We envy the wealthy, who can be idle and secure at the same time, and have no need to pay attention to the world at all. I said above that civilization is a cage, and if you responded to that at all you may have thought in terms of 'jobs we don't like', or 'taxes we must pay', 'restrictions on us', etc. But it's more than those kind of things. Civilization is a place where we accept the illusion of security and in exchange we give up who we are. We are in a zoo, and many of us have very comfortable digs in the zoo, but life is outside.
This is what Thelma and Louise is about, in their fleet-of-foot Thunderbird, pursued by formidable and dangerous creatures on the prowl, surviving only by their wits and by constant alertness. But of course we've seen desperate chase films before; there's nothing special about being on the run, and being alert. What's special about Thelma & Louise, and about Thelma in particular, is that we see much more than mere desperation – we see that desperation transform Thelma into being fully alive and awake. The desperation vanishes. She is ready for whatever happens, free of fear – and she could never go back to any other way of being.
I've found that the dictionary tells us a lot about our society, between the lines. Let's see what dictionary.com says about 'civilize':
Civilize: to bring out of a savage, uneducated, or rude state; make civil; elevate in social and private life; enlighten; refine: Rome civilized the barbarians.
Very, very, interesting. What we have here is an out-of-date anthropological perspective frozen into our language, imposing that perspective on us when we should know better. Over the past several decades, anthropological research has made it very clear that indigenous peoples are not at all savage in the sense implied in the definition above. One can certainly over-romanticize here, but we now know that 'wise' is closer to the truth than 'savage'. And I'm talking about mainstream anthropology, not a fringe view.
When a truth dictionary comes out, it will probably read like this:
Civilize: to domesticate to hierarchy; to cause a forgetting of the state of freedom. syn. domesticate: the horse trainer domesticated the wild herd
It is the trance of civilization that Thelma and Louise were escaping from, and in so doing they found a freedom they hadn't known was possible. They only experienced it for four days, but neither of them would have traded those four days for the comfort of the blue pill. They had learned that the comfort is fake.
None of us wants to think of ourselves as being in a cage. If you're getting upset with me about now that's your defense mechanisms protecting you from considering the possibility in your own case; it's a sign that the shoe might fit. If you are really liberated then my words on your screen cannot not upset you in that way.
After watching the film itself, I watched the making-of documentary in the special features section of the DVD. If you're into cinema I highly recommend the documentary. Ridley Scott is a genius, the one who gave us "Blade Runner", and its is great to see him interviewed on film. And it was Brad Pitt's first role in a big picture, making his interview particularly poignant. Geena and Susan's interviews are wonderful it goes without saying, but the interview I found most enlightening was that of the writer: Callie Khouri.
Callie said the story came to her all at once one night when she was in her car. She then wrote the script in her spare time. In the course of developing the film, and even while it was being directed, there were many attempts to make changes to the story, and considerable concern about the ending. But every time a change was attempted it didn't work. They tried changes out with audiences and they all flopped. The story had an internal coherence that couldn't be tampered with. The script barely changed from the first draft submitted to the studio.
Callie said that she later realized she had 'accidentally' stumbled onto an archetypal form, 'The Hero', ala Joseph Campbell. She said that's why the story couldn't be changed.
What this says to me is that the story was channeled, in the sense that it came from another level of consciousness than Callie's normal writer-consciousness. And as with all channeling, the channeler is not necessarily a reliable interpreter of the meaning of what is channeled. It is only as an outside observer that Callie surmises that the story might be of this or that archetypal form. She says explicitly that no such thing was in her mind when she was writing the story and she wasn't even consciously au fait re/archetypes at that time.
In fact the archetype of the film is not that of the Hero at all. The Hero goes out and slays dragons and then comes back home transformed and is recognized as a hero. (Almost every Hollywood film follows the heroic motif, typically with a love-interest side-plot.) Thelma and Louise certainly slay dragons, and Thelma is certainly transformed, but they don't come back home, and only the Keitel character can still see their humanity at the end – hardly a hero's reception.
Furthermore, the transformation comes too easily, compared to the classic hero motif. It took a lot for our female fugitives to decide to become dragon slayers, but once the decision was made the slaying became more a romp than a challenging exertion of will and strength. No, there is some other archetype at work here, equally profound but different. Thelma & Louise is neither about feminism nor is it about heroism, even if the writer, the director, the critics, and the actors all don't get it. And from the interviews, I'd say it was only Geena who really got it, whether or not she could articulate that in intellectual terms. It was still in her eyes in the years-later interview.
In A Long Kiss Goodnight we see Geena in the traditional hero motif. Her dragon-slaying there is very difficult indeed, calling for Herculean exertions and canny wit, and she is received as a hero at the end by the President himself. And in the last scene she returns happily home to the same unchanged husband and family, and she lays aside her sword and shield. As Thelma, she brandishes her sword and shield until the very end and beyond. They have become part of her, not merely her tools for a time.
The archetype behind Thelma & Louise is that of life itself. We are thrust into this life, it happens to us just like the attempted rape & killing happened to them, and once born we must use our wits to deal with whatever comes up. That's what life is really about – using your wits to deal with whatever comes up, and not fearing what might come up. Life is not about being always secure and having retirement funds saved up. Those amenities are veils of light that hide the bars of our cage. They are the opiate that helps us forget what freedom is about. We use our wits not to face the world, but to deal with the institutions and authorities that control our lives. Instead of not fearing what might come up, we live in a chronic state of insecurity about our futures, albeit unconscious.
There is no such thing as security in this world, and chasing the illusion of security is like cocaine addiction. The first time the addict does a line, he feels a pleasant high. He starts taking it regularly, and he spends a lot of time feeling high – not such a bad thing really. But over time something else happens; he needs the drug just to feel normal, and he always needs more and more.
Look at those who have the most wealth and power, the financial elites who control our societies. You'd think they'd be content. But no, they are more desperate than the rest of us. If they don't totally control the whole world, they live in constant fear that someone else will. Their security is their power, and they always need more and more. That's why the US is seizing oil supplies and surrounding Russia and China with military bases. That's why the elite's response to the resource crisis is genocide, rather than a transformation of our economic system. They are like Gollum and his precious, their moral universe narrowed to a pathetic grasping.
Our world is going to change, and very soon. You and I, my friends, are about to be thrust into a world totally unfamiliar to us. The world we now know it is going to disappear, gone with the wind, never to return. With 911 and the so-called war on terrorism we saw one pillar of our world fall down, the pillar that pretended we lived under the rule of laws and not men. With Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo the collapse of the pillar was rubbed in our noses, just to make sure we got the message, although many are so asleep they still haven't gotten it. We are reminded again every time we go to an airport, but still many don't get it.
Now, with the engineered subprime crisis, and the powerdive of the dollar into oblivion, another pillar is beginning to crumble, the pillar that pretended 'progress' was equal to economic security for you and me. Anyone who studies the history of Germany in the 1920s knows exactly what economic scenario we are going to be facing. The pattern is identical. First there was a credit crisis, arranged by the daddies of same folks who engineered this one. That was followed by hyper-inflation, where savings became worthless, and even those who were wealthy became paupers overnight. As we speak, the Federal Reserve is intentionally pushing us into hyper-inflation, as it conjures up out of nowhere trillions of dollars to save not us, but their own financial hegemony. The handwriting is not only on the wall, it is in the pages of every newspaper every day.
This will be very different than the Great Depression in the States. In that case cash was king. Those who had their wealth in liquid form became even more wealthy, in terms of purchasing power, than before the Depression. Mainly it was the lower middle classes and downward who were pauperized. This new collapse, modeled on the one in prewar Germany, will pauperize everyone except the super-rich. Scoff at your own peril. Already the homeless ranks are swelling, as millions are being evicted from their homes, and economic refugees from America are becoming a serious problem for Canadian authorities.
Whether we like it or not, our world is going to fall apart, and all the king's horses and all the king's men won't even be trying to put it together again. Our familiar illusion of security will be gone, and we will have no 'home' we can return to. We will be experiencing the inherent uncertainty of real life whether we want to or not. In psychological terms, we will soon find ourselves in the same place Thelma and Louise found themselves in. We can respond with fear and desperation, like the usual fugitive in films, or we can use this as an opportunity to wake up, and leave fear behind, as did Thelma. In either case, you will be better off if you realize your world is disappearing now, rather than waiting until that's totally in your face, and you have fewer options available to you than you do now.
Let us return now to the plains of Kenya, for there are more lessons there. As I was watching the panorama, and became aware of that heightened state of awareness all around me, I could also see that the wildebeest were not at all living in a state of fear. A band of young bucks were running around between clusters of adults, kicking up their heels, just like a band of children running around at a picnic. They were having fun, not worrying about predators. Those they would deal with if and when the occasion arose. Being wild is not about being afraid, or being chased, even though documentary makers love to seek out a chase when making their wildlife films, and they love to show the kill scene, as if that is what 'being wild' is all about. How comforted we are made to feel, sitting on our sofas in front of the TV, happy that we're not out there where lions roam. From our youngest days we are taught to fear the wild, to be grateful for civilization.
Meanwhile, those sitting down in the truck saw only a constant wave of nearby wildebeest, undulating away from the approaching vehicle. They never saw the exhilarating and dynamic pattern of the natural panorama. Then we came to a cluster of wildebeest who did not flee the truck, and in fact we had to slow way down and wend our way through them. They just stood around, not paying much attention to us, sensing that we were irrelevant to the game of life. I soon could see why they were standing around. One of their fellows had been injured and was on the ground. They could do nothing to help, but they knew if they left, the injured one would be visible, and predators would soon be competing for the meal. For as long as they could, and at increased risk to themselves, they were delaying their migration to lend comfort and protection from view to their fellow. Was I looking at a dog-eat-dog world? Not at all, rather a world of mutual concern and mutual aid.
That's how life is meant to be for sentient social species, survival through mutual concern and aid for our fellows. That's how our ancestors lived until they were subdued and corrupted by civilization and hierarchy. And as for the lions, we had no fear; lions were afraid of us. Once we had the bow and arrow, and probably long before, humans never lived in fear of predators. Of course there were occasional cases of humans being attacked, but that was no more a pattern of life than someone today being attacked by a turncoat pet dog. An exception to the norm. Even today, every thirteen-year-old Masai lad must kill a lion single-handed with a spear, as part of his maturation ritual. And a lone teen-aged girl protects a whole herd of cattle – out in lion country – simply by standing there unafraid in a red outfit holding a spear. I saw this myself, as our truck passed by, and the girls are not even trained to actually use the spears. They don't need to.
In fact it is not our real world that is going to fall apart, it is the fake world that is crumbling. We have been taught to think that 'our world' is that spectacle of events that we read about in our papers, and watch on our TV screens. Also we see 'our world' as the hierarchy itself, and we think the stability of that hierarchy is essential to our well-being. All illusion. Our real world is what's around us, the people and things we see everyday, directly with our own eyes. This is what we need to wake up to; this is the world we need to learn to live in, and the sooner the better.
Cooperation and mutual aid with our fellows is our only hope for survival as the hierarchy contracts its circle of concern to those at the very top, and our world-scale distribution systems begin to break down. We are not helpless, we are powerful, once we wake up and begin working together. If you want to see this dramatically demonstrated in a real-life documentary, check out The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, http://www.powerofcommunity.org/cm/index.php, available from Community Solutions.
An important part of the Cuban 'world' had been its relationship with the Soviet Union, who supplied them with petroleum and bought Cuban exports. That 'world' fell apart all at once when the Soviet Union collapsed, and Cubans had to adjust or starve. Self-sufficiency for the island was forced on them. They started out in desperation, and as they worked together, planting gardens in every bare patch, and adopting non-petro-based organic methods, their desperation transformed into a new kind of community spirit and empowerment. In the documentary you can see the pride in their eyes, and you can see the same keenness and glow we saw on Thelma's face toward the end of that film. The collapse of their old world was a blessing in disguise, and now they eat better than they did when they had Soviet help.
I can't promise you a rose garden when you wake up to life and join hands with your neighbors to re-inhabit the real world. But then, no one every could promise you a rose garden; that was always an illusion and a deception. In the Cuban film we see the practical possibility of taking care of ourselves through our own cooperation and creativity. In Thelma & Louise we see the the precious peace and aliveness that comes from leaving fear behind, reclaiming our wild nature, and accepting life as the adventure it was intended to be by its creator.
rkm

Volunteer Project

2008-03-29T18:29:00.006-04:00

It takes me about an hour including a twenty minute walk from my home, and then two bus rides to get to the elementary school that I´m doing a two week volunteer project. The school is very poor and the children wear tattered clothes and many are sniffling and coughing with runny noses. Its heartbreaking to see the wasted potential, but the kids, as all kids remain resilient and their energy is contagious. They know what time it is and hopefully we adults will stop short shrifting so many for our own egotistical reasons. After I finsih this project I will add some more pictures and thoughts to this post.

Semana Santa-Equinox

2008-03-21T16:01:00.022-04:00

Semana Santa is the Name for Easter week in Latin America. Included in this week are ceremonies for the last days of Christ's life, the Crucifixion and Resurrection, as well as the end of Lent. Some people question whether Jesus as a historical person ever existed? Some suggest that religions came from mythic stories of birth, death, and rebirth of the sun. That Jesus represents a sacrificial king whom is connected with the sun as a dying and reviving god and its connection to the regeneration of the earth in springtime. Regardless, Christian churches were built on top Inca holy places, which in turn were built on top of the sacred spots of the Quicha´s. The myth that Latin America was NOT very densely populated for instance has now been shown be untrue, with just one example being that the Amazonian rainforrest was extensively cultivated for agricultural purposes and populated by a large number of people. This just goes to show that what we assume to be true is NOT always the case. Pictured to the left is a woman of Quichua descent selling fried bananas out on the street. Throughout Quito you will find lots of Quichua´s selling all manner of food items including an amazing array of fruits and vegatables. They live simple lives and continue to provide a powerful example of humility and kindness.

These 2 shots below taken on June 21´st are of the procession in Quito where the Old City was closed to cars and many, many thousands of people witnessed these folks in hooded blue and purple costumes called "cururuchos" along with multiple Jesus´s characters dragging crosses throughout the street.

Fonesca is the customary soup made only during the week of Semana Santa. Twelve grains are used in the soup to symbolize the 12 disciples. The lady in red sitting next to me is my teacher Carmen. I made everyone laugh and, me blush, when I said, talking about the peppers in the soup, "Estoy Calliente!", which literally translated means "I´m Hot" with sexual connotations. Learning a new language is filled with such moments.

After the meal at school, I took some of my fellow students over to my former home, Hostal Centro Del After the meal at school, I took some Mundo. My housemate Josh and fellow classmate Ben went up the El Panecillo

Living as we do in the New World, indigenous people such as the Quichua indians of Ecuador give us an opportunity to change course and treat the earth as sacred. It is NOT too late. In this modern world pollution of our bodies and the earth have reached epidemic proportions. Cancer being just one of many indicators of a massively contanminated environment. The Global Justice movement has documented how the health effects of industrial pollution disproportionately burden communities of color such as our Quichua friend shown above.

"A "green" religious movement is indeed beginning to grow. But people of faith can also address the environmental crisis another way: by celebrating. Australian environmentalist John Seed says, "I believe that loss of the ceremonies that acknowledge and nurture our interconnectedness with nature is a large part of the problem. We modern humans are the only ones— as far as I can tell— who have ever attempted to live without these rituals as an integral part of our lives." Among the holidays we observe each year, only Earth Day and Arbor Day honor the natural world. Both are worthy occasions, deserving of full "legal holiday" status, in my opinion, but clearly secular ones. Since 1995, "Earthlings" in Atlanta have been reclaiming the Equinoxes and Solstices as religious occasions. Four times a year, Atlanta's interfaith community is invited to come together to remember that the Earth is sacred, and celebrate the "birthday" of another season. Because the Solstices and Equinoxes existed before people did, they belong to all human traditions and therefore to none— fitting occasions to set aside our differences and pray and celebrate together.
These festive events have a serious intent: to remind city folks that whatever our beliefs, we all depend on nature for food, water, air, and Life itself, just as our ancestors did and our descendants will. It may be the one thing that people of all religions and no religion at all have in common. We call the entire spectrum of faiths together publicly because of the tradition of gratitude they share— and because what they share is just as important as each faith's uniqueness. Especially now, when the ethical discipline of religion is so desperately needed, we come together as members of Earth's spiritual community to say: Life is a miracle. Gratitude to the Creator is respect for Creation. Respect for Creation is essential to our children's future, as gratitude to the Creator is the essence of a spiritual life."

I think the family that I am living with heartily agree with what I quoted above, taken from the net". Estela is the mother of the clan and had 10 children. Two of her daughters, Amelia and Eulalia are shown here. The ten kids had 20 and the 20 had 40. Yes you read that correctly, Estela has 40 grandchildren. They have opened up their house to me and made me feel like a member of the family. Truly there is hope when love is around.

The Middle of the World

2008-03-16T19:00:00.011-04:00

Quito, Ecuador: Sunday, March 16

Scott and Nick with the lovely Erika at her ChiQuito cafe.

Alejandro is a well known artist and partner of Erika. He took two years to build the home they now share and that also functions as cafe and as a gallery for Alejandro´s work. Erika is a fabulous baker and we really enjoyed her delicious offerings.

Scott and I met Nick at this cafe and we ended up staying for about 6 1/2 hours. Alejandro is truly a remarkable man and had us riveted in rapt attention as he shared passionatly with us on a wide range of topics . Can tell what we think of Bush and the U.S. policy towards Cuba.

Here I am lying on the Equator as determined by GPS. To look at some more information about the significance and meaning of the "Middle of the World", click on any of the three links below.

Quitsato
The Equator

Bad Corliolis

Big Sur in Quito

2008-03-12T10:52:00.010-04:00

Across the street from my Swiss owned hostel is a gorgeous restaurant-bar called Big Sur. It is owned and operated by an American named Lars Klassen (click to see his blog) Lars worked the Latin American "Beat" for 30 years in the U.S. Foreign Service. He has been here in Ecuador for the last 6 years, but has lived in Central and South American countries such as Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador for years at a time as his job demanded. We talked a bit about why Latin America still stuggles so massivley with poverty and other social problems. I mentioned the book Confessions of an Economic Hit Man and Lar´s indicated that he did not think much of the book or the author, but that there was some truth to what the author was talking about. I look forward to continuing our discussion. He recommended 4 books to better understand the realities of South America:
The Soul of Latin America: The Cultural and Political Tradition . Howard J. Wiarda
Underdevelopment as a State of Mind: The Latin American Case . Lawrence E. Harrison
The Pan-American Dream Latin America's Cultural Values Discourage True Partnership with the United States and Canada?
The Liberators: Latin America's Struggle for Independence, 1810 - 1850 by Robert Harvey

Giti Neuman-Artista y Humaitario

2008-03-10T19:30:00.004-04:00

Today I had the great honor of meeting a wonderful artist from Quito. Gita Neuman has her works exhibited on five floors of the Cultural Center at the Catholic University. I just happened to walk in off the street as I had a bit of time before my spanish class. Art exhibits usually don´t do much for me, but this one was different. As I wandered the floors, looking at her paintings and mutliple other pieces in various forms, I was moved by the presence of spirit. Her works spoke to me in a way that cut through all the words and got at what it is to be human at this point in time. Posing questions about war, mans inhumanity to man, the place and imprtance of sex and sensuality. Gita happened to be present and was gracious enough to spend time with me. We talked about her work and the painting we are standing in front of is called S.O.S for the time that we are in now. If there is an artist that matches what I am striving to convey with my words it is Giti.

El 21 de febrero el Centro Cultural de la Pontificia Universidad Católica inaugura la muestra antológica de la artista visual de origen checo y nacionalidad ecuatoriana, Giti Neuman.

Artista Ecuatoriana acreedora a la beca Fulbright como profesora, conferencista, e investigadora en la Universidad Estatal de San Diego. Ha exhibido sus obras de arte en Norte, Centro y Sudamérica como también en Europa. Actualmente es Presidenta Ejecutiva de la Fundación Museo del Papel en Quito, Ecuador.

La obra de Giti Neuman (n. Praga, República Checa, 1941) en gran medida está marcada por su cercana experiencia con la violencia de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Llegará con su familia a Quito en 1947 luego de que sus padres lograron escapar de campos de concentración nazi.

Quito on Foot

2008-03-09T23:02:00.005-04:00

Walked about 12 hours today from 8am to 8pm thoughout both the Old City and the New City of Quito. Wandered through a wealthy enclave and watched a photo shoot of the bathing beauty
pictured here. So much money here in the hands of a relativley few wealthy families (old money), big international companies and a lucky few individuals. It struck me that Ego is at the root of how it is possible for a system of such radical inequity in wealth distribution to exist. The corresponding domination and exploitation of the majority of the population can be understood from the point of view of seeing how Ego operates. The illusion is that we have two systems, one capitalist and the other socialist. The socialist system is founded upon the belief in Noblese Oblige whereby the government makes policies for the broad social good. The capitalistic system is founded upon the belief that individuals (State Rights) should be left alone for the most part and decide for themselves how best to distribute the fruits of their industry. In fact there is no system, there is only life. It is only the ego that defends and explains and wants us to believe that there are these different systems. The only thing any one person can do is to diminish their ego to experience life more directly. This is actually quite radical and revolutionary. When the United States went through the Great Depression, individually and collectively, Ego was greatly diminished. People pulled together and the New Deal got people back to work through massive public works. This along with the sacrafices of many in WWÍI produced what is known as the Greatest Generation. Reminding me of this type of selfless service that exemplified the Greatest Generation was a young man named Josh from Austin Texas that was in the same dorm as me my first night in Quito. He is working for six months out in an isolated rural village to help make a health center. So far he says he has only been working on generators and basic electrical stuff(the vilage just got electricity two years ago) but he says people ride horses for two days just to come to the center they are working on. It is funded by a German Non Profit of sorts and has doctors from Germany and other Latin countries helping out. Josh has just finsihed college and is planning on going to medical school to become a doctor himself. It is in young people like Josh that there is much hope.

Ecuador-The Unbearable Lightness of Being

2008-03-08T19:42:00.004-05:00

After three buses and more than 24 hours in transit, I am now esconsed at the "Backpacker´s Inn" here in Quito. I remember traveling in Prague in January of 1990 right after the wall came down, and I was struck with a similar feeling wandering through the bus station here in Quito. Time slowed down and my senses seemed to absorb everything. On the bus from the border I met a local indian woman named Rosita, pictured here. Crossing the border, I changed some of my extra Colombian currency for what they use in Ecuador, the U.S dollar. I was struck by the poverty and that this country got "dollarized" helps to explain its continuing exploitation.Before getting on the bus in Medellin I watched Uribe and Chavez on the television at the Rio Group meeting, (along with the rest of Colombia that was glued to the set), and was struck by the nodding heads of many Latin American presidents as Chavez spoke. In the past the United States would have gotten away helping to take Chavez out in 2003 and similarly not much would ahve come of the murder of Reyes. But now, the tide has tunned and many of the presidents of Latin America have escaped from being dominated by the United States. Bush and Company of course don´t like this and talk about fighting terrorism, but the majority of the world is really sick of the rhetoric. The cat is out of the bag and as Europe and Asia grow stronger, the United States is left looking more and more like the proverbial ""Emperor with No Clothes" living in a house of cards.countries nodded the and entering into Ecuador I was struck by the poverty

Adios Medellin! Hasta Ecuador

2008-03-07T08:34:00.009-05:00

Today I leave Medellin, a city that has won my heart. Medellin reminds me of San Francisco. Yesterday there where large peace marches throughout Colombia and around the world. The march in Medellin had an estimated 15,000 participants and I walked the full route taking pictures, talking to to people and being moved to tears by a group of mothers who had lost loved ones. Click here to look at the pictures I took at the event. Much of the focus of the march was aimed at the paramilitaries, who have inflicted incredible violence on the people of this long suffering country. Take a look at this article to see a perspective you won´t find in the mainstream press, but represents the sentiments of many of the marchers. Compared to the march against FARC that I saw in Santa Marta in February, this one was represented a much more diverse cross section of Colombian society. Watching the demonstration against FARC, I was struck by the flawed logic of stating that they were against violence, yet that they were going to militarily eliminate FARC.
How can you end violence by using violence? Alfie, an International Relations student from Norway is pointing at the headline in the paper about the march. He is studying Spanish along with Joe, a Paramedic from New York, at one of the universities here.
They helped me figure out my signs that I proudly wore Yesterday.

Medellin Day 2

2008-03-03T22:31:00.003-05:00

As the political conflict caused by Colombia´s incursion into Ecuador to kill the ¨Number 2 FARC Commander" heats up, it has been reported that the United States provided key information to facilitate the operation. I love my country and loathe my government. Someday it will be nice when people who justify the use of violence some to their senses and stop making so much ugliness. Onward to practical concerns, my visa expires this Sunday so I will be haded to Quito this Sunday. I took a bunch more pictures today and captioned them and if you want to see them Click here for my Medellin Day 2 pictures. I am doing a week of language school at one of the Universities here for two hours a day. I am glad to get back into the langauge learning mode. I see that spending so much time thinking and writing in English is counter to me leanring the Spanish. So you should see in the coming months a mark drop in the amount of chronicling that I do in English. Pictured are Alber and Katalina whom I met on the tram.

Medellin

2008-03-02T19:00:00.006-05:00

Arrived in Medellin today after a 13 hour overnight bus ride from Caratagena. Click for photos. Got off the bus and was welcomed by a giant aerobics class being held in the bus station. Hopped onto their very nice metro system that took me to within a few blocks of the Palm Tree Hostal, the best backpacker digs around. At the Palm, met Judy, a young German, who just finished two months on a project called Casa Taller Las Moyas in Bogota. The projects helps youth who might be headed down the wrong path with school and mentors them in activities like ceramics. Clearly she got some kids really turned onto working with their hands. Judy is a recent college graduate who will soon start teaching language at a high school in Germany. She is fluent in Spanish, English, German and even understands French. At first, her boyfriend did not her want to come here because he thought it was not safe. This FALSE perception has Medellin not being a very popular place on the Gringo Trail. It is truly a gem and people are definitley losing out by not coming here. We visited the top of Mutibaria hill where they recreated a Paisa village. The Paisa, as people around here are called, are the folks of mostly of European descent who settled the area by working the land on the promise from the government that they would be given title. They are known for being hard working and industrious. The current President, Uribe, is a Paisa and is known for starting his cabinet meetings at 5am. Later we visited the area around the University Metro station. The nearby Botanical Gardens are fantastic. They have a big exploratorium for learning physics and technology through play that is really impressive. They also had outdoor water works that were open to the public. This city is certainly doing many things right to make for a high qulaity of life for its residenst. It will be hard to leave here as it was tough leaving Cartagena, as it was leaving Santa Marta. My 60 day visa expires in less than a week, so soon I shall be headed to Ecuador.

Still Life with Woodpecker-Book Review

2008-03-01T16:00:00.005-05:00

One of the greatest pleasures in life for me is having the time to read a good book. I just finished Still Life with Woodpecker written by Tom Robbins back in 1980. Instead of summarizing the book I thought I would pull some quotes from the book to illustrate why this is such a good book. All that follows are lines from the book Still Life with Woodpecker.
This may be said for the last quarter of the twentieth century: the truism that if we want a better woprld will have to better people came to be acknowledged, if not thoroughly understood, by a significantly large minority.

The difference between a criminal and an outlaw is that while a criminals frequently are victums, outlaws never are. Indeed, the first step toward becoming a true outlaw is the refusal to be victimized.

Have we a common goal, that goal is to turn the tables on the nature of society. When we succeed, we raise the the exhilaration content of the universe.

Outlaws, like poets, rearrange the nightmare.

There are essential and inessential insanities. Essential insanities are those impulses one instinctively senses are virtuous and correct, even though peers may regard them as coo coo.
Poetry, the best of it, is lunar and is concerned with essential insanities. Journalism is solar (there are numerous newspapers named The Sun, none called The Moon) and is devoted to the inessential.

The outlaw is someone who cannot be gotten. He can only be punished other peoples attitudes.

That´s because only the better ideas turn into dogma, and it is this process whereby a fresh, stimulating, humanly helpful idea is changed into robot dogma that is deadly.

There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who beleive that there are two kinds of people in this world and those who are smart enough to know better.

A better world has gotta start somewhere. Why not here with you and me?

Equality is not in regarding different things similarly, equality is in regarding different things differently.

Were our own dragons and as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves.

I guess love is the real outlaw

What limits people is that they don´t have the fucking nerve or imagination to star in their own movie, let alone direct it.

The bottom line is that (a) people are never perfect, but love can be
Loving makes love. Loving makes itself. We waste time looking for the perfect lover instead of creating the perfect love.

Love is the ultimate outlaw. It just won´t adhere to any rules. The most any of us can do is sign on as it´s accomplice.

Jablonski came to beleive that Bernard simply had too much fun.
Fighting the system is serious business., the lawyer had reminded her client. It´s serious business that creates the system, answered Bernard.

That´s the trouble with political people, he said. There´s not one of you, left, right or center, who doesn´t believe that the means are justified by the ends.

no matter how fevered a romantic might support a movement, he or she eventually must withdraw from active participation in that movement because the group ethic, the supremacy of the group over the individual, is an affront to intimacy. Intimacy is is the the principal source of the sugars with which life is sweetened. It is absolutely vital to the essential insanities. Without the essential (intimate) insanities, humor becomes inoffensive and therefore pap, poetry becomes esoteric and therefore prose, ertoicim becomes mechanical and therefore pornography, behavior becomes predictable and therefore easy to control.

A romantic, however, recognizes that the movement , the organization, the institution, the revolution, if it comes to that, is merely a backdrop for his or her own personal drama and that to pretend otherwise is to surrender freedom and will to to the totalitarian impulse, is to replace psychological reality with sociological illusions,

The word that allows yes, the word that makes no possible. The word that puts the free in freedom and takes the obligation out of love. The word upon which all adventures, all exhilaration, all meaning, all honor depends.

every totalitarian society, no matter how strict, has had it´s underground. In fact´two undergrounds. There´s the underground involved in political resistance and the underground involved in preserving beauty and fun, which is to say, preserving the human spirit.

He made it in very midst of the Nazi occupation, filmed this beauty inside the belly of the beast. He called it Les Enfants du Paradis-Children of Paradise

Objecthood was by no means our only major theme. There was, for example, the matter of the evolution of the individual, how evolving is not accomplished for a person by nature or society but is the central dimension of a personal drama to which nature and society are but spectators. Wasn{t it made clear that civilization is not an end in itself but a theater or gymnasium in which the evolving individual finds the facilities for practice?

(1) Everything is part of it.
(2) It´s never too late to have a happy childhood.

Cartagena for the Select Few

2008-03-01T00:19:00.007-05:00

Onwards from Cartagena, click here to see photos, to Medellin. My friends at the Marlin Hotel taught me much about life in Colombia. The people here work long hours, sometimes they get only one day off in a month. It is normal for a person, even a skilled laborer to make about $7-10 a day. Yet, the amount of energy and their general level of happiness is quiet high. One night I went out to the discos with a group of travelers (see photo gallery). Most places charge between $2-4 for a beer, you do the math. There are definitely some people here in Colombia that have money, the vast majority, like my friends at the Marlin do not. My friend Jose pictured here with Graciela and Stella all help to keep the Marlin the best place in Cartagena to stay for those traveling the Gringo Trail. Graciela (in black) is a year younger than me (45) and already has three grown children and even more grandchildren. Jose has three kids. Colombians always say "Al la Ordren". Which. literally translated means "At your service". The amazing thing is that they really mean it, you can feel it, it is not some sort of hype. They are really an amazingly gracious and hospitable people.

The Gringo Trail=Death by Popularity

2008-02-27T21:52:00.009-05:00

The Hippie Trail originated as a way to describe the budget conscious travel route/s that hippies and others used during the 1960s and 1970s from Europe, overland to and from eastern Asia. Lonely Planet got its start in 1971 when the founders published accounts of their trip from the UK to Australia. The Gringo trail similarly describes the travel route/s that budget minded, mostly backpack toting, travelers utilize as they travel in Central and South America. Since the advent of Lonely Planet, other guidebooks have flourished and the the entire planet has been mapped out along the lines of the Hippie-Gringo trail perspective. These routes, which used
to be the domain of a relatively few adventurous souls now resembles an amusement park. Part of the answer to this problem is the explosion in World Population. Since my birth in 1961, the population has more than doubled. Taking a look at how population has increased since the time of the Industrial Revolution it it is easy to see that our latest doublings in population correspond to our extraction and use of oil as our primary source of energy. Oil has changed everything and has facilitated an unprecedented increase in world population, as shown by these numbers below:

1 billion=1804 It took us humans a long time to reach this number
2 billion=1927 took 123 years, 1804-1927 for another billion people
3 billion=1961 took only 34 years from 197 to add the next billion
4 billion=1974 took only 13 years for another billion from 1961-1974
5 billion=1987 again it took only 13 years to add a billion 1974-1987
6 billion=1999 now it took only 12 years to add a billion 1987-1999
7 billion=2011 in 2008 we are already at 6.8 billion
8 billion=2024 Its predicted it will take 13 years to add another billion
9 billion= 2042 then another 18 years to add another billion

By looking at the distributions of the worlds wealth it is also possible to see that two regions represented by the Gringo and Hippie Trails are regions that have been dominated by stronger imperial powers. That those who can afford to travel these routes, even on the cheap, are relatively well off compared to the majority of the population on the planet. That the critical areas where oil is present such as in the Middle East and South America are in turmoil and being contested by any one the three great superpowers of Europe, Asia or America. It is certainly an interesting time to be alive in this time where energy production and population are peaking.

Cartagena

2008-02-26T10:49:00.002-05:00

Click here for a captioned photo gallery of Cartagena.

Cartagena is the caribbean regions economic hub and was part of the Spanish crown for more than 250 years. It was also a major trading port for the slaves brought to the "New World". Slaves were used to; clear the cane for roads, plunder graves for valuables and to build forts and such. Gold being shipped back to Spain left from Cartagena, making it a huge target for repeated attacks by "Pirates" of various flags, resulting in the construction of massive fortifications to protect against such attacks. One such attack by England in 1741 had the combined forces of 23,600 men and 186 ships from British and American clolonial troops. The Battle of Cartagena de Indias lasted weeks, but the Britsh forces simply could not capture the Fortress of San Felipe that is heavily featured in my photo gallery. News of Englands defeat echoed around the world. Spain was able to maintain control of the hugely profitable Caribbean region and continue its empire until the 19th century. Cartagena was also a base for the Spanish Inquisition. The Inquisition was notable for it´s lack of external funding. It paid for it´s existance based on the of seized assets of those found guilty, hmmmm do you think that might be a conflict of interest? I have been meeting interesting people like Bradford from Montana who is on a Central and South American adventure to make a white water rafting video. You can check him out at http://www.theshuttlerig.blogspot.com/. For some more information on Cartagena.

Colombia The Last 6 Weeks-On to Cartagena

2008-02-20T17:10:00.002-05:00

All, please click on the colored hyperlinks to see any of the 12 captioned photo galleries of my last 6 weeks here in Santa Marta Colombia. Underneath, the links are embedded in a short narrative paragraph. Please post a comment id so inclined. Big LOVE, Don

I have been here in this fascinating place called Santa Marta for almost 6 weeks. For one month I attended spanish school every day for 3 hours. The entire time I have stayed at the hotel Miramar on Calle 10. Many know about Calle 10 in Santa Marta through a book about the cocaine trade called The Fruit Palace. The title of the book refers to a fruit stand of sorts that used to be down the street from the Miramar. Colombia is filled with contrasts. Most Colombians are incredibly nice and welcoming but there are places where you will find hostility directed at you. An ongoing civil war of more than 50 years rooted in the glaring social problems created by a relativley small number of people controling the vast majority of the wealth, (many will tell you that 25-30 Colombian families own pretty much everything) makes it a fascinating an important place. The Miramar has quite a Cast of Characters and the local family who run the kitchen represent all that´s great about Columbia. Foreigners are advised not to visit the community a short walk from the Miramar called San Martin because of safety concerns. Parque Tayrona nearby is situated on the coast with mountains rising sharply up from some of the most beautiful and unpopulated beaches imaginable. In Tayrona you can hike into the mountains to visit the ruins of a Tayrona village called Pueblito, or the "The Mini Lost City", referog to the capital city of the Tayrona that many pay $250 to go on an organized 6 day trek to visit, and from which 8 foreigners were kidnapped by guerillas a few years back. A short distance from Tayrona is a place where the Buritaca river meets the sea and provides an idylic beach setting. Closer to the city is the enchanting Playa Grande. Santa Marta is one of the first cities settled in the America´s. It is where Bolivar died and was buried for many years. I visited a locals house two times who is starting up his own restaurant in his front yard. Young Carlos is a young man that I met who plans to be lawyer and journalist. His Uncle is a well known writer and he has met Gabriel García Márquez. He wants to go the United States to study and I see him as the hope for a better future for this oppressed country. I also visited the university with my spanish teacher and saw hope talking with them.

To watch a very intersting movie called "Colombia, Would you take the Risk?" , click here please make sure you watch the entire 8 minutes or you will get the wrong impression

Financial Tsunami

2008-02-03T17:38:00.000-05:00

Friends,

The three part series titled "Financial Tsunami", by James Engdahl is the best analysis of the current world economic situation that I have come across: Engdahl says, "The worst financial crisis in US history is just now appearing in its real dimension. It spells the end of New York’s reign as the globally dominant financial power, the heart of the power of the American Century. It is a shift whose true significance has not yet been appreciated. It soon will be."
Financial Tsunami - Part 1
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7413
FInancial Tsunami -Part 2
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7813
Financial Tsunami - Part 3
http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net/Financial_Tsunami/The_Financial_Tsunami_Part_III/the_financial_tsunami_part_iii.HTM

I also reccomend a piece called "Has capitalism passed its peak?" from Richard Moore. Moore wrote the book "Escaping the Matrix-How We the People Can Change the World". His analyis is highly interesting.

Buritaca

2008-02-02T22:59:00.001-05:00

Greetings from Buritaca where the river meets the sea. To see a
subtitled photo gallery of this trip click here. To get
to the beach you have to cross the Buritaca river first. The current
is pretty strong, and my french friend Gwendolyn is shown making
the crossing.

In the distance is the Santa Marta mountains and if you
look clearly you can see that they are covered in snow. Pretty
nice being at the beach in 100 degree weather and seeing snow
on the mountains.

Paula lives in Bogata and is out on a circuit driving around
Combia to Carnval in Baranquil. One of her stops was at
Baritaka and her and her friends gave us a ride back to Santa
Marta in the back of the pickup truck. She sat back with
Gwendolyn and me. She´s studying business management
and after her 6 year program she will go and work for her
father who has a casino.

When we got back to Santa
Marta the roads were clogged
with Carnival revelers. Here are
some parading down the main
street

Tayrona

2008-01-29T14:49:00.000-05:00

Here are some of the pictures of my time in Tayrona Columbia with my friends Helene, Michael and Micha. Helene and Michael are from Liverpool England. Micha lives in Canada not far from some of my family near Kamloops and the Mighty Fraser river. We had an extordinary time in this idylic setting that was home to the Pre-Columbian Tayrona indians that are said to have numbered one million. Its great that many have written about this jewel. Check out the beautiful beach and surrounding area from this video of Micha emerging from the sand. It is said that the Tayrona built the massive ocean break that makes for the protected swimming area Called "La Piscina" (swimming pool) to make fishing easier. Michael and I hiked up a chalenging trail from the cape to a Tayrona village in the mountains. It is easy to see why these advanced people settled here. The picture of the decaying old cinder block home built on top of what used to be the foundation for a Tayrona home, perfectly illustrates the impermanence of our societies. Things are changing and what will come next?

Empire´s Workshop Book Review

2008-01-19T20:38:00.000-05:00

Today I finished "Empire´s Workshop" by Greg Grandin. While in New Orleans in December I attended a presentation at Tulane University by Grandin and bought his book Empire´s Workshop. Like my friend who suggested that many people in the United States and Europe should go to Haiti to change their consciousness to become better human beings, I also suggest that many people should read this book for the same reason. The book is a great read, very informative and well documented with ample references.

I found it highly interesting that there was actually a time when the United States, with the policy of the "New Deal" under the the leadership of Franklin Roosevelt in the 1930´s and the 1940´s treated Latin American countries with a measure of respect and cooperation that led to an unprecedented level of development and economic prosperity throughout Latin America. That this shining example of economic prosperity was used by the United States as a model in the post World War II reconstruction of Europe and Asia. That this very real and tangible economic co-prosperity in the America´s had many hopeful Latin American voices present at the formation of the United Nations agreeing with this this notion of co-prosperity based on respect for national sovereignty. That sadly, with the rise of Communism used as the excuse, all this advancement under the policies the New Deal were thrown out the window in favor of supporting dictators and governments that rolled back the progress made during these hopeful years.

What became clear to me after reading this book is that the world was actually plunged into World War III during the presidency of Reagan. This is the time when the gloves came off and American reverted to the use "Hard Power" and we truly started living in Orwellian times where as Grandin puts it, "the use of this incredibly violent and brutal explicit use of it, unapologetic use of violence and allying with the paramilitaries and death squads, but then justifying it in idealistic terms. In El Salvador, the U.S. supported an anti-communist regime in order to contain an insurgency that resulted in the deaths of something between 60,000 and 70,000 civilians. In Nicaragua, we supported an anti-communist insurgency, which resulted in the murder of 30,000 to 40,000 civilians. And in Guatemala, we provided moral justification for a regime that was committing genocide, murdering somewhat around 200,000 civilians, mostly Mayan Indians. And that was throughout the 1980s. So when somebody like Margaret Thatcher says that Reagan won the Cold War without firing a shot, there’s a certain kind of historical amnesia with those kind of pronouncements which get circulated in the mainstream press".

This time of the Reagan Revolution, was when the top third of the America population was able to win control of the government and amass enormous wealth, much to the detriment of the rest of the population. Reagan´s use of violence cloaked in altruistic language and his economic policy that if the rich got richer, the wealth would "Trickle Down" to benefit everyone, paved the way for the mess that the United States is in right now.

At the close of the book, Grandin talks about the independpendence movements that have been gaining ground throughout Latin America and how they relate to the upcoming 2008 elections.

Grandin says, "What, then will be Washington´s long-term response to this independence movement? One could hope that the Democrats would seize the moment to assert thier commitment to nonintervention and to work with economic nationalist to promote a fair and sustainable economic policy. Depending on the country, such a policy would include land reform, government regulation of foreign investment and currency speculation, more equitable contracts with multinationals, debt relief, increased spending on welfare, education, health care, and public works, and in the U.S., a just Immigration policy.

Don´t count on it. Unlike after WWII, when a confident corporate class threw it´s backing behind the New Deal political liberalism at home and at least some reform capitalism abroad, the financiers of today´s Democratic Party are too deeply invested in war production and speculative captial and too intensely committted to keeping the third world open. They will not brook any sustained attemp to restructure the global economy in a more equitable direction."

Further on Grandin says, "If there is a change in American diplomacy, it will come from the citizens who mobilized to oppose the occupation of Iraq and who in 2006 gave back the Congress to the Democratic Party".

Latin America is, finding it now possible to emerge from being under the boot of foreign domination for the first time in 500 years. Mercosur is proving to be a viable organization of South American member countries representing a very real challenge to U. S. hegemony. It is an exciting time to be here.

To listen or read about the book through an interview on "Democracy Now" with Greg Grandin click on this Democracy Now link.
Go to thislink at Amazon to read a review or order the book..
Click on the American Empire Project to read more about the project that this book is part of.

The Many and the Few!

2008-01-15T19:33:00.000-05:00

Why is it that a relatively small (percentage wise) group of people get to lord of the majority of the population? Bolivar clearly loved his homeland of Venezuela and wanted his dear Gran Columbia to become a great power just like the United States. It is only by luck of parentage and geography that many of us from the imperial powers of Europe, Asia and North America get to come to these former colonies to "Live like Kings". It places a responsibility on those of us who enjoy relative economic prosperity to do something to help those less fortunate, noblesse oblige. Africa, Central-South America, Asia, Middle East and anywhere else that has been under the colonial boot for an extended period of time to this day still has the great majority of it´s citizens living harsh lives with little possibility for change. The nonsense that things are getting better for more and more people is so absurd, or like anything, it depends on your ppoint of view. In China for those 200 million that have been allowed the economic freedom to exploit a billion of their fellow countrymen to produce vast quantity of merchandise that can now be found at Walmart and their ilk, certainly life has gotten better. For those 1 billion other Chineese life has gotten considerable harder than what it was under Mao, before the economic liberalization of the economy. The simple question is how do we take better care of those living harder lives? It seems to me that as long as we continue with a belief in scarcity that legitamizes the use of violence, be it military or economic, we will not get at the root of the problem. Ultimately it comes down to the individual. What each and everyone of us does is important, critical in fact, in this time of maximum everything. For it is only when enough of us have become truly human that things can really change.

The Grand Chessboard-Bolivar to Bhutto

2008-01-13T20:21:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I went with my fellow classmate to a former sugar plantation called La Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino. This is the place where Simon Bolivar died before setting sail for Europe after resigning from being president of Gran Columbia (which included Venezuela, Columbia and present day Panama and Ecuador) . Bolivar´s dream was a Pan American nation similar to the United states that would be strong enough to resist being exploited by more powerful nations. After a painful battle with tuberculosis on December 17, 1830, Bolivar died in Santa Marta, Colombia, a very disillusioned and disappointed man of the age of 47. History has shown that Latin America has been ruthlessly exploited after independance, primarily by the United States for it´s abundance of natural resources. Zbigniew Brzeziński in his book The Grand Chessboard talks about the "Great Game" and certainly what is happening in Latin America by the challenges to American Hegemony being posed by the economic allaince of South American nations known as Mercosur and espoused by leaders such as Hugo Chavez have the elites in America very concerned. The Great Game is always about power and how to maintain that power with the long term view always in mind. Bhutto was assasinated ending any credible challengers to Musharraf´s rule and he was able to conveniently blame it on our favorite boogey man Osama Bin Laden and his Al Queda crew. Shorlty after the killing, an announcement was made that Pakistan was going to be allowing more US military into Pakistan. Hmmm, who benefits? Let´s see Musharraf gets to stay in power and the United States get to strenthen it´s military presence in Pakistan. Read the article linked here for more about the assaination of Bhutto. Red Pill or Blue Pill?

"Costco" In Columbia

2008-01-11T21:31:00.000-05:00

A bit of a surreal experience tonight as I went out shopping for some index cards and a few other supplies. Santa Marta appears to be NOT a very big city and that is after having been here for three days. I have done a fair amount of walking and there are a few 6-10 story condominium-apartment complexes, but on the whole it appears very poor and somewhat smallish with most people living in somewhat crude shelters. According to Wikipedia there are over 400,000 people in the city of Santa Marta. As I walked down the main street which is alive with street vendors and smallish shops, I came to a store called Exito that is similar to the "look and feel" of a Costco. I clearly had feelings about giving my business to this store, just as I always do whenever I shop the big box retailers in the states. It just struck me so strongly here at first blush everything seemed to be so idylic in that I was not seeing any chains, just small local businesses that could be as simple as somebody selling ice cream from a pushcart. I wonder if the quest for the best selection at the best prices actually dehumanizes us into consumers as opposed to citizens. Walking in the part of town where the condosand apartments are there was a strange quiet to this section of town. A Dutch friend said this is because everyone stays to themselves. I wonder if the affluent West is not actually dead in a certain way. Consumed by materialism such that the distribution of wealth is so skewed in favor of relative few, that a reflection of "deadness" is the generation of ideas espoused by folks like the Chicago Boys as fronted by Milton Friedman. Where what was perpretrated in Chile under Pinochet was done again and again in other Latin America countries leading us now to the current criminality that the Bush administration calls the War on Terror. Very Orwellian thes times we live in. It seems to me that those people who justify the use of violence in the name of some greater good are fricking insane, don{t play well
with others and need a time out. They believe that the ends justify the means. Hitler was like that, he called himself Christian and a Democrat to boot.

Classes have started-Primera Dia!

2008-01-11T14:41:00.000-05:00

Excelente! Today I had my first spanish class for two hours today with Elizabeth from Czechoslovakia. I told how I was in Prague in February of 1990 right after the Iron Curtain began to come down and had met a 19 year old East Berliner named Dorte. Dorte was not happy that the wall was coming down because she said at least under Communism everyone had a job, a place to live, food and medical attention. She admitted that it might not have been the best of everything and that maybe you woud have to wait in line for things, but at least everyone had enough. She feared that soon there would be homeless people and problems with drug and unemployment. Elizabeth said she understood this point of view but that she would not be traveling here to Columbia if the wall was still up. Hard to argue with the truth in that observation. It´s also plain to see that in Russia Putin came to power because the promise of freedom under democracy esposued by the west was not kept. Life for the majority of people under communism was better before communism fell to capitalism. Anyway´s it is great to be able to travel. It can be very educational and it´s possible to meet the most intersting people.

All for now,

Don

Santa Marta Columbia is "Perfecto"

2008-01-10T12:16:00.000-05:00

Yahoo for Santa Marta, I am finally settled into the perfect place for me to focus on learning Spanish. The people of Columbia are openly very friendly compared to the much more reserved Venezuelans. I seem to be making an unintended pilgrimage to Bolivar as Isla Margarita was; quote from Wikipedia, "In 1814, the islanders fought successfully for independence from the Spanish, and Isla Margarita became the first free territory in Venezuela. It was on Margarita Island that Simon Bolivar, later called the Libertador, was confirmed as Commander in Chief of the new republic, la gran Colombia. From there he started to free Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia from the Spanish Crown." Next I went to Caracas and visited the city center where the colonial heritage of Caracas is preserved with many building including Bolivars home and the church where he is entombed. Santa Marta is where Bolivar died after giving up his dream of a united South America, simialr to what had come to pass in the United States. There are a great many quotes from Bolivar, one in which he puts himself into a group with Jesus and Don Quioxte, check em out.

I start classes on Monday from 10-1 daily, Mondays through Friday. My single room at the Hotel Miramar is only a short block from the beach and costs only $5 per night. Santa Marta has everything for me: Spanish school, excellent swimming, broadband Internet and all for very little money. I will be staying here for some weeks and look forward to updating my blog with entries to get me up to present. All for now, BIG LOVE-don

Leaving for Columbia, Santa Marta

2008-01-07T19:19:00.000-05:00

Tommorow I am takin the bus from Caracas to Santa Marta in Columbia. I have to admit I am in somewhat of a state of shock as I had planned to spend this evening at an Internet Cafe and update my blog with all the great pictures that I had taken the last four days in Caracas. I am sad to say that this is NOT going to happen as my camera was stolen today. A pair of guys, one snatching it out of my hands as I was taking a picture and the other waiting a short distance away on a motorcycle accomplished the theft in the blink of an eye. I did not even have a chance to give pursuit. I have to figure out a system for preventing this loss of data again. The camera I was not all that attached to as it was a Costco special at $133 and I was definitely dissapointed that it did not have built in image stabilization. However, it is all the photos that really mattered to me and has me feeling like I got punched in the gut, a loss that is just troubling. Anyways, I´ll figure a better system to protect my data so that I can have some sort of backup going forwards. Live and learn. Caracas is still and amazing city and I plan on coming back through here again before returning to the states.

Aye Caracas!

2008-01-05T18:21:00.001-05:00

Used in South America as an expression of something powerful, kinda like WOW or NO WAY. The city is certainly much safer and more enjoyable than I had anticipated based on all the stories that I had heard from fellow travelers. In fact I like the place and the only time I fet unsafe was my first night when I naively was NOT carrying a copy of my passport with me and got hassled by the police on two seperate occasions. The subway here was built in the 1970´s and is excelent shape. It´s easy to use, cost very little, is clean and the trains run on time and will take you all over this very large metropolitan area. I have been staying in an area known as Sabana Grande.
I have uploaded some shots that you can look at by clicking photos. Caracas is definitely a world city that has all the big multi nationals represented here. There seems to be a McDonalds on every Corner and the mall complex called Sambir that is bigger and fancier than any mall I have ever seen in the states. There is definitely some really wealthy people here. There population is very young and opening affectionate. So many really beautiful woman.

Caracas

2008-01-03T08:37:00.000-05:00

I learned that last night from a Brazilain that you can use the word Caracas to denote either extreme of really bad or really good. Tonight I will fly to Caracas so I will get first hand experience soon enough of this much talked about city. I have started a captioned picture gallery here. I fly out tonight at 7pm and am excited. Gotta run, much to do before departure. Hasta Luego~don

Venezuela is Rich!

2008-01-02T04:01:00.000-05:00

Isla Margarita in Venezuela is amazing! The Spanish fought hard for this place and key battles took place here as the Venezuelans led by Bolivar, finally achieved independence from Spain in 1823. There are two other islands close to Margarita called Cubagua and Coche. These three islands compose Nueva Esparta, so named because Bolivar in a letter to the king of England after Independence, said the Venzuelan's here fought like Spartans. In fact a full one quarter of the population of Venezuela died in the fight for it's independence. The first European city in Latin America was on Cubagua because of the rich oyster beds offshore that by 1526 had the processing facility at Coche producing over 800 pounds of oysters a month. These oysters influenced fashion in Europe and more value was gained from them than any gold or silver extracted from South America. The Caribe's were one of the indian tribes in this area and they were known as great fighters. The Carribean is named after this group of fierce warriors who were instrumental in the fight for independence. Below are some captioned photo galleries that delve further into the richness of this beautiful place.
Cast of Characters
Island Life
Fish Dinner
Beach Wedding
Macanao
Island Life 2
Chicken Stand Video on You Tube on the street in Maragarita

Swimming the Caribbean

2007-12-28T08:31:00.001-05:00

My Dutch friend Alex and I decided to take swimming in the Caribbean to a whole new level. We swam about two and a half miles to a small, rocky windswept island off the coast of Isla Margarita on Wednesday the 27th, two days after Christmas. The island can be seen way off in the distance in between us. To see a few more photos that show the island and the beach we swam from click on this PHOTO LINK. It was an amazing adventure. To look at the distance we traveled look at this Google map.

Margarita-46th Birthday

2007-12-21T01:35:00.000-05:00

This is an Island paradise here on Isla Margarita in Venezuela. I am thrilled to be here in Venezuela on my 46th birthday. The picture below is looking onto Playa Caribe, about a half hour walk from where I'm staying in Juan Griego. Please take a look at the photos I have uploaded for some more "visual storytelling

The reason it has taken me almost a week to make another blog entry is because I was having to contend with an issue related to my financing of these travels. It appears that I have finally gotten this issue sorted out, thanks to a "little help from my friends". I will go into to more detail in a future post, but for the moment suffice it to say that I landed in Venezuela with limited cash dollars in my pocket, believing that utilizing bank machines would not pose any problems. The nature of the "problem" gets to the root of much of what ails the world and as I said before this will be explored in a future post.

Paul, husband of Yvonne, gave me a Cuba Libre and wished me a happy birthday. Hank and Yeon from Holland just came back from out on the town and also wished me a happy birthday. Hank and I had a long conversation about the state of the world. We both agreed that America and Europe are both in trouble for a whole host of reasons. To have understanding beteen people is such a miracle. I am grateful for all of those people in my life that work to increase understanding amongst all people.

Venezuela-Settling In

2007-12-15T17:32:00.000-05:00

I have arrived in Venezuela, the epicenter of the Bolivarian Revolution. Settled in very nicely on the island of Margarita. away from the main population center of Porlamar in the relatively undeveloped area of Bahia do Juan Griego. There is a wonderful assortment of fellow travelers and ex-pats from Europe in this island paradise. The Hotel Patrick has become a base of operations for me and besides a great group of people they offer free use of a computer with a fast connection. Most of the inhabitants of Margarita have pretty strong feelings about Chavez and were relieved that the constitutional referendum did not pass. I am glad I chose to come here fist to give myself an opportunity get oriented. I plan on staying here until the new year and then heading over to Merida for more intensive language training. That's all for now, adios!

Venezuela Departure

2007-12-12T19:09:00.000-05:00

Leaving this morning at 9:30 (december 13) for a short three hour flight from Miami to Caracas, and then a short layover for another short flight to Isla Margarita. This is a modification from my original plan to spend a month in Caracas getting oriented. One of my roomates dissuaded me from this notion, convincing me that Caracas is a VERY challenging place for a variety of reasons. I'm happy to have a new plan.

One of my roomates is letting me borow his laptop to write this post. The buildup of housing for the rich is phenomenal. This building frenzy, as in San Francisco, is all vertical. This trend of gentrification has been happening in American cities for many years now, but here in Miami it's extreme. South Beach is a modeling capital and models are everywhere, adding to the surreal quality of this ultimate party place.

I lost a blog entry yesterday after spending a full two hours working on it. I pored my heart and soul into this piece of writing, and needless to say, it distressed me greatly when it evaporated into the ether. Same kind of feeling as when I lost my camera in New Foundland. The loss initiated a powerful conversation with my two roommate's, one from Switzerland and the other from Spain. We ended up staying up till 4am talking about the state of the world. We all agreed that as a film, the Matrix does a good job illustrating our current predicament. What are each of us willing to do for Freedom? Is the addiction to our own comfort so strong that we will watch others suffer? Is it going to take a war for people to wake up and see that they are being manipulated? America is still the cultural leader of the world. People from all over the world still want to come here because of the economic freedoms here. Nevertheless, Globalization continues its relentless consolidation of power.

It's an interesting time to be going to South America. We shall see what I discover. Till next time.

Tampa-Day 2

2007-12-07T14:36:00.000-05:00

Tampa is proving to be very interesting. Yesterday I swam about 3/4 of a mile in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico at Siesta Key. My friend Dennis and his wife are owners of a "Thyme for Dinner" franchise in Sarasota. I got to see a very interesting business where the general public gets to save all the hassles of shopping and clean up for making nutritious meals by visiting the store site and assembling their meals on location and then taking them home conveniently packaged and ready to be served. Think of it as TV dinners except that all the ingredients are fresh and prepared by hand.

The Tampa Bay metropolitan area has roughly 2.7 million people and is adding about 97,000 residents per year. I can see why people want to live here as the weather is warm and the waters of the Gulf of Mexico are glorious for all manner of recreation. But the Tampa Bay Area was largely built up in the age of the automobile and is very car dependant. It's common, as it is in many places in American suburbs for neighbors to NOT know their neighbors. People generally keep to themselves here but it still seems odd to me that the people are not friendlier and more open considering the paradise they live in.

There is a burgeoning New Age community here in the Tampa area. There are many places to go for Pilates, Yoga other movement classes. Dennis's wife is a financial planner in the Socially Responsible Investing movement. The Unity Church is popular here and I will be going to here a sermon from a highly regarded Unity minister in Clearwater on Sunday.

I spent the better part of today playing traveling agent and making all the last minute arrangements for my December 13th departure to Venezuela from Miami. I'll drive with a rental car from Sarasota to Miami on Monday. A few days in Miami to take care of any last minute trip preparations and to visit the Miami Beach area where I lived for roughly two years in 1988 and 1990.

Tampa

2007-12-06T12:20:00.000-05:00

Arrived in Tampa last night and got picked up at the airport by a beautiful woman named Linda D. Howard who took me to St. Petersburg for a Landmark Forum Seminar being led by my friend Dennis. Dennis is a friend from my Burningman camp, and I am staying with him in Sarasota for a couple/few days before pushing off to Miama. Linda is one of the particpants in the seminar, and Dennis had asked her to pick me up as he was prepping to lead the seminar. Linda has a 16 year old son who just started attending a very expensive military boarding school. She explained that she had a coversation with him about poor grades and gave him 6 months to improve or be shipped off to boarding school. She told him that it was her responsibility to do everything in her power to make sure that he is a contribution in the world. Linda is a testament to the fierce protective love that a mother has for her child. It was great to see Dennis and he introduced me as Peace Mechanic which is my playa name. A playa name is a sort of nick name that captures the essence of a persons identity. The name Peace Mechanic came to me after seeing an art instalation at Burning Man in 2006 called Eyes Wide Open: March of Lost Hope, which was itself inspired by the Quakers American Friends Service Committee, original Eyes Wide Open exhibit that displays the boots of American soldiers killed in combat along with a memorial for Iraqis that have also lost their lives. Tampa is already proving to be quite an adventure in itself, more later.

Plantations, Music and "The Tables"

2007-12-03T12:04:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I visited three plantations, 30 minutes outside New Orleans on the famed River Road along the Mississippi river. My friend Sam and I went for a guided tour of one called The Laura Plantation that was incredible. River Road was the Silicon Valley of it's day with more millionaires than anywhere else in the world in its heyday. Plantations, mostly Creole, stretched both sides of this mighty river for 70 miles. The land they occupied was narrow and long, with Laura going back 3 1/2 miles but only having 4/10's of a mile in width. This was so each plantation could deliver it's goods onto the river for transport, sugar in the case of Laura. The guided tour was extraordinary and history came alive in a profound way. Creole Plantations were not the same as the Anglo plantations. There is something about the Acadians and the role they played in settling Canada in and around Nova Scotia and there later exhile by the British that had them playing a huge role in making New Orleans what it is today that fascinates me. Something of a mystery in my blood line is becoming known to me. I will write more about this later.

Two nights ago I went into the French Quarter with a 27 year old Canadian traveler named Matt.We walked the raucous Bourbon Street on our way to Frenchmans street to checko out some live music. Bourbon is about as sleazy a walk as you will in America. Frenchmans street is where the locals go and is home to some very nice clubs like Tipitina's and DBA. Many clubs along it's few block have no cover to listen to incredible music. We delighted in our sampling of venues and after reveling is Jazz and such we ended up at a club called Check Point Charley and were very entertained by a group called Sick Like Sinatra.

The hostel has an outdoor patio area where folks gather and socialize. It is called by some of us affectionatley "The Tables". The most interesting people cycle through this place and stories of adventure and discussions of everything and anything take place at all hours. I will write another post to describe some of the characters that color this world.

New Orleans-Vietnameese Seminarian and the Judge

2007-12-01T17:29:00.000-05:00

Worked out for my second time at Loyloa yesterday, and I continue to be impressed with this instititution. Never have been a big rooter for any college sports team before, but now have a special place in my heart for Loyola and will cheer for them in the future.

I asked a well dressed stranger for directions last night and after a bit of navigational advice, he said "come on, I'll give you a ride." We hopped into his SUV and talked about New Orleans post Katrina (he was in the court building through the storm and did not leave until a week after the storm hit.) We also discussed politics and my upcoming trip to Venezuella. This eternal optimist calls himself a "Goodwill Ambassador" and told me to call him if I ever needed any help. Turns out that Dennis J. Waldron is a Judge in the Criminal District Court of the Parish of Orleans. Nice to have friends in high places and even better to know that people of position and authority are willing to help a total stranger.

Entering many establishments like Jacques Imos Cafe or Juans Flying Burritos you will see a sing that says, "Be Nice or Leave". This, in so many ways sums up the attitude of New Orleans. People here are open and talk to strangers. It is similar to how I found the people in New Foundland to be.

I walked the lenght of Magazine street past it trendy boutiques, coffee shops, restaurants, antique stores and bars. The best section is inbetween Loissianna and Napoleon street. I happend upon a coffee shop called Puccino's where the Uptown Chess Club had taken over most of the tables with probably about 30 games of timed chess being played by young and old alike. It was so heartneing to see, not sure why, just made me feel good.

Oh yeah, after I finished my workout, I had a great conversation with a Vietnameese semianry student who is n New Orleans to study at Notre Dame. He came to America as a 28 year old in 1993. Most of Vietnam is Buddhist, but he was baptized as a baby. He asked me about the Concupiscence of the Flesh and we had a very interesting discussion about the Good and Evil. It is intersting to note that of all the severely damaged zones in New Orleans after Katrina it was the area of East New Oleans dominated by Vietnameese that rebuilt and returned to normal far faster than anywher else.

New Orleans-Loyola

2007-11-29T21:30:00.000-05:00

After more than six weeks on the road, I have finally gone for a swim. Loyola University is a short distance down St. Charles Avenue from where I am staying in the Garden District. The friendly folks at Loyola gave me a one week pass to use their sports complex, including Olympic size pool for $21. Swam a half mile and worked out with weights. I asked over at Tulane about using their pool, but they were not nearly as welcoming. The Jesuits run this place and I really appreciate their emphasis on helping others. I was thinking about why I identify with those who; live on the margins of our society, the kids at risk or any folks on the planet who are oppressed and struggling to make it. It struck me that was me when I went to high school . For a variety of reasons which I won't go into for this post, I really struggled in high school and ended up in a coma for two weeks when I was 18 after a car accident. I was a pretty unhappy person at that time and fortunately had a loving family to support me in my recovery. Many people don't have that loving family and the notion that for us who do have this great blessing, we need to help others less fortunate. This is somewhat akin to the notion of Noblesse oblige which is also very strong in me. Loyola also lets the public use their computers for Internet access at the library for free also which is where I am making this post from. Non-Students have to get out of the library by 9, so I gotta run for now. My flight for Venezuela in in December 14th from Miami. I will leave New Orleans on the 5th to meet up with one of my Burning Man friends in Miami. I am flying out of Lois Armstrong airport on Southwest for $99. Oh yeah I went to a club called the Maple Leaf and saw the most amazing brass band called Rebirth, they are AMAZING!

New Orleans-Thanksgiving and ...

2007-11-26T14:29:00.000-05:00

There is much to be grateful for, no matter where you are! On Thursday I volunteered at the Convention Center for Sheriff Marlin Gusman's 33rd Annual Thanksgiving Day Feast. I served, stocked, cleaned and visited with those who came for meals and also those who volunteered. It was quite a scene, and at times it seemed that there were more volunteers than folks who had come for meals. The convention center is enormous and there was probably more than a thousand people there with some very talented musicians playing their hearts out up on an elevated stage. Problem was that the music was so loud it was an acoustic assault on the senses. All the volunteers were given aprons that had the Sheriff's name and those who came for the meal got a canvas bag that also had the sheriffs name on it with socks, beanie, ramen and other items. The political leaders got up and congratulated each other and then gave $20 to the oldest meal attendee present, a 96 year old local woman. It was great to see so many volunteers coming out to help those less fortunate, but it was sad to see so much money wasted.

One of the volunteers I met is Robert Lee Grant who is making a documentary film for PBS on an Alice Water's inspired Edible Schoolyard Project at Samuel J Green Charter school in New Orleans. I hope to visit this site later in the week.

I met a father and daughter who had fled on Saturday before Katrina hit on Saunday. They lived in the Lakeview neighborhood on Lake Pontchartrain that was flooded by 8 feet of water. They lived outside of New Orleans for one month in a single house with 6 other famlies. The father told me that there were 17 kids and at that moment his 12 year old daughter produced her iPhone and brought up a picture of her and 16 other children on the screen. She gave me the phone and I enlarged the picture with a quick finger movement and asked her to point herself out. Nice to see that technology has matured to the point that the touch screen graphical interface with intutive finger movements actually works as promised.

New Orleans is betting heavily on Charter schools to help bring up those children who have NOT had great schools to attend. It's the age old question of the rich and poor. The KIPP model seems to hold great promise for academic success amongst those of lesser means. All those on the front lines working to help children everywhere deserve and need more support.

I will be here another week maximum before heading off to Florida. South America is calling.

New Orleans-Volunteering

2007-11-19T16:01:00.000-05:00

New Orleans has captured my heart and I will be staying for at least another week.
On Saturday I volunteered at the New Orleans Mission to help with a Thanksgiving meal provided for those less fortunate. At this meal I talked with another volunteer named Michael Wong who is planning on buying a home here in New Orleans to continue helping New Orleans
less fortunate. Michael has his onw non profit called Bikes for Indonesia and is a member of a Christian church called The Gathering. Many people would agree that much of the recovery of New Orleans can be attributed to efforts of a great variety of faith based organizations. Michael was certainly very down to earth and made no efforts to prosletize, he is simply advertsing his faith through making a difference. I will be volunteering again at the Mission this Thanksgiving and also will look at some volunteering at local schools. I am at the library now and they only let you use the computer for one hour at a cost of $3. The place is packed and there is clearly more demand than supply. I'll sing off for now and wish everyone a great Thanksgiving. Those of us who can afford the luxury of traveling have much to be grateful for!

New Orleans-Settling in

2007-11-15T10:54:00.000-05:00

Enjoying myself immensely here in New Orelans. Yesterday I went out to Loyola to update the blog, but today I finally found an Internet Cafe in the French Quarter. It's striking how pervasive the open wireless networks have become with people traveling with their laptops, yet how very scarce the Internet Cafes are where you can use a computer with Internet access. I am staying at the Marquette House in the Garden District and the variety of people I'm meeting is rich. There is a great cross section of the world from international travlers, to Americans who have come to work post Katrina, to vagabonds and tramps of various ilk, and to folks like me working on their own version of the "Great American Novel". The Vintage Trolley system just started operating again this past Sunday and it's been a pleasure riding it all over the city. Spent time in East New Orleans yesterday and it was similar in some ways to Lower 9th Ward. The devastation here was tremendous. I saw a large two story gutted apartment complex that was simply fenced off, I'm told because the mostly Hispanic laborer's that came to New Orleans after to Katrina to find work would stay on the second floor of these units and the fence was constructed to keep them out. Nearby, the amusement park Six flags lies desolate
like some sort of Ghost Town. Many of the homes in this area have been bought by the Vietnamese community after they started to the area in large numbers in the 70's-80"s. Now many folks from Latin America have come after Katrina and to say that there are racial tensions would be to be putting it mildly. What everyone agrees on is that back in the 80's the Crack epidemic took a deathly toll on the inner cities of America and the burgeoning political power that the African American population was beginning to have through massive voter registration was brought to a viscous end.

The Big Easy is now the Hugely Difficult

2007-11-14T12:42:00.000-05:00

Arrived in New Orleans two days ago and it looks like I will stay a few more. I spent Yesterday walking around the city, with much of my time in the 9th Ward, more specifically in the Lower 9th Ward, where the worst of the damage caused by Katrina and the resulting broken levee's can be witnessed. Walking over the St. Claude Avenue Bridge into the 9th Ward is to bear witness to a scene of almost total devastation. If you watch the first few minutes of this You Tube video you can get a sense of the destruction shortly after Katrina hit. Shockingly, the area still looks very much the same, more that two years later. Surprisingly, after spending many hours walking through this post apocalyptic landscape and talking to a number of folks engaged in rebuilding their destroyed homes, I left feeling inspired and very hopeful for the future. Some of these residents have been here for six generations and their deep roots to this place clearly do NOT allow them to be uprooted in spite of all the obstacles placed in their way by the government, insurance companies and unscrupulous people of every kind. Much of the rebuilding that has taken place has happened through neighborhood associations, non-profits like Common Ground, church groups such as Mennonite Disaster Service and simply caring individuals who have come to help. New Orleans is a perfect place to see the future of America. Most Americans now acknowledge that, as a nation, we are in trouble, and post Katrina New Orleans demonstrates much of what ails America, with racism and classism getting top billing. The notion that the American Empire is in it's twilight is not mentioned by our so called leaders. However it is clear that the abundance of natural resources which helped America to boom after WWII have been mostly used up and our productive capacity has been significantly outsourced with the American population becoming more a nation of consumers than producers, with a resulting indebtedness. Many Americans are simply fighting to make ends meet. A sad fact that tells this story is that Walmart has now become the largest employer in the United States. The "White Flight" from the inner cities that occurred after World War II and which dramatically accelerated in 1957 when President Eisenhower enforced the Supreme Courts 1954 school desegregation order left the inner cities with a mostly poor black population with corresponding lousy schools and ample opportunity for a myriad array of social problems is clearly represented here New Orleans.The process of Gentrification that is now driving the prices of real estate to astronomical heights in places such as San Francisco is also happening here in New Orleans. One of the homeowners in the lower 9th Ward that I talked to Yesterday, said that she and her neighbors had been talking about seceding. I asked her if she meant New Orleans? and she replied "No, just our block!". I was intrigued by her answer and think she may be on to something.

New York "Ground Zero"

2007-11-11T12:44:00.000-05:00

Note: This post was written two days ago , but because of a computer glitch, it did not post.

Finally made it to witness the gaping hole left after more than 6 years when two jets crashed into the World Trade Towers. My overwhelming feeling walking around this hole in the ground was sadness and anger. Sadness at how this event was used by our so called leaders to eviscerate our constitution and proudly proclaim how "Big Brother" is going to protect us and avenge those who perpetrated such a murderous act. Getting off the train last night at Penn Station I was shocked to see large numbers of uniformed military personnel carrying big guns and multiple police (Amtrak-Local) all over the station. Video cameras are everywhere. A Korean woman whom I met on the train observed that the place feels strangely "Unstable"and I agreed that the difference was striking compared to any big city in Canada that I visited.

I've had so many experiences on this trip that I have barely scratched the surface with through this blog. Getting time to be in front of a computer has been a challenge. Went to B&H to see about buying a new camera but the one I lost has gone out of production and the closest one they have doesn't suit me, so this will have to wait to Florida. A guy I traveled with to NY took some pictures of us on the train so hopefully he will send them

Montreal to New York

2007-11-10T08:14:00.000-05:00

Shhort layover here in Montreal (abuut one hour) and then catch the 9:10AM train to New York.

Dorchester New Brunswick

2007-11-09T15:37:00.000-05:00

Been exploring my roots by going back to the place where my mother went started first grade at 6 and left at 16, all grades in the same schoolhouse!! Latin, geometry and French included. This has been a high point of the trip in some ways because of the "Maratime Hospitality" afforded me. As soon as I arrived the locals got on the phone and started calling around for any people who might have known my Mom or her dad. Truly amazing how generous these people are. I am also fascinated by history and this region is rich from its preeminent location for ship building back in the 1800's to the establishment of the prison as Canada underwent Confederation. Learning more about my Mum's past has been very rewaarding as it has been showing me better who I am. I am very much Canadian in many ways. When I arrived in Dorchester last night I was surprised to see a town that was much smaller than what I had imagined from what my mother had shared with me in the past. I learned that in recent years the population had shrunk due to out migration to to the neighboring towns of Moncton and Sackville. The older generation have stayed, but the younger folks have left for jobs elsewhere. The primary employer in Dorchester is the Penetentiary where my granfather, John McPhereson Grant was a guard, eventually rising to the rank of "Head Keeper" (Head Guard). A retired guard of 25 years took me around the town today and showed me everything there was to see. They call this "Maratime Hospitality" and it is amazing. I have to catch a train to Montreal in about half an hour so gotta go, more later.

Gros Morne-Face of God

2007-11-06T10:25:00.000-05:00

Greetings,

I just returned from a spectacular set of hikes in a national park called Gros Morne, OH MY GOD!!!, there is some of the most spectacularly beautiful land I've ever seen. Driving through a town last night I saw a huge fire that had me pull off the two lane route 430 Trans Canadian Highway at Rocky Harbor (Pop. about 900). There was a fire truck and a refreshment stand with kids playing and everyone having a grand time. This immense bonfire was to celebrate Guy Fawkes day on November 5.

I will be departing New Foundland today for Nova Scotia. I leave at about midnight from Port aux Basques. Only about a week left on my rail pass, so I will be spending little time in New York or New Orleans to get myself to Florida by the 14th.

I have had no luck with my camera being returned to me. I will do a blog entry that encapuslates the lost pictures when I get a chance. From now on I will upload the pictures as often as possible to avoid losing such precious cargo again. Before I left for Gros Morne I ran into a woman at the local radio station who confirmed that they will be doing some public service announcements for my lost camera. Have not totally given up, but on the bright side I certainly got to know and intereact with the people of the town of Cornerbrook very intensively and found them to be nothing but incredibly helpful. That certainly did my heart good and I am leaving New Foundland with a certainty that I will be returning.

Big LOVE,

Don

Disaster Strikes-Landed in New Foundland

2007-11-01T13:23:00.000-04:00

Nobody is hurt, but my camera has gone missing. It has all the photos since I started on the train after Vancouver. It's the strangest disappearence, as if it was just evaporated out of existence. My camera is an important tool of mine, but it's the pictures that might never be shared that's causes me to feel the greatest concern. I have spent the better part of the day searching for the camera and now have a computer generated "Lost-$100 Reward" flyer to replace the handwritten signs I have already placed earlier in the day. Hopefully I'll get lucky and somebody will turn it in. Anyways, it is a good reflection on how important picture taking is for me and has been an opportunity to meet a great many of the folks here in this town of Corner Brook. Will be here for a day or two before pushing down into the states. Keep up the good thoughts that the camera, or at least the memory card comes back to me so that I can update this blog with many wonderful photos of this adventure.

Adjustments to Blog-Anyone can Post Now

2007-11-01T01:17:00.001-04:00

All,

I changed the default setting so that now ANYONE can post a comment to this blog without having to have a G-Mail account. Sorry for the confusion on this, I am learning this stuff as I go along. Also, for the time being their are three emails addresses that are functioning. Please send me email at anyone of these three. I will work out getting this simplified and down to one primary account after I get down to Florida.
1 techmediakid@gmail.com
2 techmediakid@mac.com
3 dpeck@learningtech.org

Looking forward to hearing comments from more people~don

Ferry Information

2007-11-01T00:43:00.000-04:00

I am on the MV Caribou, an ice breaker and Canada's largest ferry. It plies the route I am traveling now between Port aux Basques Newfoundland and North Sydney, Nova Scotia.
A Newfie that I'm friends with says that sometimes in the winter when it's frozen over, the ship has to break through the ice. That sometimes the ice is so thick, that the ship has to back up and pick up momentum to ram the ice and then it's front goes up into the air and crashed down back into the water through the ice. He said that all of this is happening while the boate is also being moved laterally by the effect of the tides. He siad it's pretty scary and lot's of folks are pretty "blue around the gills". Anyways, Newfoundland has a population of 300,000 and you could fit all the other Maratime provinces (Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick) whithin it's land mass. Lot's of land, not very many people. They love the Premier of their province whon they affectionately call "Danny Millions" becasue he made a heap of money in business and apparently is a politician with integrity, who would of thunk? Thought that was an oxymoron.

http://marine-atlantic.ca/en/company/caribou.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Caribou

Ferry to New Foundland

2007-10-31T21:49:00.000-04:00

Arrived in South Sydney, Nova Scotia, at 9:20 tonight. Met Paul, a 30 year old Newfie chef on the bus, and learned that the 7 hour crossing by ferry for New Foundland departed at Midnight. Newfies are great to spend time with. Excellent story tellers and very experienced im many practical ways. I got off the bus to see if I could get a ticket on the ferry and before finding out, instinctively went back to the bus that was almost leaving with my bags still aboard. The driver said "Let's go Mister!". My original plan was to stay in South Sydney for the night and then explore Cape Bretton in the day. I have been told that the drive around Cape Bretton is spectacular. Arriving in South Sydney, I became convinced that this was NOT a very desirable place to spend the night. There are many fireworks to be seen in Sydney to celebrate Halloween, and it is true that Nova Scotian's in general to really get into dressing up for this particular day, moreso than I have witnessed, even in San Francisco (which is saying alot) but hanging out in Sydney on Halloween night seemed very depressing to me. Catching a cab back to the ferry terminal was no problem, but it did set me back $24 Canadian dollars. The taxi driver said the their dollar was now worth $1.05 against the US dollar. He told me how the steel mills all closed down in 2000 and that he had put 30 years in. He said that he had a good pension of about 60% of the $45,000 a year he used to earn working at the mill. A fixer upper house around here costs $35-40K, but the onwer of a coffee shop in Truro told me she had just bought a nice house up in Sydney for $8,000. He told me that this was probaly down a spell from the city where all the coke plants use to be and is somewhat of a toxic zone, but that people still live there. Anyways, I am on the ferry now and it will dpart at midnight and arrive at 7am. I will catch up with some of my previous adventures and post some new pictures when I get a chance.

Halifax

2007-10-30T20:35:00.000-04:00

Arrived in Halifax Yesterday around 5PM. Hiked up to the Citadel and walked around it for a specatcular view of the city and it's environs. Staying at a hostel downtown and meeting quite an assortment of folks from all over the world. Will write more when I get a chance.

Montreal Rocks!

2007-10-28T15:32:00.000-04:00

This city knows how to celebrate Haloween! Hiked up Mont Royal, absolutely spectacular.
Meeting amazing people all along the way. Off now to Halifax, got to catch the train shortly. Montreal is truly a remarkable place.

Who Are You to Not be Magnificent?

2007-10-27T10:24:00.000-04:00

Wow, got a nights sleep and a shower and am feeling rested and refreshed. Off to Montreal at 11:30 this morning. Toronto is nice but want to make it to Halifax. Will write more when I get to Montreal.

Arrived in Toronto

2007-10-27T01:46:00.000-04:00

I have arrived in Toronto after a truly remarkable journey across Canada. Visited my cousin Deb near Kamloops. Got to Jasper and decided to stay on the train headed East. The Canadian Rockies are spectacular. Very eventful trip across Canada from Vancouver. Met the most amazing assortment of people. It's 2:27 Saturday morning and I will add some pictures and tell a some stories of my time since leaving Vancouver, till then~don

October 22-Gambling and Hockey

2007-10-22T23:38:00.000-04:00

I am leaving Vancouver in the morning at 7AM to head towards Jasper, but I will be taking Greyhound and doing a bit of a detour so that I can see one of my other cousins. Making these travel arrangments occupied my time such that I did not get to play pool with Jack, but we watched the Vancouver-Carolina hockey game and I get quite and education about a sport I knew relatively nothing about. Jack used to be quite a hockey player in his day, so it was good to hang out together for the game even though Vancouver lost.

I was suprised to learn that the train to Jasper that goes to Montreal only runs three days a week. Along with the fact that I only have 30 days on my rail pass I have been having to make some adjustments. Marge and Jack have been champions helping me out to make sure I get to see as much of the clan as possible. Two of my other cousins, Nancy in Dawson and Rick in Quesnel, I will have to see next time I visit.

Today Marge and I took a bus ride along with some of her other gambling friends to the River Rock Casino in Vancouver along the might Fraser river, where I watched timber being floated down to the mill. It was nice to be have the bus ride to get to know Marge better. I played some BlackJack and enjoyed myself immensely.

I am grateful to have this amazing family of compassionate and loving souls to help me "Along the Way". I probably won't write anything until I arrive in Jasper this weekend.

Spokane/Vancouver October 18-21

2007-10-22T02:18:00.000-04:00

Greeting from Surrey, British Columbia,

It's Sunday night, and I'm just getting a chance to get caught up on this blog. I'm staying with my my mother's brother, Jack Grant and his wife Marge in Surrey, a short distance from downtown Vancouver. It's been raining a steady bit for the past day or so. The picture at right is of me on a bridge over the Spokane river. This brought back memories of when my brother Steve brought one of my other brothers, Jeff and and I to "Expo 74" for the Worlds Fair. More than 30 years later I still vividly remember flying over the Grand Canyon at the still standing IMAX theater a short distance away.

After crossing this bridge I met up with Steve and my parents. We enjoyed a nice dinner together at Moxie's and turned in early. I got a bed to myself and Steve bunked with his youngest son Garrett. We watched the movie "Transformers" and enjoyed it quite a bit.

Friday we spent most of the day on the Campus of Gonzaga, attending classes, going to an openhouse reception and later in the Evening watching Steve's oldest son play in an intermural soccer game.

We ended up meeting Mathew's girlfriend and her parents at the soccer game and then we all went for a nice dinner at Spencers. Mathew is now 21 and he ordered "Moose Drool", which I had to try, it's quite good actually. After dinner my brother and I joined Matt along with Kelly and her dad at Jack and Dan's, the famous sports bar near Gonzaga.

Math showed me the place he shares with 6 other Gonzaga students, definitely a bachelor pad!

I packed up my stuff back at the hotel and said good bye to my mom. Dad and Steve took me to the train station and said our good byes. Fortuneately I got a two seats to myself and was able to fall asleep pretty shortly after pulling out of the station at 2:45 in the morning. Icaught a connector bus to Surrey from Seattle because the next train to Vancouver did not leave for another 17 hours. It was a short trip of only a few hours and I kept to myself, nursing a bit of a hangover from the night before. Jack picked me up and we got caught up with Marge and went out for an "OcotoberFest" celebration that the folks in his housing association wer putting on. It was delightful to be fed an authentic German meal and get to hear "War" stories.

Today Judy (Jack and Marge's daughter) and Dave came over for lunch and we had a great time getting caught up.

We headed over to Visit with Sue and Dave and both kids were there along with the newest grandchild. Time for me to go to bed. Tommorow I'm going to the casino with Marge and then playing pool with Jack afterwards.

Definitely going to simplify this blogging activity. It has been taking an inordinate amount of time to get these posts up. I have uploaded my photos to Googles Picassa site and hopefully this will make adding pictures to this blog easier.

Thursday, October 16-18 Oakland to Spokane

2007-10-18T17:47:00.000-04:00

Hey All,

Departed Jack London Square in Oakland and a had quite a sendoff from the guys in my mens group, parents and the lovely Minia from my Burning Man family. Thank you to everyone who came out and sent me off like a "Rockstar!".

On the journey I met two great guys whom became my traveling compatriots on the way to Spokane. Jared is only 18 who just graduated high school and wants to travel to Africa. I gave him a copy of Richard Bach's "Illusions". Isa who works in Pittsburg CA, and is a webmaster for a Hip Hop organization called Words-Beats and Life. After two train journeys, and a bus ride across Oregon, we all arrived in Spokane, Jared to see his dad and Isa his brother who is getting married. It was great traveling with these two as they made me feel more hopefull for the future. I hope they read these words.

I am writing this from a gaming store called Merlyn's on Main Street in Spokane. Sitting next to me, I struck up a conversation with Terry, aka Maximlliano. We talked about the price of gold and the the current economic situation and I shared with him the website called the "Daily Reckoning". He told me about, "Nomads United" a group of horse riders coming up from South America to the Rainbow Gathering in New Mexico. Check out their website. Terry goes back and forth bewteen Mexico and Spokane. He is another adventurous soul. It was a challenge finding a computer with Internet access to update this blog. Kinko's wanted $12 an hour and the library would only allow 15 minutes of use, unless you get a library card and then you can only use the computer for 1 hour on any given day. Merlyn's has got great spirit and they only charge $3.24 an hour. Across the street is Rocket Cafe and I'm happy to say I found two of the niceist places in Spokane.

Zero Hour is Approaching!

2007-10-16T21:15:00.002-04:00

Great to hear from my Burning Man Friends, Kali and Minia. I visited Sundance Coffee shop and said goodbye to my friend Meagan. She is one of those people that is friends with everyone. She is also in a "Moped Gang", which I think is very cool! I gifted some of the material possessions I was no longer using, knowing that she would put them to good use.

Jump

2007-10-16T09:45:00.001-04:00

Hi All, It's Tuesday, October 16, and I depart on Amtrak tonight at 9:38, headed towards Canada. I bought a 30-day rail pass for Canada and the U.S. for $638.10 (AAA membership and off season pricing). Some of my family and the guys from my mens team will be seeing me off at Jack London square in Oakland. My first stop is Spokane Washington, where I will get to visit my Nephew at Gonzaga. My next stop will be in Vancouver where I will visit my Mom's family, the Grant Clan.

Traveling the America's

2007-10-16T01:58:00.000-04:00

Hi All,

It's Tuesday, October 16, and I depart on Amtrak tonight at 9:38, headed towards Canada. I bought a 30-day rail pass for Canada and U.S. for $638.10 (AAA membership and off season pricing). Some of my family and the guys from my mens team will be seeing me off at Jack London square in Oakland. My first stop is Spokane Washington, where I will get to visit my Nephew at Gonzaga. My next stop will be in Vancouver where I will visit my Mom's family, the Grant Clan.