travel updat from moulin de chaves in cubjac france

Greetings from Moulin de chaves,
I am In a small budhist retreat center, in a small village called Cubjac in the Dordogne region of southwest France. the nearest city you are likely to find on a map is Perigeux (pronounced perry-goo). I am about 17km or 11 USA miles from perigeux. Perigeux is famous for some food stuff. Foi Gras, Truffles, walnuts and walnut oil. cubjac is not really famous for anything. When I say a small village well, there is no traffic light, no stop sign, no movie theater. There is one boulanger (bakery) one pharmacy, one small cash and carry (like a seven eleven) a tabaco shop/newstand/cafe, a bar, a butcher shop specializing in horse meat, beef and poultry, and a church. Oh and now a pizzeria has opened, with seating for 12. I havent been in it yet,but I hear good things...
I spend my time, meditating, walking in the oak forests that abound here, swimming in the river that runs through le moulin, and reading. I cook in the retreats kitchen about 30 hours per week and I have to go to a couple of meetings per week too. I like all of it except I dont really like the meetings too much. I am not a meeting person. Everyone likes the food I make.
I meditate more than usual here, I mean for me of course. I sit twice per day with the group in group meditation sessions that last about 45 minutes each session. I sit by myself everyday for another 30 minutes. it is a meditation center after all, and that is what I have come here for. I am working on cooking consciously, so I chant "Namo Amitaba Amituofo" most of the time I am in the kitchen. After a while, it sort of takes me to a strange inner place. I recommend that all of you try it and then write back and let me know what you think. I am wondering if it is "just me" or if there really is something to it...
I take the "family dog" a handsome young fellow (golden labradore about 3 years old), named Bilbo, for walks in the forest. There are easily marked and cleared trails. We pass lots of flowers and almost never see anyone out there. Lots of birds and of course all kinds of trees and bushes. The bad part about walking with a dog is that you dont see too many animals. He scares them all off. The good part is...well, gosh, he is just so darned enthusiastic!! He absolutely loves being out there and he is almost overwhelmed with doggie joy! it is contagious and so he makes a great walking companion. He bounds off into the underbrush and disappears over and over again and comes when I whistle for him. I love to walk a dog.
Outside my window yesterday I saw an absolutely beautiful wood pecker. I dont know the name of this type of wood pecking bird, but wow! He had great face markings and a bealutiful profile. under his wing was a blue feather with back checks on it. just beautiful. There is also a grey herron who hangs out on the weir in the river. He stands and holds perfectly still. (He must be meditating) He is on a steep slope in the weir and it is fast running water and it must be slippery, but none of these facts phase him in the least. It must be great to be a bird...
It is fun when I am in the kitchen. I always loved cooking and I still do. today, I made a 4 layer polenta cake. Polenta on the bottom, with a little fresh grated parmesan cheese, topped with cooked zuchini aond onions in a little tomato sauce, Then another layer of polenta topped off with a pesto bechemel sauce with emmenthaler cheese and baked. kind of a vegetarian polenta lasagna. Also buttered turnips with their greens (from our garden) and mushrooms with tarragon. And some steamed mixed veggies (brocoli, cauliflour, fennel, celery and green beans with dill and lemon). I also served a magnificent green salad, with all kinds of "weeds" foraged by John our gardener from the grounds and 4 fresh lettuces from our gardens, garnished with beetroots, tomatoes, shredded purple cabbage and carrots, croutons,and some pumpkin sunflower and sesame seeds I roasted with soy sauce, with an olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette. Fresh bagettes and home made
hummus and butter from Britagne. JThe foraged stuff from the grounds make the salad just magnificent. i am blown away by the tastes and textures. Unavailable anywhere at any price.
It is a little weird still to be working with other people in the kitchen with me. They are all amatuers. i am not accustomed to this and they are not accustomed to working with a "real chef" I live by a lot of hard and fast kitchen rules and they dont (as they say)even have a clue!!
I am lightening up a little and they are tightening up a little so it is working out well. I am learning a little and teaching a lot about food, cooking and kitchen management. I learned how to make seitan (fake meat from gluten) it is very good and i really like it.
I am a little amazed that i like it but the truth is I do!! I used to make faces when vegetarians ate fake meat. I thought,"Well, if you are avegetarian, you should eat vegetables and not feel sorry that you arent eating meat" But this stuff tastes good ( a little bland like bread), and has a very nice texture. I guess I am not too old to learn something new after all!
That is all for now. I will write again soon
Peace and love to all of you,
robert
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.
Buddha
"What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?" Jean-Jacques Rousseau
"We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special." Stephen Hawking

travel update from Cubjac France

Bon Jour,
> Well, here I am and I am here. I have arrived at Moulin
> de chaves, the buddhist meditation center that I have been
> telling all of you I would be coming to. I arrived on
> 4/23/09. At first the weather was the shit. It just rained
> and was cold and cloudy for about 6 days. but other than
> that it was really nice. Now the weather has cleared and it
> is fabulous to be here. Let me catch you all up.
> So after a totally great time in italy,(Venice,
> Padova, and Verona) I took a train to Nice, a rather large
> city on the French Riviera. Whooaa it was nice there!
> Actually it is called Nice Ville. You had better know that
> because there is another stop on the train before that and
> it to is called "something"Nice.
> So for you people who only speak english this place is
> pronounced Neice, like your brothers daughter. If you only
> speak Spanish it would be Nis. Nice is famous for a
> beautiful beach and where lots of wealthy Europeans go to
> sunbaathe and vacation. The food is "to die for"!!
> Well you know, its France, isn't it?
>
> They make lovely olives here called Nicoise and of
> course the famous Nicoise salad which has tuna fish,
> potatoes and other stuff. At first I stayed in a little
> hotel called Bacarat near the train station it was okay and
> priced fairly. Then I moved into a place called Hostel
> Smith, which wasnt quite as nice, but a lot cheapere and it
> was right in the middle of the old city and near the bus
> station, although I was in a 16 bed dormitory, other than
> that it was very good.
> I had 5 days of wandering around and walking along the
> cornice and looking at the very big and fabulously expensive
> yachts in the marina and going each day to the outdoor
> market to buy food to cook at my hostel.
> i was loving it! Just walking along the mediteranean
> sea on the corniche. Watching the young people doing cool
> things with their "in line" roller skates and
> skate boards. Jumping over things, doing a slolem thing,
> dancing together on skates. Fun to watch. the sea was quite
> inviting to look at but I tried it out and Aye Caramba it
> was too cold for this kid to swim in!! Actually there were
> VERY few swimmers at all. But I got wet once again in the
> mediteranean and that was nice. It has been a very long time
> since I got to do that! I think 2004 or 2005.
> I took a day and went to Monaco also and saw Monte
> Carlo. Very weird vibes there. I know some peopoe really
> love this hide away for the rich but I thought it really
> sucked. Just big yachts with absent owners at work in
> another country and the crews hanging around and getting
> paid. Very formidable gambling culture and big casinos.
> The main reason this place exists is for people to
> hide their money from the tax collector and act like they
> are importaant because they have lots of money. Yecchhh. One
> day was more than enuough for me.
> So after 5 days I took a train to Perigueux which is
> the nearest train station to here. Actuall, I took 3 trains
> because i had to switch in Paris and again in Limoges.
> Travel in france is nice and comfortable but incredibly
> expensive. 135euros from Nice to Periguex.50euro for a taxi
> the last 20km. That is more than the price of flying from
> Trinidad to USA. my Ryanair flight from Dublin to Venice
> cost 69euro (20 euro without tax). So, this may be the most
> expensive of the 61 countries I have been in as far as
> getting around goes! A dubious distinction!!
> So here I am and I am here www.moulindechaves.org
> I am meditating a lot and cooking for the people here. We
> are having a tai chi qui gong workshop for the next 5 days.
> i can take free classes if I want. We shall see...
> The kitchen is nice and i get to work with lots of
> nice ingredients. I will gradually get lots of freedom of
> expression, but for now I am getting to know how they have
> always been doing things in the past. I dont know if I will
> like working with a lot of kitchen "amatuers". I
> need to be less professional or they need to tighten up if
> this is to be haromonious for me...
> I have a schedule in my life for the first time in 5
> and a half years. it is weird. i meditate with a big group.
> When the "bell of mindfulness" goes off we all go
> to the meditation hall and sit together. I am used to doing
> this alone but this is good. I like it.
> We have a river running through the property with a
> little waterfall where I take my afternoon tea. big gardens
> with lots of flowers and edible things. Fabulous salads of
> wild leafy things that John the gardner brings me every day.
> this man is just a saint. He is a really fabulous "old
> soul" He may be a pixie or an elf. I am not sure. he
> seems too cool to be human, but I guess anything is
> possible...
> Also there is A friendly dog named Bilbo who loves to
> go with me for walks in the nearby forest. He is a good
> fellow who likes to play catch the ball, but isnt so sure
> about the giving the ball back part!
>
> So time to go now. here are a couple of thoughts to hold
> onto until next time
> Peace and love to all of you
> Robert
> If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps
> it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to
> the music which he hears, however measured or far away.
> Henry David Thoreau
>
> "Only those who will risk going too far can possibly
> find out how far one can go." TS Eliot
> It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand
> battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from
> you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell. Buddha

travel update from Nice, France

Greetings,

Breathing in, I am in France, breathing out I am smiling! Since my last update I have left Trinidad and had 8 days in Florida with my Earth Parents and also one of my brothers was able to come and see me too. These were relaxing and un-eventful days. I love them a lot and miss them all the time and really enjoy the times I have to be with them.

From Florida I flew in a jet plane to Dublin Irish Republic for one day. Walked around a lot and drank a little Guinness and saw ManU defeat Sunderland on the telly. I love Dublin but aye zukes it is an expensive city!! 6 euros (US dollars) for a pint of stout!

From Dublin a cheap Ryanair flight my ticket cost less than 4 pints of stout in a pub in temple bar district). The pilot landed me in Venezia (Venice) Italy. wow! Italy is the 60th country I have visited.

If you have not been to Venice, well what can I say? this city is so beautiful there arent really words to describe it. There is just nowhere on earth like Venice. I was there for easter sunday. What madness!

Millions of turists. Better to arrive on a quieter time. but I am on a bit of a schedule now because I have an important appointment in France for the summer and must arrive on 25/04/009. Plus to stay in Dublin two more days would be TERRIBLY EXPENSIVE! so I went to the most beautiful city in the world on a turist day. I had a lovely time there just the same. I had three days of wandering around aimlessly and remembering my breath while chanting Amitaba to my self. Always a good thing!

Next I went to Padova and stayed in a flat with a friend who lives there with two huge striped cats named Catanya and Bazooka...Padova is where Galileo built and used the first telescope and discovered that America was not the center of the universe.I visited the historical tower where he worked and checked it out.

It is still standing although it was damaged by aeriel bombardment by American and British planes during World War 2. (thats what you get for blasphemy) Maybe they thought Hitler was hiding there? Well, anyway it was not badly damaged and is nicely restored .

I also took the opportunity to visit the tomb of Saint Anthony. It is a very beautiful cathedral where he is resting. I have been to a lot of these religious tombs over these last years of my travels. the tomb of Rumi (founder of Sufism) The virgin mary (mother of Jesus) The tomb of the Holy sepulcher where Jesus was before he re-incarnated (I aint so sure he isnt still there but they wont let you look inside!) the tomb of Moses. The tomb of the B'Aab who founded the Ba Hai faith. I like to see these "holy"sites. I think they are special.

Lorredana took me out for the best ice cream (gelato) I have ever had. I had a combination cone of pistachio and chocolate. superb. the pistachio is especially wonderful and real. It tastes like nuts and I just cant describe how good it was. All natural. Nothing but gods own food. manna from heaven.

From Padova I went to Verona and stayed with another friend. Verona is where Romeo and Juliet had their brief romance. I visited Juliets home. Whoa! talk about a turist trap! still I love William Shakespear and it was cool to go even if it was over run with gelato munching shool kids on Easter break! Padova is another fantastically beautiful old city. A big ancient coliseum fountains gardens and a few castels and, well... just a beautiful place. I also had a lovely time here.

I stayed with a man called Paolo who is involved with the Gurdjieff work. Something I too, have been involved with over the years. We talked a lot about the work and trying to remember our selves and our breath. He introduced me to some other Gurdjieff enthusiasts and we talked late into the night. Drank some nice valpolicello wines. I think Mr.G would have approved!

Wine? Food? Aye Caramba! Italy is a little like heaven on this account! Wow. These people sure know how to eat and drink. They have the moderation thing down to an art or maybe it is a science. they may eat and drink better than the rest of the world but they dont over do it. Very few fat people here. Fabulous cheeses. Delightful veggies. I was lucky to be able to cook in my friends homes and try some of the great products from the daily out door markets. It is artichoke season! My favorite thistle. I made a salad one night of artichoke bottoms (10 clean fresh bottoms for 2 euro) and brocoli, radiccio capers olive oil and balsamic vinager. I also cooked some lovely pasta dishes and my Italian friends said i did okay (for a yankee gringo!!!).

So I am writaing now from South of France on the coast of the Mediteranean sea in the wonderful city of Nice.I arrived last night and will stay for 4 more nights, before going to Perigueux for the summer. My nest update will be written from there. As always here are a few quotes to hold you over until then.

Peace and love to all of you,

robert

"You can get help from teachers, but you are going to have to learn a lot by yourself, sitting alone in a room." Theodor Seuss Geisel
"If you aren't in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?" TS Eliot
"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense." Buddha

travelupdate from Bucoo Bay Tobago

Greetings from Bucoo Bay, Tobago.

I arrived on Tobago about two weeks ago. I arrived on the ferry from Trinidad on march 8. I stayed here in bucoo bay for a week and then took off to Charlottesville for a week and now i am back in Buccoo Bay staying at Fish Tobago Guest House. Very excellent new place and as far as i can figure, the cheapest room on the whole island! I am paying 90tt which is $15 american. Hot shower, free internet, Good kitchen, clean and new, quiet and safe. Totally everything a middle age bodhisatva needs. the only problem is the TV which is a tough addiction to break. With it just being here, i want to look at it. televison, terrorvision is a better name. Non stop fear and loathing. Aye Zukes! Why is it so atractive??!

Tobago is the smaller of the two islands which make up the republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is less populated and less crowded (although neither one of the islands is what one would call crowded!). There are about 1.1 million people in this country total. Trinidad is the more lively and more visited island and has a much more active night life. Here is a quiet little place with lots of Rastafarians walking around and sitting in the shade like the sadus in India. This place is famous for fishing and scuba and snorkling, and hiding from the rest of the world. WOW! its a good place to hide!

I have been listening to the steel pan music every chance i get. the sounds of the steel drums are fascinating to me and the musicianship of the players is also great thing to watch. The most popular music format here is called Soca. it is a switched on island hip hop thing with strong reggae roots. Quite fun in the beginning but it can get boring and repetitious rather fast.

The nature is beautiful here. I have been sitting on my patio, i had a couple of cups of coffee one cup of tea and a morning smoke and sat watching early morning birds and butterflies. The owner has a little puppy called "smiley gold eye" and he alternates between attacking his tail, and trying to jump up and "kiss" a butterfly. roosters crowing and bugs buzzing. Blue skies green trees. At least 3 variety of dove hang around in my garden in the mornings. There are also some humming birds and some beautiful small yellow birds with a nice black and white strip over thier eyes, blue ones black ones green ones yellow ones so many birds in the garden.

by about 9 am there is too much stuff ging on and now I get my day going since the morning peace and stillnes is alas over for this day.

Today I will take a walk and try to remember my breath while i walk, read my Amy Tan book, swim in the caribean sea, make pasta for dinner, buy peanut butter. what else? What else? What else? Ah well...

That is enough. Enough is the new nirvana.This is enough= this is nirvana. Enough for me=nirvana for me.Yeah thats enough for one day!

So that is how i have been passing my time. I read a lot here.Doestoevsky. Bo Yin Ra. Saint Benedict...there is a benedictine monastery in Trinidad. I met a guy who wants to be a monk there. he has spent some time with the brothers. he gave me some literature. Very Interesting. I stayed at his familys guest house. We watched a DVD called: the Passion of Christ. A deeply disturbing film. Afterwards i told him i didnt want to look at any violent videos so after this we only looked at comedy (Chris Rock) and a Denzel Washington venture called The Great Debators. Very pleasant. like cold green tea with honey.

they sell pies in the streets some times. they usually cost about 1 USDollar and i like the potato ones. Here on Tobago it is harder to find any street food. In Scarboro I found a guy selling doubles and once in Charlottesville a guy was selling doubles out of his car. I love these. they are two small crepe/bread discs, topped with curried garbanzo beans (chana) and a couple of spicy sauces on top. way messy to eat but superb. they usually cost about 50 or 60 cents american. some lovely pastries here too, i really like the currant roll.

I stayed in Charlottesville in a little guest house called green corners. Right on the sea. Only two guest rooms. Run by a rasta woman called patsy Christmas. She is a candy maker during the day time. she makes her candies downstairs from the guestrooms. Wow what a wonderful smell all day!! I tried her coconut candy, her sesame balls, her current sweet cake, and her peanut pralines. She also makes candied mango slices and papaya.

My room cost 100tt per night and I had a great room with windows that opened onto the caribean sea and she had a wonderful kitchen for me to use as well. l love to fall asleep at night to the sound of the waves crashing onto the sea shore. so relaxing... just enough...

So i walked to Pirates Bay, which is a fabulously beautiful and slightly secluded beach just a kilometer walk over a hill from charlottesvill. Wonderful for swimming and quietly lying around in the sun or if you prefer in the shade. so the third or 4th time i went there There is always this rastaman selling soft drinks there and we chat a little. he waves to me and just then in a flash his friends 3 dogs go off on me and attack!! He and his friends all rush over and subdue the beasts but, I got my leg bit up a little. Freaky thing. I havent had any experiences like this since I was a child. the dog is a home dog and well taken care of and vaccinated so I just washed the wounds with white rum (nobody brings betadine to the beach anymore!!) And swam in the sea. later that night i put on my triple action medicated goo. Now i am fine. Except for a sore throat, high fever and occasional convulsions...(only kidding).

Well thats all folks! i am going off to fulfil my daily destiny. I hope this letter finds you all happy and in fine health! So now here are a couple of thoughts from people like ourselves...

Peace and love to all who read this

Rambling Robert

"Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul." Luther Burbank

"I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant and kindness from the unkind." Kahlil Gibran

"Rings and jewels are not gifts but apologies for gifts. The only true gift is a portion of yourself." Ralph Waldo Emerson

greetings from Trinidad Tobago

Greetings from T.T.
I am staying just on the outskirts of Port of Spain the capital of Trinidad
Tobago. this country is fantastic!! I have NEVER been anywhere where the people
are more friendly than here! The food is fine also and the weather too, well
just about perfect! Let me back up a little and tell about my adventures in
Venezuela.
I now have a new country to refer to as my least favorite place I have ever
been. Venezuela SUCKS. let me be more clear: Venezuela Sucks!! Sucks !!! SUCKS!!!!

What a shit hole.
It is the Zimbabwe of South America. (Venezimbabway)Hugo Chavez is a former Colonel in the army. he is a corrupt retard who has turned a once prosperous wonderful nation into a black hole of corruption. Highest crime rate in South America. 31%annual
inflation. Shortages of everything from no natural gas to cook with to no rice in the stores to US 12.00 dollars for a kilo of tomatoes frequent blackouts, water outages,...People are rude, unfriendly and just plain mean. Impolite greedy trying always to rip you off. Cops ask to take your passport and demand a bribe to give it back. If you dont have it they ask a bribe or they will take you to jail for not having your passport with you! Like the opposite of the rest of South America. I will never go back to Venezuela until they revolt and get
rid of Chavez.
I arrive from colombia and take a shared taxi to Maracaibo. I was with 5 other travelers all Colombian but only I went through customs I got stamped out of Colombia and into Venezueala all nice and legal like. we almost get in a car crash when we get to Maracaibo. the owner of one of the cars involved is screaming at my driver and finally takes out a pistol and fires two bullets into the taxi. I am in this country for less than 3 hours and I have been shot at!! Fortunately noone is shot. the whole time I spent in Venezueala it never really got any better!...

Actually the only people who were nice to me were foriegners who owned hotels where i stayed. No one was ever nice except when i gave them money and most of the people I paid were shitty too! I had a week at a nice hostel called El Gallo in Coro. a couple of nights at Chichiriviche at Morenos place a few nights in Choroni/Puerto Colombia. this was the nicest town i saw there. Then I went to Guiria and after getting jacked around for 20 hours finally was able to buy a ticket for a boat to Trinidad Tobago...
so I took a ferry boat to go from Guiria Venez-HELL-a to Chaguamaras
Trinidad on last wednesday Feb 16. then we went to the ferry and waited 2 hours on a line to board. Worth it all to get out of this horror show of a country!! The boat ride was nice but the seas were a little rough.
I arrive with Samuel a guy from Finland I have beeen traveling with for
the whole time in Venezuela and we hook up with an american who was robbed at
gun point of all his cash and ATM cards in Venezuela and a Scotsman and another
american and we all get together and rent part of a house for 12USD each.
It is carnival time and I absolutely love Trinidad after 5 days. the carnaval is like mardi gras but of course completely different. Scantily clad women dancing all over the place. People throwing paint on one another. lots of music. drinking in the streets. Beautiful costumes, you know, like uhhh Carnival in the Caribean!!!

I will stay here in Trinidad until March 8. Then i have booked into a hostel in Buccoo point Tobago (the other island that makes up this country) for $US15.00 per night in a dormitory. Hang around there for a while and then I must be back in Trinidad for a flight out of Port of Spain on April 1.

I have not been in an english speaking country for 10 months. so it is kind of cool to be here for this as well. but they speak with such a strong Pigeon creole accent that i found it easier to communicate in South America in spanish than i am finding it here. Perhaps in a few more days it will all clear up for me...
i will write more in a couple of weeks. Here are a few quotes for you all to think about until then.
Peace and Love,
robert
"Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages."Thomas A Edison

"Let's not quibble! I'm the foe of moderation, the champion of excess. If I may lift a line from a die-hard whose identity is lost in the shuffle, "I'd rather be strongly wrong than weakly right." tallulah bankhead

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one
can go." TS Eliot

travel update from Taganga

Tolu Colombia is a small beach town on the pacific coast about 2 or 3 hours south of Cartagena. It is quite popular with Colombians who come here to relax swim in the sea and drink. it is popular with families. There are a lot of Colombians with their children and grandparents as well.Lots of trash on th beach. a shaved ice here costs 1500 pesos and in Mompos it costs 400. I have been here for 2 days and that is enough. I will take an early morning bus tomorrow and go to Santa Marta and from there take a collective to Toganga. I expect to remain there until I leave from Colombia and go to Venezuela.
Well, some last thoughts on Mompos. Iguanas It has been a long time since I saw so many sunning themselves on the logs of fallen trees. sometimes they are invisible and then, all of a sudden they move and you see them right where you have been looking for the last 10 minutes. howler monkeys wake me in the morning they are small rust colored animals with long tails. they aren't very large, about the size of an American football(well, some of the older males are a little larger) but they have very loud voices and they sound like a pre-historic dinosaur. Very strange indeed. mariposas (butterflies) there are so many butterfly's here. The locals believe that if a butterfly lands in your home you will have a visitor. the people in Mompos love to eat turtles. I am reminded of when I was a young chef in New Orleans, and we made so many thousands of liters of Turtle soup. Every night these great big frogs come out and eat the mosquitoes.I have become a great aficionado of anything that eats mosquitoes! I have never seen so many dragon flys before. They appear like a cloud and hover they are a strange golden color and smaller than the ones I know from America.Buffalo loll about in the mud and do their lazy buffalo thing. They remind me of lake Maninjou in Indonesia. They make an excellent buffalo milk cheese here called queso de caba.There are old old trees along the banks of the Magdalena river. The lonely Planet guide book says the place is like Mississippi, with Spanish moss on the trees and the river rolling by peacefully. What a bunch of lies. I am told the writer of the Colombia section doesn't even speak Spanish and the owner of the hostel I stayed at says he has never even been to Colombia! Still the old trees on the banks of the river and the cool brown water with its floating debris makes for a very lovely picture show. a quiet lazy movie in living color. Millions of herons black ones Grey ones and white ones the local word for them is gaspa. mornings of arepas con queso asado.these are wonderful cakes of corn like a new Orleans grit cake, but cooked over a charcoal fire and with little cubes of fresh cheese folded into the dough. The iceman. The iceman hangs out in plaza Del Carmen every afternoon he sells "Raspado" which is shaved ice with sweet tamarind syrup. I have become addicted...I stayed for two lovely weeks at the casa amarillo. The staff Richard, Alba, Carmen and Minnie. Were great. really friendly helpful laid back and always a big smile on their faces. I already miss the place...
It is 29/1/2009 and I have been in Taganga for 2 nights. i am at La Casa de felipe. I have a brother named Philip (Felipe) that is why I chose to stay here. like it was calling to me. I really like the place and I think I will remain here until I split the Colombia scene and go to Venezuela. Probably February 5 or 6.
It is about 36 degrees here (that would be about 95 fuckenheit) .I go to the beautiful blue caribean sea every morning and take a walk on the beach and then a swim in the cool clear water. Then I spread out my sarang and chill out (I should say warm out) in the sun till I cant take it anymore and then I wade into the sea and dive under the water and cool off. I swim around for a while and then I repeat this process two or three times between 9am and 12pm and then I head back up the hill. The sun is too much for this white boy in the middle of the day. I retreat to a shaded hammock and read a book for a few hours and then cook dinner. I reckon its as cold as a well diggers ass in London, Copenhagen, New Jersey and Oregon. Not to mention Calgary, Cincinnati or Stockholm. Ah well, no one is making you stay!! Hee hee hee!!
I bought some plane tickets on the internet a couple of days ago. i hate flying. I will be in Florida on April 1. I will be in Dublin Ireland on April 11 and Venice Italy on April 12. from there I`ll take a couple of weeks to arrive in Cubjac in Perigaux France for the summer. I hope it is an early truffle season so I can eat some of them black beauties I love so well.
If any of you wants to meet me, let me know. I would love some companions for my two weeks in North Italy...
Well here are a couple of quotes to think about until the next update.
Peace and love to all of you.Robert
"I know where I'm going and I know the truth, and I don't have to be what you want me to be. I'm free to be what I want." Muhammad Ali
"The people are their own liberators." Nelson Mandela
"As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live." J W Goethe

travel update from Mompos Colombia

Greetings from Mompox Colombia. Mompos? Mompox? Macondo? I just dont know. There are two current spellings for this place but many fans of Gabriel Garcia Marquez say that this is the ¨fictitious¨ setting (macondo) for his literary classic "100 years of solitude". No doubt about it being the setting for his book "Chronical of A death Foretold". As he himself has said this is so. GGM spent a lot of his life here and wrote many stories here. He is one of my favorite writers and this little sleepy world heritage site is rapidly becoming one of my favorite places.
This little city of 30 thousand sits on the bank of the Magdelena River in the center/north of Colombia. about mid-way between Cartegena and Bucaramanga.(I wonder if this clears up the location for any of you!!) There is really nothing to do if you arent a fan of swinging in hammocks in 38 C weather (that would be 100F for any of you from an undeveloped, backward country).
Any way it is NOT on the gringo trail. Hah! Not even close. This place is not easy to get to. It is not cheap to get too either and It has a bad reputation for malaria. Well i can see why they say it isnt easy to get to. It had been a little easier when the "temporary" (it was 25 years old!) bridge on the Cartegena side was still up but it was "lost in the flood" about 3 months ago. It wouldnt have made a difference to me because I came here from the bucaramanga side. When i leave if I go to Cartegena, It will add a little while and some additional costs (it is already not a cheap place to get to) and two ferry rides and two bus changes to the journey.
To get here, I had to take an overnight bus from Bucaramanga (overnight busses are said to be safe here in Colombia at this time) and then at El Banco (an ugly little town down river from here) from there I had to switch to a motorbike, and travel 3 hours over a mostly bumpy dirt road through a vast cienaga (swamp). I would guess that about 25% of the journey was over asphalt. I felt like I needed a kidney transplant when i finally got off that bike!! Way too bloody hot (35C) to wear a helmet on a sunny day!
But now I am here and as I write this I have been here 4 days. Staying at a new albergue (hostel) called Casa Amarillo. Very nice place with orthopedic matresses (hip-hip hooorayyy), friendly owners a nice hammock and a well equipped kitchen. I am happy.
Before I came here I stayed a night in Bucaramanga (not my favorite place but good enough to shower up and sleep and rest before I had to change busses)...and before there I was at hostel Renacer in a perfectly lovely old colonial town called Villa de leyva.
Villa de leyva is about 1 hour by bus from Tunja which is 3 hours by bus from Bogota the capital of Colombia where I spent Christmas and new Year at the very nice quite cheap hostel ¨Sue right next door to Platypus hostel in the Candelaria.
In Villa de Leyva, They are said to have the biggest Plaza in South America (it is really big but not very attractive), and lots of old dinosaur fossils and great hiking. I wonder if there are any NEW dinosaur fossils...all the ones I have seen are so old...
Behind Hostal Renacer (owned by Colombian Highland adventure tours) is a nice, half hour, up hill hiking trail to a lovely waterfall. I climbed to the falls 3 days in a row.
Oh shit the internet cafe is gonna close. I will finish this later
Okay so now it is later. Yeah Villa de leyva was a cool little old colonial town. The place I stayed was about a 20 minute walk uphill from the town center, just past a little military base. There are little millitary bases everywhere here in colombia. Every town has one. They are still in a civil war, but it is very low level now. Really not very much fighting going on at all. Still the millitary presence is constant. One sees soldiers EVERY day. They are friendly mostly 19 year old draftees. I had a nice chat with two of the troops at the base. They hang out for 8 hours behind their machine gun whñich is behind their sand bags which are painted a very nice blue color. Really friendly kids who normally never meet any foriegners.
I had a shared room with Mike from Canada who actually showed me where the waterfalls were. We cooked together for a few nights. He works as a chinese translater for a canadian mining company that has some contracts with China. Very interesting job with lots of travel. he does not like china. Says it is very polluted and they treat the tibetans like second class citizens.
I also shared with Mauricio who is a colombian man from Medellin on a holiday and checking out his own country. It is good to share a room. You ñmeet cool people and have interesting conversations. You get to practice your spanish. One night I was sitting up in my bed and talking to Mauricio in the bed next to mine when he pointed out that on the wall right behind my head where I was leaning against on my pillow, there was a scorpion. Yes it is nice to share a room. I scooped the little fellow up on a book cover and escorted him out! Thanks Mauricio!!
So I have surprised the folks at Casa Amarillo by announcing my ñintentions to stay for 2 weeks. It seems that few stay more than a day or 3. there isnt much to ñdo beside sit by the river, swing in the hammock, go to market, and watch Manchester United defeat Chelsea 3 to Nil! That was a great match. I really like have come to be a supporter of the Red Devils...but as i have said before a thousand times, i am not a human Doing I am a human being and evern at that I am actually a being human. I dont get bored. I have already read 3 books here Mary Wards amazing book "snake pit" William burroughs "Junkey" Michale Moores "election guide 2008" and I am half way through "City of God"by Paulo Lins. A fine little place to catch up on my reading!
I caught a glimpse of the news the other day on the cabel telly waiting for the footy to start. I was shocked and dismayed. I thought it was a world war two movie about the Nazis doing genocide in the warsaw ghetto to the Jews but it was the israelites doing genocide to the Phillistines in the Gaza ghetto! I reckon the idea is to push them into the sea... The israelites had just destroyed the UN headquarters they did homocide to at least 12 of the 700 hundred civilian people hiding there from the violence. mostly women little kids and old folks.The Israelite spokesman said that the israelites were trying not to kill any civilians (they had killed 600 in 13 days) and the Hamas were intentionally targeting civilians (they had killed 12 in 5 years)i remembbered a thing from a jewish woman that goes like this... "In the Orthodox spiritual tradition, the ultimate moral question we ask is the following: Is what we are doing, is what I am doing, beautiful or not?" Carolyn Gifford
When will we ever learn? I get so bummed out whenever i read the news, hear the news and see the news. Barack Al obama wants to double the number of American troops in Afganistan... I feel like here in Mompos, I am like a person escaping from some crazy vivid, night mare. Like someone who has awoken from a sick violent dream and everyone else is in some other place still sleeping and dreaming of killing one another.i just dont get it at all man NOT AT ALL... .
I hope this letter finds you all happy healthy and not being bombed for your own protection. Not being imprisoned to protect your liberty, and not being forced to fignt to peserve your freedoms.Here are a couple more quotes from some great thinkers of the past.
Peace and Love to all of you
Robert

"A good traveller has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." Lao Ziu
"The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness."John Muir
"Less than fifteen per cent of the people do any original thinking on any subject. The greatest torture in the world for most people is to think." Luther Burbank

first update of 2009

January 1,2009 The first day of the new year.
It is Early morning In Bogota. It is a holiday, a day of rest for Bogota. I am up early I am a Madrugo (a person who rises early, a person of the Dawn). I like to walk around in a big city while it is still asleep. To hear its quiet.
There are only words because there is silence. Without silence, there are no words. Without space there are no planets. The universe is mostly space with a few "heavenly bodies" scattered around, here and there. The world is mostly silence with a few words scattered around here and there.
I have been to quite a few museums lately, the Colombians are (as a group) extraordinary painters. When I see a painting, I see the paint, the colors, the images and shapes, but there is none of this without the canvas. The canvas is the silent witness and the paint is the noise. It is easy to hear the words of the paint, one must listen deeply to hear the whispering of the canvas below.
There are street people on the sidewalks of Bogota. Just like any city anywhere in this, the world that men have created. i want to say "Happy new year ( Felice año nuevo)" to them. but...what kind of a year will 2009 be for these men and women, these children of an apparently lesser god. We (all to often) fail to see the role these men and women play in the Leyla. God´s great game. We don't understand that everything, every person, every weed, every bug plays a role. Plays a part in the grand Leyla.
We think "oh, if someone does something that I appreciate I will love him. I will pay him. he will be taken care of he will be protected and preserved". Of course this is the way of men. But what of the contributions we don't appreciate, we don't recognize? The contributions of the weeds? of the mosquitoes? of the "down and out"? Do we not love them?
I remember an old gospel song. it goes like this:
"Jesus loves the little children
All the little children of the world
Be they yellow black or white
they are precious in his sight
Surely Jesus loves the children of the world"
Collateral damage. GW Bush´s lasting contribution to the English language. Does Jesus not love the children who fall into the category of collateral damage? Do they not count?Are they children of a lesser god? Children of somebody Else's god? How many gods are there anyway? Are the weeds children of a lesser god than the Redwood trees? Sure there is always collateral damage in any massacre...There is always collateral damage sleeping on the sidewalks of our cities.
But why? Is there an answer in the words of men? I think not. I think the answer is in the silence of the lord. So i will be silent. i will speak of this no more (for now)
I have been a traveler (unemployed and homeless) for the past 6 New Year Eves
31/12/2003 I was in La Jolla California USA
31/12/2004 I was in Seville Spain
31/12/2005 I was on Ometepe Island Nicaragua
31/12/2006 I was in Aurangabad India
31/12/2007 I was on Don Det Island DPR Laos
31/12/2008 I am in Bogota Colombia
The more I travel the more I realize that I am never going anywhere. Like a man sitting in an automobile, the car is moving but I am sitting perfectly still. My body, my earthly body travels all over the earth. my soul my spiritual body is sitting perfectly still inside my earthly body, my corpse is moving but I am as I am. Always right here, always right now.
Colombia is not a good country to be a vegetarian! There are loads of Pizza restaurants but they do not sell pizzas that have no meat. There are loads of cheap fix price lunches but these too, all feature meat. I went to a pizza place and asked for a pizza slice without meat and he suggested the Hawaiian pizza which has pineapple peppers and ham. I said "well uhhh ham is meat isn't it?" and he said with a big smile "Yes! but it has less meat than the others!" Aah yes its good to be stupid, no doubt about it. I need to watch more terror-vision. I am not using the right shampoo...
I just finished a book by James Gleick called "Chaos". It is about physics and specifically about turbulence and non linear systems. Very interesting stuff. It is amazing to me how much of the universe is understood by humans. The problem is that most of us are not in the sub set of humanity that is aware on a personal individual level of any of the knowledge that has been accumulated by the human race as a group. Most people I am afraid, simply don't read or spend any time whatsoever in contemplation of the human condition or the condition of the planet, instead we want someone else to change. We want our leaders to change but we don't want to change. We are convinced the problem is the other guy and not us.
Gurdjieff told Ouspensky the best thing we can do for our fellow man is to work on our self. I think this is true. We can only change the world by changing our self's. I have come to believe that the only change any of us can affect is to change ourselves. Most of us are so selfish and so pleasure oriented that we don´t care how much suffering our behavior or our desires generate as long as we have some temporary satisfaction. We don't care what the consequence of shrimp fishing in the oceans are as long as we get our Shrimp Scampi dinners. We want the Brazilians to stop slash cutting the rain forests but they only do it so they can graze beef cattle.We say we care about the health of the worlds forests but we wipe our asses with paper. Not really the kind of personal behavior one would expect of someone who cares for the environment, eh?
I have enjoyed my stay here in Bogota Colombia. I have really enjoyed the art museums and the beauty of the city. The city has a strange and harsh beauty. I cant really quite understand the attraction but I am attracted and like to be in cities.
Tomorrow, i will go to a small village called Villa Leyva and hang out in a much more natural environment with mountains and waterfalls where a man can be a human being and not a cog in a giant machine. I need to meditate and take some long walks in clean fresh air and listen to the music of the bugs and the wind and the free flowing water...
So Now I will close this update with a few quotes from some people who have spent some time in contemplation of the human condition. I hope this update finds all of you in good health and high spirits.
Peace and Love to all who read these words,
Rambling Robert

"Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius." W.A. Mozart

"Talk of imminent threat to our national security through the application of external force is pure nonsense. Indeed it is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which was bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear." Douglas MacArthur

"What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world." Robert E. Lee

travel update from Colombia

Saludos a cada uno,
Cali, is Colombia`s third largest city with about 1.7 millions of people. It is about at 1000 meters above sea level in the heart of the Cauca valley, where most of Colombia`s coffee is grown. I am staying at the Iguana hostel, which is the same place i stayed last time I was here in October 2005 (see www.robertstravels.blogspot.com and click on =October 2005 in the archives on the left hand side of the page). The Iguana has moved around the corner from its previous location but a lot of the staff are still here and it is still a great place to stay. Let me fill you all in on the last couple of weeks...
I left Quito and headed north along the panamerican highway, which runs from British Colombia to tierra del fuego. I went to Ibarra, a pleasant city in the north of Ecuador with Tony, an American non-conformist who has been traveling (and sort of drifting) around the world for the last 2o or 30 years. He is about 10 years older than I am and a damned good traveling mate who doesn't make much noise and never complains about anything. He only speaks about 10 words of Spanish, so I do the translating. I gifted him my "Barron`s 501 Spanish verbs" book and he is going to try to learn Spanish...He is also a vegetarian so we have been sharing food expenses and cooking together when we can and going to veggie restaurants when we cant.
We stayed 2 nights at the classic Hostal Ecuador in Ibarra where Patricia the manager speaks near perfect English because she lived in a place called "Patterson City New Jersey" which is on the banks of the mighty Passaic river.... Well by coincidence, I was born in Patterson and so we had a nice long talk about "the old country".
Ibarra is a pleasant town/city and we had fun strolling around. I seem to have injured my cadera (hip). when I was in Quito and the pain just wont go away. I don't know what I did to it. I didn't fall or anything, it just has been sore and aches after i have been walking for a while and especially when I walk cuesta ariba (up hill). In truth I have just been taking some western medicine (acetaminophen, aspirin, voltaren,codeine ) and not resting it which is what it probably really needs.
After 2 nights we went to the frontera (border) crossing between Tulcan Ecuador. and Ipiales Co. on 10/12, the day my visa was to expire and crossed into Colombia. Well the Ecuador side is a 4 star cluster fuck !! There were at least 50 people waiting on line and there were 5 ventanillas (little windows) but only one border guard handling everyone. Incoming, Outgoing and refugees!! The line stretched outside and snaked around with everyone becoming annoyed and people trying to cut in. After nearly 2 hours of waiting, Tony and I were processed and stamped out in less than 5 minutes. On the Colombian side, it took us 5 minutes of waiting and 5 minutes of processing. We each got 60 day visas so I will be here probably till mid February.
We bargained with a taxista and got a ride to Ipialles for 4000 pesos (he wanted 7000). And stayed at the Belmont Hotel whose only redeeming quality is that it was cheap. It got a good write up in the Footprint guide and the lonely planet, but to me Belmont means Never again. dirty, noisy, ugly bathrooms blah blah blah. Just around the corner are 3 whore houses in a row with old fat hookers leering at you on the street as you walk by. well... What do you expect for 10,000 pesos per night?(they wanted 11,000. This is a country where one must negotiate everything).
One night was all it took. After about 14 hours in Ipialles we took a bus to the lovely and enchanting city of Popayan. And stayed in the dormitory at the Casa Familiar Turistica
We stayed there for 4 nights. I love Popayan. it is a beautiful old colonial city not unlike Sucre in Bolivia. All the centro district is a world heritage site. All the buildings are whitewashed and have orange terra cota tile roofs. The old gas lamps are all electric now, but the feeling remains the same. The hotel is just 300 meters from an outdoor marked which is really good. full of all kinds of fresh stuff and some great street-food-stalls. We had bar-b-qued arepas (little corn meal cakes) stuffed with queso fresco (fresh cow mild milk cheese) which cost 500pesos (40 cents American) each day and batter fried potato slices and empanadas with pipian ( a kind of potato, they mash and mix with peanut butter and put in a folded over circle of corn dough and fry) Very Knish like food. I love them madly. They also make them as tamales but these are steamed and taste even better!!
So After four lovely and interesting days in Popayan, I took the bus to Armenia and from there to Salento in the Zona Cafeterria, which is the Valle Cualca where all the Colombian coffee comes from. Salento is a tiny town of some 3500 inhabitants. There is a very nice backpackers hostel here called the Plantation House. I have been here now for 3 and a half days and I leave tomorrow for Bogota, the capital city of Colombia where I have reserved a bunk from 22/12/08 to 3/1/09 at the Platypus hostel. My time here in Salento is very uneventful. I am reading a book by Durrell and hanging out in the hammock (which is fortunately under a tin roof cover) as it is the rainy season here in the Colombian highlands and it has been raining intermittently all the while I am here. There is a famous mirador (view point) here that is 250 steps up hill and there is a fabulous view of the valley below and the river which is quite swollen and beautiful. All along the steps there are the stations of the cross which is a catholic thing about following the death march of Jesus. Rather gruesome those Catholics. why don't any of the churches have stained glass of healing the lepers or feeding fishes and loaves? it is always gruesome torture scenes, St Sebastian with all those arrows sticking out of him, St Peter crucified upside down, Jesus being scourged, and the like. I don't get it. So anyway, I have been enjoying some excellent coffee and reading and chilling out as usual.
So now It is Christmas eve. December 24. I have been in Bogota for 2 nights and I have moved from the Platypus to the Hostel Sue. I like it better and it is cheaper. Bogota is pretty manic, with shoppers everywhere looking for last minute gifts.I don't really like being a traveler during the busy Holiday season. Everything gets all crowded up and more expensive than other times of the year. I will stay here another 10 days until the holidays are over, then i think I will head over to a sleepy little village called Mompos and hide out from the world for a while longer.
I have been accepted to be a volunteer kitchen manager at a Buddhist retreat center called Moulin de Chaves ( www.moulindechaves.org ) and will be in south France this summer for 4 or 5 months. Ahh yeah its tough I know but some one has to do it. I sure can understand why all you at home are still working but I just like my own way and so I will continue to follow the sun. Dancing to the beat of my own drummer. Maybe we can all meet and meditate in South France this summer hhmmmm??
Well until the next update probably in early January I wish you all well. Merry Christmas to you Christians and happy new year to all. Here as usual are a few quotes from some people a little more wise than the average television addict!!
Peace and Love to all who read this,
Rambling Robert

"I do not write for those who have never asked themselves this question:´at what point does real lief begin´"- Lawrence Durrell
"That which you would not want done to you, do not do unto another: This is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary — now go study." Rabbi Hillel (responding to the challenge of teaching the whole of the bible while standing on one foot)
"It is better to travel well than to arrive." Buddha

travel update from Quito ecuador

Saludos a todos (Greetings to all)
The Grand Hotel is on the corner of Rocafuerte and Porton in Quito (the capitol city of ) Ecuador. I arived here on 1/12/08 the first day of my third month of my sixth year of travelling the world as a back-packer. this is the third time I have stayed at this hotel. I pay $6.50 USD per night for a private room with shared bath and kitchen privileges in the heart of the old city of Quito.
This week is very special time here in Quito. It is the 200 year anniversary of the Liberation of Quito.The forces of Bolivar and Sucre defeated the Spanish colonial Empire and now the people are celebrating 200 years of "freedom" with free concerts and fireworks every night. We dance in the streets and shout... ¡VIVA QUITO!Whhhooooooooeeeeeeiiii!!! I love my life, I really do. but wait, let me back track a little...
On 11/24/08 The lovely and talented estelita had a fine and wonderful departido party for me and all my great friends from Vilcabamba came and said their heart felt "fair-thee-wells" to me. We had a lovely feast with much wine beer and reefers and lots of guacomole, quesadillas, veggies and dips and other great treats and all finished off with two gigantic 7 layer postres made with love by Estelita. The following morning my amigo Bosco drove me to the bus station in Loja where I boarded a north bound bus to Cuenca.
I hit the highway and upon rival I stayed at Perla Cuenca for 4 nights and enjoyed the heck out of cuenca. The whole darned city is a big Unesco world heritage site and it is a very beautiful old colonial town blessed by good fortune to never have been struck by any earthquakes. Truly one of the "new worlds" most lovely and enchanting citys. Lots of beautuiful plazas and parks and old cathedrals and cobblestone streets. A very "european" style city indeed. A great market called diez de Octobrewith many many great choices of fresh fruits veggies and interesting cooked and raw grains. Upstairs in the market are dozens of comedores (little food stalls with ready made meals), like a restaurant.... Clean safe and freindly. I really liked this town.
I spit on Saturday and went to Latacunga and got there just in time because the next day (sunday) was the 52nd annual celebration of Mama Negro. I think its a Catholic thing but I just dont know. There was an 8 hour long parade of marching bands and beatuiful costumes and lots of drunken revelry. Reminded me of Mardi Gras in New Orleans but much more gentle and laid back. Still, all the fun a kid could want for free. I forgot my sunbloc and I cooked my face and left town with a sun burned smile and some wonderful memories.
I ate a fantastic sandwich there. maybe the best sandwich of my life!!! Higos en dulce (fresh figs cooked in panella which is a natural raw sugar) on a bread roll with queso fresco (fresh not aged cows milk cheese usually not more than a couple of days old. very mild tastes like milk)... they also sell these fantastic "tortillas" in the outdoor market which are made of a "masa" of corn meal and onions and spice and stuffed with the same queso fresco and fried in not too much oil. they are kind of small and cost 15cents each or 8 for a dollar. I also had a chocho ceviche (vegetarian) which cuencaña indian woman come around and make for you out of big straw baskets full of all the great ingredients we love about ceviche without the dead fish and with chocho instead.
Monday morning came early and I hit the road again and arrived in Quito, just in time for the 200 year celebration of the liberation...I fell in almost immediately with Mike and Tony, two way-cool gringos who have both been travellers for longer than I have. Not too often I run into anyone who can claim that anymore!! They later introduced me to Justin another American who has been travelling on and off for about 9 years even though he is only 29 and he is a TEFL certified english teacher. He has taught in China and Thailand, and also here in Ecuador. He wants to write a screen play about a homicidal buddhist so he and I have been talking about this a lot.
So tonight at 7pm a band of 12 saxophones, 7 trumpets one trombone, one clarinet and three percussionists , All members of the national police in full uniform with pistols, handcuffs, pepper spray and big smiles played nice concert with a big band jazz style of music with a latin accent for an hour for free on the corner (rincon rocafuerte y porton) where my hotel is, for free. the neighbors all brought out plastic chairs and served us hot mulled jugo de naranjilla spiked with aguardiente and the dancing in the streets continues...There will be fireworks tonight above the huge statue of the angel of quito(virgen Maria) and I will be my self, happy as a clam in an ocean (not in the chowder) Alive and well and almost 53 years old. a free man in quito unfettered and alive. They are going to close this internet cafe now so I will finish this tomorrow.
Now through the miracle of cyberspace it is tomorrow. Today, me and Justin, Tony and Mike went to the cental mercado and bought a bunch of stuff for me to cook for supper. We all had chocho ceviche for brekkie and then Tony and I went off on a tour of Quito´s drug stores (farmacias) in search of the rare and beautiful 30mg codein 500mg acetominophen combo tablets which I "highly" recommend to any travellers like me who walk 8 or 10 km everyday and also have shitty knees ankles and hips (carderas tobillos y rodillas) from being a chef/cook for 29 years. They cost 14cents each here because the govamint subsidizes medicines here so the poor people can have access to them. (What??!! those socialist pinko commies!! Who do they think they are! I hope Bubbuh dubba-yuh sends an aircraft carrier battle group to put an end to this, ASAP!!) uhh sorry about that. Any ways I am stocking up. Hee Hee Hee...
Later Tony and me and Mike climbed the big hill and checked out the huge statue of the virgen Mary who overlooks Quito. It is a great view and an interesting piece of art. There was a strong hail storm while we were on the top and so we ducked into a gift shop and waited and then walked back down. Excellent. We were advized not to climb on foot because the vecindario (neighborhood) the acera (sidewalk) goes through is rather dodgy. But we are three men, not well dressd without cameras or jewelry and Mike is a big boy at about 2 meters tall and 110 kilos (240 pounds 6 feet 5 inch) and so we made up some peanut butter and red banana sandwiches (bocadillos) and just went.
We had no problems at all... well Mike got kind of out of breath but that doesnt count.. Everyone we encountered was friendly and sweet. The barrio (see vecindario)is a place where mostly poor people live. I think there is a certain prejudice and people think that all poor people are potential criminals. I do not subscribe to this kind of thinking and have NEVER found this to be true. On the contrary I think poor people are poor because they are more honest than the rich!
So tonight I cooked for the 4 of us again the third night in a row. we had a lovely dinner of BRV´s (brown rice and veggies) and it cost us 60 cents each! Tomorrow is saturday and the city museum has free admission so you know where I will be.
I will split out of here on Monday and heard up to Ybarra for a couple of nights and then cross the frontera (border) and enter Colombia I think on 10/12/08. Next update from Colombia.
Here then are a couple of quotes to keep you until that time.
from Rambling Robert,Peace and love to all of you,
"Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule. " Buddha
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once." Albert Einstein
"I love the life I live and I live the life I love."Mose Allison

Last Travel update from Vilcabamba

Saludos a Todos,
Well this is my last update from Vilcabamba Loja Ecuador. I will be leaving this pueblo pequeño, on 25/11/08. I will miss this little slice of heaven, this sacred valley and all the rare and wonderful characters it has attracted and maintains through its magical aura. I recall a few years ago, when I left from Buenos Aires how i wrote to all of you that I felt everyone should visit B.A.at least once in their life...This is definitely how I feel about this place as well.
I feel good. I am still on the road after 61 months and I see no end in sight. I feel like I am being reborn as a Buddha every moment. I have actually begun to remember to breathe without trying. I find that If I listen to my breath, the noise in my head stops. The noise of my mind (radio-head) is like traffic: it never starts, it never stops, and it doesn't go anywhere. Its just there. but I tell you all this truth...It is only there, when "I am" not. When "I am" present "I am" peace. And I am peace! We all are peace if we just stop, and let it be. This is of course a lot more tricky than it sounds but worth the effort, I promise!
"There is no WAY to peace...Peace is the way" Thich Nhat Hahn
Many of you who knew me When I was a resident of USA will recall that I was an impatient person. I have "worked"on this (patience), the Buddha´s third paramita Quite a lot since I was in Malacca Malaysia. I hung around there with a group of Mahayana Buddhists and this was the advice they gave me.
Patience is the "enabling" force that allows all the other cosmic laws to manifest. If one is patient all things will come. One must realize that only the ego is impatient the true inner self is never in any hurry. Well...except when you are late for your bus!!
I protected my impatience. I loved it as a part of my "self". Same as my anger, my indignation, my honor. My My My all ego bullshit. I have found the first step is to recognize that there is a difference between the true inner self and the ego. Now I give my true self the opportunity to "drive the bus" and take us (all my fragments) to The Nirvana of Enough.
I am seeing the world as if with new eyes. The eyes within. Not looking at what i may cling to and/or grasp, but only at what "is". I am happy to leave things as they are now and comfortable with the fact that they will change (are changing) all by themselves. I love this Zen haiku:
Sitting quietly
Doing nothing, spring comes
Grass grows by itself
I was right about the American election. I predicted that a democrat or a republican would win and I was Right! Amazing! don't you think?? I hope that America will change for the better, but the truth is I am skeptical. It is also true that my true inner self doesn't really care, but my ego self is still hoping for change. I don't care because I know that the only thing that is inevitable in the world of duality of the physically manifested universe is change and so it is and so it will be.
Once I began to accept the duality rather than wish and hope for tranquility (unity). I found a very nice peaceful place, a warm glowing refuge within my self. I understand that in the law of transformation of energies there are always 3 forces and they must always change and "conquer" one another and thus become one another. I just sit back and let it all be. My "jihad" is internal. I am working on conquering my false self and trying to allow my true self to be. And thus to become one.
I ate some (only a couple of bites) fried pig meat the other day and I have had dolor de vientre (belly ache) now for 2 days. These are the lessons one learns. How many times must one be taught the same lessons? Wow it tasted sooooo goood!!! But its like beating up your "enemy" it feels good but you only hurt your self.
I went to a really nice party last night. There was a lovely band of 4 men who played Andean music. Acoustic guitars, instruments that look like a mandolin that i don't know the names of, and a few types of flutes hand carved from wood . They also had a variety of tamburs ( drums) and many of the revelers took up small drums and we all danced beneath the moon and the stars and drummed and everyone had a great time!
I had some whiskey and this helps me to feel less inhibited about the way i dance. I dance from my inner self, that is to say, I just move harmoniously with the music. i don't "know" any steps. i just like "groovin and movin". So my ego of course tries to stop me from dancing, because the ego is ALWAYS in conflict with the inner self. The mechanism my ego uses is a certain sense of embarrassment. A certain mild paranoia. Its as if I feel that others are watching me and judging me.
Then there was a big cake that was really good and we all had cake. There were a lot of little kids from the vecindario (neighborhood) and i love to watch that look of delight that blossoms on their face when they get a really big piece of cake. There was a little dance contest for the kids and a little boy won a premio (prize) of a little plastic man on a motorcycle. he was so happy!! The other kids were happy with their big pieces of cake and I was happy and so all the world was at peace and joy in my little slice of heaven...
I met two people ( cor-Neil-ius and Merry Prankster, a married couple) from The Republic of South Africa in June when I was in Mancora Peru. I met them again here in Vilcabamba about 4 months ago. I told them about a really nice house to rent with two bedrooms, a kitchen a bathroom with hot shower and a lovely garden of cesped (grass lawn) and fruit trees, coffee trees and flowers. It rents for US $120.00 per month.(Ecuador uses US dollars as the official currency). So we have been next door neighbors for the last 4 months. We frequently get together and share dinners.
I live just on the other side of a valla (hedge) from them. Neil has a real taste for cake and he is like a little kid (he is my age) when he sees a great big cake! he is delighted at the sight like a child. his inner child is very happy. These two people and I have become close friends. I am looking forward to seeing them elsewhere in my travels here in Latin America. I am hoping to see them again when I go to Africa and hope they and I will be able to travel around on their home continent in future. I have learned a lot from these two. I look at stones and the earth in a different way. I see that just as flowers are the blossoms of the plants, so to are crystals the flowers of the earth. I have been reading a lot about the vibrations and frequencies of crystals on the internet. Very interesting stuff.
Plants consume the earth in the form of crystal salts they leaach out of the soil through their roots. We too consume the earth in the form of vitamins (vital minerals) when we consume the plants. We are the earth. We are made of the same stuff the plants are made of. If we don't love ourselves we don't love the earth.
I have been enjoying the new lettuce season here. The markets are filled with scrumptily delicious sweet fresh lettuces!! Like VietNam! I have been eating a lot of salads. I have finally found some hot ahi (chili peppers) in the market as they too are in season here now. Also there are all kinds of beautiful fresh beans. The only one i know the english name for is fava beans. here called haba. And fresh shelled peas, all you could ask for! I have been cooking about 90% of my meals at my home. I have been exercising by walking and doing push-ups and yoga stretching exercises. I am feeling nice and healthy and have again lost some weight.
I will begin traveling North towards Trinidad-Tobago in 5 days. My updates will be more frequent once I get back on the road. I hope as always that these words find all of you peaceful and happy.
Here are a few quotes to think about until next time.
Peace and love,
Rambling Roberto
"If you want to be like the buddha you´ve got to do like the buddha" Me Myself Rambling robert
"Be careful what you pretend to be...you ARE what you pretend to be" Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
"Its nice to be important, but its more important to be nice" Lois Eckstein
"Cultivate peace first in the garden of your heart by removing the weeds of selfishness and jealousy, greed and anger, pride and ego. Then all will benefit from your peace and harmony." Amitabha (bodhisatva of the pure land)

Travel update 5 years after

Saludos,
I began this, the second half of my life, on 1 October 2003 when I became unemployed and homeless. I began rambling around the world and trying to find out, for my self, what it was that made life real.
Well I thought "oh, I will take 3 months off and then get a new job somewhere like Las Vegas or maybe on a Cruise Ship as a chef"...After 3 months, I bought a one year round-the-world ticket with Star Alliance and my travels really began in earnest! I thought, "well this will get the "travel bug" out of my system..." So...
Well about 6 months into my round the world trip, about June of 004, I definately knew i wasnt going to stop after this year was up. I switched around all my finances to earn higher dividends and sold all the remaining "stuff" I had in storage, and I have been like the energized bunny...I keep goin´ and goin´and goin´....
I am in Ecuador. just kickin back reading books by Bo Yin Ra, meditating, climbing the hills, chatting with the ex-pats, making friends among the locals. The plan is to go to colombia next and then venezuela and then Trinidad/Tobago ( I really like the steel drum music they are famous for...)
Renting a cheap room in a rooming house has its advantages and disadvantages. I love to have a kitchen i can use. I love to go out in the mornings to the little tiendas and buy enough food for the day and return every day visiting the same three tiendas and gradually becoming a " regular" that the workers/owners recognize and greet and show me the nicest zuchinni (calabaza italiano), fabulous purple camotes (sweet potato) crazy sweet little mangos, which potatoes to use for "papas fritas" and which for "al vapor". Fresh peeled peas (guisantes) that I cook up with quinua. I make 4 liter batches of "refresco" with lemon grass (hierba luiza) and ginger (gingibre) and panela (raw cane sugar). Shaaahhh the boy lives like a king!!
Pero por el otra lado(but on the other hand) I sit down at my escritoria the other night para una toca chica de mi pipa, but then, when I get up and sit on my extra bed which I use as a sofa I notice about 6 inches to my left, there is an 18inch (about a third of a meter) long snake sitting on top of my folded up pants...Aye Zukes!!
I confronted the little chico with my escoba (broom) and he seemed quite docile. I dont know a poison snake from a hipopotamus and so i tried to call on my neighbor Bosco thinking "if he doesnt know he can at least light an incense and consult the I Ching"... But he wasnt home so i shouted over jardin valla (the garden fence) and got Neil the South African crystal reader dude to come and help me evict the culebra (snake).
We HAAAHHH I mean HE got the snake with two sticks and put him in an empty basurero (waste paper basket) and we (there I go again) tossed him over the other fence into the medow where Bella Vaca (the Vecino´s cow) grazes.
I consulted Orland the zoologist who owns Rumi Wilco eco lodge and also the internet and we both have concluded that it was a small constrictor like a boa or python who was there looking for mice or lagartias (lizards) and was no threat to my person.
Last night I had more nocturnal visitors. I was out side with my light on and the door open in my room. When i went to bed and shut the light I discovered there were a bunch of fire flies in my room who had aparently been attracted by the light. Now while I was trying to sleep they kept blinking on and off their bright green little buttocks glowing in the dark...
So I went home from the internet testerday and discovered on of the neighbors gallinas
a big white hen, was in my kitchen!! She had aparently wandered in looking for stuff to peckat, and the wind must have blown the door shut. She must have freaked out a little and got nervous. There was chicken shit on the floor counters and kitchen table. I love this country. Really I do.
They say bad luck comes in threes and if this is so, I gues bad luck with animals in the house is over for now. I suppose I should consult the I Ching to be sure but who has time what with the international financial market meltdown the presidential debates and ...and...Well this morning out in front of my place there is the most lovely purple pink flower you have ever seen. It was all covered in beads of dew and just glistening in the early morning rays of our luminous "giver of life", the sun. I sat down next to it in the wet grass and just stared at it for about 20 minutes. Bosco came out and I showed it to him.
He changed the subject to astral projection. He read me a passage of Lobsang Rampa´s book "You Forever" a buddhist classic that dicusses, among other things out of body experiences. I know looking at dew covered flowers and getting my trousers all wet first thing in the morning is not an out of body experience...but It sure is a miracle, dont you think?
Here then are a couple of quotes to think of until I see you all again.
Peace and Love,
Rambling Robert
"In politics stupidity is not a handicap." Napoleon Bonaparte"
"In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then beleive them to be true." Buddha
"You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself." -Galileo.

travel update...still in Vilcabamba

So it is and so it is. Asi Es y Es Asi. Aye Caramba my spanish is getting better! Huh? Well i am sure enjoying my little "hide out" in Ecuador. I love having a kitchen and cooking my own meals. I also have been inviting people over and making little dinner parties. I have been passing my time lately with a woman named Estellita (like Stella in English). She is from Colombia, but has been living in Ecuador since 16 years now. She has a house here with an EXCELLENT kitchen so We have had a couple of little dinner parties there as well. My garden (well it isnt really my garden but the garden where i live) has lots of banana trees. A few days ago a big bunch of bananas fell to the ground and according to the cosmic law of "finders keepers losers weepers" (A law Co-Relating to, but secondary to the most sacred law of seven-foldness ) They were acquired by my self. So I have been cooking and eating a lot of bananas this week. I like them with black beans. I soak the beans over night and then i cook the beans for about 30 or 40 minutes and add the diced bananas and a lot of whole garlic cloves and a good sized pimiento rojo and a cebolla azul tambien cortado en cubitos and cook this for another 30 minutes. Then i add a bunch of cumin powder, salt, black pepper and minced up fresh culantro. ¡Aye! que sabroso,que rico. Me gusta servir con arroz integral. Tomorrow I have to go to la Imigre and find out if I can extend my visa by going to their office in the near by city of Loja. I believe this will not be possible and if this is the case, I must go and cross the border and return with a new 90 day tourist visa if i wish to remain legally here in Ecuador. More on this later. So I spend most of my time just hanging around in my garden, reading and doing a lot of meditation. I have been re-reading some of the writings by and about G.I.Gurdjieff and also just completed The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Great book. It really makes me miss Jordan. A lot of the story takes place in Jordan. Especially his descriptions of the magical and enchanting Wadi Rum. I was there about 2 years ago and it was truly magical and very meditative. Definately a place to become acquainted with the pillars of wisdom. If any of you are ever in this part of Asia, you should check it out. I have also been taking some nice nature strolls and stomping around in the river. The sacred river. Everything here is sacred it seems. The prominant indian group here is the Sagurno. Easy to recognize by their clothing and their hair style. This valley has been sacred to them and also to many other of the indigineous peoples of South America for over 5000 years. Of course it is still subject to the laws of change and it is changing! There are about 10000 people here in Vilcabamba and maybe 10% of them are foreigners. Lots of organic farmers, old hippies, young hippies and neo colonialists who come here to act like they are rich. The financial markets have hurt me deeply. I will be okay for a while, but I dont really have much of any predictable income anymore. I have no faith in my goverment to do any thing positive to resolve the current crisis, and so i have divested all my portfolios and i am just hanging out waiting for some indication of a positive change, but fear not all of you who are living vicariously through me, I will still be travelling continuously for the forseeable future. (forseeable future?? isnt that an oxymoron?George bush is an omni moron which is different but similar...) Ahh but I digress again, I dont want any of my American friends to think I am not a true patriot, and it is currently terribly un patriotic to criticize the king. So what the heck have I been doing here in the sacred valley of vilcabamba? well mostly taking long and short strolls through the forests and hanging out by the stream and in my garden. I have been meditating a lot and doing my "snorkel walk" meditation more and more. I think it is all working well but there is a lot of illusion on the spiritual path as well in the land of samsara and one never reallly knows what progress one is making. I do know that I am calm and alert and experiencing a lot of joyful moments of mindfulness. What else is there anyway? I returned a few days ago from Piura Peru, where I went for two nights and one day so i could receive a new tourist visa for ecuador since the goverment in Loja will not grant extensions at this time. So one is foreced to cross the frontera and return. its okay. I love the olives in Peru and brought back a half kilo so I am enjoying salads with olives on them again. What a fascinating life, eh? I have applied to volunteer at a meditation center in France so If they accept me, I will be back in Europe next spring and summer. Many of you who receive this letter are living in Europe and hopefully we can all re-union if i get to go to France. My more immediate plans are to stay here in Ecuador till late November mid december and then head north through Colombia to Venezuela and then to the island nation of Trinidad in the Carribean around january or February... but alas who really knows??JAnd so now, I close with a couple of quotes. I wish all of you peace and joy."There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting." Buddha"A loving heart is the truest wisdom." Charles Dickens "How I wish that somewhere there existed an island for those who are wise and of goodwill! In such a place even I would be an ardent patriot." Albert Einstein

travel update from vilcabamba

so here I am. and so there you are. and here we are. Vilcabamba is a little place in Ecuador. It is near Loja which is the third largest city in this lovely little country. I am not too far from the border of Peru. i have been here since June 30 and dont have any imediate plans to leave. I am in a good spot here and I like it.
I have been renting a part of a house. I got my own room and it is large with a writing desk (un escritorio) and a queen bed and a single bed and a wash stand and a private bathroom with a toilet and hot water shower! (well...the shower...welluuhh it is quite an experience...)I have a beautiful front garded with a hammock and a table and a few chairs. There is a lawn of grass with some nice fruit trees on it. Tangerines(mandarinas) and oranges. Off to the left there is a bunch of banana trees and also an avocado tree and a couple of papaya trees mixed in with them. There are 3large bushes of heirba luiza (lemon grass) and a little parsley and mint. There is a nice kitchen which i share with the other peoplw of the house which is a young man and his 8 year old daughter in one room and a cool couple of crystal readers from South Africa whom i had met in Mancora peru some months ago.I am paying $90.00 American per month. Including gas and electric.
It is a 15 minute uphill walk from the center of Vilcabamba (where I am sitting at this moment in an internet cafe). this town has lots of character and lots of characters! A large but quiet group of european and north american ex-pats live here. lots of spiritual types. This has been a sacred valley to the indigenous peoples of the area for at least 5000 years! There are at least 7 psychotropic plants that thrive in the area. The river is also considered sacred and its waters are said to have curative qualities. Every full moon there is a sweat lodge organized on the river.
You go into this tent and they bring in 9 super heated rocks and chant and pray and you sweat like crazy. They also pour water over the rocks and sprinkle medicine plants on the stones so there is a wonderful aroma. This is said to cleanse you and make you healthy. they bring in 9 more stones 4 times for a total of 36 stones and the whole thing lasts about 3 hours. Whoooaaa it is hot. you sweat out a couple of liters of water and toxins. Then of course everyone jumps into the river to seal your pores.
I remember from my last visit to ecuador, that this is a country of great bakeries. Ah it is still true. it is really nice and very rare to have such a wonderful selection of fresh baked whole grain breads. I like to visit a woman called Susana la panadera. on Tuesdays thursdays and Saturdays she bakes wonderful whole weat bread with flax seeds and cinamon rolls (pan canaela) which are superb for your false ego self but probably not too healthy over-all. Still I love them and indulge once in a while. Due to the fact that I have a kitchen, I cook almost all my own meals.
I have just been introduced to an american woman called Sue who makes tempe in her home and today I bought a 350gram piece for 2 dollars. I will cook it up tonight. I havent had tempe since i was in Sumatra. I also have been experiencing and experimenting with lots of the local cheeses. Sagurno is the name of an indian tribe here that markets many cheeses. My favorite is a semi soft called Andino. It melts really well and has a lovely but light flavor and scent.
It is like spring time here all year round. We are close to the equator and at about 1800 meters elevation (6000 feet). Mornings are beautiful ñand cobalt blue cloudless skieis. it tends to cloud up every afternoon making for lovely sunsets and It rains in mid day once or twice a week.
I wake to the sounds of cows chickens roosters donkeys and horses. i never hear trafic noises where I live. I go to bed( voy a cuesto) by 10pm, almost every night except when I play poker. I even found a source for the legendary "Flor de Caña" rum from Nicaragua. Fortunately it is 70 km (50 miles) away at the nearest supermarket. So i am not staggering around like a hnopeless drunk. Althoughh i did buy and finish off a bottle of the 5 year old black label.
I am beginning to think that when I write the story of my life maybe it wont be so terrible if i were to write " Oh, and I lived in Vilcabamba for 6 months back in 2008"...so then a couple of quotes and I am gone.
Peace and love to all who read these words
Robert
"The best cure for the body is a quiet mind."...Napoleon Bonaparte

"A dog is not considered a good dog because he is a good barker. A man is not considered a good man because he is a good talker."...Buddha

"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth."... Marcus Aurelius

Travel update from Vilcabamba

Hello, my fellow three brained earthlings,
It has been a month since my last travel update. Usually I write a little more often than this. Well at least in the past this has been the case. The longer I travel the slower I go. The slower I go the less I have to say. So as far as just reporting the places i have been and the things I have done, I havent really been to too many places or done too many things! After all I am a "human being" not a "human doing"... and for that matter I am not even that but rather i am "being human". And at this moment I am being human in Vilcabamba Ecuador. http://www.vilcabamba.org/
Vilcabamba is a quiet little town not too far from Loja Ecuador. Just about 150km north of Peru. This place has been a spiritual center for many many centuries. This valley is sacred to the indigenous peoples here. It was sacred to the inca and also to other indian tribes before and after the inca came and went. Many medicinal and psycotropic plants are to be found here. San Pedro cactus is the most famous http://www.mescaline.org/sanpedro/index.html
But there are also tobacco, coffee, and of course huilco. Huilco or vilcas or cebil seeds have been used and cultivated for their psychedelic properties for over 5000years!
The valley itself is also famous for its drinking water. The water is said to be the primary reason that the people here live longer than anywhere else in the world. The place is sometimes called the valley of longevity. There are many vitameins and minerals in the water and they contribute to the health of the people here.
The town is full of expats from all over the world. That is from all the wealthy countries of the world and there are a lott of Americans here. I have met a few old lmerry pranksters here and Tim Learys old press agent lives here as well. A rather cool place. I was staying the last 10 days at a great hotel called Izkayluma (sp?)until yesterday but now I found something else.
I am renting a room from a Kiwi Cowboy a vegetarian named Gavin who takes tourists out on horse rides through the national parks. he has been here for 25 years. A rather strange guy but I like him. He gave me a book of poetry he wrote and is also in the process of publishing a book. I am renting a room with my own bathroom and use of his kitchen for $90.00 per month. I reckon I will stay here for another month.
I have fallen in with a bunchof Gringo expats and fleeced the sheep last wednseday night at a game of "Texas hold`em". 10 cent game but I won 17 dollars. not bad when your rent is 90 bucks a month! These guys are not experienced Poker players. Me? I have been playing since I was 5 years old. Like taking candy form a baby...I believe I will play with them every Wednesday while I stay here. It beats working!! Lots of people have been watching this game on TV and they think they are poler players. Of course everything on TV is bullshit (except for professional wrestling) and therefore of course no one can learn anything from the idiot box except how to be a better (more stupid?) idiot!
I have a membership at Craigs book exchange. It is an old establisdhment here in town, that was founded by an old merry prankster years ago. Now run by an old hippy sculptor/potter from Las Vegas named Lee who is rapidly becoming one of my favorite people. i am reading TE Lawrence´s book (Lawrence of Arabia) called "the 7pillars of wisdom".
I am loving my life as usual. There is a blues Reggae band at La Jardin Escondido which is a little mexican restaurant with a garden in it tomorrow night. if any of you want to find me, thats where i will be.
so that is all for now. i will just be here, just being here for a while. If any of you wants to retire from the "world" this would be one of the first places I suggest you look into...
So here now (as usual) are a few quotes from some illustrious 3 brained beings from the past...

"The extent of your consciousness is limited only by your ability to love and to embrace with your love the space around you, and all it contains." Napoleon Bonaparte

"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense."Buddha

"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." Marcus Aurelius