travel update from Buenos Aires
Hola mis Amigos,
Now here I am and I am here now. This here and now thing is called Buenos Aires. I arrived here on a Wednesday after 6 or 7 weeks in Uruguay. The launcha (ferry boat) was very pleasant indeed. I crossed the Rio Del Plata from Carmelo Uruguay on the Cacciola Ferry and landed in Tigre Argentina.
This part of the river is quite beautiful and the passage was scenic and the waters very tranquil . The boat is a clean fast air conditioned modern Catamaran. This part of the river is about 150 miles inland from the Atlantic.
Upon arrival in Argentina I was given a wonderful and unexpected early "Christmas gift". I did NOT HAVE TO PAY US$131.00 to enter Argentina! I got a 90 day visa stamp for free which is fine with me as it is all I need right now. Right here and right now.
The new policy in Argentina is for Estado Unidenses (USA citizen) to pay this fee because the Government in Washington DC imposes sever tarrifs,taxes, and fees on Argentina citizens who want to visit USA.
Aparently they (Argentina government) are, at this time, only making you (USA citizens) pay if you arrive by airplane in the international airport. The good news is you get the visa and it is valid for 10 years so you can come and go as often as you wish without having to pay each time.
Buenos Aires is a very good climate for December. Right now, right here, it is about 30 to 35 degrees or (86-93 American). Well... maybe it is a little too hot. But in my opinion that is always better than being too cold. I am in a good hostel called Portal del Sur and will stay here until after New Year.
Then I need to go to the Paraguay embassy and buy a visa for Paraguay which will be my next new country. Right now this is what I want to do here.
I have to wait because, they do not like to give the visa "too far in advance". This is what they told me at the Paraguay Embassy in Montevideo. They did not say how far is too far. So I am waiting here until I am ready to leave Buenos Aires. I will take a train to rosario upon obtaining my Paraguay visa. It is a city on the Parana river. I know a good place to stay there and I have never been there before and it is in the general direction of Paraguay.
Humans learn from mimicking or copying others. you know the old cliche "monkey see monkey do"? Well, we are monkeys! Sure we learn the obvious stuff that way like how to hold a fork or tie our shoe, but also more complicated stuff like language skills mathematics and creativity!
Creativity? Well, yes. Thats why all classical music sounds the same. Why all heavy metal music sounds the same. Why so many movies have car chases. Sure if you look or listen closely the car chase or the music is different. but the difference is subtle. We basically copy one another.
Imitation and/or role playing, is how we learn to act how we learn to behave, how we know what to do.
What about desire? (I am glad you asked!)I believe that we learn desire by mimic as well. I don`t think a fellow desires something because that fellow finds it valuable (beautiful) but because others find it valuable (beautiful). We desire what others desire BECAUSE they desire it.
The ten commandments of Moses (Musa) addresses this form of mental slavery, the last of the ten says:
"thou shalt not desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's"
I am pretty free from desires caused by coveting, caused by the wanting of things that other people value/have. I do not want a bigger swimming pool than my neighbor, a newer BMW, or an I-phone.
So we dont desire something because we find it valuable but because OTHER people find it to be valuable/desirable(this is just my opinion here). I believe that this is also a desire to "fit in" to be like everyone else. This is why everyone dresses the same. Why in the last 15 years it has become mainstream to get a tattoo. Most people are in a state of panic if they are not like everyone else. Most of us really, more than anything else, want to be another brick in the wall.
This is why girls ignore nice guys who are compatible with them and go after the captain of the football team. Not because anyone actually likes him, but because we think others value him! We value what is desired by others. We learn what is desireable by watching what others desire.
Things are not intrinsically desireable, or valuable, or beautiful, they are so because others feel they are so. After all what is the intrinsic value in a lump of gold? A rolex watch? A painting by Picasso? What makes Pamela Anderson more beautiful than an anonomous girl in bikini on the beach?
Lately I have been thinking about what I really want. What I really value. Truthfully most of the time I am in the "new Nirvana" the magic kingdom in my head called "Enough".
I bought a new pair of under pants (ropa interior)today. I am the proud owner of two pairs of underpants. I had bought the last ones about two years ago in Tobago. The new pair I bought today was to replace one of the old which had torn. It was only because it was torn that I suddenly had a value for a new pair.
Most of the time, I dont want anything at all. I would say that 90% of the things I purchase are food or beverage items I will be eating within one or two days of purchase. 90% of the things I want I obtain within a few hours of the realization that I want it. 90% of my desires are not things at all but rather places that I want to go to.
This next May or June, I want to travel across Siberia and frankly, I have no idea where i got an idea like that from! But I know that it is my idea and not yours. I know that I am doing what I want. I know that I am dancing to the tune in my own head.
Merry New Year and Happy Christmas to all of you,
Rambling Robert
"If you think you are so enlightened, go and spend a week with your parents" Ram Das
"All things are vibrating energy fields in ceasless motion. What we perceive as physical matter (your body) is energy vibrating at a particular range of frequencies." Eckhart Tolle
"A consistent thinker is a thoughtless person, because he conforms to a pattern; he repeats phrases and thinks in a groove."Jiddu Krishnamurti
Now here I am and I am here now. This here and now thing is called Buenos Aires. I arrived here on a Wednesday after 6 or 7 weeks in Uruguay. The launcha (ferry boat) was very pleasant indeed. I crossed the Rio Del Plata from Carmelo Uruguay on the Cacciola Ferry and landed in Tigre Argentina.
This part of the river is quite beautiful and the passage was scenic and the waters very tranquil . The boat is a clean fast air conditioned modern Catamaran. This part of the river is about 150 miles inland from the Atlantic.
Upon arrival in Argentina I was given a wonderful and unexpected early "Christmas gift". I did NOT HAVE TO PAY US$131.00 to enter Argentina! I got a 90 day visa stamp for free which is fine with me as it is all I need right now. Right here and right now.
The new policy in Argentina is for Estado Unidenses (USA citizen) to pay this fee because the Government in Washington DC imposes sever tarrifs,taxes, and fees on Argentina citizens who want to visit USA.
Aparently they (Argentina government) are, at this time, only making you (USA citizens) pay if you arrive by airplane in the international airport. The good news is you get the visa and it is valid for 10 years so you can come and go as often as you wish without having to pay each time.
Buenos Aires is a very good climate for December. Right now, right here, it is about 30 to 35 degrees or (86-93 American). Well... maybe it is a little too hot. But in my opinion that is always better than being too cold. I am in a good hostel called Portal del Sur and will stay here until after New Year.
Then I need to go to the Paraguay embassy and buy a visa for Paraguay which will be my next new country. Right now this is what I want to do here.
I have to wait because, they do not like to give the visa "too far in advance". This is what they told me at the Paraguay Embassy in Montevideo. They did not say how far is too far. So I am waiting here until I am ready to leave Buenos Aires. I will take a train to rosario upon obtaining my Paraguay visa. It is a city on the Parana river. I know a good place to stay there and I have never been there before and it is in the general direction of Paraguay.
Humans learn from mimicking or copying others. you know the old cliche "monkey see monkey do"? Well, we are monkeys! Sure we learn the obvious stuff that way like how to hold a fork or tie our shoe, but also more complicated stuff like language skills mathematics and creativity!
Creativity? Well, yes. Thats why all classical music sounds the same. Why all heavy metal music sounds the same. Why so many movies have car chases. Sure if you look or listen closely the car chase or the music is different. but the difference is subtle. We basically copy one another.
Imitation and/or role playing, is how we learn to act how we learn to behave, how we know what to do.
What about desire? (I am glad you asked!)I believe that we learn desire by mimic as well. I don`t think a fellow desires something because that fellow finds it valuable (beautiful) but because others find it valuable (beautiful). We desire what others desire BECAUSE they desire it.
The ten commandments of Moses (Musa) addresses this form of mental slavery, the last of the ten says:
"thou shalt not desire thy neighbour's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour's"
I am pretty free from desires caused by coveting, caused by the wanting of things that other people value/have. I do not want a bigger swimming pool than my neighbor, a newer BMW, or an I-phone.
So we dont desire something because we find it valuable but because OTHER people find it to be valuable/desirable(this is just my opinion here). I believe that this is also a desire to "fit in" to be like everyone else. This is why everyone dresses the same. Why in the last 15 years it has become mainstream to get a tattoo. Most people are in a state of panic if they are not like everyone else. Most of us really, more than anything else, want to be another brick in the wall.
This is why girls ignore nice guys who are compatible with them and go after the captain of the football team. Not because anyone actually likes him, but because we think others value him! We value what is desired by others. We learn what is desireable by watching what others desire.
Things are not intrinsically desireable, or valuable, or beautiful, they are so because others feel they are so. After all what is the intrinsic value in a lump of gold? A rolex watch? A painting by Picasso? What makes Pamela Anderson more beautiful than an anonomous girl in bikini on the beach?
Lately I have been thinking about what I really want. What I really value. Truthfully most of the time I am in the "new Nirvana" the magic kingdom in my head called "Enough".
I bought a new pair of under pants (ropa interior)today. I am the proud owner of two pairs of underpants. I had bought the last ones about two years ago in Tobago. The new pair I bought today was to replace one of the old which had torn. It was only because it was torn that I suddenly had a value for a new pair.
Most of the time, I dont want anything at all. I would say that 90% of the things I purchase are food or beverage items I will be eating within one or two days of purchase. 90% of the things I want I obtain within a few hours of the realization that I want it. 90% of my desires are not things at all but rather places that I want to go to.
This next May or June, I want to travel across Siberia and frankly, I have no idea where i got an idea like that from! But I know that it is my idea and not yours. I know that I am doing what I want. I know that I am dancing to the tune in my own head.
Merry New Year and Happy Christmas to all of you,
Rambling Robert
"If you think you are so enlightened, go and spend a week with your parents" Ram Das
"All things are vibrating energy fields in ceasless motion. What we perceive as physical matter (your body) is energy vibrating at a particular range of frequencies." Eckhart Tolle
"A consistent thinker is a thoughtless person, because he conforms to a pattern; he repeats phrases and thinks in a groove."Jiddu Krishnamurti
posted by Rambling Robert | 12:28 PM
2 Comments:
Its very pleasant travelling by ferry to Buenos Aires (Argentina)... Glad to share my views with you... Thanks for sharing...
Ferry traveling is always at is best and needless to say its a rewarding experience.
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