travelupdate from VC

Hi, I am okay, hanging out here in Ecuador. About 2 degrees south of the ecuator, at an altitude of about 4,000 ft. (12 or 1300 meters) above sea level, I have been here a long time, by my standards and I am beginning to have that old feeling. I see myself morphing into a "householder" (can you just see my lip curl with disdain as I write the word?) Next think you know I will be buying a rug. I do not know if I like this. I don't know at all... So I seem to find myself in the unlikely position of running a boarding house, a guest house I call Pension Juan Montalvo, because we are on Calle Juan Montalvo (Juan Montalvo Street) with 3 bedrooms and a couple of offices for rent in it. I get to live here for free with my sweet heart Estelita and I get to cook for some extra people which I think I will like. Now I am beginning to allow a few folks I know, to ask a day ahead and have family style vegetarian meals with me and Estelita and the Boarding House Guests. They pay $4.00 for a 3 or 4 course vegetarian meal. So i am cooking for about 6 or 8 people. No menu. They eat what I make. I am enjoying this. I get to bake bread more often. I get restless cooking for only myself and Estelita... There is a mental disease I have discovered which i call "Nunca Bastante" it is not so different from consumerism and is probably caused by the same insecurity and fear of inadequacy. Nunca Bastante Desorden del Personalidad is easily recognizable. The poor victim always wants to improve things. Always to add to, to clarify, to enhance, to correct, to improve, to make better, to become. These are people who are never satisfied with the way things are now (the darma). They always feel that no matter what is happening, now mattter what they have, no matter what is being served, it can always be improved, por los esos pobrecitos, no hay nada que esta bastante (for these poor people, nothing is ever enough). I traveled the world from 1/10/03 until 3/10/11. First stop Tokyo Japan, last stop Colombo Sri Lanka. Not exactly every where but practically everywhere anybody ever heard of. 8 years on the road, on the oceans rivers lakes and seas, in the sky, on trains, on the backs of horses, mules, elephants and camels. From there to here and back again and again. I knew my way around. I had a favorite hotel in Quito, in Amsterdam, in Bangkok, in Malaka, in Jerusalem, in Corfu, in Istambul. Now I am a householder...and I aint so sure if I like it. In these last 8 years, I never stayed anywhere for 90 days. The only country I stayed in more than 90 days without leaving was India. But I never stayed anywhere in India more than the month in Benaulim Goa at Madonna Guest House (another of my favorites!). I miss India some days and Asia most days. I miss Europe when it is summer, I miss not knowing where I will go when my visa expires and not caring a hoot. "Intentional Suffering and Consious labors are the activities which generate the energy necessary to grow a soul" anonymous. Intentional suffering is how one accumulates "will" or "will power". It is taking a lot of will power for me to stay here. Of course this is all just my ego trying to make a mess of my life. There is nothing wrong with my circumstances. This is one of the 5 best places I have ever been! To suffer intentionally is all about struggling with the ego. I figure, this is as good a place as any to do that. My travels were about non attachment,about running away from the "the world" and running into my self. To continue now would be running away from my self and running into the world. I have come to a new place so I have to ask myself all over again "what time is it over here right now anyway?!!?" Uhh yeah or something like that... So thats all there is for now. Twice a week I am still at the Vilcabamba Meditation Center. I am teaching two classes, of 1 hour each on Monday and Friday. We meditate on our breath. I do it for free. I like it. Estelita has 2 cats. Adolfo and Mussolina. They are 11 months old, brother and sister. They come when I call and are always muy carinoso (when they are hungry!). I get their food. I am attached. I am a householder ...here now...breathing in "I am calm, breathing out, I am smiling"...again... Blessings and Light, Roberto Mochilero "Materialism is not unequivocally bad. It is like any other childishly destructive behavior. It can be accepted and understood as a stage toward higher development" Rav P S Berg "Just look at us. Everything is backwards; everything is upside down. Doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the major media destroy information and religions destroy spirituality.” - Michael Ellner "Are you willing to be sponged out, erased, cancelled, made nothing? Are you willing to be made nothing? Dipped into oblivion? If not, you will never really change." DH Lawrence