Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Still in Antigua

Yesterday I went with Mike, Adam and Todd to another village which needs an irrigation system. It was, as before, a really educational outing. This village seemed even more remote than villages I have seen before: the people didn't speak Spanish but their native Kachikel - one of the indigenous languages still in use. We were treated to lunch after the measurments needed for tanks and pipes were made. It consisted of the usual chicken soup (or rather hen soup, hen being as hard as a shoe sole) tortillas, rice and spicy sauce. I didn't have much appetite for meat before I started my trip but in South and Central America I lost craving for it totally. It is not sold here as clean-cut stakes and shapless mass of muscle but entire parts of animals hang on hooks in market stalls and carnicerias and people buy pieces and then cut them at home. The sight is groosome and I think whoever is not a vegetiarian can become one seeing it... But I usually have a few pieces of the hen (when we visit villages and we are offered lunch in gratitute for PAVA's projects) so as not to hurt the feelings of the people who cooked it for us (I am invited even though I am just a guest of Mike's - people's hospitality here is enormous and to refuse is not acceptable...) and the rest I give to skin-and-bone dogs, under the table also so as not to hurt people's feelings... Dogs in northern Peru and the entire Central America look really pitifull. I know people's lifes are hard in this part of the world and I don't want to judge them... but some of these dogs walk around with open wounds and so skinny that I think I would rather kill them than see them suffer so... Dogs are the untachables here. They have been tamed millenia ago and they can't survive on their own. They can't hunt, other then hunting for food in people's garbage. They are totally dependent on humans and humans are really cruel to them. In the Polish countryside there was, or maybe still is, a custom of drowning little puppies right after they were born. When I learned about this I thought it was cruel but now I think that it is better to eliminate the puppies nobody wants than to let them live only so they can die of starvation a little later... Well, that's the fate of dogs here. It's really sad. Sometimes I see dogs which according to the laws of physical survival have no right to life and they still live... I feel that whatever happens to men, however cruel it may be, he can rationalize it and can ask for help fellow humans. I know this is not always true... but there's always some possibility of salvation...

Salvation is what we have been talking about at Mike's house because Todd is from New Orleans and is biting his nails over the fate of his friends, not knowing if they survived the hurricane the floading (his family is fine). He was supposed to go back to New Orleans yesterday but him and his family thought it would be better for him to reschedule his flight to next week. The devastation is huge there... However man wants to control nature it remains uncontrolable and it strikes as if to remaind humans that they are subject to its laws whether they want it or not... The comforting thought is that the US being such a power and wealthy country is skilled at dealing with natural diseasters and is going to do whatever is possible to help those who need help... and fast... which does not happen in countries such as countries of Central America. Even with international help the devastation caused by hurricanes, earthquakes (and, of course, civil wars) of many years ago is still clearly visible...

I have been reading a really great book about the civil wars in Central America entitled "Sweet Waist of America." It was written by Mike's friend Anthony Daniels and is about his travels in Central America in the 80s. It's one of the best books on political issues that I have read, mostly because it shows that all is gray, not black and white but gray. He talks about the autocratic governments, gorrillas, aristocratic classes and peasants, and tells the story of people's different point of view, and how it is shaped from where they stand and where they belong; how easily they can be manipulated by governments, by visionaries, revolutionaries, evangelicals and even aid workers and journalist gossip. The book questions everybody and everything. Mike tells me it's out of print and I wonder if maybe someone could reissue it since it's just an absolute gem. Maybe I can ask Paul Elie? Which brings me to FSG and the book I just got from Ann Cameron - the book on Roger W. Straus. I was reading it yesterday and looked at the pictures (also the one in the back with the 11th floor crowd and me in it, wondering how I became such a tiger from the tiny little gray mouse I was 8 years ago?) and it brought such good memories of FSG and everyone there! I will be forever proud that I was part of FSG. I often saw FSG books, originals and translations, in good bookstores in all the countries I visited and whenever I meet someone who knows FSG books and ooohs and aaahs about them I can say, well yes, I was a tiny little part of it for some time... and I feel proud, people! I do! I also feel proud of being part of REBIS and being Tomek's first assistant. My chest is totally expanding with pride and admiration for these two great places.

I checked the ticket situation and the only place in which I have enough frequent flyer points to fly from to Poland is Mexico City so I am going to head there in a few days. I want to go to San Christobal and Oaxaca and visit some of the Maya ruins there. I think I will get to Poland in a month the latest. Dear friends in Poland: I am so happy I will see you soon! Friends in the US and everywhere else: I hope you can visit me wherever I will end up and sooner or later I will visit you, but in any case - I always think about all of you. You are all on my mind because the connection of the minds is the strongest of all possible connections and it is... for... ever...

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Fiesta in Yaibay and Mixco Viejo

I opened my blog today and found all these strange responses... advertising blogs on impotency, weight loss, satellite dishes, mesolaphine or whatever the name, with notes that people who advertise these like my blog.... sorry guys but I don't need any of your products. If you've been really reading my blog, you would notice that I am going back to "pure natural" and don't use any of such... stuff invented by modern technology... And my blog really is just for my friends... as a means to communicate with them. It's like a personal letter to all people who are dear to me... please respect that...

On Thursday I went with Mike and Todd to the countryside again and we visited a few schools. As the winding, bumpy roads are also very narrow at one point we wanted to make space for the oncoming chicken bus and Todd wanted to get to the edge of the road as much as possible and took one "step" too far and we found ourselves hanging off the cliff, ready to tumble down a vertical cornfield. The men from the bus immediately got out of the bus, virtually lifted our car and put us back on the road. That was an adventure! I wasn't really scared because I felt, as Mike says, that "my time hasn't come." We went for beer afterwards to laugh it off.

I took Friday off for walking around Antigua and visiting the places which I haven't visited before. One of them, which I really liked, was Hotel and Museum Santo Domingo. The hotel and museum is in the ruins of a church and convent destroyed by an earthquake. It's the nicest hotel I have been to. The rooms and restaurants, bars, swimming pool, etc. are inside the ruins which in some places have been renovated and in some just left the way they were found after the earthquake. I went there during the day on Friday and then I took Mattieu there at dusk on Saturday and we spent some time there walking around the grounds. The place was preparing for a wedding and there were a lot of candles everywhere. What remains of the church is just an altar and the wall behind the altar - it was interestingly decorated with satin ribbons and roses. We walked around the fountains and patios and spent some time sitting on beautiful wooden benches on one of the patios.

Today Mike and his old friends George and Paul, Mattieu, Todd and his girlfriend Mary and I went to a town Yaibay (I am not sure of the spelling) for the yearly fiesta. We left at 7:30 in the morning and got there around 11:00. We were invited to the town by the vice mayor during our visit last Tuesday to the village in which the bridge will be built. The vice mayor greeted us and first we went for a drink of rum and beer (on empty stomachs...) and then to observe the festivities of dancing tauruses, fireworks and firecrackers and paleovoladores (I think that's how it's written). Paleovoladores are people hanging by the rope tied around their ancle from the top of a 25 meter pole and the rope slowly being unwound from the pole making them "descend" from the pole. It was very interesting. There were lots of people in the town and the center was extremally crowded. I took many really great pictures of women in their colorful clothing, men in their beautiful white hats, people dancing in extravagant costumes, babies tied to their mothers' backs, and fruit and vegetable stands on the market. Afterwards we went to dinner with the vice mayor and his people to a restaurant run by a person who spent some time in Providence in the US. It turned out most of the people from that town spend some time in Providence... After dinner we decided to go to see the Mixco Viajo ruins. On our way there we encountered a destroyed bridge with a minivan stuck in the mud. Mike had a caver's rope (since he is, among other things, a caver) and after many trials he, and all other people who were waiting to pass on both sides of the river, got the car out of the water. It slowed our journey to the ruins and when we got there, at 4:00 pm, they were just closing the gate... but we asked if we could, please please, go see them and they let us in. The site of the ruins is the most beautiful of all such places I have seen so far. Many factors contribute to it... when we got there it was raining cats and dogs so we started in a heavy rain and then the rain disappeared and there was moist stillness in the air... the quietness... the amazing view of the green mountains near and far... the remainings of a big city made of stone... As I said before, whenever I visit the ruins of buildings built by lost civilizations I think of the people who slaved building them... of all the suffering the building of these temples and cities cost... but at the same time the ruins are usually situated in such beautiful scenery that they amaze me... the vast flat clearings of grass and beautiful trees and the mountains in the distance, the clouds passing by midway the mountains, the other clouds passing by higher above, the bluest sky visible where the clouds are not blocking it... the different shades of green, gray and blue... it all made the place enchanting and spiritual. It's one of these places where you feel the power of creation... and although the world is a cruel place, you feel hope... that the power which created it can save this cruel word and that maybe it does know what it is doing...

Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Guatemalan countryside

Yesterday I went with Mike, two people working for the Peace Corps Ryan and Adam and Todd who is also American and who came here for intership regarding natural diseasters, to the Guatemalan village about two hours drive to see the site where a bridge is going to be built. It is going to be built by the people of the two villages on either side of the river with the help of PAVA - the non-profit organization for which Mike is working. The mountainous countryside is beautiful. In many places in resembles the south of Poland because there are many pine forests. When we got to the site the men who will built the bridge were waiting for us and shortly afterwards the local government came to greet us as well. All the men were measuring, digging, laying out the plans, etc. When that was done we were invited for lunch consisting of chicken soup with tortillas and softdrinks. Central Americans, like South Americans, know how to have fun and the talk during lunch was really joyfull and full of humor. The man of the house at one point tripped over a stone and went flying to the other side of the patio and that created a lot of laughter for him and for us... We speculated whether it was due to the stone or the "cola blanca" which is the locally made sugar cane vodka which was flowing during lunch... We passed through many villages and small towns on our way back. In all of them the women wear different type of traditional clothing - it's an amazing variety of embroidered blouses and woven skirts. Men usually wear dark pants, white shirts and sombreros. We got home late and then I went with Mike to Dona Luisa Restaurant and Bakery and we indulged in supper and reading of the newspapers which Mike always reads during at night. Mattieu, who is French and who also lives at Mike's home, joined us. Mattieu is interested in water projects and is researching different charitable organizations who deal with purifying water and establishing wells in places where there are no rivers. Today I went with Mike and Todd again to different schools which have been built by PAVA earlier and to ones which are being built right now. Yesterday and today we went on the roads which are only accessible by FWDs and which are extremally bumpy. I have to say I am exhuasted by these bumpy roads... and my butt is black and blue. And not only my butt... my tits as well! To women who ever want to travel in the Guatemalan countryside: if your breast size is bigger than that of the eggs fried sunny-side up you gotta have a heavy duty sports bra or else you'll be holding your jewels all the way, to prevent them from jumping up and down, right and left! Tomorrow we are going to go to other part of the Chichistenango region to see more PAVA projects and on Friday I think I will be taking a day off and soaking my bruised butt in herbal waters...

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Honduras and Guatemala

Well, it is raining in Antigua almost all the time. Only in the morning there's a bit of sunshine. That's the winter here. My trip from Nicaragua was accompanied by thunderstorms and hurricanes. But anything is better than that suffocating heat of Cartagena... For me... but for the inhabitants here hurricanes are dreadful because they do a lot of damage. So do earthquakes. I was walking around Antigua today and it seems all churches, and there are many of them here, were destroyed by earthquakes. What remains of most of them are just ruins. I am staying at Mike's house. I wrote about Mike when I first came to Antigua. The house is a very nice colonial house with two patios, a fountain in one of them, and tropical fruit trees in the other. Very nice. Tomorrow I will go with Mike to visit the different charity projects with which he is involved in the Guatemalan countryside. I will return Thursday evening. On Sunday Ann comes from Panajachel so I will have lunch with her and then I will go to Mexico for maybe a week or two.

Regarding the previous week... From Nicaragua I went to Honduras. I spent a day in the country's capital which name is really difficult for me to remember... It was one of these rather big and noisy cities. I just walked around and then I also ended up in a mall in an up-scale district of Miraflores because only there I could get the money out of the ATM - I was told at the bank that other bank's ATMs are not equipped to accept the indented cards. It was the first time where I had problems getting the money out in a big city. From la capital I took a bus to Copan, wanting to get close to the Maya ruins. Since I am travelling without a guide book I didn't know there were three "Copans": Rosario de la Copan, Copan Ruinas and Copan Entrada. The last one is just an intersection at which you can either go to Rosario or Copan Ruinas. The driver asked me where I wanted to be dropped off and since I didn't understand what he meant by "different Copans" he dropped me off at the intersection... I spent the night at a shabby hotel but the people who worked there were wonderful and I ended up talking to them until late at night. Some places in which I got stranded and which were no more than a gas station, a few stores and a hotel, I will remember forever as great places because of the people I met there: intelligent, interesting, and affectionate. The next morning I took a bus to Copan Ruinas which is a nice touristy village. I walked around the village and visited the book exchanges (I found a book in Polish) and galleries with artesanias. The next morning I went to visit the Maya ruins. It is a rather large complex of buildings but it is not as well preserved as the ones I saw in Mexico. It is very interesting, as all of them are, with stellas, piramids, football court, etc. It's always a pleasure to visit the Maya ruins because they are situated in beautiful green surroundings. That same day I took a shuttle bus with an organized tourist group to Antigua - I wanted a break from crossing a border on my own... The softly rolling hills overgrown with trees, also pine trees, which we saw on the way, were very beautiful.

And now about the future... I was thinking and thinking and thining and thinking.... what to do next, coming with different ideas on what to do with the rest of my life... and I decided that what I really want to do at the moment is study herbs. Of all my different interests this one seems to me to be the strongest now and most beneficial to people in the long run. I would like to study Chinese medicine (herbology and acupuncture) first because it seems it's the most "scientific" and well documented of all the old medicines. I wrote to a school in China to ask about the programs and the cost and if it's affordable I will go there. I am going to stay in Central America until the air tickets get cheaper and then I will go to Poland for a few weeks and then to China if it turns out I can afford the school. I will let you know how things go but that's a raugh plan.

Friday, August 19, 2005

problems with internet

Just a few words to say that it's winter in this part of the world, it rains a lot and there are strong winds and some hurricanes and the internet connection is on and off and whatever I tried to put on the blog got lost. I replied to all e-mails I have received in the past two weeks so if you haven't gotten my reply it means my e-mail didn't reach you... please let me know and I will recreate... I will try to re-write what I wrote soon. Today I am in Antigua in Guatemala - I made a full circle but my trip will continue for a few more weeks. Much love to all.

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua

*Maggie, kochana, bardzo dziekuje za zyczenia - napisze do Ciebie wkrotce w e-mailu.

I landed in Panama and it was hot and humid again and I decided to get away from the city to some place where it would be cooler. I couldn't find a guide book for Central America anywhere and I am traveling without one now... not a really good thing... I feel rather lost. I asked someone at the bus station where it would be nice to cool down and they told me at St. Carlos which is about two-hours bus drive west of Panama City. I got there in the late evening - the bus dropped me off at Rio Mar resort, 4 km from the village. The resort is located at a really nice beach, it is a run down place but all the cabanas are on the cliff so you fall asleep listening to the waves... Except for me there was one Panamanian family so it was very quiet. I spent one night there because even though it was run down the prices of food and stay were not that low - in general I find Panama and Costa Rica more expensive. I decided to go through Panama and Costa Rica to Nicaragua - I don't want to leave all the money in Central America, I need some for other continents. If I can't find a place to stay for $3 and food for $1.50 I move on... In reality I pay more sometimes but in Panama and Costa Rica the prices are much higher. I went like wind through the rest of Panama and, with only one stop at San Jose which I found as a city without charm, through Costa Rica. Nature in Costa Rica resembles that of Ecuador except that small cities look like Florida - restaurant chains, gass stations, shopping malls... I came to Nicaragua and felt like home again. Like in all the countries where life is simple people are extreamally hospitable. I spent one night in Rivas, 30 km away from the border, in one of these b&bs where you eat your breakfast at the family table in the living room, with all the grandmas, kids, uncles and aunts (and ants which are huge here). It's a small town with a huge church which seems about to disintegrate. I visited the church and made some interesting discoveries there but more about that in a minute. From Rivas I went to Granada, a beautiful colonial town and walked around there in the afteroon. From Granada I went to Managua - the capital - but Managua has reputation for armed robberies of personals and buses as bad as Guatemala City has so I just changed the bus there to take me to Leon which the tourist office recommended as a good place to visit, for the beach and the nearby volcanoes. I am staying at Via Via hostal, a chain of youth hostals (run by the Dutch, I think), which is inside a big colonial house and has a very nice patio with tropical plants, hammocks and books to read. And a young female dog, whose name I don't know yet, lives there and the expression on her face is like Maksio's - like him she sometimes looks like a cameleon, gazing at things at improbable angles.

More about my discoveries in the church soon. They are connected to the book I have just finished entitled The Da Vinci Code and to the sacred feminine...

Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua

*Maggie, kochana, bardzo dziekuje za zyczenia - napisze do Ciebie wkrotce w e-mailu.

I landed in Panama and it was hot and humid again and I decided to get away from the city to some place where it would be cooler. I couldn't find a guide book for Central America anywhere and I am traveling without one now... not a really good thing... I feel rather lost. I asked someone at the bus station where it would be nice to cool down and they told me at St. Carlos which is about two-hours bus drive west of Panama City. I got there in the late evening - the bus dropped me off at Rio Mar resort, 4 km from the village. The resort is located at a really nice beach, it is a run down place but all the cabanas are on the cliff so you fall asleep listening to the waves... Except for me there was one Panamanian family so it was very quiet. I spent one night there because even though it was run down the prices of food and stay were not that low - in general I find Panama and Costa Rica more expensive. I decided to go through Panama and Costa Rica to Nicaragua - I don't want to leave all the money in Central America, I need some for other continents. If I can't find a place to stay for $3 and food for $1.50 I move on... In reality I pay more sometimes but in Panama and Costa Rica the prices are much higher. I went like wind through the rest of Panama and, with only one stop at San Jose which I found as a city without charm, through Costa Rica. Nature in Costa Rica resembles that of Ecuador except that small cities look like Florida - restaurant chains, gass stations, shopping malls... I came to Nicaragua and felt like home again. Like in all the countries where life is simple people are extreamally hospitable. I spent one night in Rivas, 30 km away from the border, in one of these b&bs where you eat your breakfast at the family table in the living room, with all the grandmas, kids, uncles and aunts (and ants which are huge here). It's a small town with a huge church which seems about to disintegrate. I visited the church and made some interesting discoveries there but more about that in a minute. From Rivas I went to Granada, a beautiful colonial town and walked around there in the afteroon. From Granada I went to Managua - the capital - but Managua has reputation for armed robberies of personals and buses as bad as Guatemala City has so I just changed the bus there to take me to Leon which the tourist office recommended as a good place to visit, for the beach and the nearby volcanoes. I am staying at Via Via hostal, a chain of youth hostals (run by the Dutch, I think), which is inside a big colonial house and has a very nice patio with tropical plants, hammocks and books to read. And a young female dog, whose name I don't know yet, lives there and the expression on her face is like Maksio's - like him she sometimes looks like a cameleon, gazing at things at improbable angles.

More about my discoveries in the church soon. They are connected to the book I have just finished entitled The Da Vinci Code and to the sacred feminine...

Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua

*Maggie, kochana, bardzo dziekuje za zyczenia - napisze do Ciebie wkrotce w e-mailu.

I landed in Panama and it was hot and humid again and I decided to get away from the city to some place where it would be cooler. I couldn't find a guide book for Central America anywhere and I am traveling without one now... not a really good thing... I feel rather lost. I asked someone at the bus station where it would be nice to cool down and they told me at St. Carlos which is about two-hours bus drive west of Panama City. I got there in the late evening - the bus dropped me off at Rio Mar resort, 4 km from the village. The resort is located at a really nice beach, it is a run down place but all the cabanas are on the cliff so you fall asleep listening to the waves... Except for me there was one Panamanian family so it was very quiet. I spent one night there because even though it was run down the prices of food and stay were not that low - in general I find Panama and Costa Rica more expensive. I decided to go through Panama and Costa Rica to Nicaragua - I don't want to leave all the money in Central America, I need some for other continents. If I can't find a place to stay for $3 and food for $1.50 I move on... In reality I pay more sometimes but in Panama and Costa Rica the prices are much higher. I went like wind through the rest of Panama and, with only one stop at San Jose which I found as a city without charm, through Costa Rica. Nature in Costa Rica resembles that of Ecuador except that small cities look like Florida - restaurant chains, gass stations, shopping malls... I came to Nicaragua and felt like home again. Like in all the countries where life is simple people are extreamally hospitable. I spent one night in Rivas, 30 km away from the border, in one of these b&bs where you eat your breakfast at the family table in the living room, with all the grandmas, kids, uncles and aunts (and ants which are huge here). It's a small town with a huge church which seems about to disintegrate. I visited the church and made some interesting discoveries there but more about that in a minute. From Rivas I went to Granada, a beautiful colonial town and walked around there in the afteroon. From Granada I went to Managua - the capital - but Managua has reputation for armed robberies of personals and buses as bad as Guatemala City has so I just changed the bus there to take me to Leon which the tourist office recommended as a good place to visit, for the beach and the nearby volcanoes. I am staying at Via Via hostal, a chain of youth hostals (run by the Dutch, I think), which is inside a big colonial house and has a very nice patio with tropical plants, hammocks and books to read. And a young female dog, whose name I don't know yet, lives there and the expression on her face is like Maksio's - like him she sometimes looks like a cameleon, gazing at things at improbable angles.

More about my discoveries in the church soon. They are connected to the book I have just finished entitled The Da Vinci Code and to the sacred feminine...

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Narcobusiness and Guerrillas

I have finished the book NOTICES OF KIDNAPPING and it really is a great book. After reading this, and after reading other books on world affairs earlier, I think that whatever plagues the world is not suprising. It would be surprising if there were no killings, no armed conflicts, and no wars. Whatever man created, all the extensive social systems, eventually turns against him. I think that in South America whatever was created by the Spaniards and put the natural order on it's head brought the diseasters of the modern day Columbia or Bolivia. The only country which doesn't have much poverty in South America seems to be Argentina and I tend to think that it's because in Argentina there's no racial difference among it's inhabitants - the indigenous peoples who lived in the area now being Argentina were all exterminated or died from diseases brought from the Europeans. The countries in which the amount of indigenous population still existing is the greatest are the countries which suffer most political unrest. And I believe that is because the indigenous population has no rights, no land rights, it is moved from place to place whenever some natural resource is found and the concession is sold to some corporation without the Indians ever benefiting from it in any way,, it is turned into cheap labor paid very little or not paid at all. In Bolivia people protest in a rather peaceful way - the block the roads. In Peru there are parades of protesters nowadays which are announced ahead of time - there's no violence - but before there was the Shining Path which was the movement similar to the one in Colombia right now, I believe, as far as the gorrilla movement is concerned. In Colombia there's a lot of violence... Christine, the owner of the Plantation House in Salento, told me how the campesinos-farmers who work on big plantations (which are mostly owned by whites) were getting no pay, were abused or killed in many cases, and who in turn started attacking the ranchers out of desperation. The ranchers then asked the government for protection and the paramilitary groups were formed to protect the big landowners. That is the beginning of the gorilla movement, and the hardship of the people who have nothing to do with any movement but get cought in the cross-fire... The narcotrafficers come from slums around the big cities - they are the people who came from the poor countryside as they cannot compete with the rich landowners and become citydwellers. For many young people from the shantytowns making money by belonging to the drugsmuggling groups was the only money they could ever make. They treated Pablo Escobar as a smart businessman who laughted at all this high class of intellectuals who came to their position only by family connections. The patrician families, the descendents of conquistadores, have been running the S. American countries since they came. The colonization of South America has never ended. In North America it was quick: the indigenous people were all killed off within a short period of time and the white conquistadores spreaded out evenly throughout the land they counquered. In South America not so many people from Europe emigrated and the ones who did grouped around the cities they built and from there controlled the rest of the population. The ones who are the descendands of the newcomers live in superb conditions and the rest lives in slums. Like in the US everybody is equal according to the law except the Indians. The journalists who were abducted by the Extraditibles (in the 80s and 90s Extradictables was a group of people involved in narcobusiness who wanted to surrender but on condition that the Colombian government would not extradict them to the US where they would be on trial for offenses commited in the US as well and would get much severe sentences) were all people belonging to these patrician families. The members of these families very often don't understand the situation in their own country - they don't see the injustice because they are sheltered from it from the day they are born. One of the women who was abducted praised herself for going into the jungle to find out what the gorrilla movement was about... I thought: sweetie you don't have to go the jungle to know what it's about... you just make the connections, also to things which happened long long time ago because nothing comes out of nothing. I was talking to Michael about it also and he said the same thing Ryszard Kapuscinski said about Africa: there cannot be peace in a continent in which the borders are unnatural. What was before 180 nations is now distributed into a few countries - people who have not much in common except their skin color are forced to be loyal to a country instead of being loyal to their clan, as has been their tradition for millenia. It just all come to the notion of colonization. I have been thinking a lot about it when I was reading the different books on countires which were colonized but now I am able to see up-close how it works and what it does... One of the churches in Cartagena is dedicated to The Slave of the Slaves - a priest who was begging for money so that he could give them to the slaves brought on ships to Cartagena from Africa. There's also a museum of the holy inquisition with all the torture equpiment the father's sick minds could invent... This city has seen a lot of the very dark in the human history...

It seems the next boat to Panama is going to leave next week and I don't feel like waiting for it and I decided to go by air tomorrow. I have spent six days here and I am ready to move. Also the heat is really killing me. It's hard to sleep... I will be in touch from Panama.

Thursday, August 04, 2005

Birthday in Cartagena

Thank you very very much for all the good wishes, the electronic cards and bottles of wine, and other beautiful "virtual" presents! Your e-mails is having you all here with me; your thoughts about me make you present here with me, in a distant land.

I think that every birthday brings me closer to eternity so I will celebrate it always and each one will be special... This one was celebrated in Cartagena - one of the most beautiful cities I have seen. It is an old city, the first built by the Spaniards in South America. It was encircled by huge walls to protect it from pirates who nonetheless sacked it a few times. The walls are still there and so are the colonial houses with patios, gardens and waterfountains. Many are public use buildings and one can enjoy walking through the gardens and listening to the soft whisper of the fountains... I walked around until I dropped (it is unbearably hot here - every day about 34 degreed Celsius and high humidity - it's like the hottest, most humid, summer days in NY except here it's the all-around-the-year norm) and I dropped in a really nice, but also down to earth, Italian deli/restaurant in which I had a really delicious dinner and got revived with lots of lemonade with a lot of ice. I went to a few museums and in one of them there was a shop with emeralds and the woman who was selling them gave me one as a present. I told her then it was my birthday and she hugged me and wished me happy birthday. It was really nice. Then I also talked to a few people on the street and one of them turned out to be an herbalist from Ghana - we had a lot to talk about, of course. I told him about my experience in the jungle and he told me that in the village where he is from people also live very long lives (and never go to any other doctors than natural healers). His aunt lived to be 136 years old (died 3 years ago) and was in good health (had all her teeth in place until the day she died) except her hearing was impaired during the last years of her life. His grandpa, who is a famous healer in Ghana, is 96 and is not planning to retire soon... I am learning all these really interesting things - it's amazing. I would love to visit Michael's grandpa. I think I have lots of time to do that... Michael invited me for a birthday drink and we toasted another year closer to eternity.

I am staying in hostal Holiday, one of the two gringo hotels among lots of other hotels, most of which, I learned, are brothels. The two hotels, Holiday and Casa Viena, are the cheapest in town and are in the area called Getsemani - it used to be a place where artists lived and it is still a very much bohemian place but rather run down. It seems like nothing has changed here since 1500s when Cartagena was built. I enjoy this atmosphere of the old bohemian quarters of a port city. "Ladies" are discreet and don't walk around in the daylight. In Cali, around the hotel where I stayed, they did, however, I noticed after a while that they were not ladies but men - transvestites. Hostal Holiday is nice but the water is quite warm and here I would prefer icy cold to cool down during hot nights - there's no such modern thing as a/c in Getsemani. In terms of water temperature in the shower my wishes are never satisfied... Lizards run around in great number, up and down the walls, and make a formidable noise resembling tapping a coin on glass. It's like sleeping in the cabana except there's no mosquito net. Lizards are beautiful, however, I would prefer that the only feet present in my bed were my own feet! Tiny sticky feet are not permited. To make that regulation clear I sprayed the window and door with my insect repellent. Anyone in violation of the regulation will be extradited to the patio! That brings me to Extraditibles and the book I am still reading on Columbia in the 80s and 90s, more about which soon..................

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

Solento, St. Rosa, Pereira, Medellin, Caucasia

In the hostal Iguana in Cali I found information about a B&B called Plantation House in Solento which is close to Armenia in which I was first planning to spend a night. I went to Solento and on the bus I met Stephan from France who was also going to the B&B. The drive along the Cauca Valley was beautiful. I think that after the Sacred Valley in Peru the Cauca Valley is my next favorite valley. The mountains are green with palm trees and also evergreen trees (due to the altitude) and coffee plantations. The Plantation House turned out to be a really nice place and I very much enjoyed my stay there. It is owned by Tim, who is British, and his Colombian wife Christine. Tim told us that in the village he is known as "the gringo with a dog" because he owns a Collie named Charlie but I told him it's more "the dog with gringo" because Charlie is the most popular persona living in the House. He accompanies the tourists who stay at the House everywhere they go and goes with them to restaurants and bars and dances in the evening and makes sure, as it's proper for a sheepdog, that the flock is back at the house for the night. There's also a female kitten named Stanley who lives at the House. The group of people whom I met there was really nice and we spent time together, eating breakfasts at the House, visiting the organic coffee plantation, going for dinners and lunches to the town square, talking in the evening, swinging on the hammocks in the garden, and dancing salsa on Friday night. Rianna, who is Dutch, met Roberto and Diego from the nearby city of Pereira and their Serbian friend Jelena (they became friends when they were in college in Paris) when she went to the observation point in Solento and they invited us to go with them to the hot springs of Santa Rosa and then their friends' farm near St. Rosa. We got to Santa Rosa in the afternoon and Roberto's and Diego's friends drove us the 10 km to the hot spring. The hot spring was very sophisticated; it consisted of a nice walk up the hill to the few pools of various shapes with fountains and a natural waterfall. We stayed there until midnight. We got to the farm where the rest of the friends were waiting for us and there was a small party with whatever drink we bought for the Saturday night fiesta. I dropped out soon after we started talking (I was so relaxed by the hours spent in the water) but they were talking until early morning hours. We went back to St. Rosa for a nice breakfast and then we went to Perreira. In Perreira we split: I went to Medellin and Rianna and Stephan decided to spent the night there with our newly met friends. I got to Medellin in the evening and walked around the sophisticated district of Poblado - with it's palm trees and little shops and cafes it looks a little like West Palm Beach in Florida. The next day I went to explore the center of the city. I saw the main square and I also took the metro which in Medellin goes above the ground. I took the two existing lines, north to south and east to west. From the border with Ecuador up to Medellin I only saw very nice houses, whether in the cities or in the countryside, nicely painted with lawns around them, many swimming pools, many sports centers for ordinary people with low ordinary price. Up to Medellin Colombia looks more like Western Europe than South America. It definitely looks better than Poland, let's say. In Medellin I saw the slums for the first time. It looks like most of the city is a slum: tiny brick houses built very close to each other or on top of each other. The river going along the east-west metro line is basicaly a sewer - there's enormous amount of garbage in it and the smell is formidable, also because it is so hot in Medellin... In Medellin one can see the division between the rich and the poor, so tipical of South America. Here, like in all other countries, there are entire areas which are wealthy and then other areas which are very poor. The villages along the mountains which I saw today on my way to Cartagena were also poor looking but I have to say not as poor looking as the ones I saw in Chile, Peru and Bolivia. In general people here seem to be happy and they tell me they love their country when we talk. I once read a report, a few years ago, about a research made regarding people's feeling of happiness in the world. The people, according to the survey, who felt most happy were Colombians. Where I have been so far it seemed safe but there are huge areas where there are problems with drug traffickers and gorrillas. I am reading a book I got at the book exchange written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez entitled "Notices of Kidnapping" about the kidnappings of the journalists in the 90s by the Medellin drug cartel leaded by Pablo Escobar. I didn't know it was so violent: young men from the slums were given prizes for killing police officers, the organization was blowing up cars and many innocent people died at that time. Pablo Escobar was killed in 1996 but the problems still exist, especially in the eastern part of the country. The other problems are the guerrillas and the paramilitary groups but that's connected to the big plantations and the division of the people into the very wealthy and the very poor. The places I visited look safe on the surface but there are things which show that there's higher security: to exchange money one is fingerprinted and the copy of the passport is made and special forms filled out, there are routine checks and searches of buses (men are taken off the bus and are searched thoroghly for arms), the police looks more like soldiers and carry big rifles instead of guns. At the hot springs Stephan and I were observing a man who was walking around, and then later cleaning the pool, with a big machine gun straped over his shoulder - it looked surreal in this blissful place full of families having fun.

I am spending the night in a small town built along the Pan American highway called Caucasia because I don't want to travel at night. I will continue my trip to Cartagena tomorrow morning. I hope it's a nice city because it looks like I am going to celebrate my birthday there!

Monday, August 01, 2005

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I think that my account of the past few days disappeared without being posted so this is just a short note that I am fine and healthy and still in Colombia. I am in Medellin and it's so hot here that I will have to take a nap and then I will come back and recreate what I wrote. Muchos besos.