Africa to India and Back 2007

Even though I have over 3 weeks left in India, mentally and psychologically I've begun the process of wrapping up loose ends and planning for my new life back in the U.S.

It's been a long trip, spanning 6 different countries and countless different cultures, climates and surroundings. I've traveled with friends and family alike, and even alone for a bit. I've met so many interesting and kind people, living in a variety of different ways. Certainly, I've learned a lot. This trip didn't turn out as I had imagined it in my head, but what really does in life?

We've spent the last 2 weeks in Rajasthan, which means 'Land of the Kings'. Really, it was more like a circus; 5 legged cows (I saw about 3), camels, old forts and castles and palaces and temples, babas, sand dunes, incredible colors, and incredible heat. Perhaps the highlight was the 'Rat Temple', where we witnessed hundreds, perhaps thousands of rats feast on spoiled milk and other rat treats. (For some incredible pictures, visit Melissa's blog:
http://blogsfromanon-blogger.blogspot.com/)

After two night trains in a row, a couple of rickshaw rides and a four hour bus ride, we've made it to McCloud Ganj---this will be my third time here. It is low season for tourism, and the place is refreshingly less crowded, though apparently it's been raining a bit more. It's certainly a welcome change from the deserts on the plains below.

Options are opening up for us. Tomorrow we've been invited to a monks house---for what, I can only guess. Perhaps he will serve us tea. Perhaps he had recognized me as an advanced Himalayan Master, and intends to train me in the art of levitation.

Just today I got invited to travel even farther North, into some remote villages to teach paper making/paper recycling techniques--a skill which I don't possess, but it was a kind offer nonetheless. We shall see.

In 9 days I will go into a meditation retreat for the duration of my time in India. During this time I will have no email or other contact.

So, what came of this trip? Was Africa everything I imagined it would be? Yes! Was India still the magical country I remembered? Will I still refer to it as 'Gods Backyard'? Absolutely.

This return trip to India, 4 years in the planning/making, showed me things I hadn't seen before. This time I viewed India a little less romantically and a little more realistically. But the magic didn't fade away. I simply saw more clearly those who doubt everything, and those who blindly accept everything. Those who deny the magic and beauty of our world, and those who think they can pay 600 rupees and become a Reiki Master in 2 weeks or those who truly believe that their way is THE way.

For me, this will always be 'Gods Backyard'. A place for the soul-sick, the searchers, the explorers of consciousness. A place to question everything, to cry about the poverty and to rejoice in the natural beauty.

So, I end my last blog. And as the song goes, 'I'll see you, in September...'

Andy, early August, 2007

I'm traveling with bloggers. Here are their addresses:

Ray:

http://www.1bandito.blogspot.com/


Melissa:

http://blogsfromanon-blogger.blogspot.com/

Here are some pictures of the Himalayas around where the Dalai Lama lives (click on pictures for larger view...)



Shrine on the left


Different shrine, on my head (I'm a shriner! Check off # 4 on "list of things to do before I die").


Himalayan foothills


Somewhere over the rainbow...


Pointing out the obvious...


Peaks of Himalayas


Worrying about plastic trash everywhere on the ground, on the train to Delhi (If you've traveled with me, you know how much I do this...).

Well, hope those photos were interesting.

Now I'm in Delhi, waiting for some new travel companions to arrive. Yesterday I drank two coffees while sitting on the street and watching the river of people flow by ceaselessly; cows, cripples, rickshaws and street children everywhere! I saw a homeless tribal man get hit with a rope because he rested on a motorcycle. I saw a bully kick a small kid in the side. I saw a some people get hauled off to jail for fighting. I saw about a million fly-covered cows walk by. I saw lots of tourists buying hippy items. I felt the caffiene in my veins. I sort of went into a caffiene-induced trance. Before I knew it, most of the day had passed.

"The waiting is the hardest part.." What will I do today? A rickshaw driver is trying to convince me to make some money with him. Basically, he takes me around to a bunch of very very nice Kashmiri shops. I look at some items, and say that I might come back later. The wealthy Kashmiri shop owners give rickshaw drivers money for bringing customers to their shops. We hit up about 20 shops, then we split the money, 50-50. It would be a lot of work for about 10 bucks. I think I'll pass. What a great idea though. Maybe I'll go have a coffee..

Today's date is 07/07/07. It is also Saturday, the seventh day of the week (Sabbath). This is certainly a very auspicious day for numerologists, whose number I don't generally count myself in (get all the puns?).

I'm currently in McCloud Ganj (Dharamsala), home of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan government in exile, and a large swath of the Tibetan community.

It's beautiful here, with jagged green mountains, waterfalls, delicious Tibetan noodle soups, clouds that pass through the town, and the ever present monks, wandering around, clad in wine-colored robes.

While I may not pay much attention to numbers, (much to the detriment of my bank account) it was certainly auspicious to see his Holiness today, a lot closer than we expected.

Yesterday was his 73rd birthday and there were celebrations abounding. Today, the Dalai Lama began a series of teachings that will last seven days (there's 7 again). Arriving at when we figured would be quite early (an hour before starting time), we were disappointed to see all of the seats taken, anywhere within viewing of the Dalai Lama. It was packed!

We decided that we would sit downstairs and watch a T.V. broadcast of the teaching on the balcony above. Before resigning to downstairs, we took one more look for seats. I was with a Quebecois, and he noticed a small ledge of cement sticking out into the walkway, about 100-150 feet from where his Holiness was supposed to sit for the teachings. We wondered for a minute about whether or not we could sit there, nearly in the walk-way, and finally decided, what the heck. The worst they could do was ask us to move. But they didn't! And what a phenomenal view of the Dalai Lama all through this first day of teaching!

The teaching was a basic introduction to certain aspects of Buddhism. About halfway through, he hit the microphone with his hand, making a sound like a gunshot. The entire audience jumped! In the past there have been several Chinese assassination attempts on the Dalai Lama, and according to the Tibetan calendar, this is a "year of obstacles" for his Holiness, so naturally, people are a bit on edge. The Dalai Lama had a good laugh about startling everyone. Then we all laughed a bit, some of us in relief. He explained that he did it to wake people up, symbolically out of ignorance, and literally out of sleep. The teaching was in Tibetan, but we listened to translations over FM radios and headphones.

After the teaching and on the way out, he walked about 30-40 feet in front of us. He has quite a presence and the desire to be near him is akin to Catholics and the Pope. It's a bit different though, as his bodyguards don't carry guns, and he isn't behind bulletproof glass.

This is the second time I have laid eyes on the Dalai Lama, and perhaps it will be the last. I'm not certain that I have the energy to sit the way I did today, on cement, with twisted spine.

All the same, a very special day, that will end (hopefully) with a sitar and tabla concert, followed by drinks of apple wine with our friends from Quebec...

And no pictures of his Holiness, because it's rude, and you're not allowed anyways, unless you have a press pass. But here is a picture from the internet....



Now, if I get 7 comments on this posting, that will be eerie!

Okay Max, as requested, here are some pictures. However, they are hardly the good ones, which are now in the United States. The good pictures hitched a ride back with my sister...safer there than here. However, I have discovered the key to putting pictures into this blog. It's actually quite easy, so expect them from now on.

Just click on a picture to view the larger version of it...


Massaging my calf in Rishikesh


Statue of Lib...er...I mean, Statue of Shiva, protecting the Ganges


Pilgrims bathe in the Ganges in Hardwar
__________________

What's new? We'll a couple of things:

1) I lost my beard. If you have any information on it's whereabouts, please contact me immediately.

2) My sister, whom I've been traveling with for over 5 months, through 6 different countries, has left the stage. She's on to new stages, and I wish her the best. She's one of the most amazing people I have in my life. It's sad in a way, but she was ready to leave. As she wrote in her last email to me before flying out of Delhi:

"...it must have rained at some point which somehow flowed alllll the cow
sh!t into huge muddy thick areas that reek in the middle of the roads. i've seen a couple people step directly into sh!t....then someone's sewer tank leaked all over part of the road. sick. I guess it's time for me to leave india."

3) I've been sick. Very ill, actually. Sometimes a light fever, but predominately a serious lung infection. Seems to be on the up now.

4) It's been raining, a lot, pouring every single day. This, as my sister mentioned, has an interesting effect on the trash. India is always such a mix of stunningly beautiful and completely filthy and disgusting...

5) Monkies stole my patchouli. I know, I know... Traveling in India and wearing patchouli, I'm a walking stereotype. But seriously, it's nice to have something to mask your B.O. when you're traveling for a couple of days on a train or something and you don't have access to a shower. Well, at any rate, the door to our room was left open, and monkies came in and took not only the patchouli, but also my sandal wood oil and my amber oil as well. Needless to say, there are some good smelling monkies in North India this month.

6) Lemon Nanas - I would not have made it through the last couple of weeks if not for these. They are essentially shaved ice, lemon juice, and mint, all blended together. They are the a sign that the universe isn't entirely random and that there may be an intelligent design behind the whole thing.

What else? Seems like I'm on a list making kick, so here's another one.

Things I've gotten used to:

-Eating with my hands
-Not using the left hand
-Not using T.P.
-Taking off my shoes when entering certain buildings
-Beggars
-The heat (no, not the police)
-Westerners having identity crises
-The trash that lines the streets
-Cows...holy cows! everywhere in the streets
-Being stared at everywhere
-All the different little shops, selling; silk, cheap clothing, sandal wood, sitars, juice, internet cafes, restaurants, carvings, statues, etc..
-Asking to have my picture taken
-Getting called at from every single shop that I pass: "Please, sir, just looking, not buying"
-Being asked the same 3 questions about 10 times a day:

1) Coming from? A: USA
2) Your name, sir? A: Andrew
3) You like India? A: Yes, beautiful.

Always these three questions, as if they are the only questions taught in language class, and ALWAYS in this order.

New list: Things I haven't gotten used to:

-Old lady beggars. These are the only beggars that make me feel strange inside, and they are EVERYWHERE
-Leprosy. Luckily I've only seen a couple of lepars this trip, and none of them were in THAT bad of shape.
-People that are in India only to party. Seriously. This is so bizarre. Why not go to Thailand. That's the party scene in Asia.
-The plastic. It's everywhere. The cows eat it.
-The horns. I'm somewhat used to them, but not in the sense that I no longer notice them. They are incredibly loud and overwhelming.

That's right, the holiest and dirtiest river in the world runs aqua-clear in Haridwar, where the Ganges emerges from the Himalayan foothills. Needless to say, I'm safely in the North of India, at the foothills, after surviving a 35 hour train ride and 2 days in Delhi.

Haridwar was beautiful, but somewhat crowded and stuffy. This is a paramount Hindu holy place, so it was chalk full of pilgrims, babas, sadhus. Every evening, hundreds gather at the Ganga to bathe away their karma and to light candles in arrangments of flowers, nestled in leaf-boats. These flaming leaf-boats are launched into the river, and begin the sink or swim journey downstream.

Now I am farther down the river in Rishikesh, where I have fond memories of an ashram stay with my old friend Scott. This place is called the "Yoga Capital of the World" with plenty of ashrams and students to prove it.

The Rishis were the bearded guys in the caves of the Himalayas, who wrote the Vedas (considered the oldest known texts of humanity). The Vedas are interesting, to say the least. Undoubtedly a holy book, they also contain multiple sets of directions for building an airplane and the earliest expounded theories of atoms and atomic structure. They are written in Sanskrit, which later bore the fruits of Greek and then Latin language.

Cindy, my sister, is down to the single digits in the amount of days she has left before she returns to the United States. This is always a hard transition, as anyone who has traveled extensively knows.

It's beautiful here, and it's nice to be so close to the Himalayas. We have a wonderful room right on the Ganges, with a great porch for watching the sunset...

The other day, while in the mountains of North Kerala, we visited a wildlife sanctuary called, "Wayanad".

The ride there was beautiful, starting through rolling tea fields and ending up in a forest of 80-90 year-old teak trees. Teak grows very slowly and is a very valuable hardwood, and used often to make sitars.

We arranged for a jeep tour of the park, and were disappointed not to see much wildlife, except for spotted deer, a giant tree squirrel and some birds. No elephants, no bears.

Then, on the bus ride back to town, a giant wild elephant crossed the road in front of our bus, gave me the hairy eyeball, and took off into the brush. Funny how you can find what you're looking for in the strangest circumstances...

Tomorrow we're off to Bangalore, internet technology hub of India and outsource center of the IT world. Tomorrow evening we board the 35 hour train to Delhi. Yippee.

Wow! Last night was magical!

I'm in Cochin, Kerala. We're staying in a 300 year old Dutch-built colonial building with a lot of charm. We are the only ones here, so the owner gave us the key and the place is ours, essentially. Old wooden beams, creaky plank floors, a beautiful balcony, high ceilings and generally true to colonial themes.

Last evening, we took a stroll along the beach before heading to a Kathakali performance. We passed 400 year old "rain trees" (common name) planted by the Portugese and lining the street in long rows. These trees are MASSIVE, with branches so spreading and full that one begins to doubt whether the sun actually still exists under their extensive canopies.

While walking along the beach, we viewed giant Chinese-style fishing nets against the backdrop of the sunset.

These nets are similar to the skeletons of large teepees, with netting hanging suspended, which is lowered into the water to pull in fish with.

Then, all of a sudden, we saw dolphins. Not just a few but many, many pods, right near the shore's edge, swimming against the current and into the sunset. Amazing! I'd seen dolphins in Zanzibar, but only at a great distance. Here they were, maybe 15-20 feet from us on the shore, swimming in the orange light. And yes, I got them on video!

Then, we were off to the Kathakali performance. This is a traditional Keralan dance performance, where the actors don't speak, dress up in ornate clothing, paint their faces green, yellow, black and other colors, and act out stories using a variety of different finger/hand signs, facial expressions and dance moves.



All this was accompanied by the singing of a man with a golden voice. Truly amazing, and really quite hard to replicate with words on a blog.

Then, on the way back from the performance, we picked out a Red Snapper from the fish market, and had it cooked at a small restaurant on the street

Finally, heading back to our colonial mini-mansion, Cindy heard the familiar sounds of a certain style of harmonica playing, and shortly after we were in another colonial building, admiring the paintings of a long-haired, long-bearded and very eccentric Indian man, who was dancing to Dylan.

What a wonderful night! Today, in a couple hours time, we take a 6-hour train north, on our gradual progression through the mountains of Kerala toward Bangalore.

Howdy All,

I'm here in Kerala, which means "Land of the Coconuts". Kerala is a communist state in India, on the southwestern side of the country, and it's very tropical. If you've ever read "God of Small Things", then you know where I am. We are racing the monsoon, which will be here in about 2 weeks.

With it's low GDP, Kerala is poor by western standards of wealth measurement. However, there are incredibly high rates of literacy, heath care and other standards of living not measured by GDP. Why? Probably because it's a communist state. The root of capitalism is "capital", the root of socialism is "social" and the root of communism is "community".

I've just come down from the mountain...figuratively and literally. The Sivananda Ashram, high in the tropical mountains. In the morning and sometimes at evening, one can hear the roar of lions across the lake. Meditation and yoga to the sound of roaring lions...it seemed unreal. Maybe it was unreal.

Tomorrow we take another train. Trains, rickshaws, taxis, bicycle rickshaws, buses. Ug. This is the un-fun part of traveling--the actual moving part. Tomorrow, it's off to Cochin, former spice/trading/colonial town. We're working our way up to Waynard Forest Preserve, in the Western Ghats (mountain range; ghat means "step") a diversity hotspot, and one of the most diverse botanical gardens in the world awaits us.

What else awaits me on this bizarre journey? Can't say I know for sure. I know on the 30th I'm taking a 35 hour train to Delhi. 2 nights on a train! What would Bob Dylan say? We're taking this long train ride from Bangalore, where all the U.S. internet/technology jobs have recently gone. Yay India, dommage USA.

Freer than I've been,
Andrew

Auroville sits on land that was once a "dry tropical evergreen forest" (according to Holdridge's Life Zones--for you ecological freaks).

Daytime temperature here yesterday was around 109, and at 10 p.m. last night it hovered at around 82! Needless to say, it's scorching. Every plant, bug and person seems to be waiting for the monsoon. The heat has a way of slowing one down.

It's funny, because in Africa we were at the equator the whole time, but India, well above the equator, is certainly much hotter.



The heat also has a way of shortening everyones fuse, so the energy here is a little tenser than usual. Around 1/3rd of the western population evacuates during these months, and visitors and student groups are increasingly rare. Auroville has felt a lot like a ghost town, with what seems like empty streets and restaurants.

We've been staying exclusively at the American Pavillion, built by University of Washington students. It's sort of an ecological dorm, with composting toilets, solar panels, rain catchment systems---all that cool environmental stuff one would expect to find in Auroville.

We made a nice trip to the Indian city of Tiruvenamali on the full moon last week. Tiruvenamalai is considered one of the holiest cities in South India, and the giant mountain there is said to be the body of Shiva.

Every full moon, tens of thousands of devotees come to circle the mountain, barefoot. We barely got a hotel room, arriving the day before. What a site! It was really the kind of crowd you'd see at Folk Life or Bumbershoot (in Seattle), except the people were barefoot Hindu Indians. So many people, all walking the same direction. It must be somewhat like Mecca! I can't think of any religious ceremony we have in the United States that seems this big, except something called Promise Keepers, but which involves sitting down in a stadium, not walking barefoot.

Tiruvenamalai was also once the home to Indian Guru, Ramana Maharishi. Often compared to Buddha, Ramana lived in 2 caves on the mountain for over 20 years. He taught a rather simple but profound method of liberation/enlightenment. He said that to discover one's true self, one only has to ask one question, over and over again. The question is...

"Who am I?"

It's fun to play around with this one a little bit. Here is what I came up with. Of course, I can't assume to know Ramanas real answers, but based on what I've read of his, this is generally how he might respond:

Q: Who am I?
A: I am a man.
Ramana's likely response: No, a man is your sex.

Q: Who am I?
A: I am a teacher.
Ramana's likely response: No, a teacher is simply your job.

Q: Who am I?
A: I am an artist.
Ramana's likely response: No, art is simply what you do with your time.

Q: Who am I?
A: I am a father.
Ramana's likely response: No, a father is one of simply many roles you'll play in your life.

Q: Who am I?
A: I am Andy.
Ramana's likely response: No, Andy is simply what you have others call you.

Q: Who am I?
A: I am a human.
Ramana's likely response: No, a human is WHAT you are.

It doesn't take to long to figure out that there is no right answer to this question. This seems to be true of all written/uttered spiritual advice---often hauntingly/frustratingly simple to the Western mind.

Here is how I interpret the question, "Who am I";

All the things we perceive to be us, are often just the complex and illusory layers of our ego. To use a metaphor that my mother often uses, the goal is to remove the layers of the onion, one by one, only to realize eventually that there is nothing but the layers. So many people who claim to "know themselves well" simply have lots of developed layers. Ramana said that by constantly seeking the source of the "I" thought, one could come to the true self, by dissolving all notions of self which are simply roles or images.

Interesting stuff...

We toured the giant boulders and temple-strewn landscape of Hampi (see above below), in central Kanartaka. One of the temples here is a U.N. World Heritage Site. As far as the eye can see there are boulders and temples and ruins of temples and monkies and babas. There must be nearly a thousand temples here! In the low season, when we arrived, it feels as if one has stepped back in time, to ancient India.  

One of the temples we visited has musical pillars. When you hit the pillars, notes are sounded in the rocks. It's illegal to do now, but we arrived early in the morning, before the complex had opened, and the guards prefered we bribe them than pay entrance tickets. They were all to happy to demonstrate the music in the stones. Amazing, really. 

The heat in Hampi was oppressive, and there's not much one can do in the hot part of the day but sit still and wait out the heat. We we couldn't take it any more, we decided to head to Auroville. This involved backtracking 4 hours by bus to catch a train that we spent the night on. I always find it hard to sleep on jerking trains. All the musicians always romanticize train rides---I don't know. They seem like moving prisons to me. 

The next afternoon at about 1pm, we finally arrived in Chennai, the 4th biggest city in India, with a population of about 6.4 million people. What a smog hole! Noise, horns, smog, trash, yuk! We immediately took a 4 hour taxi to Auroville. 

Ahhh, Auroville! Auroville is a United Nations recognized "International Township." There are about 1,700 people living here, representing 30 different countries of the world. People here have the ideal to work toward "Human Unity". 

Auroville is based somewhat on the ideas of Indian Philosopher Sri Aurobindo, who was the first to unite the spiritual ideas of the East with evolutionary theories of the West. It seems to be based even more on the spiritual ideals of "The Mother," a french woman who was a close friend of Aurobindo. Auroville has been visited by the Dalai Lama, the president of India, Ken Wilbur, and many other influential figures of our time. They have reforested hundreds of acres of land here. People do a variety of different things, from yoga, tai chi, dance, meditation, permaculture, alternative energy, new-age architecture, you name it. Auroville hosts the largest solar dish in the world and the largest crystal as well. 

Call it a cult, call it a sect, call it whatever you want. This place is both amazing and frustrating at the same time. Check out more at: 

http://www.auroville.org/ 

Oh, and for those of you who don't know, I lived in Auroville for 4 months in 2003 and it's one of my most favorite places in the world. There is definitely an interesting progressive energy here. 

At any rate, we arrived just in time for Earth Day 2007!! Yay Earth Day! Perhaps the most important yet most under celebrated day of the year. Earth Day for us entailed face painting, seed jewelry making, choir listening, electric car and bike watching and a comical "end of the world" play in the evening. A great way to spend the day on Earth Day. Looks like we'll be here for about 10 days before heading deeper into the south. Deeper into ancient India to explore the Dravidian temples of Tamil Nadu...

Today was spent touring Portugese churches and the ruins of Portugese churches in "Old Goa", just outside of the capital city of Panaji.  The capital too, has quite a bit of colonial feel--winding thin alleyways, cobblestone, alley cats, arches and other architectural curios acquired over 500 years of Portugese influence (they didn't leave India until 1962).

In all honesty, this city doesn't feel that different from many of the colonial cities I've been through, from Nicaragua to Guatemala to Haiti to Honduras to Tanzania and in other parts of India.  Seems there were some general themes in architecture in Europe at that time, and they continue to show up throughout the world.  I used to get really excited about it, but I guess now it just seems mildly interesting.  It certainly gives the area a bit of character.  

This is, however the first Portugese colonial city I've ever been in.  The others were French or Spanish or English.  I keep imagining drunken Portugese sailors singing and swerving around in these narrow alleys, before hopping vessels loaded with spices to sail from ancient India back to the lands of the West.

The churches we toured today were very unusual.  Medival style paintings, chipping and fading in the humidity, show the Saints of the ages and typical dark-ages depictions of Christ and the Mother Mary.  The churches were a little creepy, really, with a ridiculous amount of gold, and statues of gargoyl-esque babies with eyes that follow you.

We've found a very nice Indian restaurant that has such an amazing selection of curries, lassis, chinese food, fresh juices, you name it.  I usually try to break up habits while they form, but this restaurant is simply too good to visit only once.  

Things have been moving slow, as they do in India.  The heat has been really intense, and I've found myself escaping to the relative cool of our room and fan during the hottest parts of the day.

Tomorrow we may go visit some other churches--Hindu temples actually, which were destroyed by the colonists, but rebuilt by the Indians in the same place.

I'm feeling less and less the urge to write in this blog.  It's funny, when I first started traveling I wanted to bring everyone along with me.  I felt as if I could do that with descriptive group emails.  Then, later in travels, I felt that group emails were imposing, and I decided a blog would be better.  Whenever I come home, I am reminded of how much it appears that time stands still at home.  Sometimes.  It's a bit like Narnia, and unfortunately, no amount of explaining or creative writing will every make an experience truly communicable or transferable.  And so I am occasionally reminded of how solitary traveling can be, or, if you're lucky to be traveling with ones you love, how bonding and yet exclusive it can be, and of course it's often quite lonely...

Coming to Africa and to India has been so easy, but getting here has taken so long.

The last two weeks in Africa were spent in a rural area in the Western Province of Kenya called Malava.  It was the location my sister spent the last year in, volunteering for a Catholic organization that works with children with disabilites.  It was a nice break from some of the busier areas of Africa we'd seen.  

While there I drank beers with Catholic priests, had dinner with nuns, saw the amazing work my sister was doing, and generally relaxed.  I got the chance to see an amazing documentary about child soldiers in Uganda.  It was one of the most heart-moving documentaries I've seen.  It's called Invisible Children, and I encourage everyone to go see it!

Then, we were off to Nairobi, and our final preparations before flying to India.  This is a part of the trip I like to call worthless.  A whole lot of sitting around, sipping beer, waiting for Cindy and Sarah to get their tickets and visas, and defending Americans to some rude Europeans.  I also met some wonderful Europeans and had some great conversations.   The one really good thing I did was to play some guitar and sing in front of a bunch of people---always good to confront your fears!

After about 5 days of treading water, we flew to India!  Yipee!  It's been over 4 years since I've been in India.  The last time I was here for around 8 months.  At the airport, we all stood on our toes and I complained about how tall I was and, as usual, we were issued seats in the emergency exit area, with a GREAT DEAL OF LEG ROOM!  The flight was actually one of the most pleasant I've ever taken, and only 6 hours!  We arrived at about 3 in the morning in Mumbai, secured a room at a Muslim run hotel, right near the train station in the Fort area, and slept for a couple of hours.  The next day, we hit the ground running.  We purchased tickets south, visited the gate of India, had Chai and visited the Mahalaxmi Hindu Temple in the center of Mumbai. 

It's good to be back in India.  I am currently sweating over a keyboard at Colva beach, in the state of Goa.  Goa is where all the hippies have been coming to since the 60's, when going to India was akin to going to New York City for the beatniks.  The beach we're staying at is a less touristy than the more northern beaches, and seems to cater to the Indian middle class.  Still it's a bit touristy, but we're considering renting a motorcycle and heading even further south to a more remote beach.  Soon we will head into the interior to Hampi.

In a little town in Uganda, called Jinja, on the banks of the mighty Nile river, you can go white water rafting through Class 5 rapids, for only 100 dollars.  But they don't take Discover, and they don't take American Express.  Visa, it's everywhere you want to be.

Bus ticket to Jinja: around 5 bucks
Cost of a room near the nile: around 5 bucks
Cost of one hour in an internet cafe: around 1 buck
Drinking a cold beer called "Nile" after a day of nearly drowning in the Nile: Priceless

Goodbye Uganda, Kenya here we come!

I had the unfortunate experience of watching a man get hit by a bus yesterday, on the way from the Congo to Rwanda.  It was kind of surreal, but it made my stomache turn.  His body flew 10-15 feet in the air, then landed on the side of the road.  No one ran up to help.  Our bus just continued down the road.  In the U.S. this man might have survived.  In Rwanda, he'll probably die of internal bleeding or something.  It was sad and really affected me...

Well, I've just left the Congo, but what an amazing place!  

The Congo is home to the world's largest conflict since WWII.  Over 4 million people have died here in the last 6 years!  It's complicated, but it's related to the huge amount of wealth and natural resources here.  This country is the size of Texas, Montana, California, Oregon and Washington COMBINED!!  It has a rainforest which rivals the Amazon, and which is virtually untouched, and impassable, as there are no major roads through the country.  Smaller roads are dangerous, because of all the guerilla and rebel groups which hide out there and want to rob or rape you.  It's complicated.

We stayed and volunteered for a nonprofit called HEAL Africa.  They are a free medical/hospital nonprofit, which helps repair women who have fistulas due to violent rape.  They are doing amazing work!  They are branching out to other work besides the medical aspect, and they're going to get a lot of attention when a documentary airs on PBS this September that covers in depth the amazing work of these people.  While there, I worked on a grant for a project they have.  I completed about 80% of the grant, which took about 2 weeks and a lot typing and researching.  Check Heal Africa out at:

http://www.healafrica.org

Another interesting group we met in Congo was a film crew that is working on a project called the Goma Film Project.  They are awesome people too!  Their film, "LUMO" about a girl who has had multiple unsuccessful operations due to her violent rape, will be showing in Europe and the US in the coming year.  This is the same documentary which will be airing on PBS.  One of the directors was the director for a film called, "Control Room" which you may have heard of.  It is about the lead up to the War in Iraq, from the perspective of Al Jazeer.  I'm hoping we can bring this film to the Olympia Film Society.  Check out the Goma film Project and see what you think:

http://www.gomafilmproject.org

We had an amazing hike to a volcano while in Goma.  It is one of the top most active volcanoes in the world, the  Nyirangongo, with the fastest ever recorded lava flow.  At night you can see the red glow of lava reflected in the cloud cover.  When we got to the top we could hear the lake of fire bubbling and roaring, like a train or a river.  The lava was amazing!  We sat at night on the rim and watched it from afar, bubbling to the surface, drying, cracking, bubbling over again.  A once in a lifetime opportunity!  This volcano erupts on average once every 2 years.  In 2002 it erupted, covering the bottom levels of many buildings in Goma and destroying HEAL Africa's hospital, which was later rebuilt.  To check out an awesome video (not mine but essentially the same) of the lava:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h_Vbw03xh0

Well, now I'm in Rwanda, just a kilometer or so away from the hotel in the movie "Hotel Rwanda".  Today we might go to the genocide museum, but tomorrow, early in the morning, we're headed back to Uganda, where we'll stay on the Sesee islands, in Lake Victoria.

Well, I had the worst bus ride combo of my life.  The first was the 21 hour ride from Tanzania to Uganda.  The road was mostly unpaved---wait, that is an understatement, the road was a former river bed.  I've NEVER, not in Haiti, not in India, NEVER been on a bouncier ride.  To add to this, I had horrible diahrea, the bus wouldn't stop for bathroom breaks, it was a night bus (nothing to read, nothing to watch out the window), the air was freezing and to top it off, my full gallon water jug burst in the overhead compartment, wetting locals as far as the very front of the bus.

The next night, we got to take another all-nighter, this one just 11 hours, to Kigali, the capitol of Rwanda.  This bus was so over sold and over packed that the man lying in the aisle was using my lap as a pillow.  The next day we were lucky to get a ride in a car all the way to the Congo.  Ug.

Most people who come to Africa to go on Safari end up paying around 300 dollars a day to chase animals around a reserve in a Landcruiser.  We were extremely lucky to pay around 200 for a full week of camping in the bush, on private land owned by the Masai. There was no high-powered electric fence, just us, in the bush.  Most of the stories from the safari I'll have to save for in-person story telling.  Suffice to say we tracked elephants multiple times, i chased a giraffe, we stalked an injured zebra and I ate some partially raw goat meat.  Enough for now...

I have never seen so many butterflies in my entire life. Like snow! Thousands and thousands and THOUSANDS of white butterflies which hatch in the rainforest here, and make their way to the sea, to avoid the rainy season which is on its way. All the butterflies fly in one direction--sideways snow. This small rural village in the mountains has been just what we've needed, after the heat and salt of beaches for the first two weeks.

Here, eucalyptus , bananna, mango, papaya and avocado trees sway in the breeze. At night it is actually necessary to sleep with a blanket.

We took an excellent hike through foot hills, high into mountains with stunning panoramic views of rolling hills, some covered with government protected rainforest, some covered with corn fields and some dotted here and there with farm settlements. I climbed a hanging vine as thick as a can of soup and pretended I was Tarzan. We've seen several camelions, as they are common here, and a prehistoric looking bird with a giant beak shaped like a hammer (a billed... something..can't remember the name).

On our hike we broke into an old tunnel, built by the Germans in the second world war. This tunnel, dug into the red earthen side of a mountain, was full of dripping water and puddles and host to a large family of bats. We took many attempts at photographing the creatures, which fly so fast. Finally we got a couple of great shots, got our share of creeps for the day, and left the tunnel which was built to keep control of this area. Paranoid Germans!


This village too, is on the cusp of a real tourist outbreak, but has the potential for quite a bit of eco-tourism. It's one of the loveliest places I've been and the peasants are kind and quick to say hello and help if needed. 

Tomorrow we take the 6 hour bus to Arusha, where we will commence our safari in the bush.

Well, I must say, my entire Zanzibar experience was very bizarre!

We left the coast of Tanzania from Bagamoyo, the oldest city in the country and the start out point for the slaves that were shipped to Zanzibar in the height of the slave trade. We left in a small wooden fishing boat with a whole lot of pineapples, a live rooster, and about 30 Tanzanians.

We were the only Muzungus (white people) on board. Tracing the same ancient route the slaves took, in a boat about as old, we set out on our 5-hour journey. We motored out into the deep sea. Then the captain yelled, "Muzungus, to the other side!" We were in the way of the make-shift sail, which went up with the help of about 1/2 the people on the rickity boat. The sail was a series of canvas strips, the color of coffee stained cloth, stitched together and bound to a crooked tree trunk.

All told, the ride was pretty rough, and the boat was bouncing around a lot. Water would come over the side from time to time, and some of our group got sea-sick over the side of the boat. We had to continually watch out for the lady who brought all the pineapples on board, and who was very paranoid that we were squishing them every time we repositioned or braced ourselves for a big wave. The rooster would crow from time to time, and eventually we got to a place I have never been--surrounded by nothing but water on all sides, as far as the eye could see.

Finally we made it to Zanzibar, and had a rought disembarking at the old colonial port; everyone for themselves, essentially. After climbing over another boat, we finally made it to the port.

Stonetown is the name of the area we stayed in, and it is everthing an old colonial slave trading island would look like to the imagination. Narrow streets, old colonial buildings and bars on the windows of buildings that once held slaves. I kept wondering if any Haitians had come through this place.

Later that evening when we were eating seafood down by the water at the food stalls, we noticed a little boy (6 or 7 years old) trying to pickpocket a western looking woman. I went up to warn her and she thanked me. Then, all of a sudden, a man came up and started wispering to me that I should mind my own business, and just worry about my "holiday" and not mess in local affairs unless I wanted to get robbed too. He was very threatening. Then he started to call my sister profanities, and we spoke up and finally he left. He was undoubtedly the one that put the boy up to it. It really got my heart going. I've never been threatened in all my traveling..

Another day, a man bumped hard into Matt, and dropped something. He came at us and said we broke it, but we stood our ground. Then he grabbed a huge rock and threatened to bash us with it. We kept walking away, trying to keep cool. He yelled after us that he'd find us in the night. He promised! Luckily he never did.

All in all it was nice in Zanzibar, despite the semi-violent encounters. We did some nice snorkeling and hung out and toured the ancient streets of Stone town. We saw a couple of the musical acts from the african music festival, we ate some chinese food, and we imagined what it must have been like hundreds of years ago in this ghostly town... Now we're back on the mainland and headed to some mountains, before going on safari for 5-7 days. Pictures will be posted soon, it just has to be the right time and the right computer, so check back soon..

Mambo (Hello),


We didn’t hang out in Nairobi for very long. Cindy and I took a 16 hour bus, to Dar es Salam, the capital of Tanzania. On the way we crossed the equator. This was a first for me, as I've never been in the Southern Hemisphere until now. It was quite an exciting bus ride, beside the fact that I barely fit behind the seat and that it was quite hot and uncomfortable. Cindy too, had trouble fitting behind the seat, largely because the seat in front of her was so far reclined. After a while she got tired of her knee hitting the seat in front with every bump, and we place a couple of pieces of French toast (handed out earlier by the bus staff) between her knee and the seat in front, which helped to cushion her knee and stop the bruising.

The most interesting part of the ride was outside the window, as our bus passed through the Great Rift Valley, via a one lane road. After passing through the outskirts of Nairobi, we entered the valley; vast swaths of land, completely untouched by development—to the point that there weren’t any roads going off the main road, just land as far as the eye could see. The land was everything one would imagine of Africa. Acacia tree after acacia tree, plains all the way out to the horizon, and the occasional Masai village, complete with Masai people, wearing their traditional red garb, and herding cattle, or sitting in the shade of an occasional Baobob tree. It was good to see SO MUCH untouched land, with people living traditionally. It still exists! At one point, our bus had to break hard for a group of baboons crossing the road. Another time, the road was washed out and we had to take a small detour into the bush to get past the lake that was the road.

This isn't my photo, but it's what a lot of the bus ride looked like:



By and by, the landscape changed, becoming much more tropical. Baobob trees were everywhere now, and the Masai outside the window became more mixed with rural people, dressed in more western clothing. The highlight of the bus ride was an area of the rift valley that had an immense wall on one side of the road, for miles and miles and miles, which gave the impression of a giant wall, protecting the magic of that land.

The last few days have been spent on a beach outside of Dar. This is a place where tourism hasn’t quite caught on yet, but it’s on the cusp. Now I am at another beach, and preparing to take a small wooden fishing boat (4-6 hours) to the island of Zanzibar, a former gateway of slavery, and now a predominately Muslim area, with old colonial buildings and narrow alleyways. We’re going for an East African music festival, which should be quite amazing!

I will post my photos just as soon as I find a computer that isn't from the stone age..

Well, after many tiring flights, I decided to leave the airport in Mumbai, India and find a hotel to spend the night in, before returning early in the morning to catch my flight to Africa.

Within minutes of arriving at my hotel, I was on the back of a motorcycle, speeding through the Indian night-time streets, dodging street dogs and rickshaws. Felt as though I had never left. I even got a chance to drink a chai and watch Goenka on television, talking about the tenents of Vipassana meditation.

All just a tease, really, as the next morning it was off to the airport at 5 am to catch the flight to Nairobi. I arrived in Nairobi, paid my visa, displayed my Yellow Fever innoculation papers, and I was on the street, met by the beautiful face of my sister.

I've been one day in the capital of Kenya, and the very first impressions are always so funny....I've been struck by the large number of giant Eucalyptus trees. After hours in airconditioned airports and dehydrating planes, they are a welcome addition to my reality, and with wind brings fresh breaths of eucalyptus scented air, which have been clearing my sinuses. It's quite green here and lusher than Mumbai, with much less garbage on the side of the road and the absence of gangs of street dogs.

I am suprised that this place doesn't remind me as much of Haiti (my birth place) as I thought it would. Tomorrow Cindy and I will go to city center to get bus tickets to Tanzania. It's three in the morning here and jet-lag is keeping me from sleeping, so I'm glad this Australian run hostel has 24 hour internet, otherwise, I'd be tossing and turning in a bed built for people around 5 feet tall, not 6.

My friends at the Fish Brewery might be interested to know I had a beer here called "Tusker," but failed to obtain any real information on this light lager style ale. I won't let you down again!

I must say I'm a bit saddened to leave Olympia. I've met a lot of really great people here. It's kind of like Seattle in mentality, only closer to farms and forests, and a little softer. I think I will most definitely return. Here is a picture of the bar I've worked at for the last year to make this trip possible...

Here we have a picture of Africa from space.  I'm fairly certain this is the first picture ever taken of Earth from space.  Unfortunately, I'll be traveling by jet, not space-craft, as when I first came to planet Earth..



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