A Man in Full
- Tom Wolfe
Tuesday
If only I was given the chance...
Being given the opportunity to try something new or something you have always wanted to try is all tooooooo hard to come by - or so it seems the excuse may be - I need a life, or I need people in my life and people around me that make things possible...you can make anything happen.
What you truly own...another beautiful quote
"I was watching everything in silence...because I was regretting to leave what was so deeply mine, so intimately mine; and it was so because nobody else but I could know that on every rock, on every piece of ice, on the glaciers and eternal snow drifts, throughout the whole place, my footprints emerged."Jose Manual, 1939
Exploration of the Antarctic
You can have all the comparative conversations with people on where you have been and all you have seen. But in the end, you have the opportunity to be in each of those places in your own solitude. Your footprints are what you truly own and it is in those which lie your experiences - your energy, your path, your feelings and your memories. All the borders you have crossed, canoe trips you have been on, silly nights you have memories of, thoughts you have tripped on...your soles have made their lastly marks and have walked your path.
A beautiful quote
"There are many young and eager photographers who attempt to capture the dazzling beauty of this silent universe. Some of them manage to go beyond the simple anecdote so as to remind us that it is not the landscape the one imposing its presence before our eyes, but our own way of perceiving the universe. And above all, our possibility of translating this experience into images capable of defeating time..."
Juan Pablo Peredo
inspired by photos by Frank Hurley, 1930.
Juan Pablo Peredo
inspired by photos by Frank Hurley, 1930.
Christmas away from home but w/ Asado
Could not have talked more about Christmas & holiday traditions in the past week if I had tried.
Even if there is a lot that has changed in my life over time, the memory of the traditions that used to be and the creation of new traditions feel endlessly special at this time of year.
This year, ironically enough, Jane and I celebrated Christmas around a table as one of the only two non-Israeli people. However, the feeling was incredibly festive.
Even if there is a lot that has changed in my life over time, the memory of the traditions that used to be and the creation of new traditions feel endlessly special at this time of year.
This year, ironically enough, Jane and I celebrated Christmas around a table as one of the only two non-Israeli people. However, the feeling was incredibly festive.
How we pave our path
Recently I received an email from a close friend of mine. The email was in response to my recollection of my experience on Huaynu Potosi, which needless to say, was quite dramatic. The email was a steady stream of thoughts about life, the choices we have, the choices we make, how we make decisions, the obstacles we are faced with and how we overcome them, and the future we can design for ourselves.
It was one of the first times that someone has really let me into their head. The amount of things he said in that email that I have thought about myself was incredible. We all go through life asking ourselves the same questions, facing the same big obstacles, and struggling to make the best of what we can for ourselves...but all too often, we go through all of this alone and don´t turn to one another to talk about it.
No words can describe how much that email meant to me in terms of what that friend means to me, but how comforted it made me feel, and inspired to follow my dreams and gutt. So maybe a good new years resolution...as cheesy as it sounds, is to learn to keep an open line of communication between yourself and those around you for strength and comfort.
It was one of the first times that someone has really let me into their head. The amount of things he said in that email that I have thought about myself was incredible. We all go through life asking ourselves the same questions, facing the same big obstacles, and struggling to make the best of what we can for ourselves...but all too often, we go through all of this alone and don´t turn to one another to talk about it.
No words can describe how much that email meant to me in terms of what that friend means to me, but how comforted it made me feel, and inspired to follow my dreams and gutt. So maybe a good new years resolution...as cheesy as it sounds, is to learn to keep an open line of communication between yourself and those around you for strength and comfort.
Huaynu Potosi
6088m to the top.
Day 3: 12am wake up to begin the ascent to the peak. 1st step: Get across the first glacier in the dark and look up occasionally at the crusts of the peaks that can only be seen by the moonlight. 2nd step, stay mentally strong. 3rd step, stay physically strong. 4th step, just keep going. 5th step, look around you...in amazement and try to stop the tears from freezing on your cheeks. 6th step, brace yourself for the hellllll that is walking down a mountain.
"I am not a mountaineer, but what a life"
An adventure, a physical feat, an emotional journey and an exhausting 3 days. Attempting to describe the experience in a small amount of space is impossible so here are the photos and some quotes to relive the experience.
"I made it to the top and saw both God and the Devil"
Day 1: Training on the glacier. Crampons, harnesses, ice picks and some serious climbing boots.
Day 2: Climb from base camp to the second refuge
Day 3: 12am wake up to begin the ascent to the peak. 1st step: Get across the first glacier in the dark and look up occasionally at the crusts of the peaks that can only be seen by the moonlight. 2nd step, stay mentally strong. 3rd step, stay physically strong. 4th step, just keep going. 5th step, look around you...in amazement and try to stop the tears from freezing on your cheeks. 6th step, brace yourself for the hellllll that is walking down a mountain.
Envious roads
It is crazy the stories you hear sitting around in a hostel sharing travel experiences with a bunch of people you have just met. The sense of envy you feel, wanting to experience that random string of events, in some foreign jungle in the north of god knows where, that someone else has just relived for you...But that´s what makes traveling so special. All of those unplanned moments and experiences that can never be repeated are the most amazing and influencial, beautiful and unforgettable. You can´t plan those. They happen in the traveling world where everything just...works out. That bad and good. It just makes you endlessly excited for what is to come and what could be. All you need is the time and the freedom to follow your gut...
Only tomorrow will tell what adventures will come...
ROUTE 36...
Is trashy and sketchy....and you know when you are handed a glowstick at 4am in the morning that it is time to surrender all of your pride
La Paz, Bolivia
Do not trust anyone here...especially Taxi drivers.On the bright side, La Paz is the first South American city we have visited that bears no North American trademark anywhere!!!...except for United Colors of Beneton (can´t seem to escape that one). But no malls, no American fast food chains, nothing! I truly in every way, feel like I am in a raw raw South American city.
Isla del Sol, 2012 and Inca Philosophies
Up top of another absolutely beautiful mountain on Isla del Sol overlooking the whole of Lake Titicaca. Just behind me lies Isla de la Luna, the sun is setting to my right, in front of me is the Ancient Inca Temple of the Sun, and the late afternoon glow of the sun is beaming off the dark blue water and snowy mountain tops to my left. This lake is beautiful. Just as blue and mysterious as anticipated.
The quietness in our sheltered spot in the temple is inexplicable. You can´t even hear the wind (up at 4000m). After some time here, I hiked up to the opposite peak on the North end of the island. The second I reached the crest, the view of the east side of the lake was the revealed and the wind came powerfully blowing against me. It was hauntingly energetic as compared to the solitude I just experienced within the temple walls. For one of the first times, I knew what it felt like to reach the top of a mountain and just want to yellll out! But the feeling of being swept away into some sort of spiritual airspace (one of the most sacred spots on earth), literally took my breath away.
Now....the story behind the legend:Isla del Sol is said by the Incas to be the birthplace of the sun. This is where all of the sustaining energy of the sun and life force comes from. The people here believe that they have every ability, as all do, to live off this energy forever. Living can be defined as simply as in the hunter-gatherer sense, or as complicated as you wish. Nevertheless, the earth is on an axis and those who understand the earths rotation in relation to the sun are the "enlightened" ones. They live to comprehend the role the sun plays in our lives. In 2012, when the shift in the Universe occurs (as many many theorists have predicted), the magnetic shift/switch that will occur in the earths plates will turn the world around. (Some theorists have taken a less spiritual route to this foresight and predicted a crash and burn of the earths resources, new world wars, etc). In any case, the balance of things will change. According to the Inca´s, those who do not understand the role of the sun and are unable to change their lifestyles accordingly, to relearn how to live on earth, will be lost, stressed and scavenging amongst the land they have overworked. These "englightened" ones, who do understand the earth and the sun, will need to lead the others to comprend why the way they lived before, according to their desires, was not sustainable. This will be the predicted "crashing point" for many cities and countries. For others, this is the long awaited opportunity to make good of what we have exploited. This is our second chance.
The Inca people are believed to be enlightened because they have spent their lives studying the earth´s rotation. They have known about and made sense of this shift that will take place in 2012, and have known about it far longer than any modern "green" theorist. This, the Isla del Sol, the birthplace of the sun, makes it unique becuase this is the point of axis upon which the earth´s plates will shift.
This shift is not something that will be able to be marked by a day, but rather, theorists from all over the world agree that people will notice changes all around them at different points in this year. Atmospheric changes will take place that will cause each of us at one point or another to question the way we live our lives and force us to adjust accordingly to the changes we see.
Believe what you wish...but only time will tell.
Bienvenidos, Welcome...or F-off depending on how you interpret it.
So, after walking our way into a country, we were not given the warmest welcomes. In fact, we were turned away from three different hostel owners upon setting foot inside the doors. Not only that, but we were shewed away by fruit and vegetable vendors, and not welcomed into a convenience store.So the story goes, apparently two white, male tourists caused some problems a few years back in Copacabana. They were captured and publicly punished as a result. Since then, the reputation of all tourists into the area is tainted. Despite the fact that all of the businesses in the area revolve around the tourism industry as pertained to Lake Titicaca, the locals are convinced that tourism is a needless industry in the area. The question then is....why is every single restaurant catered to tourists, every shop selling tourist merchandise, every other door an advertisement for the boats that take tourists to and from Isla del Sol (Lake Titicaca´s main tourist attraction), and every street corner a hostel?
Beware, Female Tourists = Chopped meat.
Election days...
Arriving to a new country ... on election day. What are the chances? Turns out that not only are there NO banks in all of Copacabana (the first town in Bolivia over the Peru border), but on election day, everything shuts down and no cars are allowed on the street. So there we are, penniless, backpacks on, walking to our next destination....Copacabana, Lake Titicaca.
Saturday
Beautiful Faces
I met some of the most colourful and friendly people in these 2 days on my journey through the Colca Valley.
Quiet Days...
Traveling alone is when you really find your comfort, when you loose yourself in what you are doing. When you find your courage, your inner comfort, and when you form your soul. You find who you are.
Colca Valley, Peru
In my life I have had the priviledge to eat lunch in some fairly incredible settings. Between all of the various canoe trips through Northern Ontario, to lunch through the Sacred Valley in Peru, to cafes in Venice, parks in Barcelona, and markets in Morocco. However, the sense of freedom and energy I experienced in Colca is a feeling I will not soon forget. Sitting at a look out about 3000m up on a mountain that hugs one side of a valley and oasis. There is not a person in sight. To top it off, volcano valleys form the background and little pockets of snow that fill the upper bowls of the mountains fall to my right.
Lima, Peru
Sand Oasis' & Sunset surfs = A very happy combination (despite the gross, salty, polluted water)
Shamans
Lots of talk and reference to Shamans has come up in the last few days. The role they play was well quoted at the Museo de Oro in Bogota: Shamans are the sacred life between humans and all else.
Bogota, Colombia
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