The Promised Land

Look at my right hand...It points to the heavens, the promised (holy) land.... which is not a real estate......You are in the promised land when you are like me...Innocent..Like a child...Look at my left hand..It is a weaving tool...While connected to the heavens, while you are in the promised land you shall still weave beatiful rugs, carpets, things that make this life a better, more beaitiful place....Rug Maker the Buddha-The Bodhisatva-The Enlightened One

Sag elime bak...vaad edilmis topraklari, gokleri gosteriyor, vaad edilmis topraklar emlakcinin isi degil... Benim gibi, bir cocuk gibi masum oldugunda vaadedilmis topraklardasin demektir..Sag elime bak bu bir dokuma makarasi...Vaad edilmis topraklarda olsan bile bu olaganustu yaratilisa guzel seyler katmaya devam etmelisin, guzel halilar, kilimler...Kilimci Buda-Bodisatva-Ermis

Save the Potatos

We have been trying to save our ancestoral potatos, culture and traditions from the green-GO s...A green-GO is a green reptillian that likes to have a powerfull army scattered all around the world. He has more than 1000 army bases in more than 100 countries all over the planet. The green-GO sais they are all for peace, justice and democracy.When we saw this green reptillian the first time, we did not like him..so we told him "green GO"..Because we did not know his name we said Green GO..So since then we call it the green-GO.... We told the green reptillan to GO but they are keen on destroying our potatos, language and traditions with the thing they call civilization, development and improvement. He does not understand us because he speaks only one language, his own language. I do not think he really cares about other languages. He knows only one word in the reptillian language: US, US, US. Some people call it globalization...They want to globalize their own language, culture and products...That is what I understand from their globalization concept...They want all the markets and nations of the world to have no borders and to surrender. If you do not obey they threaten to invade you..But we do not want their genetically modified potatos or foods full of junk, or products that do not serve Pachamama, or traditions that do not have a tradition....We do not want their control, nor their New World Order. We have thousands of years of accumulated experince...THEY should learn from us...But they want us to perish from the face of this planet together with our potatos, languages and traditions

Monoculturisation-Globalisation and Cultural Apartheid

XI.INTERNATIONAL ETHNOBIOLOGY CONGRESS,

CUZCO, PERU

jUNE 2008

370 million indigenous people represent only about % 5 of the Earths population but more than 1/2 of the intellectual legacy of humanity-its languages and cultures.One of their languages now dissapears every 10 days.In fifty years over half of the world languages will be gone forever...It is these same people which are the most marginalized, fractured and least represented in global society; they are virtually being swept away by poverty, disease, conflict and land appropriation. For ever group dispossesed, urbanized or assimilated a culture vanishes taking with it ancient knowledge of the environment, unique ways of living, alternative belief systems, irreplaceable skills, artistry and stories -the rich diversity of humanity.This is a tragedy not only from a cultural perspective but from a bioligical one as well. In forgettting the thirteen names an Eskimo may have for snow the world dose not just loose words, it looses intimate detailed knowledge of a part of the worlds ecology that have been both repectful and balanced.Up untill now the digital revolution rather than creating a global village has accelerated this worldwide cultural demise...for more info visit: http://www.storybases.org/

Let me second it:

EVERY TEN DAYS ONE LANGUAGE IS DISSAPEARING!!! THIS IS NO JOKE...

Together with the languages the culture, the traditions, the knowledge related with these languages are also dissapearing..And it is not only that...The delicate ecosystems that these indigenous groups live in is also endangered because it is these people that live in a symbiotic relationship within these ecosystems for thousands of years. They are the natural protectors of the delicate environments that they inhabit. With the expanding monoculturisation, the culture, language and an ecofriendly lifestyle that survived for thousands of years is also under attack. These indigenous groups are being forced to surrender to the global corporate interest groups for power and profit.

Bosch

I was not planing to write before my exploration in the Amazons because there was not anything really interesting to write about till my last stop before my final destination.

But I felt so compelled to write after the synvhronistic coincidances I've experienced after watching the film Zeitgeist and seeing a Bosch painting distorted.

I was so excited when I first heard that there was an original Bosch painting in the capital of Equador, Quito. It was being exhibited in the church called San Diego located in the colonial part of the city. According to the book I was reading nobody knew how it came there....After waiting three hours in front of the church -sometimes under the rain sometimes sleeping on the bank- for the guide to arrive I was finally able to enter the church...

I paid the 2 US dollars entrance fee and asked the guide -who was an old señora in her fifties-to not show me the artwork about the story of Jesus, virgin Mary, etc and lead me to the room where Bosch’s panting is…Tough a little bit surprised she did so happily knowing that this was easier for her...

On the way to the room she showed me a very heavy secret stone door opening to a room where the priests were supposed to use. After this short interruption we finally arrived at Bosch.

When I first saw the painting I felt exhilarated….I do not know why but Bosch’s paintings are so impressive and I feel so absorbed when I look at them…I can look for hours trying to grasp the idea behind all the strange figures. But from the beginning there was something wrong about the painting…

After a few minutes of exploring the painting I started realizing to my astonishment that the original painting was painted over and distorted by somebody.....

As far as I know nobody really knows what Bosch was depicting in his pictures...There are assumptions about the possible explanations....Having that idea in mind when the guide started explaining me “the meaning” of the painting I struggled hard to contain myself…When she finished the come to Jesus he will save you church version of the meaning of the painting, with my beginner level Spanish I kindly tried to tell the guide my personal idea. For me it was painted over in a way that the story in the painting was possibly changed to fit the opinions of the church.... You could see the original odd anthropomorphic, animal plant like Bosch figures lingering underneath the second layer of paint.....You could see how some of the figures were distorted so amateurishly and sometimes distorted completely by being painted over…..For me this was like painting over Mona Lisa: Painting a moustache on her face and then claiming that it is a HE…

Who could have done that and why? I do not know. Can it be somebody who did not like Bosch or his ideas about life and/or the church at that time? Or someone who decided to convert Bosch to Christianity? If not him, at least his paintings...

I am not an expert but the painting was most probably original....Plus, both the Lonely Planet Guide and the church say that it is an original Bosch painting....

But how come they or anybody did not and still do not recognize that the painting was distorted -or better destroyed ? Or am I hallucinating?

To the South

It's been three months and in this three months I was nearly always diving to be able to get my PADI Dive Master certificate.......The fist month I was in Utila and Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras and the last two months in Caye Caulker Belize. There is so much to tell...
The higlights of this three months were the shark diving I had done in Roatan, Honduras and my encounter with dolphines both in Roatan and in Caye Caulker, Belize......Diving with a school of Grey Reef sharks (which are 2 meters long in average) I recognized how beatiful these creatures in fact are.....We were in fact brainwashed about their exaggerated dangers. They are elegant creatures that need to be approached with caution....The underwater creatures are usually friendly (non-belligerent) if you do not hustle them and are not agressive (a few shark species are exceptions)

Altough my first encounter with dolphines was in a confined water environment in Anthony's Key resort in Honduras, it was phenomenal.....I felt waves of indescribable bliss while I was swiming with them...My second encounter with dolphines was during my Dive master course in open water, Caye Caulker, Belize.. ..While I was trying to find my group I was lost due to the poor visibility conditions and the current.....Trying to find my way back to the boat my heart was pumping fast because I was worried...and just at that moment three dolphines -one of them a baby- appeared 10 meteres away from me...They aproached me slowly, hovered around me for a while checking me out and then left leaving me with feelings of comfort and security.....With their presence I felt I was somehow protected......Dolphines have amazing sonar-like perception organs and they can feel the human heart beat.....After my encounter with dolphines I appreciate life more than ever...This amazing and mind blowing creation

Maya Unification Day and Winter Solistice in Tikal

This December the 21st I was in Tikal for the Mayan Unification day and the winter solistice celebrations ...Tikal is one of the most amazing ancient Mayan cities in central America located in Guatemala....The celebrations lasted two days. The night we spent around the big fire in front of the Jaguar temple with the hyms of the shamans was phenomenal....Dancing and chanting with the shamans and fellow sisters and brothers in the center of Tikal, the heart of the Mayan Civilization, putting incense to the fire representing the light and love that burns within each of us was awe inspiring......All the prayers were for a unified human family

Just for the Hell of It!

I was asking to myself what the hell am I doing in the crater of an active Volcano?

After a 6 hour hike through one of the most challenging hiking trails I have ever taken we arrived at the sulfur blowing active volcano Santi Aguito that has an altitude of 2200 meters. After I heard that 5 people who were around the crater were dead either because of hot sulfur intoxication or rocks falling on them coming close to the crater felt more terrifiying to me. As soon as we arrived I started keeping a log to calculate how much time we can spend in the crater. According to the guides the volcano was erupting approximately every 1 hour and blowing a mixture of mostly hot sulfur gas, sand, rock, ash and some lava..... I barely slept 2 hours because of keeping the log for 12 hours after our arrival... At 6 o'clock in the morning we were woken up by Marvins voice "Hey Amigos...Levanta-Wake Up"

Qucikly getting out of the tent bare foot I found my self in awe after seeing the eruption....Altough our camp was 500 meters away from the crater the blow was gigantic enough to make me feel that I was being swalloved by it...My camera's objective could not contain the whole blow....After 15 minutes of the eruption I could feel the sulfur and sand rain on my skin and eyes....

Marvin said: Come on we are going in to the crater! We have only one hour....
After seeing the eruption I said to myself...."He must be crazy" The reply came quickly: "Yes this is not a very sane thing to do....I have only guided three people since now.....and you seem to be crazy and fit enough to enter into the crater.....Come on! vamos!"

The other guys Ben and Sam were also willing to enter the crater since the begining of the journey...So I did not ask them if they wanted it or not for confirmation and started walking with the group tough a little bit anxious.....After 20 minutes of hiking and climbing we were in the crater.....you can watch the video I took ten minutes after we left the crater: