Cali makes Nat Geo Traveler en Español June 17, 2011
Posted by Tracy in : Uncategorized , add a commentSo happy to see this piece finally out on the newsstands – Colombia in general, and Cali in particular, deserve all the publicity they can get as a fantastic travel destination. Colombia’s unspoiled forests, mountains and and beaches, vibrant cultural diversity and warm and welcoming people combined to make it the featured country for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
Travel to Colombia has doubled in the past five years, and the number of U.S. travelers has increased noticeably, as well according to Colombia’s Ministry of Commerce, Export and Tourism. Colombia has the world’s highest number of bird species; the second highest number of varieties of amphibians and plants; and is third in the diversity of its reptiles. Because of its environmental diversity and history, Colombia is home to some of the world’s most distinctive cultures and traditions, reported Maria Claudia Lacouture, president of ProExport, Colombia’s tourism agency.
Here’s my story featured in the June edition of National Geographic Traveler en Español, which is distributed all over Latin America and the U.S. I can vouch for the truth in its title – “Colombia Moves You.”
Here’s the link to the whole story, if you’d like to read it. Cali te Mueve
Rains of sadness, rains of joy April 18, 2011
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A beautiful and proud, but probably very guilty, neighborhood rooster
TEOPANTLI KALPULLI – I was watering my wilted sunflower seedlings when the first rains came. First one fat drop, and then two, and then a whole scattering. I laughed and ran to shut off the faucet, delighted that I had been wrong. I’d listened to the rolling thunder in the distance with wry skepticism. Better water those seedlings, I said to myself, the scant handful that had survived this week’s scorching sun. Maybe that will make it rain. And then it did.
The first rains in six months – I relished the exhilaration, the feel of the delicious drops falling on my face, pearly orange sky, rolling thunder in the distance. And then I remembered. Shades of Hiroshima, thousands dead, millions exposed to the assassin molecules that hover in the air in the wake of a nuclear disaster. I recalled what Marisol, the little girl next door, had said about the first rain: “When the rains come, they will be radioactive, and anybody who eats the fruit from the trees will get cancer,” she reported. I stopped smiling and ran for cover.
Official government reports on the fallout from the nuclear disaster in Japan are reassuring; the only hard data I am finding online, however, confirm that the rains reaching our side of the Earth are testing for radiation at levels higher than what the EPA considers safe. So, what to do?
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Super Full Moon in Virgo and Spring Equinox March 19, 2011
Posted by Tracy in : Uncategorized , 1 comment so farFriends, I wanted to share a special post from my sister, Tami Brunk, who offers an incredibly insightful newsletter about Earth and Sky at www.astrologyforearthrenewal.com. Today’s newsletter highlights tonight’s Super Full Moon and puts it into context.
Dear Friends,
We are nearing a 3-day period of incredible potency, from Saturday the 19 through Monday the 21.
Saturday the Full Moon at 29 Virgo is at perigee–the closest it has been to the Earth for 18 years. Sunday marks the Spring Equinox, and Monday Uranus conjoins with the Aries Sun.
When we engage ceremonially in these events of such cosmological significance with clear intentions and from the heart, magic happens. We are communicating with the Universe–we recognize the sacred patterning of which we are a part and our intention is to dance joyfully with it. We are willing to show up–in our beauty and uniqueness–to co-create with Great Mystery.
Ceremony need not be complex. The most magical moments in these next few days will be Saturday sunset and Sunday sunrise. In both instances we can tune into and experience the dynamic opposition of the Equinox Sun and Full Moon–rising and setting very close to the same time.
Many blessings,
Tami
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From sierra to sea: Huichols make their mark on Cancun December 16, 2010
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CANCUN – “Arriving at the ocean is very important; you can’t just walk up to it like it’s a common thing,” Antonio told us as we bumped along through the night on our way to Isla Blanca. “We consider the sea to be sacred; we come from the sea. We have to ask permission to be here.”
That’s how I found myself standing at the edge of the gleaming surf, saying a prayer of gratitude and tossing a chocolate cookie along with a 5-peso coin into the Caribbean along with my prayer. Antonio made an eloquent petition to the great spirits of the ocean and of the five directions sacred to the Wixarika people, asking for special attention during the climate summit proceedings – that everything go well for all of humanity, for those attending the COP-16 events, and for all the Earth.
The candle was offered to the sea as well, and a last gleaming spark scooted downwind along the edge of the surf: earth, wind, fire, water. There couldn’t have been a more perfect way to begin our mission, or the first visit to the Yucatan for all five of us.
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Eagle and condor meet in visionary gathering of souls December 16, 2010
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CHALMITA, Mexico State, Mexico – Long before the sun appears over the towering white cliffs all around us, this temporary village comes to life. The guardians of the ceremonial fire are stoking the flames for the temezcal; the kitchen crew is chopping and peeling and stirring; smoke is rising from the women’s tipi. Suddenly the resonant call of the conch rings out over the valley, calling us to the salutation of the sun, and the cry of an eagle pierces the air like a blessing.
We are gathered in this enchanted valley for the Call of the Eagle, the tenth intercontinental gathering of a group of dreamers and doers who are quietly changing the world from the inside out: the Consejo de Visiones – Guardianes de la Tierra (Vision Council – Guardians of the Earth).
Some 500 visitors from as far as Australia and as near as neighboring Chalmita – filmmakers and farmers, psychologists and shamans, artists and teachers, spiky-haired punks and lyrical poets – are learning to live together under the blue skies and bright stars of an itinerant ecovillage conceived more than a decade ago under the banner of the Rainbow Caravan for Peace and the Mexican Bioregional Movement. By the end of the week, this event will have touched the lives of more than 1,000.
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Huaca Pucllana: The ancient pyramids of Lima July 31, 2010
Posted by Tracy in : Peru, Uncategorized , 3comments
Who knew that Lima’s fashionable Miraflores district was the site of an ancient ruin? Most Limeños, in fact, didn’t even know until relatively recently.
This was the version presented by Alejandro Olivo, our guide, whose grandfather farmed these lands and who used to play soccer here when he was a boy. As far as he knew, these were just hills, and what was once a city off 44 temples was leveled by the wealthy Marsano family in the 1980s to make way for what is now Miraflores. The government finally intervened to seize the land and opened a park and a small visitor’s center here in 1991, and subsequent archaeological investigations revealed a fascinating slice of Lima antiquity.
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Caral: The oldest city in the Americas July 31, 2010
Posted by Tracy in : Peru, Uncategorized , 1 comment so far
I’d been reading about Caral, considered to be the oldest city in the Americas, in the fascinating book 1491, a new look at archaelogical discoveries in the New World by Charles Mann. So when Sarita suggested a day trip, I jumped at the chance.
Sara booked a tour, and after a few mishaps inevitable to group travel, we were on our way. The three-hour drive up the coast took us past dramatic wind-sculpted dunes, rickety hillside favelas and cement block towns. Most drifted off to sleep; the 5:30 a.m. wakeup call had come far too early (and, in the case of Jeff, it didn’t come at all, which is why we were half an hour late).
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Rain of ashes in Guatemala June 1, 2010
Posted by Tracy in : Guatemala, Uncategorized , add a commentPANAJACHEL, Guatemala – Atitlan, the sparkling lake of legends and lore, glistens a slatey grey today. Clouds drape the mountaintops on all sides; boats are making their way across, one by one, taking their places at the rickety wooden docks where they will soon be ferrying people to villages across the water.
“It’s a sad day in Guatemala,” remarks Juan, manager of Restaurante Lago Azul, where I’ve stopped in my morning walk to enjoy a cup of coffee and a hearty desayuno chapin, a traditional Guatemalan breakfast with eggs, black beans, fresh cheese and corn tortillas and crispy, sweet plantains, fried to perfection.
“Yes, it seems like the rain is going to be here for awhile,” I answered, thinking he was referring to the dreary weather.
But he wasn’t – instead, he was referring to the eruption of Pacaya Volcano yesterday just south of the capital city, which took the life of a journalist and apparently also two children.
The city is still in chaos after a rain of ash fell for miles around, with over a thousand people evacuated to shelters, traffic accidents resulting from streets and highways covered in up to three inches of ash, and air traffic diverted south to El Salvador.
Very strange. I could have very well been climbing that volcano myself this week. I was feeling very compelled to do so – and many tourists do. Instead, I got too busy with work and canceled the trip to catch up on writing assignments.
Lo que sucede, conviene, as a Cuban friend once said. I suppose this is one time where not getting my wish might have been the best thing.
Saying goodbye to an Ozark original April 14, 2010
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Oh come, Angel Band
Come and around me stand
Oh bear me away on your snowy wings
To my immortal home,
Oh bear me away on your snowy wings
To my immortal home.
ROSELLE, Iron County, Missouri – Redbud blossoms splashed the spring-green hills the day my mother called me home from Guatemala. The freshness in the air and the gentleness of the colors were medicine to my eyes, and yet they pained me, knowing as I did how my grandfather loved this time of year.
Normally, I thought, he would be out on his Missouri Century Farm planting right now, or standing on the banks of an Ozark stream or pond, reeling in a bucket full of fish to share with family and friends.
He was struggling to manage basic functions when I finally reached his bedside – breathing and swallowing were a painful chore. His already birdlike frame seemed even tinier and frailer than when I had left him in December. He was asking to be released, to be allowed to go home to his Lord.
He groaned when he saw me. “Oh, I didn’t want to be such a bother,” he managed to get out.
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Jogging on the Hippodrome January 10, 2010
Posted by Tracy in : Latin America, Mexico, Mexico City, Uncategorized , add a commentThe sun peeked out from the clouds for awhile today, and as my afternoon appointment had been canceled, I took it as a cue. I shed the sweater and switched to jogging gear, grabbed my iPod and hit the street.
I’m not a natural-born runner; my body resists it in every way. But I took up the hobby last year, realizing that if I were going to stay fit on the road, I’d need to rely on means that don’t include going to a gym. Besides, running doubles as an aerobic form of sightseeing – albeit without the camera, the only thing I regretted about today’s run.
(From Friday’s walk: One of several fountains on Amsterdam Street)
I headed straight for Calle Amsterdam, a verdant loop through the heart of La Condesa with a tree-lined path in the center. Formerly called Calle Hipódromo, the loop is what remains of the old Condesa racetrack. Now laced with fountains and gardens and lined with colorful cafés and boutiques among the classic art-deco architecture, it bears no semblance to a racetrack – except for the presence of the other joggers.
The high point was Parque México, an enormous stretch of greenery filled with children learning to rollerblade, boys kicking a soccer ball, tiny dogs in colorful sweaters and their attentive owners, elders perusing newspapers, youngsters listening to MP3 players and families pedaling a four-seated bicycle contraption for rent in the plaza.
Smells of roasting corn, savory pork tacos and fresh flowers filled the rain-washed air. A gentleman sat in front of a booth surrounded by small tables and filled with wooden objects and painting supplies; for $3 you could buy a small animal or for $6 a little wooden jewelry box, and you could paint it however you liked.
Further along I found Mejor en Bici (Better on a Bike), a nonprofit group that provides free bicycles for “rent” in several parks around the city. All you have to do is leave your ID and a 200-peso note, and you can take the bike for a spin.
I don’t know whether it was because of the altitude (Mexico City is about a mile and a half higher than Houston!) or that I’m out of shape after three weeks of huddling in the cold, or simply because there was so much to see, but it was a run-walk type of run. At any rate, it felt great to unclench my huddled shoulders and feel the sun on my skin again.
