Flying in Paradise

My second day in Ecuador was spent traveling with my friend James, a fellow paraglider from Colombia. We were off to Canoa to meet with Kevin Lee, my instructor, Larry, Julie and Derek, all pilots from the states. As well as Julian and Juan, two of Kevin's Ecuadorian friends and fellow pilots. It took us almost eight hours on extremely bumpy roads to reach Canoa, probably a meagre total of 200 miles. We seemed to be on the slowest buses, and the last bus from Portoviejo to Canoa, took a wildly roundabout way on dirt roads. Needless to say I was done with traveling at that point. But with my eyes set on the sky I was able to make the trip an adventure. When we arrived in Canoa we didn't know where we were going and got off at the buss stop which was a kilometer past their hotel. In the blazing sun and me carrying my huge paragliding equipment we walked back the way we came to the hotel. They were all staying in a very expensive hotel, so James and I went and found something in our budget: $80 vs. $5 per person. 

The next day the winds were light but in the right direcction, so we headed up to launch. It was a rutted out road slashed through the jungle, but once we made it to the top we had an amazing view north and south, one after another we took off from the hill. Launching has a certain flow for me. I step up to launch and I'm nervous and excited. I strap on my helmet and harness, connect to the wing. Check to make sure everything is in place and then I raise the wind above my head, turn around and run. 

The wing inflates, catches the wind and slowly tugs me off my feet. This sensation of being lifted is incredible, it's the oposite of falling, lifting gently away from the ground and into the freedom of the sky. The nervousness fades away as I settle into my harness and the excitement melts into a joy that remains for the entire flight. 

Larry is on the left with the green wing, I'm the blue and Julie is in the red wing. I doubled my airtime in this one flight, soaring the cliffs, banking in and catching the air being pushed up the cliff faces. I flew for an hour and half, getting extremely burnt, I only put on one layer of sunscreen, which obviously wasn't enough in the relentless sun. 

The next day we went to another site, south of Canoa near Bahia de Caraquez. This was a site that has only been open for a couple of months. The launch had been hacked out of the jungle by a friend of Julians. The plan is to build a giant retirement community for ex-pats. This was an area that Kevin had been wanting to fly for the 15 years that he's been coming down to Ecuador to fly. The first day that we flew the winds weren't strong enough for us to cross the valley to our left that led to 12 kilometers of flyable ridges and cliffs. So we came back the next day and crossed over. It was one of the most incredible things I've ever done, untracked jungle to one side and the Pacific ocean on the other. Larry, Julie and I flew until sunset. Watching the sun drop through the sky, the birds pass above and below us. I felt so elevated, physically, mentally and spiritually. Flying in this maner is so quiet, alone in the air, free to turn in the air just like the birds.

We were the only people around. No one on the beach, not a boat in sight and jungle inland. It was a freedom unparalleled. The juxtaposition of our bright wings against the backdrop of the vibrant green or the blue of the ocean was a beautiful contrast. Without motors we are at the whim of the winds, and so much of paragliding in judgment about when to fly. But we had hit perfect conditions, the wind was steady and strong. We could  stay up as long as we could see, Kevin broke our reverie with a call over the radio, "come down now or sleep here tonight!" We descended one after another, our wings crumpling and loosing their form as we touched down.

I'm in Ecuador! Again!

I could hardly believe that I was back in Ecuador, stepping of the plane I was a coiled spring of excitement and energy. This is my third time back after my year of foreign exchange. Each return has been in the pursuit of Ecuadoras, Cedar and I's idea after buying three hats in Montanita five years ago. I am in love with this country and I am getting more and more excited each time I return. Dropping through the clouds and seeing the rivers swollen with the seasonal rains brought a comfort that I hadn't experienced before. Ecuador is becoming my second home.

I brought two bags for a friend, Alex, who hasn't been able to get his packages through customs to his Ecuadorian family. His mom and her boyfriend met me at the airport. I arrived with a total of five bags, my paragliding equipment, clothes, computer bag and the two bags for his family. I've never traveled so heavy. My bags couldn't even fit on the carts that the airport had. It was awkward to say the least but they were there with big smiles, and a really tiny car. Thankfully I brought some webbing, adding to their mass of rope and we securely strapped the bags on top and off we went. They were going to drive me up the coast to Montanita in exchange for the bags. I arrived on the last day of carnival, kids were lined up along the highway squirting water at cars. We got hit once on our way but we passed multiple ambushes of kids with buckets of water and water bottles converted into squirters. All the traffic was heading back to Guayaquil and our side of the road was almost empty.

They dropped me off in the village where the hats are made, Felix and Diana weren't there, they had gone to the ocean to swim. I still had a greeting party, people watched me unload my bags and asked me how many hats I wanted made this time. I told them that I wasn't quite ready to make an order yet but that I would be ready tom make an order soon. 

In Montanita that evening I bumped into my Colombian friend James, who also paraglides and he decided to head north to Canoa with me to meet up with the paragliding tour that was in Ecuador at the same time. We had a bumpy days travel but we made it and got some great flying in!

Ecuador, Ama la vida!

What a joy it is to be in Ecuador. I can't believe that I'm here for work. It has been quite an adventure in so many regards. I'm back in Montanita after passing a week in Guayquil and Cuenca. Fausto and I ran around the city filling out paperwork and talking with government officials about becoming licensed exporters. It is a suprisingly streamlined affair, if you know what your doing. Thankfully Fausto is studying International Business so he's been the man of the week. We topped off all of our hard work by going to a natural hotspring off the beaten path in an area of mountains called Los Soldados (The soldiers) We drove our way up a windy dirt road in a valley following a river, until the vista opened up into mountains soaring above our heads with rocks jutting out like... soldiers. The paramo, the high altitude plains is ethereal. We didn't quite make it but the valley just disapeared into the endless vista of rolling hills. The hotspring was right next to the river, and our view held the mountains, rocks and paramo all with only the turn of our heads. We went with a friend of mine who I hadn't seen in four years, Inel, from France, she was an exchange student when I was and is now studying tourism in Cuenca. As well as a woman from Switzerland who is staying with Fausto and studying Spanish. We sat in the waters for ours talking and taking in the beautiful scenery, it was astounding. The speed of the clouds, passing in front of the sun and changing the light every so often kept the soldiers in constant motion. The owner of the hotsprings came down and asked us to pay the nominal fee of $1 each. He told us some tall talls about 16 meter anacondas, cows producing 70 liters of milk and other stories that were pretty interesting. 

Staying with Fausto and his family was great, living with a family is always interesting. His mother is so accomodating and was happy to see me.When Fausto was in class I wandered around Cuenca looking for tasty things to eat and interesting people to talk to. I had more flashbacks staying with his family, eating together and hanging out than I've had yet. Eating different foods that I used to love, like ripe plantain with a slice of cheese in it, or Morocho the drink made from corn. Has elicited waves of memories of my life back in Quito. I look forward to staying with my family in Quito before I come back to the states.

Today a woman told me that my accent still is from Quito. She's from Quito and couldn't get over how much I still had the accent. It's so funny that people know the city where I learned spanish because of my accent.

All is well and swell, I still can't believe I'm here "working!"

I'm an international model, say what?

I arrived in Ecuador the evening of the 7th, Fausto, who stayed in our house five years ago met me at the airport in Guayaquil and we went directly to Montanita. As soon as we walked into town we bumped into my buddy Riley who had been traveling for the last three months. Another friend, from Germany who was an exchange student when I was also happened to be in montanita at the same time. It was a night of reunions, seeing Fausto and Leo after four years and the juxtiposition of seeing Riley in Ecuador was almost too much to deal with. Even after traveling for almost 28 hours  from leaving Ashland to getting to Montanita I was energized to hang out with everyone.  Fausto and I quickly found a hostal, showered, ate and met everyone to go out.
The next day, Fausto and I were sitting out on the street side eating a set lunch. Here in Ecaudor one can get a meal from $1.50 to $3.00 usually, it comes with rice, lentils or beans, a piece of meat and soup usually. We were going to town on our chicken when two women approached us and asked if they could sit down at our table. We told them that we were almost finished and they said that they wanted to talk with us. They asked if I would model for them in a video in an hour. They said that they'd pay me $100, so I of course said sure.
We went back to our hotel, showered, took a nap and they picked us up. We went to another part of the beach where they took the video above. Pretty funny, I had a hard time keeping a straight face sometimes, I couldn't believe that on my second day in Ecaudor I was modeling. It sure wasn't what I was imagining!
When everything was finished they asked if I could come to Guayquil the net weekend to be in a runway walk. I did, on Saturday I spent all day at the location sitting around until we finally got to walk. It was a great experience, now I can say I've modeled.  It's a crazy world, shallow and superficial, but another interesting experience worth sharing.

San Francisco Airport

Hello everyone,

I'm back! and off on another adventure. I'm sitting in the SFO airport after being delayed on my flight to Houston. I've been meaning to write for a long time but finally I have no ecuse. Ecuador here I come, it's been two years since my brief visit and adventure to find the woven baseball caps. Four years since I was there as an exchange student. Now, I've got five weeks to figure out the logistics and reality of importing these hats into the USA. My godfather Cedar and I are very excited about the possibilities of these hats. While I'm in Ecaudor I hope to be picking up my blog where I left off.
I thought that India was an adventure, being back in the USA took it to a whole new level. Being sick, living at home again, and reacclimating to the USA was quite an adventure itself. I took off and tried to fly right out of highschool but I came back to earth pretty quickly. Now I hope to continue my way as a wanderer, and possibly make some money doing it!?

Alex

Mystifying Musings

Man with his buffalo bathing together at Shivala Ghat, Varanassi

I'd like to lead you down my mind trail. Please enjoy.

We know that oil companies are the most powerful companies in the world, that they dictate the world what our government does, indirectly and directly, through lobbying, foreign policy, and other ways. That they are causing so much of the insanity that we see around us. Wars in the Middle East, a culture that eats 30% of it's meals in cars, toxic emissions that poison the planet causing global weirding (As Tom Ward aptly calls it) causing global anomalies in weather patterns to cover 10% of the earth rather than 0.5% when the modeling began in the 50's. This finite resource condensed energy from the sun, 50 million years to make and 100 years to burn through the easily accessible oil. This cheap energy has itself intricately woven into the fabric of our daily lives. I'm wearing it, typing on it, in a house made partly from it built powered by it. Yet with this knowledge, not to mention it's cost, over $4 dollars a gallon at our local gas stations. We continue to feed the maw of this giant machine, shoveling our dollars into it. 70% of our oil use is transportation. And we drive our cars? Every day, all over the place, to work, to the gym, to get groceries, etc. What? Do we realize what we are doing? That what we take now won't be there for the future generations, that we are stealing the future of the world for our own convenience? And this is just one example. Our lives are unsustainable, haven't we heard this before? And we have spread the message of consumerism hand in hand with globalization. As the economies and populations grow in Brazil, Russia, India and China they will increasingly want stuff, just like us. We have opened Pandora's box, set the wheel turning on a chain of events that we will increasingly find ourselves less and less important in. We have the largest economy in the world, thus our collective buying power is the greatest in the world. We need to make decisions that will carry us into a future that is equitable for all.
One of the ways that I see this made possible is by cutting our consumption. This could possibly offer the corporations a reality check. A shrinking market means more innovation in the direction of the consumers, we play hard to get and they'll come to us. We can bolster our own local economies and drive less, maybe none. We have amazing minds and technology is running in leaps and bounds. Yet I do not think we will leap our way over this conundrum. We must consume less, other wise it doesn't seem like there will be any for my children.
Coming back from India personalized so much of what we hear. Population, Climate Change, Consumerism, Waste, Education, and so many other hot topics became wedged into my soul. I lived and breathed in a world so different from this one, where clean water,  food and air. The most basic human needs are scarce. Where over a billion people are watching the screens of the TV or cellphone. Watching Hollywood and dreaming of their own car, house, Refrigerator, Flush Toilet and everything else we have grown accustomed to here in the USA. We are the 1% of the world the cream of the privileged. I know I am. when I think of my friends in India I can't help but be amazed at the contrast and appalled at the lack of continuity. We have the power to change, ride our bikes, grow a garden, I mean whatever. Let's do it, why not? If not now then when, are we going to live our lives blocking out the distress signals from all sides until they get handed to us on our front doors. I want to change the world, make it better for all. We all share this dream somewhere within us. Let's cultivate it so we can truly create the world that we wish to live in. It's going to take all of us. I heard this recently on a TED talk, "The power of the people is much stronger than the people in power"- Wael Ghonim

Blessings

Losar Tashi Delek!

Happy Tibetan New Year!
Another wonderful rainy, cloudy and perfect day to celebrate the new year. Today is Losar, the Tibetan New Year. As it turns out just as we may mark this day as another day in our lives, living as some of the most blessed people on the planet, many people around the world are struggling for their basic human needs and rights.
Today H.H. Dalai Lama has called for Losar Celebrations to be omitted except for the basic religious rites as they still struggle to be heard by the Chinese. The situation of the Tibetan people is that of the most well known and publicised refugees in the world. China unwittingly exposed the world to the wonderful teachings of the Tibetan people. High up in their lofty vista they have been keeping and enriching a philosophy brought to the world by Buddha. Now with the help of many monks who have spread their message of compassion through careful contemplation and meditation to the world. Thanks to one of these Lama's, the Venerable Gyatrul Rinpoche, there has been a monastery set up just over the hill from Ashland. Today I was invited by my friend Bill to join him for the celebration. What a wonderful chance to experience the goodness in the world. Over three hours of chants and percussion, supplication to the gods for their favor once again in this new year. As I understand it we began by invoking the gods, thanking them and asking for their continuing blessings in this year.
I lost myself in the chants, juniper incense and colorful imagery all around. Caught up in the fervor of life one lesson stands out: I am blessed. I was born and brought up in such a wonderful place. Loved on all side I'm back to my roots, here in Southern Oregon I can be transported back to India, back to the world I left. India hasn't left me, slowly my journey is being assimilated within. The glow of returning hasn't worn off, it's just sunk into my deepening perception and awareness for the glorious life I life. On the physical side, India has yet to be finished with me. I'm still confronted with MRSA staph, an antibiotic resistant version of the normal bacteria that lives on our skin. This has left me in a state of low energy and with two wounds, but it seems like life moves onward. I'm already healed, I'm so happy, surrounded by love on all sides. Thank you.
Back to the point, the Tibetans have a most interesting position in our global vision. They have brought the west back in touch with the Dharma, their leader H.H. Dalai Lama is not only charismatic but from my own brief experience in his presence is absolutely inspiring. At 100 feet away it was as if everyone in the audience took a deep breathe, and on the exhale let go of all their worry and tension. He was light, present with everyone, passing his eyes through the crowd, really looking at as many people as he could before he took his seat sighed himself and began to tell us how goofy we all were for wanting to see him. The Tibetans have found a global audience to their plight, the 6 million Tibetans living in China have been disenfranchised, discriminated against and much worse. Even with the "Free Tibet" bumper stickers China refuses to budge in their position that it is their rightful land. Money wins, and China has the influence that keeps the world at bay. Through this example a veil is removed upon the world. Resources, Commodities and Weapons are what is driving our world, not to mention money. China has that, so do we. In our climb to the worlds largest economy we too have had to push people out of the way. Rather than harp on the evil I'd like to move towards the good, all it takes is for us to say stop.
We can, we have more resources, are more connected and more aware than ever before. Let's turn this "normal" day into a day to wake up. To live brightly and to shine. Buddha taught compassion, a compassion that pervades and dissolves all other emotions, that transcends the self and moves us towards the light. we can all believe what we wish, but the tenants of all the great teachers on this planet has been the same. We have to wake up and learn to live like brothers and sisters, we've got one Earth for all of us. If you've read this it has touched you, please take a moment to stop. We can change the world, let's do it. Let's stop these atrocities and awaken our own Buddha nature. May all beings be happy, may all beings be at peace.