After a brief visit to SE Arizona for Corina & Dave’s extremely aerobic wedding and some tramping into the desert, I headed down to Guatemala City late last month with Heather. Since then, we’ve been through several of the main tourist cities in Guatemala and S. Mexico (in Chiapas), doing normal western tourist things, like over-eating-out, looking at old things/places, and walking accidently down streets of questionable character which may contain large(r) men (than me) who may have lots of guns, jerry-curls and motor-scooters and maybe power/drugs/money.

Some of the highlights include:

• all of the public markets, an amazing scene and the best place to pick up some slang (the newest is ‘para llevar’ or ‘have it to go’, maybe not so slangy, but definitely useful considering the choice coffee around these parts)
• relearning to bargain,
• the easy pace of Guatemalan Spanish,
• meandering and meeting up in the south with friends from the north,
• amazing live music (including killer original vocal solos by an American Rasta,
• a few rare moments of quiet, as the cities are amazingly noisy, as is the hostel scene by likely default
• plenty of fresh, softball sized avocados (yes, the big ones do make great guacamole) among all the other fresh produce
• I’ve also enjoyed the sun quite a bit, and all this walking has been erasing the old pasty Juneau tan.

Some of the definite downsides:

• trying to pick up Mexican Spanish (its much too fast for this greenhorn’s ear)
• keeping up with distance classes
• cholera (too many hallucinations and indigestion)
• being rushed (which may make you shove your passport casually into your pocket, where it likewise may fall out or be filched, necessitating an expensive and untimely side trip back to the embassy instead of doing other, cooler things, like visiting a water project in Honduras, sorry Dan, it ain’t going to happen)
• fried food, which effectively nixes most local cuisine, with the exception of some amazing beet tostadas
• the sinking feeling that every poor country opened to western tourism and interests is experiencing the same awful growing pains, though maybe with less violence and repression than the worst rated democrazy in Latin America (the U.S. even dropped their partnership and support in the poorly-aimed war on drugs in 2002).
• a deeper understanding of how truly terrible U.S. foreign policy has been towards Latin America since independence.

Soon, language school and a new passport. Next time, a better plan to not get stuck in the regular gringo route, which is fun, but unproductive to maybe for everyone but a few.

Also you should check makezine.com has lots of funky DIY projects of all types (some of them are even useful) and especially their rad forums. My favorites here are the Altoids iPod speaker, rare-earth LEDs for illuminating the metal object of your choice, and a gigantic semi-intelligent helium blimp that is attracted to EM waves (i.e. cell phones), how cool and annoying!

I reached a trip-high 100 miles not too far into Georgia that day, enjoying the rolling hills and well-marked bike lanes on state highway 96. The good times did not last: I got a flat at dusk and broke my only tire lever – a dinky piece of plastic that is essential for removing the tire from the metal rim of the wheel in order to access and repair the damaged rubber tube underneath.

Hitchhiking was quick and easy. No sooner had one car stopped than four more did as well. I was happy to see such a great display of kindness, until I learned that all were concerned for my safety in this corner of Georgia. Spent the night in a motel up the road run by a former Marine, and learned the ins and outs of rural Georgia. Crooked politicians, lumber interests, crack dealers… real eye opening.

With a ride to and from Walmart I was able to fix the bike on a Sunday, not a small feat in the bible belt. Poured it on for the next two days and reached Savannah, GA last night at around 7:30. New record (for me): 130 miles in a day.

So now, having covered ~700 miles in 9 days, I’m thinking of calling it quits. I have to be in DC next Wednesday, and the forecasted rain up and down the south Atlantic coast probably won’t help. But as usual I haven’t made up my mind…

I think the question is; what would College Bowl National Championship winning quarterback Matt Flynn do?

I think maybe this article sums up my trip pretty well, metaphorically speaking – although this one deserves special mention because of the lede: “Matt Flynn has a lot going for him these days, including being tabbed as a look-alike for People magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive.”

what can I say

-Peter

ps, Juneauites, you should all direct yourselves to JDHS on the 28th @ 6pm for our first Critical Mass! Drinks at Silverbow afterwards.

Secondly, the Juneau Empire just posted their ‘Neighbors’ section for tomorrow, and an editor-friend of mine gave me the heads that some pics from a JMR training a while back are in there (see it here, not sure how long the link is good for).
okay, thats it for the plug-of-the-day

-P

ps, just trained with Stowe Mtn. Rescue (SMR) today, seems like they have a good team. I will hopefully get another chance to do some more rope work with them sometime soon, but their next training is during the MRA conference. Utah, or Bolton, VT? Hmmm, choices…

pps, SMR has moolah up the wazu from fatty FEMA grants, a funding source I have yet to examine for some JMR projects….

I have been attempting to make greater use of the interesting tools around me, which has led to an interest in taking at least one single cameraphone picture each day. Here is an except mainly from the last 24h (though these stretch back almost two weeks total). I just arrived earlier today from 24h of travelling between juneau and boston, a trip that seems to be getting shorter with each repetition, yet grates more and more on my patience due to the incrediably awkward scheduling. Exhaustion is inevitabely the end result, as with all lengthy travel. Anyways, enough: enjoy!

superbear confusion: the true origin of tic tac toe!!!

auke lake dock & orginizational attempts

yukon aftermath (you should see the inside: 7 people camping, cooking & climbing out the back)

seatac airport viewed through very tired eyes

winglets & dawn enroute to boston

fresh produce!!!

back to the land of milk & honey (& boats)

shelburne beach, a beer, and a book all serving together as fine inspiration to solidify my speech next week as the best man in danny’s wedding.

home (one of them).

An interesting format, but definately a difficult way to communicate any details, theres a lot to share in between the lines, but this old man is turning in. Cheers,

-Peter

]]> http://www.madape.org/2007/05/a-sequential-travel-daze-in-phone-cam-form/feed/ 0 http://www.madape.org/2007/04/bring-on-the-juice/ http://www.madape.org/2007/04/bring-on-the-juice/#comments Tue, 10 Apr 2007 18:21:15 +0000 peter http://www.madape.org/?p=60 So, that was a bit of a downer. I suppose I should be the one to get the ball rolling again then, as well.

Electricity, a luxury most folks take for granted on a daily basis with perhaps the exception of a few, boldly paranoid souls. As a general concept, it’s pretty cool. When electricity is generated, all sorts of nutty things happen to wires, conductors, magnets, and so on.

In the Juneau area, electric generation is tucked away in all sorts of little hidey-holes. Some folks are under the impression that there are no power stations in Juneau, period. This is not too far from the truth. Primarily, current is generated at the Snettisham hydro project, which is located on the lowest elevation of the outflow for Long Lake, just south of Juneau. This station generates 47.2MW. This sounds like more than enough to satisfy the local cravings for heat, lights, and a certain amount of clacking away at a certain keyboard. However, this covers only about ~80% of local demand. Where does the other 20% come from?

Always sympathetic to the localist diatribe, a little poking around in the available literature (read: internet) came up with some interesting and easily digestible factoids one wouldn’t be too mistaken to think that I was working for the benefit of the ‘tourons’. Juneau actually has several generator sites. It is true, most were semi-retired once Snettisham went online, but are still utilized as emergency backups in case of an outage (only the Auke Bay fossil site).

Salmon Creek Reservoir generates 1/3 of the power to satisfy the remaining demand. Additionally, the Annex Ck hydro project covers a 10% of the total demand. Power is currently generated seasonally at the Gold Ck hydro project. Former sites include Sheep and Nugget Creeks, as well as the Treadwell Ditch. Offline fossil plants include Auke Bay, Lemon Ck, and Gold Creek. The Alaska-Juneau mine used to have a steam plant that shut down in the early 70s. Most of these were associated with the mining boom in the early 20th century, but weren’t shut down until Snettisham came online in 1973.

A power outage at Snettisham is not entirely unreasonable scenario. The 44-mile line running between the dam & Juneau crosses several avalanche paths, runs for over two miles under Taku Inlet, and through some extremely dense forest. However, construction was designed to give the plant a 100-year working life with an expandable capacity. Expansion has already been undertaken once in the early 90’s, tapping water from nearby Crater Lake through a tunnel to a new set of generators constructed adjacent to Snettisham. The dam was constructed in a watershed without a salmon run, but water from the dam supports a fish hatchery located at the same site.

It seems like our electric needs locally are well covered, and done in a fairly sustainable manner. Keep in mind that we have tons of highly productive salmon streams, and more water than you can shake a nalgene at. There is even talk (mostly heresay) of farming out electricity to y’all down south from us here on the panhandle (this is likely to be cost prohibative, so don’t get too riled up).

Tonight, Bly spoke for about an hour and a half, reading excerpts from a few of his books, and reading them well at that. Bly has an amazing gravity, supported by stoic eye contact, which was turned in my direction more than once. This happened often at what I felt like were critical moments, though this is equally his job as it is my perception (and perhaps a flattered ego). This, this is what people communicate with other for, that weighty, fleeting moment of sheer direction and focus, that glimpse into a world perhaps not so different from out own.

To accentuate these well stirred fires, I have been thinking a lot about writing, about what it means, the motivations and mechanisms behind the aguilar linkage of words and (often incoherent) ideas. These motivations seem to historically stretch from the romance of being immortalized to simple love of the words themselves as singular, well, words, for lack of an inspired articulation. However, it is the sharing of these words that gives meaning (of course, the order counts for something too). Anyways, here I am, late on a thursday night, again at school past 10pm, with a little bit of the sauce in my stomach from some great shared beers earlier, having listened to a ‘rock star’ of the poetry world, and cranking away on physics homework due at midnight (the very serious bane of appx. 30 students lives at the moment, though I feel like most have already finished….). What can one do but parry a bit?

Jam, fresh from the pot
dripping in sticky bits,
a sweet burning sensation
on open wounds, rifts of flesh
torn by the days work.

Numbers, cruising through
cuticles of the brain.
Push them back, lest
they grow too long.

Water spills over the edge
of an overflown sink, wondering
why no one moves to turn the over-size
paddles of a hospital faucet

and so form breaks down,
shattering into bits that splinter into our skin
sinking deep before blood wells like ideas,
running straight down and off the tips of hanging fingers.

Maybe I’m no good, but who says I ever was?
And maybe you’re not good, but honestly, that ain’t bad
until you’ve been asked sincerely to leave
But no one ever does, not around here.

And when the jokes are over,
and no one has stood;
none have left but one
but he has left for good.

Ian, RIP bud.

It isn’t much, but it’s a stab

-Peter

ps, I just found a picture framing a portion of the Burlington area phone book in my physics text. Creepy, it had a portion of a Lee Zachary’s and New England Wing ad, respectively. Page 952, Wolfson & Pasachoff’s Physics (with modern Physics), for the morbidly curious.

The superlatives come fast and thick out here, sorry. Her proper name is Qomolangma, or Everest for the us culturally impaired westerners

Arrived in Kathmandu after a five day trip south from Lhasa. We spent a night at Rongphu monastery, about 8km from the base of Everest, and hiked there the next day. As you can see, the scenery is dull and colorless. But there is no denying a rush of being so close to the highest point on earth.

We spent our fourth and last night on the plateau in Tingiri, a truck stop just inside the Qomolangma Nature Reserve. Two days ago we left at 7am and completed the 200 km trip to the border. I understand why someone might want to do this trip on a bike: after Nyarong, the plateau drops all the way to the border. Maybe 50k of downhill? The change from barren tan ridges to dense forest is also an emotional experience. Or it was for me, after such a long time without green.

Kathmandu is crowded and completely different from the empty highs of the plateau. I wasn’t expecting such a mix of people, noise, cars, tourists, dharma freaks, mexican food and samosas. It’s overwhelming, but I think I could like it if I wasn’t so ready for a rest.

Had an interesting first day, yesterday. Visited Durbar square in the morning, then went to Boudnath to drop off a package for a friend’s cousin in the Tibetan section of town. Later in the evening, met the cousin of another friend, involved in the restoration of Buddhist sculptures in Paris. Ended with live jazz at some hipster joint, with a local Newari guy who has started his own community association to teach young people about Newari culture.

The plan is to catch an early bus tomorrow to the Annapurna circuit and hike at least to Manang.

Other madapes: where you at?

I am back, in one piece, and happy that I made the trip. Even if it was a wee bit chilli. The journey out west was an excellent way to see another part of the plateau, both geographically and culturally. It also gave me some insight on how the complicated Tibet/tourism thing works. And of course, it was a good way to relax after two years of work in the area…

It seems the roads most traveled in the Tibetan Autonomous Region are those by unwashed backpackers and well-groomed tourists, flying in for their piece of the mythos. There are also the pilgrims, but foreigners don’t follow their roads too often. Lhasa is an interesting city, not just for it’s historical and religious significance, but because it really is the most popular tourist city in the Chinese sphere. This might seem a little too bloodless-technocrat, but it really struck me as an important aspect of the Tibet scene. You are more likely to meet China and Tibet newbies here than anywhere else, and they are more likely to know little about the place they are visiting than any other city in mainland China. There is some long-term significance to this.

At the same time, while outside influence flows through the streets alongside pilgrims and locals, Lhasa is the most tightly controlled and ideologically planned city in the Chinese sphere of influence.

This makes visiting an interesting experience for me. I couldn’t relax too much, partly because there was so much to see and do, and partly because I kept looking at the city for lessons on how to do tourism well, or not well; looking for connections between the outside visitors and the local culture. There is a bigger question bubbling in my head about how the globalizing travel will affect traditional cultures, but I can’t articulate it right now.

This, plus some intense reflection on the last two years of work, was my state of mind when I set out for Mount Kailash. This is a road not-so-much traveled by the aforementioned masses, but still I found it easy to scrape together a group of likeminded travelers, solo guys who were looking to do something slightly adventurous and interesting. After posting on the message boards in hostels around the city, and on the lonelyplanet’s very useful thorntree forum, I found an Israeli, a Brit, and a Brazilian. Our troupe hired a landcruiser and spent four days traveling to Darchen, the small town at the foot of Mount Kailash.

I won’t bore you with the details, but the highlight of the trip was certainly the three day, 52 kilometer trek around the mountain. Normally the kora (the clockwise circuit made by devout Buddhists) can be done in a day or two, but we were all of us a tad ill, and somewhat affected by the altitude. The mountain, although not high, makes an impressive snow-covered impression against the deep blue skies. As the center of the universe for both Buddhists and Hindus (and Jains and Bons), four legendary rivers are meant to originate from its flanks. And in reality, four do, making this an interesting intersection between the mythos, the worshipper, and the tourist.

Besides our leisurely stroll around the mountain, we also spent a day at the analogous Lake Manasarovar, the yannic equivalent to Kailash’s fully revealed power. It’s also a nice big blue lake, filled with migratory birds and ringed by Himalayan mountains. Both were great places to reflect, and to chill out.

Of course, it wasn’t all hard work and deep, meaningful gazes into the distance. We spent an unhealthy amount of time playing whist and hearts. I am now known as Card Vader, so don’t mess with me. We also exchanged useful information. For example, did you know:

-In Jaffa, there is an old man who makes the best hummus in the middle east. He sells out by 10am, so get there early

-A British battalion contains 600 soldiers

-The most popular drink in Brazil is the caipirinha. Mix cachaca, lemon, sugar, and ice

and so on

In the last few days, we have made our way back to Lhasa, and re-grouped. Israel is out, and the Czech Republic is now in the house. The route has turned south, visiting Gyantse, Sakya, Everest Base Camp, and on to the Nepal border. Life is rough

Happy thanksgiving

Half-empty train, about 13 cars total. I had the fortune (?) of sharing a car with a tour group from Guangdong. Their group gasps every time something new rolled into view had me wondering why they didn’t asphyxiate. (Not that I wanted them to)

Example:

(mountain passes by)

First Guandong tourist: oooooo! a mountain

30 Guangdong tourists (in unison): ooooooooooooooooOOOOOOO!

Anyway, the peculiar mass-psychology of certain tourist types aside, the train is an excellent introduction to Tibetan geography. Highly recommended if you have the time, and haven’t visited the area before. 26 hours from Xining, and at least double that from any other city. I’m in Lhasa now finishing some work and arranging a trip to Mt. Kailash. More pictures, all taken from the train can be seen here.