sábado, 12 de julio de 2008

J´adore Ecuador



Hi Everyone! I am in Ecuador. I am eating a lot (as you can see) : ). I am happy and pictures take forever to load. Kids, co-, community, trips are all great.


Sorry to be so out of touch! Expect more... sometime! Miss you all, Nate


Here are our communal eating digs, in the village school building, where we also sleep in classrooms.

miércoles, 14 de noviembre de 2007

incredible india, 2 - rajastan, bodh gaya, varanasi






our lovely ladies in saris in rajasthan, blending in completely, trying to find a moment of anonymity in this tiny yet crowded village that has never seen foreigners




our meditation abode, in bodh gaya, where the buddha found enlightenment -- or rather realized his buddha nature -- under a tree. this was a 6-day buddhist retreat, mostly in silence, from the tibetan buddhist tradition

playing with fire..... which one is me and which one is the master?

we spent 1 week in mcleod ganj, the tibetan's home in exile. my eyes are opened to the sacrilage of the olympics in beijing, the plight of the tibetans, the hardships they face there and the importance of quick action. soon tibet will be fall victim of chinese-ization and there will be no ethnic tibet to speak of freeing
halloween! from left to right: blue man, hindi newspaper-man, peter pan, a character from Wet Hot American Summer, a tibetan monk, a ninja, and tinkerbell.

incredible india


siobhan, weilder of words, insanely irish and has cussing curls



william, hairless with a mischevous moustache, knows what he's got and isn't afraid to show it



kevin, king of mystery, music and mahem, bringing the beat and riding the magical moment
ben, lover of trees, hugs, rocks, people, things, places, books, philosophy, and just about everything, crusader against ignorance and fighter for justice




alisha, reader of fortune, deck master, has powerful fists of fury and special cookbooks


nate, here with "mitch" the long-lost member of our group, builder of blogs and wagger of tongues
dawn, the fearless co-leader, manifester of magic, tender of trees and has the power to shoot rainbows out of her palms

jueves, 13 de septiembre de 2007

25 days in Indiaaaaaaa!!!

25 days in india, traveling without a plan, waiting for the kids to get here. started in old delhi
my italian traveler friend, elizabeth
in McLeod Ganj, site of the tibetan government and Dalai Lama's home in exile
carpe diem - the name of the company i'll be working for, leading 7 students in northern india for three months
a haven for cooking classes, reiki, yoga, tai chi, massage, whatever...
a horse trough?
tibetan monks in McLeod Ganj at a temple
amritsar, at the sikhs' holy site, the golden temple


at the boarder of pakistan and india. every night they close the boarder and everyone dances and goes wild. makes no sense -- read about it below
a night scene at amritsar
nek chand's rock garden in chandhigar. also read about it below
a public works worker, he made his garden out of junk
now it's 25 acres! and growing


the rock garden is separated by dwarf-like doors, feels like pan's labyrinth
the coolest grandfathers in agra. after 18 hours on a train general class, we bonded and i was taken in, fed five meals, and spent 24 hours learning about the very different homelife of a traditional brahmin family.
off to their country house where their extended family lives, 22k away from anything
some very sexy temples at khajuraho, for a change of pace
an ancient monument to, of many things, erotic art
an indian family in Mahoba - they found me and promptly took me in as their own during a mela, carnival fair
a street in varanasi, the? oldest living city in the world
on the docks in varanasi
near the burning ghats, the smokey corpses are thown in the river with whole cows and dead infants
marriage arranger! one of my faves



on the train, 2nd class sleeper is all you need
my friend Philipa after almost 50 hours STRAIGHT of being on a train with me, from Varanasi to Mumbai and Mumbai to Goa
here we are at the.... beach?
anjuna, where naked hippies shocked india in the 60's. none to be found now
the rave with an indian named karma that defies explanation




here is panjim, part of portuguese goa in the south. woah different.in mumbai, aka bombay - my new family! staying with Z's cousin, Paru
paru, jeffrey, our cars (um, no) and the two cutest kids
mine! all mine!
victoria station, in mumbai. Paru was the most amazing host. somehow I stayed 6 days with him instead of 1. now it's off to delhi to meet the students and three months of adventure in india. india's too much, man, i wish i could share it. alas this is all i can do!