STILL loving Ecuador...
...despite being sick, seemingly from the overabundance of pollution that fills in this city like dry ice in a bowl...and despite having my digital camera, loaded with pics, and my iPod, loaded with enough music to hear songs all day everyday for about 8 months straight.....stolen...on a bus...that was taking us back to the cloud forest.
Yes, I was suckered reeeeally bad, and my friends and I put all the pieces together and realized that we had not lost our electronics...oh no! They had been cleverly snatched by at least three people. One fellow acted like he worked on the bus...and he had put our bags under our seats. I though "Cool, better there then somewhere out of my reach." My friend Ashley sat beside me, and she had a big big bag that barely even fit under the seat...but this dude stuffed it in there. And we were all tired so Ash put her seat back...and before we had even left the bus station a man sitting behind her rudely put up her seat and said that he didn't have enough room.....enough room to crawl under the seats....and cut a hole in her bag.....and get her camera. Upon gettting off the bus, in a hurry and on the side of the road, I noticed that my belt and my red hemp hacky sack were on the floor beside my bag...hmmmmm, that is odd. They were both in two different pockets....but hurry, get off the bus or ride it into town without your pals!
We showed up at our destination, the Milpe Bird Sanctuary (my friend Mr. Rucker would have loved it!), just a few kilometers away from Mindo, which is wehre I was the weekend before. As I was tickled pink that their were literally tens of hundreds of birds, especially hummingbirds, I went to get my camera out of my bag....and it was nowhere to be found. Ashley had already relayed that she had "lost" her more expensive camera....and then I knew what had gone on....the guy who put our bags under the seat got off the bus before even getting out of Quito! And so did two other people that we now know helped him. Pro's, I must say! We had both been robbed.....and I didn't even notice the iPod was gone until I wanted to use it many hours later...no Primus before bed! Just random rain on a tin roof...
Shucks...so many neat pics on there from years past and from yesterday! I wanted to put up some of the pics I took at Oswaldo Guayasamín's quite interesting musuem and art gallery (since I can't, check out that link). We went here right before going to Milpe. This man is Ecuador's most famous painter and was a very passionate human rights activist. We later went to Capilla del Hombre (another great link, in both languages), which was basically a stunning and deep experience of architecture, paintings, murals, sculptures, poems, and a nice guided tour by a sweet lady who claimed not to speak English well but who was stellar at guiding us to see the message and depth of Guayasamín's work.
After that cool experience, we went to Milpe and helped to do some more reforestation work. Since it rained while we worked we could not plant trees...but we could but sprouting seeds into their cozy little plastic wrapped dirt apartments for future transport to the greater dirt home of earth...and when I use "dirt" I mean no disrespect or oversimplification. Utmost thanks to the soil and the ground from which I am fed and kept frrom floating into space...it is too cold up there anyways.
So....that whole rant above was certainly a type of therapy for me. While in Milpe, I awoke very early and hiked down to the river, stripped down and told myself that these material items are gone and that I wanted to shed the energy of anger and worry and keep on going with the amazing journey of breathing in the air (even if it is Quito's grungy air). And with that intention I dove into the river....ahhh! So refreshing and cool...not as cold as that waterfall experience, but just good enough to give me a great morning wake-up.
We returned to Quito on Saturday afternoon and went out for some salsa dancing with our program coordinator, Juan Miguel...of course, he broke it down for us and was quite the talented man, as I have said. What fun! I'll surely return for more....
OK, therapy is over and I have some homework to complete. Not to mention I need an alarm clock that actually works...two tries...third times a _____?
Still enjoying my journey,
Cory
Yes, I was suckered reeeeally bad, and my friends and I put all the pieces together and realized that we had not lost our electronics...oh no! They had been cleverly snatched by at least three people. One fellow acted like he worked on the bus...and he had put our bags under our seats. I though "Cool, better there then somewhere out of my reach." My friend Ashley sat beside me, and she had a big big bag that barely even fit under the seat...but this dude stuffed it in there. And we were all tired so Ash put her seat back...and before we had even left the bus station a man sitting behind her rudely put up her seat and said that he didn't have enough room.....enough room to crawl under the seats....and cut a hole in her bag.....and get her camera. Upon gettting off the bus, in a hurry and on the side of the road, I noticed that my belt and my red hemp hacky sack were on the floor beside my bag...hmmmmm, that is odd. They were both in two different pockets....but hurry, get off the bus or ride it into town without your pals!
We showed up at our destination, the Milpe Bird Sanctuary (my friend Mr. Rucker would have loved it!), just a few kilometers away from Mindo, which is wehre I was the weekend before. As I was tickled pink that their were literally tens of hundreds of birds, especially hummingbirds, I went to get my camera out of my bag....and it was nowhere to be found. Ashley had already relayed that she had "lost" her more expensive camera....and then I knew what had gone on....the guy who put our bags under the seat got off the bus before even getting out of Quito! And so did two other people that we now know helped him. Pro's, I must say! We had both been robbed.....and I didn't even notice the iPod was gone until I wanted to use it many hours later...no Primus before bed! Just random rain on a tin roof...
Shucks...so many neat pics on there from years past and from yesterday! I wanted to put up some of the pics I took at Oswaldo Guayasamín's quite interesting musuem and art gallery (since I can't, check out that link). We went here right before going to Milpe. This man is Ecuador's most famous painter and was a very passionate human rights activist. We later went to Capilla del Hombre (another great link, in both languages), which was basically a stunning and deep experience of architecture, paintings, murals, sculptures, poems, and a nice guided tour by a sweet lady who claimed not to speak English well but who was stellar at guiding us to see the message and depth of Guayasamín's work.
After that cool experience, we went to Milpe and helped to do some more reforestation work. Since it rained while we worked we could not plant trees...but we could but sprouting seeds into their cozy little plastic wrapped dirt apartments for future transport to the greater dirt home of earth...and when I use "dirt" I mean no disrespect or oversimplification. Utmost thanks to the soil and the ground from which I am fed and kept frrom floating into space...it is too cold up there anyways.
So....that whole rant above was certainly a type of therapy for me. While in Milpe, I awoke very early and hiked down to the river, stripped down and told myself that these material items are gone and that I wanted to shed the energy of anger and worry and keep on going with the amazing journey of breathing in the air (even if it is Quito's grungy air). And with that intention I dove into the river....ahhh! So refreshing and cool...not as cold as that waterfall experience, but just good enough to give me a great morning wake-up.
We returned to Quito on Saturday afternoon and went out for some salsa dancing with our program coordinator, Juan Miguel...of course, he broke it down for us and was quite the talented man, as I have said. What fun! I'll surely return for more....
OK, therapy is over and I have some homework to complete. Not to mention I need an alarm clock that actually works...two tries...third times a _____?
Still enjoying my journey,
Cory
posted by Cory at
10/20/2008 05:27:00 PM
4 Comments:
That sucks you "lost" your camera and iPod. At least these were just material things. I'm glad you are still enjoying your journey despite this awful thing that happened. Could have been worse!
Ahh, diesel exhaust mixed with the pleasant odors of urine and rotting garbage, all the nasal experiences of cities in developing countries, make for some interesting memories. From experience I can tell you that when you smell them again you will be transported back to some significant experiences. I bet you will be much more cautious about people now. It is hard to remain open to strangers when we have a few experiences like this, but we have to because who will if we don't?
There is so much adventure you are having. I am both proud of you and wish I was exploring these wonderous places with you.
Love you bro,
Ky
whoa dude...thieves are so clever. i got robbed in times square last week, but apparently my thief had some jaded sense of morality. as he opened my backpack, took out my wallet, stole the $billz$ and put the wallet back??? some "good samaritan" told me my backpack was open-and later when we realized what had happened, suspected him.
i'm sorry for your loss though. music and memories mean so much more than money. as the mom in "Little Women" said, "don't let the sun go down on your anger"--i'm glad to see that mantra followed so purely.
keep the faith love.
hi sweetheart,
wow, what a good lessons you are learning. sounds like god is saying take it all in, it's time to experience from first person perspective, not from a shutter or headphones. even in your post before, last paragraph you were talking about learning from mistakes and about need versus want leading to totally happy and productive lives. good for you. i love you! i'm stoked you had some river therapy. sounds like you're ready to shed your modern convenience ideas for some straw bale flintstone house comforts. now i think you get it! i can't wait to visit you!
love, sheena
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