Man (and Woman's) best friend

So here I lay beside Alec in the tent in Carmelo, Uruguay. The rain is falling pretty hard and our rain fly is doing really well. I am all bundled up, typing away on my iPod.
We arrived yesterday around 6:30pm on a boat ride, The Cacciola, that traveled from Buenos Aires to Carmelo.


Upon arrival, we easily went through customs, which i have found to be so much more pleasant outside of the U.S.
We walked a little over a mile from the port carrying our 40+ pound packs to a campsite.


Along the way we saw horses and carts, many stray dogs, lots of joggers (as if there were some olympics in training for the people of Uruguay), and many people on mopeds. We found a campground/yacht club along the river with not one inhabitant except for the camp guard and his dog.
We spoke what Spanish we knew and secured a place to sleep for the night with promise to pay in the morning. We headed down the river to pick a spot, escorted by the campgrounds keeper, the dog. He stayed with us as we set up camp, made some dinner, and drank mate...warming up for what we could tell was going to be a cold night. Before bed, we stood along the beach and enjoyed an incredible view.
I have always loved camping! The one thing that has always made me feel uneasy though, are the many foreign sounds around you while you sleep. Last night i heard several. Ducks quacking (with an Uruguaian accent:)...seriously), dogs barking at the ducks (universal dog
sounds:)), street lights buzzing, mopeds wizzing by (we are at the end
of the road, by the doc, which seems to be lovers lane), the flapping of the rain fly (sounded like our new dog scratching its flees), and a couple of boats running along the river...not the most quiet of
campsites.
The best part were the sounds we awoke to. Literally, 30 feet from our heads, construction workers began digging a trench at what must
have been 7am. I kept hearing them run back and forth past our tent to the river. Alec awoke before I and went outside and instantaneously befriended them.


I was impressed at how well he communicated and talked of our travels. We discovered that the workers were not only digging, but also fishing at the same time...running past our tent to the river whenever there was movement on their pole. Catfish was the special of the day; tiny ones at that. With much more grace...just across the river we saw 3 different birds swoop down and catch huge fish on the first try. It was incredible!!!
After breakfast, having been assured by the honest workers that our belongings would be safe in their care, we walked into town. Along the way, we unintentionally befriended two more dogs that walked with us all the way to the city center; barking at pedestrians and other
dogs, running alongside cars and mopeds, paciently waiting for us as
we stopped for any reason...we both had some anxiety over the situation feeling a responsibility to stop them from following us and bothering people on the street; as if they were our own. It wasn't until we came out of the bus terminal where we inquired about our next trip to Colonia de Sacremento (tomorrows trip), where we found our new guardians had found another couple to take care of:)
Which brings us back to now, in the tent (which was still here when we
got back), with the rain harder than ever. The forth strike of lightning has just informed us that the storm has moved from 14 miles to 3 miles overhead. Wow...that was insane. For us both, we just experienced the craziest wind that blew our tent inwards. Its size was
reduced from its already 2 person tininess in half. We survived...well
at least if this blog is posted, we made it through the night:)





-Amani & Alec

Buenos Aires part 1 (9/10/09)

Having been here for a week now we are becoming anxious to get into the country; to see the nature, the country people, and sleep under the stars.
I am just getting over a cold that kept me resting for the last couple of days. We have been very fortunate to have an entire apartment to ourselves on the top floor of a building with a great view.


I say fortunate instead of lucky because we were reminded by one of Manuela's friends that luck is chance and fortune is what comes back to you. Through Jesse, a friend of Amani's, we have come to meet Maneula our host.


She speaks perfect English (lived in CA)
but is still very patient with our continued attempts in Spanish . With Manu we have shared our first Argentinian steak (lomo), wine (Malbec/Shiraz), Matte


(traditional tea served in a gourd and shared in a circle),and a Disco (17 and up smoking like chimneys) to name a few of our experiences. She is great.
As I write we are on a bus headed to La Chosa, a farm that Manuela's cousin Cala suggested we see and perhaps volunteer with. Cala is a waldorf student (as was I) and has recently returned from an International Youth Conference in Dornach, Switzerland, where 500 Waldorf students from all over the world gathered to meet and discuss various current topics. It is continually suprising to meet other people with similar alternative upbringings. There is even a Biodynamic farm (I grew up on a Biodynamic farm in NY) in Patagonia that we have come to learn about and will surely volunteer at. It seems people all over the World are searching for a way of living in balance with the Earth; an alternative to the path of the "Mainstream" "Takers."
The direction toward a lifestyle of excess that continues to consume our realities (especially in USA) has led to this place in time where we are already running out of water, among many other essential resources. When our watersheds become chemically-soaked cespools contaminating the Total Water Cycle, we are a plague on the earth; our source of existence. As much as this might sound pessimistically apocalyptical (like the "Matrix"), I belive the fact that more people (4million) on this earth die from contaminated water than all of the illnesses and wars combined is just one more sign of the total pollution of our environment. Until recently I have failed to see and understand these facts all
around us. I have only just begun my search to better understand these worlds within worldsworld's, and their collective Zeitgeist. Finding ways to live without a destructive, polluting footprint is one of our goals as well, and the reason for volunteering on Eco-minded farms.
The debilitating effects of humans on this earth have set a disasterous trajectory that together with focused intention we can counteract with a holistic, sustainable network of local measures. Taking steps ranging from Organic/Biodynamic Farming to using energy efficient fixtures or irrigating with graywater, we can have a positive effect---a Conscious-Movement starting in the Mind that gives purpose to the hand to recreate the land. A mind that comes to understand its' body's place in the Global Community, feeling the tension of the web connecting everything to this Earth and eachother.
Like the vibrations of a fly's wings In a spider web, our thoughts ripple through tense tendrils of maluable Life.
Through all of these jumbled words that I use to try and understand my thoughts, the most important thing to me is to make a positive impact. To be wherever I am and remain positive in action and attitude is something that I will strive for. Perhaps with others actions those small vibrations can help create something tangible, or at least strengthen the waves as they grow.

Alec & Amani

-- Expanding Experience through every Step...

To Your Health!! 9/10/09

So much talk of sickness...the swine flu!!!

It was right there in our faces when we had a layover in Mexico city and we arrived in Buenos Aires. As we approached landing in Argentina, we were given masks to wear in the airport.


They sprayed down the plane with some deoderizer. It was strange...we had been in a plane in close proximity to so many people without worries. I know that an airport has many more germs, but doesn't an enclosed plane???
Anyway, we landed and I noticed only a few people were wearing them. Mostly the elderly. None of the babies, which I think I would be a bit more cautious about. I did not see one airport employee wearing one.
What was really interesting was getting back on the plane after our layover in Mexico City. They have these body scanners...almost like infrared...that check your temperature before you enter the terminal. I guess if you have a temperature they don't let you on the plane?!?!


I also noticed that there were several airport employees in wheelchairs. It made me think about the U.S. I never see handicap workers. Does that mean that the U.S. provides disabled individuals with money for disability which doesn't allow for the opportunity to work? Is this negative? A cycle where people become dependent? Isn't it better to provide opportunity to allow persons to feel self sufficient? Lack of work for the handicap seems to be a way of saying "you are incapable." Please comment if you have any information to educate me:) Please always feel free to comment!!!

Change in topic...Alec and I hung out at a really nice local guys place last night, Simon (the Magician),


and watched the futball match - Argentina vs Paraguay. Argentina did not win. Argentinians not happy:( On Sunday, I hope we will go with Simon to a futball match! Simon is from the country and showed us a map of all these amazing places he has gone in Patagonia, and that he encourages us to go to. He is very nice:)
I am realizing that the longer I stay in the city, I want to go to the country. Buenos Aires is nice, but it is just another City.


One thing I can say for sure about this city is the people are wonderful!!!!!!!


Today, Alec and I are going to check out a farm about an hour west of Buenos Aires. I believe it may be Waldorf influenced. I hope there is some opportunity with children there. If it works out, it will be our next adventure:)



Amani & Alec

-- Expanding Experience through every Step...

Beginnings...

It has only been 4 days, and Alec and I have been overwhelmed with the most positive people and experiences. People who we have met for only a matter of moments have befriended us, invited us to stay in their homes, walked us completely out of their way to bus stops, given us keys to their apartments, shared their bombilla (straw for mate), spoken for hours on topics of poitics and life.
Alec and I strive to be concious. We are awake and prepared to learn and open our eyes and ears to everyone and everything around us. We have been and plan to speak our truths, listen to others, and most importantly, educate ourselves.


Movement...to dance, drum, paint, move through the earth open-heartedly, honestly, and to use our voice, mind, and body.


On our 10 hour layover in mexico city, Alec and I went out and about. We saw farmers protesting for their land which had been "reclaimed" by the government,


we met a young artist named Gabriel who educated us on the immigrants movement and gave us an art sketchbook to pass along on our travels,


and we listened and watched a group of people in the streets performing a traditinal Aztec dance (the exact one I saw with amalia in the u.s. only a few days before our departure-foreshadowing?)


So through these experiences, I have been reminded that there is love and community in this world. But i have also been reminded that their is injustice. I see it in the 3, 4, and 5 year old children that run on and off of the trains begging for money. I saw it when an 80 year old woman got onto a packed train and not one person stood up to give her a seat. I turned to Alec and asked him "is it our responsibility to speak for those who do not speak for themselves?" We never did speak. She stood there swaying back and for as the subway stopped and started. A man stood up by me and exited the train, i shifted my body in front of the seat and asked Alec to get the woman's attention. He did. Gratefully, she extended her hand to him as he helped her along. Another man, not even 20, entered the train and tried to squeeze by me to sit in the empty seat. "no no no" I said. I gestured to the elderly woman. The man glared at Alec and I, Alec stating "una problema?" We were both astonished. It was at that moment we realized that it is our responsibility to speak for those who do not and cannot speak for themselves.
This trip is a time for Alec and I to be concious outside our daily routine. But our ultimate goal is to learn to open our eyes and use our words always. To be aware through constant listening, learning, writing, reading, dancing, drumming, educating, loving, and living.
Amani y Alec


-- Expanding Experience through every Step...