I Belong Here!!

Have you ever woken up and thought...God... I am really happy? Rightnow I am going through a moment of euphoria where everything seems to be just perfect. I wake up and the sun is just out there waiting for me to come out. I get up, take a shower, and do the routinary things. Then I got to the market and look for something that looks good to eat. It is like an adventure every moring. I begin to think....what should I eat today? How about the Fish? The Mango rice looks really good too? I also miss the pancakes...so I make a compromise between mango rice and the pancakes and leave the fish option for the noon time. After breakfast...I say thaks to God from time to time and then I lift my backpack onto my shoulder, strap my small pack to my shoulders and begin to walk in any direction. The phylosopy that keeps me walking is that I have no phylosopy and that I am looking for one. I constantly think if I will ever find what I am looking for? I find that this method of wondering into thought is what many people call meditatio. It really works. It keeps my shoulders from hurting. I get so lost in thought that I forget that I have about 45 pounds on my back. Anyway...for the first time in a really long time i feel free. I feel that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing....Whatever that is. Perhaps I am going crazy...but if this is crazy..then please let me be this way. Happy! No. Internally contempt. Yes. Dear, freinds stay in touch I love hearing from you.

Mario

Thailand Experience!!

Dear Friends,

I would like to tell you my Thai story and experience. The Thai story is one that has no measure in my mind. It has broken all my pre-conceived notions. Thailand has been really enriching as well as easy to travel. The people are so friendly that one always thinks--when am i going to get robbed? That feeling goes away after a while.

Before I go on. I have to tell you about my first Thai experience. I took the plane from Narita in Japan, I made a stop over in Korea. In the airport, I checked my email and in doing so..i made eye contact with a young woman she smiled and then i smiled back. She came over and introduced herself. She was coming from the United States and was on her way to Thailand. She came to talk to me because she thought I was also Thai. I told her that I was not Thai, but that I was traveling to Thailand. She said that she was also going there. To our surprise, we had the same flight from Korea to Bangkok. We had a few hours to wait before our flight so she went off to do her own thing. I then got into the plain and she was sitting right across from me. We did not talk on the plane, but constantly looked over. When we finally arrived to Bangkok, everyone got up and the masses directed themselves to Baggage Claim. I did not thing of anything when I got off the plane, but later I hear a voice from behind who called my name. It was the same Thai woman from the Plane. She asked where I was going(a very common question in Thailand) and that if I had a hotel reservation already. I told her that I was going to Kaosand Road and that I did not have a reservation. Then we got to baggage claim and got our bags. She came over and asked me if I knew how to get to the area where i was going. I told her that I was going to take a taxi. She told me that the service was really expensive and that I could get a better deal outside the airport(this is true) and that maybe even her uncle could take me to Kaosan. I refused, but then she insisted. I was a little nervous at this time because she asked me to come out of the airport and ask her uncle for a ride. I came out and there was the usual airport crowd of individuals embracing their loved ones. The she said there... that is my family. I felt a little more relief when I saw a complete family. She then asked her uncle were if he could give me a ride to Kaosan. To this he replied that he could not take me all the way but could get me close and then I could take a taxi. I said it was ok and then we went on our way. We crammed into a small pick up truck and got on our way. We talked about her experience in the US and she said that it had been a very positive one. She said that a lot of people helped her and that she promised to help people in return. Then, after about an hour, the truck stopped in a long highway. The uncle stopped a taxi told the driver to take me to Kaosan and to put the meter on. The family put me in the taxi and gave me a phone number. She said " when you get there call us to see that you are O.K. I nodded and said that I would call back. She asked me if i had coins. I did not have any so she made her boyfriend to cough up some coins and she was about to give them to me, but I told her that she had already done a lot for me and that I could make some change. This experience has stayed with me for a long time and so I decided to share it. So the point of the experience is that that experience is not unique....Thai people are just that nice. Now...I was a little afraid to come to Thailand by myself, but this place is more safe than other places I have been. People here are not violent and do not want to get your material things. They do take advantage of you other ways, but never by force. You always pay more for things because you are a foreigner. I prefer to pay more for thing than to be mugged.

Thailand!!!

I have taken a long break from this blog to reflect on what I have seen so far. Anyway, a few days ago I went on a trekking trip in the Thai Jungle. The first day I had a great time because I saw new things. I saw the beautiful mountains with their awesome flora and fauna. It was great to walk through the rice fields and get mud on my shoes and feel the cool breeze that slowly moved the rice plants. The group I traveled with made it very exciting. We bonded really well on the tough times. We had blisters in our feet, we were really cold and hungry, but also celebrated by showering in the naturally occurring pools in the Jungle. I must say that the experience will leave a long lasting mark in my memory. As we got deeper into the Jungle, we began to hear more natural sound. Naturally occurring waterfalls and beautiful birds, and then after a days worth of walking, we ran into a small village. The small village was made up of 10 houses. These houses were really vulnerable to the elements, but they felt warm. The families living there greeted us as we walked into the town. I made my rounds though the village and observed what they did. The families were primarily farming and hunting families. They were separating rice from the plants. It was a great thing to see. Later at night the beautiful children sang songs to us. I have made a small recording of the beautiful voices from the small children who came to sing for us. I must say that I have been touched by this experience. Now...i must go..but more is coming up.

The Crazy Adventures in Japan (up date)

If you are reading this blog entry, I want to say thanks for reading and would like to congratulate you for putting up with so much crap I am writing. Anyway, here is something kind of funny that happened to me a few nights ago. After being tired of paying about $50 dollars, I moved to a cheaper place. There I met a woman who we will call Mrs. G for now. I arrived to the new place after a long intense search for the address because this house is really outside Tokyo. Anyway, I got there and she was going out to the Indian Embassy. However, the house only has two key and she was taking one. I was really hungry and insisted I kept the key to go eat. She did not want to give up the key and so I suggested to come along if she didn't mind. She agreed and said that she was going to meet a friend in Shinjuku. So we got on our way, we talked for a while and she gave me a good insight of her life. As we were talking, she said that she had forgotten to check where to get off for the Embassy and so we made a pit stop at a coffee shop. This Coffee Shop was like Nordstroms x 20 in luxury and price. Anyway...She told me that it would be useless for me to pay and go all the way to the Indian embassy and that she was going to meet her friend here at this exact place. She asked me to wait there and wait for her friend. I didn't have to spend money to go with her. I waited and browse the internet and after an hour a japanese woman kicked me out of the station and was told to sit elsewhere. However, soon after that, both Mrs. G and her friend come by. We talked for a while and then headed out to a bar. It was a gay bar. I did not mind because I payed $10 for all you can drink wine for two hours. In those two hours my friend Mrs. G got so drunk and got us in more trouble than I have gotten in my whole trip thus far.....to be continued

So Mrs. G was completely wasted and then tried to go dancing on the stripping pole at the bar. Howevers, there were some drinks on the little stage and she spilt them. A couple of american girls got mad because those were their drinks and wanted to her to pay for them. The girls came up to me and asked me to take care of my girlfriend. To this I replied that she was not my girlfriend and that I had barely met them. They then told me to just ditch them, but I explained that I had come with them and being so new in Tokyo I did not know where to go. They calmed down after I explained my situation, they became more friendly and did not bother me anymore. In the meatime, Mrs. G was having the time of her life trying to pick on someone. She got really anoying and we decided to leave the bar. Soon after we left, she fell to the grownd and began vomiting. I was really embarrassed because everyone was staring as she just laid ther in the foor. A little later, we called a taxi cab and loaded her into it. However to my good luck she began to vomit and we did not have anything to put on the Taxi sit. So what do I do? I took off my polo shirt so that the she does not make matters worst with the taxi driver. We then arrived to Mrs. G's friend's house and slept there. The next morning when we were due to return to our hostel, we found out that she had lost her hand bag with both her money for the ticket and her passprot with the Indian visa in it. We looked for it for a really long time and did not find it. It was a true nightmare. After looking for it for a while...she phoned the house where we were staying and made arrangements with other travellers to meet at 1pm because she had the only key to the house. We somehow manage to arrive later than expected and the guys at the house who had been waiting for a long time were also mad with her because she did not keep her world. Anyway to make the story shorter, this women has been by far the most complicated person I have ever dealt in my life. She told me a little about her and told me that she did not understand why nobody liked her. At first, I did not know what to think because I had barely met her. However, she really made mad because she never thanked her friend for paying for the cab, for taking her into her house(with a stranger), for wasting her evening. She pissed me off also because she did not say thinks for puking on my shirt and because later she dare to suggest that I could have been the person who stold her money. Now that I am far far away for this person...i would sugges to keep as far away as possible for she will make your life a living hell.

The Tokyo Rumble!!

I have been in Tokyo about 4 days and have been shocked with the Japanese society quite a bit. I have never seen a large city such as Tokyo without the usual homeless population. I constantly wonder...where have this people gone. This curiosity my get me in a little of trouble, but I have decided to start asking where are the homeless people and what happens of them. I am really sure that there are homeless, but I do not see them. All I have seen in Tokyo and most of the train lines is the typical Japanese that we all imagine. The highly fashionable, clumsy, shy Japanese girls and the un-kept Japanese men. On the surface Japan seems great, but is it really? I have also found that Tokyo has one of the largest and most active Red Light districts of the world. I read in a book that the sex industry brings about 2.3 trillion Yen...now that is a lot of money. From my personal inferences, it is not hard to imagine why the Japanese sex industry is so active here. Life in Tokyo is extremely expensive this means that children from a household will live with their parents until their marriage. Japan also has one of the lowest if not the lowest birth rates in the world. Japanese men are pushed to the limit to make something out of themselves in this ever shrinking job market. So why do I mention this facts and mention the sex industry? I do it just to perhaps acknowledge that there is some kind of repression(internalization) that may translate into a sexual one. I am not trying to infer that that is the cause of the robust sex industry, but that there may be some connection. So...do I think Japan is beautiful? Yes. However, we the tourist and the people who come to Japan for a while only see the surface of a complex society with problems like the rest of the world. Now if I compare the lifestyle of a Japanese child with that of a child in Mexico. You may think that this is an apples and oranges comparison, but if you look at it closer. What would you rather be a child who has little but has time to play in the dirt or a child who has a lot(by this I mean both social and economical pressure like the Japanse) ?

Konnichiwa( hello) from Japan!!

Here I am sitting in Tokyo, one of richest cities of the world. The place where people study, work, and spend like crazy. That is right....one can spend a few thousand dolars in just minutes and not know where they went. Here is a small budget for the arrival to Tokyo on a morning to Narita Airport. Firtst, you get there and spend $10 dollars for a train ticket from the airport to anywhere in Tokyo...then another $10 dollars for a small breakfast, then another $10 dollars to get to your hotel, then another $10 dollars for lunch, then $15 for dinner plus a beer. Now you are set to check into the hostel and that will cost you a good $60dollars just for the night so this comes to a whopping $115 dollars for a basic day. This is so basic that it hurts my brains that I have to do this for about 30 days. I really need to cut down on the spending or just stay home and not come out-that is impossible however. You always meet some traveler who invites you to go this place or that pace. Anyway..that is just the spending and that is not the hardest part about being in Japan. What I have found to be really difficult is the actual atmophere here in Japan. To begin with somethign simple, you cannot stare into peoples eyes because it is not common to do so. You barely see people smiling and never, ever, ever do you see people hugging or kissing at all. I find this somewhat depressing since I am more affectionate. I am not trying to say that my way is better all I am trying to express is my shock to it. I once again feel very foreing because the language barrier is quite big. I am lucky to have taken some Japanese lessons in high schoo, else I don`t know what I would have done.　Anyway, back to life style. I find the Japanese lifestyle very interesting. Contrary to Latin american culture where individuals go out to the streets to merely socialice, Japanese individuals seem to take off to the streets to escape the reality of the small world that surrounds them. i.e their samall appartmets. Staying at home may feel crowded and thus people go out to the large oppen spaces in the city or take off to the tall building where space is ample. Life here is both interesting and challenging, I have not completely been able to engage in a conversation with any japanese people and my learning here will be merely my interpretation of what I think they are doing. I will not be able to really ask why they do things, but even if I did speak the language, I am not sure they would want toanswer. Anyway....here it goes nothing I am really tired to write this and soon a couple of Indian friends will be comming to join me so I better stop the rumbble. I am sure the next entry will be a bit more complete. Now, all I can do is try to adjust to the system and try to go with it.

Mexico Now and Always!!!!

Mexico Now and Always!!!! Now that I have spend quite a few days exploring Mexico and visiting the many angles of it. I have come to understand it and will try not to make sense of it. In Mexico, there are patterns to things and nothing makes sense...you just have to accept your ¨reality¨ and things as they are. There are alot of similarities between Mexico and the US, non the less. What do I mean by that? Well, as far as education goes, they are both pretty similar. How? In the U.S. and in Mexico, there is a certain type of individual who makes it to College and makes something out of him\her self. Things are not much different here in Mexico I found. The biggest difference between the two countries is that Mexico openly states that the private schools are not for everyone. In fact, they openly tell you that if you can´t afford them they are not for you. In the U.S. it is pretty much the same. You got money you can get into a good school. Universities here in Mexico are always in the search of talent much like in the U.S. They also have scholarships dedicated to students who really excell in school. An administrator at the UDEM told me that it did not matter if you were a fresa( snob) or came to schoool in Huaraches(meanding you were indigenous) so long as you were producing it did not matter where you came from. I thought that was pretty funy. Because although it may be true that it did not matter to them that the student was not Fresa (or at least of the upper class), why should it? Right? But as weird as it may seem, some of the rich, feel that they are doing a good deed by alowing some mixing between the lower and upper class. I found that to be weird. Heres is one other consept that I found pretty interesting. I found out that once a lower class student(mostly indigenous children) is taken into a private university. The student has already been selected froma group of about 20 other students who were evaluated psycologically. They go through a number of steps to assure that the student will be able to adapt to the new system and will not flunk. I found this process to be both helpful and intrusive. It is true that students who are alient to an environement need to be introduced to the new system and be protected a little bit. On the other hand, I feel it is highly introsive and unethical to put the students through such process. So...why have I title this entry ¨Mexico now and always¨ Because from the begining poverty and power have been recycled. That is the way things work here. When you ask anyone what kind of careers do students from private universities aspire you will always hear¨high end¨possitions. If you ask the students from private universities, you will hear a mix, but mostly is labor and line work. People who never go to school seen to be mostly poor or have made a living out of a business. This people who are selfemployed will never, ever, ever make it to the ¨high class¨ Sad but true....Mexico Now and Always.

Learning about Mexico...Morelia, Tzintzuntzan, Puebla!

Bare in mind that I have not formaily lived in Mexico. So here is some rumbbling about what I have learned about the cities that I have visited in Mexico. So far, I have noticed a lot of positive things one can appreciate and learn from Mexico. One of the greatest things that I have experienced is the need of individuals to make something out of themeselves. Live here is so harsh that people do whatever it takes to make life. On the other hand, people have developed a sensce of high sel- esteem and don´t take offense of things too personal. There are three things that most cities in Mexico have and that I have learned from. 1. People here are very business oriented. They sell, buy, trade anything! For example, a few days ago I met a lady who owned a computer cafe, who gave English leassons, who rented appartments, who gave vaccine shots, who rented a telephone service, and who knows what other things she did. So my learning leasson here is that most individuals can be business minded given the situation....you just have to fine tune some things, find your market and begin making the bucks. The most imoprtant thing is to get off my butt!! 2. People here don´t waste anything and save like crazy. I know of a friend who does not waste anything. I have found myself to be quite wasteful in colthes, food, and the most expenseve of all, beer. I have learned that if you want to make it anywhere in this country you really have to save, save, save and you can get what you need and possibly what you want. 3. The third thing that I learned in Mexico is to be confident and motivate yourself. Here there are different classes of individuals and everyone is aware of that. So in order to co-exist, one must learn how to deal with the discrimination, the class clash, and the overt signs of your class. So what have I learned...I have learned to relly on myself and always walk with my head high and aknowledge my self-worth. This are the three things that I have learned from this country and some of the things that I plant to put in practice starting now. I hope you find this story interesting...I willl give you a more descriptive one later because that will take a lot of time to descrive. The colors, the smells, the sights, the ideas, and the social role are something to experince.... Pictures and Videos to come!!

Lucky Me

Today I have arrived to Mexico with my backback and a large bag that my mother felt appropriate to send with me. I was lucky however to find myself well in Guadalajara. The flight into Guadalajara was supposed to be really bumpy but it wasn´t or i was too tired to tell. Once in Guadalajara it took about 3 taxi rides and 2 bus rides to finally get to my home town in Mexico. I wasn´t expecting it to be this rainy and wet. However, being from Seattle, I find it rather great specially since the atmosphere really remids me of my early days as a child here in this small town. The intense rain has helped to mountains to be carpeted with great deal of wild flowers. The ones that remember smelling and seeing when I lived here still bloom like I remember. Ohh, Here is why I really lucked out. I am lucky because it did not rain since I touched land in Guadalajara-- there was not a single drop of rain, but an hour later it was all different....It just rained cats and dogs--So I guess I can´t get away from the rain. Anyway, I will post pics and whatever else later.

Mexico Mi Tierra Natal

Aqui es donde comienza la travesia de este aventuroso viaje. Con un poco de nervio y anciedad, me mantengo siempre atado al principio de aventrua. Ya que no es miedo pero mas bien un impulso extrano que me domina a segir adelante. Me quiero tomar esta oportunidad para invitarles a seguir mi recorido por Mexico y el resto del Mundo. Espero que les inspire o al menos de curiosidad de ver lo que acontce en mi viaje. Yo se que habra una avismal nostalgia cuando me despida de todos mis queridos pero les aseguro que me los llevare en mi mente. Y espero que al igual se acuerden de mandarme noticias sobre ustedes. Pues bien, espero que esto sea un buen inicio. Vayamos Adelante!