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‹ Previous (11/07/2010) MONTH Next (2010-09-09)› ‹ Previous (2010-10-08 - Canada) COUNTRY Next (2011-01-23 - Mexico)› US Bellingham, WA (see on map) 10/08/2010:
We arrived to Bellingham, the last city on the west coast of the United States before reaching Canada on a rainy day. But no matter, because we did not intend to visit or see the city, we simply wanted to find again a good friend, Amy, the girl from Alaska that we had stayed with a year ago in Xining in China. Returning and confirming her hospitality, Amy let us her room while she took possession of the sofa in the shared house where she lived. Anyway, that night we did not go to bed early because before we were all together, including the sociable flatmates with whom she lived, to a party at a private home or a house party. As we were explained, the house parties are very popular among youth in the United States, far more than the clubs or pubs. One of Amy´s friends was dj and selected music very good, while the rest, about 30 or 40, half of whom were dressed amusingly ridiculous ways we danced animatedly. Each of the partygoers had brought the bottles or cans of alcohol for personal consumption, a good way for people not to take advantage of others by consuming their alcohol, but also it could be interpreted as a lack of confidence or willingness to share. I, who was so unprepared, I preferred to pay a few dollars and drink the punch that had been mixed at home. Anyway, the next day I felt very tired and I spent much of Sunday asleep, I have definitely not had the energy from when I was younger, or the same ability to tolerate alcohol, meanwhile, Alexandra spent much of Sunday and Monday and shopping with Amy. On Monday we enjoyed another interesting aspect of American youth culture, when Amy invited us to a concert where she played in another private home. Amy explained that three weeks ago had created a band with two other boys and had already composed five songs and that would be the second concert they were doing. Other housemates told us that in the United States people highly valued the more amateur work and therefore much easier to start a band, because there are private parties where you are invited to play and where you can start doing some money by selling your CDs or products, something very different to Europe, where groups spend time rehearsing in the garage before going out to play. That night they played four bands of music in a small house where came another 30 or 40 people. It was not the best music that I had ever heard, but experienced one of the most stunning environments where i had been, which encouraged participants to continually appreciate amateur composers, musicians and singers. The second band were three girls from Oakland (near San Francisco) who did a tour of the West Coast of the United States acting in private homes where they were invited. The next day Amy told us that she was also fond of poetry and it was also natural that poets do tours around the country, reciting their poems in private homes and then selling their CDs or books. Definitely, in the United States there were things that worked better than in Europe, such as universities, which are quite free (at least hers) where you could study whatever you want, even pick your particular studies. What was not so positive were the prices of public universities, whose annual fees could cost between $ 8,000 and $ 20,000, so that many students had to borrow money to study, although a few were granted scholarships. We also talked about many other issues with Amy and her friends, including the disastrous U.S. penal system, where prisons are private and financed by the government. According to Amy justice did not act well, producing many errors, in addition to apply differently according to communities, including gays, African Americans, ... The system causes that the prisons are full of people who have driving offenses or for possession of marijuana, something ominous because after serving the sentence is very difficult to find work. Then there are the death sentences, later applied in many cases through DNA testing shows that the defendants were innocent. Despite the reality of their descriptions, inevitably view Amy was affected by the case of her cousin, as she explained, at the age of 17 he slept with a boy of 10 years old several times. At age 22, a friend read the diary of his cousin in which he described his experience and submitted it to the police to report it. This proof allowed justice, influenced by the boy´s father, who was a policeman, to condemn her cousin to 20 years in prison, too much Amy considered.
After spending four relaxed days in Bellingham with Amy, we left the cloudy days of the coast and began to make way inland, where the sun shone again and the temperature rise. The state road number 20, rated as the most beautiful of Washington, was ascending a gentle valley, entering the North Cascades National Park. Surely, this National Park was the least attractive visited so far, because the mountains were not as spectacular, but also for much of the journey we were accompanied by lines and pylons and also followed some large dams that accumulated water without beeing too attractive. In the afternoon I did a short walk to Rainy Lake and back driving the last few miles to get to Twisp, where we hoped to meet Debbi. Debbi, is originally from Portland but since two weeks ago she lives in Twisp, a small town that she fell inlove with. At night, when temperatures cooled a bit, we walked about the town´s main street, with most of the houses built of wood, some with an aesthetic of wild west movies. The next day we discovered the little town, strolled down to the butcher and even to a supermarket on the shelves of which were several stuffed animals including a lion, because the owner was a fan of the game. Participating in the summer activities of the town, in the afternoon, Debbi took us to the river where we swam with other boys who came to refresh themselves in the cold waters. We also went to the theater at sunset to see a very interesting play that dealt about death. And at night, we went to the house of a friend of Debbi and watched the night ski for a fantastic shower of shooting stars, lying on the lawn of her house with the lights off. It was very interesting to live the village life where people leave their house doors unlocked, even when not present, or leave without tying the bikes. Equally interesting was talking to Debbie, a professor of economics who believed that the current economic system will collapse, because it is based on continued growth, but in a world with limited resources it can not grow forever and therefore at one time or another will melt. Speaking about American culture, Debbi brought some curious reflections, explaining that the Americans are like children and they expect the State to act as a parent. The U.S. government was paternalistic because it wants to avoid any possibility that people get hurt, because it takes the responsibility from people for their safety, while people think the government is really responsible. According to Debbi, in Europe, people became more accountable for their actions and for example they illegally cross the railroad tracks, and if they do it they know its their own risk. In contrast, in the United States, the government must prevent all possible ways to cross the railroad tracks, because otherwise people will cross the tracks and then blame the government if an accident occurs. Businesses must also monitor the safety of their employees or clients, and for example in MDonalds coffee sold in containers that warn ´Beware of the beverage is hot´ because a few years ago a woman was burned by coffee and had to be compensated with money because the glass did not announce that coffee could burn.
Since the beginning of the journey through America we are very lucky to be hosted for free by many diverse and interesting people. Fortunately, its been a while since me and Alexandra are in CouchSurfing and we have many references, including comments from people who had stayed before starting the journey, encouraging people who we contact for hosting to be delighted to receive us. Since our arrival we had asked only to stay in the cities, sleeping in the other occasions in the van, but some days i had proposed to Alexandra to start to contact people from small towns or even live on farms or country houses. Thus we were hosted by Debbi in the small town of Twisp and then by Angie and her family who welcomed us to marvel at their ranch in the town of Colville, still in Washington but close to Idaho. When we got home guided by GPS, Angie was not there, but no matter, because her daughter Clarissa welcomed us cordially. After talking a bit with her, Clarissa took us to visit the farm animals, many of whom had only the role of pets, among whom were a couple of dogs, a cat, two ponies, several horses, different types of hamsters, a pig, geese, ducks, a peacock, a large bird similar to an ostrich, and other animals that I forgot. While we visited the animals, Angie called and suggested we go for a beer to a small brewery in town, where there was a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Then we returned to the farm with Angie, who introduced us to the other children in the family: Elli (Clarissa´s twin sister), Rachel and Luc, and later Denis, her husband. Angie explained, Denis had always lived in the country and earned their living by farming different cereals and fodder, while she and her daughters took care of animals, including cows that only generate a profit by selling milk. As was the custom among the people we have been staying with in the U.S., we offered to cook, and that night we ate a large omelette, a Spanish dish that Alexandra can cook very well. Alexandra was lucky that the family had a non stick paella, hard to find in other American households. Moreover, the next morning Angie cooked delicious pancakes, we covered them with raspberry grown in the garden and homemade cream . After breakfast we went to see a display of aircrafts at the small airport in Collville, a competition for amateur cowboys that caught calves with ribbons, and in the evening we attended the wedding reception of a friend, which was quite simple. Compared to the wedding parties in Spain, it had little food, but instead, participants were not obliged to bring gifts of a value equivalent to the cost of the banquet. The next day, Sunday, I still enjoyed the company of the family in the morning resting and gathering berries, and in the afternoon back to relax on the banks of the Columbia River. At night, like we did last night, we showed some photos of our trip. As we explained our trip, Angie was saddened to learn that in some countries the Americans had vetoed the entry or complicated (Iran, Syria, Sudan ,...) and in many other countries U.S. had very bad publicity. Noting this family and all the other people encountered during our trip to North America, I too have made it difficult to believe that there are countries that do not wish to receive our friends as tourists or visitors. We were in the same situation that we encountered in Iran, a country where people and culture are so wonderful, although the policies of their governments will cause enemies around the world. During our stay in Collville, we had many times to talk with Angie and her daughters. Among many other interesting stories, Angie explained the case of Denis, who had a serious accident while working on the farm. Angie found him unconscious with head completely covered in blood, necessitating an emergency transport helicopter to the nearby city of Spokane, where he remained involved and admitted for a week and then continue treatment at home. Unfortunately, the family had no health insurance, and soon they reached the helicopter bill and the hospital was up about $ 60,000. Fortunately, being a family known in Colville, the community reacted and a friend organized a collection that raised $ 40,000, while the hospital lowered the bill. Another topic of conversation was religion, although this time it was not me who started the topic, it was Alexandra who was interested in the beliefs of Angie, while I listened a bit. Angie explained that she had read a little about all the Christian religions and had ended by deciding not to cling to any sect and interpret the Bible according to her intuition and not trying to impose their views to anyone. So Angie was seen as a Christian very open and tolerant of other religions, but lately she was sad that the U.S. government and justice were restricting the public display of religious symbols, not to offend other communities. So, now can not expose Christmas cribs in public places or a few crosses are being dismantled from government land.
After a hearty breakfast of pancakes, bacon, hamburger, cream, berries and coffee, we returned to the road east toward Glacier National Park, where we arrived at night. We camped outside the park, for in all U.S. national parks is forbidden to sleep outside the camping areas of payment. The next day we entered the park without too much interest, but as the road ascended through a valley, the rugged mountains of snow and we began to love it. And much more I loved the park when I did a morning hike to the falls of St. Mary and Virginia, and in the evening to a neck with magnificent views of Hidden Lake. The next day I did another walk much longer and more spectacular to the Grinnell Glacier, having to walk 10 kilometers and ascend 500 meters of altitude. After the effort, most of the people were resting on the lake watching the glacier to the bottom but I crossed a river half wetting my shoes and went to the glacier. Encouraged by another couple who were my steps, I came to the center of the glacier, which offered a spectacular variety of ice, rock and water. Anyway, when I jumped back over one of the cracks covered by rocks and ice, but just prop up the foot to the other side felt a ´creck´ very serious and deep that made me run to the mainland trying to be lighter than a cat. It took me a while to get me the fright of the body, thinking that perhaps he had taken a risk too great to enjoy a new perspective on the scenery and take a good photo. From what I regretted was not having walked 10 miles uphill, but on returning to descend I was quite tired. Fortunately, after five hours, Alexandra was waiting below with the table set, happy also to have had a relaxed morning reading the end of a book and the beginning of another and sitting in the shade of a tree. Parque Nacional Yellowstone (see on map) 24/08/2010:
Although the U.S. west coast, there were many desert places, it was not until the state of Montana, crossing from north to south, that I remembered the words of an American who once told me: ´If you ever want to be really alone and enjoy solitude, you have to go to U.S.. ´ And it really was so, because this land in Europe (or elsewhere) would be crowded with small farms and small towns for many generations. In contrast, the United States, this undulating landscape of dry grass and distant mountains, had only marks of human presence in ten or twenty miles, with some tiny little village, a farm, grain harvesters, or occasionally large areas of fields remained green irrigated with heavy machinery. However, where for sure could not find solitude in natural parks, some of which annually receive up to 2 million people, or three million in the case of Yellowstone, but in general we do not feel overwhelmed in any park, due to good infrastructure (roads and parking lots) and the great diversity of interesting places to visit and excursions to be made. Yellowstone was the first park created around the world in 1872, and it is not surprising given the beauty and fantastic spectacular scenery and attractions. Yellowstone Park is situated on a volcanic caldera that it heats ground water to temperatures well above the boiling point causing such pressure that they did shoot out high above the surface, creating the geysers, hot springs, fumaroles and mud boats. There is no other place on earth with such a concentration of geysers like Yellowstone, some of them periodically rising to 40 or 50 meters, but most impressive were the colours of the many pools and boiling water rivers inhabited by different species of bacteria water painted with intense blues, reds, yellows and greens. The place really was magical, but not only the land views were spectacular, as the park across the Yellowstone River and many other rivers that meandered deep canyons and breathtaking waterfalls jumping. Also the fauna inhabiting the park was amazing, repeatedly visualizing large herds of bison grazing peacefully or with males fighting over females in heat, including a pair of deer, but not the dreaded Grizzlies. Sometimes we stand next to some cars with occupants holding bulky telescopes and they told us they had seen a Grizzlie bear time out from behind a bush, for us it was a huge waste of time, especially since a few weeks ago we had seen up to 8 bears in a single day in Sequoia National Park. We need three full days to visit the main attractions of Yellowstone, anyway, we had a week away from the last stop at a farm in Colville, and half of the visit of the park we decided to make another stop to enjoy for a couple of days the hospitality of Dan in Jackson. Dan proved to be a fun and interesting guy, but from the start we sensed that he could also be bipolar and conflicting. The next day, after he went out partying while we slept in the van, Dan explained that he had grown up in a Christian sect that believed the universe was created 6500 years ago, denied the evolution of species and were convinced that the end of the world was imminent and that only they will enter into paradise. Fortunately, the preacher (who had a private television and had funded two universities) died, and his successor shortly thereafter, leaving the sect in the hands of the son of his successor, who decided to integrate the Christian sect in a more mainstream current, causing great anger among the faithful. It was at this time that Dan when he was 18, he realized that all the dogmas which had believed since childhood had no meaning and became an atheist. However, Dan had not left completely the sect, since in the past had suffered traumatic experiences he had failed to cure completely. Moreover, it was clear that the social interaction he had developed as anadult, becoming a much more sociable than average, but while often surpassing established social boundaries, such as making dissonant sexual comments. The second day in the afternoon, Dan took us on a cable car to the top of a mountain, where in winter you can ski down slopes with a vertical drop of 1,000 feet, making Jackson a tourist town, thanks to its proximity to national parks of Teton and Yellowstone. Dan left in the evening to party again while we were resting back in the van. The next morning was devoted to change the engine oil of the van and then Dan went home, where he was a little strange. We started working with computers, while Dan drank a whole bottle of rum and began to wander and have mood swings. The truth is that we felt very uncomfortable and when Dan fell asleep, we decided to advance our leaving that same afternoon. I called him to wake him, but did not react and just leaving a note in spite of all, we appreciated the many good times together. Then drove a few miles to the edge of the Snake River, 2,000 meters altitude, off the Teton Mountains, where we relaxed the remaining hours of the day. The previous two nights the thermometer had dropped to 5 degrees C and decided to spend no more cold, the next night I slept dressed, t-shirt, long sleeve shirt and sweater, under the sheet and light blanket and hugging Alexandra. However, that night was chilly and the two spent a hellish cold. The next morning, before returning to make way to Yellowstone and looked at the thermometer it marked -3 º C. We definitely have to buy a rug, because the one Jordan gave us in Hollywood it might be insufficient in the fall of the East Coast. On the other hand, commenting Alexandra that i preferred the Dead Valley heat (50 º C) than to spend another night of those, and she replied that I had gone mad (and probably was).
The two days after Yellowstone Park´s we took it easy, driving towards Rapid City and by the way, the Bighorn Canyon, a spectacular but not too photogenic, and Devils Tower the next day (or Devil´s Tower), an impressive mountain that rises vertically, consisting of columns of rock formed during the cooling of a large mass of magma and subsequent shrinkage and fragmentation. Finally, in the evening we arrived at Carrie, who lived with her son in a trailer or caravan a little deteriorated. When we arrived there was another girl also hosted by Carrie Couchsurfing, Kaylene, from Washington State and she had started a trip with a van with the intention to settle and work in any other place in America that attracted her sufficiently. Robbie was a co-worker of Carrie in ´AmeriCorps Vista´ or ´Voluntaeers of America, a nonprofit organization with a spiritual basis, depending on Carrie, because not only Christian or native Indian community would want to participate. The organization helps poor families, which number about 37 million across the U.S., helping in emergency situations (for example by providing home to homeless people) and triggering mechanisms for disadvantaged families that could become self-sufficient. We commented to Carrie that we had not seen living homeless on the street since we had left the West Coast, but Carrie told us that there were also poor in the interior, also in South Dakota had a large community of Native Americans, traditionally much more in need than the rest of the population. Carrie told us that even she was a recipient of AmeriCorps Vista, for study at university while maintaining a child and has caused big debts which should have led to ruin, unless the organization would have paid the studies in exchange for helping families or women who have gone through a similar situation to yours. During the talk we had at the first encounter, Robbie commented that in the weekend he would go to a pow-wow, a gathering of Indian tribes that included singing and dancing contests, and encouraged us to attend. Although we had planned to stay three or four days visiting nearby attractions in Rapid City, I finally lured by the attractive proposal, leaving only the next day, Friday, to visit a few of the local attractions. Of course we did not want to lose Mount Rushmore, the famous monument that summarizes the first 150 years of American history with the sculptures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Rushmore was conceived and built during the 30s to attract tourists and really worked, because the entire road linking Rushmore Rapid City was filled with theme parks, villages set in the mid-west, animal parks, .. . These highlighted a number of large sculptures of dinosaurs, recalling that in the black mountain hills or Bad Lands (visited the next day) had found many fossils of prehistoric animals. The same mount Rushmore was conceived as a major tourist attraction, with a huge parking lot in his foot that we refuse to pay. So after all the relevant photos from the outside, then headed for another attraction of the area, the cave of the jewel (jewel cave), the second largest cave in the world, which have been explored for just 245km of corridors, which represent only 2% of the total volume of the cave, estimated from the amount of air that the cave exhale when outside pressure drops or you get when the external pressure increases. According to this calculation, there may be 10,000 km of corridors to explore, so there are always volunteer cavers to increase the knowledge of the cave. In any case, visiting one of the rooms of the cave was not very extraordinary, apart from a few streaks of glittering crystals on the ceiling.
On Saturday early morning we drive to the east, the direction of Rosebud Indian reservation, home to the pow-wow. As we were driving to the east, the rolling landscape would be flattened and roads were straight, with only two possible directions: north, south, east-west, and total absence of roads with curves or diagonal drawn on map. En route we stopped at Wall, a village that had long attracted tourists by offering 5-cent coffee and free fresh water. Then we turn to Bad Lands, another park we would have viewed with much greater ease if not for our next appointment. In any case it was interesting to follow the road crossing that great expanse of hills and mountains extremely eroded by the rains and floods. Before arriving at the Pow-wow, I changed the shirt I had bought weeks ago for $ 2 at a supermarket, which had represented a large American flag. I thought that Native Americans would not be too happy with the nationality imposed on them one or two centuries ago, but surprisingly, the circular stage which accounted for the different ceremonies and dances was surrounded by American flags being waved with great solemnity. At the same time on different occasions honored native soldiers who had served the army and had fought for his country in various foreign wars who had participated in the U.S.. In any case, I was also surprised that during the act elevate some native soldiers captured a few flags with pride to General Custer, a U.S. general from the late nineteenth century detested by the natives, for he had the task of entering in Indian villages killing women, children and adults until the tribal leaders see reason and agree to migrate to the tiny reserves assigned to them. Anyway, before the United States Army got this goal, several tribes of Indians had succeeded in stopping and annihilate the entire battalion of Custer, killing 268 American soldiers, including General Custer. Custer captured flags, amid the American flags during the ceremony, there was no longer a way to reclaim the pride of belonging to the tribe, while showing pride in belonging to the country. Apart from the ceremonies of the flags and enhancement of native soldiers, most of the pow-wow was a contest of two days of ancient dances and songs accompanied by drums. It was fascinating to see ourselves transported to the age of the American continent, where men dance ecstatically moving the body and feet while jumping or spinning women with sensual, emotive songs and rhythms of ancient drums and a few native dress, suitable for a good movie cowboys and Indians. Unfortunately, most modern products that Indians had a bit tarnished his garments, textile fabrics with colors too bright (some fluorescent), mirrors, duct tape to hold parts, bells in the feet and shoes made of bits of color, not were free from grace. Besides enjoying the pow-wow, at dusk on Saturday night we had an adventure, similar to those experienced in Africa, but in this case set in America. Robbie knew a girl who worked for AmeriCorps and lived in a rented room in a Lutheran mission, where we intended to spend the night. But when they arrived, the woman responsible for the mission intercepted us and told us we could not stay there because of Robbie´s friend had not announced our arrival in advance. At that time, forced to go to a tropical paradise with a cheap excuse, I remembered a joke that the host of the pow-wow had explained to noon: ´A man too honest is forced to make a stay in hell after death . The man was very afraid of suffering and chaos would find in hell, but when they arrive they find that everything is in order, with the cut grass, freshly painted houses, the streets fixed, ... Surprised the man asked a Devil: What happens here? ´It was a terrible place Hell?; Yes, yes it was, until the Mormons began to arrive, he replied.´ But after our experience, the joke could also apply to the Lutherans, because according to their faith, that woman deserved to go to hell, where certainly go on taking care of your garden. Meanwhile, expelled from paradise, wandered at night through an Indian reservation is considered dangerous until we found a car park next to the road where we prepared to spend the night. But soon came a police car and kindly told us we could not stay there because it was too dangerous for us, and we parked next to a penitentiary. Finally, we found parking at a nearby supermarket where we were not bothered the rest of the night. The Sunday before proceeding with the pow-wow, held a religious ceremony is open to all Christian churches, which almost no one attended, because surely the only native community attended religious services in return if they received aid. Anyway, during the sermon attempted to attract Native Americans by making them see the parallel between his spirituality and Christianity, pointing out that they also believed in a great spirit (or one God) and going to the mountains to have visions (or pray). That is, God had revealed the truth part of the natives, but not all, because they had not yet had a chance to meet the coming of Jesus nor the Bible. Robbie explained that he had also grown up in a sectarian church, but that he could escape it, despite still believing in something supreme. In any case, because of our experience with the Lutherans, during the religious ceremony mocked Robbie paraphernalia, saying that the resurrection of Jesus had a close parallel with the zombies awaken from tombs and living after death the Eucharist and encouraged to drink and eat the blood and body of Jesus, with the aim of getting new zombies and become followers of Messiah.
The previous weekend we had lived a fascinating introduction to Indian culture or native American, unfortunately, the next three days we were staying with another Couchsurfing woman who showed us the other side of the coin. Pamela, for some time now, is in a childcare program for abused children or children that come from very dysfunctional families or with alcohol problems. So far she had received at different times up to 100 children, all children of Indian families. The last girl she had taken in foster care was 14 when she received her, with alcohol and drug problems due to regular consumption in her family. Pamela took care of her as her own child, providing love, education and stability until the age of 17, when the girl was ready to enter a program of social and labour in the city Sioux Falls. But, being a minor, the girl needed permission from the social services of the Indian reservation, and they decided to return her to the reserve for they facilitate the social integration program and labour also. Having cared of her for the last three years of hes life, Pamela complained of not being offered the best future, but social services reservation replied that she was not of their race or tribe and that she had to go back with them. Pamela explained that this outcome had happened only two weeks ago, complaining of not being able to contact the girl, who very likely would be forced back into the vicious circle of alcohol and drugs in the Indian reservation. Pamela worked as a prosecutor for the county of Lake Andes, the tenth poorer county (similar to province) in U.S. (Rosebud was the second) because being inside an Indian reservation, reduces significantly the statistics of wealth (27 % of the population lived below the poverty line). As we explained, the Indian reservations are in a jurisdiction and independence similar to the states, capturing their own taxes, drafting laws, conducting their own police, ... However, unlike the states, the operation of Indian reservations in general is a failure, corrupt and nepotistic, and sometimes permissive to drug business, that only the federal police or the FBI´s can investigate. However, the inefficiency is quite circumscribed, because over the years many Indians had sold land to the whites, being outside the jurisdiction of the reserve, although the natives are now pushing to expand the boundaries to their original boundaries , shaking with fear to affected landowners. The next day we had the opportunity to attend as spectators to the court or county court where Pamela worked as a prosecutor. We were surprised that all defendants referred to this morning were native, all of them having committed a fault outside the reserve, generally related to problems of alcohol, fighting, noncompliance penalties, ... After Pamela and her co worker told us that in general, 85 or 90% of the defendants in the lawsuits are Native Americans, although they only constitute less than 50% of the population of the county. Having heard the personal story of Pamela, I thought that poverty could not be the sole cause of high levels of crime, and perhaps the culture and education also affected. Pamela did not have a life any easier because at age 16 she became pregnant and was forced to leave school and start working. For many years she worked in trucking, but finally, at age 40 decided to go back to school and graduated as a lawyer. Surely she had a strength of will that was lacking to the accused to the court that morning. On the positive side, listening to the judge, I thought the American justice was quite flexible and was targeted to punish in order to avoid repeating the offense. The judge always significantly reduced the penalty much to the accused and insisted that if he committed a similar failure for a period of time the reduction of sentence will terminate automatically. They tried to make the defendant responsible for his behaviour by imposing clear limits to his future actions and the consequences of a transfer. Thus, in many cases, the court only imposed a fine, which the defendants had to commit to pay before a certain day. If they could not pay the fines, the defendant had to pay the jail (at a rate of $ 60 per day of detention) or community work (at a rate of $ 8 per hour). I asked Pamela if she considered just such a system in which the poor were more objective to the possibilities of going to jail for the same failure and she said no, but that justice on the other hand ensured that everyone pays the fines imposed. The next day, in addition to continuing the work writing the book of Africa, i helped Pamela to mow the lawn of the yard (a very typical activity among Americans) and had a good time drifting with a quad, we also had time to talk about her work. I questioned if she favoured the death penalty, which was legal in South Dakota, and very sure she said yes. Said that it should be applied even more, because for a family, for example, whose child has been tortured and killed, it is insufficient to see the murderer behind bars for life. I tried to refute her view with a typical argument: that in the past there had been sentenced to death many accused who subsequently had DNA testing proved they were innocent, but Pamela said that this argument favoured the application of the death penalty because now the technology is so advanced that it is virtually impossible to convict a defendant in error.
Again I asked the same question to Tobi, our next host in Mankato, and he responded that he disagreed with the death penalty (was not lawful Minnesota) and added that he would be unable to take responsibility to send someone in electric chair thinking about his possible innocence. He said he would have nightmares, but also believed that few people could take his job as professor of anatomy, which had to kill and dissect several turtles and frogs per semester so that students know the correct functioning of different organs of the body and may become in the future a few good nurses. When we got home, his two daughters had just arrived, who were in shared custody with his ex-wife, which is quite typical in the U.S., where the children of separated couples spend exactly the same time with each parent. We spent two good days with them, but I stayed most of the time locked in the library and at home to continue writing the book of Africa. Alexandra left a bit more than I, taking advantage to buy a good jacket and some blankets for the cold of autumn in a thrift store, fairly typical in the U.S., which receive the products as gifts to allocate its profits to social causes or charities. Anyway, Toby and explained that in Mankato, there was practically no tourist, although the city was famous for having carried out the largest mass execution in U.S. history, posting 38 Dakota Indians, for their participation in Dakota war. Initially, the military court had sentenced to death the 303 Indians, while 265 were pardoned by President Lincoln, earning many enemies in the region. Dakota War was caused by the failure of the United States to provide food and resources to the Dakota reservations, which, blinded by hunger decided to expel the white settlers of the region, killing between 400 and 800. In the months that followed, the Dakota lost their war with the United States Army, after the mass execution, he sent the Indians of Dakota to other states cancelling their reservations in Minnesota. Toby´s daughters told me they were going to a Catholic school which, as I described-was much more backward than in Europe, with daily religion class 5-10 prayers every day. Against this background, I dared not ask about religion until the end of our stay, after discovering that Toby was very open person. Then he and his girlfriend who was visiting, he explained that they belonged to the Unitarian Universalist Church, of which I had heard. By caring for their beliefs, he explained that the Unitarian Universalist church has no creed or dogma, is open to any faith, including atheists, and just try to think with the experience, conscience and reason to improve our relationship with society with good ethical behavior for a better humanity. Both the church was open, even accepting gays and lesbians, while formalizing a church wedding if they wished. I should have been so concerned when asked about his church that he invited me to go with them to the office on Sunday morning, and naturally I accepted, despite the fears of Alexandra for me to become the member of a new religion. I was surprised that the aesthetics of the church to be Christian, with wooden benches, an altar with a candle burning on top, accompanied by piano songs with a musicality to the same spiritual songs ... I found it normal, when, after I explained that most of the attendees came from a Lutheran or Catholic education, the two major religions in the state of Minnesota. Anyway, did not mention God, Jesus, scripture, or salvation, and instead just talked about the spirit, the soul (two words that I too had more than enough), peace, hope, justice and love. I found it interesting that for a while open the microphone to any of the thirty or so attendees would like to share your jewelry and dreams or their concerns or sadness, to create a greater sense of community. I got the feeling that the Unitarian Universalist Church had simply tried to remove the evil of other churches: dogma and oppression, to leave the rest as well. Perhaps the explanation I gave a woman, when told that if you do not belong to a church in the United States are in danger of being marginalized and excluded from society. On the other hand, perhaps the Unitarian Universalist church was a comfort to all those who felt disappointed in their original churches, but remember how they felt at ease during services or belonging to a community. At the end of the office and while having a coffee, some of them commented that in Europe (or at least in Spain) Unitarian Universalist Church was unlikely to succeed, because the church has much less strength than in the United States and the people who feel disillusioned usually forever dislike churches, becoming atheists or looking for spirituality in Eastern religions.
Our next destination was Cuyahoga Falls, near Cleveland, where there was a friend of ours. We had a choice to get going under Lake Michigan and Chicago or travelling across northern Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. Despite being a longer route, I managed to convince Alexandra to choose the second option, to visit some parks and around big cities in the U.S. which had left us quite indifferent. Nevertheless, on Sunday afternoon we had to cross the great city of Minneapolis before starting off small roads near Lake Superior. In those small roads again we found the large motor homes, big as a bus, usually dragging a small car or SUV behind . In the United States they can drive them with a normal car license. Although we had seen many in the West Coast, we are still surprised these large and expensive houses that are used by retired couples, from one side to another of the United States. On Monday morning we just get to the natural park of the Apostles Islands, where I made a nice walk through the woods near the shore of the lake to a vertical cave in the rock created by the waves of the lake. I was lucky it did not rain, because little later it started to rain and it continued all day Tuesday. We are not too used to rain during our trip, so we had to rule out visits to some abandoned copper mines, and one day we decided to lock ourselves into a library and then a McDonalds every hour connected to the Internet. However, on Wednesday we had a bit more luck and we did a short walk through the Natural Park of Pictured Rocks. We visited a small waterfall in a river of brown or red tint and white frothy attribute to pollution, but then we read it was due to the large amount of metals in the water. After a beach walk near some large cliffs carved by the force of water, which was especially virulent this morning. Unfortunately, the rain returned to wreck our plans and we had to return to the road much sooner than we thought. This allowed us to visit the morning of Thursday the stunning natural park dunes of sleeping bear (Sleeping Bear Dunes NP), and then drive nine hours to arrive completely exhausted in Cuyahoga Falls, where we were expect by our friends, Amanda and Mark. |
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