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‹ Previous (01/07/2010) MONTH Next (2010-08-30)› ‹ Previous (2010-10-08 - Canada) COUNTRY Next (2011-01-23 - Mexico)› US Seattle, WA (see on map) 02/08/2010:
To be able to leave from the Olympic Peninsula to Seattle we lost two ferries, but fortunately we got enough early to have dinner with Jeff and Carol, a delicious red salmon on the barbecue. Then we went to his car and headed to a cultural centre in the city where Jeff and Carol were practising already for a couple of years English dances. Despite the experience of the attendees who were all very friendly and teaching us to dance the steps or necessary movements. Finally, after nearly three hours dancing, no one was hurt; just we were very tired and almost turned into some experts. It was interesting to recall the group dances that so often appear in the historical films of England and understand the social role they had at the time. The next day, Saturday, we spent the day between charming people, when Jeff and Carol took us to a party of friends and family to a bay, where we collected shells at low tide, we made a short trip in a kayak and we got full with a good lunch-dinner. After spending the Sunday resting and editing photos and writing the diary, on Monday we went early morning to Downtown, where it was found the Canadian embassy. We were there all morning waiting in different queues until finally we got a single-entry visa to Canada for Alexandra. I would have liked to go up to Vancouver and possibly Calgary, but finally decided to pay only $ 75 for a single entry instead of $ 150 for multiple entry. In any case, surely we would enjoy a lot the road that we had to take from Bellingham to the National Park North Cascades and Glacier National Park. Leaving the embassy we took the opportunity to visit a little the downtown and the busy market next to the sea. Later, returning to the car we were in a central square where an organization or the council had placed a large chessboard with giant pieces under the shade of some trees and several guys who lined up to play. When it came my turn I had to play with one who knew a lot and ended up losing both games. In any case it was fun to play facing the board with a totally different perspective and running the plays walking on black and white squares and take the pieces killed on the opponent field as if they were real trophies. At night, after deciding that the next two days were going to visit Mount Rainier National Park and would make a break for our visit to Seattle, I spoke a while with one of the sons of Jeff, who had been studying and working in China for two years and had planned to march again in the future to Southeast Asia to settle and live there the rest of his life. Talking about our fascinating journey through all the diverse cultures of the world, again Both asked me the same question that Jordan did in Hollywood: ´Why you travel so long for America? After traveling for so many different cultures it must be a bit boring for you. Looking for a different response I said, ´You´re right, but is also very well touring the United States because the cultural proximity allows us to interact and learn more about the people. And on the other hand, discovering the landscapes is also fascinating, as in the rest of the world, but here it is much more care and easier access.´
We left the house advised by Jeff and on the first day I did a hike from Mowich Lake to Lake Eunice, and then to Howard Peak. But I ended up climbing to the top, because the clouds covered the entire Mount Rainier also a true militia of mosquitoes jumped on me, added to an army of ants that climbed up the clothes for a moment that I stopped to take a photo. The next day we stopped at Sunrise point, where the clouds at times allowed us to see Mount Rainier (4392m) completely uncovered and covered with snow. A little later I made another nice four-hour walk from Paradise, to the waterfalls of Sluiskin and Panorama Point, where i enjoyed a magnificent view of Mount Rainier partially covered with clouds. It was a very enjoyable walk, when I had to follow in the footsteps over large patches of snow taking care not to fall, when I put the raincoat under my ass and used it as a sleigh and got off at high speed. Seattle, WA (see on map) 06/08/2010:
Seattle was good again and Jeff and Carol gave us complete freedom to enter and leave the house whenever we wanted, while they continued their activities. So free we were that it gave us even a strange feeling that we rarely ate with them, although we found many more occasions to discuss various topics, many of them around the nonexistence of God and evil that religions have done historically. I was quite surprised Jeff´s views, it is not too common to find atheists in the United States, however Carol was a little more traditional and was a member of the Unitarian Church (Unitarian Universalism), which she accepted any belief, including atheism, and was primarily focused on spiritual growth. Advantage that both had formed some strong opinions, I interviewed them together taking the pulse of the world (www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OY-0PvG-8U). Obviously Jeff felt that the main problem of the humanity were the superstitions, including religions, in contrast to Carol´s main problem was the lack of education, including education about reality. To solve these problems would require more education, especially for women because they are the major transmit knowledge to children, and also education should be free. In the U.S., the main problem was the polarization of policy toward increasingly extreme positions, made worse by the divisions caused by religion. On a personal level, both considered themselves very happy, but would be happier when Jeff was able to sell his company and together they can travel the rest of their life. The secret of happiness is to accept life as it is and appreciate the little things. After spending a week between Seattle and Mount Rainier, I began to feel that we were adapting to a satisfactory pace of the travel. The last few days we were given more time and Alex had finished writing her blog (unaviajeramas.blogspot.com), which was delayed several weeks, and I had begun to rewrite the African diary to publish a book later. However, we also left over in the afternoon to visit the city and the run to talk to Jeff or Carol. We were there the first Thursday of the month to visit free the museums of Seattle and in the evening we visited with Jeff and Carol various galleries, which were full of people, because the first Thursday of each month was the day that traditionally they were changing exhibitions. It was interesting to visit and see the works of art, but did not know they had buyers as some works that could paint a boy of 10 years were worth 2,000 or $ 3,000. On Friday we went back out and visited the Fremont neighbourhood, and then alternative we approach the gates that connect Lake Washington with the open sea. It was interesting to see how boats crossing from one point to another using the system of gates, but more fascinating was to see next as salmon amounted to a special channel to go to lay eggs in the upper part of the rivers in Washington state and then die.
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. |
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