Bouquet of Books and Brooks

"As a traveller, we always get to trust in our own intuitions wherever we go, or any false step can lead us into fascinating or, otherwise, terrible choices. The places we see, the people we meet, they all make part of our stories (...)

Daniel sat on my left side. I asked him about his origins. He said he was Jewish. "No kidding?" I thought to myself. That I knew since the night before when I explained to him about the origin of Halloween, a pagan party, where people dressed up in disguise for the main purpose of mixing up with the dead, and not being so noticeable (all the contrary on our days). His great grandpa was from Romania. "My grandfather was born in Romania," I said with an exclaimed expression. Then I knew that we were really meant to meet.

Maybe my grandpa and his grandpa's dad planned the whole thing up during the Halloween trick or treat. By my right there was an agnostic man (don't even start with why I was by his side, when all that I do is to believe). So there I was, a Catholic, beside me a Jewish man, and an agnostic with the Muslim all talking to each other about that beautiful and divine place.

Then at the hotel, watching CNN on cable, I found out about another Daniel, whose family name is Barenboim, an Israeli composer who was being interviewed. And he was talking about Andalusia as the only place in the whole Europe where Muslims, Jews and Catholic can play along. I have that account for a fact!(...)" Excerpts from my book "Stigmas Enigmas and Stereotypes"


Daniel Barenboim assembled an orchestra consisting of young Arabs and Israelis. A month ago, he was awarded honorary Palestinian citizenship after holding a concert in Ramallah, which made him the first man to have both Israeli and Palestinian citizenship.

Chillin' Out with "TICO TICO NO FUBA":

Three Tender Tigers

Today there was an Afro-Peruvian Folkloric music presentation at Anahuac (which means, in Indian language, "the land surrounded by water"), the Cultural Center in Cerro San Cristobal. One of the musicians played once with a very odd instrument, a jaw from a rustic animal (by the obstinate sound I believe it was from a donkey, the bony structure, not the percussion;) which resonated in the entire room. The percussionist and also singer took an old lady up to the stage (she'd invited him to dance with her) and made her hip hop, then other two girls joined the "Buena Vista Social Club" in reference to the rhythm which were very similar to the Cuba's band. There also was a "viola" like an electric guitar that I had never seen before, without a body or acoustic box, and only the strings in the middle and the structure that surrounded it all open in the air. No need of a claustrophobic sensation, when you can deliver the message with the maximum of transparency. In a green tone that could well be a nice allusion to the hydroelectric attempt, which they plan to construct in the south, when there are so many other less drastic and clean solutions which causes no environmental impact, such as the wind energy in the north. After all, America is a continent surrounded BY not ON water (let's not forget "Atlantis"!)
Metropolitan Park this Sunday afternoon

At the same Metropolitan park there is the Santiago Zoo, where a white tiger named Luna, who came from Mexico in 2004, gave birth to three triggered tigers (try to say that three times without sounding in-triguer;) who were recently released to be exposed to the public. The white tigers are an endangered species, there are only 200 in the whole wide world which makes this news of a sublime touch.



So sublime indeed is the view of the Cordillera, like a spinal structure that, in the middle of the summer, keeps the snow on top. Let's pray this scene keeps itself as a beautiful reminder that the sun shines but there are a natural resource of clean water that cover our back. Let's pray for this winter to be of a no cataclysmic no catalytical or no-catalytical (because it doesn't matter if the vehicle contaminates less, if it does anyway), with no greenhouse effect, but a green-cause fact of a sole or solar solution (you better leave the car at home and go by foot, or use solar energy) so that we may see the sun shinning over the hills, and not that sad scenario of smog smothering us and hovering over all.

Andes Mountain's view from my terraza.

Andes Mountain viewed from my window this morning...

and the same Mountain viewed in the afternoon Anna ci sarò
fino a quando tu
non avrai la forza
per cercare un giorno in più
Anna io non so se vuoi che sia così
ma non mi arrenderò
per questo dimmi sì
Anna dimmi sì.

www.quedeletras.com

The Sun still shines

Virgin Mary at San Cristobal Mount seen this sunny Sunday in Santiago, Chile

History, as in life, seems to always be presented by a young role model for the next generation. Such were the cases of many female figures, some of whom became saints, as Joan of Ark. But others were heroines in their own way. Yesterday I saw for the first time "Sophie Scholl-The Final Days" a movie directed by Marc Rothemund and released on late February of 2005 about the last nine days of terror that this twenty-one-year-old German student of Theosophy and philosophy (It helps when we know that her name means "Wisdom's School") had to endure for having a conscience and fighting to keep being sane in a world who many had already lost their minds and heads. She was caught spreading the leaflets of the White Rose, a manifesto about tyrannous acts and crimes against humanity, written by her older brother. To leave in such an early age like a flower which had just blossomed. A leaf left to die... "Die Sonne scheint noch." The Sun still shines. "God, you are my refuge into eternity" were her last words.

And what was the price for her to become an icon for the peace and freedom of speech? She was beheaded and so were her brother and her dearest friends. Such a huge price to pay with your life. Did she care enough about her life? If she didn't she wouldn't be willing to sacrifice her own head to give liberty and try to share the truth she knew with others of her own age. And did it work? If it didn't I wouldn't be writing about it here and now. She died on a cold day of late February of 1943; two years later, Margot died also on late February and followed a few days by her immortal sister Anne Frank. Why do I write immortal? Because they actually never died for those who believe in their right to partake truth, justice and faith as an everlasting flame chanting in their hearts. We are all on the same boat. We will all die eventually. But our conscience, that we can never escape (or erase). For those with a sane mind the light will forever remain. And I write these words earlier rather than late. To keep my life in chain. It makes no sense, but that's free will: to be able to pursue our convictions and yet be attained by our own truth. To jump inside our own hearts and find out that we still have some hope left... a leaf left like a joke(r) to poke(r). Oh, sweet yoke...
YUNOHANA, YU meaning "hot water" NO "of" HANA "flower", here in a Japanese Garden with water lilies or Lotus flowers (The lotus is born under the mud, growing through the water towards the light. This green/growing desired elevation reminds of our own:)


Moi j'ai un jardin rempli de fleurs
Un monde d'amour tout en couleur
Que je fais vivre en mon cœur
Elle s'appelait Anna
rappelle-toi
La plume courait entre ses doigts
Elle écrivait des mots d'amour et de foi
Car elle avait 13 ans Anna
Elle se cachait dans un grenier Anna
Si chaud l'été, l'hiver si froid
A l'horizon de quatre murs et d'un toit
Elle écrivait pourtant Anna
Ces mots là{Refrain}
Elle avait souvent si peur, Anna
En écoutant des bruits de pas
Et quand, ils s'approchaient trop près
Quelques fois, auprès de son grenier, Anna
Chante-moi
C'est par un beau matin d'été je crois
Qu'ils sont venus chercher, Anna
Ils ont laissé juste un cahier, les soldats
Un journal dont les mots, Anna
Sont pour moi.... (Musique de Francis Lopez)


"Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn." Sophie Scholl

The only way is up!

A Flower in my Garden...


(This is the result of a seed I just planted a month ago)
I just planted a sunflower which is now as high as half meter. Its head created a beautifully constructed mosaic, spiralling upwards. I've got (and I just counted) seventeen sunflowers on its way to blossom as well. And on my recycling I have already got more than ten avocado trees more than two feet tall! What a reward for being angel/ecological.