Staying still allows a different view of the world. You get to watch plants growing, for example. And when a slightly misguided pair of sparrows decides that under a lettuce in the kitchen garden is just the right place for raising a family then you get the chance to watch baby birds hatch and fledge.
Also tagged (dis)continuities, brasil, wildlifeI don’t have the words to try to explain any of this.
Also tagged (dis)continuities, brasil, horsesWhile the bulk of my Brazilian past resides in Eldorado I do have a reasonably extensive history with São Paulo proper, too. During my three and a half year stint as a volunteer at ACER I made regular forays into the city. This trip between the periphery and the centre is so expensive and logistically […]
Also tagged (dis)continuities, brasil, city life, returnBetween the end of 2001 and the beginning of 2005 I lived and worked in São Paulo and so coming back to Brazil is a homecoming of sorts for me. I have a real history here – there are people and places that I know and that know me. São Paulo is one of the […]
Also tagged (dis)continuities, brasil, city life, returnPERÚ: CEDROS DE ALPAMAYO My circuit by bicycle of the Olimpia and Llunganuco passes with their spectacular mountain backdrops left me wanting more. I long to get closer still to those peaks and investigate their icy mysteries in greater detail. Emboldened by my six day trek in the El Cocuy National Park in the north […]
Also tagged mountains, perú, walking, wild placesIt’s market day in Ingapirca.
Also tagged ecuador, markets, village lifeSetting off from Atillo into the hills, during a short break in the rain, my pack laden with food and camping gear I’m vaguely anxious. The way the locals direct me doesn’t match the route description I have photocopied from the guide book and there is absolutely no path to follow on the boggy wet […]
Also tagged ecuador, mountains, rain, ruins, walkingFull disclosure: I caught the bus from Soata to Guican to start my walk… and I caught the bus back again, stopping off at El Cocuy where everything is whitewashed with green accents and the town square boasts a scale model of the mountains I’d just been trekking. My plan to go to Venezuela appears […]
Also tagged colombia, mountainsEl Cocuy National Park: I’ve left it too late to try to record this experience in words – sitting in an apartment in Bogota with swish of cars on rainy streets. The hum of fridge. Static of florescent lights. Wi-fi. The silence is gone. A never empty silence filled with the seep and trickle, the […]
Also tagged colombia, mountains, walking, wild places