Another Very Brief Update

I may or may not feel like writing more when I get to London. Right now I totally don't.

Going away party for both of us.

One setting of said party.

Another setting.

An unexpected attendee.

The finale.

Ode to my Little Me

Funny thing... observing your own emotions from outside yourself that is.

I can really surprise myself sometimes. It's when we think we've figured out the game that we actually set ourselves up for disappointment. That's exactly when life will test you... will throw a curveball... step in and highlight your weak spots for you to observe.

It's only when we ride high that we can fall.

So here I am, observing again.

I get taught over and over that it really is best to stay even-keeled and keep both feet on the ground. But then again, for some reason I keep getting back on the rides. It may be time to sit on the bench and people watch for a while. It is not a waste of a ticket to the park.

My "little me" really likes this song today.

My "bigger me" is laughing at myself right now.

"Little me's" take everything way too seriously.

Love you all.

Very Brief Update

xx

* * * *

I've remembered my dreams after every night of this entire trip so far, save one night (thanks to some of Nepal's finest.) Some have been staggering, some monumental, some awe-inspiring. The last few nights, they've included a very definitive cast of characters.

(You all know who you are.)

This ones for you.

Still too busy writing to really write...

Ubud and Padang Bai, Bali

When I decided to come back to Bali, I had a quite irrational fear that it had perhaps changed in the last year. I now see that time, being made of rubber here, hasn't affected Bali nearly as much as it's affected me.

Last year I left the states to "find myself."

"Perhaps, as we say in America, I wanted to find myself. This is an interesting phrase, not current as far as I know in the language of any other people, which certainly does not mean what it says but betrays a nagging suspicion that something has been misplaced. I think now that if I had had any intimation that the self I was going to find would turn out to be only the same self from which I had spent so much time in flight, I would have stayed at home."

- James Baldwin, Giovanni's Room

When I first tried to plan coming to Bali this year, it was for a two week Alex Grey "seminar" on painting, our reality, and out of body experiences. For whatever reason, I decided it just wasn't in the cards for me this year. Something didn't feel right about it. After I decided not to do it, Bali became less appealing. I knew that I didn't want to come to Bali with nothing to do, to sit idly as a tourist. Last year I had something to do. I had come to find myself. This year, I had myself. Now I needed something to do with me. A project. This is about the time Honahon pitched his Nicaragua / UK Adventure plan to me. Surfing kind of sounded like a project. At that exact moment in time, I had an overwhelming urge and need to just leave the country. Period. I didn't care where to or why at that point. So I booked tickets. It wasn't until a month or so later that I was contacted by Amber and Steph.

I met Amber and Steph in Tonga last year after my month long adventure with the crazy Russian, Sergai, on Ovaka island. They had me over for a decompression dinner of sorts, once I made it back to Neiafu, and helped me mentally sort through my ordeal after I escaped Ovaka. After the decompression session, the conversation mellowed and I told them of my wonderful time in Bali and told them that they, too, would enjoy it. They ended up moving here and Amber has been working on a book ever since.

We kept in light contact over email over the last year, but nothing major. Amber contacted me out of the blue in April and said that she had a vision of me the night before. She was asking if I would please come to Bali and edit this book of hers that covers the not so simple subject of a global shift in human consciousness. They would provide the tickets, the house, and even the food.

I asked for a project. Here it was. I told her that I was already traveling during the time that she needed me there, and she said, "well then which country shall I book the tickets out of?" I changed my ticket from the UK to NYC from June to mid July. Round trip tickets were booked from London, Heathrow. (This explains why I had to fly all the way AROUND the world rather than across the Pacific for this part of the journey.)

I found it fairly ironic that the night I landed here, I was brought straight to the opening of the Alex Grey talk and exhibit that marked the start of his 'seminar.'

Full circle. Zoom to now.

"Pen's are in short supply... this is the only one left in the house."

I haven't been writing anything about what I'm doing here because of just that... I'm too busy writing to write.

However, yesterday I came on 'vacation' to Padang Bai, my Bali beach town / home away from home. My hosts were invited to stay at the Blue Lagoon, which, ironically, is the place that my friend Harlan (the sacred geometry sculptor from New York I met here last year) designed. I opted to stay at my old place here, the Serangan Inn II. True to tradition, I woke up before sunrise to the roosters, two stroke fishing boats, the cymbals, bamboo flutes, drums, dogs, and the little funny man chanting through the bullhorn in the temple down the street, to a magnificent sunrise on this very familiar balcony. I had to take a moment for myself.

Bali hasn't changed a bit.

Children still get excited over cameras and thank you for taking their picture. Traffic rules are still 'suggestions.' You still have to look out for monkeys crossing the road when you take that left through the temple scooter lane and right at the giant Ganesh statue (look out for oncoming traffic because you'll be driving down a one way street the wrong direction.) Putu still works at the Inn. Tankas still works at the Kinky. Wayan and Made still have their internet cafe, and still nap together on the floor during the slow hours. Their son is still happily married. (These people all have intricate stories woven here, if you're interested: Blarvolution.com / the Beckys, the Bobbys, the Randys, the Bettys, and a Styrafoam Butt Plug at a Balinese Wedding.)

(Just for you T... the only thing that was different or out of place in the entire town was the two french guys sitting in our chairs when I first walked up.)

I missed Padang Bai.

I, surprisingly, love Ubud though.

I knew that it wouldn't be another trip of 'finding myself,' I just didn't necessarily expect to find so many other intriguing people. Every day there's something. I'm getting very useful leads.

This led to one HUGE event. Those who know me well will know just how big this is exactly (drumroll please):

I bought a new phone.

HUGE, right?

My first one in nearly ten years.

200,000 Rp (20 bucks) for a funky little Indonesian phone.

It's not the biggest upgrade in the world, in fact, it may be the only phone in the world that could possibly be a downgrade, but the "L" button works.

"mud you" guys...

... no matter how crazy you've gone!

xx

______________________

Question posed in my dream last night:

Is it okay to travel with a loaded gun as long as the safety's on and it's in your checked bags? (Not carry on of course.) Because evidently I need it, and that's what I'm doing.

Got any ideas anybody?

Hmmm.

? ? ? ?

______________________

In my headphones today:

Mission Complete

The Mission:

May 29

American Airlines flight AA986 at 7:20 am - 11:44 am from Managua to Miami.

Collect baggage... at carousel 4... and clear American customs... line 4.

Find a cab that will take me to a post office in Miami to ship a large Nicaraguan purchase to Washington. Turn around when I see the meter go beyond the value of said purchase and realize it's saturday.

Find a suitable bar for a 5 hr layover.

Re-check bags and clear Miami security.

American Airlines flight AA56 at 5:00 pm - 6:35 am from Miami to London.

May 30

Collect baggage... carousel 4... and clear English customs* (see full story below).

Take a train to international departure terminal 4.

Find a suitable breakfast cafe for a 5 1/2 hr layover.

Check into Malaysia Airlines, re-check bags and clear Heathrow security.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH003 at 12:00 noon - 7:25 am from London to Kuala Lumpur.

May 31

Find the nearest train to take to collect baggage, clear Malaysian customs... line 44, which included but was not limited to my first ever thermal body scan (for fever and any signs of H1Mwhatever), and panic slightly when I realize how much there is to do in a 3 hr layover.

Malaysian's International Arrival Airport is completely separate from Malaysia's International Departure Airport. This was a first. Fuck the bus. Buy a ticket for an airport limo to take me to said airport, which turned out to be a half hour drive away in a Malaysian style racing limo. I am definitely back in Asia.

Get out and smell clove cigarettes in the air. Realize I'm getting really close now.

Check into Air Asia, re-check bags and clear Malaysian security.

Air Asia flight AK362 at 10:55 am - 1:55 pm from Kuala Lumpur to Denpasar.

Collect bags.

Clear Indonesian customs.

See Steffan waving and smiling.

Smile big back.

Re-adjust to Balinese driving style (this mostly means forgetting that those white lines actually mean anything.)

Get to Ubud.

Call Christoph.

Big dinner with everyone.

Go to the Alex Grey charity show.

Whoa.

Must find sleep.

Fall asleep to the sound of frogs in the rice terraces.

Wake to the sound of roosters and exotic birds.

I'm in Bali.

Hooray.

_____________________________________________

*Heathrow airport shattered for me, once again on this trip, that age old American girls' quixotic conjecture that men bearing an english accent are, assuredly, gentlemen.

Heathrow is now officially the first airport that has pulled me into a room for a full body search. It wasn't the fact that they did the search that swayed my full vote on this issue... it was the manner in which they did it.

The man that plucked me out of line was very pleasant about the entire procedure. Too pleasant.

While I was putting away my things he strutted up, looked me up and down with my sweater still off, smiled broadly and asked, "would you like to please come with me mum for a body search after you've packed your items?"

I said it hardly seemed it was a question of liking. He laughed and concurred. I picked up my bags and started walking with him. He asked if I had come far. I commented on how many hours I'd flown and how many there still were to go.

He said it shouldn't bother me, I looked gorgeous and none the worse for the ware. He then asked, "could I hold anything for you? Could even hold you if you like, throw you over me shoulder even and take you the rest of the way."

I declined his offer and was taken into a small room that, despite my having nothing to hide, still made my heart pound like I did.

After I passed the screening, I was escorted back out and my accompany commented that he hoped to see me again and would look for me on my way back through.

Note to self: Don't go out in England. It seems it'll be far too much of a hassle.

Jiquilillo, Nicaragua... Extended Edition

12° 44' 0" North, 87° 26' 0" West

Well to make a long story short, I'm very glad I stayed another week in Jiquilillo.

The Set:

The house.

The front yard.

The Cast of Characters:

(Pics removed by request.)

Honahon.

Frenchie.

Jameson's temporary replacement.

These three characters were fairly prevalent for my first week in Jiquilillo. We were all supposed to go to the UK together on the 22nd, but due to some difficulties on the set, I decided to stay on by myself for another week and let them go.

Me.

Although my original travel companions left, I was hardly alone for the next chapter.

My most constant companions:

Danny Jose. 13 yr old guard / spanish tutor extraordinaire.

A very smart kid with a heart of gold. Danny spoke a tiny bit of english, so every night we swapped lessons with each other.

Jeferson Oniel. 10 yr old patrolman / portrait artist.

Jeferson didn't speak any english, so we communicated mostly through body language until I figured out that he's a really talented artist. We started drawing a lot of pictures for each other.

Dionel. 17 yr old bodyguard / card player.

Dionel was the fiercest of the boys, but still had a pretty big soft side. We spent a lot of time playing card games late into his night watch duties.

Although our language barriers came up a lot, by the end of the week we all understood each other pretty well. When my car was leaving this morning I had to actually fight back some tears. Especially when I was trying to explain to Danny what "I'll miss you" means.

Momma and Mutley. The ferocious house guard dogs.

Becky.

This girl and I had an adventure together that I will never forget...

If you asked me before I went on this trip if I would ever ride two and a half hours alone, after dark, during a torrential down poor, through the pitch black, unmarked, foreign streets of an extremely impoverished fishing town, in a country where I hardly knew the language, to a beach lit only by vicious lightning striking the incoming tide's waves that I had to race home on a horse that was afraid of water before the beach was totally gone... would I do it? I probably, definitely would have said no.

I blame these two.

William and Xavier. The two french chefs. They had tempted me earlier in the day by inviting me up to their place, which by car takes about 45 minutes to get to on the dirt roads. On the phone I misunderstood exactly how long it would take by horse and beach, then through a fishing village and up the hill on a route I had never taken. Lost in translation (common theme of the trip.) The assumed 30 minute trek was actually two hours at a fast pace (I was really determined to get there and since all the locals kept agreeing I was going the right direction I knew I wasn't lost... just not there yet.)

By the time I finally made it up their driveway I found William and Xavier in their newly opened pool. They were literally having the very first swim and asked if I would like to join them and some margaritas in said pool. After two hours of riding in the sun it sure seemed like a good idea. Such a good idea in fact, that I didn't even really notice the sun starting to set before the incoming clouds.

When they invited me to stay the night I said that would probably be best, mostly because I didn't bring a saddle on the way up because of the ride's imagined distance and Becky's backbone wasn't exactly comfortable anymore. I called my place to tell the boys I wouldn't be home that night and Danny handed the phone over. I had guests at my house. Lots of them. I had completely forgotten that a couple had intended on making me dinner that night. Two canadians, three americans, and four locals were drinking on my porch and making dinner. When would I be home? Blar.

Xavier reluctantly lent me his saddle and off I went into the night. As soon as I took that first left from their driveway and started down the hill into the village it started to rain. I immediately figured out that the headlamp wasn't a good idea. (Thanks anyways T.) None of the locals riding around had one. It wasn't long after that that the monsoon, thunder and lightning started.

The image that sticks out most to me now are all of the dimly lit huts on the side of the road, all full of people and dogs watching me slip past in the darkness... some yelling out and barking... some not. All wondering why on earth I was riding at that hour... most asking questions that involved vocabulary Danny and I hadn't quite covered in our short time together.

Despite my intimidation, I felt committed. After resolving to not turn around I did some deep breathing exercises and reminded myself that the world is a good place.

I felt resolute peace despite my environment. I'm really glad we did it.

Anyways... sorry that was a big side note... back to the cast:

Bodhi. SoHum big surf bro-bra. He owns the house we rented and knows just about everybody I know in NorCal. It was really nice to have somebody that understood my situation and so graciously extend an offer to stay longer. Thanks Bodhi.

Mini Bodhi... who I only met briefly.

The boat.

The rods.

The boards.

The locals...

Who learn very quickly might I add...

They thought I was crazy at first. Ha.

The Plotline:

If something's broke... get creative.

(Yes that's a Pam spray oil can extending that exhaust pipe that just fell off our truck. No worries, a nylon belt did the trick for the rest of the way.)

(Yes that's a bungee chord we used to fix the door that suddenly stopped closing. Could've had something to do with the door handle that was now a shoestring tied to a bent coat-hanger.)

The Main Point:

Over and Out.