I know its been centuries since I had time to update my blog but the time has come for my fellow companions and vagabonds to know what adventures can take place here in South America. It appears the last blog was when I was entering into Ecuador... 2011. In order to avoid writing several chapters that have lapsed amid 2011 and 2013, (Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, United States and the return to Colombia) its best to skip through to 2013... Palomino, Colombia. Palomino is a tiny town of maybe 1200 people, counting those who live on the outskirts. It is a passage way into the sacred territory of the Kogis and Arwaquos. It is a passage way that leads deep in to the mountains which rise up more than 5000 meters to the Sierra Nevada. These snowy peaks birth a panorama of the ocean, desert and decending mountains though very few have the opportunity to observe such raw beauty. 30.000 natives between the Kogi and Arwaquo tribes exist, plant and protect these mountains and confide in only a handful that are not natives.
This was my second time in Palomino. The first time I spent a month entering only a Kilometer into the mountains. My relationship with the natives was not strong because I lacked understanding. I saw them as a very close community and quite machista but the land that surrounded Palomino was breath taking and full of hidden mysteries. There was a peace I felt within the earth that somehow was deflowered by the government, narcos and internal conflicts between the natives themselves circling the area. When I left the first time I knew it was inevitable that Id return. OVer a year later I find my feet retracing the cobbled streets of Palomino. This time I was staying in one of the hut of SImon Gey, an old hippy Kogi from the mountains. It was a finca lavished with avacados, pineapple, plantains and bananas, natural herbs like basil, culantro and lemoncillo. Most days I woke with the sun taking in the splendid vision of mother nature surrounding our hut. The hut itself resembled, in the words of my tiny amiguito Leon, an enormous elf hat. THe water we recieved came directly from the mountain streams and the shower (around 15 steps from the hut) was a V of bambu with a small black tube that spout out water. Beside the shower was a worn plank sported by two branches so we could wash out dishes and laundry. In the heart of our hut was a small fire that gave us our food, light, smoke and gravity that brought us all together. The hut was an octagon with a small loft blackened by the constant flow of smoke that passed out its window. The hut had no walls and a cool dirt carpet resided as our floor which rose up a 1/3 of a meter from the rest of the finca in order that when heavy rains fell, the hut wouldnt flood. It was a divine home and most days were spent cooking over the fire, washing, cleaning and producing art. I began to build more confidence with the natives and ventured further and further into the mountains bathing in the crisp river waters and admiring the quartz and feldspar that resided on the banks of the river. Rio Palomino. The air echoed with sounds of hundreds of birds that sung their peculiar songs producing a insomniac harmony.From the moment the sin rises to the moment it falls there is a constant theatre of rptiles and insects that carry on thier paths focused but interactive. Watching the smallest insect meander curiously through a jungle of matter and obstacles searching for something.... food, love, sex, company, solitude... freedom? Or it could be searching for something without knowing what it is, something that is simply telling it to move. Amidst a hurry of life where an infinite bundle of lifeforms exist and co-exist it seems there almost always are crashes and chaos as well as harmony and tranquility. The shadows and light, the good and bad, positives and negatives are always circling about, moving and flowing. Each being has the freedom to move in the directions they choose and choose the energies they want conciously or subconciously. From start to finish, life into death... it is all a circle-spiral and ¨life¨is that experience with the circles. COnstantly chooseing between the two opposites we (human, reptile, fish.. insect) reside with one foot on each side teetering back and forth. The more I understand the differences between the shadows and the ligh the more I realize there are many detours and trap doors that mask the true essence of such energies of light and darkness; lvoe masked as hate and viceversa; pain masked as pleasure and viceversa; sadnesses masked as hapiness and viceversa; emotion, actions, decisions that create a world upside down when objects replace spirits and the most basic education is to do the opposite of what one wants or feels. Its no wonder we are all crashing into each other. When one gives way to these energies without knowing what is happening its as if such ignorance traps them in a shallow sea of misunderstanding and chaos. Individualism. Seperation. Fear. Greed. These all add fuel to a burning mass thats consuming us all. Unconsciously suffering because to be conscious and aware to such energies isnt widely enforced in school, work or recreation rather the reverse. Ignorance is bliss. The more one enters into this society, like the one Im describing, the more one sees the guidelines all askew. In Palomino I had time to reflect on my own shadow and light and began to analyzing the path I had been creating. I began trying to create moer consciousness, more love, more hapiness and began trying to share it with everyone... ojo. Not so easy but there enlies the challenge lest patience be too far away. . Darkness always casts shadows distorting the light but this too is part of the cycle of consciousness. I began learning from the earth, the insects and the natives themselves that walked ever so sofly without disturbing a pebble. Thier eyes like black coals staring humbly into me. They smiled like children but worked like warriors. THier voices soft and tender but wit ha spiritual force deep within the center of their words. Simple words. The have a connection with naturem light and dark, life and deaththat allows them to have a spiritual consciousness much greater than mine for example. Its impossible to deny the energetic potency that exists in these mountains; the unwreathed and savage beauty that one has at its fingertips. Its taught me to acknowledge my fellow companions; from the vagabond on the street to the fly buzzing around ones head. It seems like we are all on the same instinctive search that eventually braids us all in together. Its then when one realizes that we are all tiny mirrors of each other.
This was my second time in Palomino. The first time I spent a month entering only a Kilometer into the mountains. My relationship with the natives was not strong because I lacked understanding. I saw them as a very close community and quite machista but the land that surrounded Palomino was breath taking and full of hidden mysteries. There was a peace I felt within the earth that somehow was deflowered by the government, narcos and internal conflicts between the natives themselves circling the area. When I left the first time I knew it was inevitable that Id return. OVer a year later I find my feet retracing the cobbled streets of Palomino. This time I was staying in one of the hut of SImon Gey, an old hippy Kogi from the mountains. It was a finca lavished with avacados, pineapple, plantains and bananas, natural herbs like basil, culantro and lemoncillo. Most days I woke with the sun taking in the splendid vision of mother nature surrounding our hut. The hut itself resembled, in the words of my tiny amiguito Leon, an enormous elf hat. THe water we recieved came directly from the mountain streams and the shower (around 15 steps from the hut) was a V of bambu with a small black tube that spout out water. Beside the shower was a worn plank sported by two branches so we could wash out dishes and laundry. In the heart of our hut was a small fire that gave us our food, light, smoke and gravity that brought us all together. The hut was an octagon with a small loft blackened by the constant flow of smoke that passed out its window. The hut had no walls and a cool dirt carpet resided as our floor which rose up a 1/3 of a meter from the rest of the finca in order that when heavy rains fell, the hut wouldnt flood. It was a divine home and most days were spent cooking over the fire, washing, cleaning and producing art. I began to build more confidence with the natives and ventured further and further into the mountains bathing in the crisp river waters and admiring the quartz and feldspar that resided on the banks of the river. Rio Palomino. The air echoed with sounds of hundreds of birds that sung their peculiar songs producing a insomniac harmony.From the moment the sin rises to the moment it falls there is a constant theatre of rptiles and insects that carry on thier paths focused but interactive. Watching the smallest insect meander curiously through a jungle of matter and obstacles searching for something.... food, love, sex, company, solitude... freedom? Or it could be searching for something without knowing what it is, something that is simply telling it to move. Amidst a hurry of life where an infinite bundle of lifeforms exist and co-exist it seems there almost always are crashes and chaos as well as harmony and tranquility. The shadows and light, the good and bad, positives and negatives are always circling about, moving and flowing. Each being has the freedom to move in the directions they choose and choose the energies they want conciously or subconciously. From start to finish, life into death... it is all a circle-spiral and ¨life¨is that experience with the circles. COnstantly chooseing between the two opposites we (human, reptile, fish.. insect) reside with one foot on each side teetering back and forth. The more I understand the differences between the shadows and the ligh the more I realize there are many detours and trap doors that mask the true essence of such energies of light and darkness; lvoe masked as hate and viceversa; pain masked as pleasure and viceversa; sadnesses masked as hapiness and viceversa; emotion, actions, decisions that create a world upside down when objects replace spirits and the most basic education is to do the opposite of what one wants or feels. Its no wonder we are all crashing into each other. When one gives way to these energies without knowing what is happening its as if such ignorance traps them in a shallow sea of misunderstanding and chaos. Individualism. Seperation. Fear. Greed. These all add fuel to a burning mass thats consuming us all. Unconsciously suffering because to be conscious and aware to such energies isnt widely enforced in school, work or recreation rather the reverse. Ignorance is bliss. The more one enters into this society, like the one Im describing, the more one sees the guidelines all askew. In Palomino I had time to reflect on my own shadow and light and began to analyzing the path I had been creating. I began trying to create moer consciousness, more love, more hapiness and began trying to share it with everyone... ojo. Not so easy but there enlies the challenge lest patience be too far away. . Darkness always casts shadows distorting the light but this too is part of the cycle of consciousness. I began learning from the earth, the insects and the natives themselves that walked ever so sofly without disturbing a pebble. Thier eyes like black coals staring humbly into me. They smiled like children but worked like warriors. THier voices soft and tender but wit ha spiritual force deep within the center of their words. Simple words. The have a connection with naturem light and dark, life and deaththat allows them to have a spiritual consciousness much greater than mine for example. Its impossible to deny the energetic potency that exists in these mountains; the unwreathed and savage beauty that one has at its fingertips. Its taught me to acknowledge my fellow companions; from the vagabond on the street to the fly buzzing around ones head. It seems like we are all on the same instinctive search that eventually braids us all in together. Its then when one realizes that we are all tiny mirrors of each other.
As always, it is a joy to read your narrations. As always, I am proud to have you as my friend. I think of you often.
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