I spent a week in La Paz. There is something I like about big, massive, congested cities. La Paz has its charming idiosyncracies that make it an interesting place to stay as well. My favorite thing about La Paz is that they have zebras directing traffic. Yes, zebras. Other cities have traffic cops--and there are some of those-- but the local government decided that people dressed in zebra suits would be more effective at directing traffic for some reason.
What did I do in La Paz? Not much. I pretty much just enjoyed eating good food for good prices and indulged in my newfound capuccino addiction. I never drank coffee until I passed through Colombia and then I got spoiled by the good stuff. A cup of cafe con leche with a little bit of sugar there is a cup of heaven as far as I am concerned. After you leave Colombia, you can only find good coffee in the big cities, everywhere else you can only find that powdered, instantaneous shit. Capuccino is the closest I have come to recreating that perfect cup of cafe con leche. Knowing that, as soon as I left the city, I was going to have to endure freezing temperatures and monotonous food, it was easy to stay a week.
I did do one touristy thing while I was in La Paz. I road on El Camino de la Muerte or Deathroad if you like. Back in the day, it used to serve as a highway between La Paz and Coroico to the east. With 100+ fatalities every year it earned the moniker El Camino de la Muerte after a U.N. study determined that it was the world's most dangerous highway at the time. The Bolivian government has since built a new highway and the Deathroad has become nothing more than a high-falutin mountain bike trail. Apparently there are still some fools who die on the mountain bike tour but I was not one of them. We were babysat a little too much by the tour guides to my liking but I compensated by smoking copious amounts of marijuana during the 10,000 foot descent. Even though we had our nannies with us, the tour was still fun. It was nice being able to hurl down the side of a mountain without carrying half of my body weight in gear. I consistently stayed at the front and only had to ask the tour guide in front to move faster once.
After studying a map of Bolivia, I have decided on a rough course of where I want to go in Bolivia. I am in Oruro right now and I plan to traverse Sucre, Potosì, el Salar de Uyuni, and Tarija in that order. Once I get close to the Salar de Uyuni, I will be in a very remote part of the country so I am mentally preparing myself for the monotony of eating nothing but cans of tuna and cookies and riding on dirt roads for days on end. It should all be worth it, though, as the Salar de Uyuni is best described as an extraterrestrial, altiplano desert. If I play my cards right, I should be able to pass through the town where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were killed on the way to Argentina. I had back-to-back one hundred kilometer days on the way to Oruro from La Paz so there is a possibility that I will complete my tour of Bolivia in less than a month.
George Bush really opened up a can of worms with his excessive use of the word terrorist to describe pretty much anyone that disagrees with the dominant imperialist agenda whether it be religiously fanatic Muslim suicide bombers in the Middle East, left-wing narco-rebels in Colombia, or, now, animal rights activists. What the hell does terrorist mean anyway. If the definition of terrorist is someone who terrifies in order to coerce change or adherence to the status quo than I propose that the U.S. government qualifies. We are, afterall, the only country to ever detonate a nuclear bomb on a civilian target. The government of Evo Morales has taken a cue from the Bush school of rhetoric. He blithely calls the supposed international assassins, that his government filled with bullets, terrorists. I usually support Evo Morales's actions but this goes too far. Even if the government has incontrovertible proof that these men intended to assassinate the president, these men should have been arrested and not killed while sleeping during a S.W.A.T. style raid. The pictures of the so-called "terrorist" ringleader naked and bloody in his bed belie the governments case that they were planning actions. If the government really had proof of their intentions they should have tried much harder to arrest these people and bring them to justice. Extrajudicial assassinations of terrorist subjects set a bad precedent but I can only say that the Bolivians are learning from us.
I admit that my creation of the Ganjobicicletholic is more in the spirit of Abbie Hoffman than of Martin Luther but I have been thinking a lot about morality and how it needs a serious updating. My objection to the major religions of the world is that their morality is obselete. I can see how homosexuality would be considered sinful in a patriarchal society. When the man is always in charge in a relationship, who is in charge in a relationship between two men? One uppity bottom challenges the entire patriarchal hegemony of power. When the vast majority of people tend the earth and the average life expectancy doesn't exceed 40, be fruitful and multiply makes a lot of sense. The problem is that when the earth becomes overpopulated, as it has, being fruitful and multiplying only fucks things up worse. Old-time religion also lets people off too easily for their profligate, consumer-whore ways. What is worse, a man stealing bread to feed his family or a man buying a $10,000 Rolex when there are people starving in the world. How about when a man buys a $1,000,000 Ferrari that gets less than 10 miles to the gallon when he could buy a much more practical car for much less or, even better, ride a bike. The religious leaders of the world stand in shocking silence, or worse enable this selfishness as our society celebrates these pompous asses. If this world were truly just, as those who believe in an omnipotent god would have us believe, the Ferrari driver would feel such a palpable sense of hatred anytime he left his house that he would not buy the Ferrari in the first place. For me there is nothing wrong with having money. It is the obscene displays of wealth that irk me. Religious leaders are too busy bickering about homosexuality and abortion to realize that we are destroying this planet we will soon send the human race to extinction if we don't drastically alter our behavior. For this reason, religion needs a serious updating.
As a quick note, the Supreme Court of the U.S. recently said it was okay for the F.C.C. to fine television networks even for the accidental airing of expletives. This decision pisses me off. What the fuck is wrong with cursing, goddamnit? Since the internet is, thus far, free from this censorship, which in my opinion is a direct violation of the First Ammendment, I have only one thing to say: fuck the skull of the rotting corpse of Jesus while fingering the Virgen Mary. I think I will silkscreen a shirt that says this and wear it to church.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Bolivia, Web Piracy, and the Ganjobicicletholic Church
I finally left Peru two days ago and I am now sitting in an internet cafe in La Paz. I arrived here last night after a long, tiring day. La Paz sits in a large valley which makes it difficult to navegate for someone who is visiting for the first time. After, blatantly disregarding a sign that prohibits cyclists from entering the highway that descends into the valley from Barrios Altos, I arrived in the hotel zone of La Paz, about a half-hour later, ready for the embrace of a nice, warm bed.
My first impression of Bolivia is that it is dirt-cheap aside from the $135 dollars I had to pay to enter Bolivia. I actually paid $140 since I didn't have any change. The immigration office claimed to not have any change and I didn't protest the extra $5 as I saw it as a fee to expedite the process. I have heard from other Americans entering Bolivia that they have been given a hard time by the authorities. Aside from paying the money and filling out a long immigration form, I found the process to be relatively painless. My first meal in Bolivian territory cost 5 bolivianos and my first stay in a lodging cost 12 bolivianos. The current boliviano to dollar ratio is 7 to 1. There don't seem to be many places to spend my money here so I wouldn't be surprised if I spend less money in all of Bolivia than I did to enter it. I should mention a certain caveat: the 12 boliviano lodging did not have even a collective bathroom for its guests.
Bolivia is the only country I know of where the president goes on hunger strike when he doesn't get his way, legislatively speaking that is. I am a fan of Evo Morales. I think he is overplaying his hand with a lot of the social reforms that he is trying to enact but, overall, I like him. There are not enough presidents in this world who are single and Evo Morales is one of them. He has made his sister the offical First Lady of Bolivia. His life story pretty inspiring for me. He grew up in a family where the vast majority of his brothers and sisters didn't even reach adulthood. He is a polarizing figure as evidenced by the recent attempt on his life in the Santa Cruz region but I believe he really cares about the long neglected Bolivian indigenous majority. I hope that he succeeds in elevating the indigenous poor of this country.
Recently, it was in the news that the proprietors of Pirate Bay have been convicted in a Swedish court of making copyrighted material available for illegal downloading. I have high hopes that they win their appeal as I would like to see recording industry go bankrupt. The music industry has been producing too much homogenous shit for too long. I am tired of hearing songs that range from cliched love songs to celebrations of self-indulgent narcissism. The copyright laws which grant protection to a copyright holder up to 150 years after the death of the original artist need to be changed, too. Even if the proprietors of Pirate Bay lose their appeals, I hope that pirates of the world unite to bring those motherfuckers to their knees.
I have been thinking a lot about creating the Ganjobicletholic Church. The Native American church won the right to use peyote a long time ago from the U.S. Supreme Court so I figured why not use religion as an excuse to smoke pot. The question is how does one create an officially recognized religion. My solution is to apply for I.R.S. tax-exempt status. In order to do this I will have to submit Articles of Confederation and a Constition, among other things, to the I.R.S. I figure if the Jedi Church can get offical recognition in Great Britain than I should be able to achieve official recognition in the U.S.
The next step is to create an official mythology and rituals of the Ganjobicletholic Church. I figured I would just borrow from other religions to create a patchwork of the positive aspects of various religions, kind of like the Unitarian Universalists. We will worship, the sun, the moon, the winds, and nature in general. Prometheus, the bringer of fire in Greek mythology, will be rebranded as the bringer of technology. As fire can grow out of control if one isn't careful so can the use of technology as evidenced by global warming. It will behoove us, the members of the Ganjobicletholic Church, to limit our use of technology in order to achieve a greater balance with nature.
As far as rituals are concerned, I can think of a few rituals that we will borrow from other religions. I like the Day of the Dead which is practised in Catholic Latin America but not much elsewhere. Honoring our dead ancestors is a positive thing as far as I am concerned. I also like the Muslim idea of a once-in-a-lifetime religious pilgrimage. Instead of going to Mecca, though, the end point of a pilgrimage will be discretionary as long as the pilgrimage is made using only human and sail power. Every full moon, we will have a feast and smoke-out which culminates in a large group bike ride afterwards. The use of hallucinogens will be encouraged with proper supervision.
I don't like any of the religions that the world has to offer me. I consider Christianity, Judaism, and Islam to be obselete religions as they were all created at least a thousand years ago in response to the trials and tribulations of said ancient times. I would like to have a religion that incorporates wastefulness and profligacy into our concepts of sinfullness. Jesus never said anything about people who drive Hummers but I think that it doesn't take much imagination to see that this is bad for the world and should, hence, be considered sinful. I don't want to be considered godly or messianic or elevated beyond the rest of humanity so I don't want to be the leader of this new church. I will happily accept the title of Grand Supreme High Archbishop of Austin, though.
My first impression of Bolivia is that it is dirt-cheap aside from the $135 dollars I had to pay to enter Bolivia. I actually paid $140 since I didn't have any change. The immigration office claimed to not have any change and I didn't protest the extra $5 as I saw it as a fee to expedite the process. I have heard from other Americans entering Bolivia that they have been given a hard time by the authorities. Aside from paying the money and filling out a long immigration form, I found the process to be relatively painless. My first meal in Bolivian territory cost 5 bolivianos and my first stay in a lodging cost 12 bolivianos. The current boliviano to dollar ratio is 7 to 1. There don't seem to be many places to spend my money here so I wouldn't be surprised if I spend less money in all of Bolivia than I did to enter it. I should mention a certain caveat: the 12 boliviano lodging did not have even a collective bathroom for its guests.
Bolivia is the only country I know of where the president goes on hunger strike when he doesn't get his way, legislatively speaking that is. I am a fan of Evo Morales. I think he is overplaying his hand with a lot of the social reforms that he is trying to enact but, overall, I like him. There are not enough presidents in this world who are single and Evo Morales is one of them. He has made his sister the offical First Lady of Bolivia. His life story pretty inspiring for me. He grew up in a family where the vast majority of his brothers and sisters didn't even reach adulthood. He is a polarizing figure as evidenced by the recent attempt on his life in the Santa Cruz region but I believe he really cares about the long neglected Bolivian indigenous majority. I hope that he succeeds in elevating the indigenous poor of this country.
Recently, it was in the news that the proprietors of Pirate Bay have been convicted in a Swedish court of making copyrighted material available for illegal downloading. I have high hopes that they win their appeal as I would like to see recording industry go bankrupt. The music industry has been producing too much homogenous shit for too long. I am tired of hearing songs that range from cliched love songs to celebrations of self-indulgent narcissism. The copyright laws which grant protection to a copyright holder up to 150 years after the death of the original artist need to be changed, too. Even if the proprietors of Pirate Bay lose their appeals, I hope that pirates of the world unite to bring those motherfuckers to their knees.
I have been thinking a lot about creating the Ganjobicletholic Church. The Native American church won the right to use peyote a long time ago from the U.S. Supreme Court so I figured why not use religion as an excuse to smoke pot. The question is how does one create an officially recognized religion. My solution is to apply for I.R.S. tax-exempt status. In order to do this I will have to submit Articles of Confederation and a Constition, among other things, to the I.R.S. I figure if the Jedi Church can get offical recognition in Great Britain than I should be able to achieve official recognition in the U.S.
The next step is to create an official mythology and rituals of the Ganjobicletholic Church. I figured I would just borrow from other religions to create a patchwork of the positive aspects of various religions, kind of like the Unitarian Universalists. We will worship, the sun, the moon, the winds, and nature in general. Prometheus, the bringer of fire in Greek mythology, will be rebranded as the bringer of technology. As fire can grow out of control if one isn't careful so can the use of technology as evidenced by global warming. It will behoove us, the members of the Ganjobicletholic Church, to limit our use of technology in order to achieve a greater balance with nature.
As far as rituals are concerned, I can think of a few rituals that we will borrow from other religions. I like the Day of the Dead which is practised in Catholic Latin America but not much elsewhere. Honoring our dead ancestors is a positive thing as far as I am concerned. I also like the Muslim idea of a once-in-a-lifetime religious pilgrimage. Instead of going to Mecca, though, the end point of a pilgrimage will be discretionary as long as the pilgrimage is made using only human and sail power. Every full moon, we will have a feast and smoke-out which culminates in a large group bike ride afterwards. The use of hallucinogens will be encouraged with proper supervision.
I don't like any of the religions that the world has to offer me. I consider Christianity, Judaism, and Islam to be obselete religions as they were all created at least a thousand years ago in response to the trials and tribulations of said ancient times. I would like to have a religion that incorporates wastefulness and profligacy into our concepts of sinfullness. Jesus never said anything about people who drive Hummers but I think that it doesn't take much imagination to see that this is bad for the world and should, hence, be considered sinful. I don't want to be considered godly or messianic or elevated beyond the rest of humanity so I don't want to be the leader of this new church. I will happily accept the title of Grand Supreme High Archbishop of Austin, though.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Goodbye Peru, Hello Bolivia
Peru is one of those places that strikes you as just another poor place but them grows on you as you scratch the surface and discover that the richness of the culture more than makes up for the poverty of worldly possessions. I have had the good fortune of getting to know a number of Peruvians who have turned me on to some of the more beautiful aspects of Peruvian culture. Even now that I am going to be in Bolivia in a couple of days, I am still discovering new things about Peru. I am going to really miss Peru as I have completely fallen in love with it.
When I first arrived in Puno, I made friends with a photographer who is just a little bit younger than me. He saw me on my bike and realized I was confused about where I was and decided to help me find the place I was looking for. Usually, upon arriving in a new city, I am extremely wary of strangers as my white skin attracts all sorts of conmen and charlatans, but I could tell that Giorgio was not using subterfuge to try to liberate me of my possessions. I have only known Giorgio for a few days but I am so glad to have met him. He is one of the people who has helped open my eyes to the beauty of Peru by introducing to me to new things. I also got to spend some time cooking with Giorgio and friends of his as well as go on some bike rides with them. All in all, Giorgio and his friends have shown me a wonderful time in Puno.
As some of you are probably aware, this week is Semana Santa or Easter week for those who are ignorant of Latin culture. To understand Semana Santa it is important to understand that Easter is much more important than Christmas here, even as far as religious holidays are concerned. When I was living and working in Mexico, I got the day off for Christmas but two weeks off for Semana Santa. All throughout the Catholic world, but especially in Spanish-speaking countries, there are all sorts of parades and pilgrimages honoring the last living days of Jesus.
Here in Puno, there is a large procession to the top of a hill where there is a giant cross. People then light candles at the top and make there way back down the hill. My new-found amigos puneños and I decided that it would be a fun idea to drink a bunch San Pedro cactus tea and go on the procession in a happily altered state. Maybe we could speak to God that way. Despite the rain and the cold, the hill was packed with the faithful and it was still a beautiful ceremony.
In the past I have made some pretty damning statements about religion and, more specifically, Christianity. I should say, however, that I do appreciate some of the symbolism and the beauty of some religious ceremonies. Catholicism has so much history and tradition (not all of it good) that I would have to choose it over other forms of Christianity if I had a gun to my head. Evangelism doesn't hold a candle to Catholicism when it comes to integrating beauty into its ceremonies. It is just a cheap, tacky, plastic church for cheap, tacky, plastic people living in a cheap, tacky, plastic society. Catholicism gave us Michaelangelo's sistine chapel while Evangelism gave us Pat Boone and ugly, suburban megachurches.
Ganjobicicletolismo is the name I have given my religion of one in the past and I thought I might expound on it since I am the high priest of it after all. As a true cultural syncretist, I have decided that I am going to borrow some of the symbolism from Catholicism since not every single aspect of it is bad. As a non-Christian I have to say that I, nonetheless, like the concept of human sinfulness. I only wish more people could see their own sinfullness instead of the sinfulness of those around them. During the procession to the cross on top of the hill, one thing that I saw that I really liked was that there were people carrying stones up the hill and placing them on the various prayer stations before they reached the cross at the top. My friends explained to me that the rocks were symbolic of the people's sins and that carrying this burden up the hill was seen as a form of pennance. This really jived well with me since I had already kind of thought of myself as performing some kind of pennance by hauling my bike with all of its gear up the sides of massive mountains. So there you have it. I have a way of paying pennance in ganjobicletolismo. Also in the spirit of cultural syncretism, my friends and I used one of the candles used in the procession to light our weed. Marijuana use is one of the central tenets of my religion.
When I first arrived in Puno, I made friends with a photographer who is just a little bit younger than me. He saw me on my bike and realized I was confused about where I was and decided to help me find the place I was looking for. Usually, upon arriving in a new city, I am extremely wary of strangers as my white skin attracts all sorts of conmen and charlatans, but I could tell that Giorgio was not using subterfuge to try to liberate me of my possessions. I have only known Giorgio for a few days but I am so glad to have met him. He is one of the people who has helped open my eyes to the beauty of Peru by introducing to me to new things. I also got to spend some time cooking with Giorgio and friends of his as well as go on some bike rides with them. All in all, Giorgio and his friends have shown me a wonderful time in Puno.
As some of you are probably aware, this week is Semana Santa or Easter week for those who are ignorant of Latin culture. To understand Semana Santa it is important to understand that Easter is much more important than Christmas here, even as far as religious holidays are concerned. When I was living and working in Mexico, I got the day off for Christmas but two weeks off for Semana Santa. All throughout the Catholic world, but especially in Spanish-speaking countries, there are all sorts of parades and pilgrimages honoring the last living days of Jesus.
Here in Puno, there is a large procession to the top of a hill where there is a giant cross. People then light candles at the top and make there way back down the hill. My new-found amigos puneños and I decided that it would be a fun idea to drink a bunch San Pedro cactus tea and go on the procession in a happily altered state. Maybe we could speak to God that way. Despite the rain and the cold, the hill was packed with the faithful and it was still a beautiful ceremony.
In the past I have made some pretty damning statements about religion and, more specifically, Christianity. I should say, however, that I do appreciate some of the symbolism and the beauty of some religious ceremonies. Catholicism has so much history and tradition (not all of it good) that I would have to choose it over other forms of Christianity if I had a gun to my head. Evangelism doesn't hold a candle to Catholicism when it comes to integrating beauty into its ceremonies. It is just a cheap, tacky, plastic church for cheap, tacky, plastic people living in a cheap, tacky, plastic society. Catholicism gave us Michaelangelo's sistine chapel while Evangelism gave us Pat Boone and ugly, suburban megachurches.
Ganjobicicletolismo is the name I have given my religion of one in the past and I thought I might expound on it since I am the high priest of it after all. As a true cultural syncretist, I have decided that I am going to borrow some of the symbolism from Catholicism since not every single aspect of it is bad. As a non-Christian I have to say that I, nonetheless, like the concept of human sinfulness. I only wish more people could see their own sinfullness instead of the sinfulness of those around them. During the procession to the cross on top of the hill, one thing that I saw that I really liked was that there were people carrying stones up the hill and placing them on the various prayer stations before they reached the cross at the top. My friends explained to me that the rocks were symbolic of the people's sins and that carrying this burden up the hill was seen as a form of pennance. This really jived well with me since I had already kind of thought of myself as performing some kind of pennance by hauling my bike with all of its gear up the sides of massive mountains. So there you have it. I have a way of paying pennance in ganjobicletolismo. Also in the spirit of cultural syncretism, my friends and I used one of the candles used in the procession to light our weed. Marijuana use is one of the central tenets of my religion.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Colder Than a Snowman's Pecker
Unfortunately, it looks like waking up and finding frost on my tent and bicycle is going to become more of the norm rather than the exception as I continue to advance southward. I purchased some new heavy-duty socks in Arequipa for when I am asleep in my tent. I wear three layers of socks when it is real cold. I have been blessed with sunny weather all the way from Arequipa to Puno where I am now. All in all, I would take the sunburned face from the nose down and the chapped lips over having to ride through cold rain and hail. At higher elevations the U.V. rays are noticably stronger as I have to wear my sunglasses to prevent snow-blindness and cover my body more to prevent sunburn. Despite the sunny days, it still freezes at night. I rewarded myself for reaching Juliaca with a nice warm hotel room and I intend to do the same here in Puno. A fun fact: I always thought it was strange how my Army Field guide to survival recommends to always have matches in a waterproof container rather than a lighter. I have since discovered that lighters barely function if they function at all at higher elevations. My theory is that the thinner air does not provide enough oxygen for the combustion reaction.
Recently President Obama rejected yet another call for legalization of marijuana from an internet forum. The person who posed the question, unfortunately, only reinforced the popular image of the idiot stoner. He suggested that legalizing marijuana would be some kind of panacea for our economic woes. President Obama was right to ridicule this line of reasoning but he is wrong to reject the call for the legalization of marijuana. I have read a somewhat dubious statistic in Foreign Policy Magazine that 60% of the Mexican cartels revenue comes from marijuana smuggling. I don't believe this statistic because almost everyone I know who smokes weed smokes hydroponic weed with an American provenance. Nonetheless, legalizing marijuana would remove a major revenue source from the Mexican cartels, not to mention, empty our jails and free up law enforcement resources to focus on real crime. I think, as more and more states face potential bankruptcy, that marijuana will become more or less decriminalized as a fiscal measure to free up prison space especially in local and county jails as there are over 700,000 arrests every year for marijuana possession. Currently, all these people have to spend at least one night in jail. The illegal drug industry is one of the few truly recession-proof industries so people will keep buying these drugs.
I was pleased to discover, after leaving the wilderness, that gay people can marry in Iowa now because of a new court ruling. It pleases me that the Christian right is losing the culture wars in the U.S. In the last ten years the percentage of people that claim to be atheist has risen from 5% to 15% of the U.S. population. I only hope this trend will accelerate in the next ten years. I envision an atheist majority like in Germany. For the record, I do not consider myself atheist or agnostic but I am definitely not Christian. You could say that I am an animistic pantheist. The Incas worshipped the sun. Since the sun melts the frost off of my tent and warms me, I would say that I am a sun worshipper, too. I strongly dislike the Christian church and I would say that I have declared open war on Christianity after a Brazilian archbishop recently excommunicated a nine-year-old rape victim and the doctors who performed a life-saving abortion on her but not the pig of a stepfather who continually raped her. I can't wait for the next pair of proselytizers to come and knock on my front door. I am going to tear them a new asshole.
Recently President Obama rejected yet another call for legalization of marijuana from an internet forum. The person who posed the question, unfortunately, only reinforced the popular image of the idiot stoner. He suggested that legalizing marijuana would be some kind of panacea for our economic woes. President Obama was right to ridicule this line of reasoning but he is wrong to reject the call for the legalization of marijuana. I have read a somewhat dubious statistic in Foreign Policy Magazine that 60% of the Mexican cartels revenue comes from marijuana smuggling. I don't believe this statistic because almost everyone I know who smokes weed smokes hydroponic weed with an American provenance. Nonetheless, legalizing marijuana would remove a major revenue source from the Mexican cartels, not to mention, empty our jails and free up law enforcement resources to focus on real crime. I think, as more and more states face potential bankruptcy, that marijuana will become more or less decriminalized as a fiscal measure to free up prison space especially in local and county jails as there are over 700,000 arrests every year for marijuana possession. Currently, all these people have to spend at least one night in jail. The illegal drug industry is one of the few truly recession-proof industries so people will keep buying these drugs.
I was pleased to discover, after leaving the wilderness, that gay people can marry in Iowa now because of a new court ruling. It pleases me that the Christian right is losing the culture wars in the U.S. In the last ten years the percentage of people that claim to be atheist has risen from 5% to 15% of the U.S. population. I only hope this trend will accelerate in the next ten years. I envision an atheist majority like in Germany. For the record, I do not consider myself atheist or agnostic but I am definitely not Christian. You could say that I am an animistic pantheist. The Incas worshipped the sun. Since the sun melts the frost off of my tent and warms me, I would say that I am a sun worshipper, too. I strongly dislike the Christian church and I would say that I have declared open war on Christianity after a Brazilian archbishop recently excommunicated a nine-year-old rape victim and the doctors who performed a life-saving abortion on her but not the pig of a stepfather who continually raped her. I can't wait for the next pair of proselytizers to come and knock on my front door. I am going to tear them a new asshole.
Monday, March 23, 2009
A Swiftian Economic Proposal
News about the economy is getting scarier and scarier by the day. The American spending glut that fueled not just the American economy but the world economy as well is over now that the bills for the debt that fueled our historic consumption are now due. The government has run up a deficit of well over a trillion dollars this year in a desparate attempt to get people to start spending their money again but to no avail. Despite the trillions of dollars being spent, no new jobs are being created as we have in fact lost millions of jobs in the last year. This creates a vicious cycle as even people with jobs are even more likely to stop spending money for fear of losing their jobs in the future which leads to even more job losses. There must be some way to stimulate the economy.
The solution lies in class warfare. We wouldn't even have to spend more than it cost to buy bullets since there are already 200,000,000 estimated privately owned firearms in the United States alone. I just propose that we put them to use. Yes the rich own a portion of those firearms and they also have the police and the military at their disposal and they would ultimately win a class war against the poor and middle class but at a great economic cost. It is precisely this economic cost that would stimulate the economy.
Fear is what is largely driving this recession but we can harness fear to provide for an economic stimulus. As of 2006 there were an estimated 2,700,000 millionaires living in the United States using net worth valuations which excluded the value of their homes. The number has no doubt dropped since then but let us just walk through some math assuming that their are still around 2,000,000 remaining such millionaires. These people have enough available money to start spending it now but aren't because they don't want to rub other's faces in their financial security so they have been avoiding the usual ostentatious displays of wealth that they are accustomed to. However, if they legitimately feared for their lives they would no doubt begin to spend their money on security for themselves. As the police and military forces would be overwhelmed just by the sheer number of firearms in this country they would no longer be able to provide around the clock protection for the rich and, therefore, the rich would have to hire private security. Since the only way to ensure their safety is 24 hour surveillance this would create the need for many armed security personel. Each week is exactly 168 hours long so to have at least one armed guard around the house one would have to contract at least 4 full time employees and one part time employee in order to avoid having to pay overtime. As the rich have larger properties to protect, no one security guard would be able to protect more than four houses at a time. Using these numbers one could calculate that this would provide 4.2*500,000=2,100,000 new full-time jobs to the economy ( the .2 trailing the 4 is for those 8 hours left over after the four full time employees have been allotted their 40 hours a week). Moreover, these are higher quality jobs as armed security personel require a variety of special licenses in order to be able to carry firearms on the job. Also, the ultrarich would no doubt hire 24 hour security detail to escort them throughout their days. Assuming that only 100,000 of these 2,000,000 would qualify as ultrarich we get that they would hire an additional 4.2*100,000=420,000 armed security guards as their personal escorts. These security guards would be even more highly paid as they would have to be highly trained in counter-assassination and counter-kidnapping tactics in addition to their usual licensing requirements. That is 2,420,000 new jobs created thus far.
There is no doubt that the U.S., state, and local governments would, at the least, match the number of new private security hires with police and military new hires. That is 4,840,000 new jobs thus far. No doubt all the new private security, police, and military trainees would need instructors to train them in the counter-assassination and counter-kidnapping tactics as well as general firearm use for their licenses. Assuming that we would need at least one instructor for every 10 cadets that is an additional 484,000 jobs. These jobs would be permanent as security, police, and military personel need to renew their various licenses and training. That now brings the total of new jobs added to the economy to 5,324,000.
All of these 5,324,000 new employees would need to be properly equipped with weapons. As the U.S. gun manufactures currently produce and sell about 4,700,000 guns every year in the United States, the capacity to produce and sell weapons would need to be expanded by 112%. It has been estimated that at least 500,000 people are employed in gun manufacturing and gun retail. As both the gun manufacturing and retail jobs are already highly mechanized, the companies would have no choice but to hire about 112% more workers. That means there would be an additional 500,000*1.12= 560,000 new jobs added. The total is now comes to 5,884,000 permanent new jobs.
Gun manufacturers would no doubt have to build new factories, gun retailers would have to build new display rooms for their weapons, and the instructors would most definitely need additional training facilities for all the new trainees. All this new building would stimulate the construction industry which is currently reeling from the housing bust. This would put more construction workers back to work albeit only temporarily as this would only be a one-time expansion. All these new workers would undoubtedly spend their hard-earned money on their mortgages and rents, either directly or indirectly helping decelerate the foreclosure crisis which has led to the downward spiral in house prices that we have been experiencing as of late. There are no doubt countless new jobs which would be added to the economy as these security personel spend their money. Before we know it, we would have replaced all the jobs that have been lost in this recession.
If you don't have the guts to kill a rich person, there are other ways to do your part. Armed kidnapping will more than suffice as would arson which would have the added benefir of further stimulating the construction industry as the houses are replaced. Rich people would now be so fearful that they would probably even be willing to take on debt to pay for all their security upgrades. So all of you that were hesitant to engage in class warfare before because you feared being seen as a communist can now do so with a clean conscience knowing that you are helping stimulate the economy. You would be a true capitalist patriot.
The solution lies in class warfare. We wouldn't even have to spend more than it cost to buy bullets since there are already 200,000,000 estimated privately owned firearms in the United States alone. I just propose that we put them to use. Yes the rich own a portion of those firearms and they also have the police and the military at their disposal and they would ultimately win a class war against the poor and middle class but at a great economic cost. It is precisely this economic cost that would stimulate the economy.
Fear is what is largely driving this recession but we can harness fear to provide for an economic stimulus. As of 2006 there were an estimated 2,700,000 millionaires living in the United States using net worth valuations which excluded the value of their homes. The number has no doubt dropped since then but let us just walk through some math assuming that their are still around 2,000,000 remaining such millionaires. These people have enough available money to start spending it now but aren't because they don't want to rub other's faces in their financial security so they have been avoiding the usual ostentatious displays of wealth that they are accustomed to. However, if they legitimately feared for their lives they would no doubt begin to spend their money on security for themselves. As the police and military forces would be overwhelmed just by the sheer number of firearms in this country they would no longer be able to provide around the clock protection for the rich and, therefore, the rich would have to hire private security. Since the only way to ensure their safety is 24 hour surveillance this would create the need for many armed security personel. Each week is exactly 168 hours long so to have at least one armed guard around the house one would have to contract at least 4 full time employees and one part time employee in order to avoid having to pay overtime. As the rich have larger properties to protect, no one security guard would be able to protect more than four houses at a time. Using these numbers one could calculate that this would provide 4.2*500,000=2,100,000 new full-time jobs to the economy ( the .2 trailing the 4 is for those 8 hours left over after the four full time employees have been allotted their 40 hours a week). Moreover, these are higher quality jobs as armed security personel require a variety of special licenses in order to be able to carry firearms on the job. Also, the ultrarich would no doubt hire 24 hour security detail to escort them throughout their days. Assuming that only 100,000 of these 2,000,000 would qualify as ultrarich we get that they would hire an additional 4.2*100,000=420,000 armed security guards as their personal escorts. These security guards would be even more highly paid as they would have to be highly trained in counter-assassination and counter-kidnapping tactics in addition to their usual licensing requirements. That is 2,420,000 new jobs created thus far.
There is no doubt that the U.S., state, and local governments would, at the least, match the number of new private security hires with police and military new hires. That is 4,840,000 new jobs thus far. No doubt all the new private security, police, and military trainees would need instructors to train them in the counter-assassination and counter-kidnapping tactics as well as general firearm use for their licenses. Assuming that we would need at least one instructor for every 10 cadets that is an additional 484,000 jobs. These jobs would be permanent as security, police, and military personel need to renew their various licenses and training. That now brings the total of new jobs added to the economy to 5,324,000.
All of these 5,324,000 new employees would need to be properly equipped with weapons. As the U.S. gun manufactures currently produce and sell about 4,700,000 guns every year in the United States, the capacity to produce and sell weapons would need to be expanded by 112%. It has been estimated that at least 500,000 people are employed in gun manufacturing and gun retail. As both the gun manufacturing and retail jobs are already highly mechanized, the companies would have no choice but to hire about 112% more workers. That means there would be an additional 500,000*1.12= 560,000 new jobs added. The total is now comes to 5,884,000 permanent new jobs.
Gun manufacturers would no doubt have to build new factories, gun retailers would have to build new display rooms for their weapons, and the instructors would most definitely need additional training facilities for all the new trainees. All this new building would stimulate the construction industry which is currently reeling from the housing bust. This would put more construction workers back to work albeit only temporarily as this would only be a one-time expansion. All these new workers would undoubtedly spend their hard-earned money on their mortgages and rents, either directly or indirectly helping decelerate the foreclosure crisis which has led to the downward spiral in house prices that we have been experiencing as of late. There are no doubt countless new jobs which would be added to the economy as these security personel spend their money. Before we know it, we would have replaced all the jobs that have been lost in this recession.
If you don't have the guts to kill a rich person, there are other ways to do your part. Armed kidnapping will more than suffice as would arson which would have the added benefir of further stimulating the construction industry as the houses are replaced. Rich people would now be so fearful that they would probably even be willing to take on debt to pay for all their security upgrades. So all of you that were hesitant to engage in class warfare before because you feared being seen as a communist can now do so with a clean conscience knowing that you are helping stimulate the economy. You would be a true capitalist patriot.
Friday, March 20, 2009
15,821 Feet
As the title to this blog post suggests, I have broken my previous altitude record on this most recent leg of my journey from Espinar to Arequipa. The night before I broke my new altitude record, I found frost covering my tent and bicycle for the first time since Northern Mexico. I was at only 13,000 feet then. Previously, when I topped out on a mountain pass, I was rewarded with a long downhill. Alas, the altiplano is cruel and rewards me with several days to a week of cold, wet riding. At 15,000 feet, it is cold even if it is sunny. Most of the time I spent in the altiplano was on a dirt road, albeit a high quality one without the wheel destroying washboard grooves and massive rocks jutting out of the road. Nonetheless, the road slowed me down. I spent three days over 14,000 feet. The first day that I topped out over 15,000 feet, it began to snow right when I reached a small village. The one and only lodging in town only charged $3 for one of its beds so I jumped at the chance. I even slept in late knowing that it would be as cold as a witches tittie in the morning.
I was so happy when I finally reached asphalt even though I was still at a very high elevation. The headwinds were fierce and cold. There were times when my feet were really cold despite the fact that I was wearing a double layer of socks. The small town of Imata had plenty of restaurants but no lodging. There were two little kids that told me that their family had lodging and I trusted them because I thought they were too small to have truly sinister intentions but they started acting real suspiciously which made my spidey senses tingle. They led me to the back of a house on the main road and told me to knock on the gate. When I knocked on the gate, the kids ran to hide. When I asked them why they were doing this they did not provide me with a satisfactory answer so I decided to leave them. I would rather camp in the freezing weather than wait around to see what nasty surprises were in store for me. Fortunately, I was able to find lodging that night at the local police station. They had an extra bed and everything.
The next day, in an attempt to avoid camping in freezing weather, I rode over 130 kilometers and ascended almost 4,000 feet to the city of Arequipa. Despite all the ascending, I finally got the long downhill stretches I had been pining for. There is nothing quite as exhilarating and adrenalizing as lane splitting between semis on a long downhill stretch. I am going to rest here in Arequipa for the next couple of days but I know that, eventually, I am going to have to bite the bullet and do some more camping in freezing weather as it is only going to get colder as I travel farther south.
As someone who comes from the radical nonconsumption camp, I have to admit that I am disgusted by almost all of the U.S. government's attempts to bolster the economy. I personally know several people who have been laid off recently but I think that we should nevertheless embrace the Great Recession as pundits are calling it now. There is something terribly wrong with an economic system that depends entirely on the profligate consumption of a few rich countries of products created by a slave-like underclass of third world workers. I want to live in a world where a 20 hour work week is considered full time. Also, I would like to see the industrial countries of the world significantly decrease their carbon footprint. In that interest, I have compiled a disparate list of companies, entire industries, government policies, and whatnot that should be downsized if not outright eliminated along with a short justification for each one. This is by no means comprehensive and I might add to this list in the future.
The Big Three automakers, do not deserve any sympathy. They have done their best to destroy public transportation infrastructure and fight any increases in mileage standards for cars for decades. They also effectively receive a massive subsidy from the U.S., state, and local governments in the form of highway building and free parking. The government should actively try to change consumer behavior by tolling all highways, eliminating free parking, and taxing gasoline. Moreover, the funds taken from these measures should be used to subsidize public transportation. Also every highway in the U.S. that has more than one lane for each direction should sacrifice a lane for high-speed rail. The only legitimate argument that the car companies have is that there impending bankruptcy will cost the U.S. government even more money than they are currently burning because of a U.S. law that insures the pension plans of companies that go bankrupt. My response to this is change the law. All of the other automakers will happily build more U.S. factories to supply cars to the largest car market in the world.
Golf is an industry that I would like to see collapse completely. In a world where fresh water is an increasingly scarce resource, we have no room for inplacably thirsty golf courses. The massive amounts of fertilizer that they use also pollute the water tables further damaging fresh water supplies. The golf course in the middle of Yosemite National Park still pisses me off. Also, I strongly dislike the elitist, racist, and sexist tendencies of golf clubs. Membership fees are exorbitant for all but the well-to-do. The golf course in Augusta, Georgia, where the Masters are held, still excludes women. Did I mention that golf is not a sport.
Baseball is another sport I would like to see collapse. This is just a personal prejudice of mine and I admit that but one has to admit that there is something inherently unfair about a professional league where the team-that-shall-not-be-named spends up to ten times as much as other teams. Put all those steroid junkies on the street.
I would love to see military spending reduced if not slashed drastically. Unfortunately, the Obama administration seems to be doing very little in this department. We should immediately eliminate all expenditures on weapons development as we have no equal on the battlefield when it comes to technology. I would also like to see an immediate withdrawl from all foreign war zones and a selling off of all international military bases to our allies. All foreign military support should also be eliminated. Israel does not need our military support and all of our military initiatives in Latin America seem to fail miserably especially when one does a cost-benefit analysis.
We should stop the drug war as it does more harm than the drugs themselves. The illegal drug industry is also recession proof. As this is a favorite subject of mine to rant about, I will not beat this dead horse any more.
Junk mail is an absurd waste of resources. I would guess that most Americans do not read about 95% of their mail. I don't even check my mail anymore. There should be a do-not-mail list as well as the do-not-call list. Also, anyone with an internet account should automatically be weened from receiving any bills in the mail by law. This would save countless trees and fuel. Yes, we would probably have to lay off massive amounts of postal workers but they are redundant anyway.
I would love to see a massive grass-roots rebellion against planned obselescence. It is an open secret that ipod batteries die after two years and you have to replace the entire ipod. This is just one example of many. We as consumers should stand up to the corporations that make shoddy products.
Since more and more Americans are being laid off, we should collectively have a lot more time to cook. In this spirit I would love to see consumers shun prepackaged T.V. dinners and canned food in favor of fresh, preferably local ingredients. If more consumers shunned these products fresh produce would become cheaper as consumers would no longer have to compete with massive corporations and their bulk buying power when they purchase fresh food.
I would love to see the entire jewelery industry go down. These shiny little trinkets are useless and do nothing for anyone. The entire gold industry is one of the most environmentally destructive industries there is. For each ounce of gold that the mining companies extract they extract 30 tons of ore and bake it in cyanide. There is no environmentally friendly way to do this. Also the diamonds that people purchase fund bloody insurgencies throughout the world.
The advertising industry is another harmful industry. They create demand for products where there previously was none. Fire the whole lot of them.
The wedding industry needs some serious downsizing. I still can't believe how much money Americans waste every year on their weddings. Also, their inevitable divorces cost even more than their weddings.
We should truly harness the power of the internet to eliminate the real estate industry. They get 6% just because they had an effective monopoly of real estate listings. The internet can change that.
I also have a personal hatred for air conditioners. They actually increase the temperature outside whereever they are in use. Also, as most of the electricity in the U.S. is provided by natural gas burning power plants, the use of air conditioners contributes to global warming. If you can't stand the heat, stay in the north you fucking yankee.
People should stop paying for cable television. It is obscene that people pay a premium for these channels only to have infomercials on every one of these channels for about 8 hours a day. Night owls and early birds should know this well. We should be able to selectively choose which channels we want to have and pay for only those channels as most cable subscribers don't even watch half of the channels they have. Moreover, we should have the option of paying a one time fee for sporting events or other shows we would like to see. I recently discovered that I can watch many sporting events on the internet on live-streaming web sites.
I would love to see massive layoffs in law enforcement. The problem we have as a country is not that we don't have enough police officers but that there are too many laws that they have to enforce. Ending the drug war would eliminate the need for at least half of these police officers, not to mention prosecuters, defense attorneys, judges, and jailers. There are also a lot of other laws that we could eliminate. I personally hate noise ordinances. Why is it that the cops are called almost every time anyone throws a party but I can't call the cops when the sound of leaf blowers and car alarms disturb me.
I am sure that I could think of a lot more industries to eliminate given the time. We could then spread the remaining jobs among everyone else and work towards achieving the 20 hour work week for everyone. With all this free time, we could then rededicate ourselves to our hobbies and passions. Maybe we could even spend more time with our families and friends.
I was so happy when I finally reached asphalt even though I was still at a very high elevation. The headwinds were fierce and cold. There were times when my feet were really cold despite the fact that I was wearing a double layer of socks. The small town of Imata had plenty of restaurants but no lodging. There were two little kids that told me that their family had lodging and I trusted them because I thought they were too small to have truly sinister intentions but they started acting real suspiciously which made my spidey senses tingle. They led me to the back of a house on the main road and told me to knock on the gate. When I knocked on the gate, the kids ran to hide. When I asked them why they were doing this they did not provide me with a satisfactory answer so I decided to leave them. I would rather camp in the freezing weather than wait around to see what nasty surprises were in store for me. Fortunately, I was able to find lodging that night at the local police station. They had an extra bed and everything.
The next day, in an attempt to avoid camping in freezing weather, I rode over 130 kilometers and ascended almost 4,000 feet to the city of Arequipa. Despite all the ascending, I finally got the long downhill stretches I had been pining for. There is nothing quite as exhilarating and adrenalizing as lane splitting between semis on a long downhill stretch. I am going to rest here in Arequipa for the next couple of days but I know that, eventually, I am going to have to bite the bullet and do some more camping in freezing weather as it is only going to get colder as I travel farther south.
As someone who comes from the radical nonconsumption camp, I have to admit that I am disgusted by almost all of the U.S. government's attempts to bolster the economy. I personally know several people who have been laid off recently but I think that we should nevertheless embrace the Great Recession as pundits are calling it now. There is something terribly wrong with an economic system that depends entirely on the profligate consumption of a few rich countries of products created by a slave-like underclass of third world workers. I want to live in a world where a 20 hour work week is considered full time. Also, I would like to see the industrial countries of the world significantly decrease their carbon footprint. In that interest, I have compiled a disparate list of companies, entire industries, government policies, and whatnot that should be downsized if not outright eliminated along with a short justification for each one. This is by no means comprehensive and I might add to this list in the future.
The Big Three automakers, do not deserve any sympathy. They have done their best to destroy public transportation infrastructure and fight any increases in mileage standards for cars for decades. They also effectively receive a massive subsidy from the U.S., state, and local governments in the form of highway building and free parking. The government should actively try to change consumer behavior by tolling all highways, eliminating free parking, and taxing gasoline. Moreover, the funds taken from these measures should be used to subsidize public transportation. Also every highway in the U.S. that has more than one lane for each direction should sacrifice a lane for high-speed rail. The only legitimate argument that the car companies have is that there impending bankruptcy will cost the U.S. government even more money than they are currently burning because of a U.S. law that insures the pension plans of companies that go bankrupt. My response to this is change the law. All of the other automakers will happily build more U.S. factories to supply cars to the largest car market in the world.
Golf is an industry that I would like to see collapse completely. In a world where fresh water is an increasingly scarce resource, we have no room for inplacably thirsty golf courses. The massive amounts of fertilizer that they use also pollute the water tables further damaging fresh water supplies. The golf course in the middle of Yosemite National Park still pisses me off. Also, I strongly dislike the elitist, racist, and sexist tendencies of golf clubs. Membership fees are exorbitant for all but the well-to-do. The golf course in Augusta, Georgia, where the Masters are held, still excludes women. Did I mention that golf is not a sport.
Baseball is another sport I would like to see collapse. This is just a personal prejudice of mine and I admit that but one has to admit that there is something inherently unfair about a professional league where the team-that-shall-not-be-named spends up to ten times as much as other teams. Put all those steroid junkies on the street.
I would love to see military spending reduced if not slashed drastically. Unfortunately, the Obama administration seems to be doing very little in this department. We should immediately eliminate all expenditures on weapons development as we have no equal on the battlefield when it comes to technology. I would also like to see an immediate withdrawl from all foreign war zones and a selling off of all international military bases to our allies. All foreign military support should also be eliminated. Israel does not need our military support and all of our military initiatives in Latin America seem to fail miserably especially when one does a cost-benefit analysis.
We should stop the drug war as it does more harm than the drugs themselves. The illegal drug industry is also recession proof. As this is a favorite subject of mine to rant about, I will not beat this dead horse any more.
Junk mail is an absurd waste of resources. I would guess that most Americans do not read about 95% of their mail. I don't even check my mail anymore. There should be a do-not-mail list as well as the do-not-call list. Also, anyone with an internet account should automatically be weened from receiving any bills in the mail by law. This would save countless trees and fuel. Yes, we would probably have to lay off massive amounts of postal workers but they are redundant anyway.
I would love to see a massive grass-roots rebellion against planned obselescence. It is an open secret that ipod batteries die after two years and you have to replace the entire ipod. This is just one example of many. We as consumers should stand up to the corporations that make shoddy products.
Since more and more Americans are being laid off, we should collectively have a lot more time to cook. In this spirit I would love to see consumers shun prepackaged T.V. dinners and canned food in favor of fresh, preferably local ingredients. If more consumers shunned these products fresh produce would become cheaper as consumers would no longer have to compete with massive corporations and their bulk buying power when they purchase fresh food.
I would love to see the entire jewelery industry go down. These shiny little trinkets are useless and do nothing for anyone. The entire gold industry is one of the most environmentally destructive industries there is. For each ounce of gold that the mining companies extract they extract 30 tons of ore and bake it in cyanide. There is no environmentally friendly way to do this. Also the diamonds that people purchase fund bloody insurgencies throughout the world.
The advertising industry is another harmful industry. They create demand for products where there previously was none. Fire the whole lot of them.
The wedding industry needs some serious downsizing. I still can't believe how much money Americans waste every year on their weddings. Also, their inevitable divorces cost even more than their weddings.
We should truly harness the power of the internet to eliminate the real estate industry. They get 6% just because they had an effective monopoly of real estate listings. The internet can change that.
I also have a personal hatred for air conditioners. They actually increase the temperature outside whereever they are in use. Also, as most of the electricity in the U.S. is provided by natural gas burning power plants, the use of air conditioners contributes to global warming. If you can't stand the heat, stay in the north you fucking yankee.
People should stop paying for cable television. It is obscene that people pay a premium for these channels only to have infomercials on every one of these channels for about 8 hours a day. Night owls and early birds should know this well. We should be able to selectively choose which channels we want to have and pay for only those channels as most cable subscribers don't even watch half of the channels they have. Moreover, we should have the option of paying a one time fee for sporting events or other shows we would like to see. I recently discovered that I can watch many sporting events on the internet on live-streaming web sites.
I would love to see massive layoffs in law enforcement. The problem we have as a country is not that we don't have enough police officers but that there are too many laws that they have to enforce. Ending the drug war would eliminate the need for at least half of these police officers, not to mention prosecuters, defense attorneys, judges, and jailers. There are also a lot of other laws that we could eliminate. I personally hate noise ordinances. Why is it that the cops are called almost every time anyone throws a party but I can't call the cops when the sound of leaf blowers and car alarms disturb me.
I am sure that I could think of a lot more industries to eliminate given the time. We could then spread the remaining jobs among everyone else and work towards achieving the 20 hour work week for everyone. With all this free time, we could then rededicate ourselves to our hobbies and passions. Maybe we could even spend more time with our families and friends.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
The Tent is Still Working
I am in a town called Espinar nestled in the altiplano between Cusco and Arequipa. After getting hailed on the last two days, I decided it was time for a break so here I am. I have rain gear and a helmet to mitigate the effect of the hail but it is still not any fun to deal with. I have also learned that a good 30-minute hail storm will decrease the temperature significantly.
With all that said, I am extatic to report that my tent is functioning well and that my engineering solution seems to have done the trick. All I can say is that if you need epoxy putty to be pliable use the stuff that is an actual putty instead of a paste before it dries. I am hoping that my tent will not require any more fixes but, if it does, I have an extra pole to fix it with. I have so far used my tent for every night except one since I left Cusco and it has rained almost every night. Staying dry and warm when it is cold keeps my spirits high.
I went through the usual remote rural areas to get to Espinar. The people here don't have a lot of material possessions but they eat well and they have electricity. This was evidenced by the numerous hydroelectric power stations and ample flocks of cows and sheep. This doesn't stop children from begging me aggressively for money. As I ride by, the children beg me incessantly for "propinas." Considering that the word propina means tip, I wonder what they expect to be tipped for. I have been able to leave these kids behind but their aggressiveness is worrisome. Some of the kids were carrying shovels which could readily be used as weapons. I have also read stories from other cyclist about the kids throwing rocks when they don't get their "propina." It is a small step to go from aggressively begging people for money to assaulting them. Rest assured that I have no qualms about beating one, or several, of these children mercilessly if they became threatening in any way. When I am on my own, I have to follow the law of the jungle instead of any ethical code. Fortunately, I have been able to avoid having to do that but I have definitely heard stories about large groups of adolescents who roam around looking for people to assault and steal from. They are colloquially called "piranas" because of the nature of their attacks.
I am continuing on but I am weary of others as I am definitely an outsider here. I hear Quechua more commonly spoken here than Spanish. One of the aggressive panhandlers seemed to barely speak Spanish at all. He first started speaking to me in Quechua and, when I asked him if he spoke Spanish, said in broken Spanish, "What a pretty bike. Sell it to me." When I politely refused he started asking me to give him money and even ran aside me while begging. I left him behind but I am questioning whether my policy of civility towards all needs a little revision. I think that instead of meekly saying, "I am sorry. I don't have enough money for you." I should say something like, " I will not give you any money and if you don't want any trouble with me you should leave me alone." I am inherently a nice person but I also have a mean, vicious side and I not afraid to flash my teeth if necessary.
With all that said, I am extatic to report that my tent is functioning well and that my engineering solution seems to have done the trick. All I can say is that if you need epoxy putty to be pliable use the stuff that is an actual putty instead of a paste before it dries. I am hoping that my tent will not require any more fixes but, if it does, I have an extra pole to fix it with. I have so far used my tent for every night except one since I left Cusco and it has rained almost every night. Staying dry and warm when it is cold keeps my spirits high.
I went through the usual remote rural areas to get to Espinar. The people here don't have a lot of material possessions but they eat well and they have electricity. This was evidenced by the numerous hydroelectric power stations and ample flocks of cows and sheep. This doesn't stop children from begging me aggressively for money. As I ride by, the children beg me incessantly for "propinas." Considering that the word propina means tip, I wonder what they expect to be tipped for. I have been able to leave these kids behind but their aggressiveness is worrisome. Some of the kids were carrying shovels which could readily be used as weapons. I have also read stories from other cyclist about the kids throwing rocks when they don't get their "propina." It is a small step to go from aggressively begging people for money to assaulting them. Rest assured that I have no qualms about beating one, or several, of these children mercilessly if they became threatening in any way. When I am on my own, I have to follow the law of the jungle instead of any ethical code. Fortunately, I have been able to avoid having to do that but I have definitely heard stories about large groups of adolescents who roam around looking for people to assault and steal from. They are colloquially called "piranas" because of the nature of their attacks.
I am continuing on but I am weary of others as I am definitely an outsider here. I hear Quechua more commonly spoken here than Spanish. One of the aggressive panhandlers seemed to barely speak Spanish at all. He first started speaking to me in Quechua and, when I asked him if he spoke Spanish, said in broken Spanish, "What a pretty bike. Sell it to me." When I politely refused he started asking me to give him money and even ran aside me while begging. I left him behind but I am questioning whether my policy of civility towards all needs a little revision. I think that instead of meekly saying, "I am sorry. I don't have enough money for you." I should say something like, " I will not give you any money and if you don't want any trouble with me you should leave me alone." I am inherently a nice person but I also have a mean, vicious side and I not afraid to flash my teeth if necessary.
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