The Tshechu Festival

When I was in Bhutan I was lucky enough to be in Thimpu to see the Tshechu Festival. It was magical. The Thimphu Tshechu lasts for 4 days during which mask and historical folk dances are preformed in the courtyard of the Tashichodzong. Just imagine a sea of color, everyone dressed in their best clothes believing that their attendance will bring them good merit for the year. The history of this festival is ingrained in Buddhism (the country's main religion) and is in honor of Guru Rinpoche "the precious teacher". This Indian saint contributed enormously to the diffusion of Tantic Buddhism in the Himalayan regions of Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan around 800AD.

The Thimphu Tshechu lasts for four days during which mask and historical folk dances are preformed by monks and laymen alike. We were lucky enough to see it this year, the first year they held the festival outside as opposed to the old crowded courtyard that could accommodate only 25,000. The new area held 90,000 and although still crowded we had wonderful seats to see much of the performance and interact with people around us.

The best part of this entire day were the children. They gathered around us to have their picture taken or conversely to take pictures (some of my favorite pictures of the trip). We sat in the square playing games like 'rock, paper, scissors" and (a very, very, gentle) rendition of "slap hands". It was so much fun! These kids almost all spoke a few sentences in English and even if they did not gestures were enough.

This was one of my most fond memories of Bhutan and wonderful introduction into Buddhist life. Read more...

Willie and Microfinance, Part I

I met William today. William or "Willy", also goes by ZZ as his appearance to the legendary front man Billy Gibbons is uncanny. He stopped in today and we got to talking for a half-hour or so. As it turns out, Willy has family in Maui having gone to school there and lived for many years, and is trying to find his way out there. Willy had a falling out with his family some years back as his addictions to drugs and alcohol raged.

Willy is homeless.

He'd like more than anything else to make his way back to Hawaii and show them that he's clean. That he's turning his life around. That he's trying to dig his way out. Trouble is, hitching rides may be easy, but getting across the Pacific is another story.

How much is a one-way ticket to Maui? He wondered.

I looked it up.

It's roughly $390.

I almost winced at the amount. $390 is a lot of money to anyone, let alone a homeless man. How on earth to raise the money he wondered? He had a plan.

Willie likes to surf. He hasn't lately, but loves the break here in San Diego - much like Maui, not as warm, but just as peaceful. He has two old boards that have fallen in disrepair. As I understand it, these boards are made by a legendary board-marker. I didn't quite follow who the maker was, nor did I fully understand as he explained their repair. My knowledge of anything surf-related is minimal, and that may be generous. Anyhow, with some work toil and repair, they ought to fetch almost $1,500 each with the right market. In Hawaii, the boards ought to fetch even more as Willie explained the market out there is a bit better than here. Does he have them fixed here, then pay to have them brought aboard an airline?

Depends on the airline's fees for the weight of the two boards. He says thinking out loud.

His next stop, he explains, is the surf shop down the street. They'll be able to give him a good idea of what is costs to transport surfboards. That's step one, but he's afraid the fees will be too high.

Maybe he sells the two boards to someone in Hawaii from here, and then has them pay the shipping? Not favorable, he muses, as people like to see boards before they purchase. He does not want to sell them here, as they'll surely not fetch half as much money as they will in Maui or Honolulu. This is a man who understands economics. He understands the buyer's market. He knows Craigslist is probably his best shot at selling to the largest population, for the cheapest price. He's weighing his options. This man is an entrepreneur.

Willie is working to save the several hundred dollars it'll take to have them fixed first. This of course will take him awhile.

First he has to get his VA benefits to come through.
Then prove he's clean to find part-time work.
Then get a bank to let him open an account, maybe take a loan.
He has no collateral though. And herein lies the problem...

The homeless, the poor, the weak, the disenfranchised, those that live in the "ghettos" are not stupid. They're not there because their incapable. Sure, some are unwilling. Some don't put forth the effort. But most of the time, poverty is as a disease: It cannot be shed. It leads only to further despair. These people don't have access to money. Heck, most don't have access to computers. Those living in the deepest ruts of poverty cannot get loans from banks. They cannot start the American (or any other countries) dream. They are limited.

In some ways, the truly poor are the ultimate travelers. They are the ultimate entrepreneurs. These poor souls live on what they can beg for. What they can produce with their hands. What they can produce by collecting cans, bottles,or work here and there. They can live for years, eat, sleep at night, with nothing. They can find their way from one side of the country to the other, for free. They, like Willie, use what they have to buy/sell for a profit. If Willie was loaned the money to fix his boards, could he make $3,000? Good question. Even if he could, could he be trusted to repay it? Good question as well. This is going to be Part I in a series of blog entries about our thoughts on microfinance:

What it is.

Where it is.

Why it works.

And why, with regard to poverty, it might change the world.

To be continued.... Read more...

1491 - A Book Review

I just finished reading 1491 - New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus by Charles C. Mann and wanted to take some time this week to review this robust and exhaustive study of the ancient Americas.

This review comes fittingly as today is Columbus Day; which as an aside, has to be the the most moronic and unhistorical holiday this country has. What really are we celebrating? Are we celebrating the year that a borderline traitorous European, certainly tyrannical, was the "first" to step foot on the Americas? And by "first" do we really mean "first wealthy, well-funded, European explorer"? As this book points out, the Americas were more populated, and in some ways advanced, than Europe of the same time period. Furthermore, to disregard Leif Ericson's (and probably countless others) landing here some 500 years earlier is questionable at best. But history needs a face, and being that Spain and Portugal ruled the world at the time, Christopher Columbus is that man.

But I digress, the book 1491, is phenomenal. In my eyes, Charles Mann provides one of the most exhaustive and well-documented studies of historical North and South America ever put to print. To capture the findings in this book in a single review would be near impossible, but to summarize I'll do my best. Mann's 1491 title serves facetiously as the account of the America's prior to European "discovery".

I was taught, as every other school child was, that the populating of this country was a direct result of individuals (likely of Asian-descent) crossing the Bering Strait some 12,000 years ago. In turn, these nomads gradually wandered as far south as Chile, gradually populating and creating pocket societies along the way. In turn, we're led to believe that the Americas (certainly North America) had a population of people existing mainly in small, nomadic bands; living sparsely on the land, and that, for all practical purposes, America was still a vast wilderness upon Columbus' "discovery". Further, Columbus "discovered" this sparsely populated, and very unsophisticated, land in 1492. Charles C. Mann makes abundantly clear that archaeologists and anthropologists in the last thirty years have proved nearly every aspect of those assumptions wrong (and in some cases, very, very wrong).

Here are a few random and ground-breaking discoveries outlined in detail throughout this book:
• In 1491 there were probably more people living in the Americas than in Europe (likely 10's of millions).
• At Olmec in 30 A.D., use of the zero has been discovered: An invention, widely described as the most important mathematical discovery ever made, which did not occur in Eurasia until 600 A.D.
• At the time of Columbus' landing, cities like Tenochtitlán (on Lake Texcoco, outside of present-day Mexico City), were far greater in population than any contemporary European city. Tenochtitlán, unlike any capital in Europe at that time, had running water, beautiful botanical gardens, and immaculately clean streets.
• The Spanish conquest and successful overthrow of empires in South America was likely due to the fact that the societies had been decimated by smallpox (introduced by Europeans and spread rapidly), in many cases up to 90% of the populations, allowing the conquistadorss to "win" so easily.
• The earliest cities in the Western Hemisphere were thriving before the Egyptians built the great pyramids.
• In many cases, the mathematical and scientific accomplishments of the Americas preceded those oft credited to European and Asian counterparts. These include many aspects of astronomy, the modern day calendar, farming, the wheel, plumbing, government and writing.
• The first paleo-Indian migration to the Americas could have occurred as early as 25,000-35,000 B.C. arriving in boats, not by foot.
• Large-scale pyramids, with surrounding societies, have been discovered in Peru preceding those built at the Great Pyramids of Giza by several hundred years.
• Pre-Columbian Indians in Mexico developed corn by a breeding process so sophisticated that the journal Science recently described it as “man’s first, and perhaps the greatest, feat of genetic engineering.”
• Native Americans transformed their land so completely that Europeans arrived in a hemisphere already massively “landscaped” by human beings. Read more...

Even the airport is amazing!

So i have officially arrived in Bhutan, probably the most picturesque place I have ever seen in my life. We had a bit of an early morning flight (we had to be up at 2:15) which some might still consider night....I know I do. But even the flight here was so well worth it. Air Druk, the national airline and the only flights in and out of Bhutan, is a quaint little airline with the happiest flight attendants i have ever seen. We were able to see Everest out the side window of the plane, which only slightly worried me when all of the passengers on the right side got out of their seats to lean over everyone on the left side. Asians clearly have no personal space issues :)

Our landing was really spectacular, we flew in between a valley where the hills were so close on either side we could basically see into people's windows. Everyone on the plane was silent, just taking in the beauty. Upon arriving in what I cannot describe as the airport as any thing other than a monastery. I have never smelled crisper, fresher more fragrant air. This place has a silence to it I cannot describe. I don't ever want to raise my voice above a whisper so as to not destroy the ambiance.

Today we are off on a bike ride to a dzong in the hills. Not too bad........ Read more...

Trinkets and Souvenirs

According to trusty Wikipedia, a "souvenir" is a memento or keepsake or object a traveler brings home for the memories associated with it. Fair enough I suppose. The definition listed above though is a bit trite in my opinion. After all, the summary makes it sounds like a random peach pit someone might choke on in Madrid, could fit the definition. We all know though, this isn't the case. Souvenir's tend to be those really lame things you can find in gift shops around the world: T-shirts, local "cultural" items, shot glasses etc etc. They are all of those things one brings home from a vacation and shows off to friends. Half the time, the "souvenir" could probably be flipped over to reveal a "Made in China" tag despite where you bought the thing... I mention this because I have developed a sort-of fascination over the years with the "souvenirs" foreign cultures think tourists will want to buy, the gullible people that purchase them, and the real gems that exist in these locations.

For instance, the Egyptians think that the golden ticket for tourist purchases is alabaster. Could be anything, just as long as it is alabaster, and made to look pretty old. Really, if it looks to be any sort of ancient trinket, people buy it. I must say too, the salesman in Egypt are way up the aggressive scale. You practically have to spray yourself with skunk odor to get these folks to leave you alone. I love their approach too:

Random tourist: How much for the alabaster pot?
Random gift-shop owner: $320! Original! Bery Old!
Random tourist: I'll give you $4 for it...
Random gift-shop owner: Make it $4.50...

And off someone walks with their "1000 year old alabaster pot". Everything is always "original" in foreign destinations as well. I was once in Luxor, and was taken to "the finest hand-made alabaster shop in the country" according to a guide. We were driven to a two-story factory in the middle of nowhere that had the alabaster on the second floor. The first floor was were it was all made "original". As we walked up there was a scene on the left side of the shop that I found hysterical. Five men in traditional clothing were sitting around holding all of the right tools with huge uncut pieces of alabaster. As we got out of the car, someone yelled to them and they quickly scrambled to start chipping away at the alabaster, drilling holes in it, one guy was even throwing water over it. The moment we walked inside, they all stopped and left their stations to resume whatever they were really there to do.

Anyhow, Egypt has it's alabaster, Jerusalem their wooden ornaments, Thailand it's suits, Guatemala their rugs and on and on. I say this to point out that there are in fact, great souvenirs from the places we visit that are original, do show local craftsmanship, and are one of a kind. A couple of pointers:

1. Anything found in the hotel, restaurant, or monument you are visiting is not unique.
2. When you go to a market, notice that 95% of the stalls sell the exact same things. Look for the one booth in the whole place that has different craft, and that's a good place to start.
3. Try to buy your souvenirs in the most back-alley, out of the way places you can find.
4. Art is usually a great purchase with loads of local influence and originality.
5. If you are a cruise-taker, any shop within a half mile of where the ship docks has a 500% mark-up on very standard goods. Read more...