December 9, 2003
Cartagena, Colombia !!!!

Today is going  off without a hitch... beautiful flight in a Dash-8 to Cartagena... smooth and logistically superior experience on Aires Airlines.

we are nosing down now, descending into cartagena... i am excited.  it is the pleasure of doing things which are somewhat forbidden, and certainly frowned upon by other more rational individuals.  i probably need a therapist...   what drives this in me?  probably not healthy... but i can't stop it.

there is certainly satisfaction in differentiating popular opinion from true experience.

Thoughts:

Mi Amor - all day long, men and women (or women to one another) that hardly know each other, or know each other only in a business context, call each other 'mi amor' ... my love ...  the first couple times someone said it to me, it was surprising... now i find it comforting.  in fact, it has the rather odd consequence of making me feel... well.... loved.  i have begun experimenting with this on others.  i must tell you it is a very devious and effective tactic.  people treat you entirely differently... i will continue doing this.

it is really interesting to see people using this even when engaged in a dispute of some sort.  today a woman at Aires was in a heated dispute on her cell phone with the manager of Intercontinental, the airline that failed us yesterday.  he had come by earlier to facilitate the re-booking of our flight on Aires, and had departed without resolving an issue of transferring the $20 airport tax to our new reservation... which we were determined not to have to repay.  they obviously had a cordial relationship (besides being right next to their ticket counter at the airport, i got the feeling that the poor performance at Intercontinental was not unusual).  she was speaking in a rapid and elevated tone to him... explaining the clarity of her point of view... but always referring to him as 'mi amor'... though with a bit of an edge i must say.  it has a wonderful way of tempering the dialog.. one can probably rest assured that while there is still a little 'amor' in the dialogue there is still hope for resolution.  its when you are no longer mi amor that you really need to watch your back.

Stuck - I am stuck to the earth...  a large blob of proteins, sugars and carbohydrates.  some of them organized into discrete cellular organisms... each one of these alive... and which would qualify as the 'discovery' of life on another planet.  and yet i have a single consciousness.... though marvin minsky would say that even this is simply a 'society of minds' each competing for top-dog awareness status from second to second... organized and governed effectively enough that for the most part they play their roles without complaint, staying in their proper place and function till called upon or insistent enough to demand some share of time.  my concerns are proper nutrient levels, environmental conditions, normal systems operation and occasional maintenance when required... oh yes, and of course... love.

email to dad:

tx!

here in cartagena....  its like stepping back in time here.  it feels much like i imagine cuba might.... maybe if you lifted the sanctions, castro died, and you waited 5 years.

of all the cities on my trip so far, i think i like it the best.  it is a wonderful place, with beautiful people.  my spanish is accelerating... much fewer people speak english well here.   it is hot, but that just means people wear less clothing...

the taxi man who picked me up at the airport is becoming a fast friend.  his name is willy.... like my customs agent in panama city.  i think my guardian angel is named willy maybe.  this guy is about 65 years old.... a gentle mulatto who used to live in the us... used to work at west point military academy in the stables there.  his english is passable, and on some of the more complex transactions today with jesse, he was a big help.  he is going to drive me around tomorrow too... probably will take 2 more days to spring my girl.

people here are 'suave', soft-spoken and big-hearted.  everyone offers to help  -- in a way that you simply would never see in the united states.  they are incredibly giving of themselves, and there is a widespread code of unspoken obligation to help your fellow man. 

the man that runs the seasonal bar on the beach a 1/2 block from my house says he knows the roads of colombia well.  tomorrow perhaps he will help me pick a good route south from here.  people acknowledge that colombia is different, and can be deadly.  but they are also proud, and they believe things are improving.  willy thinks it is no problem for me to drive the primary roads to bogota and beyond.  it is encouraging to me.  but i seek data, not reassurances.  i am alert, and i am trusting... but always tempered with a watchful questioning. 

i try to approach people as though they have the best of intentions, and i am as curious about them as they are about me.  in latin america, and especially since i've been in panama and here in colombia, i've noticed that people touch one another more frequently, and physically, in small ways -- a hand on the shoulder, on the arm... a lingering handshake -- where an american would generally never tread. it is as much a form of their communication as the words that pass between them.  it is amazing how much it transforms the experience and the posture of the interaction to reciprocate... not overly... boorishly... but occasionally and to make a point.  people smile more... and they laugh easily... at themselves or whatever.  a quick joke or a smile and a laugh is all it takes to win them over.  so many people from our country approach interactions in other countries like they are strangers in a strange land... i try to pretend that i've always lived here... or maybe that i am coming home after a long long trip far far away.

much to learn, much to breathe in.  i am happy.

d.