Last stretch in India plus pics

 The Taj

Streets of Mcleodganj

Raven and a local

One of the many environmental signs (amongst the rubbish sadly)

 

An auto rickshaw (powered by compressed natural gas) in Delhi

 

The contrast of Singapore on the way over

 

The Baha'i Lotus Temple in Delhi

I've been home from India for a while, but only just settled back at home home, in Wellington. Before that I spent a lovely Christmas in shaky Christchurch. Here's the details about the last part of our trip.

Where I last left off, we'd come close to the end of our time in Mcleodganj. It's a great place - the best place we'd been to in India. Next stop was Dalhousie, an old colonial outpost high in the Himalayas - up to about 2700m or something, on a ridgeline. It had good views over to the mountains of Kashmir, but not much else! It was a quiet few days in its low season, but had some good India food, and some good walks.

On from there was a crazy taxi ride to Pathankot (where we almost got into a head on collision with a truck, while overtaking another truck at double its speed, while wearing no seatbelts). From there we caught a train (two tier AC, the highest class, with only two bunks, rather than three, and no crammed seats) to Amritsar.

Amritsar is right on the border with Pakistan, and home of the Golden Temple, the holiest of Sikh temples. We stayed right around the corner in the crowded streets surrounding it, and I was lucky enough to go all the way inside, after waiting an hour in the hot sun in a cramped line (nothing Big Day Out wouldn't have prepared me for). It's an amazing place - a calm area within a crowded city, complete with free food and free accommodation, anyone welcome.

On our last night we heard arrhythmic deep booms, sounding like bombs in the distance, presumably coming from Pakistan. But without prior experience of hearing these things in peaceful New Zealand, I can't be 100% sure that's what it was.

Next was back to Delhi for our last few days, where a couple of Raven's friends had just arrived. They shared a private tour with us to Agra, where the Taj Mahal is located. We were relieved to get a modern car, with seatbelts in every seat and a sane driver for once.

The Taj Mahal really deserves its status as one of the Wonders of the World. The size and stunning appearance are only half the magic - it's the details which really make it. A perfectly symmetrical building and grounds, the place was built in 22 years, as one of the lucky numbers for Muslims. It has 22 steps up to it, and was built by 22 000 workers (according to our tour guide). The details within the white marble are also astounding, with rocks from around the world embedded in floral patterns gleaming in the sun, and still stuck in just as hard as as when it was built. Voices echo for around 22 seconds inside the main chamber, producing stunning harmonies. 

Interestingly the four minarets surrounding the Taj lean slightly outwards, a design feature incorporated by its Turkish architect to prevent the minarets falling inwards during a large earthquake. And yes, we did get a photo taken on the seat where Princess Diana had her famous photo, and where Sarkozy and Carla Bruni had their photos taken about a week before.

Our last day was spent negotiating Delhi's many touts and auto-rickshaw drivers who wanted to take us to stores we didn't want to go to so that they would get commission. We finally made it to the Lotus Temple, of the Baha'i faith. I like the Baha'is, their religion is about bringing people together, peace and open dialogue, and I have met some really nice ones in Wellington over the last couple of years. The Temple was quite amazing, made out of Indian white marble, like the Taj, but with even more incredible acoustics, which rang with the many harmonies of the prayers being sung as we entered, reminding me of a piano with the damper pedal depressed.

So that was our trip. India's a crazy country, with many place left undiscovered for us (such as the deserts of Rajistan, where we were constantly told to go). To top it all off, we arrived home with a good dose of campylobacter. Luckily we recovered in time to eat all the delicious dinner and desert for Christmas.

Ancient wisdom

Since my last post I've been chilling out in Mcleodganj, current home of the exiled Dalai Lama. Although we spent some of our time her being sick (a sad but almost inevitable part of travel in a country like India) we've had some great times too, stationed in the foothills of the Himalayas (or Himalaya, as I've heard is more correct).

On the way back from the doctors there we got a stunning view of the Himalayas (Himalaya), rising like a white jagged wall, the tops piercing an emergent full moon. It was beautiful. We also had our first car accident - a low speed one at what seemed to be Saturday rush hour, where a car was pulling out into a busy street and hit my door as we drove in front of it. He'd be clearly at fault in NZ, but after some yelling outside our window, some hand holding and calming down, our driver moved on; it seemed it was declared that neither were at fault.

On one of our first mornings back into a little better health, we took a walk, thinking we were headed to the Dalai Lama's residence. We decided to go down the path where everyone else was going, mostly murmuring old Tibetans, hunch over, and prayer beads slowly filtering through their fingers. It was a magical place. A slight mist, piles of white painted rocks, carved rocks with Tibetan inscriptions, and hundreds of prayer flags in the trees. A truly quiet place for contemplation.

We rounded a corner, and there were monkeys, birds, cows and dogs; it felt like the Garden of Eden. we kept walking, past beggars, past mantra wheels, and back into reality. We walked passed a temple which we were unsure about, and went back up the hill. We missed the Dalai Lama's, but found a surprising place which was almost worthy of the millennia-old Tibetan culture.

The next day we set out again, and this time we found His Holiness's residence. Right at the end of the path, where we walked past. Inside were people lining up with green passports, getting large pink ballot papers, and placing them in big green metal boxes. The Tibetan Government, in exile after the Chinese took over around 1950, was having primary elections.

Inside the temple were mantra wheels, statues of Buddhist deities, and hundreds of volumes and ancient science, wisdom and scriptures. I always enjoy temples and churches, no matter which religion they are from. They are great places for contemplation and stillness, something we desperately need in modern, Western, atheist lives. If I could, I'd have my own local place, which I could go to every morning, or every week, and just do some meditation. Although the meaning and my knowledge of so much of this stuff is so limited, these places do inspire something deep within you - and it is especially amazing to see so many exiled Tibetans, striving to minimise suffering of themselves and others, but suffering so much under the Chinese rule that has tried to crush their culture, and take their land for its incredible natural resources.

It's also inspiring to see so much ancient knowledge and wisdom in a place like that. So much knowledge, unknown to us in the West, in New Zealand, and yet so much value in it. Maybe it possesses answers for us all in the modern age, an age when we desperately need to change course and stop taking from future generations. The Dalai Lama certainly thinks so.

From economics to harsh reality: my last week

So I finally have a chance to post - would love to show you my pictures, but will have to leave it till another time. I write from northern India, Dharamshala, where I find myself and my girlfriend Raven, after a week of travelling.

Since my last post I finished exams (just found I got an A+ in one of them, which is awesome), went to a Ecological Economics conference run by the Green Party of Aotearoa, and then shipped off to India (OK, flew. Sorry future generations.)

The Ecological Economics conference was an interesting way to spend time the day after my last exam (on more conventional macroeconomics) but I couldn't pass up the chance of seeing David Suzuki speak. He's an inspirational speaker, and started the conference with putting us within a bio-centric perspective. Instead of the economy, society and the environment being three interlocking, equally-sized circles, a more accurate model, he suggested, was one big circle, signifying the biosphere, and thirty million circles within it - one for each species. The human one though, takes up 40% of the area, and is rapidly expanding. Population and consumption of resources by humans has sky-rocketed almost vertically and many times in just 200 years - a tiny blip of time in the 150 000 or so years of modern humans. Although lost on some other speakers in the conference unfortunately, Suzuki also pointed out that 80% of resource-use is by the wealthiest 20% of the worlds population - a fact no leader of a wealthy country will freely admit. And so a few days later I was off to where the rubber meets the road in this reality - India.

India is one of the great emerging economies, with a high economic growth rate, a poor population overall, around one billion inhabitants, and an emerging wealthy class, taking more than their fare share. I arrived late at night in Delhi, after a day tour around Singapore, which also has a high growth rate, but is more wealthy overall. Four million people situated on a tiny island, with 90% housed apartments in the sky through a government scheme. It's a very clean and wealthy city, with a mind-bogglingly busy port, and an ironically interventionist, single-part government; ironic given it's incredibly high rate of economic growth. It was a great juxtaposition from the city we were about to find ourselves in.

We had heard Delhi was a horrible place from many different people before we got there, and we arrived a quite Indian man from our hotel to pick us up and take us there. The ride from the airport felt like a destruction derby - with less destruction, and more derby, but the car with the front bumper hanging on by a couple of screws, squealing around beside us, certainly increased the destruction side of things. They are incredibly skilled drivers, as we were to discover, weaving in and out of optimistically-painted lane dividers, fitting in as many vehicles into a small space as possible, and beeping to say "I'm coming through!" rather than relying on the silent and leisurely indicators we use in the West. Our room was nice - three star, and we quickly fell asleep.

Our first day was a bit of a walk to get orientated, around Conaught Place, near our hotel. Dogs, dirt, and toilet smell all through the street. Many an eager rickshaw driver, tout and salesman tried to sell us something, or convince us to use a "Government" tourist bureau. Lots of people complimented my beard before trying their tricks - the next day it was Raven's Indian dress she bought the day before to fit in more appropriately with the culture. Despite our best efforts we were screwed over a couple of times - something that gets easier to avoid the more time you spend in a place. I thought this was free market capitalism at its best - game theory of each person trying to screw over the other, especially as they don't think they will ever see you again in the vast city of millions. Needless to say it was quite horrible.

We got to the Red Fort and a Muslim temple on day two. It was also the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, where they sacrifice animals (best to read the link to get a less simple an naive account...). Coincidentally there were lots of goats being traded that day, and lead around the city to people's homes or wherever. We ate some spicy food and gave ourselves horrible stomach pains, and the next day got the hell out of there, to our relief.

Yesterday we flew into Dharamshala, and got a taxi to just north of it, Mcleodganj. Here the Dalai Lama resides, we're at the foot of the Himalayas, and everything is Free Tibet. It's a nice quiet place - slightly spoiled by all the rubbish and fast traffic through its narrow one-way roads - but it's great to be here. We're here for at least the next week, and the internet is surprisingly good, so you'll hear from me soon!

I'm back!

So there's been a break in my blogging this year, but I'm back in action and hopefully more regularly! I'm going to India shortly for six weeks of awesomeness before Christmas, so shall endeavour to blog from there to tell you of my wonderful adventures.

I also went to Leonard Cohen's concert on Halloween in Wellington (recognise the faceless man in the low quality cellphone picture?). The third row seat was pretty sweet, but it didn't quite reach the heights of his first concert. Nevertheless, it was another amazing night from an amazing man!

Anyway, to celebrate nice weather, poetry, a new beginning and the shaky isles, here's a poem I wrote a few years ago:

Here's to another night

She's preparing for the night
A flash of her peach pink underwear
As she changes into a black dress
And puts on her yellow pears which hug a circle around the harbour

Houses clutched into her bossom
Hollowed into her mangled hills
She shows off her curves
Draped in seductive black against the grey blue sky

Her streets are crumpled
Cracked and peeling like bits of skin
I trust her - my friend, my lover
Walking on her solid, moving ground

Birds chirping, a still night
The smell of a breeze in the air
Relationships drifting together, apart
Around like evaporation

A strange day, drips of time
Leaking on people, on love
Thoughts winding through stars
Through lives going on

Wellington! she shouts
Then she grumbles at a passing aeroplane
The night takes all with it
We celebrate with a glass of harbour champagne

No-Hopenhagen? COP-out? The UN FCCC-ed up?

It's now just over a month since I got back from Copenhagen at what was the experience of a lifetime. The COP15, the event that was built up to be where world leaders decide whether to save us all, or sign a suicide pact. So, I've had some time for reflection.

Here are the main things I learnt from the mad house of the UNFCCC:

1. Every country is in it for themselves - they just have differing analyses of what that actually means. In the case of China, it appears they believed their economic growth to help them become a superpower in the future was more important than the climate which that will be based on. The US was similar in terms of the minor cuts they were willing to commit to. And countries like the Maldives realised that they needed a deal in Copenhagen to stop from drowning under rising seas. Capitalism is no small player in creating these differing world views, and as always the poor and vulnerable loose out, the rich and powerful who win, no matter how stupid they actually are. We need to keep pushing for a recognition that the collective good being put first will increase all our prosperity.

2. The UNFCCC process could work, and work well, if countries were not subject to the gross illogicalities I just described.

3. Carbon trading is worse than I thought. It could work well if it wasn't subject to the political process - but that's the case with most things! There are so many outs for rich but selfish countries like New Zealand to exploit (Clean Development Mechanism, REDD, and other such flexibility mechanisms) depending on the system (ie the one that the current NZ government supports) emissions could continue to sky rocket. No wonder Minister for Climate Change Issues Nick Smith is so keen on many of these things.

4. The solutions are out there, but it's up to the people to lead. And they are. This is too big to give up on, so lets keep working towards climate justice, and keep coming up with ideas. We're closer than we think, and there's a massive global movement on what Desmund Tutu called "the winning side" - the side where we get to keep a stable climate, and make a more equitable world! It was fantastic to see so many thousands of young people and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Copenhagen supporting this winning effort.

5. There's a lot of smart people out there, but there's also some wackos... Climate change deniers can join the many other crazy conspiracy theorists and retire to their tight-knit communities of nonsense!

6. The Copenhagen Accord said and achieved very little. However, it is political will that is most important if we are to ever reach an agreement for a stable climate. Is there political will? More than we've ever seen. Is this enough? No.

7. But, with the Copenhagen Accord being the only thing to come out of Copenhagen, there seems to be even more uncertainty than there was before Copenhagen - and that was a huge amount. This uncertainty is bad for the climate, bad for us, and bad for business. Who knows what will happen this year?

8. The Green movement is needed now more than ever before.

I leave you with some pictures which contain memories which I will always cherish.

One more day to go for the COP15

Hello people,

Just thought I better give you all a quick update.

It's very cold. Snow starting falling on Tuesday, and it hasn't let up much since. It's -4 with a windchill of -11.

Went to Sweden today as we've been completely locked out of the conference. They accredited 45 000 people with entry for a venue with 15 000 capacity... Welcome to the UN. Long queues, chaotic, hard to figure out what's going on. They started limiting numbers on Tuesday, with our delegation of twelve being allowed to bring in 5 people. Then today NGO numbers were limited to 1000 (allocated through constituencies - my one being YOUNGO or Youth NGO, and I don't think NZYD got any. There are nine NGO constituencies) Tomorrow they are limiting NGOs numbers to just 90 people, with 10 going to each constituency, because of the shear number of world leaders (120 to 135ish, including Mugabe) and their entourages who are going to be at the venue. So many NGOs are very unhappy. There was also a protest going on yesterday, which was my last day at the venue, where they tried to storm the building (without hope - there were so many police, and Danish police are very brutal, so we've steered well clear of them, and kept our conference badges well visible. They did manage to arrest a French Green MP, who they released once they realised who he was.)

Anyway talks don't sound like they're going too well... We'll have to see what world leaders can do when they talk tomorrow. Did the march last Saturday with about 100 000 people at it. It was an incredibly uplifting experience, and we carried the massive NZYD sail (signed by young Kiwis about what they think about climate change) the whole 3 hour walk, which gave us a great reputation - see the photo.

Other things we've done is hijacked the NZers in Copenhagen party when we presented the NZYD sail to Ministers Tim Groser and Nick Smith, and then gave a long speech that really challenged their policies (not being cute youth as they were hoping we were). There we met Simon Upton and Major Kerry Prendergast too (though she didn't react much to the speech...). We got a really long applause at the end though, even though the crowd was a mix of Kiwi NGOs, business people and delegates.

Other famous people I've seen include Desmund Tutu, Senator John Kerry, Helen Clark and almost Ban Ki-Moon (but he couldn't make his side-event due to negotiations). Also went to a Global Greens talk and saw a bunch of cool people talk including Elizabeth May (Canadian Green Party Leader) who absolutely rubbished the Canadian Government (which as of yesterday had the most Fossils of the Day, slightly ahead of the US). The current Canadian Government - which does not have majority support at all but is in power due to First Past the Post - is absolutely abysmal. She also said "Things may be better now that the US has a new administration, but unfortunately they are still the United States," to rapturous applause. Good ol' Canadians...

For the last day we will continue to send love letters to John Key, and try and get a meeting with him. Let's hope he commits to stronger targets - a conditional 10-20% by 2020 is not good enough - especially considering the strong conditions will not be met (such as other developing countries committing to stronger targets...). Plus we're trying to get the message out that the new Emissions Trading Scheme is crap - contrary to what our Government is saying, given it has no cap on emissions and thus will allow them to increase...

Anyway, it's being a crazy ride, and can tell you other things later, but should probably go. Will have to see how the final day of the talks go - which are likely to continue into Saturday before they wrap up - for better or for worse.

Staying COY about COP in Hopenhagen

Right now I am sitting in an apartment in Copenhagen where I arrived, along with the rest of the New Zealand Youth Delegation (NZYD), just under a week ago! And what a week it has been.

First off, it's quite an adjustment to make going from almost summer to almost winter. Cold, grey and very little sunlight, making the jet lag real lame. Second, so much to do, so little time (and so much of that time spent sleeping!). We've been getting our bearings, setting up our base camps, and at the weekend we attended COY5.

COY5 stands for Conference Of the Youth number 5, and is where all the young folks meet to learn and scheme before the UN climate change conference begins (which was today!). The photo above is of four of the lovely NZ Youth Delegates walking around coldly in the square outside the old and very detailed building in which it was being held.

Then today we had our first day at the UNFCCC COP15 (the Fifteenth Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change). Yeah, that's right, the freakin' UN. And I had me a pass to get inside. The United Nations, full of important people. Such as myself of course.

I didn't go until the afternoon, as the morning was just a welcome ceremony and then plenary sessions - which means a massive room full of people from all over the world talking about how great their countries are (well, at least on the first day, before negotiations start in earnest). In the afternoon I went to a couple of very interesting "side events" where people pontificated about interesting climate related stuff.

So I've had my first taste - and it was such a busy taste. It will only get busier from here on in.

What's everyone doing at the COP15 you may ask. Well, the countries present are trying to reach an agreement on what to do about climate change. People like myself are here because we Hopenhagen that a deal will be reached, will be legally binding (so that no one can get out of it) and will mean that our climate that we so rely on is kept in a stable condition. And we will damn well do our best to pressure countries to make this happen.

There you have my last exciting week, concentrated into a sweetened form, like condensed milk. From here on in I will be blogging more regularly about more detailed and serious stuff, and you may even catch me on the news as the NZYD spokesperson.

The first week will be where we find our feet, the middle weekend should see huge demonstrations as the pressure mounts, and next week is where the magic will happen. Almost a hundred world leaders set to arrive at what is the most important and unprecedented meeting in human history. By 18 December we want them to have wrapped up a deal and make sure that this two weeks ensures the safety of our climate for all generations to come. Let's make sure they do it.

I'm going to Copenhagen!

Kia ora everyone. Long time no post, I know. But you know the deal with these things.

Quick update since we last spoke: Haircut, university, got elected Environmental Officer for VUWSA (the students association at my uni), continued Co-Convening the Young Greens and now I'm off to Copenhagen next month.

Copenhagen? Yeah man. Copenhagen. It's where world leaders will be deciding the fate of the world, trying to get a global agreement on climate change, after commitment period number one of the Kyoto Protocol, which ends at the end of 2012.

Why you going, bro? Because world leaders need all the pressure they can get to make a deal that will lower the worst impacts of climate change from happening to us. I'm going as part of the New Zealand Youth Delegation (NZYD).

How can I find out more about this whole thing? Well, here's an article I wrote a few months ago for the student mag at Victoria University.

Can I give you money to help you get there? Yes please! We need lots of money to get there and pay for accommodation and eats. Go here now. Cheers! If you are in Auckland you can also go to our fundraising auction, where you can buy re-usable shopping bags painted by famous people like Robyn Malcolm - who will actually be there! Details are hmmmere.

And how can I keep up to date with your shenanigans at this insane event? Right here at zackarateisland.blogspot.com, where I shall be pumping out the posts again to save the world. Also through NZYD's website, Facebook... you know the story.

I'm famous-er!

This blog has been mentioned on another great blog by an awesome Global Young Green (GYG) from Deutschland called Georg (which has now appeared in the blogs that I like box to your right). I suggest you take a look, especially if your interested in active GYGs from around the world.

The GYGs will be having a meeting in Graz, Austria in August. This conference follows the founding conference in Nairobi in 2007, and the less official meeting in conjunction with the Global Greens Congress last year that I went to! Go to their website if you are interested in attending (and contact someone on the steering committee about it as there doesn't seem to be conference info up yet) to find out more. I wish I had the funding, time, and justification of the carbon emissions for a whirlwind trip to Europe to go...

Atleast I get to go to the exciting local Greens Policy conference all the way over in Silverstream this weekend - my first as the Co-Convenor of the Young Greens! Needless to say there will be plenty of discussion about economic issues.

Fantastic.

After a break I'm back with a vengence

Kia ora 2009 and readers of my blog - whom I hope will grow in numbers, both through word of mouth, and breeding. I hearby commit to you that 2009 will be a year of regular - though not neccessarily prolific - blogging. I will continue to cross-post onto g.blog where I see fit.

A couple of thoughts to start the year from my new years road trip, which took me to Rhythm and Vines in Gisborne, and north to the Coromandel afterwards.

1) We have a serious drug problem in this country in many ways (and remember, when I use the word "drug" when referring to recreational drugs, this always includes alcohol, which is the worst of the worst.) Having travelled around quite a bit last year, I saw that it's the same in many senses in many countries, but stastically we are one of the worst countries in terms of alcohol abuse. We just drink so much so quickly, and among many people, we lack the ability to have a beer or two or a glass of wine for the enjoyment of it. It's all or nothing. Many of us - especially of my age, but definitely not exclusively - also lack the ability to think beyond drinking as the only option for a Friday or Saturday night. I have my own opinions about how to deal with this - and raising the drinking age is not one of them. We need a shift in our thinking, especially in seeing alcohol as the harmful drug that it is. We should have fun with drugs, expand our relationships and our minds, but not over-indulge.

2) Greater wealth and the accumulation of stuff is the driver of so many people - Whangamata being case and point at this time of year. It definitely is not the driver for me, but drives our current economy. We need to snap out of the dream and focus on what's really important, and realistic. Our environment is in dire straights, but there is currently enough to go around. So freakin' share already!

(The picture above is at Whangamata harbour. What is it that you desire in the photo - the jetski and the "biscuit", or the pristine environment, and the protection of the rare and sensitive ecosystem below the water? What do you think we'll be thinking in 50 years time? It's about having fun, but not over-indulging.)

(Due to a lack of enthusiasm for photography this year, above and below are from a year ago at BW Campgrounds, where my friends and I stayed again in Gisborne for Rhythm and Vines. It was pretty much the same though. Above is New Years day and one of the casualities recuperating from the night before. Below is the workers, paid about $14 an hour this time, predominently brown, many quite young, cleaning up mountains of waste for rich white folk).

Disclaimer: I go to Rhythm and Vines because it's such a huge gathering of my friends and people I know. There's good music and lots of good times. But I ache when I see the mountains of waste from our throw-away existence, even if I may not show it so much at the time.

May your 2009 bring you greater consciousness in your relationships and your understanding of all those things that are bigger than us.

Sorry! Just hit me on the head like a whack-a-mole

Monday, 15 September 2008

My dearest blog readers,

Please accept my sincerest apologies. It has now been a month since I last posted which is nothing short of embarrassing. This last month has been an abysmal effort on my part, and for that I am truly sorry. I can only hope that you will forgive me.

In my defense I have been busy and been thinking of you often, even if I haven't been communicating that with you. After the Guelph by-election campaign I traveled to my hometown (named with the very original name London, Ontario, Canada), the city where my dad was born and grew up (Windsor - accross the river from Detroit) then on the train all the way to Quebec (which took a complete day), then to Montreal to see what all the hype was about and then back to Ottawa. This was quite rushed and, just like my last sentence, was done all in one go. In Ottawa I hung with my fan-dam-ly some more and eventually ended up in a place called Shelter Valley for a folk festival by the same name. This was an excellent way to end my big trip, and the festival itself turned out to be a great example of a positive grassroots community doing good stuff, which had developed over the last five years. It was mainly volunteer run and, as a volunteer myself I was thanked many times. That made me feel guilty as I was really just putting in my 12 hours for the free entry, free camping and free food. From there I was on a plane, spent two days in Hollywood (like the start of my trip) and then back to home turf aka Wellington. Since my arrival I've been extremely busy sorting out my life again and helping out the Green Party who are to be a major feature of my life for the next couple of months.

Next I will be disappearing like a whack-a-mole in a few days, only to pop up again somewhere else. But, just like a whack-a-mole, I'm not going to tell you where or when - haha.

But I will promise you this. Things are serious now. The election date has been announced and as a candidate it's going to be exciting and I'm going to be working hard to bring a much greater representation for the Green Vision in Parliament. And during the next couple of months I will keep you up to date as best and often I can. So sorry again, from the bottom of my heart, and talk to you soon.

Love from Zack

I guess Guelph's going Green

Well, what an inspiring weekend I had last weekend. I went to Guelph in Ontario, Canada to help out with the campaign to elect the Green Party Candidate Mike Nagy there, and what a pleasant surprise I got. It is a by-election campaign, and the Canadian Greens think it's their best shot ever at getting a Green MP elected under their First Past the Post (FPP) electoral system (the poor things). I must admit, I was skeptical about whether they actually had that good a chance before I got there, but now I'm sure they have a damn good one.

Firstly, the campaign has gotten off to the best start ever for a Green Party campaign in Canada. They've already had many volunteers, including about thirty Young Greens the weekend I was there, with four weeks of campaigning remaining. They've had many people getting Mike Nagy signs for their lawns, and a lot of support coming in.

Guelph is a green city anyway, with, most notably, a fantastic farmers market. It is also a university town which, as we all know, means plenty of Green supporters as the Green Party is the Party for young people. In a riding (electorate) in London Ontario (my birthplace), some polling booths at the last Canadian Federal Election in the University there polled as high as 80% Green. Furthermore, Guelph is on track to have the highest amount of Green support ever from Green Party canvasing.

Then there are the stories. Firstly - the campaign office. It is an ex-car rental lot on one of the most busy corners in Guelph, with excellent visibility. All the other major contenders for Guelph contacted the owner about leasing the now empty and awesome place, but the guy wanted Guelph to go Green, so he gave it to Mike Nagy. The other campaign offices were barely visible, so Guelphites know that the Greens are serious contenders. You can see the sweet location above, with it's sweet signs beneath the other sign - the beautiful rainbows on the Saturday night. Now, I've seen many rainbows in my time, but never one as full and vivid as that one, and it's second shadow rainbow. And they are rare in Guelph apparently. It seemed too coincidental to be just a coincidence...

The other thing I was very impressed with was the energy and excitement that was there. It feels like the Canadian Greens have momentum and are on the verge of breaking the deadlock that is created by being in an FPP environment. The best result they've ever had was in the Ontario Provincial Election last year by the awesome Shane Jolley (who I was lucky enough to hang with while in Guelph) who scored 33% of the vote and a disappointingly close second place. This is consistent with the upward trend they've been having in certain areas, and it's about time they break through. Once they get an MP, everything changes. They are no longer seen as unelectable, and their leader Elizabeth May gets to participate in the televised leaders debates in the next Federal Election (ie. shatter the old white guys who lead the other four parties in Parliament).

So from the weekend I was inspired by how the Canadian Greens are doing, and i will take their energy with me back to New Zealand to help with our election campaign. It also serves as a good reminder that New Zealand should never abandon proportional representation. A Party with as much support as the Greens in Canada should have fair representation.

So will Guelph go Green? Time will tell. Do Guelphites ever want me to return to their lovely township? Time will tell. I for one hope they do, because that would be fantastic. Mike Nagy has an excellent chance, and so do the Greens in Canada for their future. It is time.

I will be following the campaign and checking the results after September 8.

Surfin´ like a pro (pretty much)

So, it´s all coming to an end - and it went out with a very relaxing bang. Three full days living on the beach, swimming, surfing, reading, walking. It ´twas the life. And now I have just a few hours left in Mexico, as I leave early tomorrow morning to Canada. It will be sad to say good bye to my sister and her boyfriend, but happy to see family in Canada again.

In San Blás, where I´ve been hiding this week, things where sweet. Above is me surfing. Or what it would have looked like - I was too busy surfing to take pictures of myself. It was my first time and I got a 1hr lesson during which I stood up four times - and for much longer than the alleged "good surfers" pictured above. Surfing is good fun, though I think I need to build up some more upper body strength to do it more - and the waters around NZ need to build up heat. But I hope they don´t actually, because that kinda thing screws round with things (heavy carbon dioxide emitters take note).

Above is where I stayed. A little "cabin" shack thing on the beach. It was actually very nice inside, and the roof was impressively waterproof, as I discovered on the third night. That night there was a lot of rain, and thunder and lightening. The thunder went overhead a few times and sounded like a nuclear bomb going off. I wasn´t scared though. Anyway, apparently scenes like the one below are normal in rainy season (which it is currently). Most of the year it´s dry, so they obviously don´t feel the need to put in drainage systems. It was like that all over town. It was also very hot and humid.
San Blás was a nice little town, and it wasn´t high season tourist-wise, so not too many people either. Supposedly San Blás is realitively untouched by tourists, but I would disagree. There are many hotels by the beach, some of which have been abandoned and now are ghostly crumbling wrecks. I guess other places are more touristy than San Blás.

And that wraps up my Mexican adventures. For more on the next and final chapter of my trip, tune in again to your favourite blog Zackarate Island.

Tequila! It makes me happy

This week´s biggest travel story is that I went to Tequila! It is a little bit north of Guadalajara, and is the place where the popular drink is named after. There´s lots of touristy stuff related to this - including ridiculous looking vehicles to take people on tours, ranging from trains to barrels in shape. I didn´t go on them. What I did do though is take a tour of the first (and still functioning) Jose Cuervo factory, and also go to the Tequila museum where the above photo was taken. So much tequila, and no way of getting at it...

Tequila is produced only in certain regions around the country (by law) where the Blue Agave plant can be cultivated properly. The Blue Agave looks like a cactus, but is really a bulb, in the lily family. After 6 to 12 years of growth it is mature enough to be cut out of the ground and cut up as shown above. All the spikey bits are chopped off, and then the heart is cut in half for the baking. The heart is basically all starch, but once baked it becomes sugary sweet, like sugar cane.

After it becomes sugary sweet like sugar cane it is fermented, then distilled twice. It is then aged, either for a short time in lightly charred oak barrels (no more than a month) to make silver tequila, or up to three or more years in heavily charred oak barrels to make amber stuff, of the kind you would only drink straight.

After the tour of the factory I was (because I paid enough money - not that much though as Mexico is cheap) given a lesson on how the Tequila Masters taste Tequila. So don´t try and pull one over me - I know my stuff now. And I also now have developed a taste for Tequila, which was never there before. Damn capitilist pigs with their tours making me like Tequila.

The rest of the week I´ve been hanging with my sister really, and her boyfriend. That is because tomorrow I head to the beach (called San Blás) for a few days, returning on Thursday and flying to Canada on Friday. So don´t be surprised if you don´t here from me for a week. Tequila sunrise here I come!

The news has broken

In one of my most recent posts from yesterday the breaking news was that I was going to the beach today. Well, to explain why I´m still posting, and not sitting on the beach: I´m not at the beach. I decided things would work out better if I go on Sunday. So I´m in Guadalajara this week, then off to the beach, and the day I get back is the day before I leave for Canada.

There´s your broken news.

Latest photos and breaking news-style update

Here are some photos of Mexico City. In my last few days there I did some walking and shopping, taking advantage of the cheap Mexican-made clothing available (not sure about the working conditions, but atleast their locally made. I´m hoping the conditions aren´t too bad). Of particular note was the Mueseum of Modern Art. There were two really good exhibitions on - one was an overview of some of their collection of Mexican modern artists, and the other was of a painter called Remedios Varo. Her paintings were enchanting, and I highly recommend you check them out if you are interested in philosphy, dream theory, literature and art. So basically check them out, they´re awesome.

On the Friday night I attended the McCoy Tyner Trio + 1 (Ravi Coultrane) performance I had stayed to see. The venue was really nice - the seats were around tables where drinks and food were served before, during and after the performance. A great place for jazz. And the jazz was good too, of course, what with jazz greats playing it and all. Unfortunately everyone except for Coultrane were old, so the performance was only just over an hour, which was a little disappointing. I was also hoping for some latin-style jazz, but none of that either. Still, it was good to see them play. The audience enjoyed it too (though they obviously also wanted more). The audience was very European - not everyone could afford the 1000 peso (NZ$120) ticket price.

The above photo is of a blessing ceremony in the main square, the Zócalo, in Mexico City.

This is me at Teotihuacán on top of the Pyramid for the Sun, which is taller than the Pyramid for the Moon, behind me. The climb was very steep - stair technology has come a long way in the last few thousand years.

This is a section of the main mural in the National (Presidential) Palace on the Zócalo by Diego Rivera. It depicts a history of Mexico, and in the centre of this photo you can see Rivera´s sometimes wife Frida Kahlo. She is beneath the socialist movement section of the mural, showing that she was an important part of the grass roots of the moment, amongst all the other ordinary people.

This is one of the many benches to be found near the Angel of Independence statue, all very original and different, with varying degrees of comfort for the sitter.

My next movement is probably tomorrow, but as this is breaking news, I don´t have all the details at hand right at this moment. I am heading to the beach, probably a small town called San Blas, and will be there for maybe three full days before coming back to Guadalajara to spend the rest of my days in Mexico (about six by that point). So wish me luck.

That bloody squirrel...

So back on the road again with my travels, though less travels this time, and more roads. Mexico City from Guadalajara was my last destination and, well, I´m still here. I´ve taken some nice photos too, but they will have to wait a few more days.

My travels here started with my sister and her boyfriend. We left on Thursday night for a Friday morning arrival, and our feet barely touched the ground between then and their departure on Sunday for better(/worse) things ie work.

We arrived, negotiated the packed rush hour metro with oversized bags (by no means feat, which included a few angry locals) and arrived at our hostel. We dropped off our bags, and then were on to it, fitting in as much Mexico City as we could.

Day 1: We started with breakfast, then moved on to nearby and massive Chapultepec Park. Walked a little bit, then continued on down the massive boulevard, past some Paris-esque roundabouts to the Berlin-esque Angel of Independence statue - a stunningly gold topless angel on a big concrete post. From there we Metro-ed to the Zócalo, a Madrid-esque square, surrounded by some old Government buildings, and some old places of worship. These included a tilting cathedral (due to the sinking nature of Mexico City - very common to see them spilling in all directions) and some remains of the city the Spaniards crushed in order to make way for Mexico City. Then onwards on our madness after lunch to Léon Trotsky´s old pad. He was exiled from Russia after being wanted for opposition to the Stálin regime. He eventually ended up in Mexico, working hard on political stuff with people like Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, and then was assasinated in his own house on the second attempt by some other artists. From there we went to the nearby "Blue House" where Frida Kahlo spent many of her later years. It had many paintings and artifacts of herself and husband Diego Rivera.

Day 2: North, to Teotihuacán, the well preserved ruins of the massive city present during the Mexican classical period. It includes two massive pyramids for the Sun and the Moon, as well as many other fascinating features. I got sunburnt, expecting rain as it is the rainy season. On the way back we dropped by a cathedral for the Virgin Guadalupe (the Mexican version of the Virgin Mary) and saw a 15 year old girl having her birthday celebrated in front of many onlookers. Fifteen is a big age for girls here, and is thus treated. Every year over three days in October about eight million Mexicans drop by the cathedral too as part of some sort of pilgrimage.

Day 3: After a couple of unmentionable incidents the night before (incidentally a Saturday night) I met my sister and co. outside Chapultepec Castle. It is now a museum, but was previously home to Maximillian, some Austro-Hungarian guy who wanted to rule over Mexico. He was suitably removed in due course. Half the museum is for special exhibits - we saw some Buddhist stuff there. Then it was bye times, and I continued my perusement that afternoon, this time of the fascinating and huge Museum of Anthropology, which is nearby-ish.

So I was on my own (except for the friends I had at the hostel where I was staying) in a massive city once more (previously being in Sao Paulo. Both cities are roughly 20 million, give or take a few mil, and ensuring it is known that Mexico City is generally considered larger).

On the Monday I slept in, then took another walk around the Historical Centre, starting again at the Zócalo, but this time taking things more slowly. I went into the Presidential Palace, which is on the Zócalo, and as far as I know houses the Executive Wing of the Mexican Government. There were some amazing Diego Rivera murals on the walls. Then I went into the leaning Cathedral I also mentioned before, and prayed that it didn´t fall and my head, nor on the heads of all those also inside. I then walked some more, and ended up in the Legislative Chamber of the Mexican Government in a different part of town, not completely by accident. At the musuem in the same building I asked if I could see it. Through shaky English they thought I said "sanitários" (toilets) rather than "Senators", so on my way we took a detour to the bathroom. We eventually worked it out, but I am still undecided whether there´s much of a difference. Needless to say one of the rooms was cleaner, but that could be because the Representatives or "Deputies" are on summer holidays at the moment.

Yesterday I did more walking. I walked around the Pink Zone (Zona Rosa), which is a cultured area with many shops and cafés. There is also a Ripley´s Museum of believe-it-or-nots, and a wax museum, but I decided against paying for those. Instead I bought a stack of CDs, to help me nurse my squirrel wounds.

Oh yeah, that bloody squirrel. A few seconds on his part for a wasted morning on mine. Bastard. All I was doing was innocently sitting in Chapultepec Park after lunch (and before my Zona Rosa experience) eating some scrumptious popcorn from one of the literally hundreds of vendors in the park. Then that bloody squirrel came up to me. I had noticed the squirrels before, and how I thought they were unusually brave when it came to approaching humans for food. Indeed, I had observed one not less than half an hour ago eating right out of the palm of someone´s hand. Still, I thought if I ignored that bloody squirrel it would eventually go away. Meanwhile, somehow a crowd of expectant summer-holidaying families had gathered around me, expecting a show I guess of me feeding that bloody squirrel. But I wasn´t going to give in. Then, out of nowhere, from its perch beside me, that bloody squirrel leaped onto my partially-exposed leg, and then off again, as in some futile attempt to get at the scrumptious popcorn (even though I had accidentally dropped some by my feet that it could have easily gone for, had it a brain larger than a nut). And with that, that bloody squirrel left me with some scratch marks, and a morning mission today. After negotiating the mainly Spanish-speaking health system here I am left with a sore arm, but reassurance that I will get neither rabies nor tetanus. Incidentally, squirrels don´t transmit rabies to humans, but nevertheless you should wash any wound for atleast five minutes in soapy water before disinfecting it with some alcohol-based solution. And also, tentanus injections are free, even for foreigners.

Next major stop is an awesome jazz gig this Friday night, which I am very excited about (also in Mexico City, hence why I´m stuck here). It is featuring jazz piano Great McCoy Tyner, and also Ravi Coultrane. Then on Saturday back to Guadalajara, where I will probably go from to a beach town nearby (so to speak) sometime next week.

Hasta luego!

My next move

So I don´t leave you in the dark about my next move, and so you don´t wonder why I´ve had a posting frenzy and then gone quiet I again, here is my next move:

I´m going to Mexico City tonight with my sister and her boyfriend. They are staying their until Sunday afternoon, but I am staying longer. Not sure how much longer, but after Mexico City I will probably travel elsewhere before returning "home" to Guadalajara. Perhaps Guanajuato is on the horizon.

So that´s my next move, and I´ll blog about it in due course my avid readers.

Travel musings. Yes, I´ve had a lot of time to think lately

I think, after so long travelling and just recounting my journey, it´s about time for some philosophical musings, if you will.

So it seems I´m anti-tour. I went on the 42 day Rio to Caracas tour two months ago with that mindset, and still appear to have it. Once you have a position it´s sometimes hard to change it. So why do I take this position?

Firstly, I guess, I´ve grown up with romantic ideas of what travelling really should be. Hitchhiking, roughing it on a very tight budget, stretching out of your comfort zone to make you quite a lot more tough and worldly in your outlook. But, because of it all, having great experiences and doing amazing things. Perhaps more like Motorcycle Diaries. Quite far from what I did, and far from the norm of travelling in this age. The world is much smaller now.

Touring is very padded, even on the cheapest and most basic ones like I did. Everingthing is pre-organised for you, so the sense of adventure is diminished. And you can do things for cheaper, but you would end up taking a lot longer going to the places you can on a tour because you´re more or less making it up as you go. Tours give you a lot more security (especially for a young, lonesome traveller as myself), but you can easily end up hangin´with all the whities, rather than adventuring out as much. However, that can happen anyway I suppose, at a hostel. But at least your not stuck with the same people if you don´t want to be or don´t like them. Then again, it´s up to you what you do, and I made some great friends on my tour. I found, though, that tours seem more based on going to the destinations, doing the best activities and quickly moving on. This can get tiring and old after a while.

And now, to step back further. Travel. What´s that all about. Seeing amazing new things, meeting new people, getting to know new cultures. Excellent times, and very addictive. Also, in these busy times, taking a break to recharge one´s batteries.

At the start of my tour I started reading Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracey Kidder (and highly recommend it). But it put me to shame. It is a real life account of a doctor called Paul Farmer who has devoted his life to curing patients in very poor countries, and trying to stop the inequalities that make countries like Haiti (his true home) so poor, when the US is so grossly wealthy. It made me resolve that future travel I want to do with more purpose. I like to have concrete reasons for going to places. These range from helping local people to going to Global Green congresses, to seeing family. So I guess on this current trip I´ve had the latter two purposes, among others.

But that leads into the fact that travel is very resource intensive by it´s nature. Carbon emissions are a big one, even if you do a lot of land based travel whilst at your destination. (Incidentally I looked into travelling by cargo ship, which produces far far less carbon emissions, from Canada to NZ on my way back, and it turns out it is much more expensive than flying, even though/because it takes like a month). Other things range from food-related waste if you eat out a lot, and room cleaning if you´re shifting hotels a lot. It depends how you travel. It´s also a very difficult balance to strike between helping local communities with your business, and ruining their local environment with your waste and travel, even if it is unintentional. It´s important to remember, especially as a New Zealander, that you have a magnificent backyard, and an excellent way to clense the soul is to use that backyard sustainably. It is far better for the environment, and get´s you closer in touch with what you loose out on living in the city (ie. go tramping!).

So, before this gets too long, I will sum up this mish-mash of thoughts. Not many people have the money to travel internationally, and there aren´t enough resources in this world to sustain the current style of travel. So if you´re lucky enough to do it, enjoy it as I am, but don´t forget the true cost, and be conscious of trying to travel as lightly as possible. Also learn from it, use it to develop your worldview. There are many other reasons to travel, other than just to see things and do activities, you just have to find them, and judge their merits for yourself.

I´m having a great time and learning about what developing nations are like. New Zealand is still very much my home, but maybe next time I travel I´ll be doing it very differently.

(The picture with this post was taken between Copacabana and Ipanema beaches in Rio de Janeiro. Although it looks like it´s raining in the background, it was a very sunny day. That´s smog).

The last hurrah

For the last hurrah of the tour I was on (for a total of 42 days in the end) we went to the beach. It was on the Carribean coast, and was very nice. Above is sunset after we arrived on the doorstep of our hotel.

The town we stayed in was called Santa Fe (unrelated its namesake "venue" in Wellington). It was another small finishing village with the familiar story of people from the outside discovering how nice it is, and then tourist numbers gradually growing. The tourist industry is still in its infancy though, with only a few hotels and restuarants. This means it still has the remote charm, and is still very cheap. Our hotel even came with lots of little crabs walking around the rooms.

With the one full day we had there myself and several others went on a snorkelling trip. It was a great day, and only cost about NZ$15 each. Fantastic. It was on a local fisherman´s boat, who seemed to do both snorkelling trips and fishing, though not at the same time.

Firstly we went to the snorkelling spot, which was a shallow reef between two islands. The water was very clear, and there was a rocky outpost with an abandoned building on it. After getting used to the breathing apparatus arrangement I saw colourful fish of all sizes (though not too big), and coral of all shapes. Then, on the way back to the boat I struck it lucky. A little octopus on the sand at the bottom, oozing it´s way along. Even the GAP tour guide (that had accompanied us the whole trip) who was from Venezuela and had done a lot of snorkling in his time had never seen one.

After snorkling we went for some more creature-spotting. We saw some smelling sea birds on a large rock, and then continued to some more open seas. I was distracted watching some birds diving, when there was some "ooohs" and "aaaahs" coming from my fellow passengers. What could possibly be so enchanting? Dolphins! A group of them, some big, some small. They were leaping out of the water and performing syncronised swimming for us. The little ones even made it all the way out of the water. We got pretty close to them several times, and they looked white as they dived underwater. Man dolphins are cool.

After all the excitement we made it to the above beach. The red boat is ours (not the fancy white one). There we had a nice lunch - I had calamari - and then sat away the rest of the day, looking at crabs and iguanas. Then it was back after a great day, and such a damn good price.

The next day we left for our final destination - Caracas. There we had our last supper as a big group (though we had already left two behind at Santa Fe) and attempted unsuccessfully to attend a volleyball game between, ironically, Brazil and Venezuela. Brazil won. The next morning our "dad"/tour guide was gone, and slowly all the others followed. I stayed one more night, with a group of four others (and luckily I managed to change my flight to 30 June as my leaving day to Mexico, otherwise I would have been stuck alone for a couple days. Although my impressions were different, many people said Caracas can be a bit of an "ass crack"; very dangerous at times. Where we went in Caracas there was always a good atmosphere though, but a lack of alcohol outlets - due to the fact we were in town. Just bars and stuff).

So the tour was over, and to my new good friends I said goodbye. It was a damn good experience, and I got to go to many places I otherwise wouldn´t have made it to on my own, with no local knowledge and very very little language. I still don´t like tours however. I felt too isolated from the local culture, as it was so much easier just to hang out in the group. Some of the other things felt too padded too. There are other reasons, but I will go into them in more detail in a future post. Although I will try and avoid tours in future, I had a damn good time and am glad I did it.

That concludes that section of my trip - a little late, but now it is done. I have had a good week in Guadalajara, Mexico hangin´with my sis, and keeping myself busy with other things. But more on those later...