Wednesday, January 27, 2010

The Shades Terminator






Daniel always had many pairs of shades. Maybe that is why he has never learned how to build long-lasting relationships with them. Maybe that's because he pays not enough attention to his shades, and as we all know, unattended eye-wear will not last for long.


I mean many people can say that they had quite many pairs of shades in their whole lives; 'quite many' meaning here more than any normal person which also enjoys wearing shades would have owned. But Daniel, huh, he is like shades-obsessed, programmed to destroy at least 3 pairs each year. He is The Shades Terminator.


Few days ago, after dark, on his way from work, The Shades Terminator bought some decent shades on the market. He put them into his jacket, only to diagnose after coming home, that they haven't made it. Shades terminated. And this was not the first time.


Yet this time, he hadn't worn them even once... 

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Coyoacán






Coyoacán. What a place! Imagine, a small town with large squares nearly covered in shadows of trees, within the Mexico City! Closer to the centre than the southern neighbourhoods. The name Coyoacán comes from Nahuatl Coyohuacan, meaning "place where they have coyotes". And as a coyote, you can walk round and round the main square, attracted by the vibe of indigenous music, art and chill. The magnetism of the place is best desrcribed by just mentioning the names of some of its residents. Coyoacán was home to Dolores del Río, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, and also to Leon Trotsky, and the houses they lived in are now both museums. The atmosphere tells you invitingly: "come, when in the world of rush next door, you will want to slow down for a second, but won't have enough time to go far. Have some tee, beer or whatever else you wish - it's all here". And really, in Mexico City you do need that sometimes.
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Saturday, January 23, 2010

Ego climbing



Monte Albán, the South Platform

Any effort that has self glorification as its final endpoint is bound to end in disaster. Now we are paying the price. When you try to climb a mountain to prove how big you are , you almost never make it. And even if you do it’s a hollow victory. In order to sustain the victory, you have to prove yourself again and again in some other way, and again and again and again, driven forever to fill a false image, haunted by the fear that the image is not true an someone will find out. That’s never the way.

To the untrained eye, ego climbing and self less climbing may appear identical. Both kinds of climbers place one foot in front of the other. Both breathe in and out at the same rate. Both stop when tired. Both go forward when rested. But what a difference ! The ego climber is like an instrument that’s out of adjustment. He puts his foot down an instant too soon or too late. He’s likely to miss a beautiful passage of sunlight through the trees. He goes on when the sloppiness of his step show he’s tired. He rests at odd times. He looks up the trail trying to see what’s ahead even when he knows what’s ahead because he just looked a second before. He goes too fast or too slow for the conditions and when he talks his talk is forever about somewhere else, something else. He’s here but he’s not here. He rejects the here, is unhappy with it, wants to be farther up the trail but when he gets there will be just as unhappy because then it will be ‘here’. What he’s looking for what he wants, is all around him, but he doesn’t want that becaue it is all around him. Every step’s an effort, both physically and spiritually, because he imagines his goals to be external and distant.



Robert Pirsig
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Thursday, January 21, 2010

La Torre de Banobras


An old, abandoned bank of quite outstanding architechture. Thanks to the grafiteros each floor is an art gallery.

With each floor the curiosity of the guest is lifted to another level until...

... one reaches the final floors to find a penthouse-like luxurious beureaus and a set of funny church-like bells of different sizes, all connected by strings to some kind of simple organ keyboard.

Then walk on firefighter stairs to the absolute top of the tower to touch the last corner of this huge triangle.


All that you can do after bypassing the security downstairs. How that is
done? Well, it's a kinda magic.