The end of the mainland, movement to the colony

Well, sorry for being so slack on the blog. Got a million things going on with the internship. Trying to stay on top of the work and my project and still have time to see the island and stay in touch with everyone. I hope this excuses my slack contact etc. In a week we are leaving for the remote hana coast of Maui where the farm I am designing is located. But more on that latter. This posting will be extra big. Don't blow all of your procrastination options at once :)

So, leaving Crestone. I spent my last day wandering around town and checking out the op-shop, the free box (a huge walk in wooden box with free stuff, the uber op shop) and some boutiques etc. I went back to Mark's house and packed all my gear up. He got off work early and came to take me to Alamosa. After we loaded my stuff in his car we went to complete the final phase of my American adventure, shooting a gun.

Mark's girlfriend, a young irish american from the country, had left her smith & wesson with mark so I could fire off a couple of rounds. We went out the back and shot cans on the fence. It was supprisingly normal. I had thought shooting a gun would be a huge rush or fill me with philasophical inquiry. Nope. It was just loud and not once did I hit the can.

Mark drove me back to Alamosa and we listened to x-clan and shot the shit. The bus ride back was uneventful. The bus driver was texan and kept cracking jokes. I spent a final night in star ship nunu as Stella's house was known but arrived late and left early for the California Zephyr.

The train was really cool. I am so glad I didn't fly. Firstly, the train was filled with menonites in bonnets and braces. They wouldn't talk to me but. I spent most of the 38hr trip in the observation car looking at the rocky mountains and the utah desert. I met a whole host of characters including the roadie for the only metal band in utah (his story, not mine). I can only remember his nickname "Catbox". The band was called Tempered Steel. He told me he had found secret temples in the desert after god talked to him and once he got some sort of disability payout he would go get it and be rich. I ate meals in the dining car too which was an experiance. The food was passable and you never knew who they would sit you with.

I arrived in San Fran on Thursday evening with no accomadation and ended up in SOMA in a place called the European Guesthouse run by a fijian indian women. I spent the next three nights here. I went and caught a bluegrass show with sam bush and ate good bad mexican food. Then I bought a bike off a crack head and rode up to North Beach to see the sights and explore the city.

Friday I just cruised all over town on the bike. Went deep into Golden Gate park and across the bridge etc. Had excellent indian food for dinner and caught an afterburn party with three levels of music. Dubstep in teh basement, tech-glich on the midfloor and drum and bass in the attic. Little wild, too crowded and overall too housey and not trible enough.

Saturday I went to Michael Franti's power to the peaceful concert. He played, as did Damien Marley and some other rootsy music. However, I couldn't pull myself from the dance stage. It had been too long since I had had a long dance in the sunshine and even though the music wasn't right up my alley I squelched across the dancefloor like the stoned Australian I was. Had dinner in Northbeach, amazing Italian food and then went to bed early for the flight in the morning.

Flight was uneventful and average. I got my bike and computer and had like a 4 hour layover. Lea from the gardens picked me up and I arrived at Theobold house, which is holding the 9 interns for the next 3 months.

Harris - living outside in a structure called the weatherport. I get more room than anyone but have to walk to the house. Have a hammock to sleep in and a yoga space and two tea chests for all my stuff.

Megan - our "Head" intern. She is the sister of one of the education co-ordinators and is from Minasota. She is studing social work and jsut spent 2 years in Malawi with the peace core. She is supposed to keep us in order and resolve our differences.

Amanda - a mormon form Idaho. She's done conservation and stuff in Hawaii since March. She has a biology degree of some description.

Lindsey - another sister of a girl on the selection commitie. She is a "Jack" mormon which is a mormon who gave up. She's from Utah but has been in Denver for the past 5 years. Loves to swear and say things are awesome. She listens to alot of Bob Marley. She studies Journalism.

Torrey- a fellow biologist, from Santa Cruz in California. Graduated a few years ago and has been working for the state and then up in Alaska for 4 months with the innuete. She is as jaded and cynical about conservation and this country as I am. Well maybe not quite as much.

Bevan - the son of the dirrector of the US botanic gardens. He studied economics at college and seems like a nice guy

Patrick - a college student from Florida. Wants to help golf courses conserve water and told me jet skiing is the greatest activity possible.

Van Ray- my saviour and the greatest man on earth. Van is from Belau near micronesia and is self-professed "Homegrown". He works for the Belau national museum and assists on field trips in Belau. He fucking rules. He taught me how to make Belauan chicken traps and we caught and cooked 2. We chews bettle nut all the time and tells me I am the man. He loves reggae and cooks a mean asian soup and is teaching me to make Kim Chi. I am going to go visit him when I'm done in Hawaii.

So this is our cohort. All blogged out so no Hawaiian adventures for you yet. Some time this week I will post the highlights of my first 4 weeks before heading off to maui for two weeks to work in the gardens there and better implement my farm plan.

Blog Love
Peace
Harris

Phase 3: After Chakra 777

So, I realise this has been a long time coming and it should have come earlier and just for you all I'm skiving the work I should be doing to fill in the gaps.

So during my time in Denver I decided that i needed to get out of cities and into the equivalent of the outback. I had begun talking to two guys at the rap show, Adolphus and Watson, when I was looking for people to dance wildly with during Methodman/Redman. They weren't dancing particularly wildly but the girl next to them was so I used my signature move of smiling at watson when he looked over. Adolphus cut to the chase "Got any Ganja?"

So we smoked a blunt I had rolled and started talking. It transpired that they were originally from Detroit but now lived with a bunch of people from detroit in "The Sand Dunes". I enquired more and found that in the San Luis valley at the bottom of Colorado there were the largest sanddunes in North America, built from sand blown up from the Sierra Madre desert. Upon keeping talking about the area it turned out it was a small town at the foot of the mountains and an old hopi healing area that now have heaps of spiritual centres, buddhist retreat centres, hindu temples, peyote sweat lodges, etc. The hook was in. I asked how I could get there and Watson said he would pick me up if I caught the greyhound to Alamosa, 5hrs bus ride from Denver. It was a no brainer, I was hooked.

On Friday morning I walked to the greyhound centre as conventioneers began to empty out of Denver. The bus trip was fantastic, views of the rockies the whole was and I got to practice my spanish with an 8yr old girl on the bus. Now it had occured to me that it was possible that I was walking into the jaws of a Pagan Love Cult but I figured that even if it was a pagan love cult it would be a pretty good way to cut my teeth on watching my back. I mean, If you can't survive/excape cult programing, what hope do you have for living in the real world? Besides, I thought, maybe joining a Pagan Love Cult is just what I need right now. As long as I can escape before Hawaii, whats the harm.

Watson was waiting for me when the bus arrived in Alamosa. The San Luis Valley is the second largest potato producer after Idaho and Alamosa is like a standard regional hub with service stores and agricultural supplies. We drove up the valley with his Girl, a local Crestoner. We smoked a peace pipe and after arriving I had a shower and a look around town. The town was founded due to finding silver and after masacreing all of the hopi in the valley the town was built. After getting settled (listening to Bhangara music and eatting a meal) we went into the town commons where the 19th annual Crestone sustainability and energy festival was happening. Every year they showcase new technologies for sustainable living to help keep towns folk self sufficient and off the grid. It was on all weekend, but very small due to the nature of the town. However, I got to see people riding horse and cart (Carbon Neutral) and build a solar over, talk about different forms of agriculture etc. The best thing was a guy who had molds for casting biogas generators that make methane off green pasture waster.


I learned heaps over the weekend and it was really hands on and good fun. Following we went to the house of one of Watson and Adolphus's bosses. The guys worked doing eco-construction in town, straw bales, mud brick, regular building, etc and had just finished an extention for some women. She had cooked a huge meal and a bunch of her old hippy buddhist friends had come round for dinner as well as the builders and the town mayor.


It was the best meal I have eatten all trip, 3 courses, good wine, hippies for conversation. Watched an amazing sunset and thought about how heaps of rich affluent people are buddhist and still eat meat et al. and just sit around feeling good about them selves rather than doing anything. Ah, good old cynical me.

That night we went to the bar. A small wild west esc pub where everyone knew each other and it was equal parts old cowboys, hippies, queers and misfits, with everyone getting along. I discovered shuffleboard, which is like that game you see on cruise ships, but on a board. Me and Watson won our first game which meant free drinks. I got one with some local honey spirit and the deal was sealed. Night got really wild, played harmonica with the publican over the juke box, stacked the juke box with AC/DC and johnny cash and had a ball. I met/danced with a women called Yvette. She was the first black school teacher in the whole valley. She taught music and spanish. She was also a firefighter, music producer, B&B owner and former tall ship sailor. She had space for me to crash so I headed over. We talked in the morning, she was originally from LA and had lived in San Fran and New York before moving to Crestone a year ago. She had firefighting training so dropped me at Watsons place.

Me and the guys went to the Sand Dunes, which were massive and really hot. I love Watson and Adolphus, we talked, smoked and walked and then went to some Waterfalls comming out of the mountains that had eroded massive boulders. We came back to town and I borrowed a bike and rode the hills as the sun set. It was so spectacular again. I could hear the jazz from the energy festival and that just topped the day. Went to the bar again that night, slightly less raucous but stil good fun. I met three people who had been on 6 week retreat eatting nothing but lentils and rice and meditating. But apparently after that its fine to head to a bar, eat meat, smoke ciggarets and get high. As the night before had been the first night I had gotten really drunk, like proper "Australian Drunk" in a few years I head to Watsons for a tea and a sleep on the couch.

Sunday was cool. I walked up to North Crestone trail head in the Rio Grande forest national park and hiked 8 miles (8 x 1.6km) = 12.6km each way. It was an amazing walk through mountain trails. The other side of the mountains from Crestone is the wetside, crstone lives in its rainshadow so all day huge clouds spilled over the mountains like liquid nitrogen, rolling over the hills and into the valley. Also as a side note, somewhere in the region the amerikan government has a base facility called NORAD which is a secret facility to do with aeronaughtics. Locals told me there is always weird shit flying around and on the road into town is a UFO observation tower set up by concerned citizens :) I made it up to the lake at the top and sat a nd meditated for a while. I arrived back at Watson's cold and wet.

We had a smoke and ate pasta and me, watson, adolphus and caitlin watched "The 36 chambers of Shoalin" an old Kung Fu flick that the wutang clan used for inspiration for their album. We also did a music exchange, spreading the Australian music seed and taking in world music and crestone tunes. I headed to yvette's for dessert.

Monday was Labour day so yvette didn't have to go to school. We headed to the local hot springs, heated to 40 degrees by the blood of the earth and full of minerals. Yvette and I floated and soaked before heading to a guys house for a BBQ. We had a big fire, open sky and food and 40oz. 40's are a malt liquor, 10% alcohol, vey sweet (sugar, not cool) and only $2.45 per bottle. I got far too drunk as the 40 really sneaks up on you.

Tuesday was my last day in town. Yvette headed to work and I poked around some stuff in town and got myself sorted. I said final goodbyes to the town and people I had loved so much. Watson dropped me back in Alamosa and I jumped the Greyhound back to Denver for the final Phase.

Second Stage

Well, lot has happened and I've had no time to sit down and download for anyone who is watching what I am doing. I'm gonna slam out the second stage of my trip (now in phase 4). If I haven't sent you an email I appologise, I've been flat out and living in regular time and space rather than cyberspace.

So when I last left you I was about to head to Denver. I headed up on the 23rd of August for the Rock the Bells show. I stayed with some people from CouchSurfing who help out with Food Not Bombs in Denver. I dropped off my pack and headed to the ampitheater. The show was everything I had hoped. I scored a phat bag of weed and smoked blunts into the night seeing all my rap idols. Show highlights were blackstar, mos def, nas, methodman/redman, ghostface/raekwon, Dead Prez, Africa Bambatta ,murs and Imortal technique. Also a special surprise was Jay Electronia, a New Oreleans rapper who was rapping about DMT and time and space. My kind of music. The whole thing had a great vibe and a focus on socially consious hiphop and it was great seeing imortal technique telling a whole stadium of people about class struggle and globalisation. Met two great guys called Adolphus and Watson during methodman and smoked a blunt with them. This small act changed my life hugely for the better (see below).

The next day was the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Denver. I stayed in town until Obama's speech. It was crazy. American politics is like spectator sports. There are two teams, with mascots (people walked about in Donkey and Elephant costumes), people wave placards and wear T-shirts. Was really weird. Huge police presence. Each state in the US has its own set of storm troopers to prevent the people from being powerful. They had crazy riot armour and non-leathal wepons and were total assholes. I watched a few of the anti-war marchs but more as a spectator. Protests here seemed mainly to be antagonised by the police and then used by the news media to paint liberals and activist and total assholes. The best part was I saw Dead Prez play on the steps of the capitol. I saw some great conflicts between democrats and anti-abortion protesters too.

The best thing I participated in was the critical mass. It was huge and we rode for over 2 and a half hours with tens of hundreds of people. I bought a bike from the pawn shop and fixed it up and rode around Denver, which is a hugley sprawling suburban southwestern city. Great views of the Rockies and generally really nice people. I rode up to a great unban farm collective called black tail that run permaculture and eco-building etc and Deralier collective which did bike recycling and shit. The best part of the whole week was attending two sessions of radical urban sustainability training (R.U.S.T.) which taught one how to build a grey water filtration system and microfarm and home made solar ovens etc. I think that the real change we need will not come from the top but will be built from the bottom up. I loved all the sustainability activists becuase they offer real solutions not just yelling in the streets.

Caught a few other great bands at an anti-war rally at Denver Stadium with Iraq Verterans Against the War. A rap/funk band from Oakland, CA The Coup who did excellent political funk. A local denver Rap/Celtic band the Flobots and headlining RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE. The show was huge, there were massive amounts of people and everyone yelled and shoved each other alot. Very satisfying. Followed it up with an Anarcist Variety show with lots of powerpop and dancing and acordian. I was supposed to leave for the Slow Food Nation conference on Wednesday, the day before the Rage show and two days before the speech but decided that i didn't want to attend a conference on policy and slow food becuase I really have no faith in policy to change the system while agribuisness is funding government and writing farm bills. Also, the wierd thing here is there is heaps of organic food but it is all too expensive for the poor. There is no equity in organics and we can't have a functioning society until all are equal. I love Anarcy but with real solutions not just chucking rocks at cops. I also wanted to stay around in Denver cuase it was cool to watch all the shit going on and do the RUST training.

Saw Obama's speech, was much as I expected. "oh, the poor hardworking american, everyone deserves a fair go, God Bless America, blah blah blah". Nationalism is fucking stupid and will get nobody anywhere. If Americans want solutions (and we in the world at large) we need to build and create them not wait for the corrupt regulation from the fucking broken beurcracy they call the government.

McCain is fucking stupid too. An old man with Alzhimers is the perfect puppet for the Neo-Cons to push fucked policies through. Same concept as Regan. Anyone with one iota of intelect should realise that a long time ago people who craved power realised that the real power comes from being behind the curtin not being the figurehead.

In addition to wanting to stay in Denver, Watson and Adolphus who I met at Rock the Bells offered me a room at there house and a lift to their town if I caught the bus to Alamosa. Alamosa was 5 hours bus from Denver near the New Mexican Boarder and their town of Crestone was 50 minutes drive from there. I decided my trip needed to relax and I wasn't going to make it to slow food or California just yet. Friday morning I packed up my stuff and boarded the Greyhound. See you at phase 3