From Galt's Gultch South

You Won't Believe This!

2012-02-09T13:47:00.000-08:00

Want to know why Greece will NOT be allowed to default, despite all of the drama on the world stage?

Here is a link to what Greece owes and which banks it owes it to. If THIS doesn't mess with your head, nothing will. And hey, it doesn't even show the five U.S. banks that would instantly become insolvent if a default did actually occur.

Click Here For Greek Debt

The Powers That Think They Be

2012-02-06T08:34:00.000-08:00

I don't know why, but at a dinner party recently someone asked me to play the role of soothsayer and proclaim to those gathered where I thought the geopolitical world was headed. I've little understanding of such things these days and even less of a sense of what trends are now so firmly in place that we can know where the path mankind is traveling will lead us.

But considering the idiotic clown-like performance of our world "leaders" lately, let me share this circus metaphor that I used to provide my answer of sorts:

The Powers That Think They Be (PTTTB) gathered in the center ring have been entertaining us with a balancing act ….. keeping the wobbling, spinning plates of the economy precariously balanced atop slender poles held in trembling, uncertain hands. The crowd seems to know that these are merely incompetent clowns, not well-trained performers, but those of us who have paid for our ticket to this Greatest Show On Earth still hope fervently that no great catastrophe will occur to mar our entertainment.

As is usually the case with such performances of derring-do, when the plates finally fall to the floor in a shattering cacophony, the "PTTTBs" will simply cram themselves into their little clown jalopy, scurry from the circus ring, and leave the roustabouts to clean up the mess. And you and I, dear reader, are the roustabouts.

As to when and how this accident-in-waiting finally comes about, I'm afraid I don't have a clue. But the only way that I know that such a balancing act can end is either the jugglers catch all the plates in midair as they are falling (amidst great applause) and immediately treat the onlookers to another act, or the plates end up in a shattered heap on the floor, to the groans and disappointment of the crowd. In any case, the clowns have scampered away in merry abandonment, leaving the customers to wander down the midway looking for other distractions from reality.

So it is, so it will always be ….. unless we choose a different path.

As one of my favorite Chinese aphorisms states: "If you don't change your direction, you will surely end up where you are headed."

Where The Writing Gets Done

2012-01-31T05:01:00.000-08:00

Thought that you dear readers might like to see a photo of my little casita's study, where all the blog scribbling takes place. The books you see in the background have been lugged around with me for the past forty years, some of which are far older than that. Being a semi-retired gentleman of leisure, I now have the time and inclination to re-read a good number of these books ... some of which are finally beginning to make some sense to me. Everyone should have a personal library of "real" books, along with the new digital e-books stuffed into our Kindles, iPads and other assorted electronic readers.

Every book has within its pages the combined life-energy of the person who wrote it and of those who have read it and thought of its contents. And whenever a book changes hands, that energy grows and strengthens. Find within the pages of your books the ideas and concepts that awaken the chord of recognition in your mind and in your heart. Let the words become those thoughts that enable you to manifest a greater clarity of who you are and what you are to do with your life.

We The People Say ....NO MORE!

2011-12-16T06:22:00.000-08:00

Listen up, Congress people! You are NOT going to disintegrate our country because of your petty bickering, pandering and posturing. You who have been sent to our nation’s capitol to represent and serve us—the very men and women we elected to get us out of this mess—cannot seem to tie your own shoe laces, much less offer a solution to our economic problems. Instead, you have sold our votes cheaply to those who would profit from your political ineptness …. The banksters, lobbyists and corporatists. But NO MORE!

We The People are coming together in a coalition as diverse as the left-leaning 99% Occupiers and the conservative Tea Partiers to sweep you and your oligarchical cronies into the dustbin of history. We are slowly arising to take back our Republic, to reestablish our constitutionally guaranteed Rights and the Rule Of Law .... with Justice.

And the first order of New Business will be to revise the size and complexity of our institutions and practices of governance. Nothing should be “too big to fail” if it means that our beloved country falls as a result. You, the politicians, could have led in this renewal effort, but to your everlasting shame you have not. So we say to you, NO MORE!

Go home and be replaced by those who are no longer constrained by either ideology or political obligation, by those of our fellow citizens who will sit down in the spirit of compromise and find solutions for the good of the whole country and its citizenry. It CAN be done. It MUST be done.

Wandering Down Woo-Woo Avenue

2011-12-08T13:19:00.000-08:00

Any damned fool knows that pyramid power and such belongs in the province of Tinfoil-Hat-wearing weirdoes, right? …. Right? Well, let me share a little journey down Woo-Woo Street I recently took.

For almost a year there has been a quite beautiful little piece of "art sculpture" sitting on my coffee table. It has the look of something that Terrance McKenna's "self-replicating Elves from DMT-space" might have crafted. And yes, it was in a pyramid shape, made out of a clear resin and about six inches high.

Through the resin could be seen a coil of copper around a large crystal sitting on a bed of what appeared to be tiny metal shavings. There was a "machine" look to it, but certainly no outer controls to turn it on … or whatever. And so it sat there.

Then a couple of days ago I was sent a link to a video presentation. Imagine my surprise (if that's not too tame a word) when I saw what appeared to be a duplicate of my "art sculpture" that the speaker was holding and discussing. It was, he said, "an Orgone Generator" created to attract and then amplify the orgone energy first described by Wilhelm Reich back in the 1930s. AH-HA! The proverbial palm slapped my forehead in startled recollection. Yes, THAT Wilhelm Reich!

I had read all about Reich back in high school …. about the fact that he was the only scientist to ever have his books and research papers burned by minions of the U.S. government. The poor fellow, who was either a genius or a medical madman, was also tossed into prison where he died shortly thereafter in curious circumstances. I remembered thinking at the time that the government spent a lot of effort to shut this supposed nut-case up, and wondered if there wasn't something to the good doctor's claims after all. And here was one of his inventions …. sitting right on my own coffee table.

So with the wriggle of my fingers and a pushing around movement of my hand, my computer keyboard and mouse led me to a consultation with the Great Oracle Google. My little "objet 'd art" was, I discovered, a powerful devise for transmuting the negative energy of electrical impulses into the positive polarity of organ energy. Hm-mmm. OK, that supposedly meant that the little "machine" zapped the low frequencies emitted from my computer, the neighborhood cellular towers, CIA Scalar waves, HAARP signals and all the other conspiracy theory electronic "smog" in my immediate environment. WOW! Not only that, but it was reported THE best delta-level deep sleep inducer ever invented!

Now that was something that non-scientist Patrick could check out for himself, and I did. Guess what? For the last three nights in a row my little iPod application that captures sleep habits indicated that I enjoyed almost seven straight hours of deep, deep delta-level sleep each of those nights. What I personally experienced was three nights worth of the most incredible technicolor dreaming that I can ever remember having …. after I moved the little pyramid out of the living room and onto the bedside table right next to my head. It was without doubt the best night's sleep I'd had in years.

The end result of my impromptu experiment is that I'm trying to find a king-sized version of the Orgone Generator and see if I can't sweep all of the errant electronic dust out of Vilcabamba itself. But now I find out that there are many such devises "chugging away" here in Vilcabamba, supposedly helping to maintain our pristine environment. And maybe it's why the Old People of Vilcabamba have so much energy and live so long. Little did I know!

A hold-your-breath report will follow from a newly minted member of the Woo-Woo Club. .

2011-11-18T12:06:00.000-08:00

For all those who feel that I have been too gloomy in my view of the markets, and thus the economic health of the U.S., the following should somewhat vindicate my position:

Denver based Barnhardt Capital Management is a futures brokerage firm that focuses on agriculture and cattle futures, round-the-clock broker access, and inexpensive commissions. At least, it used to be.

BCM shuttered its operations yesterday. The firm's founder Ann Barnhardt posted the reasons online for the entire world to see:

"I could no longer tell my clients that their monies and positions were safe in the futures and options markets' because they are not. And this goes not just for my clients, but for every futures and options account in the United States. The entire system has been utterly destroyed by the MF Global collapse."

Ms. Barnhardt further explains that markets are completely fractured... that the rule of law in the United States no longer exists. She decries Jon Corzine of MF Global for having outright stolen customer funds, and various exchanges and government regulators for having frozen out customer accounts as a result.

Given that the entire industry is "suicidally-leveraged" and exposed to "European sovereign junk debt", Barnhardt recommends that ALL customers "withdraw from all of the markets as soon as possible so that they have the best chance of protecting themselves and their equity."

I couldn't agree more with this sentiment. Leave the markets to the speculators and hotshot young brokers with itchy fingers poised over the BUY or SELL buttons of their high speed computer trading platforms. To believe that you can win in this kind of financial Ponzi game environment is simply suicidal!

Lawyerly Complexity

2011-10-23T07:17:00.000-07:00

If, dear reader, you are anything like me, then you are probably scratching your head and trying to understand exactly what the recent financial industry legislation is all about. More important, will these new rules and regulations keep another global financial meltdown from happening.

Take, for example, the so-called Volker Rule, a cumbersome part of the even more unwieldy Dodd-Frank financial reform act. This sprawling 2,000 plus page red-headed stepchild of regulations is a ludicrous example of complexification. The reason? Lawyers! Almost if not all of the people writing these rules are lawyers, and lawyers by training and proclivity detest simplicity when drafting laws, regulations, contracts, or indeed any sort of legal document designed to govern behavior.

They do this because they want to forestall future disputes and potentially expensive litigation by exhaustively codifying behavioral rules and spelling them out under every conceivable circumstance. Since when have you not seen a lawyer sorely tempted to insert an "except that" or “provided, however” phrase into the simplest contract?

So what does that mean for the Volcker Rule and financial reform in general? Well, one might argue that the best solution is to scrap that overlawyered piece of legislation and go back to the original suggestion of the author, Mr. Volker.

“I’d write a much simpler bill. I’d love to see a four-page bill that bans proprietary trading and makes the board and chief executive responsible for compliance. And I’d have strong regulators. If the banks didn’t comply with the spirit of the bill, they’d go after them.”

From that simple statement to the monstrous two thousand page creation of the Dodd-Frank legislation, with the lawyerly help of the professional nit-pickers. Perhaps it is long since time to pass yet another law ….. one that prohibits lawyers from serving in congress or on congressional staffs. Maybe then ……….

My New Art Sales Manual Has Been Published At Amazon.com/Kindle

2011-10-09T16:52:00.000-07:00

Those of you who are artists may find of significant interest a sales manual that has just been published on Amazon.com. It was written at the peak of my own art gallery career, just before my retirement. It is an up-to-date primer that explains in easy to understand language how an artist can go about selling his or her own art.

The majority of the more than one million new artists that come onto the scene each year will not be able to get their work into a commercial art gallery. This means learning how to sell your own art in the marketplace. The Secrets of Selling The Artist's Art explains the anatomy of the sales process, how to maximize your studio as a selling tool and even how to establish your own Internet presence. Check it out for yourself. Click on the image below. Oh, and the price is right: only $4.99 .... and EVERY artist should have $4.99 worth of curiosity about how to sell their artwork in a BILLION dollar market.

False Flags

2011-09-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted anything in a couple of months simply because I've been waiting with bated breath for something to happen worth commenting upon,. Nada. Zilch. Zero! And I can only hold my breath for so long.

The Conspiracy Conduits were jammed with dire prognostications, pettifoggeries and prophesies …. all of which bode direly for us in the immediate future. We were even given an exact date to circle on our respective calendars, September 27th. This was supposedly the date when most all of the U.S. elite political class minions would be in not-so-secret bunkers deep beneath Denver's International Airport facilities. What was to happen? Well, how about a "false flag" episode.

Now for those of you who are not prone to layering the inside of your Panama Hats with tinfoil or maintain a yearly subscription to Alex Jones, a False Flag Episode (attack) is an engineered geopolitical ploy used to arouse the citizenry into a fighting frenzy. It is the necessary prelude to WAR!

For this latest "secret conspiracy", the candidates ran the gauntlet from the sudden admission that Planet X was indeed coming close enough to earth to create severe catastrophic damage, to a group of "White Hats" in the military staging a coup. And fanning the flames of all this was a furtive former Forbes editor residing in Japan named Benjamin Fulford. He was the self-styled spokesman for an Asian group of assassins called The White Dragon Society, who were in the process of bringing to justice that shadowy group of Bad Guys called Illuminati. Even Shock Jock Jeff Rense was a pussycat compared with Fulford's utterings.

Oh, but wait … there's more! Na-aaa, that's enough.

So with my expectations on a higher state of alert than my immune system after a dose of antibiotics, I sat glued to the World Wide Web awaiting the latest version of Armageddon (right after these brief commercial announcements.)

It's now the 28th. The politicos are on their way home. The White Dragon Society is nowhere to be seen and no dreaded Brown Dwarf Star has appeared in the overhead night-time sky. Frankly, every time there is one of the "for sure" prophecies based on a specific date, I'm reminded of my favorite cartoon shown below. Meantime, I'm going to cancel my subscription to the "Time Monk" WebBot series of predictions. As for knowledge of the future …. as Clark Gable once opined, "Frankly, my dear, I just don't give a damn."

Video-style Presentation About Vilcabamba

2011-08-18T08:28:00.000-07:00

Many of you are still asking me about this magical Shangri-la in the Andes Mountains of South America that I call home. So in conjunction with the publication of my new book ...."An Operations Manual For Humankind" .... I've created a kind of video (Power Point Presentation) that helps describe this hidden-away spot called The Sacred Valley Of Longevity. It's about 16 minutes long and, depending upon your bandwidth, may take a moment to load.... (but then, you probably already knew that ;-)

The presentation will start and move along automatically. It is professionally narrated and I think that you'll find it interesting. Just click HERE . Once on that page, click on the image of my latest book, "An Operations Manual For Humankind", which will start the video. You will be glad you did. Your feedback would be greatly appreciated.

What's in your jar?

2011-07-15T06:38:00.000-07:00

A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items on the table in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, about 2 inches in diameter.

He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The small pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. The sand filtered down through the pebbles and rocks, completely filling up the jar.

He then asked again if the jar was full. This time the students responded with a unanimous “Yes.”

“Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The rocks are the important things – your family, your partner, your health, your children – things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter – like your job, your house, your car.

The sand is everything else. The small, inconsequential stuff.”

“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued “there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take a long moonlight walk with your partner. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and repair the disposal.

Take care of the rocks first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”

"I'm Mad As Hell And I Won't Take It Anymore"

2011-06-26T05:43:00.000-07:00

Click Here To See Video

Can you sense it? Can you hear that still faint murmuring of dissatisfaction that is slowly evolving into a full-throated roar of anger? It’s there. Listen!

Even the 45% of citizens who either work for the US government or are recipients of its largess, and thus in thrall to The Leviathan, are beginning to stir and grumble at what’s happening. As well they should! It is time for change. Not the political slogan of “change we can believe in,” but change that will dissolve the Police State that the US government and its financial masters have created to rule us.

Jessie Ventura, the outspoken former Minnesota Governor, has spelled it out for all of us in his declaration of outrage directed at The Powers That Be:

“You control our world. You’ve poisoned the air we breathe, contaminated the water we drink, and copyrighted the food we eat. We fight in your wars, die for your causes, and sacrifice our freedoms to protect you. You’ve liquidated our savings, destroyed our middle class, and used our tax dollars to bailout your unending greed. We are slaves to your corporations, zombies to your airwaves, servants to your decadence. You’ve stolen our elections, assassinated our leaders, and abolished our basic rights as human beings. You own our property, shipped away our jobs, and shredded our unions. You’ve profited off of disaster, destabilized our currencies, and raised our cost of living. You’ve monopolized our freedom, stripped away our education, and have almost extinguished our flame. We are hit…we are bleeding…but we ain’t got time to bleed. We will bring the giants to their knees and you will witness our revolution!”

Unfortunately, not even we who have "gotten out of Dodge" are exempt from most of the above. We are just a bit ahead of the curve .... but we can hear the cries of frustration and anger even from here.

There is in the Declaration of Independence a passage that makes governments shiver in frieght and particularly political and financial establishments more than any other. It reads as follows: Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

2011-06-24T12:32:00.000-07:00

I was once called a 'Dunce', and made to sit in front of the class wearing a fool's cap …. simply because I sat and stared out the window, dreaming of becoming an aviator. Of course, today I'd be prescribed some pharmaceutical drug for an Attention Deficit Disorder.

After that humiliating experience, I decided that I didn't want to be a 'flier' after all. I wonder how many of our children today are not going to be able to 'fly high' because they dared to dream? I wonder if Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak of Apple fame, both of them dreamers, ever wore dunce caps?

I wonder when we, as a people, are going to honor and encourage our dreamers instead of making them wear silly hats?

"Dreams are answers to questions we haven't yet figured out how to ask." - From the X-Files

PS: Almost forgot that ultimate dreamer, a guy named Einstein!

My Book Is Published!

2011-05-23T13:11:00.000-07:00

I am delighted to announce the publication of the long and patiently awaited book on "living long and well", which I've been scribbling away on for what seems to have been forever.

Thirty years of research, two full years in the writing, "An Operations Manual For Humankind" is indeed a complete compendium of natural health. You can read the entire Introduction at www.operations-manual.org .

This is actionable information that is especially beneficial for Baby Boomers, but it's never too early to start making the kind of lifestyle and dietary choices that will add life to your years and years to your life. The manual tells you how to take charge of your own health choices the natural and far less expensive way. It's all in there.

A recent review stated: “A tour guide to health and longevity, skimming the surface of its topics in an easy, conversational style. From the ageless health practices of our ancestors to cutting-edge longevity science, attaining maximum wellness by properly ‘fueling’ the body is addressed in an easy-to-understand manner.

“The manual doesn’t teach as much as it reminds, helping the reader to remember the cultural truths about nutrition that were handed down by mothers and grandmothers. These ‘forgotten secrets’, particularly the chapter on the energetic Life Force of food, is priceless actionable information.”

It will be available as an instantly downloadable E-Book with the retail price set at $19.95. However, check out the pre-publication offer just below at:

CLICK HERE

There is a whole chapter devoted to "The Living Laboratory Of Longevity", the magical South American Andes Mountain Shangri La that is called Vilcabamba ... said to be one of the four healthiest places on earth, with more Centenarians than can be found anywhere else on our planet.

And that is just one of the twenty-five chapters devoted to healthy nutrition and robust aging. Facts, not filler, truth instead of Big Pharma's and the medical establishment's propaganda. Check it out at: www.operations-manual.org

Says Who?

2011-05-13T17:41:00.000-07:00

Recently, my email inbox has been filled to overflowing with messages of Doom & Gloom that surpass even my own curmudgeon mumblings. The truth of the matter is that things are far less dire than the pundits, prognosticators, and pettifoggers would have us believe. So much of what passes for informed opinion is "ignorant twaddle, tendentious, misinformed bullshit, or thinly-veiled axe-grinding" .... as someone with far more adjectives at hand than me once put it.

On the other hand, as the investment guru Doug Casey says: “The nasty things that you think are coming always take longer to arrive than you think they will, but once they get here, they make up for their tardiness by being worse than you thought they’d be.”

Be that as it may, but maybe it's time for us to take a deep breath, sit back, and remember the words on an Enlightened Being some 2,500 years ago, before turning on the nightly news or surfing the internet Blogosphere:

All of which can be reduced to THINK FOR YOURSELF!

A Picture Is Worth A 1000 Words

2011-05-09T21:29:00.000-07:00

"What Inflation?
Fed Chairman Benoccio

The Longevity Secret of Vilcabamba

2011-04-26T06:56:00.000-07:00

Those of you who know me best realize that I have been researching the field of health for many, many years. What some may not know is that about a year and a half ago I put together a very special web site to share some of this kind of information with others. It is at: www.valleyoflongevity.com

What you will find there is the amazing story of the Centenarians of Vilcabamba. In this hidden-away valley in the Southern Andes Mountains of Ecuador, you find people who live longer than almost anywhere else in the world. I set out to discover why it was that these people regularly live to be a 100 years or more in good health. It is a story that I think you'll find to be quite interesting and exciting … with some unexpected twists and turns.

There's actually two parts to what you will find there, the introduction and then there is an invitation to download a completely free report called "Vilcabamba Secrets of Renewed Good Health." If you are at all interested in your state of health (and who isn't?), then I recommend you check out the web site. It's a labor of love … nothing is for sale, no donations are requested. It's my way of saying thank you for having lived this long, a way of sharing my information gained over a thirty year period. Check it out, you'll be glad you did.

www.valleyoflongevity.com

Is This Shocking, Or What?

2011-04-11T09:37:00.000-07:00

OK, move right along folks. Nothing to see here, no one hurt, nothing to worry about, just keep moving right along to "recovery".

Afraid To Tell The Truth?

2011-03-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

Here is what one U.S. President had to say about the "transparency" and openness of government, and how he would have answered those who feel that WikiLeaks is aiding and abetting "Terrorism". He was also assassinated for such remarks, among other affronts to the Powers That Be. Listen and remember well his words.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

All You Troublemakers, Misfits and Freethinkers ...

2011-03-21T13:46:00.000-07:00

If this video doesn't stir your heart, put a lump in your throat and bring a tear to your eye .... well, then you need to call 911 at once and ask for an emergency trauma team for help. You're already dead or dying!

Augustus Owsley Stanley III R.I.P.

2011-03-19T13:19:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, on an obscure roadway in Australia, the former psychedelic entrepreneur named Augustus Owsley Stanley III, took his final "trip". For those who in the 1960's availed themselves of his "Owsley Purple", a heartfelt tip of the hat is offered at his passing. By mass-manufacturing a hallucinogen that the authorities hadn’t gotten around to criminalizing, Owsley was able to singlehandedly create a market where none had existed, and with it a large part of what would become the “counterculture.” I must admit that I was one of his loyal customers ... back then when it was legal.

The only one we know who was as much a perfectionist in his product design and quality as Augustus Owsley is Steve Jobs, the equally brilliant co-founder of Apple. It is rumored that Jobs was also an afficianado of Mr. Stanley's "Purple Pill", a color that Apple has used only once. Steve Jobs is often credited for creating a “reality distortion field” around his products.

Augustus Owsley Stanley III knew a thing or two about that.

Rest In Peace.

The Great 2011 Recovery

2011-03-06T12:44:00.000-08:00

Happy days are here again! Stock and commodity markets are strong, company profits are up, bankers are making record profits and bonuses, unemployment is declining, and inflation is non-existent. Obama and Bernanke are the dream team making the US into the Superpower it once was. Hallelujah! We are saved!

Yes, it is amazing the castles in the air that can be built with paper money and deceitful manipulation of all economic data. Excuse me! But I just don't buy it.

Behind the curtain, the Wizards of Ozs who continue to manipulate the silver and gold market are feverishly propping up the $US. The $100 TRILLION in derivatives still have not been settled … and yet, and YET, Happy Days Are Here Again? Hey, call me a conspiracy Wingnut, but something just doesn't smell right about this so-called Green Shoot Recovery. Please wake me up after the political commercial is finished, it's time for me to take my meds!

Dude ... There's No Food!

2011-02-13T11:45:00.000-08:00

Newsflash just in from George Ure's Urbansurvival.com Newsletter
(with some editorial additions of my own):

THIS IS SERIOUS STUFF! We are quickly approaching the moment when we have no food to spare. There's no way we can feed the whole planet! We've got that freeze in Mexico which will hit US food prices inside 45 days, we've got Australia offline, Brazil offline, part of Africa, Russia's winter wheat is now freaking wiped out between fires and Europe's freeze, Indonesia's rice fields are flooded, China has got drought and they're now upping their grain purchases through the roof!

Doesn't anyone have any idea how serious this is?

If you do absolutely nothing …. well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out where you and your family will be in another 60 days. Our Mormon friends have the right idea, as a matter of the practice of their faith, in laying aside food stuff now for when the bad days come. Hey, guess what? They're here! My suggestion: "Do ye likewise unto the wisest of them that hast ears to hear and eyes to see!"

Oh, and don't forget to get a veggie garden started, if you haven't already. Mine provides me with around 75% of my daily food intake ... for mere "pennies-a-pound". There are no food stamps in Ecuador, none are needed! Everyone grows their own. Just sayin'.

The Red Pill

2011-01-20T06:38:00.000-08:00

According to the movie The Matrix, those who ingest the Red Pill begin questioning their lives, refusing to dismiss strange events. Well, it seems that someone slipped such a pill into my oatmeal and I've been caught up in a kind of exuberant playing with possibilities and probabilities ever since. Especially when it comes to Planet X, The Super Wave from the center of the Universe and other such esoteric world-as-we-know-it-ending concerns.

Vilcabamba seems to be a hotbed of "2012 Galactic" activity, but I'm doing my very best to maintain an open and inquisitive mind on all this insistent "Hark, The End Of The World In Nye" kind of Red Pill hullaballoo. A lot of this 2012 stuff is the result of New Age pundits, prognosticators, and pettifoggers, whose Internet blogging and radio interviews have attempted to explain the Great Singularity, as the late Terrance McKenna dubbed the Mayan calendar End of Time. However, I must admit that SOMETHING is happening to quicken the pace of our lives and raise our vibrational level to a near-quivering level of expectation.

To try and get a handle on all this, I have been dusting off a number of long-unused books, reading new ones lent me by well-meaning friends and familiars AND spending a lot of time in front of my computer screen. I'm very much afraid that all of this work has left me with a hopeful yet puzzled attitude of expectation and anticipation, akin to the days of my youth when awaiting the next episode of The Shadow or Green Hornet. Although with those old radio dramas I always knew the Good Guys would win out in the end. This time I'm not so sure.

Perhaps this supposed shift in consciousness (if not in poles) is our one and only answer to all the environmental madness and ceaseless war on this planet of ours. Living here in South America as I do, I tend to pay attention to the mutterings of Mayans and the sayings of Shamans … but I also am aware of the Latin sense of humor:

My New Year's Resolution

2010-12-24T08:16:00.000-08:00

Are You REALLY Seeing What's Happening Today?

2010-11-08T09:33:00.000-08:00

As all of you know, there are conspiracy theories floating around in the "alternative media" about everything! OK, but how about what is happening right in front of your very eyes. What about the things that are happening "concealed" in plain sight.

Sometimes you have to teach yourself how to look more closely, to see what is there that is hidden just beyond "normal" sight. One of the best examples I know is found in the artwork of Bev Doolittle. Go ahead, test yourself …. don't be distracted by the brightly colored fox, look a little closer! Then look again. OK, are you ready?

Yep, there's a lot more than you thought, right? So next time you listen to the news or read your favorite news media, remember the picture above. Most of what is happening to us is right there in plain sight ... we just aren't looking closely enough.

Quit trying to complicate things. This is how they got so screwed up in the first place. Remember, the answers are always right in front of you. Just look!

Is It Over?

2010-09-18T08:51:00.000-07:00

I have been receiving emails recently that all seem to be saying the same thing: "OK, quit telling me how bad things are, what I want to know now is what can I do to save myself and my family? Or is already too late?"

Well, if you'll allow just one more Doom & Gloom comment: you ain't seen anything yet! Only a partisan two-bit hack economist from an Ivy League University with a Nobel Prize can say with academic certainty that the worst is behind us. It is simply hogwash! The Titanic's bow is already awash.

But there's still time to make some informed choices, and do something proactive instead of reactive. Not all of the lifeboats are already launched.

For example; do you have any silver or gold? Back in 2004, when I started my own preparations for the sure-to-come financial disaster, I cashed in a few under preforming stocks and bought a some Canadian bullion coins; a "few" of gold, a "few" silver. My records show that I paid $405 for the gold 1 ounce coins and $5.85 for the 1 ounce silver coins. I just peeked a moment ago, and an ounce of gold is at $1,277.50 and those silver coins are now worth $21.15. You do the math as to my ROI.

With less than 2% of all investors participating in the precious metals markets, it seems like a no-brainer to me that the price of both gold and silver have a LONG way to go before it bubbles. Accordingly, even at these supposedly "high" prices, I firmly believe that gold, and silver in particular, will double again in the near future.

Of course, I remember my former stock broker telling me that holding precious metals means giving up dividends. Hm-mmm, well my rather spectacular return on investment these past six years certainly blows that argument out of the water. How is your IRA these days, huh?

So quit rearranging the deck chairs on this sinking ship and buy some gold. And maybe even put a couple of bucks aside to move down here! No, it isn't over!

Prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor

2010-08-20T07:28:00.000-07:00

Although this video clip is in Spanish (with English subtitles), what is being shared is so extremely important that I'm presenting it here. The wisdom of this gentle and articulate Shaman perfectly illustrates one of the reasons that I am opening my heart and mind to learn more about what is called "Pacha Mama" (Mother Earth) here in Ecuador.

Don Alverto Taxo, a Quichua elder and Iachak (community leader/healer), shares his indigenous Andean perspective on the crises and potential of the current pachacuti (thousand-year cycle). Recalling the ancient prophecy of the eagle and the condor, Don Alverto outlines a vision of a new society based on harmony, the honoring of diversity, and a shared evolution toward wisdom and the "subtleness of life." He also describes Pacha Mama, Her relationship to God, the earth and humanity, as well as the serious consequences of disrupting Her natural equilibrium.

Something I wrote One Year Ago ...even more timely now.

2010-08-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

On The Beach ... again.
An allegorical tale:

“Once upon a time, there was a beautiful Hawaiian beach full of tourists, enjoying themselves so much that they could not ever imagine life without such a wonderful place in which to relax.

One day, an incredible thing happened. The water started to pull away from the beach out into the ocean. The beach became even more beautiful, and everyone was thankful that even more people could now enjoy the larger expanse of sand.

But, one old man had been studying what many experts had observed when the same thing happened on other beaches in years past. He tried to warn all the people that they were in danger; that the incredible thing happening was not what it appeared to be, that soon everyone could be in peril.

Everyone laughed at him, saying he was just a foolish old man and did not know what he was talking about. There had never been great danger at this beach before in their lifetimes. How could he be so negative? After all, how could he know more than all the other people on the beach? Also, if they were in danger, the news media would have already warned them.

The old timer tried to tell them he had learned that throughout history there was a cause and effect pattern on every beach when this happened, and that all the people were in grave danger. But, the people insisted that this beach was different. This beach was special. This beach was only for having fun and not worrying about anything else. After all, this beach was full of people with such incredible talents, that they would most certainly be able to find a way to solve any problems from the ocean, should such exist. And in any case, wouldn't the government be there to save them, should anything really be amiss.

The old man eventually walked away with a heavy heart, having been able to convince only a handful of people that they were in danger. He hurried to the local airport, boarded an airplane that would take him far away, safe from the danger unfolding back on the beautiful Hawaiian beach where he had made his home for over a quarter of a century.

Just as he climbed his way to safety, he turned to look out the airplane's window and see the ocean let loose the full fury of its tsunami, swallowing all the people who would not listen to him. If only they had listened, he cried .

But alas ........

What about you? Are you wiling to listen to the old man? The same tsunami is threatening you and your loved ones even now Come to safety, before it is too late. Please! More information about "here" can be found at www.vilcabambahomes.com

Afghanistan

2010-07-30T06:53:00.000-07:00

A writer/editor (David Galland) whose murmurings and mumblings I love to read has written THE best reason for the US not to be in Afghanistan:

"In the case of Afghanistan, we have firmly planted ourselves in the middle of a militaristic medieval society complete with fatalistic religions, tribes, clans, warlords, corrupt satraps, war profiteers, and cultural practices that should have long vanished from the face of the earth. That we are bankrupting our nation while enriching the power elite in the region – with no clearer goal than “helping the Afghan government stand on its own” – is beyond ridiculous. The minute we pull out, and we will, Karzai’s going to pick up his skirts and head to Monte Carlo, or wherever else it is he keeps his money and back-up villa. Then the Pakistanis will have to try to find someone else to invade Afghanistan, so they can keep the money rolling in. If I were the president, I would stop the charade tomorrow."

Hmmmm .... couldn't have said it better myself. I keep asking myself why, when there are folks a lot smarter than me in our so-called "Power Elite", THEY can't understand the war situation in Afghanistan as well as this fellow David Galland does? Could it be .... naw-aaaaaaa.

2010-07-04T18:56:00.000-07:00

If the last iteration of Mankind looks familiar, then perhaps you might wish to check out:

www.valleyoflongevity.com

I'm Suffering From ....WHAT?

2010-05-17T04:55:00.000-07:00

Sorry, dear readers, but it appears that I will soon be forced to take some psychotropic drugs to help 'cure' my well-known negativity when it comes to all politicians and The Powers That Be.

According to Mike Adams, Editor of "NaturalNews" who happens to be my neighbor, Psychiatrists have been working on the fourth revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and, in it, they hope to add a whole slew of new psychiatric disorders. Unfortunately, many of these disorders are merely differences in personality and behavior among people.

The new edition may include "disorders" like "oppositional defiant disorder", which includes people who have a pattern of "negativistic, defiant, disobedient and hostile behavior toward authority figures." Some of the "symptoms" of this disorder including losing one's temper, annoying people and being "touchy".

Hm-mmm. Yep, that's me alright. So if I suddenly appear to be zonked-out and pharmacalized or having too sunny a disposition when listening to the mass media 'news' you'll now know why. Or-rrrrrrrr, maybe I should avail myself of the other kind of "natural" drug as shown below.

WOW! Talk about a "contact high" ....

2010-04-25T10:26:00.001-07:00

The above photo shows a crowd assembled at the University of Colorado on April 20th, known affectionately to one and all as "Pot Day". And yes indeed, the billowing clouds are just what you think they are. I suppose that in this age of ever-grundgy news about the economy this is what's known as the student's anti-depressent non-prescription drug of choice. Small wonder, considering their chances of finding a decent job to pay off their astronomical student loan debts after they graduate. Hm-mmm, well of course I've never inhaled, so what do I know about it.

How The Debt Money System Works

2010-02-12T13:09:00.000-08:00

So, wann'a know the cause of the US financial crises? OK, here it is, short and sweet in a story about a little Texas town and "debt" money.

Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit here. On this particular day a rich tourist from back East is driving through town. He stops at the motel and lays a $100 bill on the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night.

As soon as the man walks upstairs, the owner grabs the bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.

The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to retire his debt to the pig farmer.

The pig farmer takes the $100 and heads off to pay his bill at the supplier of feed.

The guy at the Farmer's Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has had to offer her services on credit.

The hooker rushes to the motel and pays off her room bill with the motel owner.

The motel proprietor then places the $100 back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything.

At that moment the traveler comes down the stairs, picks up the $100 bill, states that the rooms are not satisfactory, pockets the money, and leaves town.

What just happened here? No one produced anything. No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now out of debt and now looks to the future with a lot more optimism..

And that, dear reader, is how the United States Government is conducting its "fiat money created out of thin air" finances today.

US Healthcare Controversy

2010-01-25T11:09:00.000-08:00

Let me say a few words about the pending US Healthcare legislation: it doesn't effect or interest me! That's it, folks. Those are my few words. But I realize that it is indeed important to you, my friends, familars and fortuitous readers. So I suppose a few more thoughts on the subject are in order.

Let me put it this way, in the past year and a half I have spent exactly $25.00 on what I used to call "doctor''s bills". That's what the one and only physician whom I've needed to consult during this period of time charged me for the HOUR that I spent in his treatment room. That is in contrast to the $125.00 I spent the last time I was in a doctor's office in Hawaii .... for 12 minutes! Granted, my US doctor had a lot of sick people to see, while the Ecuadorian physician had only a few healthy folks in his waiting room who momentarily needed some kind of help. So the local doctor figured that if one of his clients got "sick" it was because his preventative care did not work properly, and his service was charged accordingly.

Now, you might think that I'm heading toward a discussion about the differences in healthcare prices between the US and Latin America. I'm not.

What I'd like to take a moment or two to point out is that I simply DON'T have need of an insurance-oriented healthcare system. Why? Because of basic LIFESTYLE changes that I made at the ripe old age of 80. I'm now spending a fraction of the costs of my former medications for a few supplements, which is all I seem to require these days.

And it's not just what I'm saving in the way of healthcare costs, it is also the kind of savings that the entire United States could be enjoying with such a lifestyle change. Let me explain:

The BIG, HUGE elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about is the kind of self-inflicted illness that is now an epidemic in the whole world. The fastest growth of these illnesses is found in diabetes. Here's some data from my friend Jon Barron, at the Baseline For Health Foundation.

Just days ago, The Medical News published the latest analysis which showed that the cost of diabetes and pre-diabetes had reached $218 BILLION in 2007, with the exploding number of cases of type 2 diabetes responsible for the majority of these costs. And those numbers are three years old! Update them and over the next 10 years you're looking at an average of a quarter of a TRILLION dollars spent just in the United States alone. That, dear friends, is $2.5 trillion dollars unnecessarily spent on just one lifestyle-oriented disease alone. To put that into perspective, if the people of the US didn't give themselves diabetes through bad choices of diet and lifestyle, the savings alone would cover:

1. All costs associated with any healthcare bill that congress could conceivably pass, including covering all those not currently covered.
2. 100% of the disgraceful bankster bailout on Wall Street.
3. 100% of the stimulus handouts.

That's with no new taxes, and that is just one single disease.

Look, this ain't rocket science. The only way healthcare can survive is if YOU take back control of your own health and start doing those things that allow your body to stay healthy without the need of ILLNESS CARE! That's what it really is, not HEALTH care.

And by the way, remember my $25.00 visit to the doctor? Well, it was to get a laboratory Basic Chemistry work-up, just to make sure nothing was sneaking up on me. But as my friend and neighbor Mike Adams The Health Ranger points out, one's health is NOT defined by having blood tests return certain results within a specific range: That my LDL cholesterol needs to be between X and Y, for example, and my blood pressure needs to be lower than Z. That does not equate with the QUALITY OF LIFE HEALTHINESS that I'm interested in achieving and then maintaining.

To learn more about how I have taken responsibility and control of my own former type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure with a plant-based diet, you can check out:

www.valleyoflongevity.com

GIGO (Garbage IN-Garbage OUT

2010-01-16T08:28:00.000-08:00

This is a much longer post than most of my Epistles, but it's a VERY big subject. Here in Vilcabamba, we are in the epicenter of the 2012 "thingee". I've been reading all of the books and articles, listen to learned dispositions about why the world as we know it will be swept away on December 21, 2012. And, frankly, none of it "computes". When my neighbor lent me his DVD of the movie "2012" I found myself simply sinking into FEAR! That's not the way that I choose to live. So, what to think about it all?

Then I came across this article by a fellow named Ray Villard .... and he makes sense in a much more positive way than most of the doomsayers. So I present his thoughts to you herewith.

TOP 10 REASONS WHY THE WORLD WON'T END IN 2012

By Ray Villard who takes on some of the more popular doomsday theories, debunking each in turn.

A hypothetical planet called Nibiru -- or Planet X -- is often the root of many doosmday scenarios. In reality no such harbinger of doom exists.

In the early days of computers, when hard drives weighed as much as a piece of furniture, a popular phrase was "Garbage-in, Garbage-out" (GIGO). It meant that computers would unquestioningly process the most nonsensical of input data and produce nonsensical output.

"GIGO" describes the abysmal lack of intelligent thought and critical thinking on the Internet when it comes to all the hysteria about the end of the world coming on December 21, 2012 -- just in time to ruin Christmas.

I'm getting e-mail about this weekly and I expect the nonsense to ratchet up.

This latest installment in decades of flaky astronomical apocalypse predictions is loosely based on the Mayan calendar that marks the end of a 5,126-year era. Apparently the Mayans knew something about the heavens we don't, according to numerous hot-selling 2012 doomsday books on the market. Our multi-billion dollar telescopes, space probes, and 6,000 professional astronomers somehow just can't keep up with the mystic knowledge of an ancient superstitious culture.

With the much-ballyhooed release of the film "2012" opening on November 13, end of world chatter will be the topic from backyard cookouts, to bars, to wine and cheese parties.

I am listing the 10 most popular 2012 end-of-world scenarios and providing a quickie reference guide to use in politely dismissing any friends, relatives, or in-laws whose brains have turned into a pile of GIGO mush after being suckered by the End of Days hype.

The ten top 2012 doomsday scenarios, in reverse order:

10. Changes in the Sun's magnetic field will lead to powerful flares.

So what else is new under the sun? The sun goes though a well-documented 11-year sunspot cycle that is driven by its magnetic field entangling, reforming and flipping polarity. Yes, the peak of the next cycle is in 2012 (or 2013), and some predictions suggest it might be 30 to 50 percent stronger than the last peak.

But experts say it will certainly not be the biggest peak ever recorded.

The bottom line is that no dragon's breath of flame will stretch across 100 million miles of space and blowtorch Earth. The largest solar flare recorded to date, on Nov. 4, 2003, spewed several billions of tons of plasma in Earth's direction. The flare's X-ray radiation that impacted our protective atmosphere had the equivalent radiation of 5,000 suns.

We're still here.

9. The Earth's magnetic field will reverse.

Don't hold you breath. The last field reversal happened nearly 800,000 years ago. Fred Flintstone and our other ancestor cavemen survived. Geological evidence shows that the field has reversed its orientation tens of thousands of times over Earth history. Yet there is no definitive evidence that a magnetic field reversal has ever caused any mass extinction due to increased cosmic ray influx.

8. The Earth's rotation axis will tip.

This isn't nearly as easy as tipping cows. Unlike Mars, which does go though wide excursions in it axial tilt, Earth's tilt is kept steady by the gravitational influence of the moon. An object the size of Mars would have to hit Earth to transfer enough momentum to knock us out of kilter. But Mars-sized protoplanets were kicked into interstellar space over 4 billion years ago. The solar system doesn't make "planets-gone-wild" anymore.

7. A grand alignment of Jupiter and Saturn will gravitationally perturb Earth.

For the past several decades there have been doomsday claims that the combined gravity from grand planetary alignments will cause geologic and meteorological upheavals on Earth.

None are scheduled for 2012.

In 1962 an extremely rare grand conjunction of the classical naked-eye planets drove astrologers crazy. The conjunction happened on Feb. 4-5 and was accompanied by a solar eclipse! The most infamous grand conjunction was in 1982 and popularized in a book called "The Jupiter Effect," which predicted earthquakes and massive tides. Life went on as usual both years. The moon has a vastly greater gravitational influence on Earth than Jupiter. It's called location, location, location! At a whopping distance of 400 million miles from Earth, Jupiter's tug is pretty wimpy.

6. The Sun will align with the galactic equator on the winter solstice.

So what? These are simply coordinates in the sky. It has no physical reality any more than the intersection of Broadway and 7th Avenue at Times Square influences the geology of Manhattan Island. This is greatly confused with the fact that the sun's position actually oscillates up and down as it orbits the galaxy, like a horse on a carousel.

We pass through the galactic plane every 35 to 40 million years. It's possible that an increased number of comets might be hurled towards the Earth because of gravitational interaction with the densest parts of our galaxy during this passage. But we are talking about the consequences spanning many thousands of years, not crashing down on our heads in any one specific year.

5. The black hole in the galactic center will affect us.

The Milky Way's black hole has no influence on the galactic disk. The black hole is three million solar masses. The Milky Way is several trillion solar masses when we add the tug of dark matter. Any gravitational influence of the black hole over the galaxy would be like the tail wagging the dog. The Milky Way's collision with the Andromeda galaxy will dump gas into the black hole and it will blaze as a quasar. But that's several billion years away.

4. An asteroid will smash into Earth.

A threatening near-Earth asteroid that's gotten the most press is the 900-foot wide Apophis. But its chances of collision have been downgraded to 1 in 250,000 at its next close approach in 2029. In theory, an uncharted asteroid or comet could come out of the blue tomorrow. But if we don't know about it today, the Mayans certainly didn't know about it 1,200 years ago. Earth-killer impacts are tens of millions of years apart. So there's no reason to be a doomsday clock-watcher.

3. The rogue planet Nibiru will swing by Earth.

There isn't such a planet any more than the planet Naboo from the Star Wars trilogy is real. Purported Internet pictures of the interloper are photographic lens flares or hoaxes. Don't believe every dot you see photographed in the sky.

2. Supernovae or hypernovae will irradiate Earth.

There are no stars that are so close to Earth that radiation from their supernova demise would seriously affect us. The nearest candidate, the red giant Betelgeuse, is predicted to explode in the next 1,000 years. The monster star Eta Carinae is also on a short fuse. Neither doomed star has a spin axis precisely aimed at Earth, so we don't have to worry about being fried by a narrow beam of gamma rays ejected from the core's implosion. In fact the kinds of stars that shoot out these Death Star beams are uncommon in the Milky Way. Earth has a one percent chance of getting zapped over 10 billion years. Scratch gamma ray bursts off of your homeowner's insurance policy.

1. A cloud of negative energy engulfs the solar system.

Wow! A dark cloud with a bad attitude! This sound suspiciously like a Star Trek episode. Dark energy is all around us already, but it is not packaged into clouds. The same goes for dark matter.

Another Reason To Love Ecuador

2009-12-31T07:39:00.000-08:00

Last year Ecuador became the first country in the world to declare constitutional rights to nature, thus codifying a new system of environmental protection.

Reflecting the beliefs and traditions of the indigenous peoples of Ecuador, the constitution declares that nature “has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution.” This right, the constitution states, “is independent of the obligation on natural and juridical persons or the State to indemnify the people that depend on the natural systems.”

The new constitution redefines people’s relationship with nature by asserting that nature is not just an object to be appropriated and exploited by people, but is rather a rights-bearing entity that should be treated with parity under the law.

Just think about that for a moment. Do you actually think that something like this could happen in North America? And if not, why not?

The Art of Giving

2009-12-26T04:43:00.000-08:00

Most every morning there's an email in my inbox from Gary and Merri Scott, distant neighbors here in Ecuador. The emails are a combination of information about Ecuador, global investing tips and offers of various seminars they conduct. But today's was different.

On this day after Christmas, Gary reminded his mailees about the English practice of observing Boxing Day. The purpose of Boxing Day in Great Britain and Commonwealth countries is to give gifts to the poor. In days gone by, discarded gift wrappings and boxes were reused to wrap gifts to be given to the poor people who served or worked for the "Gentry". Here in Ecuador, we do that sort of thing, but with a twist.

The day before Christmas a box filled with food and "drink" is given to those who work for us, along with an appropriate amount of cash. The rest of the year our Ecuadorian workers toil to serve us, the day before Christmas is their day to receive. Yeah, I know, one day out of 365 and a box of goodies in return for all those hours of work (at only an average of $2.00 an hour wages) doesn't sound like a fair exchange. But it's called "tradition".... whether in London or Vilcabamba. But here in Vilcabamba, some of my friends and neighbors took this yet another step. They spent two days giving out hundreds of bags of food and other essentials to poor families throughout the Valley of Longevity. Many of the children they were able to reach had never received Christmas gifts in their entire lives!

It made me think about my own abundance, the "gifts" that I continually receive from others. There are so many people who have helped me to succeed in my life, and I have continually tried to keep the scale balanced by my giving in some kind of proportion to what I have received. What about you?

Actually, every day can be Boxing Day if you let it. What a marvelous "tradition" that could be. Feliz Navidad!

A Mystery Hidden Within A Mystery

2009-10-05T12:20:00.000-07:00

I'll bet you have forgotten this, if you ever knew it to begin with:

In the Constitutional Hall, when the delegates were busy wrangling over the Declaration of Independence, and no one wanted to step forward and place their signature on the document, there appeared in the balcony overlooking the hall a man from out of nowhere. For twenty minutes he spoke, an oration in which he told the assembled delegates how important the declaration would be, not only for the country, but for the world at large. He urged the members to cease their arguing and to do what was right for their country and the people of the entire planet who yearned for freedom from oppressive rulers.

When he finished speaking, the delegates immediately stepped forward and began signing that sacred document. It was such an astonishing event that Benjamin Franklin, accompanied by the Sergeant of Arms, made their way up to the visitor's balcony to meet the man who had spoken so eloquently. But there was no one there!

The militia guards who were stationed at each entrance to the balcony all swore that no one had been there; no one had gone in, no one had gone out, that the balcony had remained empty for the whole time, since they had been instructed that no one be allowed up there during the deliberations.

So who had spoken? Where had he come from? Where did he go? Who was it that brought order out of chaos? Some would say it was Divine Providence … some even wondered if it had been an "Extraterrestrial"?

Any thoughts on the matter? Any at all?

Galt's Gultch South Is Looking Better All The Time

2009-09-22T08:33:00.000-07:00

I try to keep from being "political" in this Blog, so as not to offend anyone. However, being at a distance and being quite restricted in my media sources, I'm perhaps not being fed the same cookie-cutter, slanted "news" as the majority of you are. For example, the local newspapers do not refer to El Presidente Corerra, as the "Leftist President", which the US media consistently does. Wow! Talk about the pot calling the kettle …..

But what I do see and hear about the country of my birth greatly disturbs me, especially since my sources are MUCH more "fair and balanced" than your outlets usually are.

One the thing that I'm hearing is that American (North American, that is) society is becoming less civil; meaner, ruder, just plain nastier. It's almost impossible to have a reasoned, polite conversation about politics any more. And even in the usually circumspect (although artificially so) congress, a politician yelled out in the middle of a joint session and called President Obamba a liar! Guess what? Yep, a substantial part of the US population says that the guy is a hero …. sort of like the Iraqi who threw a show at Bush. What is happening seems to be a breakdown in the social order.

From what I can see, this is a direct result of the financial downturn …. or meltdown, depending on your retirement account's status these days! The nation is in decline, the Treasury is being trashed , States are going broke, cities are bankrupt. And the citizens are now looking for someone to blame. Conservatives blame Liberals, Liberals blame the Neocons, and all of them blame the Banksters and Wall Streeters.

But more importantly, the public's faith in their government, the political elite, has been terminally damaged. Polls now say that only 30 percent of citizen feel that their "leaders" are doing a good job. What is believed by almost 100% of people is that taxes are going up and jobs going down the tubes, the rich are going to get richer and the poor are going to become poorer.

So what's it all mean? AMERICAN REVOLUTION II …...?

Since that sounds pretty scary, maybe it's time to consider joining me here in Galt's Gultch South, my hidden away sanctuary. You'd be a welcome addition. Check out:

www.vilcabambahomes.com

Somewhere Over The Rainbow(s)

2009-08-22T16:20:00.000-07:00

And you thought only Hawaii had these kinds of double rainbows? These two were over what is called "The Sacred Mandango", the large outcropping to the left side on the mountain top between the two rainbows. Odd, huh?

This is the magic mountain of almost pure iron ore that keeps the airplanes from flying over the Vilcabamba Valley ... supposedly screws up their compasses. It helps to make this one of the most peaceful and off the beaten track places on earth. Mandango is also called the hanger for parked UFO's. Come, visit and see it for yourself. Margaritas served chilled after 5PM, and you bring the dip.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

2009-08-15T13:02:00.000-07:00

I'm often asked what kind of produce I grow in the "Jardin de Patricio".

Here is a photo of several different kinds of lettuce, all nestled together. I challenge anyone to find such a variety and quality in their local U.S. grocery store.

And yes, I do indeed murmur sweet nothings to them in the dark of the moon, a'la Anastasia.

When it comes time for my salad, three or four different kinds of lettuce are harvested, trimmed, washed off and given a light, home-made dressing. Yummy yummy! Good for my tummy.

And remember, this is only the "lechuga" (lettuce). Can you imagine what the rest of the garden looks like? Even better, why not put a "Jardin" in yourself. You'll love the lettuce!

On The Beach ... again.

2009-07-29T11:35:00.000-07:00

An allegorical tale:

“Once upon a time, there was a beautiful Hawaiian beach full of tourists, enjoying themselves so much that they could not ever imagine life without such a wonderful place in which to relax.

One day, an incredible thing happened. The water started to pull away from the beach out into the ocean. The beach became even more beautiful, and everyone was thankful that even more people could now enjoy the larger expanse of sand.

But, one old man had been studying what many experts had observed when the same thing happened on other beaches in years past. He tried to warn all the people that they were in danger; that the incredible thing happening was not what it appeared to be, that soon everyone could be in danger.

Everyone laughed at him, saying he was just a foolish old man and did not know what he was talking about. There had never been great danger at this beach before in their lifetimes. How could he be so negative? After all, how could he know more than all the people on the beach? Also, if they were in danger, the news media would have already warned them.

The old timer tried to tell them he had learned that throughout history there was a cause and effect pattern on every beach when this happened, and that all the people were in grave danger. But, the people insisted that this beach was different. This beach was special. This beach was only for having fun and not worrying about anything else. After all, this beach was full of people with such incredible talents, that they would most certainly be able to find a way to stop any danger of the ocean, should such exist. And in any case, wouldn't the government be there to save them, should anything really be amiss.

The old man eventually walked away with a heavy heart, having been able to convince only a handful of people that they were in danger. He hurried to the local airport, boarded an airplane that would take him far away, safe from the danger unfolding back on the beautiful Hawaiian beach where he had long made his home.

Just as he climbed his way to safety, he turned to look out the airplane's window and see the ocean let loose the full fury of its tsunami, swallowing all the people who would not listen to him. If only they had listened, he cried .

But alas ........

What about you? Are you wiling to listen to the old man? The same tsunami is threatening you and your loved ones even now Come to safety, before it is too late. Please!

And, friends, if you would like to learn more about exactly how to get to safety, click HERE .

That link will take you to my colleague David MacGregor's FREE report titled The Great Escape. Believe me, you'll be glad you did.

The Reading Of Joe Bageant's Screeds

2009-07-11T11:24:00.000-07:00

OK, I'm about to get myself in a heap of trouble here. I am going to recommend that you leave this Blog of mine long enough to check out a guy who word-paints the reality of Notre Americano working class folks in essay form. It's Joe Bageant I'm talking about. You'll find him here:

http://www.joebageant.com ...... just click on the link.

And don't be put off by his populist monologues, he's worth the read just to become aware of what the other 250,000,000 of your fellow citizens are thinking about these days. So hide the women and children, pull down the shades and get REALLY risque in your reading habits. Check out Joe. Just don't blame me when you start nodding your head in agreement with Joe's dangerous outlook on life in the good ole' US of A.

A Different View Of Living One's Life

2009-07-07T08:52:00.000-07:00

One of my neighbors, a wealthy retired gringo from the US, was talking to Jorge, his gardener. He asked Jorge what he did with his day, when not working for him.

The gardener said … "Well, I get up in the morning, take my boat out into the ocean and catch some fish for my breakfast. Then I go home and take a siesta. When I wake up I come and work for you. At the end of the day, I go into the village and play some music and drink beer with my friends. Finally, I go home and make love to my wife and take my sleep."

So my neighbor said: " Wait a minute, Jorge. If you give up your nap and spend that time in your boat, you can catch even more fish. Then if you get another boat you can catch twice the haul. And with the extra income that means you can get another couple of boats, and before long you will have a whole fleet. Then you can go to the US and incorporate. If you then do an IPO, you'll have enough money to retire and come back and live here a wealthy man, like me. So how would you then live out your retirement?"

The gardener thought for a moment and replied: "Well, , I would wake up and take my boat out into the ocean to fish, then take my siesta. Afterwards, since I no longer need to work for you, I would go into the village earlier and make music, drink some beer, then go home and make love to my wife and then take my sleep."

The neighbor said: "Wait a minute, Jorge, that's what you do now!"

Jorge smiled and replied: ""Si, senor. So why do I need more fish?"

Honduras Coup ...right next door?

2009-07-03T13:38:00.000-07:00

A few of my readers have asked if I was OK, "what with the Honduras coup taking place right next door". First, a little history lesson. Honduras is a Central American country, not South American. And the governmental structure of that very poor country is vastly different than in peaceful Ecuador. Here, the people bang pots to show their displeasure with the government, not shoot guns or set off bombs!

Another big difference is the part played, historically, by the military establishment in Honduras AND the symbiotic relationship between the military hierarchy and the United States military, which has trained most of their senior officer corps and equipped the army - supposedly as a needed bulwark against the "communist" Sandinista-led country of Nicaragua right next door. Remember the Iran-Contra scandal of the Reagan administration?

Anyway, what's currently being reported in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times is simply NOT a correct analysis of the situation. Rather than me trying to explain it, let me suggest that you go directly to original.antiwar.com/justin/2009/06/ and read the political/historical ruminations of one Justin Raimondo who will wrap this up for you in a hurry. Justin is always, despite his "antiwar" connections (or perhaps because of it) an excellent and articulate reporter of facts.

So, I'm fine, the poor beleaguered people of Honduras are not!

So-ooo, what's up there besides stars?

2009-06-22T07:54:00.000-07:00

This, my dear friends and readers, is the night sky over Vilcabamba. Do you notice anything strange? How about the utter clarity of the atmosphere, the lack of smog or air pollutants, the brightness of the mega-gazillion stars blinking their collective light down upon us?

There are said to be UFOs flitting around in those skies, but I have not seen any. It's not that I don't believe they exist …. after all, I was actually living in Roswell New Mexico that fateful day in July of 1947, when the crashed UFO and recovery of its alien crew was first announced and then denied the very next morning, which retraction by the military none of us believed!

I happened to be attending the New Mexico Military Institute as a cadet, and since my parents were off dilly-dallying in Europe, I was stuck in summer school. So you had 750 fairly bright junior college-aged guys hearing first-hand from some of the folks who had been to the scene of the crash, then reading the retraction and all of us saying … "Oh sure. A weather balloon? And the little aliens they recovered were really over-sized gophers?"

A lot of those cadets who entered the military after graduation were members of the US Air Force and reportedly saw UFOs on their own, only to be told by their superior officers that they hadn't really seen what they saw. Well, these guys, and I, remembered that day in Roswell when the military also said that what had been seen had not occurred.

So, I will admit that on these crystal-clear nights my eyes stray upward to search the skies, hoping that I, too, will become one of the "kooks" who think they saw little green men whizzing around in their space ships. Hmm-mm. Now that I think of it, there's a doormat outside the entrance to the famed Madre Tierra Hotel here in Vilcabamba that boldly proclaims "Welcome, UFO Crews!"

"They" say it's the magical water in the Andes Mountains high above Vilcabamba that these alien spaceships like to use for power. Hey, why not. The Japanese are now producing the first water-power automobile, so why not a water-propulsion spaceship? Stay tuned!

Memories Are Made Of This ....

2009-05-02T13:53:00.000-07:00

Ah-hhh, yet another end of an era. The announcment that GM would discontinue their Pontiac line brought a tear to my eye. My father and mother's first automobile, purchased two months after my birth, was a 1929 Pontiac Roadster. It had a marvelous rumble seat, which I can actually remember riding in at around the age of five, just before he sold it. Yellow in color and bright with chrome … what a car!

One just like it recently fetched $115,000 on the auction block. GM couldn't even give away A 2009 Pontiac today, there's such a glut of unsold this year's models stashed in vacant lots all over the country. Just thought it would be of interest to you automobile buffs and history freaks …. and a nice memory hit for me.

Deja Vu All Over Again.

2009-04-28T06:57:00.000-07:00

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned and highly recommended Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged to you. Well, here's an update.

CNN just reported that the 2009 sales of Atlas Shrugged, Rand's most famous novel, have already topped sales for the entire 2008 year. I can only wonder if perhaps people all over the world watching this unseemly dance between the Wall Streeters, the political sleezeballs and the increasingly fed up public aren't scrambling to see what eventually becomes of the socialist/fascist scoundrels and libertarian heros in Rand's classic.

If you haven't yet read Atlas Shrugged - you should. Rand does a masterful job of painting a vivid picture of why the RIGHT kind of capitalism works, why regulation weights it down, and what happens when the regulators begin to outweigh the productive folks. And in today's environment, where you can't turn on the news without seeing some political schmuck who could pass for one of Rand's antiheroes, this type of perspective is invaluable. Hey, forewarned is forearmed.

Let's see now .... who is John Gault?

The Great Watering Down

2009-04-21T14:13:00.000-07:00

On a planet where weird weather has become the norm, there hasn't been much reporting about Ecuador's recent unseasonably heavy rains …. which were reportedly the worst in the past 30 or 40 years. Some Ecuadorians say the worst in 100 years.

Here in Vilcabamba, it might rain about seven days a month during what's called the "rainy season", and that usually at night. However, during the season just past, we had torrential rains that often fell day after day and night after night, sometimes dumping as much as 5 to 10 inches of water on already heavily saturated ground.

The result was huge landslides, especially on the road between Loja and Vilcabamba. That road is the one and only means of accessing the large provincial city of Loja, where we do our major shopping. But Ecuadorians are innovative, and got around the mudslide issue by stationing taxis on either side of the mudslide to carry passengers who walked across the blocked areas, and were then "ferried" on by the other taxi.

The famed waters of Vilcabamba's rivers were at flood stage much of the time, taking out bridges and washing out roads. Here at the Hacienda, we almost lost a portion of the road, as the retaining earth embankment went tumbling down into the river below. Quick response and hard work by the Hacienda staff kept damage at a minimum.

The skies appear to be clear now, and we are experiencing unusually windy weather. The windy season doesn't usually begin until August, but no one around here is griping. At least we are getting dried out. My garden is no worse for the wear, and the extra "watering" seems to have done the plants no harm.

So our unusual local catastrophic weather went unnoticed by the rest of the world. However, I for one could do without a repeat next year.

My Visa Has Been Granted!

2009-04-19T04:34:00.000-07:00

While my visa application (my third) was wandering slowly through the bureaucratic maze, our newly re-elected president ended up firing all of the cabinet ministers just prior to the election, then reappointing another slate that he felt would be more popular to the voters. Once having won the election he then promptly fired the old (new) bunch and appointed yet another group of ministers .... these, obviously, his cronies and those he needed to pay off politically. So just the usual vanilla brand of South American banana boat republic goings-on. However, each time a new minister is appointed, he or she tosses out the predecessor's regulations and substitutes their own. And that means the way in which the old application and required documentation was done is no longer acceptable by the new guy (or gal). Small wonder that it's been nine (9) months and counting .... but. finally, I received good news!.

My Ecuadorian attorney has just called to inform me that my application for a permanent residency visa has been approved. FINALLY!

Just in time, too. In another week and a half, my current twice-extended tourist visa will expire, and I would have had to leave the country for six months .... bag and baggage. Then start all over again.

I'll have no comment about the costs involved or the HUGE amount of bureaucratic red tape that had to be cut through. The long process is finally at an end. I can continue living here in this beautiful Andean Mountain valley, enjoying a life of tranquility and healthiness .... for the years remaining to me.

Just thought everyone would like to know. Had you been here, you could have shared a glass of "bubbly" with me on the great occasion.

Oh, and if you are wondering how I'm spending "those remaining years", then let me direct you to a web site that I have been developing. It is a health-oriented site, which you might find of interest. Just go to:

www.valleyoflongevity.com

You will probably be VERY glad you did, if you are at all interested in improving your health.

How This Financial Deflation Effects You!

2009-04-19T04:24:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are still feeding your 401K "savings" accounts and "investing" in mutual funds, you are probably doing so because you feel there's no alternative. If not your 401k or money market funds, what?

Well, let's look at that for a moment. What if you had NOT invested in stocks for the past whole decade, from 1999 to 2009? In other words, just stayed out of the stock market. Interestingly, if you had just held on to the cash, earning no interest at all, you would be 26% better off. Had you put those 401K yearly infusions into gold, your holdings would have appreciated from US$285.00 to US$923.00. That's an increase of 220 percent! Here is the scorecard, as presented this week by "The Privateer", the much heralded financial newsletter.

They used $1000.00 as a constant:

* In Stocks: $10,000 on March 30, 1999 becomes $7400 on March 31, 2009
* In cash: $10,000 on March 30, 1999 remains $10,000 on March 31, 2009
* In gold: $10,000 on March 31, 1999 becomes $32,060 on March 31, 2009

Most of you who are dutifully keeping up with your contributions to a mutual fund or a 401K, which STILL allocates 80-90 percent to the stock market, will simply not believe these figures. It seems that most of my friends and familiars remain in denial.

Fortunately for me, during this past decade I was too old to continue contributing to a 401K. And thanks to "The Privateer's" early warnings, I got out of my mutual fund. I stayed in cash and bought a little gold. Take a peek above and tell me if I made the right decision.

So, if this is what happened in the past ten years, during a mostly booming market, what do think will happen to your 401K's and mutual fund accounts during this financial disaster we are currently facing …. and which is only going to get worse! Go on, look up at that scorecard again.

Shades Of The Past

2009-03-22T17:52:00.000-07:00

In late 1957, just as I was moving from the place of my birth in the Mid-West to seek my fortune (or whatever life would have in store for me), a book titled "Atlas Shrugged" was published. Written by a Russian émigré, Ayn Rand, that novel was a seminal influence on my personal philosophy of life, and it still is.

I was not alone. According to an oft-quoted 1994 US Library of Congress poll, more people were influenced by "Atlas Shrugged" than any other book apart from the Bible. And even today, it sits at number 1 on Amazon.com's fiction list. On January 13th of this year, the book's ranking was at 33 overall, briefly besting President Barack Obama's popular tome "The Audacity of Hope". This, mind you, for a philosophical work in excess of 1200 pages!

With a grim prescience, Rand's novel eerily foretold of the statism-induced financial crises that is unfolding in the US economy today. Life, it seems, is imitating art. The book's chilling similarity to what is happening in Washington, DC, and on Wall Street today is making its sales leap once again.

The title "Atlas Shrugged" is, of course, an allusion to the mythical hero who carried the world on his shoulders. It portrays real-life Atlases— inventors, thinkers, scientists, entrepreneurs, laborers, artists, —shrugging off their burdens and going on strike.

Their "burdens" were the looters, moochers, office-holders and those consumers who expect their "needs" to be met through the efforts of the entrepreneurial producers, the Atlases. The statists and those who had their hands out are left to their own devices as one by one the strikers flee to a safe haven, a hidden libertarian valley called "Galt's Gulch," where they await the inevitable collapse of the collectivist cannibalism they have left behind. Small wonder Atlas is resonating so loudly in the era of Bailout Bolshevism at the hands of rapacious elected officials and the Wall Street cronies who own them!

If you have not yet read it, I urge you to do so. And if you did read it many years ago, as I did, then read it again. Then you, too, might feel compelled to join me here in Vilcabamba … my own "Gult's Gultch".

"Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state wants to live at the expense of everyone else."- Frederic Bastiat

Ecuadorian Visa Blues

2009-02-28T19:14:00.000-08:00

Unlike "some" countries I know, about the only time a gringo becomes involved with Ecuador's local government is when applying for a visa. But unlike other unmentionable countries (ahem) the folks one has to do government business with here in Ecuador are generally pleasant and reasonably efficient.

However, even the Ecuadorian bureaucrats are every bit as endeared to red tape as any other governmental employee. And therein lies my tale of woe. Let me explain, and provide some caution.

After several visits to Ecuador and making the right inquiries, I pretty much knew what documents would be required for a residential visa application. I had obtained my police report that stated I was a "solid citizen", my health report stating that I didn't have any communicable diseases and a Social Security Income Statement that proved I had sufficient funds (at least $1,500) coming in each month to sustain me ... even if the current financial disaster on Wall Street wiped out any other assets that I might have had.

I then presented this documentation (translated into Spanish in triplicate with each being duly notarized and stamped) to an attorney who was said to be an "expert" on immigration matters. That was in June, 2008. I returned to Ecuador in September, fully expecting to have had all my application papers approved and been awarded a Retiree Resident Visa.

But in the three months that I'd been away, the rules and regulations had changed, as had the Minister of Immigration. It was the first time that I heard the dreaded phrase …. "Senor, your papers are not in the proper order!" My application had been refused.

Now, a preliminary visa application had to be filed BEFORE the actual residential visa request could be made. And because I was a "retiree", I now had to find an Ecuadorian citizen who would take responsibility for me if I (or the US) went broke or I got sick. Hm-mmm, would YOU want to assume that kind of responsibility for someone who was not even a relative? Didn't think so. Miraculously, I found someone, but that's another story.

So more forms were prepared, in triplicate and duly notarized. When I checked with the attorney to see how things were progressing, I then discovered that he had not even filed the second set of papers. Why? He had decided that he wanted more money from me, but couldn't find my email or telephone number to tell me so. Oh, almost forgot; that attorney couldn't speak a word of English, nor could I as yet speak much Spanish. Guaranteed miscommunication. I fired that attorney and hired another, this one able to read, write and speak English. BIG difference.

The new lawyer spent three weeks trying to get the application papers away from the first attorney …. who was demanding more money to release them to me. A very big, very insistent Ecuadorian friend "persuaded" that attorney that the right thing to do would be to give back the papers. He did.

(Joke: What do you call a million lawyers at the bottom of the ocean? A good start!)

Then, finally, the papers were filed. However, my visa application was refused. "Sorry, Senor, your papers are not properly in order."

It was now January, 2009, and of course by that time all of the dates of the original documents had expired! This meant that I would have to fly back to Hawaii for a new police report and health certificate, over to San Francisco, California to obtain a new Social Security Statement, have it certified by the Ecaudorian Consulate in Los Angeles, then fly back to Quito to submit it to the immigration people. And there wasn't enough time …. my 90 day extension on my tourist visa as due to expire in only four days! Time for Plan B.

So my new attorney and I made a fifteen hour dash from Ecuador into Peru, where we had to talk the Consulate there into giving me yet another visa extension. It so happens that the very day before our arrival the regulations had once again been changed. So instead of being able to secure a six-month visa, it was only for ninety days. But at least I was able to reenter Ecuador with newly stamped papers. The clock was again ticking.

It was now time for Plan C. My only chance now was to qualify as an "Investor", which meant depositing a big wad of money ($25,000 minimum in case you're wondering) into a local Ecuadorian bank for the entire time I was living in the country (NOT a very good idea in this shaky global financial era) …. or, purchasing property.

So, dear reader, I'm about to "invest" in Ecuador. There's a small, beautiful, view lot for sale just behind where I'm presently living at the Hacienda San Joaquin. That just might be a far better place to put my US dollars into, as they quickly depreciate in value, than a bank. I begin the "bargaining" process tomorrow. Will keep everyone informed whether or not this works. There is NO Plan D.

Beware changing regulations and pleasant yet firm bureaucrats. Or you, too, will hear the dreaded words …. "Sorry, Senor, your papers are not in order!"

Stay tuned!

We Are In The Rainy Season Now

2009-01-26T13:30:00.000-08:00

Here We Go .... Again!

2008-12-27T09:12:00.000-08:00

I was born into this world at the beginning of the Great Depression of 1929. As a child I grew up knowing only one President, Franklin D. Roosevelt. And now in 2009, some 80 years later, I am again facing what many are saying will be "The Greatest Depression", and I have lived through twelve Presidents with the thirteenth about to take office. Everything has changed, and yet nothing has changed!

By the time that first market crash had bottomed out in 1932, stocks had lost nearly 90% of their value. However, by a combination of good judgment and good luck, my family had exited the market just two months before my birth … their "wealth" intact. The writing was "on the wall" for anyone to see …. few bothered to even look.

Now, fast-forward eighty years to yet another bubble and another depression. Armed as I was with a clear memory of the terrible economic toll taken by the Great Depression, the financial storm clouds I saw gathering on the horizon back in 2004 were sufficient warning for me to follow in the footsteps of my parents, It was time to "get out of Dodge!" And so here I am, in Ecuador - safe and sound.

This time the "writing on the wall" was instead the analysis of a few financial newsletter writers on the Internet. The predictions were, however, exactly the same …. the bubbles were bursting, the stock market was about to crash. I did as my family before me had done, cashed-out and found myself a safe haven to ride out the financial storm .... or at least I found a place where I could have fun dancing in the rain.

Now, according to my friends back in the US, everyone is stressed to the max and worried about what the future holds for them. Not me!

It's not because I don't care or that I'm not concerned about my friends and former neighbors who are indeed suffering. It is because I'm totally immersed in a new culture and lifestyle, one not dominated by CNN, financial markets or terrorism. Folks around here watch TV, when they even have one, for sports and soap operas, not for the latest Dow report or the ubiquitous Homeland Security alerts. I myself do not even have a television set or take a daily newspaper. Instead, I get a cross-section of opinion on the Internet and enjoy important, thought-provoking books on my Kindle Reader.

From my vantage point here in Ecuador, I'm simply an interested spectator. I'm no longer directly involved in the political, social or financial pressures and tensions. Here in the peace and tranquility of Hacienda San Joaquin, I'm part of a society that truly takes things easy. It's sometimes called the "mañana" syndrome. The one phrase I keep hearing from my local neighbors is "no problemas". Just think about that for a second: No problems!

Please don't get me wrong …. I am NOT a bystander when it comes to life itself, only life's anxieties. In fact, in my retirement I now have the time (and means) to enjoy a rich, active lifestyle to the fullest --- like lingering over morning coffee, long walks along the river bordering my house, traveling throughout South America and writing for my enjoyment.

And here's something important: It's not too late for you to "get out of Dodge", too; especially if you are not encumbered with family, not up to your ears in debt and able to retire comfortably on not all that much. I find that with only my Social Security (without needing to dip into savings) I can live here like a King. There is no doubt at all that it's all going to get a LOT worse before it gets any better. Don't dilly-dally, hoping things might get better. It's important for you and your loved ones to face reality and make the proper life choices right now. As the famous Nike ad says: JUST DO IT!

I Had To Eat My Words

2008-11-30T08:36:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we have to "eat our words", and even find them to be quite appetizing. By that I mean that we say something that we later find not to be as true as we had first thought. A case in point is the place where I am presently living here in Ecuador.

I remember saying in a previous post that I had visited an exclusive, high-end gated community called Hacienda San Joaquin, which --- while I thought it was quite beautifully developed and had all of the emenities one could ask for --- was simply not someplace that I would EVER chose to live in. I based that opinion on the fact that it was mostly a "wealthy gringo-filled" development set apart from the local community. And, of course, I felt that this was not my cupp'a tea.

However, so that you can better understand what I meant by "high-end", let me share with you some of the descriptive prose in the Hacienda's internet advertisement:

Hacienda San Joaquin

The private entrance to Hacienda San Joaquin is located about two miles from the village of Vilcabamba, where the road ends in the small and friendly community of Chaupi. Gated and deed-restricted, the Hacienda is at the end of the road and has no thru-traffic.

The ranch is bordered and protected on three sides by the Andes Mountains and on the fourth by the Vilcabamba River. The elevation of the property rises from the valley floor at 4,839 feet to the mountain top at 6,512 feet. Most home sites are at around 5,000 feet.

Every measure has been taken to retain the serenity and peacefulness that is the essence of Hacienda San Joaquin. The riverfront and hillside homes are located on less than half of the 700 acre property. The majority of the ranch remains as a private reserve for the exclusive use of the residents and their guests. All infrastructure is in place, all roads are well-lit and asphalt paved.

The River Park and the Equestrian and Hiking Center are also available to the residents and guests. At the heart of the property is the world-class Equestrian center. It features a separate covered entrance-way for both vehicles and pedestrians. There are two stables (forty stalls), an organic ranch store and an outdoor cafe with wonderful views of the Andes Mountains.

The home sites are lush with vegetation, birds , butterflies and honey bees. The residents of the Hacienda will be able to keep horses at home or board them in the stables. They will also be able to farm organically in the fertile soil. Thanks to the very favorable climate, residents are able to grow just about anything, including papaya, mango, guava, avocado, cherimoya, bananas, coffee, oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, lemons, limes, berries and all kinds of vegetables and flowers.

-------------------------------(snip) ------------------------

So-oooo, how in the world could I say that this place was simply "not my cupp'a tea"? Why wouldn't anyone not love to live in this idylic spot?

My initial fantasy was that, like when I lived in Hawaii, I would become a part of the local indigenous community; learn their language, understand their ways, become part of their culture. The problem with this was that THEIR ways were not quite as easy to accommodate as I had thought they would be. To be perfectly frank, theirs was a VERY poor lifestyle, while my own .... even as simple as I was trying to live it ... was light years distant from the way they lived. The fact is, I was considered a "rich gringo", who didn't speak their language, living at an exclusive Hotel/Spa, and NOT at all an integral part of the local community.

Then, out of the blue, I discovered that there was a beautiful house for rent at the Hacienda San Joaquin property .... the very place where I was certain that I didn't want to live!

Let me pause for a moment here and set the stage a little better. I had been living for the past two months at a magical little hotel and spa, the Madre Tierra Hosteria. What with the daily room rate, my three meals a day, laundry, internet connection and the like, I was spending about $1,100 a month. Not bad at all, when compared with what a similar situation would cost back in Hawaii. But then came the house at the Hacienda ... and what a change!

The monthly rent for my house at San Joaquin was $350 (including a new washer/dryer, which meant no more laundry charges), utilities (gas, water, electric) $50.00 and internet $35.00. My total food purchases for the month ran $125/00. So now we're up to a whole $560.00 ... against $1,100 at the hotel.

With THAT kind of savings, I hired a full-time, six-day-a-week cook and housekeeper for $200 a month. Total for everything in my new home at the Hacienda, $760 or so. And that, my friends, is far less than I was paying for just my rent and utilities in Hawaii. Fact is, my last electric bill in Hana was for $385 for one month's electricity! Now you are beginning to see why I moved to ecuador for my "retirement" years.

So here I am, living in one of the most beautiful and exclusive developments in all of Ecuador, with a whole house to myself (instead of a hotel room) a wonderful local lady to cook my meals and keep me and my house tidy, organically grown food delivered to my door almost daily, high-speed internet to keep me somewhat connected to the outside world, peaceful and quiet surroundings, etc. etc., ALL for almost half of what i was paying for my Madre Tierra accommodations .... and less than a THIRD of what it was costing me to live in Hana.

The view from my front door ... big lawn, white picket fence, the works
And my neighbors are not just a bunch of "wealthy, stuck-up gringos" after all. They are folks from the US, Europe, Asia AND Ecuador of all ages who have turned out to be VERY like-minded (intellectually, spiritually and even politically!) Perhaps when I finally learn the language (which my cook/housekeeper, Marcia, is helping me with) I might be tempted to move back to Vilcabamba village ---- but I somehow doubt it.

To learn more about the magical Valley of Longevity and Vilcabamba, CLICK HERE

An Excellent Video of Ecuador

2008-10-09T10:31:00.000-07:00

How To Fly The Friendly Skies

2008-10-03T16:19:00.000-07:00

Everything was finally packed away in my shipping crate, except for the two suitcases and a backpack with my computer that I intended to carry-on. And now, finally, I was ready for the twenty-two hour flight(s) from Maui back to Ecuador.

OK, here's where I share the "Ultimate Travel Secret" with you. And there is only one prop needed ….. a cane. So here's how it goes.

Just before embarking on a previous flight to South America, I had stumbled down a flight of stairs (well, only two steps to be exact) and severely bruised my heel. I'd been given a cane by the local health clinic to ease the pain of walking and was using it as I approached the airline ticket counter to check in. As the agent was peering down into her computer monitor, trying to find my reservation, she suddenly glanced down at my cane, then up at me.

"Would you like assistance", she asked. Now I remembered that every time I flew, an announcement would be made just prior to boarding …. "We are now boarding our First Class passengers and those needing assistance.". So I said yes, thank you, I'll have some of that. I hate to wait in line.

The next thing I knew an elderly man, even older than me, came shuffling up to me with a wheelchair. "Hey", I said, "I don't need a wheelchair, just a little assistance." With a weary sigh, the old fellow told me to just sit down and enjoy the ride ….. especially through TSA Security, he added with a twinkle in his eye.

So off we went to the security checkpoint, where what looked like thousands of harried travelers stood waiting to be checked through. However, just as we reached that line, the airline porter made a sharp right turn, ducked under a security rope, and wheeled me into a special area to be checked and scanned in what seemed to be less than ten seconds. There was no one else there at that check-point, just little old me in my wheelie and two TSA people, one on the X-ray machine, the other to make the required security search.

I offered to get out of the wheelchair to be patted down, but the TSA guy said no, he could "wand" me right where I sat. The fact that I might be sitting on a bomb didn't seem to occur to him. And for once, the X-ray person did not even pause upon seeing my sleep apnea respirator (which does look like a VERY suspicious thing to be carefully checked. I was simply hurried through.

At first, I couldn't figure out why the TSA people didn't want to give me the usual pat-down, etc. Then it dawned on me: no one likes to touch sick people. And if I was in a wheelchair, I must be "ill". Hm-mmmm!

Next thing I knew we were at the gate, checked in, and taken directly to the door of the aircraft where I got out of the wheelchair and "limped" aboard …. even before the First Class folks. They had even given me the front bulkhead seat with plenty of extra legroom, the one usually reserved for the lame, the halt and "those needing assistance".

OK, to make a longer story shorter let me simply say that at each terminal I was met at the aircraft door with someone with yet another wheelchair and shuffled off to the next gate for boarding. Now here is where it get really good. When I finally landed at the Quito airport and was wheeled to the baggage area where I was met by my hotel driver …. a miracle occurred!

I got out of the chair, stood up, folded up my cane, took a tentative step forward and then walked quite briskly over to fetch my luggage. I was seemingly miraculously healed! Hallelujah , hallelujah.

The poor Ecuadorian porter who had pushed me through what seemed like miles and miles of corridors could not believe his eyes. He crossed himself and muttered a couple of "por Dios", then pushed the empty wheelchair off to be used by someone else who really needed his services.

To be perfectly honest, EVERYTIME I fly, that's what I ask for, a little bit of assistance. And if you want to avoid the indignities of TSA body pat-downs and the miles of airport corridor traipses, then I would suggest that you do likewise. Metal, fold-up canes are cheap!

Comments

2008-09-06T17:19:00.000-07:00

Several readers have left comments on this weblog recently, mostly asking for additional information. However, none have left their email addresses. If you'd like a reply (whenever I can get to it), you'll need to include an email address with your comments. This will NOT get published, nor will your comments.

Previous Trip from Maui to Vilcabamba in May, 08

2008-05-03T06:19:00.000-07:00

Travelgram ... From Hana, Maui to Vilcabamba, Ecuador:

Interesting trip from there to here. It started off quite well, considering that I was lucky in drawing a seat-mate who was an ultra high-tech "Road Warrior". This guy had a bag of tricks that looked like a mini-version of Radio Shack ... stuff I'd never even heard of, let alone actually seen in action. And THAT'S saying something!

For starters, he had built his own laptop. A 17" screen that was sharper and brighter than even my own Mac Powerbook Pro. Whisper quiet, too. Seems that he'd switched out the standard noisy cooler fan for his own custom version of an electronic refrigerator. He grumbled that it added a few extra ounces of weight, but also allowed him to use his computer at near sub-zero speed and operational quietness.

As soon as we were aloft, and the seatbelt sign was extinguished by our unseen flight Captain, he cranked up his wonder machine, slipped in a disk, and began playing one of three episodes of the "Jason Bourne Conspiracy". He invited me to plug in my headphones, tipped the laptop around so that I could get a better look, and we were instantly off to electronic fantasy land.

Three disks (six hours) later we were approaching Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Whoosh! The time had certainly flown, as had we.

The journey on to Miami, some three hours later, proved to be a different experience. I had the window seat next to a woman who made me look skinny, a woman whose girth was so great that she had to pay for the seat next to her and lift the armrest to allow all of her to squeeze into the two seats. I won't elaborate further, except to say that I have never heard so many weird noises coming from one human being in my whole life. It was an idiot symphony of sound; an odd combination of grunts, wheezes, gurgles and gasps accompanied of sighs, farts and moans .... couldn't figure out if the latter was from pleasure or pain.

Needless to say, I willed myself to sleep as quickly as I could under the circumstances, that being the outlandish noise at my right elbow. I was comforted by the thought that my sleep-apnea induced snoring would add a little basso profundo to the melodious sound coming from the poor woman.

Oh, did I mention that the noise suppressor earphones that I purchased from the now defunct Sharper Image worked like a charm .... or nearly so, in the case of the cacophony of sounds that the makers of the earphones would have never imagined in their wildest engineering dreams would be necessary to try to suppress. I slept fitfully until we landed in Miami, dreaming of whales wallowing off-shore in Lahaina Town, Maui.

At the end of that mini-adventure, I was rewarded by the spectacle of this mammoth bulk of a woman trying to waddle her way down the too-narrow isle. And THAT sight assured me that I would start my own dieting plan that very day ... or maybe the next.

The flight from Miami to Quito Ecuador also proved to be challenging. The time for scheduled departure had long since come and gone, with us still sitting there on the tarmac at the loading gate unmoving. After some twenty minutes, the Captain's voice advised the passengers that one of the jet engines would not start, but that American's maintenance crew was working on the problem. Another twenty minutes, still working on "the problem". Finally, an hour and fifteen minutes later, the Captain indicated that the mechanics had fixed the engine (or at least so they thought) and we could take off. But then the mechanics found something else wrong, and we sat there for another half hour before lumbering down the runway and taking off into the rain-blustered skies of Florida.

Hm-mmmm! Now despite my very best efforts to remain in a positive frame of mind, all I could think of was the engine sputtering off somewhere over Cuba and us having to make an emergency landing in that "evil communist country of El Presidente Fidel Castro", where we would be taken prisoner by the CIA at Guantamano Bay Military Base and never heard from again. OK, so maybe that's a little more fanciful than need be, but I was indeed more than a bit apprehensive about the malfunctioning jet engine. We made it, with me staring out the cabin window at the engine for most of the trip, giving it my most positive energy. OK, laugh if you will. But we got there alright, so doesn't that prove the power of positive thinking?

Now, a quick word about the difference between our country's TSA Gestapo along with our gun-totting black-uniformed US Customs folks and the Ecuadorian version of same. We arrived in Quito, Ecuador at about 9:00PM, what with "the problem" and all. A short walk led us to the hall where Ecuadorian customs people (mostly beautiful young women with bright Colgate toothpaste smiles) greeted us. A quick peek at the passport, a visa stamp, and a "welcome to our country, Senor". That was it. Then we trudged off to claim our luggage, and one last security screening.

The x-ray image of my sleep apnea machine set off some bells and whistles, and I was escorted over to a table while a plain-clothed young customs guy apologized for having to peek into my suitcase. Can you imagine?

As soon as I told him what it was, and after a quick look, he gently put back the clothing, smiled his thanks, and waved me through.

Was it a case of the Ecuadorians not being properly security conscious? No, the Uzi-totting uniformed Policia watchfully surveying the crowd made their security efforts abundantly clear. It was an attitude of "welcome to our country, it is nice to have you visit us" that made the difference between our TSA and the Ecuadorian version thereof.

At least this trip, US Customs didn't demand to know how much currency I was carrying out of the country. Guess that I didn't look as prosperous this time. Or, since our US dollar is worth so little these days, maybe no one really cared.

OK, just so you don't think that I've been hoodwinked by the charming Ecuadorians, let me now tell you about the screw-up with my ticket reservations from Quito to Loja in the Southern part of the Andes. To make a VERY long story a bit shorter, they lost my reservations. Twice! The first and only flight was completely sold out and I couldn't even make it as a standby. So back to the hotel where I'd spent the night upon arrival in the capital city of Quito. And the next morning I woke up at 3:00AM to make certain that I'd be first in line. The flight departed at 5:30AM and I was supposed to be there two hours early for ticketing, processing, etc.

My taxi dropped me off at the airport at 3:30, only to discover that the terminal didn't even open until 4:00AM. At the appointed time I huffed and puffed my way over to the ticket counter with my two huge bags of luggage in tow, greeted the lovely young ticket lady with my best "Buenos Dias, Senorita" and discovered that once again the computer indicated that I had no reservation. None, nada, zilch! Later, I was to learn that I had indeed had a confirmed reservation, both times, but their antiquated computer system couldn't find me. Something to do with "gringo" names in a Spanish computer. Uh huh!

Anyway, at the totally stricken look on my face, she quickly assured me that this particular flight wasn't filled, that I would have "no problembo" in getting a seat. An hour later we landed in a high Andean valley a couple of miles away from Loja, Southern Ecuador's third largest city, safe and sound.

So-ooooo, what'a ya think? End of my woes? Not on your life. After my luggage finally came around the bend of the conveyor belt, two young pre-teens grabbed my over-stuffed bags and headed for the door. Fortunately, I remembered that this was not a would-be theft attempt, but the Ecuadorian way of providing "rich-looking" Americano gringos with baggage service. It's called entrepreneurship, Latin American style. With them two of them pulling my weighty bags, we made it out of the Loja terminal and into the taxi area.

Immediately, three different taxi drivers began shoving each other out of the way as they smiled and promised me a safe and secure ride to my destination. One sprightly older man elbowed his competition out of the way and grabbed my bags from the two boys, who stood there with hopeful grins, awaiting their reward for service rendered. A buck each did the trick, and it was worth every penny. Those bags weighed a ton!

Once inside the cab and starting away from the terminal, the driver said that the fare to Vilcabamba, some 42 kilometers (26 miles) away, would be $40. I replied that I never paid more than $25 before, and he replied in VERY broken English that "la inflationado" had raised the price. Likely story! We eventually settled for $30. A half-hour later, after a thrilling high-speed, traffic-weaving, heart-wrenching ride we arrived at the Hotel Madre Tierra in Vilcabamba, the "Sacred Valley of the Ancients". I was finally at my long awaited destination.

Hasta la vista!

What and Where Is "Shangri La"

2008-03-13T15:34:00.000-07:00

It must be a generational thing, but I'm somewhat flabbergasted that a good number of the readers of this blog are unclear about what the term "Shangri-La" means. The idea of an idyllic place referred to as "Shangri-La" has always been part of my cultural/literary experience since childhood, so I'm really quite surprised when I discover others don't share this deeply imprinted memory.

What exactly is "Shangri-La"? Well, for starters Shangri-La is a fictional construct described in the 1933 novel "Lost Horizon" by British author James Hilton. In the book, Shangri-La was a hidden-away secret valley deep in the forbidding reaches of the Himalaya Mountains. This unrecorded valley was supposedly located in the highest reaches of the Kunlun Mountain range. The Kunluns form a massive rampart blocking access to the icy barren expanses of the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China. It is virtually unexplored by anyone other than the hardy mountain folks who live there. The perfect setting for a fictional utopia.

A quick pause here. Remember that in 1933, when Hilton's book was written, the United States was still in the middle of the Great Depression, and people everywhere were yearning for a better life, a Utopian existence far from the harsh realities of everyday life during this terrible economic depression .... even if it was fictional! Thus the book's, and later the movie's, "block-buster" status back then.

In 1937, when I was only eight years old, the film titled "Lost Horizons" came to the screen featuring an English actor no one remembers, Ronald Coleman. It was a film in black and white, and the acting was really quite stilted, but it nevertheless captured the attention of my generation as nothing else had ever done. An equally unknown actor in this day and age was Sam Jaffe, who played the part of the 250 year-old Abbot of the "monastery" in Shangri La so perfectly that I can actually see him in my mind's-eye even now. It was this actor's job to impart the spiritual aspect to the film, and his part "stole the show" as they say.

The movie version (which I saw several times at .25 cents a ticket) tells the story of a group of airplane passengers whose airplane is hijacked. The plane eventually crashes deep in the Himalayas, leaving the surviving passengers stranded in a blizzard. The group is miraculously rescued and taken to a secret valley that was mysteriously sheltered from the cold (and from civilization). This place was called Shangri-La.

A popularly believed inspiration for Shangri-La is the Hunza Valley in northern Pakistan, close to the Tibetan border, which Hilton visited a few years before Lost Horizon was published. Being an isolated green valley surrounded by mountains, enclosed on the western end of the Himalayas, it closely matches the description in the novel.

The name Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise, but particularly a mythical valley isolated from the outside world. Shangri-la is often used in a similar context to which "Garden of Eden" might be used, to represent a perfect paradise that exists hidden from modern man. It can sometimes be used as an analogy for a life-long quest or something elusive that is much sought after but seldom found.

In the novel "Lost Horizon", the people who live in Shangri-La are almost immortal, living years beyond the normal lifespan .... just so long as they don't leave the sanctuary of that valley. Doesn't this sound a lot like the "Sacred Valley of the Ancients", as Vilcabamba is often called?

Hey, it's close enough for me!

The Making of an Art Dealer

2008-02-29T09:42:00.000-08:00

"So-ooooo, how does a guy with your wild and wooly background end up being an art dealer?", asked a reader of this Blog after perusing my Ancient History section. A fair question, but not so quickly answered. It does, however, make for a great story, so I'll share it with you.

Back in the late 1970's, I had moved to Maui, Hawaii after an amicable, yet still intensively emotional divorce .... to sort out my life, dust myself off and get ready for my next life adventure. Thanks to someone insisting that I purchase an Irish Sweepstakes ticket just before leaving for Hawaii, I was able to "retire" for a few years of beach-bum leisure. But after my golf score and my boredom crept up the chart to meet my all-too-quickly declining un-invested capital, I realized that it was time to get back in the game. Ah-hhhh, but what to do?

At that same time, my next door Maui neighbor, Kim von Tempsky, was telling me all about the HUGE amount of sales that were taking place in the art gallery he directed, and suggested that I try my hand at selling "pictures". Not having a better offer, I decided to give it a fling.

Was I an art history major in college? No, but back in my more adventurous early years I had been a police detective chasing down art thieves, which gave me at least a layman's familiarity with fine art. And I had of course been selling myself (a tough product if ever there was one) all my life. So the "Art Of Selling" wasn't a complete mystery to me . . . . many years later I would even write a book on the subject.

Now here's where synchronicity and blind luck comes into play.

On my first day "on the floor", I was instructed to simply watch how the other salespeople handled customers, to listen to their well-rehearsed "pitches" and get a feel for working the gallery and its customers. In other words, keep my ears and eyes open and my mouth shut!

About two hours into my first shift a very grubby, unshaven, wrinkle-suited fellow wandered into the gallery. The sales consultant who was "up" (meaning first in line for the next customer) took one look and promptly left the gallery for a coffee-break. That left me and what was obviously a "street-person" alone in the gallery. The guy moved slowly through the gallery and paused in front of a VERY expensive Picasso original painting. He stared at the painting for a few moments, and then suddenly turned to face me (I was keeping close track of the old bum to make sure that he didn't try to steal something.)

"Hey, does you 'vork here?" he demanded in a thick and slightly slurred accent. I reluctantly admitted to "vorking" there, and the rumpled old man pointed to the Picasso and asked what "da pitcher" was and who did it. I replied that it was a painting done by the famous artist Pablo Picasso .... I'd at least learned THAT much during my training sessions. "How much 'dat Picasso?" asked the fellow. I reached around behind the painting and found the price card. "For-rrrrrrty thous-sssssand dollars," I stammered. That was a lot of money I thought to myself, as I shared the price with the old bum. But he simply nodded, and pointed over to a rare print by Marc Chagall. "How much 'dat one?", he demanded. I peeked at the price card ...."$18,000" I replied with less hesitancy this time. At least, I thought to myself, the old bum had good taste and it let me practice my "spiel" without fear of losing a sale.

After about twenty minutes of this, the old man turned to me and said, "OK, I take this and this and this and this", as he pointed out one after the other of the pieces I had priced for him. I was, of course, completely flabbergasted! "What do you mean by 'take'", I asked. "I buy them all!", he responded with a grin. Then he introduced himself!

Turns out that he was a rare gem dealer who spent his time in the South American jungles buying up uncut diamonds from the native miners and then selling them to the Hasidic diamond merchants in New York City. It was, he told me, a very dangerous undertaking with a rather high "employee turnover". The Amazon jungle was a harsh place to do business; a rough, tough, lawless environment where your life was on the line everyday.

He'd been doing that for the past five years and had amassed a small fortune, almost losing his life several times in the process. To celebrate his safe "retirement", he had flown to Maui for a weeklong fling of pure drunken debauchery, which he was just now ending. Thus his slovenly appearance. As it so happened, he needed some art for the bare walls of a beach-front condo in Florida, which he had just purchased .... for cash! Remember, this was before the Patriot Act and the "know your customer" financial security rules removed $100 bills from most merchandise transactions.

WOW! Talk about not judging a book by its cover. Unbeknownst to me, I had just discovered my own diamond-in-the-rough!

The funniest thing of all was that since I wasn't really supposed to be "selling" anything (and I had not), no one showed me how to write up an invoice or even where they were kept. I had to call the director over and ask him to take it from there, which he did .... to the tune of a $185,000 sale, all in cash! (that's just short of half a million bucks in today's depreciated dollars). To make a long story a bit shorter, my first 10% sales commission check was for $18,500. Need I say more? Seems that I'd found my new niche, and I was off on yet another career -- one that is just now coming to an end.

Of course all through the 1980's art sales boomed, with prices fueled by the Japanese going through the roof being. The Japanese were among the biggest buyers of Impressionist and Modern art, and, with their booming economy of the 1980s, they had the ability to fund their insatiable appetite and paid record prices for the works they wanted … remember the $78 million Renoir and the $82.5 million Van Gogh that Ryoei Saito, a Japanese businessman, bought in May of 1990? Hey, I was helping to sell those "pitchers" to the Japanese tourists on Maui.

Those record-breaking prices lasted for a full 14 years. In 2004 a Picasso sold for $104 million, which I'll bet made my ex-diamond dealer VERY happy indeed with his $40,000 purchase . . . if he held onto it. However, once the rug was pulled out from under the Japanese economy, it crumbled and the art market followed quickly behind. Many of the less important works they bought were just never worth the prices paid, and they could not recoup the money spent.

But during all this, the lawyer from Honolulu who owned that gallery was indicted for selling fraudulent Dali prints and the business fell on hard times. So now being quite disillusioned with the "corporate art jungle", but feeling quite at home as an art consultant, I moved along to set up and curate other art emporiums there on Maui. But now I dealt in "local" art, including some of the most respected artists and master artisans in all Hawaii. The high-priced Dali, Chagall and Picasso paintings and prints were left to others to peddle to unsuspecting wealthy tourists. I had a new niche market to explore, one that I'm delighted to say proved highly successful .... although the prices of the art being sold was rather inexpensive compared to the glory days of my first art sales.

I remember, during the early 90s, sellers coming to our Hana gallery with tiny, crappy (for lack of a better word), Renoirs they bought for more than $500,000 or leaping whale paintings by Robert Lynn Nelson that they purchased for $150,000 - trying to sell them for less than half. Those works should have never been bought for those crazy prices in the first place! However, as I learned early in the game, the customer is always right .... even when he's wrong.

I will, however, now leave the art market to those I have mentored over the past several years. It's rather nice to leave at the top of my game! Success is indeed sweet, and what better place to enjoy the fruits of my "artistic" labor than in Vilcabamba.

Travelgram #4 (It's The Water!)

2008-02-14T14:57:00.000-08:00

In one of my previous Travelgrams, I touched lightly on the subject of Vilcabamba's extraordinary water. It is probably THE most important component of the reputed longevity of the valley's inhabitants. There are, of course, other reasons given.

Since the early part of the century, foreign scientists and visitors have come to study the Valley. Their aim has been to research all aspects of the geography, climate, soil and water conditions in the hope of discovering the key to the longevity of it's inhabitants.

Japanese scientists that came to study "los Viejos" (The old Men"), soon realized that the valley is charged by negative ionization. This was in part due to the evening electrical storms that grounded on the Mandango, the massive peak over-looking the valley. For this reason, the air in Vilcabamba feels so crisp, so clean as after a strong cleansing storm. "The "old men" live many years in Vilcabamba because they breathe this pure air and drink the pure water that produces a "chelating" effect on their bodies", concluded the Japanese.

Scientists from the U.S. found that the secret to the longevity of the people in the valley was due to the perfect mineral balance found in the drinking water. Articles have appeared in Readers Digest, National Geographic and in other important publications of the world, they all have had their theories about the Longevity of people in the "Sacred Valley" of Vilcabamba. However, most of these experts agree that the water that flows down from the High Andean glaciers to the valley floor is perhaps THE most important element.

In 1982, the renowned medical researcher Dr. Morton Walker arrived in Vilcabamba to investigate the cell mineralization of the local residents and its relationship with genetÌcs and the natural environment. Though Dr. Walker was not in Vilcabamba for very long, he managed to pinpoint numerous very interesting facts that establish the direction of future research here. For a long time there had been some controversy over whether the supposed longevity in Vilcabamba was due to genetic factors. Since this area has been hailed in Ecuador and Peru for many generations as a sacred place where old people abound, some scientists were sure that it must be a gene that was responsible.

Morton Walker took hair samples from the nape of numerous residents of various ages. These samples were carbonized and analysis was performed in a California lab.

The results showed exactly why the folks of Vilcabamba have healthy, long lives. When examining the data on children, one finds the kind of random mineralization that is common everywhere and is mostly due to genetic variation. By the time that they are young adults, there are many similarities in their cell mineralization. Once the people of Vilcabamba are 50 years old, their body minerals are virtually identical, and accumulative toxic metals are at very low levels.

Dr. Walker also had samples of the river water and various foods analyzed to see how their mineral ratios related to the cell minerals in the populace. These were even more revealing. The ratio of minerals common in all the old people was the same as the mineral ratio of the local water. Foods that were irrigated with river water also had the same basic ratio.

So, what's going on at the cellular level in Vilcabamba? Dr. Walker was already studying the relatively new field of mineral chelation at that time. It was not difficult for him to connect Vilcabamba and natural chelation. The people of Vilcabamba were getting a sophisticated chelation treatment from their environment for free. Dr. Walker claims that the ratio of calcium, magnesium and manganese in the water is virtually perfect, preventing calcium from leaving the bones once it is absorbed. This obviously is the reason that Vilcabambans, who consume less than half the calcium that most Europeans do, never suffer from osteoporosis. Hey, it's the water ---- that tasteless, odorless, colorless and calorie-free liquid that every human being on earth must imbibe to sustain life.

And there is no substitute. There are more than five billion people on this planet and every single one of those people needs about 2-1/2 quarts of water... every day... to keep healthy and stay alive.

No water, no life.

But, so what? There's more water on earth than there is earth, right?

Yes, that's true. However, 97% of all that water is sea water. And sea water, of course, is just chock full of salt. Anyone who drinks only sea water will soon die of thirst and dehydration as that person's body tries desperately to flush out all that excess salt. Of course, we humans can use sea water... if... we remove the salt. But, that is very expensive!

Sea water is not a good choice for agriculture or industry either. It kills most crops and literally (and very quickly) rusts out most machinery.

In truth, only a mere 3% of the world's water is fresh, not salty. But, almost all of that fresh water is locked up in glaciers and ice caps or is deep underground. Which means...

Only A Measly 1% Of All The Water On This Planet Is Easily Accessible To Mankind!

And, much of that water is so polluted it is killing thousands upon thousands of people every day... plus... it is making millions of us horribly sick. Think I'm exaggerating?

So, how's the purity of the water supply in your own city or town? Very likely, your city simply can't do a perfect job of cleaning up your water supply. The problem is just too overwhelming. So, what they do is, they dump chlorine in the water! Which, in a way, is good ... because chlorine kills a lot of those nasty, disease-causing bugs in the water. But hey, you know why it is able to kill all those bugs? It's very simple...

It's Because Chlorine Is POISON!

But wait! Don't go getting angry at your municipal water company. They are very likely doing the best job they can, considering the huge problems they are trying to solve. Yes, it's true: Chlorine is bad for you. But, the "bad guys" that would otherwise still be alive in our water supply... if... it wasn't chlorinated... is truly the stuff of which nightmares are made.

When you start talking about E-coli, amoebic cysts, cryptosporidium, giordia and so on, you are talking about "biological villains" that cause...

Health Problems You Don't Even Want To Know About!

So why is the water in Vilcabamba not equally as contaminated as in the United States? What is it about the food and water of this place that makes it special?

Fifteen kilometers above Vilcabamba is the continental divide and the highest local peaks. Up there it is almost constantly precipitating in one way or another. All water, including rain water, has some mineralization. Only water distilled in a lab is pure. So, when our rain, drizzle or sleet fall on these mountains it is already carrying some dissolved solids. The ground on the very high ridges of the Andes is covered with thick grass-like plants that grow and die; but since they can't really rot at the temperature up there, they just continue to grow one on top of the other. What this creates is a deep vegetable sponge that filters and mineralizes the water as it passes through. The Andes in this area were covered by glaciers during the last ice-age. These glaciers carved out shallow basins in the rock at about 3,000 meters of elevation. Now, they are lakes and the water has virtually the same mineralization as the river water in the valley below. The kinds of rocks that make up the lower terrains of the Andes are not particularly reactive to H20. So, all the minerals in Vilcabamba water, and the most important ones in the irrigated food chain are coming from a vegetable source. These grasses of the Andean tundra and the forests that grow in wind-protected clefts are feeding on glacier-ground rock particles of an ancient age.

Fortunately for Vilcabamba, far below, there are no dikes of precious metals lacing the upper watershed. Otherwise gold miners would have long ago contaminated the high creeks with mercury and other toxic by-products found all over the Andes. In fact, gold is found almost every place else around, besides the Vilcabamba watershed. Also, these highlands are too rough and rocky for agricultural purposes. Therefore nobody's been fertilizing or fumigating up there. No one even lives up that high, since pasture animals cannot survive on this rough grass. Its minerals are balanced, but it has almost no protein. This tundra, cloud-forest area is useless, besides producing some of the best water on the earth's surface .... if not THE best!

So why hasn't some enterprising entrepreneur simply bottled up the water in Vilcabamba and added it to the other 350-some brands of bottled water in the world? They have! But the cost of transporting heavy five-gallon plastic containers of water to the US market is simply too prohibitive, unless you don't mind paying $35.00 a gallon for water!
So most of this bottled Vilcabamba water stays right there in the valley to be sold as "Gringo Water" in the hotels and restaurants.

And that, dear reader, is one of the reasons I am spending so much time here in Vilcabamba .... drinking the purest, most therapeutic water to be found on Planet Earth. Will it help me to live to a hundred? I don't know. But in any case it sure does taste sweet, and I seem to be gulping down more than my fair share of it.

Travelgram #3 (Shopping Paradise?)

2008-02-07T18:18:00.000-08:00

Hola Senors y Senoritas:

Last night I heard a dog bark. Strangely, I don't remember hearing any barking before yesterday . . . but then the dogs obviously bark in Spanish and I don't understand Spanish!

My point is that this tiny village of Vilcabamba is very quiet within this valley. There is an occasional knock-knock of a carpenter's hammer and the growl of a diesel truck laboring up a grade, perhaps even the grunt of a pig and the high-pitched cluck of chickens, but for the most part it is considerately quiet around the Hotel Madre Tierra where I'm staying.

My daily exposure to the language is slowly but surely paying off. I have asked Paulo, my waiter in the hotel's dining room to speak to me only in Spanish, and that's made for some comical exchanges and even funnier results. What is happening is that I'm now using my hands and face to help convey my meaning, which is not the usual means of North American communication. Mostly, it's just my mouth that moves when speaking in English. But my ear is not as yet tuned to Spanish, so when Paulo asks me if I want something I don't always get what I thought I was agreeing to in Spanish. I have had to learn to use pantomime to make sure I understand or mistakes occur. Even so, about half the time I find something on my dinner plate that I have no idea what it is or whether I actually ordered it. Simply smiling idiotically and nodding one's head when asked a question that one doesn't understand can have unexpected consequences.

On yet another subject:

I find myself thinking of how much time is spent in traveling to do shopping, particularly when we live in small towns without many consumer businesses. We who live in rural areas such as my "other" home in Hana, Hawaii, are more aware of this than folks from the cities. And as the price of gasoline continues to climb, we are going to become even more tuned-in to a need to curtail some of our longer distance shopping. Here in our little village of Vilcabamba, for the most part if you can't walk to it you don't go.

Where I am right now, in a Ecuadorian village of probably 3,500 souls, there are no "convenience stores", no 7-11's or minit-stops. The village even passed a law that forbids gasoline service stations. Not a shopping paradise to be sure.

Reminds me of Hana, some 57 miles away from food and necessity stores; except here in Vilcabamba the distance is only 25 miles and travel time is only about 45 minutes by auto or a full day's journey by foot to Loha, this area of Ecuador's largest city. There are a lot of folks here in this small village who have NEVER been to Loha, who have never even left Vilcabamba to do a day's shopping.

But what it lacks in stores, Vilcabamba makes up in entrepreneurial peddlers of every kind. You do not need to drive to them, they bring stuff to you - and at greatly reduced prices, since there is not any of the usual business fixed-overhead expense involved. Allow me to elaborate:

Early this morning I heard a man shouting. It was a vegetable peddler hawking his wares. Next came an elderly man with fresh eggs, closely followed by two young women offering just-baked bread. There was my breakfast. Total cost: small pocket change!

Yes, I was charged a "markup" by the hotel for cooking and serving the food that was brought fresh to the kitchen door. But still, with coffee (no, Don Pedro and his Columbian mule did not bring it) and a bit of fresh fruit in yogurt, my breakfast only cost me $2.00. And THAT is less than what one cup of Kona coffee would have set me back at any US hotel.

My point being that one of the reasons these folks, who live in what we would call poverty, are existing in exceptional health is due mostly to their not being consumers of processed foods, to their growing all of their own food organically in soil that is bursting with mineralization and lots of healthy organisms. Vilcabamba's pure water source, claimed by health authorities throughout the world to be THE best on the planet, probably helps the growing process, too.

Whoa, I don't mean to imply that there aren't any pre- processed foods available. There are. But the cost is greater than the local people can afford, so they don't buy the stuff that you and I usually pickup on our weekly trips to COSTCO. Unfortunately, "fast-food" in Vilcabamba is now a fact of life. The young people here are beginning to slurp down diet colas and gobble twinkies .... and the encroachment of ill-health is the result. That is one of the horrors of the Americanization of the culture. In another generation, there may not be any healthy Old People left in the famed "Sacred Valley of Longevity".

However, at this point those of us who are in our "later years" do benefit from the ultra-healthy environment, food and magical waters of Vilcabamba.

Oh, by the way, in a previous Travelgram I mentioned a 101 year-old man with a walking stick. Actually, there's more to the story. It seems that the old man and his wife were approached by a couple of tourists from the US, who asked in very fractured Spanish how old the elder was. He said he was 76, and the tourists left. The old man's wife started screaming at him, asking him why he told those people that he was only 76 instead of his actual 101. He calmly replied that he was not happy at constantly being photographed (for free) because he was so old, so he simply lied about his age and was left alone. His wife screamed at him even louder, saying that since she was 92 he would be married to a woman old enough to be his mother and she would have none of it. So now the hombre viejo (the old man) says he's 105, to make his wife happy .... and also demands to be paid for photos taken by the "gringos".

Such is the problem of attempting to judge the ages of Vilcabamba's inhabitants, who, unlike their counterparts in the rest of the world, often add a few years to their true ages if they can make a few extra pennies from the "touristas".

Hasta la vista,

Senor Patrick

Travelgram #2 (The Problems of Language)

2008-02-07T18:04:00.000-08:00

In my first installment, I failed to mention some of the major problems I've run into by not being able to speak Spanish. I'll poke a little fun at myself and share one such misadventure:

Despite what all the travel guides tell you, it helps to know the language of a foreign country you're visiting. At least that's what I discovered on my first trip to Ecuador.

During my first two days in Quito, I found that much to my surprise a lot of Ecuadorians I met spoke pretty good English. At least I seemed to be able to make myself understood. But when it came time to take a taxi to the airport for the next leg of my trip, to Cuenca, disaster struck!

My taxi driver nodded his head enthusiastically when I told him the name of my airline, and off we went, careening at top speed along the ancient cobblestone streets with much horn honking and playing "chicken" at intersections, which seems to be the Ecuadorian national pastime for all taxi drivers. There are no stop signs at intersections!

At one point, the driver looked back over his shoulder and asked a question, but I couldn't understand him. So he shrugged his shoulders and continued his erratic course toward the Quito International Airport. A few minutes later we arrived at a very dilapidated building bearing the name of the airline. The driver piled all of my luggage on the sidewalk, held out his hand for payment, and then took off in a cloud of exhaust smoke. I looked around me. Something didn't seem right.

Maybe it was the long line of scruffy-looking people lugging cartons, bicycles and cooped-up chickens to a counter, folks who didn't seem to fit the mould of any airline passengers I'd ever seen. In any case, after a fifteen minute wait in a slow line, I finally reached the counter. But it turned out to be the wrong counter in the wrong terminal building. My taxi driver had let me off at the cargo terminal, not the ticket terminal.

After much gesturlating and rapid-fire Spanish by the cargo workers, I finally figured out that where I was supposed to be was clear over on the other side of the airport at the main departure terminal. That must have been the question the cab driver asked, which terminal did I want? Cargo was simply the closest, which made perfect sense to the driver. Hey, why waste gas on a cheap fare.

By now, the line of people behind me was cracking up at the dumb gringo standing amidst his pile of luggage with a look of complete bewilderment on his face. I had already heard that Ecuadorians had a good sense of humor, and I seem to have made their day. It was a touristo joke at my expense.

So I hailed another cab, but this time I showed the driver my tickets and did a creditable silent movie pantomime that indicated that I wanted to go to the Icaro Airlines ticket counter check-in. He smiled broadly and chattered back at me a mile a minute, not a single word of which did I understand. It was de'ja veau all over again.

We careened off at top speed, with squealing tires as an accompaniment to the tooting horn, and a few minutes later we arrived where I should have been in the first place.

It was a good thing that cab fare was so cheap in Ecuador, my eight mile trip to the wrong place had only cost $5.00. It was another $2.00 to get me from one side of the airport to the other. In New York, I'd have owned a piece of the cab company for the same trip. But at least I'd have understood the cabby . . . . unless he was a Pakastani.

That, dear reader, was just my first two days in Ecuador, where I quickly learned to say: Hablo espanole muy poqito! (I speak very little Spanish).

Travelgram #1 (I Find My Shangri La)

2008-02-06T16:40:00.000-08:00

Ah-hhhh, Vilcabama! This place is every bit as magical and peaceful as Maui, but with a Spanish accent instead of Hawaiian pidgin. And a hundred times less expensive! The negative ions are whipping up a frenzy of healthy invigorating molecules, at least that's what the people here at Hotel Madre Tierra tell me to account for my flush of rapturous energy. No wonder this place is called the Sacred Valley of Longevity.

The owners are the actor Jon Cypher (stage and screen) and his lovely, quite extraordinary wife Carol Rosin . . . who in her own right is one of the U.S's "heaviest" ladies; having been the highest ranking woman in the areospace industry, Werner von Braun's (father of rocketry if you will remember) top assistant and spokesperson, founder of . . . oh heck, just go ahead and "Google" Dr. Carol Rosin and you'll see what I mean.

Jon is just an amazing person. You might remember him from playing the lead in the stage production of "The Man From La Mancha", or as the Chief of Police in the long-running series of "Hill Street Blues", etc. etc. etc. I have found in him a "brother" who has lived part of my own life-history. Hey, when you get to be my age it's hard to find people who know what you're talking about when you tell your tales (which is one reason I don't have any desire to hang out with nubile female twenty-somethings. I mean, what do we have to talk about?) OK, there are other reasons, but we won't go into THAT.

Anyway, they are in the process of renovating a world-class, intimate sanctuary that they call a hoteleria. The hotel itself is situated on a seventeen acre organic plantation, a veritable oasis of lush jungle foliage set within the equally beautiful Vilcabamba Valley.

Despite my best attempts to haggle for a higher price, I'm only being charged $40.00 a day for my room AND that includes breakfast & dinner. Lunch is extra, at about $2.25 for a veggie burger or a club sandwich on freshly baked multi-grain bread and large mixed salad. You should be aware, however, that these ultra-cheap prices for room and food probably won't last for long. These rates, for one of Ecuador's premier hotels and spas is bound to change . . . . but you can always mention my name as get a 1% discount (he, he he.)

Breakfast usually consists of fresh fruits in home-made Kifir (yogurt) and wholegrain toast and coffee. There are eggs if you'd like. Dinners vary from night to night, but have consisted of a big bowl of soup, a huge salad made of fresh-picked ingredients, and either a meat or vegetarian entree (or if you can't make up your mind, both!) Oh, and then to top it all off there is desert . . . muy delicioso and wonderfully goopy, which is perfect for sugar freaks like me. The dining room is a large tiled patio, where the guests sit family style at long tables. Sure makes it easier to meet the other guests . . . most of whom are Ecuadorian. You quickly learn the basic Spanish name for foods and beverages, or you starve! Oh, and there is NO tipping. A 10% service charge is automatically added, so no one has their hand out all the time.

Thank goodness for the stairs that I have to climb to reach my room, or my Burl Ives look-alike girth would be doubled in no time at all.

My first two or three days I could hardly pull myself up those stairs, even with the help of a walking staff that I'd bought in Quito for hiking, etc. Today, I'm hopping up the three flights of very steep cobblestone steps like a damned mountain goat. I'll admit that at "only" 5,000 feet it is a lot easier to get around than the 9,800 Andean feet of Quito. But for a sea-level kind of guy like me, it's still a breath-panting altitude for the first few days. My heart and lungs seem to now be at peace with Vilcabamba.

As for the hotel itself, which is now almost completely renovated from top top to bottom, it is both charmingly quaint and surprisingly "modern" at the same time. There seem to be some 27 rooms in clusters of three or four, all of them accessed by stone steps leading up from the reception, dining room and bar areas. Of course there is a tropical backdrop of thick foliage and exquisitely beautiful flowers running rampant throughout the hotel grounds. Much more lush and wild than even in the rainforest on Maui . . and the scent of roses and lilies and wildflowers is everywhere pervasive.

The rooms themselves are surprisingly large, almost suites, simply but tastefully decorated and furnished, surprisingly comfortable, with excellent Queen sized bed mattresses. There's a hammock and a small couch on a patio just outside my door, where I seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time. Oh, and there is wireless for my computer right in my room, and so I'm writing this email to you while gently swinging in that private hammock.

Just above where my room is located is a spa complex, a mini version of the Golden Door, etc. It's all I can do to refrain from just being endlessly massaged, facialed (yeah, me!) whirlpooled and (would you believe) pedicured all day long. An hour and a half massage is $8.00, plus .50 cent tip.

The hotel staff are all marvelously friendly and accommodating, even if few of them speak more than a little fractured English. But little understanding is lost in translation, at least I seem to get what I'm asking for in every case and "mi espanole est muy muy poquito".

The people of Ecuador appear to be friendly and hospitable. The women are universally gorgeous and the men quite handsome, a mixture of Spanish and native Indian bloodlines that has produced an attractive and intelligent race of people. And everyone here is disgustingly slender and seem to be strong and agile without the need of daily grunt-trips to a local gym. Lots of VERY poor people, but I haven't once been accosted by a beggar. All in all, a VERY picturesque and charming part of the world . . . a place that I wouldn't mind spending a LOT more time in, if I wasn't already living in a certain paradise called Hawaii.

I don't know if my description paints a good enough picture of Vilcabamba and the Hoteleria Madre Tierra for you, but I seemed to have picked the PERFECT place for rest & relaxation. Hm-mm, could this be the "Shangri La" that I have been searching for all these years?

More later . . . after I've awoken from my afternoon siesta snooze! Manana or the day after may be more likely.

El Senor Patrick