Vilcabamba's Glacial Milk

I am often asked about why I selected Vilcabamba as a place to live. That's easy to answer. It was the water.

Let me explain.

There is a protected Ecuadorian regional preserve, Podocarpus National Park, which claims to have pre-Ice Age microorganisms and one of the world's few remaining pristine rainforests. This virtually inaccessible area surrounds the hidden-away Garden of Eden called Vilcabamba.

High up among the surrounding mountain peaks lies this area of primeval tundra, which is made up of great masses of vegetation .... layer upon layer of these grasses and vegetation of many types and colors. In this untouched and uninhabited area, there are also some fourteen lakes, each containing the melt of this uncontaminated glacier ice.

This icy melt is often referred to as "Glacial Milk", a solution of ionically dissolved elements in a suspension of finely ground rock dust from the living parent rock of the mountains through glacial friction. The suspended minerals in this "Glacial Milk" are referred to as metallic colloidal minerals.

Come the rainy season, these lakes of glacial water overflow and flood the tundra, which then acts as a filter for any undesirable heavy metals or minerals. But this humic layer does far more than merely act as a filtering devise. These plants and ancient vegetation had never been exposed to any chemicals, fertilizers or pesticides. The plants are gradually transformed into humus, a rich organic mass that is food for new plant life.

After seeping through these countless layers of humic tundra, this purest of waters flows down into thousands of pools, then into hundreds of cascading waterfalls. And remember this part, because the countless waterfalls contribute to the wonderfully high negative ion count in the valley, which contributes to its healthiness. Finally, the long journey of the pristine water ends up in the water jugs and homes of the people of Vilcabamba.

And that, dear readers, is what brought me to Vilcabamba .... the Agua Sacrada (sacred water) of this Andean village in the mountains of Ecuador.

Listen up, Congress people!

Here is an older post that I have moved up to the present. Why, you might ask?

Well, it is even more relevant today than when I first wrote it back in 2012. Take a peek and see if you don't agree.

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.

A Thought ..........

I have been thinking about what has been going on in my former long-time home, back on the Island of Maui in Hawaii.

When I boarded a flight back to the US Mainland some seven years ago, in route to my newly established home in Ecuador, I left a place that had felt like Paradise for a quarter of my life. But it was also a place that was entering troubling times ..... a place which required a round-the-clock delivery schedule from the outside world. Hawaii, you see, is smack-dab in the middle of the North Pacific ocean, some 1,200 miles away from the US Mainland. All it would take is one prolonged strike by the Longshoremen union to cut off the flow of required Stuff and Things for the islanders.

At least that was the consensus of opinion of the tiny group of people who were my trusted advisors, helping me to make certain that I was fully conscious about what was in the process of coming, both political and economically in the immediate future.

Alas, we were all of us wrong .... at least about the time-span we had left before the SHTF struck the Islands and the US Homeland. But only about the timing, not the fall-out that would surely follow ..... like the up-swelling anger toward the self-serving politicians, Beltway opinionators and professional political hangers-on-ers.

That, my dear readers will certainly come about ..... just as soon as the current Fed chairperson realizes that she and her room-full of bright young economists don't have a clue of what they are doing.

Our Opinionated Politicians

{Opinionated (adjective) .... dogmatic, of fixed views, dictatorial, pontifical, domineering, pompous, self-important, arrogant; inflexible, uncompromising, prejudiced, bigoted.}

Alas, there have been times in my rather long life when I might have held opinions that, to some folks at least, might have seemed to have matched many of the dictionary definitions shown above. But not for long.

I have usually been open-minded enough to eventually embraced a different or revised point of view, when I have been given sufficient facts to support such a change in my thinking. I also try to stay away from expressing personal opinions tainted with bias and prejudice. It is not easy, I will admit. But I do try.

And why, you may ask, do I bring this up? I seriously doubt that anyone listening to or reading the highly politicized remarks of those currently running for elective office anywhere on Earth has firmly believed them to be true. It certainly does not take a genius to realize that the promises being made by our would-be leaders can never be fulfilled. It is almost always a case of a politician holding a wet finger in the air to see which way the wind is blowing before making a statement as to what to expect from them in the immediate future.

This may help to explain why a person who is an acknowledged blowhard with little or no chance of eventually winning his party nomination, and of course I am speaking of Donald Trump, is currently leading the pack of Republican hopefuls for the presidency of the United States of America. "The Donald", as he likes to be called, is playing the part of a non-politician, which resonates broadly with younger voters if not with the professional political class itself.

As I write these words I am fully aware that the prolonged political circus being engaged in right now is merely a distraction for the cranks and crazies who make up the electorate these days, plus it provides grist for the mill of our scribes and commentators who would otherwise need to dig up useful NEWS upon which to write and pontificate. Perhaps I should include myself in this, except that I really have no dog in this fight.

A reader's question

A reader asked me a question after I posted yesterday's scribble about my recovery from a stroke. She noticed an unusual tempering of my usual irascible and curmudgeonable outlook on life, which is no doubt very true.

You see, I journeyed from being a completely self-actulising and self-sustaining individual to being someone who was totally dependent on others to take care of my basic needs, in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, I was dependent upon round-the-clock nursing care, which after taking a couple of bad tumbles trying to get around by myself, I still need today. Fortunately for me, the cost of such care here in Ecuador is negligible even without any health insurance.

This dependency at the rather advanced age of 86 can only have a couple of outcomes, either a heightened degree of "woe is me" irascibility or a case of gratitude toward those who take care of me. I am happy to say that it was the heartfelt gratitude that won out in my case. I now have all of my mental faculties back and a very few physical hitches to contend with these days .... nothing that my trusty wheelchair and walking cane can't take care of. So yes, these days my general outlook on life is one of sunny gratitude rather than a harboring of any sour grapes.

Hooray ... Back From The Dark Abyss Of Darkness

Well friends, familiars and assorted readers, I am finally back among you once again. Got what might be considered to be a good excuse for my two-year-long absence ... a major stroke that cost me my short-term memory, including all of my internet passwords. Just today I stumbled upon the access code that would allow me to edit this blog, so here I am at long last.

As soon as I get through celebrating a return to my well-beloved website I will post something of interest .... other than my unexpected health issues. Many things have happened while I have been absent, some of which were to be expected, some not. But as you can imagine, I will have some truths to share with you about the state of affairs taking place in our battered and bruised old world ... just let me gather my strength a bit before I give voice to my opines.

Until then, I wish you a very warm best wishes and my thanks for sticking with me, if indeed you have.

Ecuador, A Banana Republic?

This is absolutely priceless. The United States of America, through its Ambassador, was waving her finger under the nose of the President of Ecuador, chastising him for something that the mighty US government didn't like. This was his response:

"The War on Consciousness"

There is a carefully buried explanation of the culture-changing use of "drugs" in Humankind's history. One of the better (perhaps even THE best) explanation of this was recently presented in a TED talk by author/researcher Graham Hancock. So shocking and controversial was this information that an anonymous "panel of scientists" demanded that it be removed. Happily for us, the outcry over this censorship meant that the original TED talk has found its way onto YouTube. It is likely that this is one of the most important videos in the Internet these days. Listen to it with an open mind.

Semper Fi

The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man’s hand and offering him words of love and strength. Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile. He refused.

Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients. Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night.

Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.

Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her, “Who was that man?” he asked.

The nurse was startled, “He was your father,” she answered.

“No, he wasn’t,” the Marine replied. “I never saw him before in my life.”

“Then why didn’t you say something when I took you to him?”

“I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn’t here. When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he needed me, I stayed. I came here tonight to find a Mr. William Grey. His Son was killed in Iraq today, and I was sent to inform him. What was this Gentleman’s Name? “

The nurse with tears in her eyes answered, “Mr. William Grey………”

The next time someone needs you … just be there.

Be The Drum Major In Your Food Parade

So, on a slightly more positive note than is my usual wonky-want, let me tell you why I garden for the bulk of my daily diet. I've found no better way to move my diet from merely OK to "Foodie Gourmet" than by embracing a plant-based, organic diet. But there are other important reasons, too.

My number one reason is that I don't subscribe to "health insurance". I invest in prevention rather than the cost of after-illness medical care. What it costs me in labor, seeds, water, a greenhouse and all other material that maximises the health of my fruits and vegetables is a tiny fraction of the budget-breaking required allopathic care after a breakdown of bodily well-being.

Not being addicted to any one dietary "ism". I supplement what I grow on a seasonal basis with an incorporation of oils, seeds, nuts and protein-abundant nutrients. These come not from Supermarket shelves, but from trusted local sources who use organic practices. In other words, I know where my food intake comes from, its freshness and its quality.

For me, there is an innate satisfaction of being able to walk out of my kitchen door and harvest from the garden a freshly picked meal. There is a familiarity with the food that simply cannot be found with similar produce and accompaniments displayed on the sterile shelving of a commercial market that was trucked in from hundreds if not thousand miles away.

So I get the ultimate win, win, win situation with better health through a better diet at a far less cost per meal. Not too surprisingly, almost everyone in my neighbours are doing the same thing on their property. Look around and perhaps you will find the same thing happening where you live. If not, I'd suggest that you get in front of the emerging parade and lead the way to better health.

Stumbling Into Smurfville

I haven't spoken of Vilcabamba lately, been too busy spouting off about geopolitical matters that rankle me. But I'm still very much here ….. and thriving rather than merely surviving. It's like being in a Smurf village, where the residents are all brown and white instead of blue and living a kind of fanciful life of leisure.

Vilcabamba continues to grace its inhabitants (local, indigenous and expat alike) with clean water, clean air, clean food and a relatively unpolluted environment. While we don't have chemtrails and governmental mind control technologies invading our lives, we do have an increasing amount of electromagnetic radiation from cell towers and WiFi routers. What happens when human population centers are flooded with massive amounts of powerful wireless microwave radiation? Nobody really knows ….. yet.

But we will soon. Because we are being exposed to 100 million times more Electromagnetic radiation than our grandparents were, and cell towers are making that number grow exponentially. If you can make a call on your cellphone, then you’re in an area that’s saturated with cell site microwave radiation. And this includes our own hidden-away Sacred Valley of Longevity. Those who know about these things are raising their voices in alarm, but few of our residents listen or understand.

We are a strange mix of visionaries, cranks, crazies, misfits, geniuses, goofy free-spirits and wild-eyed anarchists; a witch's brew of people, if there ever was one. Neurosis abounds, particularly in terms of the End Of The Worldists, freaks, backyard mystics, New Age Gypsies (those we used to call 'Hippies', with nowhere in particular to go and plenty of time to get there) the sleazy spiritual entrepreneurs offering their brand of 'Enlightenment' via jungle 'ceremony' and marketers of supposed Healthy Products and Super Foods, plying their fear-encrusted wares online with PayPal.

It seems to be quite difficult for such a group to remember that we are guests in this tiny pueblo and and not try to continually re-mold it into what better fits our gringo comfort zones ..... or worse. As you can imagine, "do-goodism" on the part of foreigners who can neither speak the language or understand the culture is rampant, a contemporary version of the Colonial "White Man's Burden" (of bringing modernity to our little brown brothers.) But we are muddling through, thanks to the great forbearance of our sweet-natured Ecuadorian hosts.

Then there are the rest of us. Those who mind their own business, tend their gardens, try to learn the language and interact comfortable with our local neighbours. These are the ones who are trying to learn how to live Alone Together in a place far distant from the places of their birth. They are too busy enjoying their lives to spend much time musing about the latest conspiracy theory or wondering exactly who makes up the Illuminati. That we leave to the Wayfaring Strangers who meet daily at Charlito's Bar in the village.

Is Vilcabamba still the 'Shangri-La of days gone by? Yes and no. Like anywhere else in the world, it is what you make of it. Our tiny hamlet is growing and thus necessarily changing in many ways, some of which is creating friction in the clash of cultures. If you come it ought to be in the spirit of loving adventure, not out of fear of that which we want to leave behind or the hope of finding greener grass elsewhere.

Oh Most Evil Malady

Alas, I have been diagnosed as suffering from Writer’s Tourette. The symptoms are stuttering sentences, jerky paragraphs and inappropriate cuss words flung hither, thither and yon. While attempting to affect a cure, my posts to this Blog will be less frequent …. and shorttttttttttter.

Nothing But INSANITY!

After studying three separate government reports predicting a coming “financial doomsday”, Martin D. Weiss, chairman of the the financial rating and counselling firm the Weiss Group, Inc, said this:

“When our leaders have no awareness of the disastrous consequences of their actions, they can claim ignorance and take no action. Or when our leaders have no hard evidence as to what might happen in the future, they can at least claim uncertainty. But when they have full knowledge of an impending disaster …. they have proof of its inevitability in any scenario, and they so declare in their official reports … but STILL don’t lift a finger to change course …. then they have only one remaining claim: INSANITY!“

But it would be insane to actually believe that the nation’s money masters are truly insane. Thus, the only alternative is conspiracy. The financial meltdown happened because it was engineered to happen! -

The Trillion Dollar Conspiracy – Jim Marrs

Hm-mmm, ya' think? Na-aaaaa!

Is Time Speeding Up For You?

According to the late Terance McKenna, ethnobotanist, philosopher and psychonaut, time is indeed accelerating faster and faster. The golden-tongued Troubadour of Consciousness describes the process in the short video below.

So, How's Your Year Been?

As I wish one and all a Happy New Year (now that the Mayan prophesy hacks have been proven wrong), it's time to check out the balance of good and bad for 2012. Here is one way of looking at the year about to end:

For me it's been the Blue side all the way, firmly entrenched in the positive and fending off the negative. Oh, and since I'm safely away from all of the political crap that's been happening up yonder in Norte Americano land, this has nothing to do with Red State, Blue State ideology.

Wishing all of you a VERY Happy New Year and an abundance of Good Things for you and yours.

Patrick