(this is off the net, sent by a friend. credit unknown)

Spent the day today clearing out this stable from the early 1900's ;-). I'm going to turn it into a 3 season studio apartment on some land I'm working on.

It's a beautiful spot. I'll use it as a live in space off and on this summer while I lay some ground work, and then next summer when I build my house using materials laying around my family farm. My plan is to build for nothing but pure sweat and time... when you have time, you can do almost anything you put your mind to. Abundance comes in taking our time... and appreciating that money isn't always the only solution to getting things done. This farm space, will be central to my next film, once I complete Searching for Dragons. It'll be about just this, working with less, slow growth, time, beauty, and abundance found in nature.. and in a society geared towards excess.

it's going to be beautiful when it's done.

peace,d

While Canada continues to ignore them... d

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/10/bolivia-enshrines-natural-worlds-rights

Chk out the link, sign the petition!

http://protectbloodland.ca/

And Follow Kainai Speaks on Facebook!

peace,d

Been spending a lot of time researching the four future components of the Searching for Dragons Project (Art, Film, Book, Interactive Web). Today has been spent absorbed into the computer looking into DVD Distribution, eBooks and Making Money from Interactive Digital Media Platforms. I'd rather be chopping wood...

In terms of self distributing dvds and ebooks it seems nothing really competes with the megalith Amazon. They have two main systems (bookbaby & createspace) that give lots back to producers vs. conventional distribution company platforms.

DVDs: Amazon/CreateSpace deducts a $4.95 fulfillment price and a 15% royalty. Hence a film selling for $15.00 would earn a net profit of $7.80 back to Windpath Films and Amazon would handle all packaging, universal bar coding, DVD pressing, basic visibility/marketing, and in depth sales tracking.

There may be a huge downside in terms of marketing, but if you can swing word of mouth and have a solid product tied to festivals and online social buzz this is probably a good way to go.

But the best resource of today relates to Interactive Media knowledge gathering. The Bell New Media Fund here in Canada is a great resource! And their Bliki is second to none!

http://bellfund.ca/bellfundbliki/

peace,d

I did an interview with well known permaculturist Larry Santoya on the road with SFD. One thing he said during our interview that really stood out was that food scarcity is a myth, since growing food is one of the easiest things to do in the world. I, like so many others had bought into the food scarcity myth long ago, but there are solutions out there, first and foremost that we begin to shift away from 3% of the population growing 95% of North American food. There is another way, and what can be better than seeing the literal fruits of your labours growing up around you! ;-)

Read: Small-Scale Farming

peace,
d

Yes, it's a feature film financing quagmire out there! :-) Working to keep my head above water and take it one step at a time. Right now working on trying to gather more funding without losing a sense of what I set out to accomplish in the first place. It's so easy to start catering your project to the money, and lame definitions of what the industry want's to see. I think I'll make Searching for Dragons into a 13 part series with things that explode! YAHHHHH!! not quite. rather I'll stick to the original form and intent of the project working with what is getting closer to the projects final summary,

Searching for Dragons is a feature documentary film and visual pilgrimage chronicling the North American dreamscape from the Arctic to Panama. It examines the ebb and flow of civilization, environmental degradation, and our human connection to the natural world. The film reconnects to the fundamental truths of our existence, and leads back toward our collective wisdom. Pausing for a moment in that wisdom, we may discover that the most difficult questions, call for the simplest of answers.

Slow down, visit, and listen…

Constructing a new paradigm from within a technological world requires looking inwards, remembering who we are, and deepening levels of personal and spiritual awareness.

When it comes to this film and the more and more I look into industry film funding, the more I feel justified in following the route of the Independent Art Film. There's something to be said for the independent artist, and the fact that they can make their work to be bold, beyond the conventions of the mainstream industry.

Other than working on the pitch, and financing angles, I've been dumping content from Nepal Film Trek last October with Joan Halifax Roshi. I'll start digging into it in my evening hours when I'm not working on SFD.

What else... well that's about it from the SFD funding quagmire, stay tuned!

Here's a pic of Moses with an Elk Leg.. on guard for coyotes ;-)

peace,d

Of course over a million views. It's scrumptiously beautiful!


Another beautiful person is my friend Hanna Hannan in Missoula, Montana. She's built an amazing arts center in the last five years that is helping to shape the Missoula arts scene and is on her own fantastic human journey. Chk out her blog HERE!!!

My Sony Z1U konked-out in the last days of the SFD project, jammed tape deck... due to moisture error.

After sending it to Cali for repairs and finding out it would cost $2K I ordered the part from Sony and decided to tackle the job myself.

It's going surprisingly well.

You can DO IT! If you put your mind (and patience) to it!

Other than that, I've been hunting down funds for post production, which sometimes makes the head spin. I'll be working on updating this site over next couple weeks, getting back into the blogs, and revitalizing my virtual identity.

peace,
d

Hey Blogosphere!

Been a while , I've just been working on grants proposals and arranging post-production financing. I feel things are coming together! :-) Wanted to drop this example of SFD Support Material up here to allow people access.

Keep in mind, it only grazes the surface, since it's created using web video content (1-2% of overall SFD content) while I wait on post $$$ to dig into the remaining unprocessed, not yet transferred 98% ;-)

peace,d

http://www.kansas.com/2010/12/10/1627979/8-religions-live-in-harmony-at.html#ixzz18aqGKKiq

8 Religions Live In Harmony At Vedanta Society

BY TIM TOWNSEND

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS — At a time when threats to burn Qurans undermine interfaith relations, the Vedanta Society of St. Louis offers an alternative to religious conflict.

For the last 42 years, the scriptures of eight world religions have resided under glass in the society's chapel on Skinker Boulevard, abutting the western end of Forest Park.

They are the sacred texts of the globe's major faiths, each in its original language: the Christian texts in Greek; the Jewish in Hebrew; the Taoist and Confucian in Chinese; and the Buddhist in the language of Pali. Along with them are the scriptures of Hinduism in Sanskrit, and Zoroastrianism in Avestan and Islam in Arabic.

A plaque next to the scriptures bears the symbols of the eight religions, arranged in a circle with rays connecting them to a symbol in the middle representing Truth. And beneath is a quotation from the Vedas — the oldest religious texts in the world and Hinduism's foundational scriptures.

"Truth is one," it reads. "Sages call it by various names."

It is a display that traces its history to a 19th-century mystic saint from India and a disciple whose St. Louis society for religious understanding faced 20th-century discrimination.

And its message is at odds with recent religion in events in the public square of American culture, especially when it comes to Islam.

This year, an evangelical Christian pastor in Florida threatened to burn a copy of the Quran on Sept. 11. He later relented, but the threat inspired others. Qurans destroyed by fire and bullets were left in mosques in Knoxville, Tenn., and East Lansing, Mich. The riots that followed in India, Afghanistan and Indonesia resulted in fatalities.

The same month, a man from Fairview Heights, Mo., triggered an eight-hour FBI standoff complete with hostages and suicide belt mock-ups after threatening to burn a Quran and threatening the president.

Much of that would have disheartened Swami Vivekananda, who represented Hinduism at the Parliament of Religions, held during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

Earlier this month President Barack Obama mentioned Vivekananda in his address to a joint session of the Indian Parliament. He spoke about the diversity of "colors, castes and creeds" in India.

"It's the richness of faiths celebrated by a visitor to my hometown of Chicago more than a century ago — the renowned Swami Vivekananda," Obama said. "He said that, 'holiness, purity and charity are not the exclusive possessions of any church in the world, and that every system has produced men and women of the most exalted character.'"

Vivekananda was the chief disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, who died in 1886 and was one of the mystic saints of India. During his life, Ramakrishna followed various branches of Hinduism, practiced Islam and, later, Christianity. He was also exposed to Sikhism and Buddhism through his followers, who ultimately argued that Ramakrishna's experiences testified to the universality of faith — that all religions lead to spiritual truth.

His disciple, Vivekananda, later founded Vedanta Societies and the Ramakrishna order of monks, called swamis.

In 1938, a Ramakrishna monk named Swami Satprakashananda founded the Vedanta Society of St. Louis in an apartment on Delmar Boulevard a bit north of Forest Park. His aim, according to the center, was in part "to establish religious harmony by cultivating the comprehensive vision that all religions are so many paths leading to the realization of God."

The term Vedanta comes from the Vedas, and refers to the final texts of the Vedas, the Upanishads. Vedanta means the end (anta), or essence, of the Vedas. For centuries, Indian thinkers considered the largest questions about self-realization and ultimate being. The Upanishads are the mystical and philosophical teachings of the Vedas.

In 1952, the society moved to its current home on Skinker. Because "we had brown skin," as the society's current minister, Swami Chetanananda, put it, the organization had had difficulty buying property. Eventually, Washington University religious studies professor Huston Smith bought the Skinker building, then turned around and sold it to the Vedanta Society.

In 1968, Satprakashananda decided he wanted the world's important scriptures in the center's new chapel, and requested them from the order's base in India.

The young man who fulfilled the request — tracking down, over the course of several months, the entire Buddhist canon, the four Vedas, the Zoroastrian Hymns of Zarathustra, the Analects of Confucius, the Septuagint and New Testament in Greek, the Torah, the Quran and Taoism's Daodejing — was Chetanananda.

Ten years later — after a stint as an assistant minister at the Vedanta Society of Southern California — Chetanananda moved to St. Louis and took over as minister of the Vedanta Society of St. Louis.

Each religion's scriptures are important, Chetanananda said, "because they allow us to know the unknown."

The swami edited a book of Vivekananda's writings called "Vedanta: Voice of Freedom," in which Vivekananda asked "mankind to recognize the maxim, 'Do not destroy.'"

"Break not, pull not anything down, but build," he continued. "Help, if you can. If you cannot, fold your hands and stand by and see things go on. Do not injure if you cannot render help. Say not a word against any man's convictions so far as they are sincere."

Sitting in the Skinker chapel in front of the plaque with the symbols of the eight major religions and the glass bookcase filled with ancient scriptures, Chetanananda said that "truth never becomes old, and never changes."

"The 10 commandments of Moses are still true," he said.

And despite the incendiary nature of religious discourse in today's world, Chetanananda retains hope that Vedanta's message of universal spiritual truth will win out over the blindness and ignorance of religious extremists.

"Religions are not God," he said. "Religions are paths."

Regulator's green light for $16.2B project comes with 264 conditions attached

By Carrie Tait, with files from Dina O'Meara, Postmedia News, Calgary Herald; December 17, 2010

The National Energy Board approved plans to build the Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline Thursday, putting the fate of the massive project in the hands of the federal cabinet, and ultimately, Imperial Oil Ltd.

The NEB argued the pipeline, if built, could help Canada's North prosper.

"We looked at how the project would contribute to sustainability in the way it would affect the people, the land where they live, and the economy, now and in the future," the NEB panel said. "We recognize that the Mackenzie Gas Project would have much larger and more far-reaching effects than previous developments in the North."

The regulator's approval, however, comes with 264 conditions in areas such as engineering, safety and environmental protection.

"Conditions are requirements which must be met," it said. "The National Energy Board will monitor the project throughout its lifespan to see to it that the operators meet these conditions."

The federal government must approve the NEB's recommendation, but NEB rulings are rarely -- if ever -- overturned.

The 1,196-kilometre Arctic pipeline was first proposed more than three decades ago and has been stuck in regulatory limbo since. The NEB's decision ruled on an application Imperial, which is controlled by Exxon Mobil Corp., filed in late 2005.

The $16.2-billion pipeline, if built, could ferry 1.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day -- enough to heat four million Canadian homes -- from the Beaufort Sea to northwest Alberta, where it could then be distributed in North America. The project also covers three onshore natural gas fields, a 457-kilometre pipeline to carry natural gas liquids from Inuvik, N.W.T., to an existing oil pipeline at Norman Wells, N.W.T., and other related facilities.

With regulatory approval sealed, Calgary-based Imperial must now decide if the $16.2-billion project -- Canada's largest private effort -- is worth building.

"We would need to have sufficient confidence in a fiscal framework agreement with the federal government to allow us to make the decision to restaff the project, to resume engineering work, field work, permitting," said Imperial spokesman Pius Rolheiser.

It comes down to dollars and demand. The world's supply of natural gas has exploded since the pipeline's first blueprints were drawn in the 1970s. Canada hosts between 700 and 1,300 TCF (thousand cubic feet) of marketable natural gas -- the amount of gas that can be recovered, stripped of impurities, and sold in the market -- according to the Canadian Society of Unconventional Gas.

"Looking out three to five years I would say the economics of such a project would be challenging," said analyst Martin King of FirstEnergy Capital Corp. "The whole project will be very, very challenged to actually come up with some kind of attractive, positive return to the pipeline group."

Natural gas futures averaged $4.40 US this year. Forward pricing curves indicate natural gas might reach $6 US in January 2016 and likely remain in the $6 range for another three years.

The soft scenario could make it difficult to justify exploiting the reserves without a major rejigging of budgets, King said.

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/technology/Mackenzie+Valley+pipeline+approved+energy+board/3990890/story.html#ixzz18OlZyCUC

I don't like everything about Osho, but this excerpt stood out for me when I came across it in Nepal. I've been working through my own conceptions of love and this definitely applies to me at times. I think the real question is; what is love, and what is most loving in any given situation for ourselves and others.

I'm posting it as a shout out to my friend Belen in the UK!
peace,d
___
Love is one of the things that forces you to expose yourself. You cannot cheat love; that is sacriligious. That is the only authentic spirituality, not to cheat love. If you can cheat love then there is no hope for you, because love is the opportunity to expose yourself. Whatever garbage society has poured on you, throw it away and be utterly nude in yourself, in total acceptance, respect and dignity.

Love loves you, not your clothes.
Love loves you, not your masks.

And love certainly creates a great question: whether to choose the mask or to choose love. The mask is a miserable life. It has not given any joy to you, it has led you more and more towards the false. Love is the beginning of a new journey towards blissfulness. Don't miss that moment. When love calls, say yes. And when love calls, move. Move beyond your so-called personality.

So your problem is simple. First you will feel scared, afraid. You have been hiding behind this mask for so long that you yourself have started believing in it. You have forgotten your own face; the mask has been there so long. It happens...

There is a limit. You can forget, your own falseness can become your reality. So when love strikes you like lightening it exposes for a moment your reality. Then the fear, "should I throw away all the falseness and be myself and risk, whether I am respected, condemned, blamed? Whatever happens, without thinking of these consequences, should I expose myself?"

When love strikes you, it fills you with fear and also underneath with joy, with a feeling of love, because a moment has come into your life when you can change from the false to the real.

It is not a question of when that great moment of transformation will come into your life; it can come this very moment. The whole existence is ready, except you. You go on finding excuses, and then you become so expert in finding excuses that it becomes almost impossible for life, love, beauty, existence to penetrate you. You see and yet you don't see. It's all around. It touches you, it comes with the wind, but it does not enter you; your doors, your windows are closed.

- Osho Rajneesh

For all those that think I'm dead... I'm just busy entering receipts ;-) it's kinda the same. Once I get through with these I'll be posting some blogs from the end of the SFD Journey and uploading some pictures.

Also some pictures to come from my latest trip to Nepal with Joan Halifax and a group of amazing clinicians from across the USA :-)

I'm processing and transferring film stock and consolidating everything into one batch of content to dive into come Jan 1.

peace,d

this blog that is... I'm gonna keep going.. but since I left panama I've been really busy returning and getting ready to head off again to Tibet next month.

yes... Tibet... long, but beautiful, story.

So stay tuned and I'll get a blog up on,

the drive home
sundance
preparations for Tibet.
Tibet/Nepal film Trek

and for now a picture of the sky last night at my farm :-)

peace, love, n light,
d

Returning... to so many things both inside and outside myself. Moving so fast through space and time.. feel like the human embodiment of a lightning bolt!

Back in Mexico now, tomorrow into the Yucatan.. then USA by Aug 1st... Canada by August 5th... pray that the wheels continue to go round and round.

peace, love & light,
d

We arrived at the Panama Canal yesterday... amazing feat of engineering. For me though it feels rather anti-climactic. To be at the end of the road and now have to drive home and take the time to digest all I've learned and all that's happened. This road hasn't been an easy one by any means, and the idea of a support network of friends and family sounds better than ever before in my life. If there's one thing I've learned to appreciate in all the choices I've made, is the people who love me.

I've been thinking a lot about love these past few months... what is love? Be it love for others, love for ourselves, love for the earth, love for the art of life... all I know is that love is the only way forward. What makes it difficult is to love amidst all the struggles and pains of the world, to love when the people you love play from a different rule book, to love ourselves when we feel nothing but the pain of past hurt. Standing up in love is a hard one for us, opening our hearts to the tragedy of the gulf of Mexico, to the people who made it happen... loving them despite all they have done. Not an easy task at all...

It's so easy to react negatively or be frozen in the pulsing of pain and anger. I know it well, but as Forbes keeps telling me, to not make a choice is still to make a choice. To hide from life and it's trauma is to take ourselves out of the game... and in doing this we do the world no favors.

Yet, for me, I am still here, out of the game, on many levels afraid to go back home... and for all those people like me I can only say, be gentle with yourself... the time will come when you will be ready to reemerge with new colors and new convictions. A quote from a recent interview comes to mind,

"There is nothing to big to face, FACE IT...but, there is also nothing to big to run from, RUN!"

So I guess it's not about the world at all... It's about honoring the truth of where we are, and working to respect the balance of all people, places, and things.

Many people have congratulated me on arriving at the Panama Canal... to me the true arrival is in coming home, and facing the life I've been running from for so long. Facing all the hurt of the world and it's current state of affairs, bearing witness and fighting for the change that's possible in all our hearts... that's where the real journey is about to begin... and that's why as I sat at my dragon after all this time... I felt more a sense of beginning then ending... she looked at me deep knowing what I am only now realizing... this has all been training in self-love, love, perseverance, courage, and an exercise in understanding what we are all capable of as human beings...

Now the real work begins... to apply all I've learned and bring the mountains, rivers and roadways back to the world that I love so dearly.

It's no understatement to say that this road almost killed me, but I'm still here dammit! And I will NOT lower my expectations of what we're all capable of, since I've seen the new world, and the heart that beats in all of us, although sometimes confused in finding it's way, ultimately, resides in goodness and love.

peace,
d

So it's funny.. I travel five years to get to the dragon on the coast of Costa Rica.. and when I get there I don't even have my digital camera(this is from 2001)... I shot it this time in five other formats but you'll have to wait ;-)

I was telling Forbes that it was strange, because on some level it felt not like the end of a journey, but the beginning of something new altogether. Some beautiful new opportunities have been developing in the wind and I look forward to going home to gain perspective... which is kinda ironic ;-)

We're currently moving through southern Costa Rica towards the Panama border. The feeling the overwhelms me is one of gratitude for all the people who have stood by me on this journey south. Some stood with me for a few days, others a few weeks or months, still others a few years, and then there are the people who stood by me through it all. I'm so grateful for each and every one of you no matter how long the duration spent together, it's because of you, that I've made it this far... my gratitude runs deeper than I am able to express.

There have been many rough moments over the last few months/years on the road and although it's hard to see it now, I hold onto the faith that everything and everyone has been exactly where they needed to be in their path of learning. From the corrupt cops in Honduras, to my determination at whatever cost, to those who opened doors and those who closed them... all is exactly where it needs to be in our journey to a common destiny.

One more time,

“ALL PATHS LEAD TO THE SAME GOAL: TO CONVEY TO OTHERS WHAT WE ARE. AND WE MUST PASS THROUGH SOLITUDE AND DIFFICULTY, ISOLATION AND SILENCE, IN ORDER TO REACH FORTH TO THE ENCHANTED PLACE WHERE WE CAN DANCE OUR CLUMSY DANCE AND SING OUR SORROWFUL SONG -- BUT IN THIS DANCE OR IN THIS SONG THERE ARE FULFILLED THE MOST ANCIENT RITES OF OUR CONSCIENCE IN THE AWARENESS OF BEING HUMAN AND OF BELIEVING IN A COMMON DESTINY.”

- Pablo Neruda, 1971

Wednesday June 23, 2010
St. Teresa, Costa Rica

Ten years to come full circle to this place. It’s not the same place as it once was and initially it makes me really sad. As we approach the fork in the road, (left to Mal Pais, right to St. Teresa), my heart sinks. Ten years ago there was nothing at this corner but an old gas station. The road was dirt and after rounding the corner into St. Teresa you drove twenty meter passing only a small restaurant with a phone both out front. Then another kilometer to a small store on the right… all dirt road lined by jungle and fields on either side. To your left through the woods were trails that led to the beach…

I remember finding Zeneida’s Camp Ground and pitching my tent with some other surfers. We were so remote, the people who had come this far to this paradise in the middle of nowhere. But that’s how it is… paradise… pair-o-dice.

And with the beauty and the label comes the people who want to love it… and love it they do, and like so many other places before, they (we) love it to death. We bring our ideas of progress and before you know it a place that was once pure and simple has become filled with signs signs and more signs… places to sleep, eat, and be merry. Places to rent surf boards, places to rent all-terrain-vehicles, places offering real estate… buy your own piece of paradise.

Shame on us all… Joni Mitchell comes to mind… “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” Except in this case they put up a whole bunch of random personal American dreams of what people supposedly want.

For me the solitude and the silence were just fine.

It’s not all that bad, they haven’t built any HUGE hotels, and there isn’t a fast food joint, and to give credit where credit is due, it's impossible to build on the beach. This means when you walk the beach it still feels fairly pure, aside from all the people that are now calling it a home away from home.

When I was here ten years ago the only place you could get a surfboard was from some dudes fixing dings in a shack on a dirt road… the only place you could get food was from a small store selling beans and rice… and you had to walk a mile to call home.

Progress… why do we have to build everything towards more complexity… why can’t we just leave places alone.

Now, it’s important to note that I’m no better. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about buying land ten years ago and building my own slice of heaven. I’d be lying if even now I said I didn’t have plans to return home to my farm in Canada and build a dream… and as I read over what I've just written I realize that it's me holding onto the past that is speaking... when in reality the present is just fine. It's actually still a beautiful magical place.

But there does need to be a change in our thinking… now I want to build with nature, with respect and consideration for what's already there. Here there are places built with respect, but there is also so much of the other 'stuff' creeping in… but I’m being reactionary… it is what it is… and as I let it filter into my consciousness, that the place I once loved is forever changed, I have nothing to do but find acceptance. It’s like that with life, things change, and we can do nothing to avoid the reality of impermanence.

All we can do is witness and try to smile and maybe even laugh… who am I to judge what’s good and bad… more people are here now enjoying this place, more people are finding a piece of what I once thought was sacred… maybe it’s not all so bad. Maybe if the right balance evolves out of this mess of progress, we can all evolve with it. Eventually maybe we can see with a fresh perspective what it is we have been choosing to create, and only then, can we choose to create something else, something beautiful based in love, respect and compassion for what was there to begin with… rather than selling out paradise to satisfy our own egotistical vision of future perfect.

peace,
d

I was telling Forbes that I wanted some images of people weaving, and then bang, we met some nice Maya who invited us to their house to film an interview with their grandfather and talk to their mother while she wove. It was Forbes who really made it happen since I was having a shy day and his encouragement got the ball rolling. Some beautiful images once again :-)

peace,d

After sorting out our passport paperwork we left Guatemala city a few weeks back and headed straight for Lake Atitlan. We arrived in Pana and feeling directionless made ourselves at home on the side of a downtown street.

We slept there two nights while trying to get our bearings, when we met Nash and Steph in as local cafe. Nathalie Verwilghen is a filmmaker/photographer (http://www.flickr.com/photos/49188314@N06/sets/72157624330371006/) who quickly dove into the content of our project with ideas and welcome energy. She was actually on her way to meet with an editor and invited us along. We were soon surrounded by wall to wall film technology blissing me out... I've been thinking of the possibility of an edit suite down here for myself and now I was seeing the dream as another person's reality. Mmmm beautiful!

The doors began to fly open as, with Nash's help the interviews rolled in. She sent us in about five directions and we began shooting an interview a day for the remainder of our stay. Then there was her house/artist residence on the hill in Jabalito that we called home for two nights. She was a gracious host and wonderful friend to us both and we're very very grateful!

Passports ready back in Guate City we headed off to make tracks for Panama... We'll very likely be back as there are still more interviews we weren't able to get into, but everything in it's own time. Another place, more friends, who for some reason feel immediately more like another family.

Here are some quick pics of my poser dog, Nash's place, and the destruction left by Agatha...

peace,d

I´ve been busy over the last few days working on this Demo Reel for a future project that is coming together. Thought I´d share the fruits of my labors, keep in mind access to my footage is limited and this is edited out of a cafe ;-)
paz,d

Arrived at the Nicaragua border around 9:45 after diving all the way through Honduras and it's gauntlet of transit police. Forbes sat in the van waiting for us to cross this last border before Costa Rica. I went inside to immigration, who promptly tell me I'm not going any further...

I can't accept this. So I ask to speak with the boss. The guard directs me to a side door and I enter and see an older gentleman seated. I sit waiting for a moment before he motions me to his desk, he obviously means business and my heart is sinking.

In my broken spanish I ask him if there is any way I can get into Nicaragua with under six months on my passport. He says no, without hesitation. My heart sinks further in my chest. I sit for literally three minutes with my head in my hands, he doesn't say a word as he continues his paperwork ignoring me.

I tell him I can pay a fine, or a tax, or anything... I tell him I have money and all I need to do is get across Nicaragua to Costa Rica will I will be getting a new passport. He shakes his head, DENIED. I repeat the same phrase three more times thinking maybe he doesn't understand that I just drove 24hrs to be here from Guatemala. Nothing.

I fall into complete and utter numbness... and walk out.

Forbes is waiting, I don't even joke... "We're not going anywhere." I watch him deflate as this sinks in. We have to drive back.. through all those borders and hopefully we make it back to Guatemala.

A guy who is trying to sell insurance walks up, I tell him we aren' getting in. He asks me if I talked to the boss. I say yes. He says, it's too bad because without the car we could just walk across no problem. He then tells me he will call his friend who works as a customs officer and see what he can do. I agree although I already know we're not going anywhere. It's one thing to bribe the big boss, it's quite another to slip in by bribing others behind his back. I have visions of being locked in a Nicaraguan jail, with expiring passport and limited consular services. Nope, we're going back.

He returns, telling me his friend would be able to help, but because I spoke with the big boss he is afraid. I tell him not to worry. I understand.

So Forbes and I drive back 24hrs to Guatemala City... the trip is pretty uneventful since now I'm pro at passing borders. Except our battery dies at El Salvador/Guatemala border right in the gate Haha.. and being late in the evening the border guards help us charge it as I run around getting papers for Guatemala. There are little hassles regarding the van, because they're confused on my returning so quickly, but the gods are on my side and eventually all the paperwork is in order. We finally get the van started and sleep out the rest of the tropical storm in the border parking lot.

By midday we're back in Guatemala City and the following morning we're at the embassy starting our passport paperwork.

The entire trip cost us the following,
2.5days of travel
50$ in food
150$ in fuel
120$ in border fees (including tips to hucksters)
80$ in transit police bribes

2-3 nervous breakdowns, haha

But the lessons, although difficult, were priceless.

I feel the biggest thing to come out of it is a lesson I've been learning a lot about these past few months. Adaptation. We can't control the world around us, but we can always push on and adapt as necessary.

The road we end up on may not be the road we originally intended or hoped for, but sometimes we can't do anything but grip the steering wheel, grin and bear the let downs, and let go of what we thought was supposed to be in favor of a greater mysterious plan.

peace,d

(Shot of border and some shots of storm damage.)

I'll keep this brief. Honduras Transit Police SUCK!!!

In the 4hrs it took us to cross Honduras we were stopped four times, I paid a total of 80USD in bribes and all because I don't have reflective traffic triangles or a fire extinguisher!

I'm a pro at bribes now however and they won't get me again. Here are some tips on getting past the buggers.

Always have those items plus reflective tape on the outside of your vehicle, only heavy trucks need this but they'll try to get you for it if you look like you have money. There's also a secret I've learned from fellow travelers: laminated color photocopies of driver's license. When they stop you they take your license and refuse to give it back unless you give them a bribe or pay a ticket in town where your license eventually ends up. As a solution, many travelers just make laminated color copies and give them out, take the ticket, and then just drive on. The system isn't advanced enough to keep track of it all, so it's a safe and easy, and FREE solution. It's still best to ALWAYS wear your seatbelt and have items on hand since they are just using the law to work you over, and if you're following the law they have nothing!

It's all a big game, one that I'm increasingly wise to.

paz,
d

Friday, May 28, 6am
We hit the road early heading south. In a few hours we were at the El Salvador border... I ran around while Forbes chilled in the van, keeping the dog in back out of sight. Ran around in circles for a good few minutes getting all the papers in order and then were off heading south into yet another country. No real questions asked regarding my passport so we left feeling charged and optimistic about the road ahead.

Friday, May 28, 6pm
Arrived at Honduras border jsut as night was falling... scammers everywhere trying to help me with my border paperwork... some are honest and just working for a buck but with it getting dark I'm suspicious and have my guard up... paranoia is kicking in.

I invite one guy named Remi to give me a hand, since I trust my intuition about him and I want to get somewhere to sleep by nightfall. We start making moves to get across and a Border official yells "DOG" at me pointing to my van and then takes my drivers license and disappears aroudn a corner.

All of a sudden there's this guy who seems a bit drunk invading Remi's deal with me, he's moving in on Remi's turf and telling me he'll do it faster. He seems well intentioned but he's only making things more confusing. I'm starting to get frustrated since I'm starting to get suspicious of the whole arrangement and while I try to hold onto my papers they keep grabbing them to photocopy them or rush the process... papers out of hand at Honduran border do not sit well with me... I'm tired, hungry, pumped up on adrenaline, and not all there mentally...

We sort out the papers for the dog without a problem but are soon faced with the border officials who are also tired and hungry and supposedly out for dinner. The drunk guy tells me if I slip him 10 USD$ he'll pass it to the border guard and get me into the front of the line asap. I'm obviously suspicious but I want to get moving before it's too dark so as he keeps insisting he can help me I slip him the bill. It seems to work since all of a sudden he's elbowing his way to the front of the line where the border official sits waiting for him. Although I never see him hand off the bill. Soon I'm through with customs no problem but them they tell me I have to be entered into the 'system'... at one point in all this Remi passes what looks like one of my papers under his arm to another guy.. I follow him with my eyes and Remi says, "no, it's not your paper, it's another job." I must look suspicious since a moment later when the man returns Remi asks him to show me the paperwork... it's not mine... but in the time out of sight it could also have been switched. I ask for the remaining papers back, I have the drunk guys border identification in my pocket so I feel relatively safe, but I'm getting edgier with every passing moment.

Soon I'm in a back room with a bunch of young guys who tell Remi 'the system' is closed.. Remi bitches a bit and soon they are opening a door to yet another back room with a small computer. The young guy sits down and turns on the computer, Drunkard asks for my papers and 12$ to be entered into 'the system' I'm ultra paranoid by this point so I'm like, "I don't want to be entered into any fucking system... what is this system... why?" They are trying to explain that it's for insurance and so I don't get charged at the other boarder leaving the country... I'm not buying it, even though it's probably true... and everyone is getting increasingly rough around the edges. I put up a fight for a good ten minutes demanding to know what's going on, until finally I give in and just hand over the info.

In my paranoid head I'm thinking this is part of a gang network and I'm having all my van info entered into a system and as soon as I cross the border Forbes and I will disappear into the jungle never to be seen again. Lol.. it's amazing what fear can do to the mind, combined with 12hrs of driving, adrenaline, and a language barrier.

I finally make it back to the van, tip all my helpers who haven't really helped me too much, sit down and breath. Forbes is there with the camera ready to film me, as I gasp for air clearly frustrated, out of breath, and on the verge of breakdown.

"I just go worked I tell him... I don't know what happened... I might have just given all of our info over to gangs... hahaha..."

Forbes gets me to recount what happened into the camera and then we sit and breath as he puts away our papers.. "where's my passport?" he asks... we begin to search the van... nope... oh shit...

I head back out to the lions den, there are guys heading every which way, it's pitch dark, and all of a sudden another of the scammers comes up to me.. "You ok?" .. "No." I say.. adrenaline pumping, "I can't find my friend's passport. BIG tip if you can find it!" He walks up to the border window ahead of me, asks the guard who hands me the passport... I give him 20$ since I'm so relieved, even though I could have easily done the same.

Relieved but still on edge we eat some food at the border rest stop, and crawl into bed right there and then.. we're not moving any further this night... we've made it into Honduras and learned two valuable lessons we already knew...

1) Don't arrive at borders at nightfall.
2) Don't accept help from strangers, and if you do, maintain your balance and control... since they'll work you every which way if given the opportunity.

Cost of US border crossing.. Fees: 40, Tips 45... stress to my body and mind... ?

But I'm a stronger smarter and wiser man for it.

This is only the beginning of Honduras... we are soon to meet the Transit Police... ;-)

paz,d

Thursday, May 27, 2010
Guatemala City, Guatemala

We arrived into Guatemala City last afternoon and found the Embassy wasn't open till the following Monday. Ughh.. So what to do.. Forbes thinks we should try to make it to Costa Rica.. I'm not so sure, we eat a nice meal, go see a film (Robin Hood) and grab a cheap motel to think it over.

As we're coming out of an internet cafe that same evening it's raining... no it's hailing... no it's ashing little pebbles of volcanic debris on us... and everything else. It turns out Pacaya Volcano has erupted and is spewing ash all over the city... there's a moment where Forbes and I look at each other as the ash quickly fills our hair and covers our arms... it must be a sign... there's something about the energy in the air... let's try to push on to Costa Rica!!!

paz, amor y luz,
d