North by Northwest

My bike is running again, and I'm out of time and excuses.
Its time to hit the road and head North (well NNW actually).

I haven't thought about the route much but the basic plan is to head North into Mexico and then NorthWest to the coast and then follow the coast North from there. My bike chain is quite badly worn so Ill see how it goes and keep an eye out for a bike shop that may be able to get me a new one (mostly the bikes around here are 250cc or smaller and big bikes are very uncommon).
If things go well then Ill hop over onto the Baja peninsula for the top section of Mexico and Id like to stop again in Page, Arizona for more photos;- no hard plan now though.

So its goodbye to Marie, and Marni and Indy and the others and good bye to Lake Atitlan and San Pedro and Guatemala too.

Tomorrow morning I hit the road!

I Just Had the Strangest Dream

... It was as if I had been held captive by a bunch of freaky spiritual people somewhere in the jungles of central America... And I was put through this extended indoctrination process for months with a strange diet and lots of incense etc. It wasn't that bad but it didn't really do anything for me. I have no idea what triggered the dream but I guess it doesn't matter.

Right now I have to concentrate on trying to get my motorbike working again...
It just stopped firing on one cylinder a couple of days ago. Fortunately I have a great mechanic here and it took us a day to figure out that one of the coils was "had it". It took that long because I still get a spark when the plug is out of the cylinder - but it turns out that the spark is too weak when in the cylinder - Thats a new one for me!
Anyway, the new coil will cost me $200! and has to come from the capital so Ill just have to sit and wait here a couple of days.

I need to get on the road heading North within about a week if I am to get back top Vancouver by the start of April....


What on earth are you talking about?
... It cant possibly be June, it was just February last week!...

Silence is Golden

Having just finished my long meditation silence, I have a few thoughts on the idea of silence.
... Its wonderful! :)))

I started my silence about two weeks before the normal course requirement of 40 days and so did most of the others on my course. So, I spent nearly two month of not talking. I admit that I did have a couple of days off in there: One was to talk with friends in a town across the lake about possibly buying a block of land (still in the process on that) and there was another day or so in riding my bike to the boarder for new permits on two occasions. On one of those trips, I managed to fall off again so there were a few expletives in my conversation at the time but there was no real damage other than me limping for a week or so. (I was very lucky it was not worse but have to admit that this time it was all my own fault - must pay absolute attention while riding!)
After about a week of silence, you find that you really need to talk very little to be able to get everything that you need. And you don't need to be rude about it, you can smile and nod to say hello and goodbye to passers by; and most people can figure out what you mean with a few simple gestures - It just isn't a problem.

The two things that it changes most are:
1) That you cant complain about anything.
Normally, if something annoys us, we vent the frustration verbally. This of course rarely changes the situation at all, but we seem to feel a little better by talking about it. But it seems to me this really just puts more negativity into the world and makes us all feel less happy overall. When you are silent and don't have the option to complain then you very rapidly learn to just disengage from the stress and move on to either directly doing something about the "problem", or accepting it as a fact and moving on with something else - Both these effects are far better options :)

2) That you are far less distracted by empty pulp conversations.
It amazes me how much time most people can spend in chattering about nothing! I think we do this so that we generate a sense of connectedness and belonging with the people around us. The down side is that it occupies a huge amount of our time and causes us no end of worries over social acceptance etc. For myself, I found the lack of empty chatter in my world was a great relief and made me far more peaceful. With that peace, I found I didn't need to talk to feel that connectedness, I could just look around and see it in people rather than being distracted from it and stressed by the constant annoying babble.

Ive been out of silence for a few days now and I'm still just not bothering to talk that much... I'm finding that I have little to say and am not really interested in participating in most of the conversations that are going on around me. So, I just sit and listen and smile politely. Not sure how long it will last, but it could be quite a while.
Not sure how other people are perceiving me at present but I should probably check to see if they think I am not well, or being rude..... maybe tomorrow :)

Food - Mostly Optional!

Well, I have just finished my meditation course and with it my fasting.
I decided to stop after seven days since there was not time to make it to two weeks before the end of the course and I wanted (needed) to be able to eat well when I finished so that I could be ready to ride off North to go get me a job and start paying my bills :)

Here are my conclusions from the extended fasting experience:

1) It doesn't get any worse than about day three.
After that, the days are all the same and you get into a comfortable rhythm.

2) It really isn't a problem for the body!
I lost weight each day and there were visible, measurable differences in my physique every day (notably my belt got tighter and tighter till I got down to the bone), but I was still basically fully functional. Everyday I walked about 10km and while I got quite a bit slower at going up hills after the first couple of days, It didn't get any worse than that. I have to admit of course that I am in a very mild climate and if it were very cold then of course the duration without food would be greatly reduced.

3) It is a problem for the mind!
So my body could deal with it no problem, but it is definitely quite a challenge for the mind! As I mentioned, the mornings were easy enough due to the overnight mobilization of reserves, but the afternoons were invariably when the cravings would arise. This would be much less of a problem if the mind were distracted by other things to work on but I put myself in the position of not really having other stuff to do so it made it harder.
Anyway, I think if you can last three days, you can go much further without too much trouble.

4) We need far less food than we think we do!
After this experience, I'm absolutely sure that I could go two weeks without food and be quite healthy. There are a couple of my friends who I would say could go the same distance with no issues (Greg Schmidt and Bill Mark). And for pretty much everyone else that I know, I'm sure that you could go twice that far (yes, 4 weeks without food!) and not have a problem! I was really thin after four months of Yoga and fruit and veggie diet so I had very little reserves. All of my friends, as I picture you, carry plenty of "reserves" and now, having tried the complete abstinence from food for myself, I'm sure it is far less necessary than our weak little minds make us think.

All that said, I have no plans to do the long term fasting thing regularly - Its not what Id call "fun" but it really isn't that bad.

Anyway, I can safely say that getting stuck somewhere without food for days on end is absolutely no longer any concern for me at all...

A Few of My Favorite Things

Its day six of my fasting.

Actually, its not as bad as I thought it might be!
The mornings are easy since my body has mobilized "deep" reserves over night and my blood sugar level is OK.
The afternoons however are much harder. Blood sugar is low and the hours really drag by. It doesn't help that without food, there is no shopping for food, waiting in restaurants, no cooking or kitchen cleanup, minimal toileting and likewise, minimal tooth brushing.

So the day is mine to contemplate things - from sunrise to sunset!
And I thought Id share some of the many things that go through my mind these days....

BBQ
Steak, Chops, Sausages wrapped in a slice of buttered bread with ketchup, Chicken Breast with Brie, Marinated mushrooms, zucchini, bell peppers...

Roasts
Roast Beef, Lamb with mint sauce, Turkey, chicken, pork, duck, potatoes, pumpkin, beet, carrot... actually just about anything!

Sushi
Ebbi, Sabba, Salmon sashimi, California roll, Gomae, Teriyaki chicken, and so much more...

Snacks
Fresh french bread with butter, Toast and vegemite, grilled cheese and tomato on toast, good sharp cheddar cheese, Swiss cheese and ham sandwich, roast beef sandwich, humus and pitta, Corn chips and Babaganoosh, ...

Fast Food
An Ozzy "Burger with the lot" including fried egg, beetroot, and slice of pineapple, Doritos (cheese), Twisties, Rum-n-Raisin chocolate, Violet Crumble bar, McDonalds egg McMuffin (I'm not proud of it but its true!)...

Other Stuff
Latte, Coke, milkshakes with malt, Greek salad, Spinach salad, Baked potato soup, Christines "birthday beens", Cajun pork ribs...


and the list just goes on and on.... and on...

:))))

Fast and Slow

Well, I'm down to the last week of the meditation course now.
It was getting really quite slow and tedious for the last month I must admit. It didn't help much that there were a couple of Hurricanes in the area and it rained for pretty much two weeks straight. The place where I'm staying is quite "rustic" and it is lovely in fine weather to be sure. However, when the rain sets in, it all turns to mud, and the facilities here are somewhat less than Western standard!... The kitchen, showers, and bathroom all turned into a dripping wet festering pit of bacteria! - not at all pleasant.
Anyway, the rain seems to have passed now and we just get it in the afternoon or overnight which is normal for the season. The mornings are usually very nice and sunny.

To help add a little interest to my life, I decided to "up the anti" for the last week and a half of  "retreat" and am doing a full fast. That means no food at all - just herb teas and water!
I'm on day three now and I'm getting thinner, and its hard work walking up hills, and I kind of walk in a bit of a random manner, and I sort of stand around at corners and such. My mind still works fine but it doesn't hold an idea for too long and processes a little slower :)

Funny thing!
Ive noticed that now I don't seem to find people in my way all the time. I'm not moving faster than everyone else like usual! So Ive been checking behind to see if now I'm the slow one and am obstructing others - Nop!
Hmm, After three days with no food at all I am now moving and behaving like a "normal" person!
That begs the question, "Is this what it feels like for them?" Wow, if so then I really pity them and it goes a long way to explaining why people are the way they seem to be!

... I have to say that I'm glad I'm not like this all the time.

I wonder what Ill feel like after another three days of no food?
If I feel like I'm going to faint or fall over then Ill eat something, but for now its quite interesting and Ill see how far I can go with it.

... and just for kicks, I bought a Snickers bar and a bag of Doritos and left them sitting on my desk in my room - just to make it a challenge :)

Pattern Recognition

Ive been wondering what it is that I enjoy so much when I look at a nice view.
I seem to be a bit more effected by this than most of my friends, and the effect is in a good many things that I do:

These days I generally am much happier to sit in the mountains with a good view rather than run around bagging summits or "getting more vertical" when back-country skiing.

I will happily sit out a back country ski run to be able to just enjoy the view in peace and quiet.

I can sit and watch waves at the beach or wind in long grass for literally hours.

I also did not buy a house till I found one with a nice view (though the cost is of course much higher).

What is it that I am looking for?...

Well, I think it is patterns!

Now we can all recognize simple patterns, and I think we all feel some sort of pleasure in a pattern - It may be as simple as a tile pattern on the floor, or perhaps even the clean plates all lined up in the dishwasher. Likewise, we recognize patterns in nature, from the repeating fractals of a fern leaf to the wind formed ripples in the sand at the beach.

There is something intrinsic about patterns that we connect to but I think it goes much deeper than just a surface visual satisfaction.

As I said, I'm sure all of us can recognize and appreciate the simple patterns we see in nature, but I also think we are responding to the same thing when we look at more complex scenes. For example, I think most of us would agree that we find looking at a "Japanese style" garden is a very pleasing experience. Likewise, there are plenty of examples of architecture that are not rigidly formal and symmetrical that most of us would agree are very pleasing to the eye (and of course plenty of examples too that we find hideous!).
But what is it that we are seeing?
I think other people might argue with the word pattern, but I think we would agree that there is a sense of harmony and balance that we are seeing.

And that's the key I think. It is "Balance" that we are seeing.

And I think that it is that same sense of balance that I see in the waves and the wind and the mountains and the forest etc. Its all about balance!

But what is it that is balanced?

As I said, I think it is far deeper than the visual effect.
I think in fact that it is the balance of interactions between natural laws! And I think that there is something really deep down inside of us that connects with this balance and we recognize it at a very primitive level.

In the simple example of patterns in the sand, the laws interacting are Gravity, fluid dynamics and structural statics (for the engineers out there). And because there are only two or three laws interacting, the patterns are relatively simple and easily seen.
In the more complex situations, there are literally dozens of different "forces" balancing each other out and the pattern is harder to see as such but we still detect the balance.
This explains to me why I like those mountain views and why I am far happier in a natural environment than in a man made one.

Man of course can balance forces in a very complex and effective fashion as can be seen by the amazing machines and structures that we build. But it is a mechanical and rigid balance that we achieve, not the fluid and dynamic and automatic balance that is achieved by nature - and I think I detect that deep down.

But why do I like some natural scenes more than others?Well, I think its like those ripples in the sand... While the forces involved are always there and are always automatically balancing each other out, the ripples that we see are only there sometimes, when conditions are right. So it is with the natural scenes; I only sense the balance when it is expressed "strongly". Of course as I get better at detecting the balance I can see it in more things and I get the enjoyment from a wider variety of scenes.

And why do I like this persons appearance more than that person? They are both just as "natural" so why the difference?
Well, it turns out that that is balance too. Studies have shown (though I cant quote the papers!) that "beauty" is largely statistical "averageness" in bodily/facial proportions. So we have a genetic predisposition to like physical proportions that are not out of the ordinary (ie balanced) and of course we have some of our own socially/culturally acquired preferences superimposed on the genetic model as well.

So, there it is. I think when I like the look of something, it is the natural balance that I'm seeing!

Perhaps I should date a gymnast :)