Archive for the ‘Cultures’ Category

Saving The Books

Saturday, June 14th, 2008

If I could have participated in only one flood relief effort in Iowa, this is the one I would have chosen: June 14, 2008 Heroic story of books By MIKE KILEN mkilen@dmreg.com Iowa City, Ia. — In all the statewide stories of heroism, it would be hard to find more passion than in the ...

Where My Heart Lies

Saturday, June 14th, 2008

  I am in a rural area.   It is a flat plain, with rich, dark, loamy soil.   The dirt here is dark, from cocoa to black – from merely laced with fertility to boiling with it.   The people here are friendly, open, rich in spirit and generosity. They are genuine.   The ...

The Operator

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

  If my foulies could talk, I’m sure they’d have expressed mixed feelings. Sure, they were grateful for finally breathing fresh air again after being packed away since sailing across the north Atlantic, but this was fresh water running off of them. “What is up with this?” I’m sure they’d ask ...

A Place

Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008

  I know a place    For the rest of the story, click here: http://www.hackneys.com/travel/chile/docs/aplace.pdf

Parallels

Friday, March 28th, 2008

In the early 1900s Argentina was the second richest country in the world. In subsequent decades its middle class enjoyed a very high standard of living. The country was rich in seemingly infinite natural resources, copious crop producing areas whose soils were as rich as any on the planet short ...

Gildas Kansas Jones

Sunday, February 3rd, 2008

3 February, 2008 Trevelin, Argentina   Dear Troop 27,   One of the best things about traveling around the world is that you discover unexpected things in unexpected places, including here in Patagonia.   As in the United States, when Argentina was opened for settlement, advertising and recruitment was conducted across Europe to attract settlers ...

The Falcon Sanctuary

Friday, February 1st, 2008

01 February 2008 12:06:37 GMT     I was a car guy most of my life. I became car aware pretty early. By the time I was eight or so I was making model distinctions. I blossomed into full scale car lust after I turned 10 and we moved to Adel.   I have vivid ...

Impressions of Santiago, Valparaiso, Viña del Mar & Riñaca

Saturday, January 26th, 2008

We spent our first month in Chile in Santiago and the Valparaiso areas. In general, Chile is a fully developed economy. There is very, very little that is available in the U.S. or Europe that isn't available here or won't be within a week or two. The country is run by accountants, ...

The Next Sunday

Sunday, January 20th, 2008

  One week ago, our rig came off the ship damaged. We didn’t know if it was destroyed or not.   One week ago, a couple of kids playing with matches started a brush fire that became a wind driven firestorm that destroyed 88 homes in Valparaiso’s Cerro La Cruz neighborhood. That ...

The Inferno of La Cruz

Thursday, January 17th, 2008

Thursday, 17 January, 2008   Our rig came off the ship at 6:20AM on Sunday, 14 January.   We had a chance to partially inspect the rig later that day and knew it was damaged, perhaps destroyed. We sold our house to clear the decks for these years of travel, so this meant ...