It is big in Texas but there is no place named Nubian. On my way to the annual ARARA (American Rock Art Research Association) conference in Del Rio I toured the west in a yellow beetle. I visited the Alamo in San Antonio with brother Jay and family and I attended a Nubian vault-building workshop with Adobe Alliance in the Big Bend country of West Texas. This was vault building with the most basic materials. You can create an earthen roof without the use of any type of form. No nails, no wood, no metal parts at all. Of course the walls were already finished when I arrived making the job of creating a vaulted ceiling in a week easier.
The vault, a series of mud-brick catenary arches, literally goes up in mid air. We spent time chipping away at the adobe bricks and placing them upright. Always looking up created this fill in the sky feeling. Each day we created more roof, more shade, more miracles. The bricks stuck together upside down. What a trick!!
The patch of blue became smaller by day. After lifting and placing and chipping for hours at a time it was clear something was just not sitting well. By the last day we were forced to knock it all down. There was a budge on the outside and that created a wave. The look was lovely,but the structure wasn't. Some in the group simply hated the whole idea and to say the least there was not a smile on Simone's face at all when she realized her detached attachment technique for this stage of the project ( She already has masterminded a house and a dome guestroom) was not working. I found pleasure in the destruction. I was attached to the learning process as opposed to the product and the act of taking it apart was as systematic as putting it up was. Attempts were made to save each 50 cent block of adobe, and well, I had fun.
If you'd like some big Texas sky and a earthy project, this would be the place to go. Simone Swan studied with Hassan Fathy who is no longer alive but some say she is the authority on adobe dome and vault construction in the USA. For more info about efforts in the past to shelter the masses you should read this Hassan Fathy’s “Architecture for the Poor”.
April 5, 2010
April 4, 2010
Gracias, Si ! (Mexico)
Just a word about being in baja california. This is a place serious about coffee time. It goes beyond the actual drink into a realm meaning time to have coffee, la hora de café. You shouldn’t miss it if you are invited and invited we were. It is what you do in the sierras.
If you are on a horse, in a truck or on foot, and if you pass a ranch you had better check to see if anyone is home because they might want to have coffee with you. It means come in, sit in the shade, or stand around the open fire stove. It means dump a load of sugar in the hot cup and eat the tortillas and queso fresco hidden under a brightly embodied panuela. It means talk, chat, laugh a little and listen in the background to the radio airwaves broadcasting little bits of news across the repitadoras from one arroyo to the next. It means how are you and it can happen any time of day.
I had a hard time refusing the coffee call. Real hard to say no and not totally polite to refuse but when that coffee comes around with the New Year’s day buenulo, you’d be smart to say “gracias, si”.
The other great coffee tradition is café de chiva, or cowboy coffee. We had ours prepared on the side of cliffs or on rocky porteros by the one and only Chente, the masterful trailblazer, mulero, sportsman, singing cowboy with hands the size of a grizzly. He can bang out coffee faster than starbucks. It’s the purest, thickest mountain mud I’ve ever had. In the end you do spend time spitting out the loose grounds, but who would have guessed the seriousness fashioned to this man of the mountains when it comes to coffee time.
“Café?…Gracias, si!”
If you are on a horse, in a truck or on foot, and if you pass a ranch you had better check to see if anyone is home because they might want to have coffee with you. It means come in, sit in the shade, or stand around the open fire stove. It means dump a load of sugar in the hot cup and eat the tortillas and queso fresco hidden under a brightly embodied panuela. It means talk, chat, laugh a little and listen in the background to the radio airwaves broadcasting little bits of news across the repitadoras from one arroyo to the next. It means how are you and it can happen any time of day.
I had a hard time refusing the coffee call. Real hard to say no and not totally polite to refuse but when that coffee comes around with the New Year’s day buenulo, you’d be smart to say “gracias, si”.
The other great coffee tradition is café de chiva, or cowboy coffee. We had ours prepared on the side of cliffs or on rocky porteros by the one and only Chente, the masterful trailblazer, mulero, sportsman, singing cowboy with hands the size of a grizzly. He can bang out coffee faster than starbucks. It’s the purest, thickest mountain mud I’ve ever had. In the end you do spend time spitting out the loose grounds, but who would have guessed the seriousness fashioned to this man of the mountains when it comes to coffee time.
“Café?…Gracias, si!”
April 2, 2010
A look at San Borjitas Rock Art
To see the real thing, in true color, you should visit the site near Mulege, called San Borjitas, off of Highway one. Short of that just click on the image to see it larger.
March 4, 2010
Pits not to FAll in
My most recent travels in North Carolina got me stuck in a one-room airport with the TSA opening 2 weeks worth of dirty clothes while searching for the shampoo I had left in the ditty bag. He located it and then examined all my things; even spoke to me about the tea tree oil soap. I'm not kidding. I now know his wife uses it. He spied my seashells and sand and asked about the beach. My bra and undies were dangling in plain sight. Ughhh, I was dumbfounded and could barely utter a response.
The other unfortunate tidbit of the travel part of life was the woman with the dog. She sat down with the tiny mousy dog in her lap and held it there for the 5 hour flight to Charlotte, NC. She told all who could hear that she had a doctor’s note, and those who were not in earshot flagged the attendant and asked why this woman was allowed to have a pet and peevishly asked how they too could do that, bring their own pet on board next time. A bunch of whining ensued. The woman with the disability got lots of attention. Perhaps that is was what the doctor ordered.
Beyond all this, traveling to places is really boring, as in not fun, when you are flying. I should mention the two minor mishaps I had at the airport and the one breakdown on the road. On that same trip to the east coast I had boarded US Airways in SFO but sans Droid, my new telephone i.e. smartware device which was plugged in at home. I frantically called home with a payphone card when I finally found a pay phone. I waited some, and called again and ended up leaving messages for Jon.
The plane boarded on time and I settled in to my seat and like a winged love note, an attendant asks, “Are you Sheila,?"
“Yes” I responded while she handed me my phone.
Then she informs me she will wait until I call my husband on the phone. Stunned I was feeling as if we were in reality TV and from a distance all were watching my hero Jon make the great race against time to prove his love and concern for me. I was safe and sound with my Droid and he had driven all the way home (with a stop for coffee) listened to the messages, got my phone, returned to SFO, parked the car, and wrangled a counter person ( thank you United) into hand delivering my Droid!! Phew. If he wasn’t such a hero I’d have deleted the whole event.
And of course there is the tire. We have a trusty 1998 4runner. It gets rave comments whenever we travel the backroads. This past Christmas eve, on our way to el capintero, the left front wheel just gave out. It was a thud, and it felt as if we hit a pothole. The deep in the desert road we were on was one of these one-way only deals and we were straddling the middle, on an incline. Stuck. Hard to believe, but after a few attempts from our rescuers (two hours later) we simply left it there, unloaded our belongings, and proceed to the ranch for festivities. The truck part we needed was broadcast on the radio and a local from Mulege, passing by, delivered it to the side of the road so our friend Chalito (a visiting fisherman/rancher) spent a few hours fixing it. So here we have yet another hero (the Toyota and our friend). We owe you one Chalito!
The other unfortunate tidbit of the travel part of life was the woman with the dog. She sat down with the tiny mousy dog in her lap and held it there for the 5 hour flight to Charlotte, NC. She told all who could hear that she had a doctor’s note, and those who were not in earshot flagged the attendant and asked why this woman was allowed to have a pet and peevishly asked how they too could do that, bring their own pet on board next time. A bunch of whining ensued. The woman with the disability got lots of attention. Perhaps that is was what the doctor ordered.
Beyond all this, traveling to places is really boring, as in not fun, when you are flying. I should mention the two minor mishaps I had at the airport and the one breakdown on the road. On that same trip to the east coast I had boarded US Airways in SFO but sans Droid, my new telephone i.e. smartware device which was plugged in at home. I frantically called home with a payphone card when I finally found a pay phone. I waited some, and called again and ended up leaving messages for Jon.
The plane boarded on time and I settled in to my seat and like a winged love note, an attendant asks, “Are you Sheila,?"
“Yes” I responded while she handed me my phone.
Then she informs me she will wait until I call my husband on the phone. Stunned I was feeling as if we were in reality TV and from a distance all were watching my hero Jon make the great race against time to prove his love and concern for me. I was safe and sound with my Droid and he had driven all the way home (with a stop for coffee) listened to the messages, got my phone, returned to SFO, parked the car, and wrangled a counter person ( thank you United) into hand delivering my Droid!! Phew. If he wasn’t such a hero I’d have deleted the whole event.
And of course there is the tire. We have a trusty 1998 4runner. It gets rave comments whenever we travel the backroads. This past Christmas eve, on our way to el capintero, the left front wheel just gave out. It was a thud, and it felt as if we hit a pothole. The deep in the desert road we were on was one of these one-way only deals and we were straddling the middle, on an incline. Stuck. Hard to believe, but after a few attempts from our rescuers (two hours later) we simply left it there, unloaded our belongings, and proceed to the ranch for festivities. The truck part we needed was broadcast on the radio and a local from Mulege, passing by, delivered it to the side of the road so our friend Chalito (a visiting fisherman/rancher) spent a few hours fixing it. So here we have yet another hero (the Toyota and our friend). We owe you one Chalito!
Flying High
Last year I bit the bullet and am now a proud owner of a frequent flyer credit card. My statement claims that I can boost 58,000 miles after receiving doubled credits for the promotion. I’m working hard for those miles (remember mine is a travel sabbatical) so I’ve decide to do a little running total, which will include driving time, but exclude mule, swimming, boat and hiking miles. I’ve started the calculations from my trip to Tanzania so the summer trip that started in July 2009 to New York and the UP won’t count.
20,000 SFO – Dar es Salaam, Tanzania flying (plus boat rides)
2,060 SFO- Mulege, Baja CA, Mexico round trip driving (plus mule ride)
1,060 SFO- Mexicali, Mexico round trip driving
600 SFO- Zzyzx, CA round trip driving
2,500 SFO – West Palm Beach, FL flying
607 West Palm Beach,FL – New Berne, NC flying (plus boat ride)
2,560 New Berne, NC – SFO flying
588 Rosemond, CA driving
This is one traveling fool with nearly with 30,000 real time miles in 6 months, averages to 5,000 miles per month, which doesn’t bode well for my carbon footprint even if I don’t do plastic.
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