Peace Rider from Boquete, Panama 11/26/12

Dear Friends,

 

At this wiritng sitting in an internet cafe off the man drag, there´s only one in Boquete,  my home for now in the western highlands of Panama.  An array of flowers are in bloom gracing this place with their beauty and fragrances.  At my friend George´s place humming birds aggressive little creatures with their own kind dart about seeking flowers and nectar as well as vieing for sugar water at his feeder.  In the dry season these get filled more often than now when there are so many floral sources to choose from.

 

For some reason a small bat has been coming to the house attaching itself to the walls at night leaving its calling card  in the process making more work for Amalia, George´s AM helper and my Spanish coach. 

 

It´s blessedly cooler here being higher in elevation and rainy - it poured yesterday and the day before.  My plan to walk into town yesterday and watch the parade celebrating independence from Spain was aborted by the rain.  George has seen enough of these he didn´t want to venture into town to see the locura (craziness).  The parade went on but I waited until today to venture out with most of the rain past.   The news reported flooding and homes being washed away in Colon on the north coast in roughly the center of the country.. 

 

It´s rather nice to have no agenda and to just sit and enjoy the place and its beauty.  My Spanish is improving with practice.  The computer I´m using has its commands in Spanish, more practice.   One of the things I came to look for in town this day was harina integral, wheat flour. Bleached white flour is the other more common choice.  There was none a couple of days ago but I found some in two different stores today and bought a stash for the house.  Amalia bakes bread for George and the rest of us with a mixture of wheat and white flour.   I made an eatable version a couple of days ago and rice pudding last night.  Enjoy the process and the results are usually eatable with some renderings being a wee bit denser than  others.  The latest of mine got favorable reviews.

 

Into my second reading of Adyashanti - Falling Into Grace.  Tammy is helping George and I become more sensitive to the energies around us including our own.  We all have the ability but it does take letting go of the mind and being present.  Our minds are a tool, not who we are.  We are the awareness, the consciousness behind it something we can tune into and many are.  Adyanshanti is worth reading for his insights into the nature of mind growing out of his experience and searching for a way out of the human dilemma and suffering.  He speaks to the fundamentals of spiritual practice from a non-dogmatic point of view with fresh insights into the teachings and life of Jesus and the Buddha.   

 

Time to head back up the hill and home with a load of harina integral while the bajareque, mountain mist, is not falling.

 

Peace Rider

 

 

Peace Rider in Panama

Dear Friends,

 

I didn´t quite get to final thoughts on my ride as planned, apologies.   I headed out of Denver soon after I arrived to help Eddie at his cabin near Fairplay in South Park. My good intentions fell by the way side upon return amidst seeing other friends,  swapping worn out tires for new ones, making a new pants guard and deciding which things to keep and which to leave behind and oh yes, packing it all up.  Getting my break apart bicycle into its "suitcase" takes time and I usually end up sweating "blood" to make it fit.    

 

In the end I took most of my stuff with me rather leave things for my college friends Eddie and Babbie to deal with later.  Long underwear will come in real handy in Miami - right?  I was very grateful for their help throughout especially Babbie getting up at 4:30 AM to get me to the airport for an early flight.  I return to Miami and another friends place there then to the Yucatan in mid-December.  I left my bicycle behind there with Richard and Lisa but will take it to Mexico.

 

I was gifted several books complementary to one another in different ways but speaking to the theme of this ride - elevation of consciousness.  They are:  Falling Into Grace, insights into an end to suffering by Adyashanti, You Can Heal your Your Life by Louise Hay, and the Man Who Planted Trees by Jim Robbins.  

 

I´ve found them affirming.  See what you think.  I´m into all three savoring them from a relaxed perspective at another friend´s home on a mountainside outside Boquete in western Panama.  Cool but rainy here now in the wet season.

 

We are being pushed to break with the past and the illusion of separation to save ourselves in the face of an ecological crisis we have yet to take seriously.  It´s a four alarm fire and it doesn´t care who slept with whom.

 

More later now that I´m dismounted.  Got to git, my not so ample posterior is sore from sitting at the computer too this day.

 

Don - Peace Rider

 

 

 

 

Peace Rider Arrives Safely in Denver 11/1/2012

Just a quick note to let all know who are following the blog that I made it safely to North Glen, CO my destination for the moment.  I left the next day for South Park to help my college friend Eddie Kockman with some work around his cabin near Fairplay. 

 

When we return to Denver no later than this Thursday will try to carve put time to together a longer piece on final thoughts and learnings from my third jaunt across the country by bicycle. 

 

I would say in brief that traveling across Montana and Wyoming I was reminded of a similar windy passage across Kansas on my first ride.  Sometimes the winds were a bane with stong crosswinds out of the west and southwest and at other times a real boost with a stong tailwind pushing me along.  I was very glad to not be on a west bound slog.   But it did give me a real sense of what our pioneer forefathers faced heading out onto the prairies.  I thoroughly enjoyed free camping on the prairie often led to the only stand of trees for miles around.  Without a heated tent a morning and evening campfire to cook on and warm hands was a boon to a body weary from a days hard but satisfy work. 

 

As it stands now I will be leaving Colorado November 13th,  to catch up with friends in Panama, rest a bit and let what needs to happen next clarify.

 

Peace Rider - Don