Chicken Bus #1 Chiclayo

Before, when I came upon a rocky beach I'd be disappointed and say, "Dang, this is beach is too rocky." Whereas, now that I'm older and no longer believe it's "all about me" like I did when I was younger, I say, "Wow, look at all the different colored rocks."

And so, it came time to leave the beach and climb on the first of many Chicken Buses, but first...

there was high art that needed to be created. Jo had an image in mind, but she was going to be in the shot, so first it needed to be modeled so she could conceptualize it better. She has been wearing this blue shirt in all the beach shots for the past two years and she wanted to dramatically end the "blue series".

Luckily, a low-priced fashion model happened to be available that morning and with a cry of "Action!" the camera's began firing their shots continuously.

Thus, it was very easy for Joella to see what needed to be done and how to act once it had be choreographed for her. Her's was essentially a "one-take" wonder and "in the can" toot sweet.

Art's no problem if you know what you're doing.

Now that I have gained your complete attention by employing the common advertising device know as semi-nude photography let me change the subject completely sans segue.

"Chicken Buses" are what I am going to call the transportation we'll be using for the next, how-ever-many weeks. These vehicles come in all shapes and sizes and they move all kinds of things besides people and suitcases. This record may not be as romantic as Che's "Motorcycle Diaries",

but I will try and make it as honest as I can or my name's not Ernesto Kuvera, which it isn't.

Cuenca, Ecuador:
Population - 276,964
Elevation: 8460.34 ft./2578.71m
Latitude: S 2° 53' 56.9497”
Longitude: W 79° 0' 49.2188"

Guayaquil:
Population – 1,952,029
Elevation: 22.23 ft./6.78 m
Latitude: S2° 11' 48.2181"
Longitude: W79° 54' 52.3828"

Total distance
Cuenca to Guayaquil: 80.29 miles/129.21 KM
(as the crow flys)

Ayampe:
Population – 100
(data source: the bartender/ a law school drop out)
Elevation: 0.00ft/0.00 m
Latitude: S1° 38' 36.974"
Longitude: W 80° 49' 0.4907"

Puerto Lopez:
Population – 20,000
Elevation: 0.00ft/0.00 m
Latitude: S1° 33' 55.2852"
Longitude: W80° 48' 1.1646"

Total distance
Guayaquil to Puerto Lopez: 75.62 miles/121.69 KM
(as the dolphin swims)

Piura, Peru:
Population – 325,466
Elevation: 91.89 ft/28.01 m
Latitude: S5° 13' 20.0874"
Longitude: W80° 41' 0.9375"

Chiclayo, Peru:
Population – 577,375
Elevation: 91.89 ft/ 27.91 m
Latitude: S6° 46' 25.3785"
Longitude: W79° 50' 55.0781"

Guayaquil, Ecuador to Chiclayo, Peru:
318.11 miles/511.94 KM
(as the donkey cart trotts)

Chachapoyas, Peru:
Population – 20,279
Elevation: 6947.77 ft/ 2117.68
Latitude: S6° 13' 1.2444"
Longitude: W
77° 50' 56.8359"

We finally get off the (one of many) bus, starting to feel homesick for Christmas with our family and friends, until we get to the city center...

and it isn't so bad after all.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everry where we go...

They don't have pine or fir trees, so they just decorate evry tree they find instead.

Joella stops to ask directions to the markets (stores), so she can do a little Christmas shopping.

Even though this may not have been what she had in mind, you shouldn't complain when you get your presents, dear readers.

She went through quite a bit to find these gifts for you!

Anyway we finally find something for all of you and are making our way back to our hostel

when we see they have turned on the lightds for us to see and fell merry,

just like our friend

hardware store Dave does back home.

Merry Christmas, Dave (and everyone else, too).

Keep the lights on, so we can find our way back.

Adios Cuenca

Cuenca, Ecuador

Latitude: S 2° 53' 56.9497"

Longitude: W 79° 0' 49.2188"

Elevation: 2461 Meters/8074

Population: 276,964

Dec. 6, 2011

It was bittersweet saying good-bye to Cuenca, our school and the friends we had made over the past two years; but

because we are living the "contemporary nomadic" life of TEFL (teaching english as a foreign language) teachers it was time to go. And so, at 7:40 AM we boarded the Ruta Oriental bus with our 9 large bags, forgot the sandwichs we made and headed for the coast to rest for four days. Rest and wait before crossing the border into Peru where the President had just declared a state of emergency because a Colorado gold mine was poisoning the high altitude lakes of the indigenous people who were protesting by blocking all the roads.

Ayampe, Ecuador

Latitude: S 1° 37' 47.5557"

Longitude: W 80° 49' 0.4907"

Elevation: Sea Level

Literally, a curve in the road away from the late-night, throbbing discos of most beach towns.

To a quiet place tucked away behind the lonely, one-man police station;

hidden amongst other hippie-surfer lodges;

down the Spanish Bayonet guarded;

behind the open-air, cemetary;

and corrals of beach-riding livestock;

to the Cabanas La Iguana

and Room Number # 1.

Time for a little relaxing,

wave-shredding,

sun bathing,

hammock swinging,

beer drinking,

and friend making.

Or, grocery shopping to the next, bigger town

Puerto Lopez, so Corinne could pose

for Facebook material.

The Recent Winner of the Cervantes Prize

Poems by Nicanor Parra
Born in 1914 in the southern city
of Chillan, Nicanor Parra, the Antipoet of Chile, studied engineering
at the University of Chile, physics at Brown University, and cosmology at
Oxford, and spent many years as a teacher of mathematics and a professor of
physics. He published his first book of poems in 1938, but it was in 1954
with Poemas Y Antipoemas that he
became known as an "antipoet." His antitranslator, Liz Werner, is a
native New Yorker, poet, and novelist who has lived and studied in
Valparaiso, Chile, where she worked closely with Nicanor Parra.
(translated by Liz Werner)




Something
Like That

PARRA LAUGHS like he’s condemned to hell
but when haven’t poets laughed?
at least he declares that he’s laughing

they pass the years pass
the years
at least they seem to be passing
hypothesis non fingo
everything goes on as if they were passing

now he starts to cry
forgetting that he’s an antipoet

0

STOP RACKING YOUR BRAINS
nobody reads poetry nowadays
it doesn’t matter if it’s good or bad

0

FOUR DEFECTS that my Ophelia won’t forgive me for:
old
lowlife
communist
and National Literature Prize

< for the first three
but never for the last>>

0
MY CORPSE and I
understand each other marvelously
my corpse asks me: do you believe in God?
and I respond with a hearty NO
my corpse asks: do you believe in the government?
and I respond with the hammer and sickle
my corpse asks: do you believe in the police?
and I respond with a punch in the face
then he gets up out of his coffin
and we go arm in arm to the altar

0

THE TRUE PROBLEM of philosophy
is who does the dishes

nothing otherworldly

God
the truth
the passage of time
absolutely
but first, who does the dishes

whoever wants to do them, go ahead
see ya later, alligator
and we're right back to being enemies

0

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT
compose a sonnet
that begins with the following iambic pentameter line:
I would prefer to die ahead of you
and that ends with the following:
I would prefer that you be first to die










0

YOU KNOW what happened
while I was kneeling
in front of the cross
looking at His wounds?

He smiled at me and winked!

before I thought He didn’t ever laugh:
but now yeah I believe for real

0

A DECREPIT old man
throws red carnations
at his beloved mother’s coffin

what you are hearing, ladies and gentlemen:
an old wino
bombarding his mother’s tomb
with ribbons of red carnations

0

I QUIT sports for religion
(I went to mass every Sunday)
I abandoned religion for art
art for the mathematical sciences

until at last illumination hit

and now I’m someone only passing through
who puts no faith in the whole or its parts
No
President's Statue Escapes

From those infallible pigeons
Clara Sandoval used to tell us:

Those pigeons know exactly what they’re doing

End The Violence Now!

It may say, somewhere, this "short" is 14 minutes long; but, unless you like staring into pitch black darkness, turn the video off after 7:10.

You'll know that, except for the noggin slammin thoughts, it's over.

http://youtu.be/kytOuOpeyFE