Lyn Fuchs's Blog, page 18

Twisted Vagabondage Tale From Uganda

Last year, I traveled from my home to the western slopes of Mount Elgon: the home of the Bantu-speaking Bagisu people. My reason for going there was that I wanted to know their history. Locals say, "You cannot know their origins unless you listen to their stories." Thus, I came to hear and learn that the Bagisu ancestor Masaba emerged from a cave on Mount Elgon around 500 years ago. 

Masaba is said to still inhabit the upper Elgon slopes, where he holds meetings with lesser deities at a p...

Wisdom From The Mouths of Babes

Spirituality has always come from rivers. The Nile gave birth to western civilization, which cradled Christianity and Islam. The Indus germinated eastern systems, which sprouted Hinduism and Buddhism. Yet, the holy water that completes the holy trinity is less known.
As a student at Papaloapan University in southern Mexico, I’m astonished how few people realize that the watershed of the jade green Papaloapan River was a bedrock foundation for a new world society that constructed a new world i...

Even Rick Skwiot Likes It!

Rick Skwiot won the Hemingway First Novel Award and the Willa Cather Fiction Prize. He's the acclaimed author of Sleeping With Poncho Villa and Death in Mexico. So, I was a bit nervous when he reviewed my newest book, but apparently it doesn't suck. Here's what Rick wrote immediately after breaking Fresh Wind - er, breaking open Fresh Wind.

A uniquely witty and perceptive take on Mexico - Fresh Wind & Strange Fire: One Man's Adventures in Primal Mexico again shows Lyn Fuchs...

Smooth Getaway Postcard From Cebu

The life of Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, whose 16th-century voyage for Spain was the first to circumnavigate the globe, took a tragic turn in 1521 when he was killed waging battle with the local populace in Cebu, Philippines. Today's explorers will receive a more friendly welcome in Cebu and can walk in the navigator's steps without trepidation.

Cebu, the oldest city in the Philippines and the second largest behind Manila, constitutes a thriving metropolis of over three million...

Wandering Mystic Meditation From Gettysburg

“If you go to Gettysburg and take the time, read some of the monuments, read some of the plaques, you will come away changed.” ~ Jeff Shaara
This week is the 150th anniversary of that epic struggle. In June 1863, the Army of Northern Virginia marched toward Maryland and Pennsylvania to launch an invasion of the North. General Robert E. Lee, fresh from his masterpiece victory at the Battle of Chancellorsville, sought to use his army as a threat to northern cities and force a peace upon the...

A Fresh Wind Blows Into Asia

Yes, Indian travel guru Shweta Ganesh Kumar was the CNN correspondent who authored the book Coming Up On The Show, which sold 10,000 copies within two months of release. However, what is really impressive about her is that she received one of the first review copies of Fresh Wind & Strange Fire. And not just because she's scorching hot. As I often blurt out, the mind is the most attractive part of a great woman, though damn sure not the only part. Here's what this great mind trapped helpl...

Our First Review Awards Five Stars

Publisher Jairus Reddy just finished reading Fresh Wind & Strange Fire. Besides giving it five stars on GoodReads, he also had quite a bit to say:

"I have no idea why I decided to read this book, especially since I'm not typically a fan of non-fiction. Now that I have finished, I am glad I didn't pass up the opportunity. The writing is almost poetic and the history, philosophy and comedy reek of the human spirit in Mexico. I feel privileged to have read this work as it fulfilled everything...

An Oracle From The Corn Goddess

Spanglish to English translation:
Hello! I’m the corn goddess. Every year, indigenous people from all around Mesoamerica gather in Oaxaca City to celebrate the Guelaguetza Festival and select a woman to represent Centeotl, the goddess of corn. People dance in the streets and savor traditional foods from ancient recipes.
Southern Mexico is in many ways the heart of the Americas. This land of the Olmecs and Maya calls people back to the sensual and spiritual nature that exists within us all. If...

Primal Wilderness Rambling From Kazakhstan

When I decided to take a trip to Kazakhstan, I was focused on getting back to my roots. My family lived close to Almaty, the capital of the Soviet Union's Kazakh republic, when I was born. We moved to Germany eleven years later, so this was my first visit to my homeland in 24 years. 

I didn't know much about my birth country, but I read a travel guidebook before going there. I found out that the ancient history of the Scythians is deeply rooted in this land. There are many astonishing leg...

Smooth Getaway Postcard From Baja Mexico

It was 2 a.m. on my last night in Baja. Standing on the veranda of my hotel room at Rosarito Beach, I watched the full moon illuminate a slate gray ocean as a phosphorus alien glow emanated from the foaming waves ebbing and receding from the shore.

Millions of years ago, these salt waters covered the Baja peninsula, layering in shell that would become limestone. When the tectonic plates rose and forced the waters back, they also cracked the granite lining of the earth's crust into boulders, wh...