Lyn Fuchs's Blog, page 29
July 11, 2012
Wandering Mystic Meditation From Sophia Bulgaria
Over the past 15 years or so, I have now and then ventured to live abroad. At first, it was all about studying and learning a different way of life in another culture. Later on, it had more to do with work, learning a new language, and meeting new people. Yet, why I did strive for this? What was my purpose? Did I have a real vision? I'm not sure I even asked myself these questions.
What about today? I still want to see and explore the world more than ever, but it's very different. Why? Because...
July 9, 2012
How To Be Strong And Good
Sam Childers was a drug-shooting, head-bashing Pennsylvania hillbilly criminal. That is until he found God or God found him. Now, he prefers bashing and shooting Sudanese warlords who kill, rape and enslave children. (Everyone needs a hobby.)Machine Gun Preacher is the film version of Childers' life portrayed by Gerard Butler. The movie is touching. Sam tries as hard as he can to love his family and do the right thing. I mean as hard as he can without controlling his homicidal rages or lettin...
July 6, 2012
Road Babe Dispatch From Ghana Africa
When most people think of Africa, they think of animals. This is strange, for there aren’t as many as you’d expect, at least not in Ghana. Certainly there are the proverbial oases, like the holy monkey village Tafi Atome, but these only exist because people have built their civilizations around the animals. I now realize how silly and naïve my conception of Africa was. I imagined vast expanses of unoccupied land where animals roamed free. I envisioned little villages in need of foreign aid. T...
July 4, 2012
Primal Wilderness Rambling From Mount Everest
"Ed, my boy, this is Everest. You've got to push it a bit harder.""It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves." - Sir Edmund Hillary
The top of the world is a dangerous place that draws climbers to its slopes each year. Mount Everest, the highest point on the planet, has always represented a unique challenge and a dream for many climbers, some of whom haven’t earned the right to make a go at scaling its heights.
The mountain was first measured back in the 19th century by British survey te...
July 2, 2012
Primal Wilderness Rambling From Obudu Nigeria
Obudu cattle ranch is one of Nigeria's most intriguing destinations. The remarkable site is situated in a thick rainforest region of southern Nigeria, covering an area of over 1000 square kilometers. The first time visitor to Obudu resort is usually amazed at the wondrous work nature has done along the undulating hills and meandering route leading to the ranch.
The area is simply breathtaking when visitors traverse the extensive vegetation that serves as a habitat for over 1500 species of wild...
June 29, 2012
Smooth Getaway Postcard From Sedella Spain
Sedella is typical of los pueblos blancos – a jumble of little white houses crowded together on a hillside, with narrow, twisting streets giving sudden views of mountain and sea. Yet, apart from its undeniable prettiness, Sedella is unremarkable. It has nothing to compete with the splendid Mudéjar towers of nearby Salares and Árchez. The only record of its Moorish past are traces of wall painting on the tower house near the church. Sedella's claim to fame is more nebulous.
There was once a bat...
June 27, 2012
Twisted Vagabondage Tale From Vietnam
Caodai Temple photos by Jen HarmonWhat on my first two visits seemed gay and bizarre was now like a game that had gone on too long.- Graham Greene on Vietnam's Caodai Cult
It really didn’t make sense. There in front of me, outside the cloudy-as-semen bus window, was “The Great Divine Temple” at Tay Ninh, Vietnam—a whacked-out EPCOTish architectural hallucination resembling Gaudi on opium. I didn’t really want to go inside. The idea of cults creeps me out. Would they try to abduct or brainwash...
June 25, 2012
Wandering Mystic Meditation From Micronesia
Do you know anyone who has been to Micronesia? Ever heard of it? Can you place it on a map? Hats off to those who can. Not so long ago, I couldn't. What would you expect it to be like? Blue lagoons with pristine waters, dazzling sunsets and then some?It’s a vast region, a miniature country, speckled about with plenty of islands, islets and atolls - 607 to be exact with only 65 inhabited. It would be bigger than the continental United States, if two percent of its territory weren’t water....
June 22, 2012
Smooth Getaway Postcard From Canillas Spain
The Mudéjar route climbs steeply up the mountain from the coastal plain, meeting the first of the white villages Canillas de Aceituno at about 650 metres. The road then continues about 7 kilometres to Sedella. Since the onset of tarmac and motor vehicles, the distance between these two villages seems negligible. Yet, the towns were connected only by dirt roads and goat tracks for most of their history. The usual means of transport was on foot or by mule. Perhaps, this past isolation explains...
June 19, 2012
Admirable Quests and Breasts in 3D
Travelers, mystics and scientists have something in common. They seek to understand life. In the film Prometheus, a smug heartless droid (Michael Fassbender) boasts he has no need for answers to the big questions: Where do we come from? What's our nature / purpose? Where are we going? A vulnerable spiritual woman (Noomi Rapace) responds, "I guess that's why I'm a human and you're a robot."True enough. When people stop searching for meaning to simply eat, shop and screw away their days, they'r...
